Heat Go Home!

We are spending the week in Prospect Harbor, Maine which is near Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park. It's less than 2 hours from Canada. Go figure that it would be 90 degrees here this week. And the house we're staying in has no A/C. Not exactly what we were hoping for. It's not the hot we get in DC, but it's still hot all the same, and so not what we were expecting when we planned the trip. Of course the weather forecast here starting Friday is low 70's and high 60s. Wouldn't you know!
But it's absolutely gorgeous here. The house is on the water, and right this minute Lily is out exploring on the rocks by the ocean, with the beautiful lobster fishing boats behind her. She's supervised, don't worry! We cooked lobsters in the kitchen last night. Delectable and so cheap since we bought them fresh just down the road. We've been to a self-serve farm stand, and took a beautiful trip to part of Acadia. This mornng we went to a little 'cove' that had a sandy beach, and the girls both had so much fun. Imogene loved the water - even though it was about 50 degrees!

She has a "baba"

Imogene has fallen a ton, and I mean a ton, since she started walking. Until the last 24 hours she'd been relatively injury free. Not anymore. Yesterday she was trying to get to me, screaming and clawing for me and she bumped her mouth on the chair. Tiny little cut right under her lip, and then inside her lip. I was pretty sure for a minute that she'd bitten all the way through! And then today we walked Lily down to Lucy's, and on the way back Imogene was just having the time of her life walking down the sidewalk, and fell and scratched her knee. She kept saying 'ba-ba' ... which is her universal word, but she really was telling me boo-boo I think!

This isn't after she fell. This is after I took the camera away from her the other day when she was trying to carry it around the house. Yes I took a picture. Yes that's kind of mean.

Last Friday we went to see Maggie in a play she was in after two weeks of theatre camp. Lily sat for the entire thing and did not take her eyes off the stage for 45 minutes. She didn't even care that I left her in the row by herself (all the Chamberlains were in the row in front of us, and Miss Patty sat with her for a lot of it.) Imogene did not really like it getting dark and there was some 'commotion' during the performance, which Imogene was not happy about. Lily talks all the time about how Maggie played a MOM in the play, and how there were girls who pretended to be boys. 

With the Star after the show!

Out of the Mouth of Lily

During a conversation about consequences, in the saddest voice you've EVER heard, "But I love the things I really like."
Discussing Bill having to drive to our vacation to Maine while the ladies fly (due to his eye) "But Dad, you'll have fun. You can call people on the phone, and listen to your book."
Imogene was screaming about having the top off her sippy cup the other night, because Lily had her's off.
"Mom, why don't you just put my top back on?" DUH!
She was playing princesses with her Daddy this week, and when Daddy did his best princess imitation and said he lived with the 7 dwarfs, she told him, "No you don't Daddy, Snow White lives with the dwarfs." And later told him that she wanted to talk to Daddy, in his regular voice.
To a young friend from church who is in high school, "So, Maddie, I was wondering if you like to play princesses." And then, "I've been panicking at my mom to go to Disney World. But we have to wait until my sister is 4." Later in the day she asked Imogene if she was "just panicking to get Mommy to hold you?"
Instead of stopping the car, she asks you to "freeze it."
We were having a super fun dance party in the kitchen last night, and she was singing away to Miley Cyrus and when she sings she gets her face all scrunched up like a heavy metal rocker hitting a high note. She looked at me and said, "Mom, make sure you do your face like this (cue scrunch up.)"

Imogene had speech, OT and PT this week. All good! She even let DeeDee rub on her face while we were doing some singing to get some manipulation in her right side. As I was thinking in my head "Gee, I can blog about how tolerant she's being of DeeDee," DeeDee said - "she's really tolerating me doing this well, isn't she?" Amy the OT is out for the next two weeks, but when she gets back we'll do some constraint again. We've given Imogene a little break and not done much in order to let her enjoy her new walking feet more. In PT today we tried a new way to use the tape around her thigh and knee, and she worked on raising up on the balls of her feet, and walking up and down a small ramp. She only screamed at Susan for a little bit!

