In December the construction on a new YMCA-YWCA facility was completed near our home. To say we were excited doesn't quite cover it. All the girls want to take swimming lessons, gymnastics classes and really do anything at the new Y. They've already packed their gym bags in anticipation of going.
This week our prior gym membership was done and we joined the new Y.
We took a tour and the first place they showed us was the swimming area. It contains a lap pool, a swimming area for the kids with a gradual entry area for the young ones and a lazy river. As soon as Zoe saw all the fun, she wanted her swimming suit on NOW. She was ready. Much to her disappointment, we didn't have our swimming suits and we weren't going swimming.
I tried negotiating with a 3 year old and gave her a list of things that had to happen before we could go swimming: take a rest (sleep), go to Grandma's house, Mommy gets home from work and THEN swimming. I repeated that list Monday night no less than 20 times.
Yesterday was the day. Things were getting checked off her list. We got our swimming suit on after Mommy got home and off we went.
She played, splashed, kicked, jumped and got splashed. We did songs and games from her prior swimming classes. She had a blast.
I think she was even dreaming of swimming because when I put her blanket on her last night she started kicking.
She's a fish just like her mom.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
I'm Not Sure I Have The Skillz
One of N's favorite hobbies is video games. He's a total gamer. The top thing on his wishlist is a laptop designed for gaming. You can ask him anything about any video game and he can rattle off stats. It's like telling you the RBI's and batting average of every player on your favorite baseball team. It's a little eerie too.
About three months ago some friends of ours came over. They are both young, sweet and newlyweds. They sometimes play World of Warcraft together. Angela, the young wife, went on and on about how much fun it is. Since that dinner N has kept mentioning how much fun it would be if I were to just give World of Warcraft a try.
I hate this game. N can spend days playing this game. Days. Only come up for air when he's hungry. I don't like video games that much, let alone a game that can suck days out of you.
I will say N's been much better about limiting his time on the game, so the issues I have with the game are from past experience not current. However, I'm not too keen on combat games.
In an effort to bond with N, I decided I would try. I told him he could have 15 minutes of my time to teach me all about the world. After 15 minutes, I would be done. I may never play it again, but he needs to stop saying, "Angela plays it."
I created a character, played for my 15 minutes and actually liked it.
Don't tell N.
About three months ago some friends of ours came over. They are both young, sweet and newlyweds. They sometimes play World of Warcraft together. Angela, the young wife, went on and on about how much fun it is. Since that dinner N has kept mentioning how much fun it would be if I were to just give World of Warcraft a try.
I hate this game. N can spend days playing this game. Days. Only come up for air when he's hungry. I don't like video games that much, let alone a game that can suck days out of you.
I will say N's been much better about limiting his time on the game, so the issues I have with the game are from past experience not current. However, I'm not too keen on combat games.
In an effort to bond with N, I decided I would try. I told him he could have 15 minutes of my time to teach me all about the world. After 15 minutes, I would be done. I may never play it again, but he needs to stop saying, "Angela plays it."
I created a character, played for my 15 minutes and actually liked it.
Don't tell N.
Monday, February 8, 2010
12 Adults + 15 Kids = Super
Yesterday our small group decided to put our study aside and enjoy some good fellowship. Our hosts had the perfect house for a group our size. The kids were either in their kids's bedrooms playing or down in the basement playing. The men were in the family room watching the Super Bowl together. The women were in the dining room chatting about life.
I think, between the 6 ladies, we asked "now who's playing again?" only maybe 6 times. I have to say that's pretty good considering we were trying to track down kids, hold down conversations, eat as much yummy food as we could, convince the kiddos they needed to eat something and plan a Valentine party for next week.
I missed every single play, every single commercial and had the best time ever.
Thank you Steve and Jorene for opening your home. It was super.
I think, between the 6 ladies, we asked "now who's playing again?" only maybe 6 times. I have to say that's pretty good considering we were trying to track down kids, hold down conversations, eat as much yummy food as we could, convince the kiddos they needed to eat something and plan a Valentine party for next week.
I missed every single play, every single commercial and had the best time ever.
Thank you Steve and Jorene for opening your home. It was super.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
I Think I Blinked
I have no idea where the last couple years went. We've lost some teeth, gotten some new ones. We've cut off some hair and grown some new.
How blessed we are.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Footloose and Fancy Three
On Saturday we celebrated Zoe's 3rd birthday with her friends and their families. When you're making invitations for the party you begin to come to the realization that your child is more popular than you.
At age 3, she had 27 kids on her invite list. If you add their parents and my family, you've got about 60 people on the list. Sixty people for a 3 year old's party. I don't even think there would be 60 people on the list for my birthday!
