Memorable 2010

This year, my 2 1/2 year old twins turned into 3 1/2 year old twins. What a difference a year makes! P & S are totally different kids than just a year ago. They've each grown three inches, mastered countless new physical feats and abstract concepts, and charmed me into - well - deciding to keep them. Keep them 3 1/2, that is.

Our family is undeniably stronger at the end of this year than we were a year ago, mostly due to the coming together we have done and will continue to do to support Skylar's hearing loss. Our strength depends on each of us being healthy and happy, and it's been an intense but rewarding journey to figure out what that means for each of us in light of emerging circumstances.

In July, we will be traveling to LA for a three week intensive program for deaf and hard of hearing kids and their families. There are a lot of reasons to be excited about this, but my number one reason is the opportunity for our family to share our experiences with other families, and to show Skylar there are other kids like her, that hearing loss is a part of who she is, but only a part, not the sole defining characteristic, not her whole identity. She and Paige are at a truly magical age where they embrace everything about their world. I hope we all get the chance to embrace the deaf and hard of hearing community of (international!) preschoolers at John Tracy Clinic, learn from them, and go home even stronger than we are today.

Happy 2011 Paige and Sky, you light up my life and no matter how cliche it sounds, you teach me things every day. I love you so much.

Location:Los Altos, CA

2010 Holiday Concert

Proud parent alert! Paige and Sky did awesome tonight in their school's Holiday Concert. Oh my god, sooooooooooooooo cute. Thankfully we had great placement at the front of the stage! Plus, the girls will not take off the beautiful dresses Gramma Rotzie sent them two days ago! Happy Holidays. :-)

Thank you!

I'm feeling pretty thankful at the end of this four-day weekend; for my parents, my husband, my extended family, my friends, my home and my health; but most of all for Paige and Skylar, who teach me something profound each and every day. Paige, for reminding me how joyous it is just to be in the world learning new things, and Skylar, for impressing me more each day with her maturity and attitude - living life with gusto. Man, I love these girls.


Skylar's hearing test last Friday (the 19th) went very well. After speaking with various doctors including a radiologist, we decided to postpone the CT scan and just do the fancy hearing test, (ABR), which still required sedation, so it was an early morning affair that took all day from which to recuperate (us, not her). She was amazing, as usual. I was pretty much a wreck, but the staff were so caring and helpful, I actually felt fine about the procedure itself. We didn't learn much new information, but her audiogram was confirmed and refined, enabling Doctor Katharine to program her hearing aids more accurately. Her most severe hearing loss is in her right ear at the 4000 hz frequency. She can only hear sounds in that frequency at 90 decibels. With that severe a loss, hearing aids can't amplify the sound enough to enable her to hear it. So high frequency sounds like sh, f, ch, and s will take a lot of work to produce. It's much better in her left ear, so that should allow her to compensate for the right ear. Her speech sounds continue to improve daily. Awesome progress; I'm so proud of her.

Paige sang me this little song the other day. What a sweetheart. She continues to show love and support for her sister in a way that is nothing short of amazing. She also really enjoys her one-on-one time with me, and I have a pretty good time with her, too. :-)

Visit to Danville

Skylar and I traveled down to see my brother's family for the weekend - a special trip for just the two of us. At the Portland airport, in between our two home bound flights, she told me "Just Mommy and Skylar went on an airplane. Just us." And the previous night, getting ready for bed: "I had a good day," followed by a satisfied sigh. After taking most of the car ride to warm up to her cousins, Sky started talking and laughing more than ever as K & A played with her and showed her their things. They really had a great time. And I must say, traveling with one kid is so nice! The multiplier effect takes hold of the four of us sometimes, and it is really good to get some quality one on one time.

The car ride home to K & A's















Playing with Polly Pockets with Katie



















Oak Hill Park Slide with Anika















Walking back home



















Paige is really looking forward to her turn to visit in the spring, but she had some fun over the weekend herself!