Sillies

Lily went to a playdate today - the great kind where I got to drop her off and run some errands with Imogene. Imogene is a handful, but things like the grocery shopping are so much easier with just one kid. Especially the one who doesn't know to ask for things on the shelves! Lily was a little hesitant about the playdate. Apparently she "called" me several times while she was there to tell me she was doing okay, then to see where I was, and then to see when I was coming back to get her.

Imogene played her first game of Ring Around the Rosy today. We sing it during Speech Therapy so she gets the concept. It was precious watching her try and shuffle around in a circle. She loved the falling down part. I remember this about Lily -she always fell down early, and so does Imogene. The best part - when she fell down she would lay all the way down and pretend to go to sleep! She has such a personality and knows when she's being funny or silly.

Catching Up Again!

Except for Stella & Dot, things really have been pretty routine for us in August, which is SO nice for a change.

Last Sunday at church we were the volunteers in the 4 year old room.

 Imogene sat right up at the table with the big kids and ate her snack!

This is in Old Navy. For some reason Lily HAD to have her picture taken. It's fascinating to me how much more outgoing ages 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 have been for her. Last week another parent at church said, "I heard you are going to Maine and the water will be really cold so you won't swim. And that Bill can't fly with y'all so he'll drive and pick you up at the airport." All of that came straight from Lily. She's so social these days - always chatting up adults and kids alike!

Lily and I went to Carter's one Sunday to get a few back-to-school things. She tried them on when we got home, and someone else tugged at her clothes and fussed and fussed until we let her try them on too!

I shudder to think how much ice cream and sorbet these too have eaten this summer!

Yet another trip to the soft playroom with Lucy & Lola! The lighting in there is so strange! Lola and Imogene were very proud to be sitting together.

Trying out a new frozen yogurt place. Imogene would not put the spoon down.

Put them together and that would have been cute of the two of them! 

A little therapy update. In OT we're sort of letting Imogene dictate things, what with her insistence on walking around everywhere. She rips the hand splint off every time I put it on, so we're taking a break from that. Her SPIO compression suit came, and she's tolerating it okay. She'll wear it a lot more in the fall when it's not so blazing hot. It's a very thick material, and there's no way she could have it on outside. As far as PT goes, we haven't stopped to celebrate the walking for a second. Still full-steam ahead. Imogene is dragging her right leg, and not bearing near enough weight on it - she almost "limps" sometimes. She will need a brace on her foot/leg to help her stop turning it out. We will wait until we see Dr. Morozova in October to get her opinions on what the best brace is. She is also hyper-extending her knee, but I haven't yet figured out what the solution to that is! But in all, it's just so exciting that she's walking at 19 months! And she's so much happier to be able to walk around like everyone else. Last night we walked around after eating supper and she was just squealing/screaming in delight. She entertained the entire shopping/dining area we were in! 

I know, I know

Way behind on the blog. It's been a busy week for me in the evenings, which is when I get my "blog on."
But I wanted to share these two funny Lily stories.

Today I said "Lily, I'm not liking this attitude you have today very much."
Lily: "Okay, I'll un-attitude now."

Lucy to Lily: "My Barbie's name is Cinderella."
Lily to Lucy: "Mine's name is Merliah, and she has big boobies."
Thanks to some wonderful ladies in the area, last night's launch of my mini-career as a stylist for Stella & Dot was a huge success. I think people had a great time hanging out and playing dress-up! And I'm really excited for what's to come with this venture. It's such a fantastic company.

I promise to update more this weekend!

To the River We Went!

Last night we had a great time on the Severn River, near Annapolis, at a party hosted by Bill's friends from Washington & Lee. It was such fun to see Amy and Anne Van, and all of Bill's other "W&L girls!"

We could not have asked for better weather this weekend. Today was rainy, but every now and then that's not so bad! Yesterday was perfect though, and we spent a ton of it outside.

Lily could not get enough of the crab baskets on the dock. Her persistence paid off in the end when we finally saw a basket with 5 crabs in it!

Imogene is really having a good time these days being able to move around on her own. At church this morning she just walked around the fellowship hall during coffee hour. So mobile and curious! And SO proud of herself.

