Dance Recital

Samantha participated in her 7th dance recital this weekend. She is a member of the Senior Company at the South Riding Dance Academy. Because of this, she participated in both recitals (Sat night and Sun afternoon). We attended the Saturday one as a family (Nancy, Mike, Michael, Granny, and Granddaddy) and I helped out backstage at the Sunday show.

Granddaddy and I laughed over our shots of the backs of heads that we took at the Sat show, so I scooted into the auditorium on Sun to get a few more shots - most were much better.

She performed tap and ballet (shown below) and jazz (pictured above). And by the way, Mom and Dad, it was even hotter in the auditorium today - if that is even possible!

Loss

Severe thunderstorms are pretty much a given each Spring in our area. We have been fortunate that we haven't had any this Spring - until this week. We had a small one yesterday and a doozy today. In the course of 30 minutes, we went from overcast to hail, tornado warnings, swirling winds (yes, in the course of 10 minutes it went from blowing one direction to blowing the other). And then it was gone.

But, alas, so is the weepy willow tree. We have small hopes that we can right it and replant it, but I don't have much confidence in that happening. :(

JDRF Walk

We participated in our local JDRF walk this weekend - the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk. It was damp and drizzled from time to time, but the temperature was cool and it was a nice morning. We saw some familiar faces and met some new friends and even got to talk to some pharmaceutical providers about the types of research and development they are doing in diabetes management

This is definitely a new "annual event" for the Stopper family.

Happy Birthday Michael!!

Michael turns 7 today!!

I will post photos of his birthday party at (ugh) Chuck-e-Cheese later this evening. What he doesn't know is that he has a new bicycle hidden in the shed in the backyard for his birthday. He learned how to ride without training wheels quite easily a few weeks ago (we should have taken them off long ago, but we hadn't). When we looked at his bicycle yesterday, we realized it was a 16" bicycle and he needs at least at 20" bicycle. I think he'll be pretty excited when he sees it.

Samantha also picked out a present for him - a baseball hitting machine for him to practice hitting. She mentioned that was what she wanted to get him, so we made sure!!

7 years ago, it was raining on Saturday morning at 6am when I called the doctor in labor. We spent most of the day in the L&D room at Fair Oaks Hospital and at 5:21pm, Michael was born. That is probably about the time we will be singing Happy Birthday to him at Chuck-e-Cheese!!

Home Run!!

Yep, you read the title right. Michael had a home run today in his baseball game!! An in-the-park home run.

It was the bottom of the 6th inning. In his league, the rules for the 6th inning are you bat until there are 3 outs or you bat around once. Michael's team was up in the bottom of the 6th and he had been the LAST one to bat in the 5th, so we doubted that we would get around to him again.

But, we did. So, Michael comes up with at least 2 runners on base. His coach pitches the ball to him and crack, he takes a big swing at it. The ball flies in the air over the head of the 2nd baseman and the outfielders (who play about 10 feet behind the infielders). So, they start running after the ball and Michael starts rounding the bases. He rounds 2nd and then 3rd, as the ball starts coming in from the outfield. The other team DOES get the ball back towards home plate but Michael crossed the plate before the ball got there - HOME RUN!!!

He was quite pleased with himself!! And we were quite proud!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers reading!

I had a good Mother's Day. I was served breakfast in bed with cards from everyone. I loved the Disney themed cards from the kids and Mike has given me a "night away at a spa from the Anderby asylum for the insane!"

Then, I got a GREAT gift. Everyone in the family (including me) spent the day cleaning the main floor. This is deep cleaning. Yeah, the putting away the clutter was done, but then sweeping, and wiping down the fingerprints and windexing the glass and mopping the floor. Its so nice and clean right now. Wonder how long that will last?

Many will say that it was my day to relax - but cleaning is actually relaxing for me. What is stressful to me is when I don't have enough time to clean. So, this was great!!

Spring Fever

I don't envy public school teachers right now! I only have 2 kids (and one adult!) that have Spring Fever. They have a classroom full! It has finally gotten warm here and the motivation to get any work done is just going out the window.

I do have some things I'd like to finish up before the middle of June - which is a LONG SIX WEEKS away. I can remember growing up when the end of the year felt so far away. It does for me right now. But the "box checker" type-A personality in me won't let us just NOT finish what we are scheduled to do this year. Besides, I still have to do testing yet and send that in to the county. That has to be submitted by August 1st but I'm not one to put that off to the last minute. I have the test scheduled for the first week in June knowing that it takes about 2 weeks for the results to be returned. I scheduled it that late in case we have trouble completing ANYTHING after that - because we will be close enough that I might feel ok "declaring victory" and being done with our year!

But, for today, we are enjoying the sunny, warm weather outside!

Early morning

There are goods and bads to living close to DC. Good: You have a lot to see and its so accessible. Bad: Everyone ELSE wants to see it to. So, often in order to see an exhibit or have a tour, you have to get to DC early.

Its difficult to get anywhere in DC quickly - and we live 30 miles out - adding to the delays.

I arranged months ago for us with our congressional office to have a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing - where they print money! The kicker: The tour was at 8:45. In order for us to GUARANTEE that we would be in DC in time for 8:45, we left the house just after 6:30AM. That is MIGHTY EARLY for us! On a bad traffic day, it can take that entire time to get into the city. On a good day, not so much. Today was a good day. We drove across the bridge into the city at 7:30 and found a parking lot by 7:45. At least there weren't lines at the BEP.

It was fascinating to see the steps that the paper goes through to become money. Its a multi-step process done on a HUGE scale - for example, one pallate of paper going through one machine was printing $32,000,000. They were having a rough day though - one machine jammed in 3 different places while we were watching and in another room, they had the huge magnifying glass out and a supervisor on the floor and they were scrutizing a sheet of bills.