Paige-a-met-aige

Paige often says and does hilarious and adorable things, and I haven't documented some of her quotes or crazy outfits here for a while, so here's a taste of recent Paige-isms and photos for your enjoyment.

"I'm gonna be four when I get so big and eat this cookie."

"I just love you so much mommy. I just do. So much."

"I ate so much dinner and I'm gonna be so big. I'm gonna grow and grow and grow and be four. "

"Mommy, I crack you up."



and a recent Skylar-ism, just cuz it's cute: "Mommy, don't talk to me. Talk to me tomorrow."

We had photos taken with Livia recently, on a chilly early fall morning at Tugman Park. Preview a few here: http://www.fremouwphotography.com/blog/ and scroll down to October 17.
We have had photos taken at 6 mos., 1, 2, and 3 with Livia. It's wonderful to have the same look captured each year...I'll be working on trio displays of each girl at 1, 2, and 3 for our living room wall.

Advocacy Update

So, back when I blogged about being Skylar's Advocates, I mentioned we were going to get a home visit from Trish Orr, her DHH teacher. Trish is in her early 50s I would guess, a child of deaf parents and aunts and uncles, whose introduction to me went like this: "In my family, it's a disappointment if a child isn't born deaf." Whoa. Try to process that statement for a minute. It really demonstrates how deaf culture works. When everyone in the family is deaf, the hearing child is the different one. So began an intense conversation with Trish, who Skylar immediately loved; she even gave her a Skylar-special full body hug within a half hour of meeting her. Trish did a lot of listening, and a fair amount of opining, which we soaked up since hey, we are all new to this and could really use experienced people's opinions. In addition to growing up in a deaf family, Trish has worked with deaf and hard of hearing kids in Lane County since 1993.

One of her pieces of advice was to go visit the DHH preschool classroom at Bertha Holt Elementary School on the north side of town, as soon as possible. It's free, runs M-F 9-12, has an unbelievable staff to child ratio and focuses entirely on communication and language development. The teacher, Annie, is awesome, and calls parents DAILY to report on words and concepts being worked on at school so that parents can reinforce them at home. Too good to be true? Or too much separate time focusing on the hearing loss? We didn't know. So we went to check it out, thinking, okay, we could make this work, if it's what Sky needs, we can get her over to the other side of town each morning, and they can transport her (free) via bus to her community preschool each afternoon. If it's the best thing, we could make it work.

We observed the classroom for about 40 minutes. The kids (all three of them) seemed to like the teachers and were comfortable there. It's outfitted with all kinds of toys, tools, equipment, and your standard preschool paraphernalia. But the class is not right for Skylar. The three students (two are deaf, one is hard of hearing) are not talking much, if at all. One of them is signing quite proficiently for a 4 year old. Given that Skylar actually has a ton of oral language, and really likes to talk and sing, our assessment is that she would be bored there.

It was a relief to discover that the DHH classroom is not right for Sky right now, although knowing it is there is very comforting, should her situation change. I continue to be amazed by the services available for kids with hearing loss in our community.

One of the other amazing local resources is the network of parents of DHH children. We've been connected with another Annie, the mother of Boris, a 6 year old with cochlear implants and Zara, a soon-to-be 4 year old who previously went to school with P & S at Olum center on campus. We were invited for brunch with their family this past weekend, and it was really wonderful to hear their stories and advice. Annie is a strong advocate for sign language to augment oral communication, and I can see how much of an asset this would be for Sky particularly when she doesn't have her hearing aids in - in the bath tub, after she gets into bed, and swimming/boating. So we borrowed a stack of Signing Time DVD's from the family and the girls already are completely entranced with them. Should be fun and educational for all of us.

Next Tuesday we are getting the CT scan recommended by our Ear Nose and Throat doctor to get a look at the anatomy of Sky's inner ear. Wish us luck that Miss S. can hold still for the picture so we can avoid having to use anesthesia. If it doesn't work, we will do it while she's under for the fancy hearing test (sedated ABR) we have scheduled for November 19.