The theme was music, so we spend a good portion of the afternoon sweating to the oldies. At this point I would like to thank Richard Simmons for teaching me how throw a killer dance/workout party. I would also like to thank The Wiggles for making approximately 6,012 songs that played throughout the party non-stop. If it weren't for these two things, the 16 children that came wouldn't have been half as entertained as they were.
We played a little freeze dancing, musical islands (like musical chairs, but with poster board taped to the floor instead of chairs), more freeze dancing, some Ring Around the Rosey, London Bridges and more freeze dancing.
Then we made some kazoos out of empty toilet paper rolls, construction paper, stickers and wax paper.
We realized we still had 45 minutes of time to fill. Those 3 year olds need a new activity every 10 minutes. Just like in the 90's, all that sweating to the oldies really knocks it out of a girl.
We did a parade around the building with our new kazoos. If you've never seen a kazoo band of 3 year olds, I highly recommend it. If you've never heard a kazoo band of 3 year olds, I don't recommend it.
I'm not sure if it was a combination of sweating and deafness, but we decided to take a small break to eat cake. I have to spend a moment on the cake. It was absolutely to die for. Diana at Happy Cake Co. made it for me. All I told her was it was a music party and we're doing pink, black and white. This is what she came up with:
I had a really hard time cutting into it. I can tell you it tasted as awesome as it looked.
One equation all the sweating and deafness made me forget is sugar + toddlers = hyper!
Fortunately it was around nap time, so we sent all the kiddos home with their kazoos and sugar rushes.
It was a great party with great people. They all made Zoe feel special and loved. What more could you ask of your child's friends?
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
We Need To Set An Alarm Next Year
So I mentioned that I'm an overachiever mom who likes to make a big deal out of birthdays. I've been waiting for Zoe's birthday for the entire month just to see if our card made the Sunny Side-Up show on Sprout. Unfortunately you have no way of knowing if your card made it beforehand.
At 6:30 I got online to see if her card was out there and if there was any mention of making the show. The card was on-line, along with 25 other cards. Our chances of making it on the show were slim. There were some amazing cards for some other overachiever parents.
At 7:15 last Tuesday morning I got a call from my mom. Her voice was high pitched and I think I could understand that my card made the show. Apparently the host even gave some kuddos to the card. I couldn't wait to get home that night and watch the re-cap of the morning show. Zoe doesn't wake up until 9:30-10:00 in the morning, so I knew we'd be seeing it in the evening.
We went to dinner, went to see N at his work, had an impromptu party with daddy and then rushed home. Zoe fell asleep on the way home, but I wasn't going to let her sleep. We were moments away from her card being on the television. Along with the Sprout folks wishing her a happy birthday.
That's when we discovered that the morning birthdays are different that the night ones.
Her card made the show, my mom saw it, but Zoe has absolutely no idea that she was on television.
It was a sad day for this mommy.
At least Zoe had "the best birthday ever!"
At 6:30 I got online to see if her card was out there and if there was any mention of making the show. The card was on-line, along with 25 other cards. Our chances of making it on the show were slim. There were some amazing cards for some other overachiever parents.
At 7:15 last Tuesday morning I got a call from my mom. Her voice was high pitched and I think I could understand that my card made the show. Apparently the host even gave some kuddos to the card. I couldn't wait to get home that night and watch the re-cap of the morning show. Zoe doesn't wake up until 9:30-10:00 in the morning, so I knew we'd be seeing it in the evening.
We went to dinner, went to see N at his work, had an impromptu party with daddy and then rushed home. Zoe fell asleep on the way home, but I wasn't going to let her sleep. We were moments away from her card being on the television. Along with the Sprout folks wishing her a happy birthday.
That's when we discovered that the morning birthdays are different that the night ones.
Her card made the show, my mom saw it, but Zoe has absolutely no idea that she was on television.
It was a sad day for this mommy.
At least Zoe had "the best birthday ever!"
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Making of Our Family - Part IX
One of the hardest things I've ever had to do as a mother is to leave my child. I had spent 18 days down the hall from her. I could see her each day, check on her, talk to her nurses. For 18 days I was an active part in her life.
I had to leave her. I had to go home. There was no reason for me to be at the hospital. Now I had to heal and be the mommy she needed. There were days I knew what that was and there were days I felt completely inadequate to be her mommy. Our emotional rollercoaster was only beginning. On Valentine's day we got word that Zoe was doing so well that they had moved her to the Intermediate Care Nursery. It was the move before she could come home.
We had been warned that babies born as early as Zoe could go between the NICU and the ICN several times before coming home. We couldn't wait to have her home. Even though we had heard the warning, we hadn't believed it would apply to us.
It would be another 59 days until she could come home.
It would be another 236 hours spent in the car driving back and forth to the hospital.
There were many days where she'd forget to breathe and have an episode. She would develop bradycardia (the heart stops beating) due to her apnea (forgetting to breathe). There were times when I'd watch the monitors and see her breathing stop and her skin turn blue. I had to learn to stimulate her.