All in all, a nice tour. We drove around a few streets in DC after our tour, and saw the Supreme Court building and the Library of Congress. We checked out a couple of other buildings that we were curious to their purpose. We then headed out to take Mike to the airport for what I hope is his last trip / conference for a while! Then we all came home and napped!

Been Busy!

Every time I think I'm ready to sit down and put up a post, something else always comes up (often Emma) that prevents me. I realized when replying to an email to Mom last night that I'm just busy. Every time I think I'm getting ahead of the busy curve, it tackles me again.

May and June are going to be a busy month:
- Piano rehearsal
- Drama production
- Another trip to DC for diabetic education
- Dance pictures
- Dance competition
- Regular soccer and baseball games
- Piano recital
- Dance recital
- Finishing up lessons for the year
- JDRF walk

And those are just the major events. There are still a bunch of "things" I need to do (like register the kids for some summer camps, work on some scrapbooking borders for a swap, finishing up plans for a scrapbook retreat in Sept, etc) that are taking up time. And you notice I haven't mentioned the "regular" things such as taking care of the house, doing laundry, and grocery shopping. Those seem to be the things that get pushed to the back when everything else gets busy.

I am looking forward to a little more free time this summer. We aren't going to completely take off of school - the kids do better if I keep their brains working a little - but it will definitely be pared way back and I will have more time to keep up with the regular things I have to do.

So, I'm feeling quite busy right now.

Successful Yard Sale

We had our yard sale out in front of the house yesterday. This has become an annual event - a few weeks before the neighborhood-wide yard sale - so much so that one of the customers yesterday remarked that he looks each year for our yard sale because we always have good stuff!!

Well, this was my big "clean out the baby stuff" yard sale. I had about 10 boxes of clothes too small for Emma and Michael and an equal number of boxes of toys.

I sold a lot and brought some home, still. I was surprised that I didn't sell MORE of the baby clothes than I did, but I got a lot of old toys out of the house!

The even better news. There is an annual "consignment" sale for Baby stuff at the conference center around the corner - THIS WEEKEND. So, if I can get my remaining baby clothes onto hangers and labelled before Wednesday, I can take them over and consign them. The company does a 50/50 split, which is pretty good - and this sale is HUGE. They bring in a TON of customers. So, just when I thought I was done "organizing" for a yard sale, I'm gonna pull my remaining boxes out of the back of the van and put everything on hangers and try again!

And so it begins....

Today was Opening Day for the Loudoun South Little League. This is Michael's 3rd season playing t-ball/baseball. It is his first season getting "pitched to".

The Opening Day was nice. Each team marched in with a banner (I made ours - I'm quite proud of it) and they were announced as they entered the field. The league provided had a batting cage, pitching cage, and moon bounce - Michael tried them ALL out. They also brought in a t-shirt vendor who did silk screening on-site. We were all pretty fascinated by the process of applying inks in a certain order and then using heat to seal it in. Samantha, Michael, and I each got a Tye-dyed shirt with the Opening Day logo on it.

(Michael is on the far right - I know its hard to tell with all of their hats pulled so low!)


We then headed over to Samantha's first soccer game. Yes, we spent many a Saturday during sports season at a variety of venues. Samantha's team only had 6 players there, so they all played the entire game. Samantha played 3 quarters on offense and then one as goalie (she was tired of running)! Samantha's team won 2-0. It was actually a pretty good game - good offense and defense on both sides and decently hustling by everyone!

I didn't actually attend Michael's game today. It was at 5pm and it was cold and damp (it had been drizzling off and on all day). They played almost all of the 6 innings until they called it. Michael played pitcher, 2nd base, and center field. He also had a couple of really strong hits.

So, spring sports have started for us! Is it too awful to start the countdown until they are over?

Highs and Lows (again)

I've used that title before, but its still so appropriate I'm using it again.

It is the best way to explain Emma's week.

We are still on a roller coaster with her readings, although not as dramatic as we were. Starting last Sunday at lunchtime, Emma's readings went over 300 and they stayed there for 24 hours, despite giving her multiple insulin injections. They just didn't want to come down. It got as high as 475, which doesn't scare us nearly as much as it used to!! Anyway, after 24 hours, I went ahead and called into the nurse who told me to give her until she got through another meal and see how she was doing. I tested her right before lunch on Monday and she had come down - to TWENTY-NINE. That is NOT a typo - she was at 29. Many people would be unconscious at that reading - she was running around giggling as I corralled her into her high chair. Needless to say, we were a little freaked out by that reading and couldn't explain it - the nurses are baffled.

That started a period, however, with few highs. She had one high overnight that we treated but then the nurse said not to bother. It seems that children this age often excrete a growth hormone while they are sleeping - and its often around 3am - and it makes their blood sugar increase. So, when you swear that you think your children grew overnight, they did!

Anyway, her growth spurt subsided. We haven't had a reading over 250 since then. Her readings have been in the 60s and 70s most times. This is a little low for our liking (we want her over 100). And, she has decided she doesn't want to eat - which is often typical after a growth spurt too. So, between Emma's low blood glucose readings and her reduced eating, we have actually had several meals where we haven't even had to give her insulin. It was a nice break to give her poor arms and legs a break from all of the poking.

She's tired though because I have to keep waking her up at night to give her juice to keep her readings up - seems backwards to us!!

But, the nurses have changed around her treatment a little and we are trying a couple of things a little different to see how she does. We'll give that the weekend and see.

