Summer Fun

In case I don't get to blog tomorrow,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNY BURLINGTON MARKHAM!

You're probably going through what we've been through this week.

H-O-T HOT HOT HOT.  

Will turned four on Monday, so we celebrated his big day at the park with a baseball party. Lily was very dedicated to the baseball game, and didn't even go to the playground when the other girls did. She stuck with the game the entire time!

Our neighbor makes amazing cakes - this was a baseball field, complete with stands made out of rice krispie treats. The infield was crushed graham crackers, which amazed Lily. There was a big "W" like the Nationals logo, but not for Washington, but WILL!

Taking a whack at the pinata.

How cute is Lily's "brother" Will?

Camp ended this week, sadly for Mommy and Lily. One day this week they did face painting - one of Lily's most favorite things to do! 

Apparently this panda bear face was her FIFTH painting of the day! 

Go to Sleep!

The other night as the girls were finishing their dinner Bill came home and pretended to sleep on the table. Lily started to play along and then he would wake up all startled, Imogene finds this hysterical. So she starts laying her head to one side and then hopping up giggling. She's doing this all the time now. She will lay cradled in our arms and laugh and wait for us to say "wake up!"

This is the girls pretending to be asleep.

Daddy pretending to sleep. Poor guy probably wished he was really asleep!

Lily and Imogene pretending again. Imogene wouldn't shut her eyes...

So Lily helped her out. You can see how Imogene felt about this based on the expression in her mouth!

Then Lily needed me to take her picture, while she was dancing. I have to say, she's got a decent bit of rhythm and is always 'changing up' her moves!

Quick Update

To start with, if you live in our area, you probably heard Bill and I and our friend Adam screaming outside when the US finally scored to advance into the next round of the World Cup. It was such a stressful game, and until the moment the ball finally went into the net, I was pretty sure we were done for. Wow! Don't call us on Saturday 2:30 pm - we'll be glued to the TV!

Imogene has a case of viral strep. Poor thing - Dr. Baldrate could see 8 or 9 little sores on the back of her throat. She slept this morning for a while, after not sleeping much last night. Hoping she'll be feeling better by the end of the week. I know, now, why she was grabbing at her tongue these last few days like she had a hair in her mouth or something. Her throat really hurts!

Imogene's Turn

Just when we had Lily back to a pretty happy girl most of the day, Imogene goes and gets a fever of 103. She was just miserable this afternoon and so lethargic. She slept in my lap or cried into my shoulder most of the afternoon. Thanks to the Jones family for having Lily over and feeding her supper. (Again!) Imogene's culture from Friday came back negative (although I question the accuracy of this test, since I'm the one that pulled the sample from the diaper and put it in the test tube, but anyway.)  But the nurse at Dr. Baldrate's didn't like the sound of the fever after so many days of a messy tummy. So we're going to see Dr. Baldrate first thing tomorrow morning. That will make four visits in the past five weeks. We're on a roll. She woke up tonight after about an hour of sleep. She slept in Mommy's arms for about 20 minutes, and is back asleep in the bed. I could just feel that her fever was still high by touching her.
Unrelated, but sort of not. This train of though went through my head today. I saw a girl and her mom on a walk. The girl was about 11, and clearly had CP and possibly Downs Syndrome. Her CP was much more serious than Imogene's. Immediately I thank God that we're not dealing with more than we are (which makes me feel slightly guilty, because that's really not fair to her family, but what can you do about how you feel?) Then I think about what we'd do if Imogene had another stroke or developed seizures. For that matter, what if something happens to Lily? What if Lily had a stroke? Sometimes I forget (on purpose) that Lily is not immune to anything. I really sometimes think she's like Teflon and nothing will go wrong with her, because it's already gone wrong with Imogene and isn't that just enough for one family? And then I think, goodness gracious being a parent is just too much on your heart sometimes. How does anyone with children take a deep breath every day? What an awesome responsibilty and love it is to be a parent, and to be so madly, bonkers in love with these little people that you'd rip yourself in pieces to make them happy, healthy and safe. How do any of us survive loving that much? What crazy trip are we on I ask you????

Happy Father's Day!

