Friday, August 28, 2009

Missouri, Haircuts and Hiking

We got home from the beach last Sunday night and I flew out to Missouri on Tuesday morning at 9am. Well my flight was supposed to be at 9am. It didn't actually leave until 10am which made me miss my connection in Atlanta. But I did make it to Missouri. Tuesday evening was my grandmother's visitation at the funeral home and the funeral was Wednesday morning. Both were hard but both were very nice too. She had a really nice funeral honoring her life. It's almost impossible to believe that my grandparents are all gone. A sad week for sure.

Drew and the kids stayed at home when I flew out to MO. We thought about all going and we thought about leaving the kids and Drew going but none of them worked out. Drew and his Dad stayed with the kids while I was gone. Drew is a 100% hands-on dad so I was not worried one bit. We appreciate the help of Janice, Jamie, and Esther stepping in to help out while Drew carried Lindy to physical therapy and had meetings.

Drew was busy while I was gone. Lindy had physical therapy on Tuesday morning and from what I hear all went well. Tuesday afternoon the kids finally had their two year check-up with the pediatrician (even though it is almost a month late). Drew said it was one of the shortest appointments he had ever been to. I guess I wasn't there to run my mouth so it was short! The kids seem to be doing well so we had few questions for our doctor this time! One thing to note: According to the medical professionals, preemies have to stop adjusting for their prematurity at the age of 2. Apparently at the age of 2 they are magically caught up with their normal 2 year old peers. Therefore the kids are now on the same percentile charts as every other 2 year old. Up until now we've always used their adjusted age.

The stats and highlights of the appointment: Lindy weighed 22lbs and 3.6oz and was 30 1/4 inches long. This puts Lindy in the 1% for both weight and height. Will weighed 23 lbs and 5oz and was 32 1/2 inches long. This puts him in the 4% for both weight and height. So they are a bit small compared to other 2 year olds. But hey, they are on the chart! That has to count for something. The doctor said that she was more interested with their weight to height ratio. Lindy was in the 50% for weight/height and Will was in the 20% for weight/height. Lindy is very porportional and Will is a little tall and skinny. She wants us to keep the kids on whole milk instead of switching.

Lindy had to get one vaccine to get caught up and to our surprise, both kids got their flu shots! Yeah! One less trip and one less copay!

One thing they talked about was Will's speech. We wanted to know how concerned we should be that he isn't talking a ton by now. We both feel that he is trying to say more so she was fine with giving him a few more months (till around November - when he would really be 2) to see if he has progressed. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he'll have made progress by then or he'll eventually get referred for speech services.

Lindy also had hearing therapy on Wednesday afternoon while I was gone. Drew couldn't be there either so our teacher met with Lindy and Jamie (Drew's brother's girlfriend!). I think everything went fine while we were gone.

I flew home on Thursday afternoon and almost missed my connection again. I had to book it to get on the plane in time. I was glad to get home last night.

Today we have had a good day! Both kids got haircuts today. It was Lindy's second haircut and Will's FIRST! He made it to over two years but it was finally time to cut off the wings and rat-tail. He really doesn't look that incredibly different, but he definitely looks cleaned up! I think Lindy looks more different than Will does. She basically just got her bangs cut and the back cleaned up too.

This afternoon we headed out for a little hiking fun. We hiked to the Upper Cascades at Hanging Rock State Park. Afterwards we had a little picnic dinner. It turned out to be a great little trip that we all enjoyed very much. Will got to walk a lot of it and Lindy got to ride. The path was flat enough that we could take the stroller. It might have been a little bumpy at points but it was better than carrying her!

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

He was a little apprehensive at first.
But the cootie toy made everything a-okay!
Cutting off the wings.
Will and Anita.
Our handsome boy with his new hairdo.
Sweet girl with her haircut.
Taking a break from hiking today.


Sweet father-daugher moment.
Checking out the water.



