Oh The Funny Things Kids Will Say

While I was at my friend Ann's baby shower over the weekend, Jeremy took the Madore-ables to Friendly's for dinner. Jeremy told me of a conversation that he and Samantha had while they were waiting for their dinner.

Jeremy: Samantha, is that person a girl or a boy?

Samantha: That's a boy

Jeremy: How about over there? Is that person a girl or a boy?

Samantha: That's a girl

Jeremy: What about me Sam? What am I?

Samantha: (without missing a beat) You're not a person, you're just Daddy!

Project Playground : Action Cove

The Madore-ables and I continued our "Project Playground" Summer series over the weekend and checked out a new playground: Action Cove in West Newbury, Massachusetts. The girls and I stayed for about an hour or so and had an absolute blast! There were 2 families that came and went in the span of time that we were there, so the girls were able to explore without the pressure of lots of children being around.

The playground itself is huge with lots of room to run around. It's clean, and has lots of bark much on the grounds to soften the steps of those little feet that run around. The contractors were very smart and used not only wood, but also used that composite wood so that there are no splinters. The contractors were also smart to think of the Mommies who would be bringing their children and provided park benches, picnic tables and grassy area for picnics. There's lots of positive "graffiti" and plenty of parking. My only complaint about the playground is there aren't a whole lot of swings to go around for the children, but otherwise, I love it.

Here's a tour of the playground:

A variety of swings for toddlers/children

Swings for the babies too!

Different types of slides

There's a special play area for just the younger kids

I liked this area because there are benches on the sides of the sand area, and the baby swings are to the left of where I snapped this photo. So, if Mom has more than one child, Mom can push baby in the swing, and still keep a full eye out on the toddler who wants to play in the sandbox.

Arial view

Another arial view

Composite wood for splinter-free hands!

Plenty of tunnels, nooks and small crawl spaces for the adventerous

The most positive, uplifting graffiti I have ever seen

Action Cove is very simple and easy to get to. From Haverhill, take route 97 over the Groveland Bridge and take a left at the end of the bridge/blinking light. Follow signs for route 113 to West Newbury. Once you see the West Newbury Fire Department on the right, take an immediate right onto Bachelor Road. Take the 2nd or 3rd right on Bachelor. There are 2 different parking lots to get into the playground.

The List

My poor Sarah. She has seen more hospitals in her (almost) 21 months of life, than I have seen in my life time. She is so strong, and has shown that she can kick this aspiration thing in the rear bum backside behind. Here's a brief timeline of Sarah's hospital visits:

12/4/2008 - Sarah visits her first hospital when she was born. (OK, this one doesn't count because it's usually custom that a child is born in a hospital, so I'll let this one slide).

1/4/2009 - Jeremy and I (thanks to my friends Rachael & Molly) discover Sarah's horrendous, loud breathing/stridor (wheezy sounding), and thus begins the discovery of Sarah's Laryngomalacia. Sarah was rushed down to Boston Children's Hospital for 10 days. During these 10 days, Sarah had a Bronchoscopy and a Superglottoplasty. As a result of the Superglottoplasty, Sarah had a NG Tube (Nasal Gastric tube) inserted up her nose, and down her throat into her stomach so she can eat. (Fortunately, Sarah only had to use a NG Tube for a little over a month before her team of doctors at Children's said she could take bottle feedings as long as we put baby rice cereal to thicken the liquids. As long as her liquids were thickened, then she could take liquids orally through the mouth).

(Sarah also visits Boston Children's between 1/2009 and 1/2010 on several occasions for just regular checkups and a few Modified Barium Swallows in between. There's just so many, that I don't remember the exact dates).

1/13/2009 - The day after Sarah comes home from Children's Hospital, Sarah's NG Tube fell out and Jeremy ran her to the local hospital to have them re-insert it. Only to find out that this particular hospital doesn't have a pediatric wing, and then a huge insurance mess begins...but I digress.