Lily was such a social, outgoing thing at the party. She is really growing up - even 6 months ago she would have clung to one of us the entire time. But she made friends with the other kids there, and was very talkative to all the adults.

Swinging by the water, what could be better?

Imogene looks so "over it" but Lily and I were having a great time!

Our Stella & Dot jewelry arrived! Lily couldn't have been happier to model her little girls' pieces for me. And of course strike some silly pose.

Sweet Little Friends

I'm working like a real business woman getting my Stella & Dot shows up and running, but wanted to share this sweet little story. Lucy & Lola have been out of town for about 10 days. Lily told everyone that she saw in the last 24 hours that Lucy was going to be home today. She's really missed her friend. I had no idea how much Imogene missed her buddies! We pulled up in front of their house and Imogene started squealing and laughing and screaming as soon as she saw them in the door. She was so, so excited to see them! She walked all over and you could tell was very proud of herself that Tracie was so proud of her. When we were leaving she was standing next to Lola who was sitting on a little step. I asked Imogene to give Lola a hug. She leaned over and put her head on Lola's leg, and then when I said "can you give her a kiss?" Imogene took the pacifier out of Lola's mouth and kissed her! It was just too cute and the first real sign I've seen Imogene show of the love of a friend! Then Imogene was just waving and I think she might have even blown a kiss!

Our Little Firecracker...

Imogene is obsessed with walking downstairs. All.By.Herself. And by that I mean she does not want you to even touch her while she's trying. She screams and swats at you if you try to help her. Let me make it clear that she cannot do the stairs by herself. She wants to, so badly. But it's just not possible for her to do it - she's only 18 months old! Even if she does it more in a sitting fashion the right leg always gets caught up under her. So today I carried her, pitching a fit, down the stairs to the basement. Darn it if she didn't turn around, crawl right back up the stairs, stand up at the top, and start trying to walk down. Feisty, Determined little thing.

Can't I just Slow Down?

Nope, I just cannot. An opportunity came along and I just had to take it. I am now a new stylist for Stella & Dot jewelry, and I'm really excited. Selling Just Ducky clothes is one of my favorite times of the year, and this I think gives me an opportunity to continue that 'vibe' I get from it through out the year. And it allows me to work with more than just moms who like cute clothes! Everyone can be in the market for jewelry! Stella & Dot (www.stelladot.com/laurensigler) is a jewelry company sold exclusively through home trunk shows and stylist websites/contacts. So, if you are looking for a way to get some great jewelry virtually free - let me do a trunk show for you! or need a gift for a special woman or girl?  you know where to go! Really, this is so great for me. I really want an opportunity to bring income to the family, especially with our never-ending medical needs! I love working with people, and I love making people feel good, whether it is by treating themselves, or finding something special for someone else. So I'm excited, have I said that yet?

This weekend we took the girls for a walk up to a shopping area where Lily always asks to put money in the fountain. This time she was throwing in her coins and had her eyes shut tight. I asked her what she was doing and she said "that's how people make wishes." It absolutely melted both Bill and me. Later she insisted on telling me what she wished for "because you shouldn't have secrets." She wished to be a princess and a ballerina when she grows up.

Imogene is ridiculously tickled with her ability to walk. She walks all over the house just back and forth, back and forth. We were walking through the same fountain area this weekend and she would just look up and people and say "hi" like she'd been doing that all her life. We went to eat lunch with Bill today and I said "wave bye to Daddy." She looked at him and just did the absolutely most precious little wave. She is super feisty and frustrated a lot of the time, but most of the time she is a sweet little gift.
Don't even get me started on how sleep is going for her though!

Aunt Jill's Photo Shoot

I wanted to get these pictures up of our last morning with Aunt Jill. Not sure if I'll get a real blog post up tonight. We took a long walk this afternoon and I'm just wiped!

Jill tried to put Imogene in her lap - she screamed of course because it wasn't exactly what she wanted to do at that exact moment. So Lily offered to pose for me.

Jill is giving Imogene a peace offering - pictures of dogs on her camera.

Meanwhile, in 'show-off' land...

This is as good as we could get. I like it!

She's on the Move

Imogene is very proud of herself for getting around on her own!

