Sonshine

My son just attended the Sonshine Christian Music Festival in Willmar.

With a friend.

In a tent.

For 5 days.

2 hours away from home.

He said it was "SWEET!"

....and I survived the trauma of leaving him there on his own.

Little Sweet Pea

Our little Sweet Pea is still a LITTLE sweet pea. It is so hard to believe that we have had the pleasure of holding her in our arms for two months already.

And yet, she is just now the size of a newborn.

Bethany now weighs in at 8 pounds 6 ounces, and is roughly 21-1/2 inches long.

She is beginning to awaken more from her usual slumberland days. The once content little girl that quietly graced the NICU is no longer.....

.....for she seems to be mainly unhappy at this world she has found herself living in, and is not shy in the least to tell us all how she feels. Car trips both short and long are rather unpleasant as she screams from the time she is put into her restraints until the time she is released. Thank goodness for the pacifier, as it will provide some solace from the incessant cries, PROVIDED someone is manually holding the thing in her teeny, tiny, but LOUD mouth. Though we try our best to appease her, no amount of holding, rocking, slinging, swinging, or singing seems to be enough to satisfy her days. The smiles that seemed to be so imminent from her lips last week have faded to a questionable memory. Grandmas and Grandpas seem to be the only ones who have the super powers necessary to keep her calm for extended periods of time. (OK, OK...she DID do very well and didn't complain at all last week when she suddenly had to take bottles of frozen milk for 3 days following a CT scan I had to undertake)

Though she may still be undecided about how she feels about us, we love her to pieces......from her soft brown hair, to her skinny little toes. Her sweet blue eyes shine with knowledge and wonderment as she learns more each day. We take in every happy moment, and relish the calm that occasionally is ours. We watch her grow, and speak lovingly to her, ever the while searching for that soon to come first smile. We hold her carefully and cherish her deeply.....she is our sweet little Sweet Pea.

Wizard of Oz

This summer, Jonny is honing in on some special skills....those of acting. It really seems to be his niche. We have searched for opportunities in the area that mesh with our schedule and challenge him to grow with his skills. Many we have tried, and we have been so pleasantly thrilled that he has gotten great instruction through many of them, and he continues to do well and loves it!This week he completed the Prairie Fire Children's Theater production of "The Wizard of Oz". Jonny played the part of the green guard at the gate of Oz. As usual, he played his role very well, and drew laughter from the crowd where appropriate. From auditions on Monday, to dress rehearsal and performance Friday of that same week, these kids have their acting on in full swing/high gear. The incredible thing is, each year, they pull it off!
This year was even better than last year, giving us a show that the little kids even wanted to see again the next day for the matinee performance. The kids did a great job (both as actors and audience), and everyone desrved the late night Dairy Queen treat after Friday Night's play. We are already looking forward to next year's production, whatever it may be.

For Jonny this summer: two theater camps down, two more to go!

And Happy 8 Week Birthday, Bethany!

Out of the Comfort Zone

Each summer, there is a trick to finding balance. Balance within the usually quiet home now bustling with constant motion from 8 children home from school and often a few of their friends added to the mix. Balance between playing all the time (kids and mom included) and still getting a few things done around the house under the category of "chores". Balance between eating the fun, summertime fare of hots dogs, chips, ice cream, and the like, and still maintaining some semblance of a healthy diet. Balance between scheduled activities like sports and theater, and unscheduled play around the neighborhood. And finally, in this house, balance between therapies and more therapies for the girls. And to be honest, the therapy schedules beat me down summer after summer. But not this year.....I found a loophole.

As the school year ends, so do the services Melissa receives that help her continue on her road to progress and a mainstreamed lifestyle of normalcy. Within just a few weeks, I see her skills deteriorating from lack of work and routine and constant reminders. We do little bits at home each day, but things do not compare to some of the intensive attention she gets from her team at school on a daily basis. Her speech has already become so sloppy as we reach summer's halfway point, that I find I am asking her to repeat herself nearly 50% of the time. Her body is tired, evidenced by the fact that on most occasions, you will find her playing with her things while lying down. Her pencil and utensil grasp is back to square one.....Tubby can hold all these things better than she is aware of herself holding them.

These little things we can work on at home, and do so through play with clay, sewing cards, even Polly Pockets and American Girl dolls. She gets speech reminders everywhere she goes, as one of her best friends also happens to be our next door neighbor, whose MOM happens to be her speech therapist at school. Every aspect Melissa sees as play, or normal interaction, I find myself turning into some sort of therapy opportunity.