1/25/2010 - Sarah has a second Bronchoscopy done at Children's Hospital to see if any improvements have been made since 1/2009. Thankfully, Sarah's specialist saw just a teeny tiny bit of improvement...which is all we needed to hear. We knew at that point that all we needed was just to take one day at a time...and have faith that Sarah would be better and pray for a lot of patience. Thank God for those small miracles...hope is a wonderful, valued thing.

4/2010 - Sarah visits the ER due to a reaction while we were at Texas Road House. She had issues breathing, and we assumed it was the peanuts. Although, when we had her tested for allergies, the peanut spectrum test came up negative....hmmm, odd. Either way, we're playing it safe and not bringing her back to Texas Roadhouse until she is old enough to date. (Don't tell Jeremy I said that though).

8/27/2010 - Sarah visits the ER due to a small laceration cut on her left eye lid. Poor girl was just playing with Samantha in the living room and fell over and hit the toy desk we have in there. She showed no signs of concussion thankfully. She only bled for a little bit, but Jeremy and I realized (and with the help and consultation of our good friend Molly) that the cut was too deep to heal with just a little bit of Neosporin and a band aid. So, Sarah and I traveled to the ER at Lawrence General Hospital around 9:30pm, were seen by the nurse at 10:00pm and the doctor at 10:30pm and were home by 11:30pm. Sarah kept entertained with her fruit snacks, lots of books, and rubber glove balloon animals (hopefully Lawrence General Hospital doesn't send us a bill for that part of the visit). The doctor came in and treated Miss Sarah with Dermabond (a.k.a liquid stitches) and could see an immediate improvement. Sarah was more annoyed with the fact that she had to stay still so the doctor could apply the Dermabond. The doctor and I sang several verses of "The Wheels On the Bus" while I was helping hold Sarah down so the doctor could do what he needed to do. It took about 60 seconds to complete, but it felt like the longest 60 seconds of all time. As soon as the doctor was all done, even in her tears, Sarah immediately said, "Bye!" as if she was throwing the doctor out of the room. It was pretty amusing. She was very excited when the doctor pulled out an Elmo sticker...from tears to smiles all in a spand of 5 seconds.

Sarah did very well today and has recovered 100%. She slept all night last night, woke up very happy. Had a great breakfast, and a great afternoon nap. So, Jere and I aren't worried...we're just happy that our little Madore-able is back to her old fun-loving, smiling self. Let's just hope we don't have anything to add to this "list" for a long time.

Here's a before and after photo of Miss Sarah.

The photo on the left was taken around 8pm on Friday night, and the photo on the right was taken at 10am on Saturday morning.

Five Things Friday

5 Things That Have Made Me Smile In the Last Week

1. Sarah's vocabulary seems to grow by the week. Her new words this past week are "Say" (which is "Sam") and "Yes".
2. This past week at Sarah's playgroup, while the kids are in the room, the parents are next door in another room and we usually have discussions about whatever we want. We got on a 45 minute conversation about local (to Haverhill/Boston area) farms for apple picking, and playgrounds. I created this huge list and now that the rain clouds have left, I may start on Saturday morning with my Madore-ables at a new playground. Hmmm, which makes me brainstorm a new idea: playground hopping with the girls, and then blogging about it.
3. Today, I'm getting together with some of the girls I went to high school with, who are now mothers, and we're having our own "High School [Mommy] Reunion Play date". I'm really looking forward to seeing everybody.
4. Last night when I got home after spending a few hours with my Avon walking team, the girls were sounds asleep...well, Sarah was anyway. Samantha woke up as soon as I tiptoed over to her crib. Even in her sleepy slumber, she was happy to see me, and gave me a big hug.
5. I've noticed that Sarah has taken a great fascination for our bathroom. Thankfully, she doesn't go fishing in the toilet, or trash can diving, but she does enjoy the potty. She seems to go in there and sit on the potty with her pants on when Sam is *ahem* occupying the toilet. Not that Sarah is anywhere near ready to start potty training, but the fact that she's excited to go in there is a big help. Hooray for the potty!