We're having a lovely day. Save for the part where Lily woke up at 530 am coughing, and finally went back to sleep at 630 am, and then refused to say sorry for something she did this morning for about an hour, the day has been very nice. We spent this morning swimming and ate lunch at the pool. This evening we're going "for a big night out" as Lily says - dinner is a big night out on a Sunday.
This has been a long week - how many times have I said that? Lily just wasn't herself, and had a tough time getting geared up to go to "Camp" at school. She perked up by Thursday and Friday. I'm not sure she shed a single tear from sadness during the entire year at school, but cried enough Tuesday at camp that the school called me to see if I thought her rash was still bothering her. Oh, Lily. She and Bill had a great time at a poolside birthday party yesterday. And we all enjoyed "Saturday in the Park" with church friends yesterday morning, and a nice dinner with our friends John, Jessica and their two girls last night. All around nice, uneventful weekend. Did I mention we've watched a LOT of soccer? Don't get us started on the "phantom goal" - we just want the US to win this week and control the group!
Imogene hasn't had the best week either. She's had a mess of a week with her stomach so I took her to the pediatrician Friday afternoon. I'll spare you the details, but I provided them a sample from Imogene's diaper, and they'll check it to make sure it's not more than just a virus. She also had speech therapy Friday afternoon. DeeDee watched her eat a little bit, and then we worked on some words and signs. She thought Imogene might be pushing food to the left side of her mouth (she put a straw in the front of her mouth, and she bit it, and moved it immediately to the left.) Pt went pretty well Thursday. At one point she was wearing her Theratogs, a "walking-wing," electronic stimulation on her leg, and her splint. It was quite a sight. She is dragging her right foot a little at the ankle, so we'll watch it and try to get her to step up as much as we can - this helps her with the dorsiflexion of her ankle.
Lily has camp again this week at school. Hopefully she'll be in better spirits!

Argh

Imogene is 17 months old today!

This just hasn't been our best week. Lily is just not herself. Screaming about things that usually wouldn't bother her.And I mean screaming and crying and kicking and hitting and just not pleasant. It's getting really bad. I had to physically remove her from a friends' house today and we had to take reading at bedtime away, which we hate doing, and she hates losing. I've been researching how long prednisone stays in your system. Please let it be the prednisone and not some terrible new behavioural trait. She's just nutty. I am also sure she's testing me, to see how far I'll let her go. I know it's her age, but she just isn't usually like this to this degree, so we're really, really hoping it's the steroids.
Imogene is so, so, so clingy. If she wants me to hold her, she will stop at nothing, including clawing my legs, until I pick her up. She will not let me leave the room for more than 2 seconds. Let's just say I'm getting virtually nothing done these days. She had a pretty good OT session today. We started the electronic stimulation on her arm. Imogene did not like this very much, but tolerated it. Apparently we're going to do her foot as well, and will most likely need our own machine at home. She's also started dragging her right foot when she is cruising or walking while holding your hands. PT Susan said a brace is possible, but we'll tackle that once we see what she's really doing, since she said Imogene hasn't developed any hard and fast walking patterns at this point. Susan then encouraged me to take deep breaths and take each day as it comes, which I'm trying hard to do!
We have had some good trips to the pool this week. Lily and Imogene both absolutely love the water. Although Imogene gets pretty angry that we won't let her go and walk around in the big pool, she is really at ease in the water. Lily is getting more comfortable in the water each day, and would rather be in the big pool than the baby pool. I'm working on setting up lessons for her. My favorite summer memories as a child are of the pool and swim team and the beach, so it makes me really happy they like the water. I can't help but think of swim team whenever we get a late afternoon thunderstorm, especially on Thursday nights, which was meet night for the Wildewood Swim Team!

Dance Recital

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Nancy Koglin Vosburgh!

Lily's recital for her ballet class was yesterday afternoon. I really had bad luck with the camera lighting. My pictures are not good.  But she did a really good job and seemed to have a great time. It was REALLY long, and they sat in rooms and played between their performances. That alone is impressive - they were "backstage" for over 3 hours. God bless the moms who stayed in the rooms with them! Thanks to Naney, Grunny, Charlie, Erin and the Jones family for coming to support our little dancer! She must have asked 100 times - "Did I do awesome?"

Impossible to tell, but she's on the far left. This was their "Indian" dance.

After the recital with her friends Sarah and Lucy. I made them the little bouquets and they were too busy admiring them to all look at us at the same time. (A little aside...outside when we were leaving this little girl from Lily's class was sobbing her eyes out because she wanted flowers like everybody else. "Where are my flowers?" she kept saying. Gut-wrenching. My heart ached for her and her parents!)

Our beautiful ballerina. 

Naney gave her a charm bracelet after the recital. I love the look on her face!

This afternoon she tried on all her costumes again. This is the "woodland creature" outfit. (She was also a dog - from 101 Dalmatians. It was a Disney Theme. Did I tell you it lasted forever?)