But, as I tell other folks - Emma seems no worse for the wear. Other than fussing about her shots right now, she's running around perfectly normal (like any normal 2 year old that is testing her boundaries and getting into EVERYTHING!)

Happy Easter!

I have a few quick minutes before I KNOW that Emma will be awake, asking to get out of her bed.

We had a nice Easter weekend. Mike had been out of town all week and returned just after midnight on Sat morning. Just after lunch on Saturday, my brother Larry and his family arrived. They had been touring DC for a few days and spent Sat night out with us (in the boonies!)



The kids colored their Easter eggs. We learned something new this year. You can color an egg, write on it with the crayon AFTER that and then dip it in another color- the words are exposed in the original base color. This caused the kids to want to dip their eggs in a variety of colors over, and over, and over again. We finally just had to say STOP!!

The Easter Bunny visited our house. He had a little tougher job this year as we were striving to limit the sugar content because of Emma's diabetes. The kids got some cute toys in their baskets, some sugar-free jelly beans, sugar-free life savers, a sugar free bunny and a few sugar-full candies too.








After our annual Easter Egg Hunt in the front yard (in sub-freezing temperatures), we all got gussied up and got in the cars for the 2 hour drive to Charlottesville. We met my parents and older brother Bruce at the Boars Head Inn in Charlottesville for Easter Brunch. We had a nice time - would have been nicer had we actually been able to sit outside and visit but, alas, 40 degrees is just TOO COLD!!!






All of the kids slept on the way home - we're not exactly sure how much Michael slept the night before since he had a roommate (Gavin, my nephew) who seemed quite excited of the prospect of sleeping in the room with Michael!!

Here are some photos I took of the kids in the front yard. I may take these again in a week or so when its warmer and the grass is a little greener. I plan to update my blog with new spring colors and incorporate these photos into the design, so that you can see these smiling faces every time you open the page!! (I don't know why the last picture isn't rotated - I'll figure that out later)

Ride 'em Cowgirl!

I went into Emma's room to get her out of her crib - she was resting because she's got a little bug. Anyway, when I walked in she said "horsey". I wasn't sure why. Then I figured it out.

She took her pillow, stood it up on the long edge, put her hand on the railing and climbed on her pillow like a horse. Then, she jumped up and down like one of those "bucking bronco" rides. It was really quite funny and she's laughing and saying horsie the entire time!

Couldn't get my camera fast enough to have photos - maybe she'll do it again.

You really can find out almost anything on the Internet

I do believe that we are fortunate that Emma has developed Diabetes during this time of information technology. It makes it much easier for us to do Carb counting for her meals.

I haven't been feeling well today and decided that I was ordering pizza for dinner since Mike was leaving town. So, off to the Pizza Hut web site I go. I can put in the kind of pizza, toppings, and crust, and how many pieces of pizza Emma might eat, and it will give me a complete dietary breakdown, including carb count.

Did you know that 1 piece of Pizza Hut thin crust pizza with just cheese has 30 carbs!!

I have also been able to find out that a Chicken Nuggett Happy meal has 40 carbs - 10 for the nuggets and 30 for the french fries.

This is good information to know as we desire flexibility with when and where we eat!

A quick update

I've been meaning to provide a quick update for a few days and just haven't gotten around to it.

We are settling into a good routine here. Emma's new insulin regimen works much better. Now if she doesn't eat enough, we can just adjust her insulin down. If she wants seconds, we can just adjust her dose up.

Her blood glucose levels aren't swinging as much as they were, but still swinging some. She has been going low at night, which is intriguing, but we may just adjust by giving her a little snack before bed (we cut that out just because it keeps her awake to eat at 8pm). She also seems to be a little high before dinner, but that is most likely from her afternoon snack, so we'll probably start giving her insulin after that.

She has adjusted beautifully. When we tell her we need to poke her finger, she always says "pinkie one". Then she asks if we have to "pokie leg?" She has now chosen to sit in her rocking chair in front of the TV for her injection and its just gotten so easy because she doesn't even say anything most times now when we give it to her.

Had a little scare earlier this week when the sleep-deprived Mommy gave Emma the wrong insulin in the morning. I realized it about 1 hour into its 2 hour effectiveness - it was her "short acting" insulin. So, she got about another meal's worth of carbohydrates in the form of juice and granola bars to offset the insulin and I was very happy when her readings came back up. The nurse said that is actually a pretty common mistake - didn't feel too common to me. At least it was a short-acting insulin and in 3 hours I knew it was completely back to normal.

So, outside of feeling like we have a newborn that has to eat every 3 hours all night, things are pretty normal. I have gotten Samantha and Michael back into school, although not the full routine that I'd like. We won't be having "Spring Break" per se this week, as I have assignments for them to do, but I'm sure if one of their friends comes knocking on the door to play, I'll let them go out! Is it awful to pray for rain! It's gonna be a tough week regardless as Mike leaves in about 2 hours for a week in San Francisco.

Anyway, looking forward to Easter. Larry (my brother) and his family will be here Sat night after spending a few days in the city and then on Sunday we are driving to Charlottesville to eat brunch at the Boars Head Inn with my parents and my older brother, who I haven't seen in 15 years!

As I hear Emma talking from her bed upstairs, I'll wrap it up and go retrieve her for a snack - anyone want to predict how many of her things are thrown out of the crib and onto the floor? I guess all of them!

New Doctor, New Regimen - seems to be working

So we saw the doctor who will be our permanent endocrinologist yesterday. It was a crazy, hectic appointment because we had to go to Children's Hospital in DC; AND, it was the Doctor's day "on call" which is the only way she was able to actually see us.

She was frustruated with the regimen that the doctor in the hospital had put Emma on; as we were since her levels hadn't stabilized over the week and a half we'd been out of the hospital.