Pay no attention to the gigantic mosquito bite on her forehead.

Walking and carrying a drink around at the same time!

And of course someone else wants in on the action.

Lily has watched "Barbie and the Mermaid Tale" about 6 times in the last week. Part of the discussion in the movie is being human v. being mermaid. Lily just asked me "I'm human right?" As I said to Jill yesterday, I really hope that her reading comprehension is as good as her movie comprehension! She has the dialogue memorized, and even repeats the lines "in character." She totally gets the intonation and attitude in the character's voices. Oh this kid!

The girls and  I took a quick trip to the zoo on Monday. We visited the komodo dragon - Lily's first time seeing it. I am not a fan of reptiles AT ALL. So it was big of me to take this picture, since it's one of Bill's favorite animals at the zoo. Lily saw this picture and said "Can we go see that dragon again, and can I wear those jeans, and those shoes, and that shirt, and that headband, and my hair in a ponytail and carry that little baby panda that I got?" She's nothing but thorough. She also really enjoys going into the reptile house and seeing the "Gigantic snake." I can only assume she's referring to the anaconda they have because I have not been in there in very, very long time. I was so thankful that there was a line to get in, so that I could pull the "we don't have time for that today" card. She wants me to go see that snake so badly, and I just cannot do it!

Walking...for your love...

Our little love is walking! Imogene takes anywhere from 5-20 steps at a time now. She pulls herself up off the floor to standing without any help. She is so proud of herself. The cutest thing is when she plays music on her fridge toy, she turns in a circle and "dances."  Tonight I was in the kitchen and I heard feet coming my way. Expecting Lily, I looked over and it was Imogene! She keeps her left arm up in the air for balance. Her right leg is definitely doing something different than the left. Amy said during OT today that she is dragging that leg. We'll see how Susan describes it tomorrow. She turns her right foot out just a bit as well. We noticed all this when she first started taking steps, and Susan said it was possible she would need a brace. Last week we didn't really talk much about the walking, so we'll see what happens tomorrow. We are still planning to try some kinesiotape on her foot, as well as working on getting the SPIO suit/vest ordered.
OT went very well today. Imogene tolerated the E-stim machine well, and let Amy and I hold her left arm down and she used her right arm without much fussing. Amy said it was one of her best sessions.
My aunt, Jill, is here visiting us this week. It's funny to me that Lily calls her "Aunt Jill." I've always just called her "Jill," but now I say "Aunt Jill" too! Jill is always a big help and I enjoy her being here very much. Yesterday we took the girls to play with some Westminster friends at the soft playroom. Imogene walked all over the place there - I think the plastic flooring with the cushioning really allowed her to get a good grip and take off. She was in heaven! Jill also got to go see our little fish swim this afternoon. Lily is just taking off in the pool. She still wants to wear her 'water-wings' but will put her face in the water and swim. Today she swam "backstroke." She'll jump in without anyone catching her and go under. She actually puts herself under and loves it. I'm so excited that she likes the water so much. It really makes going to the pool a lot more fun with the two of them. Last week's swim lessons were well worth it!
Again, I need to thank my mom and my sister for being here last weekend while we went away. From both their 'reports' Lily was an angel to her sister, and to them. They both said that we don't need to leave directions, because Lily tells you everything you need to know about both her care, and Imogene's.

A Wedding at the Castle, and a Night with Trump

One of my very oldest friends married this weekend at Oheka Castle on Long Island. Bill and I were so glad we got to go, since the week started off waiting to see if he could travel. The weather was absolutely perfect the entire time. Thanks so VERY, VERY much to Aunt Susan and Naney for taking such good care of the girls while we were away. We didn't get much rest, but we had such a great time with friends and each other!
I'll begin with pictures of the castle. (www.oheka.com - check it out to see the history of the home!) I took these on Friday night at the wedding, and then Saturday morning, for the 'day-after' breakfast. You can see the weather was just spectacular.

The front entrance to the castle. When we arrived Friday night, there were no cars outside, just valets!

More from the front.

That's the driveway where we came in. Quite an entrance.

Gardens along the entrance way.