Her first bath was in the NICU. Her first bottle was in the NICU. She met D & E from her isolet in the NICU. It was as though N and I had 67 days of training under the watchful eye of medical professionals. Many days I was too weak to spend more than 90 minutes with her. The roundrip added another 2 hours. I could barely function for the first couple weeks because I was so weak.
N and I watched as our daughter fought to survive. Each day that she fought, so did we. We became a team, a unit during this trial. While we still had much more work to do before our unit was a real family, the foundation was laid by Him through Zoe. Her birth prompted in us a radical change that should've been done long before N and I said "I do."
As I look back on this time, so many things were orchestrated by Him, long before we ever realized what we would encounter. I picked a hospital close to work because I selfishly wanted my vacation time. Yet the hospital closest to work is the only hospital with a NICU in the area and a trauma unit. If we had gone to any other hospital, Zoe would've ended up at the this NICU and we would've been separated. I probably would've have survived.
The doctor who ended up fixing my liver is one of the top surgeons in the nation. He just happened to be eating in the cafe as he waited for a meeting to start. He wasn't supposed to be at the hospital that day.
Nurse Becky's sister is a NICU nurse at the hospital. She kept a watchful eye on Zoe when we couldn't be there. All of my nurses and doctors were the best you could find.
My mom was able to use FMLA to be with us for most of my recovery. Without her being there, I probably wouldn't have recovered at all.
Our colleagues and friends that we had there made sure our nursery was stocked when we came home. They did my shopping and prepared us materially for Zoe's arrival.
Our church family here prayed for us, encouraged us and welcomed us home.
It was as though He was showing us all that we had to look forward to once our foundation was in Him. Losing our control wasn't easy nor fun, but once we did it, we have reaped the blessings tenfold.
Every time I hear Zoe take a deep breath over the monitor at night I'm reminded of what each of those breaths means. They are a reminder of where we've come from.
Our journey is a string of moments where God is shaping our lives to bring Him glory.
I had to leave her. I had to go home. There was no reason for me to be at the hospital. Now I had to heal and be the mommy she needed. There were days I knew what that was and there were days I felt completely inadequate to be her mommy. Our emotional rollercoaster was only beginning. On Valentine's day we got word that Zoe was doing so well that they had moved her to the Intermediate Care Nursery. It was the move before she could come home.
We had been warned that babies born as early as Zoe could go between the NICU and the ICN several times before coming home. We couldn't wait to have her home. Even though we had heard the warning, we hadn't believed it would apply to us.
It would be another 59 days until she could come home.
It would be another 236 hours spent in the car driving back and forth to the hospital.
There were many days where she'd forget to breathe and have an episode. She would develop bradycardia (the heart stops beating) due to her apnea (forgetting to breathe). There were times when I'd watch the monitors and see her breathing stop and her skin turn blue. I had to learn to stimulate her.
Her first bath was in the NICU. Her first bottle was in the NICU. She met D & E from her isolet in the NICU. It was as though N and I had 67 days of training under the watchful eye of medical professionals. Many days I was too weak to spend more than 90 minutes with her. The roundrip added another 2 hours. I could barely function for the first couple weeks because I was so weak.
N and I watched as our daughter fought to survive. Each day that she fought, so did we. We became a team, a unit during this trial. While we still had much more work to do before our unit was a real family, the foundation was laid by Him through Zoe. Her birth prompted in us a radical change that should've been done long before N and I said "I do."
As I look back on this time, so many things were orchestrated by Him, long before we ever realized what we would encounter. I picked a hospital close to work because I selfishly wanted my vacation time. Yet the hospital closest to work is the only hospital with a NICU in the area and a trauma unit. If we had gone to any other hospital, Zoe would've ended up at the this NICU and we would've been separated. I probably would've have survived.
The doctor who ended up fixing my liver is one of the top surgeons in the nation. He just happened to be eating in the cafe as he waited for a meeting to start. He wasn't supposed to be at the hospital that day.
Nurse Becky's sister is a NICU nurse at the hospital. She kept a watchful eye on Zoe when we couldn't be there. All of my nurses and doctors were the best you could find.
My mom was able to use FMLA to be with us for most of my recovery. Without her being there, I probably wouldn't have recovered at all.
Our colleagues and friends that we had there made sure our nursery was stocked when we came home. They did my shopping and prepared us materially for Zoe's arrival.
Our church family here prayed for us, encouraged us and welcomed us home.
It was as though He was showing us all that we had to look forward to once our foundation was in Him. Losing our control wasn't easy nor fun, but once we did it, we have reaped the blessings tenfold.
Every time I hear Zoe take a deep breath over the monitor at night I'm reminded of what each of those breaths means. They are a reminder of where we've come from.
Our journey is a string of moments where God is shaping our lives to bring Him glory.
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