She started a new regimen yesterday. We like it for a variety of reasons:
- We increased her "long lasting" dose (her Basel). This is supposed to be the insulin that manages her throughout the day.
- We changed to a fast-acting "after meal" insulin for adjustments(Bolas). This is great because its based on her level before eating AND how much she eats. If she wants more carbs at a certain meal, we can increase her dose to adjust. If we can't seem to force the food in her mouth (which is often the case), we just decrease her dose. This is GREAT for a child who isn't in a position to understand the need for a certain amount of food.

In the past 24 hours, she hasn't gone above 250 (whereas she had been averaging higher than that most days). She has been staying mostly between 80 and 150 - and our target is 180!! So, for us, we are thrilled with the way her body is reacting. Of course, this could also mean her pancreas has kicked back in for a last hurrah, but either way, she isn't swinging and that makes us happy.

Zoo News!!

Last Wednesday, the day before Emma was admitted to the hospital, we took a day trip to the National Zoo. Sometimes, the downside of living CLOSE to the capital is that you feel that "it will always be there" and don't work it into your schedule.

Last Tuesday night, I heard the weather forecast was going to be great, nice and warm but overcast, and I decided to forego lessons for the today and have a field trip to the zoo.

We started with our favorite attraction - the Pandas. There are 3 Pandas at the zoo now - Mom, Dad, and Baby. While we were there, they had Mom and Dad in the same yard because its "that time of the season", but Mom didn't want anything to do with Dad - and as a matter of fact, she growled quite loudly at him when he came by.


One of my favorite areas is the Lion/Tiger display. There were two tigers sleeping away the morning on one side, but then this very alert lioness on the other. The other area I saw that was new to me was the invertebrate house - we saw lots of coral and sea life (unfortunately, the octopus wasn't there, which is what Michael wanted to see). At the end of that house, they have a butterfly house and you are able to walk through their garden as they flew around you.

The kids LOVE watching the Otters, because they have a great display with a clear window looking into their pool so you can really see the otters playing. I think Samantha and Michael would have watched them for a REALLY LONG TIME had I let them.



We saw almost all of the areas of the zoo, including an area I'm not sure I'd seen before - the bird house. As a point of background, the National Zoo is built on a huge hill. In order to see the entire zoo, you WILL take a trip DOWN and a trip UP the hill. The uphill is brutal!! But, that was the way to the Bird House, so we CLIMBED our way up a steep incline pushing Emma in the stroller. But, it was a neat attraction and Samantha saw what she had been asking about all day - the Flamingos. This is a video of the Flamingo dance that they do - its quite humorous.

Baffling Body Chemistry

I assure you, after we get through this initial phase with Emma, it won't all be about her Diabetes. But for now...

Emma had a pretty good day yesterday. He numbers were getting more normal and the night before when I felt certain she was going to drop really low (because of her evening numbers), she stayed right on track. The one nurse I talked to said that her pancrease could even be beginning the "honeymoon phase" (after a person's sugars get back under control, their pancreas will often begin secreting insulin again. It's not much and it doesn't last forever - its sort of a "swan song" for your pancreas.

Well, Emma's body chemistry said "ha".

She was high over night (over 300). High enough for me to page the doctor, which I'm sure she loves at 3:15am! The Doctor had us give her an extra little dose of insulin overnight. But, her breakfast reading, morning snack, AND lunch readings were ALL over 300. It just doesn't make sense with the amount of insulin she had. It even baffled the nurse on the phone at lunch when she was deciding what to do. Both the doctor and the nurse made a comment "maybe she's coming down with something" (at which point I just wanted to pull out the gun and shoot myself). Getting a bug evidentally messes up your sugars too. Well, the nurse said to do Emma's normal dose and then check it about 3 hours later, when it should have been in effect (and the morning dose should still be working, since they overlap).

She was 150.

It just makes no sense, after being close to 400 for 12 hours, for a drop to 150 just 3 hours later!!

Baffling disease.

But hey, we got in with the new Endocrinologist on Monday. We have to drive all the way to DC for the initial visit BUT she got us a 10:30 appt, instead of the originally proposed 9am (which would have meant a 7am departure!)

The simple things

When you have stress in life, sometimes the simple things can give you the most pleasure.

One of the homeschool curriculums that I am using this year is Sonlight. I actually wanted to use more of it than I did, but it just didn't fit in with the kids this year. I have been reading on their message boards about a completely re-designed language arts program, assisted by a well-known and well-respected home educator. I have been getting excited about the possibility of actually using more of the curriculum next year, which is my objective.

I received my new catalog today. I had heard they were mailed last week and many people on the message boards were talking about already having theirs. So, I was so excited when mine came today that I stopped what I was doing and sat down to look at the new areas. It is definitely exciting for me and makes me excited to finish some things this year so we can start some things next year - if only the kids were as excited about it as us parents!

The kind of post you wish you didn't have to post

For those in our immediate family and close friends, this is not new information. For others, it is.

Last Wednesday night at 10pm, I took Emma (our 2 year old) to the Emergency Room with extremely high blood glucose levels (a normal person would be between 80 and 130 and she was at 580). She was immediately admitted to the ICU and diagnosed with Type I (insulin dependent) Diabetes.

She stayed in the hospital until Saturday when she returned home and we began the processing of testing, and insulin shots on our own. I have spoken to the Doctor no fewer than 2 times a day since we have returned, and we have constantly been tweaking and modifying her injections until her body adjusts to the insulin and stabailizes.

I am happy to say that she has been "almost" stable for 24 hours. She had one "higher than normal" reading overnight, but the Doctor is fairly confident as to why this is happening and after leaving things alone today, she may make one more adjustment tomorrow that will probably address that reading.

