From Snow to Spring All In One Week

It's been a crazy weather week in NC. We woke up Monday morning with about 5 inches of snow! What a fun way to start the month of March! We headed out Monday afternoon for a little fun in the snow. It was pretty cold and we don't own any proper snow gear for the kids so we didn't stay out too long. Will seemed to enjoy the snow and Lindy acted like she could care less about it. I think it might have gotten on her legs and in her mittens so she might have not liked that. They were cute all bundled up though. We laid them in the snow and we created the cutest little snow angels you've ever seen! Fast forward to the end of the week and it was 76F outside today! Strangely there is still some snow left over in areas that don't get sun. 76F and snow don't really go together in my book.

Our week was just fine. Lindy had her deaf and hard of hearing teacher here on Wednesday morning. I forgot to write about some exciting news last week in regards to her hearing. For almost a year now we have been doing these Learn to Listen sounds. Every day (well we strive for everyday but don't always make it) we pull out our basket of about 20 animals and objects and we make the sounds and show them to Lindy. She plays with each one a little bit and we sing songs for some of them. It's a pretty well rehearsed routine after doing it this long. By this point in time she should be making the sounds back to us. Unfortunately she can't because of her paralyzed vocal cord. BUT......last week we were doing our sheep and I was of course saying 'Baa.' For the first time EVER in response to one of these Learn to Listen sounds, Lindy made a 'aaaaaa' sound. I said 'baa' repeatedly and she would say 'aaaaa' after me. I know she was imitating me. So she couldn't make the 'b' sound yet, she was definitely hearing the 'a' in 'baa.' Of course I was so excited and told her teacher this week and of course she wouldn't do it! She does it frequently now, just not in front of the people I want to see it! Then at the beginning of the week I was putting them in their chairs for a snack and I said, "Lets have a snack' and she then went 'aaaaa.' Could she really be hearing the 'a' in these words? Who knows?! I just know when I say certain words with 'a' in it she is now going 'aaaaa.' We think that is exciting!

The only other appointment this week was with our occupational therapist on Friday. It was actually our LAST OT appointment. Lindy has officially been discharged from OT services. Lisa's main goals were to make sure she ate well, sucked on a straw and got off the bottle, and crawled on all fours. She accomplished two of the three goals (still not crawling on hands and knees yet). Lisa felt at this point that Lindy needs more physical therapy than occupational therapy. Although we are happy that she does not need OT anymore, we'll miss Lisa. She's been a great help and sounding board for us. She always had helpful suggestions for us, even about stuff that was more baby related than OT related! She also helped us out with Will and a couple oral motor issues with him. We'll all miss you Lisa!

We were supposed to have PT on Friday but our therapist was sick so we couldn't go. Instead we went shopping on Friday. The babies have only been in the mall one other time but I was having some cabin fever. We felt it was reasonably safe since they wouldn't be in direct contact with anyone. We have to eventually start loosing our reins anyway. I am still amazed at all the attention they get. We even got asked the famous 'Are they identical twins?" question!

This morning we enjoyed a wonderful morning at Hanging Rock State Park. I brought my camera but I left the SD card in the computer at home. I'm getting forgetful in my old age. We hiked to a new place and saw a cool waterfall and cave. We had a great little picnic lunch and a good time was had by all. This afternoon we went out in the yard for a little while and played in grass. Strangely enough, Will was fine with the grass and Lindy freaked out a little bit. Just when you think you've got them figured out, they go switching things up!

Willy Will is doing well. He's getting faster and faster with his walking. He can get up some speed when he's chasing the cat! Drew and I made a list of his words today. He says: ball, bath, book, mama, dada, up, and pj's. Ball, bath, and book all sound quite similar but oh well. Pj's is the cutest thing he says!

For the first time ever the babies were playing with each other in their bedroom at the end of their nap today. Well, it was actually during their naptime, but Lindy never went to sleep and Will woke up very early. Lindy was up on her knees bouncing around and playing her music on her soother. We'd hear Will laugh and then Lindy would start laughing. It was so cute! Of course I'd rather they had been sleeping but oh well. With horrible naps today and losing an hour of sleep tonight, they should be tired tomorrow!

Enjoy our snow pictures and a few others from the week.

What do you think of the single pony tail? At first I thought it looked silly but then it grew on me. Kind of cute!
Her hair after she woke up from her nap that day. Not so cute!

Lindy pulls up on her knees on everything now.

I've started giving them each a half a banana at snack time lately. They usually try to get as much as possible in their mouths at one time and then Lindy likes to rub her hands in her hair. uggg. Luckily it was bath night!

"There's Something About Lindy"

Our favorite OT, Lisa.

March of Dimes update: I can't believe no one commented on my old school pictures. I thought for sure someone would make fun of me. Thank you to the Beasley's and Greco's, our only two contributors this week. We have a long way to go to reach our goal. We got a MOD newsletter this week and it had a letter from the national ambassador's family. Each individual walk has an ambassador child and then there is a National Ambassador Child. Katelyn's team started walking in 2005 and they have raised $140,000!!!!!! WOW! That is about $32,000 each year! And I thought our $4300 was good last year. So come on family and friends, help us out. We've got a lot of money to raise! We've got to beat Katelyn's team this year :)