Helipad. You can't really see, but it has the castle logo painted on it.

Not sure if you can tell, but the roof, with it's very cool shingles, was sinking. 

We assume that is not on purpose. 

Here's some wedding pictures!

The back of the castle. Heading to the ceremony site. Our friend Erin (wonderful girlfriend of our friend Andrew) flew from London, and walked all over the place on crutches on a very bad knee recovering from surgery! What a trooper she was. 

Ceremony took place at end of these gardens.

Reflecting pools.

The tree-lined paths lined either side of the garden, and served as aisles (one for groom and one for bride) leading up to the ceremony.

My friend Andy, the groom, is Korean, and the goose is a symbol of fidelity in Korean culture.

The ceremony site. Andy made the 150 origami geese that are hanging from the top. 

I have a thing about taking pictures during a wedding ceremony. So I have none to share.

Everyone was given an egg (again with the geese symbol) - this was our table card. Inside was a rock with our table number on it. Andy, again!

You'd never know the week we'd just had! What perfect timing - we really needed to escape the chaos!

Libby and Suzanne wait for the ceremony to begin. 

Walking back to the castle for cocktail hour. Which included some absolutely amazing food - just appetizers! We ate, and ate and ate! 

I spent the greater part of middle school with Suzanne, and then high school and times at home during college with both these ladies. It was so fun to spend the weekend catching up - and picking right up where we left off the last time we were together!

The best man, our friend Andrew, and his fabulously fabulous, the aforementioned Erin.

After cocktail hour, we were seated on the other side of the castle at four long tables for dinner.

Dinner music.

The dinner side of the castle had a gorgeous view of the river.

The seating assigment card and menu.

Having fun.

Such an amazing setting!

The big long tables.

Mr & Mrs Kwon!

After dinner there was dancing. My camera was not cooperating!

What I should have taken a picture of, but was too preoccupied, was the dessert room that opened during dancing. They had at least 7 tables of everything you could imagine. Sorbet, Mousse, creme brulee, baked alaska, cheesecakes, pies, cookies, pastries, and the wedding cake. It was out of this world. The room smelled like chocolate. By far my favorite part of the night. I almost cried when a waiter, while my back was turned, took my mousse away before I was done.

When we went back Saturday morning I took a few more pictures. This is the library (champagne was served here prior to the ceremony.) 

That's Otto Kahn Hermann, who was the original owner of the Castle. (His name makes up OHEKA).

The main entrance entry way. I liked the ceiling.

Taking it all  in one last time...

That was the wedding ... Saturday after the breakfast we all traveled by train and car to New York City and arrived here, where we stayed Saturday night.

Yep. That says Trump Tower. Suzanne's husband Chuck's aunt was so gracious and gave us use of her family's four bedroom suite at Trump Tower. It was absolutely perfect (of course!) and we had the best time getting to all hang out. Had we stayed in a hotel we would not have had near as much time together to just be relaxed and catch up. It was so lucky! 

One of the many amazing views. In this building we (sadly and obsessively) watched a young guy work in his office alone all weekend. When Suzanne got there Thursday night he was working, in the same clothes Friday morning, and then he was back all day Saturday and then still there when we left Sunday. We were so obsessed with this poor fellow. What on EARTH was he working on? We'll never know.

This is the view from our room. 

From the living room. 

We also had a view of the flagship store of Abercrombie and Fitch, where there was a line to get in the entire weekend. What were they selling? Oh the mysteries of NYC.

The sitting room, where we made ourselves comfortable for the remainder of the weekend.Thank you Aunt Cindy!

Heading out to dinner (after 6 pm and with no kids! What a treat!!!)

Suzanne and Chuck chose a very cool and delicious Chinese restaurant.

Interesting to have Chinese restaurants in New York and Mexico City.

What a fun group to spend a fantastic weekend with - thanks to all of you! 

We went into the American Girl store for a minute and I got Lily a little something. When I told her about the store and that I'd take her there, she said "Can we go tomorrow?" And asked me again today. Apparently I'm making a trip to NYC again soon - hoping Suzanne and her daughter can meet us! 

Whew, what a weekend!