Sleepy Child

I tuck her in, kiss her hair, and whisper, "night night. Love you. See you in the morning."

She's quiet, hugging her bear and snuggling her blanket.

About 5 minutes after I leave her room, I hear, "mommy, I need go potty." Once every 30 seconds or so, with increasing forcefulness.

She doesn't need to go potty. We both know this, but it's easier to indulge her little ritual than to dig in my heels. I go in, and wordlessly lift her sleepy body out of her bed and into my arms. I carry her soft, warm 3 year old heft to the door, careful to open and close it quietly so as not to disturb her sister. I'm aware of how far down my leg her foot reaches - she's getting so big. Her head is on my shoulder.

She lets me set her on the potty and sit there with her, waiting. Our foreheads are touching. After a while, when she doesn't pee, I gently lift her up, dress her and carry her back to bed. She snuggles under her blanket in the blue night-light, breathes a satisfied sigh, and drifts off to sleep.

The innocence of sleeping children
Dressed in white and slowly dreaming
Stops all time
-the cure, "primary"

Skylar's Advocates

Jim and I are Skylar's advocates in this new world where she has hearing loss. We read up on the issues, get connected with the local DHH (Deaf and Hard of Hearing) community, organize appointments, clean her equipment, contemplate the merits of special vs. mainstream schools, write up communication tips for her teachers, answer other kids' questions if needed, etc. Basically, we're her parents, and we care about her well-being more than just about anything else on the planet (except for Paige). So of course, we advocate for her, we cheer her on, we pay attention, we do what needs to be done.

But I'm still figuring out how much to advocate/separate/specialize, and how much to let her just integrate hearing loss into her already very normal life. Since she got her hearing aids, her communication skills have improved drastically. We held a video chat with gramma and grandpa E. today and Skylar carried on a pretty good conversation with them; you know, they ask a question and she answers with something intelligible that makes sense. How freaking cool is that? I mean...how normal is that? You can see what I'm getting at.

Some DHH parents have recommended doubling up on speech classes, and adding UO Speech and Language clinic classes as well, to really pour on the learning services during this critical stage of language acquisition. On the other hand, after her first speech appointment, her therapist Mindy told me Sky speaks really well and she had expected, based on her charts, for her speech problems to be much more severe. She also clearly passes all her developmental milestones on the zillions of forms and tests I have filled out in the past two months, with the exception of speech and language milestones, for which she scores slightly sub-par. A lot of kids with hearing loss have other issues that compound the problem, but for my sweet girl, it's just her ears. "Why does she need hearing aids?" is the most common question from other children. "You know how some people need glasses to see well?" I ask them. "Skylar needs hearing aids to hear well." They accept that.

And away they go, playing like the carefree three year olds they are.

Next up: we get a home visit from our new DHH teacher, Trish. And if you want to see some of the stuff I am reading related to hearing loss, check out the John Tracy Clinic and Speak Up! blogs I posted in the My Blog List section at right.

P.S. Paige is doing great - funny as ever and rolling with all the recent transitions. She was a little apprehensive about starting her new preschool, so she told me she would hold Skylar's hand to make her feel better. And she did. Look at this drawing of a person she did today! A recognizable, crooked-smiling person! It came out of basically nowhere and made Jim and me smile, widely if not crookedly :-) In the next pic, she munches a bagel, not caring to pause long enough for me to take a decent picture.

First Day of Preschool

Whoa, summer, slow down!

Every summer is crazy busy, and things happen way too fast, but this summer, things seem to be moving especially quickly. Maybe it's the developmental stage the girls are in - they are capable of doing so many new things, every day - and there have been many impressive firsts and transitions these past few weeks.