Enter in gross motor.......this would seem an easy thing to accomplish during the summer with all the outdoor play and running in the parks. All that is well and good, but for a kid like Melissa, who gets physically TIRED very easily, the motivation to get her to work....I mean, play.....is drastically missing, therefore creating a rather non-therapeutic environment for gross motor advancement. At school, this is taken care of through daily doses of Adaptive Phy Ed: where physical skills are individually worked on in 20 minute sessions, each and everyday. It is here where we have seen the most improvement with Melissa. It is also here where we can see the biggest decline during the summer, as it is those large motor pieces that come to the fore in summer play.

Her weekly therapeutic horseback riding helps some. But it's best effect is seen in Melissa's increased self confidence and motor planning skills. So, what did we do this summer to avoid the extra 2 hours of driving to physical therapy at $400 a pop? We signed up for swimming lessons AND gymnastics this year!

Swimming is a great activity for both girls whose low muscle tone is a challenge to them. It gives them great muscle to brain input connections, and helps them improve their tone against the resistance of the water....without them realizing they are even working at it! It is an activity we will be trying to keep up year round for both girls. While they are able to be quite successful in the water with the help of water's natural buoyancy properties, there still is some work to be left for on the ground coordination and strength. That is where the gymnastics class comes in.

Our girls are not going to be elite gymnastics stars, nor even do as well to make a high school team. Nor do they desire to do that. Even in the beginner level, both girls, Melissa age 9 and Laura age 5, are leaps and bounds BEHIND the flexible 4 and 5 year olds in the class. And that is SO VERY OK. For all of us. The girls are working so hard to accomplish even the simplest moves, requiring motor planning (hard for Melissa), and coordinated movements requiring strength (hard for both of them). As I watch them struggle through each and every move, my heart aches a bit for the difficulties they push through that every other "normal" child takes for granted. But I need not be saddened, as they bounce over after class has ended, smiles from one ear to the other, exclaiming how much fun and how "awesome!" gymnastics class has been.

The trials ahead of them will always be there. And for the most part, neither of them recognize them as trials in themselves, rather merely as a simple part of their lives. Melissa is only just now beginning to realize that things seem to come easier to other kids her age, and is asking questions about why she is different. But it is not enough to stop her. She still has dreams like any other little girl her age, and it would be wrong to place limits on her simply because she "probably" can't do it. She may be the only one out there looking a little out of place, but by golly, she is trying her hardest, and doing it the best way she knows how, Laura following in similar, self-determined footsteps, having a huge barrel of fun all the while. And though I may watch them from the sidelines, through sometimes misty tears, I am SO VERY PROUD of my little girls.

Holiday Weekend

This cold has really gotten the best of us. Not one to enjoy hanging out at my house day after day after day, I have been getting antsy since Sunday evening of this week, being stuck at home with a house full of very sick children.....ALL of them, including myself, and Bob too. Runny noses like leaky faucets, headaches, sore backs and necks, sore throats, and disappearing voices. Ooooooohhhhh...and the crabbiness around here? Yikes!

By Friday, I was just waiting to bust out of here. I think the kids were, too. Though we were still just about as sick and just about as tired as we had been since the second day, it was time to get out. Being the lovely day that it was on Friday, we packed up our things and headed out for a day at the Minnesota Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa.

We spent over 7 hours enjoying the zoo, and the beauty of a complete day outdoors (and out of our house). We thoroughly enjoyed the new exhibits completed since I had been there last year with the kids. The new Russian exhibit was beautiful and detailed, even all the way down to some small scale working volcanoes, geysers, and boiling mudpits. The grizzly bears were mighty impressive to see....both from a far away distance and also from close up, just along the other side of the protective glass barrier. The kids spent the most time watching the otters swim back and forth, doing back floats and flips along the way. The little caves also provided some interest for the kids to explore.

We strolled leisurely through Africa, watched the prairie dogs play, and had Dippin' Dots snacks at the park while Bethany took time out for a snack of her own. We rode the wagon to the farm, where Tubby befriended a couple of cows, poked a baby chick, and brushed a goat. Laura, who is deathly afraid of animals in any shape or size, walked about like a tortured individual much of the day. But her smiles returned as she and Tubby changed into their swimsuits to bound about in the new splashpad located in the center of the zoo. The cool water was a welcome addition to the humidity of the day, and the long hours we had been walking through the exhibits. Though quite timid at first, she quickly adjusted once finally wet, and ran about to each splashpad point for at least an hour while us adults had a late lunch...rather an early dinner.