Sitting on a rock at the Rock Garden.
Checking out the rocks.
Our picnic dinner.
Has anyone ever noticed that when we are out and about Lindy doesn't often wear her hearing aids and glasses? We have had too many instances of her taking them off and throwing them and us having to go find them that we now just take them off if we are going to be somewhere that it would be hard to find them. The girl is sneaky and sly and can chuck them without anyone noticing! We definitely take them off if any water is involved. We try to have her wear them as much as possible but we also don't want to lose them!

Monday, August 24, 2009

Week of Fun and Sun and Sadness

We were busy last week and then went to the beach for the weekend. We've barely been home this month!

The whole week was a fun week though. I got to see two of my good friends from high school on Monday. We met at Wendy's house for a little play date. The kids got more birthday presents that they have loved. We loved seeing Jamie, Mia, Wendy, Riley, and Berkley!

Tuesday was our appointment day. Lindy had PT bright and early at 8am in the morning. It's a 30 minute trip so we were up earlier than normal. We also didn't get to meet with our regular therapist as she was on vacation. The PT we saw was very nice but I think Lindy was a little tired and that made her a little clingy. She wasn't her normal happy go lucky self but she still did well. This PT did say that she still isn't completely stable while standing so that even if she does take steps that she will have trouble stopping and staying standing. Which is exactly what happens. She takes steps and then falls down. She has to figure out how to stop!

We also had Lindy's hearing therapy on Tuesday morning. Chris has been extra sweet lately and bringing extra things for Will. I've been including him in all our sessions lately because it's basically a speech therapy session for him.

Milestone of the week - Lindy finally had one of her 2 year molars break through. She got her 17th tooth last week. Normally teething is not something that bothers Lindy but these molars are a different story. I don't have a clue the last time she actually got Tylenol because of her teeth. But she definitely started getting it last week. She was a fussy girl!

And if Lindy was fussy from teething - well Will was a whole other story. Teething has always bothered him pretty badly and these molars are no exception. If she was fussy last week, he was SUPER fussy last week. He was happy to get his sweet Tylenol again! He has really been showing his two year old self lately. It's hard to say if it's the terrible two's or just teething. He gets mad and stomps his feet. He has been a terror on the changing table. He gets mad when we change his diaper now. It's not much fun.

On the other hand, we think Will is starting to say a lot more things. His new favorite word is "Hi." The last couple weeks whenever he sees you he throws his hand up in the air and says "Hi!" But it's no regular "Hi." It's the most southern sounding "Hi" you have ever heard. It's long and drawn out and so cute! He also says "Right there" when we are looking in books and ask where something is. We think he's asking, "What's that?" a lot of times. He seems to be trying to say some new words when I prompt him. He gets kind of shy and a lot of times he won't even try them around me. He definitely won't show off in front of other people though!

On to our beach trip. We left Thursday afternoon and headed down to Oak Island to Drew's mom's beach house. The four of us hit the beach Friday morning and had a great time. We did get run off by a storm that blew up but it was gone in 10 minutes and we were back down there for a gorgeous morning. Friday afternoon Drew's dad and stepmom got there and a little later his mom and sister got there. We all went out to eat at our favorite seafood restaurant and got ice cream. We didn't have the best beach day on Saturday. We headed down there early but the tide was so high that we couldn't set out our blankets and towels. It wouldn't go away either because of Hurricane Bill making the waters rough. We finally headed home for the morning and went back out after the kids' naps. Then we got run off the beach again because of another storm that blew up! We finally called it a day! I did get to hang out with one of my old college roommates on Saturday which was a ton of fun. We did have one more great beach morning on Sunday and we headed home that afternoon. We stopped in Durham on the way home for dinner with some good friends and didn't get home till 9pm.

The sad news of the week is that my grandmother passed away early Sunday morning. She had been in the hospital for a week. She was my last living grandparent. Because she lived in Missouri I didn't get to see my grandparents as often as I would have liked. I am glad that I was in Missouri in May and we did get to see her then. I did get to talk to her on the phone last week as well. She was 88 years old and had lived a good life. My grandparents' wedding anniversary was on August 22 and she passed away at 3:55am on the 23rd. Although she was four hours late, I hope my grandparents had an amazing anniversary celebration and reunion. I will be flying out to Missouri tomorrow for the funeral on Wednesday. Because of many different factors it didn't work out for Drew and kids to come with me. I wish they could be there but they can't.