A week ago Friday was my birthday and the girls' last day at their old preschool. I took cupcakes in to celebrate and thank their teachers, who have been with them for two years. The lead teacher had made goodbye cards for each girl, with pictures on one side, back to when they first started at 15 months, and notes from teachers and student-teachers on the other side. They feature the trademark Skylar orange and Paige green motifs, and are laminated for maximum preschooler durability. It was a very sweet gesture, and we all teared up while saying goodbye.

That night Johanna babysat the girls while Jim and I went out to dinner with our good friends T & R - T's birthday is the day before mine. Johanna had not seen the girls since before they were potty trained, in big girl beds, or Sky was diagnosed with hearing loss. The girls didn't miss a beat, loved seeing her again, and it was really fun to see them showing off all their new tricks. The best part of the evening was the dance demonstration they gave J. before we left - each one performing their individual style with great enthusiasm and flourish. Sky includes lots of kicking, fluid arm movements coupled with lunges, and the occasional yoga pose, while Paige favors jumping, running in place, somersaults, and sneak attack hugs.

The next morning, we packed up the car and headed to Lake Tahoe for a week of rest and relaxation at Papa Tom and Gramma Rotzie's time share condo on the north shore. I've been to Tahoe numerous times, but being there for a whole week, at a resort, gave me a whole new appreciation for the beauty of the place. We had perfect weather and fantastic company - what more could you ask for? In addition to gramma and papa, cousins A. and J. were there, uncle T. and aunt K., and a couple of extended cousins as well at various times - one of whom took us out on the lake for a boat ride and the other took the girls out to dinner and gave them wonderful presents!

We hiked, lounged on the beach, played in the pool, rafted down the Truckee River, rode the gondola to the top of Heavenly Valley, and played in the sand at a playground on the beach, in addition to eating really good food, consuming lots of chocolate ice cream, and enjoying the aforementioned boat ride. Jim and I even managed to escape for an afternoon/evening to Reno, to take in some dinner at the delicious and stylish Bangkok Grill (pure Reno, with its access to the restroom requiring traversing the lobby of the adjoining Super 8 Motel), shopping at the Sierra Trading Post outlet store (highly recommended) and some strolling/gawking at the casino scene, all thanks to the babysitting services of a fine papa and gramma. Thanks for such an awesome trip!

The photos above are a few of my favorite shots from our excursions, three of which feature the awesome fold-out fish sunglasses gramma found for the girls. They are quite a hit with all three of them, as well as general passersby.

We returned from Tahoe rested and relaxed and with a little more color in our cheeks. But wait, the fun doesn't stop there! The very day we got back, Gramma Mary and Papa Mike drove up to Eugene, and we spent Sunday with them getting the house back in order. Jim and my dad hung the girls' new swings in the back yard (sniff - the toddler swings are gone). Then, on Monday, P & S started their new Montessori proeschool. Well, not really, because this week is the last week of camp before school starts, but they are going to the new school site and meeting some of their new teachers and friends that will be in their class. This is one of those transitions I worried about, not too much, but enough, about things like what if they freak out and hate it? What if the teachers or other kids are mean? How good are their security procedures? Will the staff help with pottying and serving lunch? Where do we put all their stuff? Will they nap??????

You probably guessed this, but none of my worries were necessary (or useful), although perfectly natural and providing of some miniscule amount of worthy purpose, if not now, then in the future? Maybe? They waltzed in with their lunches, hung up their coats, met the teacher and started exploring the room. There are two bunnies and a turtle, countless new toys and educational objects/materials, and a new, huge room to run around in, not to mention the excellent outdoor playground. So, it's all good. A great way to transition into fall.

Sigh.

Tahoe

Comic Relief

Anyone have any tips on how not to break out laughing when, during bedtime lullabies, your three year old starts gleefully chanting "My daddy is a butt! My daddy is a butt! My daddy is a butt!"

Hear Better, Live Better!