Madore-able Morning Mayhem

I just recently made a post regarding my concern for monkeys and their safety with jumping in their bed. This is what I look forward to every morning...I call it Madore-able morning mayhem.

I'm not sure why Sarah does this...

The Monkey (a.k.a Samantha) hiding behind the other monkey

Notice the pajamas?

Editor's Note: These monkeys were jumping in their beds, but no injuries or any phone calls to the pediatrician were made.

A Not So Secret Recipe

Boston is going on day two of a cold, cloudy, rainy spell...but I'm not complaining. We really need the rain badly. The cool Fall like temperatures are certainly a nice break from the typical hot and humid weather we've had on a consistent basis since April. It's been so comfortable sleeping too. I'm beginning to think that brown lawns I've been seeing is the "new green". It's been quite awhile since the Madore-ables and I have been cooped up in the house for more than a day. It's been nice, and relaxing. Of course, it makes me a little nervous because I'm always worried about running out of ideas...but never fear, the Madore-ables are here, and are entertained easily!

One of Samantha's favorite things to do (other than grocery shopping) is baking...and there's always something to bake in our house. On the menu this time? Zucchini bread. I pre-measure everything ahead of time then Sam puts everything in the bowl. Who would have thought that something so simple as baking could create so much entertainment? I used to cook all the time with my grandmothers and I loved it. A special thank you goes out to Scott & Chrissy's vegetable garden, you entertained the Madore-ables quite a bit last night!

So here's how to make Madore-able zucchini bread:

You will need the following:

3 Eggs

1 Cup of Oil

1 teaspoon of Nutmeg

1 teaspoon of Cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

2 cups of grated, peeled zucchini

1 cup raisins (coat with a little flour)

3 cups (All Purpose) flour

Plus:

1 Cup Of Sugar

1 teaspoon of Salt

3 teaspoons of vanilla

1. Beat eggs & 1 cup of sugar together



2. Add the oil, nutmeg & cinnamon



3. Add all dry ingredients (plus one teaspoon of salt), the flour, zucchini and mix together



4. Stir in the 3 teaspoons of vanilla



5. Add in the raisins



6. Pour into loaf pans

Hope it puts a smile on your face...I know of at least 2 kiddos who it did:

Eat! Coma! Mangiare! Mangez!

A Gold Star Kind Of Day

Today was an amazing day. The Madore-ables and I are going on week 2 of a great schedule. Mondays at 9:30 are for Sarah's playgroup and Tuesdays at 12:00 are reserved for Sarah's Occupational Therapy. The playgroup is literally just a mile away from our house, and the OT comes right to our house. We're certainly spoiled with this new schedule right now. The last two weeks I've woken up early to squeeze a Wii jog in before the girls wake up, and I've noticed such a difference in my energy level. To date, I've lost twenty five pounds since January of this year, and my new goal is to buy a new dress (a few sizes smaller, of course) for my friend Ann's wedding coming up in October.

Now that we're on a great schedule, it's easy to plan things like errands, or play dates or the occasional Free Cycle pickup. For instance, this morning I knew that our OT was coming to the house so I wanted to grab a few items from the grocery store before then. Seeing Samantha has been cooped up in the house for the last 2 days, (Boston has experienced a cold snap with side of some much needed rain). So I knew that she would love to go out. Sure enough, Samantha was quite giggly to find out not only were we going to the grocery store, BUT we were also going to the ATM at our bank which is in the same plaza.

So we get to the ATM and Samantha asked if she could help me. I handed her my bank card and she put it in the slot, and then I withdrew my cash. When the bank "spit" out the money, Samantha grabbed the money and handed it to me, and then the ATM "spit" my card out and Samantha took that. While I was putting the cash in my wallet and the card back in the correct wallet slot, Samantha says to me (very seriously mind you),

"Why isn't the ATM spitting any more money out?"