But that's not the end of it. She will always have to monitor her sugar levels, and watch what she is eating. Right now, the struggles are making sure a 2-year-old eats what she needs to eat based on our injections. As she gets older, it will be more a "defiance" that will cause our challenges. And each growth spurt, and illness will be cause for adjustments.

But for now, we are just happy she is home and acting as though nothing has changed. She acts like nothing has happened and right now, she is currently transferring crayons back and forth from a lunch box to a Ziploc and back again (I think she has done this about 10 times now).

So for us, we have a goal of this having the least impact possible and being able to do things just as we normally have done. I do expect, however, that she will be eating more than one meal fed from tupperware at the soccer or baseball field so that she doesn't get off schedule.

From time to time, I will provide updates here, as its easier to cover everyone here than remembering all the emails I need to send!

Another tooth bites the dust!

Michael had another tooth pulled today. He had a tooth pulled out last month because his permanent tooth was coming in behind it. After pulling the baby tooth, the permanent tooth was moving nicely into place. The Dentist had warned me that his other front tooth was going to have the same problem and to watch it. I expected that by the time their regularly scheduled checkup came around in April that it would need to be removed. Little did I expect when I checked his first removed tooth on Monday that I found his other permanent tooth growing quickly in his mouth.

The Dentist said to not even bother with an assessment - we just scheduled for it to be taken out. It came out as easily this morning as his other one did last month - and the permanent tooth has almost come in as far as the other one - so it hardly looks like a tooth is even gone!

Photos to come soon - guess the Tooth Fairy is making another visit tonight!

I guess I've started potty training

I bought a potty seat for Emma a while back - one that sits on top of the main seat. She has been carrying it around the house for a while, and Dora has had her turns with the seat. I've also sat Emma on it a couple of times just to get the feel.

She has started asking to go potty. I think most times she has already gone, but its a start. AND, she has gone a few times in the potty over the past few days.

So, I guess we are starting potty training. With the other two, I had the benefit that day care did most of the training for me, and the kids were around other kids their age who were learning, so this is a new environment for us. I guess I'll just get out the timer and start our "every 20 minute" trips to the bathroom!

You can't turn your back on this one!

Michael was inspired to clean up some more in the toy closet today. And I can't seem to find my very important American History folder that has all the cross-references between video and workbooks that I need to give the kids their assignment. So, I think the stars were just aligned for us to get some organizing done in the basement.

As an important note, the kids don't seem to clean if I'm not sitting there handing them piece by piece for them to put away - they don't seem capable of picking it up off the floor and doing it themselves. So, I had spent some time downstairs sorting through junk toys with them. And I left Emma upstairs. There isn't much for her to get into (well, there is stuff but not much that I'm worried about permanent damage).

I came back upstairs to see what she had gotten into, and this is what I found:



She is definitely a creative one and loves to play pretend. For those who can't tell, she has taken her entire princess tea set and set up a tea party on the kitchen table!

The Moon, and other things

Well, there was no eclipse for us last night. The clouds rolled in all day and by the time the moon rose, there was no eclipse. Of course, about 1 hour after the eclipse had finished, the clouds moved off!!

We spent some time this afternoon in the toy closet in the basement. I am convinced we have too much stuff. No doubt. I was hoping to spend the time just sorting the toys into "use" and "not use anymore" piles. Instead I found our toy closet strew with little pieces of many toys, none in the boxes or bags they belonged in.

So, the kids have spent the past 2 hours cleaning out several boxes that I filled from the floor and shelves of little pieces of games and toys. And I haven't even tackled half of the closet yet. It will probalb]]bly take all week in our spare time to actually clean out and sort the toys. BUT, I'm having a yard sale next month and I'd love to get rid of those that aren't played with anymore (and won't hand down well to Emma). Until then, I am just creating piles of things to sell all over the house in expectation of April 21 (yard sale day)!

Getting too old for this!

Our homeschool group went ice skating today for PE. The kids were both pretty excited to go; I took Emma to a sitter so that I could go out and skate with them.

It started out rough. Michael didn't want to let go of the wall for fear of falling. I "helped him" fall so that he could see that it didn't hurt and he gained a little confidence - just in time to fall on his face and scrape his cheek. Its going to be quite a bruise tomorrow - and this just after I had convinced him it didn't hurt.



Samantha gained confidence each minute. She skated out in the middle with the older girls from the group. A little practice and I think she can be really good.



But my body is taking this opportunity to remind me exactly how old I am. My foot is sore (the one that I broke 2 years ago) because those muscles have never been the same. My back is sore and my calf muscles just ache. I'm sure they will be even more sore by the end of the day - a gentle reminder that I am no longer a teenager!

I am becoming my mother

I've always heard that generation after generation, people tend to do things like their parents. I have seen it a lot in what Mike and I do with the kids. But I don't think any more than this morning.

I actually got to sleep in late. Emma slept in late and the kids were somewhat quiet when they got up this morning (which NEVER happens, by the way). Samantha ate her breakfast and did parts of her schoolwork that she could do on her own, and Michael played quietly. I finally got up just before 8 and got Emma up and ready to eat breakfast.

I put Emma in her chair and got her breakfast. I then sat down at the table for a minute to collect my thoughts and look at the pile of papers there to see what I needed to do. Samantha comes up and gives me a run down of what lessons she has left to do, most of which involve me. She said "I'm ready for Dictation". And my response, "Samantha, I can't do that right now. My brain is just not awake yet"

That came straight from my mother!! I'm sure she's laughing as she's reading this!

Snow

We finally got snow!!