This past week has been a crazy wonderful one. As I mentioned in my last post, it was big news that Skylar has hearing loss, and we've been overwhelmed trying to learn about the issue and all of its potential ramifications. Things seemed to move at lightning speed from our pediatrician's recommendation at her 3-year check-up to get her hearing tested, to the first audiologist appointment (where results showed a moderate to severe loss of hearing in both ears, but due to some fluid and a cold we were asked to return in two weeks to repeat the test), to the second appointment with Dr. Swem, where we received the same results and a recommendation to go ahead and order the hearing aids. She could pick out her own colors, was she ready to do that? She was. I wasn't. It was a hard day.

This past Monday Skylar got her hearing aids, and this week has been one of the most amazing transformations I have ever seen - in her life, in our family life, in my experience parenting Skylar and Paige. I frankly had no idea how much we had adapted to communicating with Skylar differently than with Paige. The moment she put them in, her face turned bright red and she turned quiet, listening to everything. After having them in for a half hour or so, she began experimenting with talking, which clearly sounded different inside her head. At first she was whispering, and we had to encourage her to speak up. Gradually, she seemed to get that these magic little computers were helping her hear better, and she was eating up how much more easily she could communicate with us. She's responding to questions immediately and participating in back and forth conversations to a much greater degree than ever before.

Here's the super star at the doctor's office, and going for ice cream after.


Skylar calls her hearing aids her "hear betters" (so cute!). And from our first week wearing them, I'd say they are a hit. Wow. Oh. My. God. What a difference. The most amazing thing of all has been her attitude. She patiently lets Jim and me put the hearing aids on and take them off, and wants to put them on first thing in the morning and right after her bath. If one makes a feedback noise she says "owee, my hear better" and points to it. If one falls off her ear, she says "uh oh, my hear better!" and shows us which one so we can fix it. She LOVES them!

I'm still walking around with my mouth half open from the degree of change. I really didn't expect it. And although of course I have had thoughts of why didn't we find out sooner, we did have suspicions, why didn't we get her hearing tested sooner?, there are a million good reasons and I won't go into them here. We're moving forward and feeling really positive about the gifts modern technology has given her. One of the books I ordered calls hearing loss a great teacher. I'd say that's true, but Skylar herself is the teacher, as well. Talk about a model for perseverance, trying your best, being resourceful, figuring things out for yourself, staying positive and showing your passion for life. She's the teacher.

Okay now that I'm crying (with joy!) I have to go. One more thing: she picked orange and pink, of course.

Milestones

Hold on to your hats...in the last three weeks, three major life milestones have happened upon the Engelharding world.

First, we traveled to California to attend my 20-year high school reunion, an event that stretched over three days with various incarnations of activities and locations, all of which were great fun for me, as I was lucky to be graced with the best high school friends for which a girl could ever ask. Friday we BBQ'ed at my parents' house, Saturday were reunion events at the park (with families) and the bar (adults only), and Sunday we brunched at Sandra's by the pool. What an amazing set of friends I have, I love you guys so much!

Next, we headed up the coast to Patrick's Point State Park, north of Arcata, CA, to camp and hunt for agates with my mom's side of the family. This was P and S's first camping adventure, and they did awesome.

We were accompanied part of the time by Herb, our exchange student from Germany my senior year in high school, who came over for the reunion and made a grander trip out of it. It was great to reconnect with him and show him PP and Aggie Beach...much loved traditions for the Vige-Hardings.

While in the PP area, my mom and her siblings took the opportunity to arrange to scatter my maternal grandparents' ashes in the place they loved so much and introduced us all to many years before. We gathered at Trinidad Head, on a Coast Guard-secured fog horn platform teetering above the Pacific. My aunt Tammy brought a flower for each of us to throw in the ocean after the ashes were scattered. It was a beautiful and fitting tribute.

The above pic is from Christmas 2002 at the Harding's in Los Altos. Grandma Eleanor is holding baby Anika and Grandpa Dick is standing next to my mom.