We had a great trip grocery shopping. You may think I'm very strange, but I absolutely LOVE to grocery shop. I just dislike hate putting the groceries away when I get home part. Once we get inside, and get the cart all situated and Sarah all buckled up in her seat, I pull out my list, hand it Samantha and the fun begins. I turn it into a scavenger hunt, so Samantha has to find all the items for me. So while Samantha is concentrating on the next item and scouring the shelves, Sarah is sitting in her seat waving hello and saying, "HI!" to everyone (and I mean everyone) who walks by. Sarah surprised me today while shopping. We walked down the isle where the hand soap is, and Sarah starts to pretend to wash her hands. Then we walk in the produce section, and Sarah says "Buh-buh-buh" (which is "Banana" in Sarah's language), and "Aahh-p" (which is "Apple"). Then we head home, and Samantha starts to put the items away for me.

It may be cold and rainy outside, but it's been a great day for us today. I love days like this...gold stars for my Madore-ables.

Play Dates = Happy Kids, Happy Mommies

On Friday, I took the Madore-ables out to western Massachusetts to visit my good friend, Chrissy and her daughter, Abby for a long, over-due play date. I've known Chrissy since college, and Samantha & Abby birthdays are just a few months away from each other. It's always good to get together to catch up...play dates aren't just for the kids you know ;)

After we arrived, we drove to Winchendon to Lake Dennison Recreational park. We stayed for a solid four hours and the girls had an absolute blast. The Madore-ables certainly played hard, and had so much fun. It was a quiet drive home, except for my iPod that was on shuffle the entire ride. The girls had a HUGE dinner, then bath time and immediately afterwards, bedtime. It's amazing how a little fresh air will knock you out.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the day:

Samantha testing the waters with her "piggies"

Sarah and Abby building a sand castle

Samantha just watched the sights and sounds

Sarah had so much fun digging around

It was breezy and Samantha was cold

In between sand castle building, Sarah decided to run laps between the water and the sand

Five Things Friday

5 Things That Have Made Me Smile In the Last Week

1. I took the girls to Target on Thursday night so I could pick up a few things. I know I've said it before, but I seriously am in love with that store. I'm also addicted to the dollar section that they have too. So much useful items for a dollar. I honestly can't go through the entrance of Target without stopping by to peroose what items are just begging for me to buy. After checkout, Sarah started to wave "bye" to the Target staff, which in turn caused them to say "bye" and wave. Next thing I know, customers from all over the entrance/exit area of Target are gathering near us saying "bye". (I felt like that scene in The Sound Of Music where the Von Trapp children are performing So Long, Farewell for the party at Captain Von Trapp's home.) The only difference is, no dancing or floaty dresses were worn at the store. (I still want to know what The Baroness was wearing. I'm sure she would be a great candidate on What Not To Wear...but I digress).
2. After our ten seconds of fame moment inside Target, the Madore-ables and I headed back to the car and I saw the most gorgeous sunset I've seen in a long time. It was so gorgeous that (1) I can't even describe it and (2) I'm kicking myself I didn't have my camera with me. There were several clouds, but one fluffy, cumulonimbus cloud with the sunshine in the back of it. The outline of the cloud was highlighted in sunshine, and the sky was something that I call "Skybluepink". (Just picture watermelon sherbet color and a deep sky blue). Beautiful ending to a beautiful, fun day.
3. I love the fact that Samantha is identifying cars while we're on the road. I'm not saying that she can identify a Mazda CX-9, or a Ford Focus, but she can certainly tell me, "Mommy, that looks like Trish's car, or Jeremiah's car." She's so observant! She even lets us know that if there's another car that looks like a friend or family member's in another color.
4. This entire week, I've been waking up one hour earlier than the Madore-ables to jog along with my Wii. I feel absolutely amazing after I've completed my hour jog. I highly recommend an early morning walk, or jog. I'm slowly starting to begin my training for the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer. I walked 39.3 miles with 29 other people with my team, "Charlie's Angels" and raised almost $3,000 for breast cancer research. It felt good to have the Summer off, but now that I'm slowly getting back into the working out/exercising groove and I'm getting excited. I'm already planning lots of fundraising events for the upcoming year, and I'm hoping to surpass my goals by next May. I'll be posting a lot more weight loss, and training updates between now and May 2011.
5. Samantha says the cutest things. This past week, I was getting the Madore-ables ready for bed. Here's a conversation that I had with Samantha recently:

Samantha: I love you Mommy

Me: I love you too Sam

Samantha: I love Sarah too

Me: And I know Sarah loves you too

Samantha: I love Daddy too

Me: And Daddy loves you so very much...and Sarah too. You know why we love you?