A ride on the monorail, followed by another ice cream treat rounded out the wonderful day at the zoo.

Bethany wasn't very happy during her 7th week photo op

On Saturday, we took advantage of yet another beautiful day, and walked through the Arboretum with my parents before our Fourth of July dinner. Many of the flowers were in full bloom, making for a beautiful backdrop for a lazy stroll through the park. We explored the Waterosity exhibit, and learned some ways to conserve our water supply (basically, don't use it!). Grandpa and the boys went on a mini-adventure, finding each display listed, and walked along a bog trail. Us ladies remained on top of the hill where handling a stroller was much less taxing, and admired the lily pads and water lilies floating about the fountain pool. The rose garden was one of our favorite spots as we spent the most time there studying the countless variety of blooms, and sampling the various scents along the garden path. And I am loving my old camera I dug up from the electronic graveyard after giving my newer camera to Alex to take with him to Tennessee. Though the battery hardly lasts one day, and the memory card only holds a fraction of the one in my other camera, it has been taking gorgeous shots from near and far....it even keeps purple, purple! After 121 pictures at the zoo yesterday, and even more than that today, I am hooked. I just might let Alex keep my other one!

We arrived home just in time, as a summer storm rolled over our city, drenching it with some much needed rain. It gave us an opportunity to reunite with Crispy and Melissa who had been away at camp all week with Grandma and Lyle, and to view the pictures they had taken, and to hear some stories about the many things they had done at camp. We also got to see Crispy's nearly two foot long dogfish he had caught, before Michael bravely tossed the frozen creature out into the wetlands. Melissa was excited to show us her "stained glass" creations, and tell us about the parade they had been in the day before. Those two kids are such a nice combo pair together.....they are at such a nice age to take places, try out new things, and they play quite well together. They really enjoyed their week, and I think both of them wished it had lasted just a little bit longer.

Daddy was busy grilling hot dogs, brats, corn, and hamburgers, in and out of the rain, even though he didn't eat any of it! He is still on his low calorie plan, with more self-restraint than anything I could even hope to muster up in one day. The rest of us thoroughly stuffed our guts, and then shoved in a little bit more. The burgers with cheddar-chipolte cheese, bacon, and guacamole were YUMMY! We never even made it to the desserts......the world's best apply pie from Byerly's and strawberry shortcake with ice cream.

Bethany slept through the day much like she sleeps through all other events. Her whole life is passing before her closed little eyelids! She was spoiled rotten today with so many extra hands to hold her. What a lucky baby.

We played with sparklers and fireworks in the yard, the bigger boys old enough to light some on their own. And unlike the boys who live up the road( who burned down the neighbors boat last year, and set the farm field at the end of our block on fire the year before), our kids did NOT set anything else on fire. Daddy obliged to Laura's wishes and stoked a bonfire in the fire pit, and we had lots of ooey gooey s'mores, while watching some bigger fireworks Daddy would light next to the fire. It was a perfect evening for hanging out in the yard, with no bugs despite the wet grass from the earlier rains.

After breaking into the glowsticks, and finishing off the sparkler pretzels (both 4th of July traditions), we gathered the troops into the cars to head over to our friends' who live on the main street through town. Poor Tubby was nearly left behind, as he was found looking teary-eyed through the front window, his little green glow-stick peeking through the darkness, helplessly calling out, "Mom!", and probably "wait!" as he had been locked inside the house and left in all the excitement. May the records show that it was his mother who noticed he was missing first, and went about looking for him! Poor little dude!

All ended well, as we enjoyed a fantastic show of fireworks from the third story window, along with some good company and laughter. After saying good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa, we headed home ourselves, and the kids all quickly tucked themselves into bed just before 11pm. I think we did well for getting out and about, and having some fun this weekend! I wonder what Sunday will bring for us?

Sick and Tired

Look what little Miss Laura has been doing this week:

And I dare say, she is LOVING it this year!

Alex left for his Marching Band trip to Tennessee, and the rest of us have been suffering through possibly the most stuffiest and longest cold we have gotten in a year. And guess who we have to thank for it......

......and you thought she looked so sweet and innocent.