Lastly, we've been absorbing the news that Skylar has some degree of hearing loss in both ears. We don't yet know the cause, extent, or exact plans for treatment, but suffice it to say this is big news that is all at once validating, scary, and amazing. Validating because it explains the language development that has been lagging behind Paige, as well as certain behaviors and communication difficulties that we feared might be developmental. Scary, because there is still so much unknown about the cause, extent, potential for progression, etc.

And amazing, because my little girl has been compensating so well that we almost didn't even get her hearing tested. She is reading lips. She is a keen observational learner. She is doing well socially with her peers, and knows all her letters and is beginning to spell words. She supplements her verbal communication (which continues to improve in clarity, vocabulary, and length of phrases and sentences), with gestures and signs. In short, she rocks. And I just love her more than anything right now.

Oregon Country Fair 2010

A fun day near Veneta, Oregon, people watching, playing, listening to music and eating great food!

Summertime

A smattering of recent summer pics from a day trip to Florence and today's back yard sprinkler/pool party.

Also, a quote of the day for you from Paige, on our way home from preschool, commenting on a house we were passing: "Mow your lawn, people!"

I heart Jim's iPhone

A Paige Moment

Tonight as I was lifting Paige into her bed, patting her and calling her "my big girl," she told me: "Mommy, when you turn into a little mommy, I will pick you up."

That one made my week.

Ode to Grandpas

Papa Mike and Papa Tom are some pretty awesome papas. They are both extremely handy in the construction/fix-it/designing and building around the house field. Which is great for the kids, as evidenced by the platform pictured below, built over the course of three days while the paps were in town for birthday #3. We intend to build a playhouse on this foundation, connect it to the slide platform (built by the papas last year), attach a roof, outfit it with furniture and all sorts of fun play house accoutrements. Thanks to the greatest grandpas in the world!

Birthday #3

The girls celebrated birthday number three on Thursday with mom, dad, and all of their grandparents. I really can't believe they are three - it seems to be milestone between babyhood and childhood, and I've got mixed emotions about that! At one point on their birthday, I was given a card by my sweet co-worker, Trish, to celebrate my having given birth three years ago. It made me cry to think back on the joy and change that day brought into my life. These girls are so much their own beings now, and I love watching them grow up.

Dancing Queen

Mom,
I never appreciated your ultimate mom-ness until I became a mom myself. Your selfless, thoughtful, protective, encouraging, patient, awesome mom-ness. Thanks for being my mom and for taking such an active role in my children's lives. They love you as much as I do! Happy Mother's Day!

Mom E,
How lucky I am to have a second great mom! Your unconditional commitment to your family shines through every day, and my girls love having 2 awesome grammas. (You did a pretty good job with Jim, too!) Happy Mom's Day!

Paige and Skylar,
Somehow, I had no idea how strongly I would feel bound to you the moment you were born. I live for you, I think about you all the time, I cannot imagine my life without you. I want the best for you. You are amazing! My attachment to both of you only deepens with each new thing you learn, do, or say. I love talking about you and showing off pictures of you. You make me laugh, cry, and want to hug you tightly. I will never let ANYBODY mess with my girls. :-)
Mommy

Why Didn't I Think of That Sooner?

We all have those moments, right? When something works instantly, beautifully, and we think to ourselves, well, I am an idiot. I should have done this ages ago!

So, it has always been challenging to get out of the house in the morning, mostly because of all the cat herding that must be done amidst the breakfast preparing, showering, dressing, lunch making, pet feeding, bag packing, baby fetching, and making of thyself presentable. All this time, we were stuffing school supplies like coats, extra shoes, blankets, etc. into a single bag and stowing it in the trunk next to the girls' lunchboxes for the ride to preschool. There was often fighting over the bag, it was sometimes too small for all the stuff, and it had annoying short handles that wouldn't fit over my shoulder (essential to the endeavor of taking twin toddlers anywhere, especially when you're the solo adult). The other day I got the brilliant idea that each girl would pack her own bag.