Samantha: Because, Sarah is my Sarah. Mommy is my Mommy and Daddy is my Daddy.

Splash Pad...Part Dos

My Mom and I took the Madore-ables to Splash Pad in Derry, New Hampshire yesterday. It's the second trip that we've made this Summer, and I plan on continuing to take them. I highly recommend it for all mommies with young-ins. (In case you missed my first blog about Splash Pad, click here).

The girls had an absolute blast once again. We spent a good chunk of time on the playground portion, and once Mom and I couldn't stand the hot Summer sun anymore, we decided to venture our way over to the splash pad portion. The girls were shy at first, but little by little, they got closer and closer to the water sprayers.

They never even napped on the way home, so after dinner and a bath, it was a very early bedtime for the Madore-ables.

Here are some highlights from our Splash Pad adventure yesterday:

It Has To Be A Monkey Thing

One of my biggest pet peeves, is parents who don't discipline their children in public. I'm sure you've seen it all: the child who's running around the store and the mother is nowhere to be found; children acting out in the restaurant when you're trying to have a quiet relaxing dinner; or the child who tries to be the bully on the playground and the mother doesn't speak a word.

While I'm home with the Madore-ables, I try to limit their intake of television. They have so many toys, and there's so many activities to do outside, there's just no time for the tube. Although, once in awhile we'll sit down and relax and watch some PBS. One of the Madore-ables favorite shows is Curious George. We bought Samantha a DVD with 7 or 8 CG shows on one movie. Whenever Sarah hears the theme song, if she's playing with something else in the other room, she'll come running in. It's really cute. But, it seems that the more I watch this brown, curious, 4-legged Mammal, the more I'm horrified by his outrageous behavior. I know, I know, he's curious, he's supposed to get into trouble you say, but the fact that the Man In the Yellow Hat doesn't do anything to curb his little monkey's behavior is just plain wrong! Watching the show causes me to think of some things:

1. Leaving your monkey alone and saying "Now be a good little monkey" before you leave is not a good way of disciplining. Come on Man, let's kick up the monkey discipline a little!


2. Another thing, why hasn't DSS been called in? Clearly, George can't take care of himself, and the Man In the Yellow Hat can't be responsible for taking care of George.


3. Something else I have pondered is, what would you call George's master? Last name: Hat. First name, Comma Man In The Yellow? Man? Yellow hat man? I digress.

Every night, bedtime ritual is bottles of milk and some story time. One of the books that's on the agenda is Steve Haskamp's illustrated story of "Eight Silly Monkeys". I'm sure you've heard the story:

Eight silly monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, "No more monkeys jumping off the bed!"

The story proceeds with the other seven monkeys all creating some kind of shenanigan, falling off the bed, and Mama calling the doctor. Now my girls are sitting there happily drinking their milk, and relaxing with a cute, funny story. However, I'm sitting there again, questioning several things:

1. After the first monkey falling off the bed and bumping his head, why didn't the mother monkey just tell the other 7 to not jump otherwise they'll hurt themselves like their brother/sister?


2. Why is the mother so calm? All she does is call the doctor. If I had 8 monkeys running around my house, I would not be so calm.


3. Why would you need a pediatrician to tell you that monkeys shouldn't jump on the bed?


4. I don't know about you, but if I were the pediatrician, and I received 8 phone calls from the same mother saying that my children were jumping on the bed, by the 3rd phone call, I would have again called the authorities and reported that monkey mommy for neglect.
   