We DID have some visitors from out of town yesterday: a good friend of Jonny's and one of Laura's who moved away last summer. We had the privilege of enjoying their company last summer for about a week while their parents looked for a house in southern Ohio.

Today, I get to visit my internist for my postpartum check-up. Yippee. Good times....

UnDefeated

What a thrilling weekend for the Waconia Marching Band, and for all of us "groupies" too!

The Marching Band Season is such a short one.....from Memorial Day through the 4th of July. With rehearsals beginning sporadically in January, then becoming mandatory and disciplined nearly every June morning, the season goes by in a blur. We try to make it to as many parades and competitions as possible, which are held all over Minnesota, usually requiring long drives, and sitting in the sun for about 3 hours per parade. With the gaggle of children we have, fighting for a large enough space through crowds between 2-6 rows deep is often a challenge.....as is the incessant "I'm so thirsty", "It's so hot!", and "Is that the last one? Can we go home now?"

But, we try anyhow. Bob makes it to nearly all of them, even the ones that are 2-1/2 hours away. I try to manage the kids through competitions a bit closer to home so that they do not bug me to death before we even get there on the drive alone. And this year has been fantastic thus far. We have won the title of Grand Champion in every parade and competition we have been in!

However, it all REALLY boils down to this weekend: The Vikingland Band Festival in Alexandria, MN. With 22 competing bands this year, it is the biggest festival in Minnesota. And Grand Champion from this festival is the most covetted title of all. We want it this year...we want it bad.

I have brought the kids up to this important competition each year for the last three years. We began by catching the competition in Osseo on Saturday afternoon. This year, we were blessed to enjoy this festival with friends from Waconia, Grandma & Grandpa, and Mary who brought her little ones to see what all this marching band fuss is all about. We all had a great time, even the newbies, and Waconia enjoyed yet another Grand Champion win!

It was then a quick goodbye to our friends and family as we headed to St. Cloud. We grabbed some food, filled up on gas, checked into our hotel, used the potties (whew!), and spent our free 15 minutes in the pool before heading to the evening parade. As we waited for Waconia from our comfortable curbside seats, we collected candy thrown to us from strangers, and took shelter under a large tree when the wave of downpours rolled through. The silver lining came as many of the large crowd retreated to their warm vehicles and headed home, leaving us ample opportunity to advance on the perfect spots along the parade route to view the music show. Yes, perfect! Again, we took another Grand Champion title home! Well, the band members all went home......Jonny, Laura, Tubby, Bethany, and I went back to the hotel.

Sunday morning brought beautiful sunshine, cooler temperatures in the low 70's, low humidity, and a refreshing breeze, making the Vikingland Band Festival the most comfortable it has ever been. We picked up Grandma ?, Melissa, and Crispy from their cabin at Mount Carmel Family Camp, just outside Alexandria. Melissa and Crispy are in for a week of fun which will end on the 4th of July. They are VERY excited about this special opportunity. But for today, we would all be together in the downtown streets, cheering on Waconia for their last competition of the season. Bob and Michael met us at our post just after the festivities began.

4 hours, 22 bands, 7 parade chairs, 6 ice creams, 3 cheesecurds, 1 huge bag of kettle corn, 4 trips to the potty, 100 changes in seating arrangements, 8 comments about the tiny baby, 3 water bottle refills, 3 poopy diapers, only one nursing session, 2 naps, and an infinite number of "Is that the last band?", and 30 pictures filled our afternoon. Pam and Lyle had saved a lovely spot for us on the sidewalk (though our taped down blankets had mysteriously been moved from the curb), and we had great views of the shows performed by each band as they played in front of the People's Choice judging area. It was exciting and entertaining. Waconia was terrific, as always, and it is so fun to hear the positive comments from spectators around us. My favorite today was, "You know, Waconia Marching Band is legendary!"
Legendary it was today.......we snagged not only People's Choice again this year, but the GRAND CHAMPION title as well!!!! We were entirely undefeated this year!!!! Wow!!! It was so exciting to be a part of the crowd during the awards ceremony as the Waconia fans erupted in the bleachers with the announcement. Those kids have worked so hard for this, and have done a stellar job each year. What a fine reward for a job so well done. And to top it all off, their coach buses were greeted with fire engine escorts and a honking parade as they rolled back into town this evening. The kids were pumped about their accomplishment this year, and the smiles on their faces could have stretched for miles. Alex is now at a buddy's house, celebrating!!!