For once, the weather forecasters were wrong - but wrong in a good way (at least as far as I am concerned). They had said that we would be getting 1-2" of snow starting around midnight Sat night, and then it would turn over to ice, sleet, and freezing rain mid-day.

The snow came - but the sleet didn't. So, instead of 1-2" of snow, we got about 5" of snow and no ice. Its nice pretty snow. I was actually driving in it for a brief time yesterday and it was beautiful falling down among the trees that I was driving under. Of course, my driving trip didn't take me far as I turned around and came home. The roads were not great for driving at that time and while I am pretty good at driving in the snow, many people around here aren't and all I needed was someone to lose control and run into me. So, I turned around and headed home - not getting my errand done that now will not get done this week, as it isn't something easily done with 3 children and Mike is in Denver until Friday!

The other downside is a big hole we now have in the front yard. We have an unusually shaped front yard due to a lane/driveway on either side. I grant that its unusual, but anyone who has driven by here a few times would know what it looks like. However, it appears that the snow plow driver didn't - and decided instead to plow up a huge hunk of our front yard. Then, to add insult to injury, he then pulled back, lifted up his plow, and just DROVE through the front yard.

So, I'll be filing a complaint with the Homeowners Association that hired the plow driver and having to get my lawn reseeded this spring.

But, it is a beautiful snow.

A few photos from Emma's birthday

Here are a few photos from Emma's birthday weekend.

Her birthday was Friday. On Friday night, we gave her her present - a Dora the Explorer Sit and Spin. It plays music and sings songs. She is as interested in pushing the button and playing the music as she is in sitting on it.



On Sunday, we had friends come over to have cake with us. We got Emma a Dora the Explorer balloon which she carried around the house all afternoon - she called it her "Dora Boots balloon"


So, our "Baby" is now a "Toddler"!



And here is a video of Emma. We can't seem to get the sound to work - so if you do, please let me know how. It is Emma dancing to the music from her Sit-n-Spin - if you get the music you will see how unbelievably cute this is!

Happy Birthday Emma!!

Today is Emma's 2nd birthday!!

I don't have photos to share yet - because the camera is in the shop - but I am borrowing one from a friend this afternoon and then I'll share some current images!!

Just a quick flashback to 2 years ago:
Emma was born on a Wednesday. For the 4 weeks prior to her birth, I had been on bedrest, in the hospital, and then back to the hospital for DAILY testing. Yes, every day - including Saturday and Sunday - I had to go and bed monitored. I have very low amniotic fluid and Emma was breech and they wanted to make sure she was developing ok during that time.

On Wednesday, February 16, I went in for my 2 routine tests AND I had my weekly checkup with the OB. So, I had THREE appointments that day. Normally, through the graciousness of friends, I was able to fit them in while Michael was at preschool and Samantha at school (with the friends helping out when the time went over). But this day, the appointments were way too long, so Mike stayed home to be there when Michael got home from preschool.

My non-stress test, monitoring the baby's heart rate (ups and downs) was fine, but my biophysical profile (which is a specialized sonogram) couldn't register much movement or diaphragmatic movement (breathing). They even brought in the ACTUAL radiologist (who you never see, its always technicians) and he couldn't get these to register. So, they sent me over to the OBs office next door. When I walked in the door, the OB just wrote me a note and sent me back over to Labor and Delivery.

I had been eating trying to raise my blood sugar and increase movement in the baby, so they were forced to wait 4 hours before they could do the surgery - we were having a C-section because she was breech. So, I spent the afternoon sitting in a pre-op room reading a book and watching other babies come in and out from the OR while waiting. During this time, Mike was running around furiously getting Michael to one house and Samantha to another so that they could stay the night, still get to school, and he could be at the hospital with me. He walked into the pre-op room a mere 10 minutes before they were ready for me!!

They hooked me up with an IV and sent me WALKING down the hall to the OR!! That was a sight, I'm sure!! In a very short time, the Doctor was in the operating room and in no time flat, Emma was here!! All 6 lbs, 12 ounces of her with a round head, just like her siblings!! By far the smallest one I had, seeing as she was a full 4 (or possibly 5) weeks early.

We were sent back to post-op and then checked into our room for the night by 8pm. I felt like I was "old hat" at that since I had spent 5 days there just the previous month. I was just so happy to NOT be pregnant any more and have a baby who really did love to sleep - I had to wake her to feed her!

So, here we are 2 years later with a baby that won't stand still - she is always on the run and always has something to say!!

Happy Birthday Emma!

The curse of a verbal child

Emma has been quite verbal for a while. I think she was about a year old and one of the women in our babysitting co-op said that Emma said "Thank you". She has MANY, MANY words - I should count just to see.

She is also trying to learn manners - well, more accurately, we are trying to teach her. We tell her that we don't respond when she yells for something or throws a tantrum and that she is to say please.

So, in her sweetest voice, she comes to me a couple of minutes ago, after being "rescued" from her crib by Samantha to say "My shows please. My shows".

That would be Noggin! My lifesaver while I'm doing school with Samantha and Michael. They have lots of cute shows (and a few annoying ones) and two cartoon characters that "MC" between shows (because there are no commercials) named "Zee" and "Moose". She loves everything about Noggin. You can be guaranteed to get lots of hugs if you are at my house at 6pm - when Zee and Moose go "night night" and Emma cries!!

How can you NOT turn the channel for a child that uses such good manners at such a young age.

Verdict on the dishwasher, and other things

So, we paid a GE repair specialist $179 to come to our house this week and a) replace a piston in the dishwasher that wasn't quite broken but would be soon; and b) tell us that the dishwasher problem was in the hose that was wound back behind the cabinets in the kitchen. Its either a clog or the line is frozen. I voted for frozen since the highest the temperture got this week was 28 degree.