Here you can see the face painting she received at the church picnic today. She got two on her face, one on her arm and one on her hand, plus two tattoos. Lily loves face painting, but she also loved spending that time with Maggie and the other "big" girls at church! On her face are a baseball and a flower. I really think Lily is a good mix of sporty and girly-girl - and her face is a good example! 

Naney got her an "I love sports" charm and a dance charm - perfect!

Cup Runneth Over

Today I was totally and completely overwhelmed by the very generous and gracious gift from a group of dear friends. What they did (although ridiculously fabulous and such treats for me!) isn't really as important as how wonderful it made me feel. So much so that I've cried every time I've tried to talk about it today. It absolutely knocked me over with love and gratitude to feel that great big "hug." So to Melissa, Delaine, Tracie, Alexis, Tess, Meredith, Laura, Megan, and Perrin, I say thank you, thank you, thank you. You are tremendously amazing mothers and friends.

Lily is much better. Save for a lot of tiny little 'scars/scabs' you'd never know she'd been so banged up this week. But boy, let me tell you I am excited that there is no more prednisone to take. She has been a nutcase  these last few days, and I really hope it's from the medicine, and not some new personality trait! This morning we went to the ENT for a follow-up on the fluid in her ears/hearing loss. The fluid is way down, and her hearing is back to "acceptable range." However, there is a possibility that the prednisone got rid of the fluid, and it could come back. So we'll go back in September to re-check everything. But good news that she doesn't need tubes this summer!
I also talked to Dr. Baldrate, and she is thinking the cause was viral. But since there is a chance she ate crabmeat on Sunday, we're going to test her in July for shellfish allergy. It will be such a bummer if she is allergic to it, since Bill & I love that type of food. That is, if in her lifetime she'll ever eat anything besides pasta, cheese or PB&J. We also now have an Epipen, should she have another break-out. So now we just hope that rash won't come back after the prednisone wears off.

Her ballet recital is tomorrow afternoon. Today at rehearsal she got a little upset. (A friend was a room mom and had me come get her a little early.) Apparently when they are the "101 Dalmatians" Cruella yells at them or something, which Lily was not prepared for at all. She was terrified. Hopefully tomorrow she'll be okay with it since she knows what's coming!

On the Mend

Lily is doing much better. She got her full 12 hours of sleep (what a life!) last night and despite a little 'prednisone-rage' about not watching a video in the car, she's had a great day. I'll be glad to be done with the prednisone tomorrow. Still waiting to talk to Dr. Baldrate about what on earth brought this on!

She asked me today to help her watch her doll Emily while she "got her food together." She said, "Mom, you can keep one eye on Imogene, and the other eye on Emily. That's what I do at school. I keep one eye on my art, and the other eye on my friends." I am not sure if she has heard us talking about what Miss Frances said about her not being able to focus during projects...but that's just crazy that she said that! 

For you Glee fans, here are Lily's observations from the season finale. (Of which I loved the music, but not sure how I feel about the way it ended.)

*While I'm fast-forwarding the beginning, "Why is Quinn laying down? Is she okay?" I think she's just hanging out Lily. "No Mom, that's not what she's doing. That's not hanging out."
*"Why is Artie's hair all different?" They did their hair nice for the big show, Lily. "Oh, well doesn't Finn's hair just look great?"
*"Don't you think Quinn's hair is just beautiful?"
*When I fast-forwarded the Vocal Adrenaline / Quinn's birth scene "Why can't I watch that part? They are singing Mom. You said I could watch the singing." Lily, that part is too grown-up. "It's okay mom, I'm okay to watch it even if it's silly grown-up."

We went up to Frederick on Sunday so that I could go to a baby shower, and Bill & the girls could have lunch with Grandpa Roy & Carol. On the way home Lily was watching a movie, and Imogene slept for about 20 minutes. About 20 minutes AFTER she woke up, Lily says "Hey guys, Imogene woke up from her nap."

At the end of the year at WWP, the teachers give out a letter with a little something written about each child. Lily's was "Lily is our high octane listener with a very accurate success rate." Basically I think she was saying "if you don't want to world to know, don't say it anywhere near Lily."

Last Day of School Party

Her last day as a "3 day 3!"

Imogene and Miss Patty had a great time together! 

These are just funny. I have about 5 more I could post - she was too funny in this little couch.

Special thanks to our friend Megan Pollock for making IBS this too cute shirt!

I think Imogene will be this happy the day she finally gets to stay at WWP!

Lily and her sweet pal Macey.

With Miss Frances and Miss Brandy.

This is the little brother of twins Lily has been in school with for the past two years. He is exactly 2 weeks older than Imogene. They were flirting!