And finally, pictures.

Another cute church dress.
Leaning on Daddy.
Playing with Mia on Monday. What a cutie!
All five kids in the Steelers/Theatre room. Lindy was making herself comfortable!
A cute picture of Lindy and Riley.
A decent picture of all five of them together! They were gone 3 seconds after I took this!
Berkley, Mia, Riley, Will and Lindy.
She was basically stuck in the bean bags!
I've started letting the kids watch a little TV while I get dinner ready. Will has loved sitting in his new chair and Lindy sometimes acts like she actually sees what is on the TV. Until last week she has never paid attention to the TV. I'm not sure why that excites me, but it does. Just more validation that she sees!
Our little Energizer Bunnies. They seriously keep going and going and going.
Lindy actually enjoyed herself at the beach this time. The water was warm, just how the little princess likes it.
Once again, Will LOVED the beach. He loves every aspect of the beach.
A girl after my own heart. She thought my bottle was a good toy.
Grandbob, Suzette, and the kids on the porch swing.
Mimo and Will.
Aunt Anna and Mimo at the Provision Company.
Me and my baby girl!
We found this huge horseshoe crab on the beach. Thankfully it wasn't alive.
My crazy friend Cathy picked it up!
Lindy enjoying the water. Drew and Will playing in the waves.

Suzette enjoying the tide pool.
Grandbob and Will in the tide pool.
Grandbob, Drew, and the kids.
Trying out the sunglasses.

Silly girl!


Saturday, August 15, 2009

Week in Ohio and Wake Fan Fest

I got back to Ohio last Saturday and I spent the rest of the week with my Mom. My Dad had been out of town on business when we were in NYC but he came home for the weekend. Then he left again so it was just my Mom and me (and Lindy and Will). I had such a great time being home with my Mom. We shopped and played with the kids all week. The kids got so many winter clothes! We found a bunch of deals and a bunch of cute clothes. The kids were great on our shopping trips. Will eventually got a little fussy but every man has their shopping limit, don't they?

One of the highlights of our week was getting to meet a bunch of my mom's friends from school. I've heard so much about them that it's nice to finally meet them. We got to go out for yummy Mexican food, a first for the kids. We also went to Buffalo Wild Wings with the Thursday night group, my parents' friends who go every Thursday night!

Drew flew back up to Ohio on Thursday afternoon and we drove home yesterday (Friday). The kids were so good. They started getting a little fussy about an hour from home but we put our Laurie Berkner CD on repeat and they were instantly quiet the rest of the ride.

After unpacking all day today we went to the Wake Forest Fan Fest. We went last year as well. We met up with Drew's Dad and step mom and had a good time being out on the football field.

The kids got to see Papa for a couple days.
Lindy actually warmed up to Kate, my parents' dog.
Will got a boo-boo while we were in NY. He tripped and fell on the driveway.
My parents borrowed a log cabin from the neighbors and the kids LOVED it. They went in and out and opened and closed the windows a million times.



My parents' friend Pat brought the kids some bubbles and they loved those too.
Mom helped Lindy chase bubbles.
A bubble happened to float by as I was snapping this picture!
My mom introduced the kids to white powdered and little chocolate doughnuts. Both were big hits!
Wearing their NYC souvenir t-shirts.
Will ended up liking the pink car!
Lindy loved her new car. She backed up all around the driveway!
Nana and Lindy
Mom used the kids for her weightlifting exercises.
Here is Will 'sneaking' up on me. He hunches over like an old man. It's so funny.
Nana, Lindy, and Will enjoying their Adirondack chairs.
I think Lindy was saying "I don't want to leave Nana!"
Walking along, hand in hand.
Will and his best bud Kate. He loved her kisses.
Reading books together.
Giving kisses!
Wake Forest fan fest.
Our family with the Demon Deacon.
Suzette, Will, Grandbob, and Lindy.
Lindy and Suzette
Grandbob and Will
Will found some lovely cheerleaders to hit on!
And little Lindy snagged her a cheerleader too!