The long term solution to this problem isn't easy - it probably involves removing cabinets or counters or both!!

The short-term solution seems silly but works. About 2 hours before we run the dishwasher, we open up the cabinet doors between the dishwasher and the sink, AND we remove the cover from the bottom of the dishwasher. Then we run a spaceheater into those spaces for a couple of hours. It heats the hose up that is behind those cabinets and enables the water to flow through - thus allowing the dishwasher to ACTUALLY work!

But how obnoxious is that. We have known something is wrong with the back side of the house there when it comes to temperature. I have always felt a breeze under the cabinets in the winter time - yes, literally, a breeze blowing on my feet. We feel certain there is insulation on that wall but perhaps not enough; or perhaps because its a bump out, it doesn't get the appropriate insultion from the basement. When and if we do ever remove the cabinets or countertops (Which is always a possibility because we have always wanted granite), we will find some super insulation and fill back behind those cabinets to the point I will never feel a breeze again. In the meantime, we are heating the cabinets from the outside and washing our dishes!!

In other parts of our life, basketball and cheerleading is continuing. Yesterday didn't see nearly as much time at the gym, but still a few hours, nonetheless. Emma hasn't been feeling 100% so its tough being at the gym when she really should be asleep in her bed.

Emma turns 2 at the end of the week. Two always seems anti-climactic. One is such a big deal. At three, the kids often have a few friends at preschool that you invite over. But then there's two. Of course, we'll have a cake - if not for Emma, then for the other kids who think you are supposed to have cake for a birthday. Perhaps I will invite over our friends, the Legeers. They have a baby 3 months younger than Emma and Lauryn is a friend of Michael's from preschool!

And lastly, our camera is in the shop. Neither of the kids will own up to their role it in, but it had clearly been dropped, as evidence by the DENT in the housing and the break in the LCD screen. We could use it to take photos, but not change the settings, nor see the image we took. After much trepidation, I packed it gingerly in a box (insured for AT LEAST the cost of purchasing a new one) and shipped it off to Canon with assurances of return within 7 days of receipt. We'll see. Since our back-up camera is also broken (slippery fingers in this family also), we are camera-less right now and I am hoping to take a friend up on a generous offer to borrow her "backup" camera until ours returns.

The $20 remedy

Emma has been sick for a few days. She has been acting lethargic and has had a fever. After sleeping for 3 1/2 hours in the morning, I called the Doctor and set up an appointment. (As an aside, she was also experiencing her "pooping" problem again, too). After spending an hour at the Doctor, we didn't get much of an answer other than a) her ears are clear; and b) she looks ok to me (mind you, this Doctor doesn't realize that sitting still ISN'T characteristic of Emma)

By the time it was bedtime last night, Emma was acting like her normal self. Running her mouth and watching her favorite "Baby Show" (that would be Teletubbies). Mike says she got the $20 remedy - that is, we just needed to pay the $20 to the Doctor for her to feel better!!

Things we have plenty of ...

Cold air
Static Electricity
Dirty Dishes

It is certainly cold here. Michael asked this morning if he could go shovel the walk and the thermometer said 12 degrees. I told him it was a bit too cold to be outside shoveling. This is day 3 of freezing cold weather and its at least a couple more days of the cold.

And, the cold dry air is causing a lot of static electricity. I have been shocking Emma a lot and each time I shock her, she gets a funny look on her face and puts her hand where I shocked her - she is definitely trying to figure out what is happening.

And, yesterday we realized that our dishwasher no longer pumps water. It currently has water sitting in the bottom of it and Mike is looking for a repairman to come out and tell us what's wrong. When you have 5 people living in a house, 4 of which are home all day, the dirty dishes pile up. We usually run the dishwasher overnight, so right now we have a pile of dishes on the counter waiting for me to go wash them!

Funny the things we remember

Today is February 5th. Whenever I see that date, I have vivid memories come rushing back into my mind. I will always remember February 5th. I was 13 years old in February of 1983. On the 5th I went on my first skiing trip - with our church group. We went to the Homestead Resort, about 2 hours away from home. I can vividly remember the windy roads going up the mountain. I can remember my ski lesson on the bunny slope and my first two or three times down the bunny slope. I can see in my mind vividly getting in line for the ski lift to go up to the intermediate hill. My first trip down was quick and exciting. And I remember getting in line to go up again.

I remember starting down the hill at the top. I can remember thinking that I was going faster than I wanted and that the snow felt icy. The next I remember, I was laying on the ground and I remember seeing skis stuck in the snow in an "X" formation. And I remember sliding down the hill on a toboggan.

I can remember laying on the table with a ski boot on my foot getting ready to get my leg x-rayed. And I can remember their telling me my leg was broken. I can remember my mother crying on the phone when she was told (gosh, she didn't cry when I told her 18 months ago that I had broken my foot!)

On February 5th, 1983, I went skiing for the first time and broke my leg. 12 weeks in a cast, my dance season cut short and many activities changed that year. I bet that my mother doesn't remember that it was Feb 5th. But I do, and I think I always will.

Upward Cheerleading and Basketball

I received a flyer in the mail in November for a basketball and cheerleading league held at a nearby church. I hadn't ever heard of this league before, but the flyer came at a perfect time, as I was interested in getting Michael involved with basketball, and Loudoun County doesn't have a very organized program.

So, we signed the kids up for "Upward". Michael plays basketball and Samantha is on a cheerleading squad. Its a nice program. They have over 300 children signed up, assigned to teams from 5 years old to 12 years old. They practice once a week and play games on Saturday. For a reasonable registration fee, each of them received their full uniform, that they get to keep!!