Um, yeah. Score! They thought this was just the coolest thing since sliced bread. It not only entertained them and made the fighting moot, but we were ready to go 10 minutes early because they were each all ready with their bags, excited to get in the car. The next day, I traded up to baskets with big handles, which they loved even more and are a heck of a lot more stylin'. We got many smiles as we waltzed into preschool this morning, me with NOTHING in my arms or hands, and each girl toting her own basket of school supplies. That's what I'm talking about.

Save the Date

Sky and Paige will be celebrating birthday #3 at Bounce Gymnastics on May 23, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm. Evite/mailed invitations to come soon.

Skylar the Sweetie

Last week at preschool, all the kids were taking a walk and they each picked little lawn daisies to hold. Corey, the loviest little guy you could ever imagine and the next-to-youngest, wanted someone to hold his hand. He was distressed that everyone wanted to hold their flower. At this point, Skylar put down her flower and went to Corey to hold his hand.

A Song and a Story to Make You Giggle

It is such a great thing when your toddler makes you laugh.

The scene: I'm climbing back into bed at 5 am after responding to a Paige nightmare, taking her potty, and tucking her back in. Then I realize Jim was up an hour earlier with Skylar.

Me: "What time were you up with Sky?"
Jim: "Four."
Me: "Did she have a nightmare too?"
Jim: Pause. "She had a booger."

The scene: I'm driving the girls to school.

Paige: "I'm going to sing you a funny song, mommy. A, B, C, D...Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star....Hee hee. I made a funny song. Mommy, I tricked you."

A Love for Letters and Chatter

Both Skylar and Paige love letters. They match their plastic letter magnets to square magnets with the same letter and a corresponding picture on them. They have us write the alphabet on their chalkboard and can name every letter. They point out letters wherever we go, especially S, P, T, and J, and of course they are very, very fond of the ABC song. Yesterday, when I picked them up from preschool, one of their teachers remarked that Skylar is the best in the class at identifying the kids' names on flashcards (without seeing their pictures on the other side). I swooned with pride - my girl is best at her letters! A letter prodigy! Seriously though, it was gratifying, because Skylar's verbal development has been steady, but slow, and she struggles to say many words clearly and also babbles nonsense in a perfect imitationof conversational style. Which I understand is perfectly normal for a two year old, but then I have Paige to compare her to (which I'm not supposed to do! Stop me)

So you know all know Paige is a talker. Here is a sample of an ACTUAL TRANSCRIPTION of her 6 am nonstop morning chatter.

"Six on the clock! Daddy. Daddy! DADDY! Six on the clock. I can get up now. I wanna go see Mommy. Mommy! Mommy! There is a six on your clock. You can get up. Time to feed the pets. Oh, there's Rufus. Hi, Rufie! You want your bref-cast? I wanna get graham cracker and milk and go upstairs, and you can go upstairs and watch a video with me Mommy. Wait! I get your glasses. Here you go! Mommy, you can get up now! Daddy feed the pets and make coffee. Skylar is sleeping."


This is all before I have had my coffee or even rolled out of bed. Oy. I have a plan to digitally record this chatter because it's way cuter later in the day :-)

A Paige Story

Paige: I have to go poop!
Mom: OK. (Helps onto potty)
Paige: I'm pooping!
Mom: That's great. I hear it plop!
Paige: I hear an M&M!

Husbands Rule, Too

For the last three weeks, I have had a, shall we say, demanding work schedule involving numerous night meetings, early starts, and late stays. Not to mention high stress and lack of time to exercise, a wicked cold, and my Chiropractor on vacation. Am I bitching? You betcha! But the reason for explaining my woes is quite noble actually: I want to thank Jim profusely for being such a supportive, generous, awesome co-parent to P & S. I have not had time to blog, needless to say, but much happened in the vein of 2-year old cuteness, as well, so enjoy the photos and guess for yourselves what was going on. I'll give you a hint: "Take a picture!" has become a frequent request in our house.