So moral of the story is: if you want to get away with things, you need to be a monkey!

Sarah's New Playgroup!

So this morning marked a new exciting event for Sarah: she started a new Early Intervention playgroup. Sarah "graduated" from her previous playgroup in May due to the fact that she was advancing in all of the challenges that were presented to her, plus she also outgrew the age bracket of the group.

There appears to be about 4 or 5 other children around Sarah's age, if not a little bit older. I took Sarah into the room to show her around and make sure she's all set, and then I had to leave and go into the next room. It was a little nerve wracking only because I'm constantly around the Madore-ables, so Sarah hasn't really learned to be away from me. I of course did more worrying than what was necessary: she was fine the entire time. When I left the room, she went right into playing with all the toys. While Sarah played, the mothers of the children gathered in a room, and we all went around the table just talking about our kids and families. When we were all done, we went into the room, and I found Sarah was walking around the play carpet in the room and was picking up all the story books that the other children tossed around the room. That's my girl! Sarah loves cleaning up. We sang a "Bye bye" song, and she spent the entire time saying "Hi" and "Bye". I'm so excited for next week!

I'm amazed at what is offered today. Thirty years ago, programs like this weren't available. We are so grateful that Sarah can get this care to help develop her muscles and make her stronger. We're so proud of our little monkey and how far she's come along.

My Old Stomping (Play)Grounds

My mom and I took the Madore-ables yesterday to Drummond Playground, which is a playground that I used to play at when I was a child just outside of Boston. Granted, the town has dramatically changed the playground to updated equipment since I tore up those grounds, but just the same, it's nice to see my girls play where I used to.




Here are some of the highlights from yesterday:

Five Things Friday

5 Things That Have Made Me Smile In the Last Week

1. I love the fact that Sarah has been using her voice more, using her sign language and is really following direction very well. (i.e- "Go bring this to Daddy" or "Let's put your shoes away"). I wish I had a video recorder, but I have an old cell phone that I really need to use to record those cute little "Hi" and "Bye's" before that cute little voice is grown up and gone. Sarah's schedule has changed a little bit in the last week...for the better. We started a new Physical Therapy time, so instead of the crack of dawn on Thursday mornings, it's now Tuesday afternoons just before nap time. We've only done it for 2 weeks, and already this mommy likes LOVES it. Sarah will also be starting a new playgroup on Monday, 8/16. The group is going to be full of toddlers in Sarah's age group, which hopefully means new friends for me too! This new playgroup is going to be focusing on speech for Miss Sarah. Another added bonus, it's right here in town so barely any driving!
2. My sister-in-law spent the evening and overnight with us last night. It's always good to see her. We were actually able to visit and chat too. She also gave me a very much needed haircut, so I feel like a brand new person.
3. I found the perfect picture/collage frame at Kohl's for our family portraits that we just had done (just scroll down to the next blog post if you haven't seen it already) and have added said photos to our living room walls.
4. I've really been enjoying the cooler temperatures that Mother Nature has graced us with in New England this past week. It's really been nice to have the windows open for some fresh air.
5. Earlier this week, I took the girls grocery shopping with me. When we got home, I made sure that the girls were occupied with some activities so I could bring the groceries inside and put them away. While I was making my dozen or so trips from the car back up the stairs in the house, Samantha (without me asking mind you) started to take things like the canned goods, the boxes of pasta, and anything else that goes into our pantry and started putting them away for me. Anything that needed to be refrigerated, such as the meats, and the dairy and just left the bags in front of the fridge for me to take care of. Such a self-sufficient girl we have :)

My Beautiful, Madore-able Family

Back on August 1st, our very good friend Jeremiah (who photographed Jeremy's and my wedding) photographed us once again for a family portrait. We decided that we should photograph at one of our favorite beaches: Plum Island Beach Reservation in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

The girls were singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider

The handsome love of my life...I blame him for making my life so complete and happy

My absolute favorite photo of the Madore-ables

Thank you Jeremiah!!