The kids are having a good time and have met some new friends. And, I am continuing my family tradition of spending most Saturdays in the winter, all day, at the gym!

My son, the artist

You always wonder when your kids are really little what they are going to be good at. And what they are going to be interested in.

Michael likes to build things. He loves his K'nex and his legos and even Emma's blocks. He loves to build things. Sometimes it just to knock it down. Other times we can't get him to take it apart.

About a week ago, I went into Michael's room looking for him because he was suspiciously quiet. Very unusual for him, which often means he's doing something he shouldn't.

But not this time.

He had decided to make a picture out of the coins in his room. He made a bird. He didn't copy a picture or anything - he just designed it himself



It's a Bird!!!

He says his next creation is going to be a spider.

Reporting on the "no snow" storm

This is how they lead off the news report at 5pm tonight.

We were expecting a little bit of snow with a little bit of ice on the top.

Now we aren't even going to get that.

We want a big snow storm - or at least a decent size snow storm and haven't had one yet.

Ears and Games

We've had a busy weekend. On Friday we took Samantha to get her ears pierced. She has been bugging us for a while to get it done and we finally decided to let her get them pierced. We gave her a pair of Mickey birthstone earrings that we bought at Disney for her birthday and told her she could get them pierced. For the next 3 days, she talked about it incessantly. She went to a friend's house after PE on Friday and when I picked her up, that was ALL she was talking about. We got them pierced before dinner and finally had to tell her at dinner to STOP TALKING ABOUT HER EARS!!

Saturday was Samantha and Michael's first game in their Upward league - Michael playing basketball and Samantha cheerleading. The day started with a Mommy boo-boo. I tried to be a good Mommy, knowing that Michael would feel left-out if the star he earned at practice wasn't ironed on. I went to the league web site that instructed me to iron the star onto his jersey. Against, my better judgement, I followed their directions and melted his polyester jersey. Luckily they are reversible and he was wearing the other color this week, so no one could see.

But, Michael played his first game and had a good time - he was surprisingly "not aggressive" so we'll work on that a little, but he did score the first basket for his team. Michael earned a star for his jersey for "Sportsmanship". This, along with a replacement of his first star, will be ironed onto his T-shirt, which is cotton.

Samantha was cheering during his game - the cheerleading teams rotate games and just cheer for everyone. We are still trying to figure out how this child that can be really loud when we want her to be quiet decides to be really quiet during the one time she gets to be loud. I kept holding my hand to her ear to get her to cheer louder. She earned a star for Spirit to put on her Megaphone.

This is a neat league - it is organized through a local church and has over 300 kids playing basketball and cheering. I'm glad we found it for the kids, and expect many a Saturday to now be spent at the gym - at least they have a concession stand with hot dogs!

Michael's about to lose his first tooth - scheduled for Jan 31st!

Well, Michael is about to lose his first tooth. Unfortunately, its going to be "assited" by the dentist. I was looking in his mouth earlier this week and noticed that he had a permanent tooth coming in behind his lower baby teeth.

Turns out it has come almost completely in - and didn't TOUCH the baby tooth it was supposed to knock out. And, it has not chance of touching the baby tooth it was supposed to knock out.

So, the dentist needs to take it out to give the permanent tooth a chance to move to where it belongs.

Guess its time to start the SECOND orthodontic savings account, huh?

Busy Holiday Season!

This Christmas season was very busy. I had grand plans for teaching the kids about Christmas around the world and the Christmas Story. That lasted 1 day, for after that, the stomach bug started its way through the house. That took the week to clear out and then we were scrambling around to finish getting ready for Christmas - presents to be wrapped, cookies to be baked, and meals to be planned.






On Christmas Eve, we had a nice dinner at home (our annual plans with friends had to be postponed due to conflicts). Emma opened up a new nightgown to match Samantha and Michael's (she had matching ones last year too, so I purchased this last year knowing she would have outgrown last year's jammies). The kids were tucked into bed after listening to the Christmas Story and leaving out milk and cookies for Santa.






Lo and Behold, Santa visited that night. He left an assortment of toys the older kids wanted, and some Dora toys and an art easel for Emma. All in all, the toys were a big hit with the kids. They all exclaimed they had a great Christmas, and the looks on Emma's face told us the same.




After Christmas breakfast, we packed up and headed to Williamsport, PA to visit with Mike's dad for a couple of days. The kids had a fun time opening presents with Oma and Opa and playing with Opa's trains (always a hit). We headed home a little early because it appeared the Emma and Michael were both fighting a cold.


After a day back at home, we headed out again, this time to Roanoke, VA to visit with my parents, siblings, and nephews (notice no nieces in the mix). The kids again had a great time sharing presents. I enjoyed seeing the boys open their fleece blankets that I made for them. And, after I agonized over what to do for my one nephew that I coudn't find fleece for, it turns out that the tie-dyed print I chose was perfect for him!!




The visit ended on a rough note, as it turns out that I would be spending Sun morning in the ER with Emma with an ear infection. Of course, it was Sunday AND New Years Eve, so that limited my Doctor choices. The first Urgent Care I went to didn't treat children (huh!?) but that worked out for the best as the ER had "no waiting" and the Urgent Care had a room full. As I expected after Emma spiked a 103.5 fever, she was diagnosed with an ear infection and given antibiotics. They began to take effect quickly.

Happy 2007!

I have so much to update about right now but need to get back into the swing of things before I do so. In short, I'll share shortly with you about:
- Christmas in Williamsport
- Christmas in Roanoke
- Our New Years trip to Walt Disney World!

For now, Happy New Year to everyone and I'll share more soon (including photos!)