The Fords' Life

So…this time it’s been two months since I last wrote.  Don’t even have many specifics to share with you.  I feel like Harper has been sick quite a lot.  About two weeks ago, after a diagnosis of hand, foot, mouth, Dr. asked if Harper had had the three day measles.  I reminded her that’s what she thought Harper had two visits ago, yet she never broke out in the rash Dr. said to look for.  The dr. nodded and reassured me that she thought Harper had now had all the most common childhood illnesses.   Okay…kind of a rough year, but her immunity should now be built up.  Sigh of relief.

Two weeks later, last Wednesday, I get a call from daycare that Harper had an injury they wanted me to come take a look at.  That call was worse than the fever calls I had grown accustomed to.  Luckily it was an institute day, so I was pretty much able to just take off.  Harper had tripped into a chair and bit through her bottom lip.  By the time I got there (about 10 minutes after it happened), it had nearly stopped bleeding.  I was able to get her in to see the dr who said it looked like a pretty clean cut, so no stitches or glue needed, just some preventative antibiotics.  It really never slowed her down much, and it’s been healing nicely.  I don’t even think she’ll have a scar!  The downside is that she had an allergic reaction to this antibiotic (the pharmacist warned me 6% of people allergic to penicillin do) so we were back to the dr. again.

Both girls are continuing to amaze me with their growth.  Harper’s has been more language related.  It continues to crack me up with surprise when she says new words for the first time, which seems to be a nearly daily basis.  Over the weekend, we went in to school so Ed could help me copy all my computer documents onto a flash drive.  Ella of course needed to use the restroom, which is at the opposite end of my hall.  On the way back, Ella had gotten considerably ahead of Harper and me, so I picked up Harper, and I swear when I did so, she told me to run!  So I did, and she giggled all the way down the hall!

Ella is getting so independent and helpful!  Yesterday morning Harper and I were getting dressed upstairs while Ella was downstairs watching TV.  I threw Ella’s clothes down, and she got herself dressed all by herself!  When we left to pick up some groceries, Ella noticed we had left all the balls out in the yard earlier.  I asked if she could get them picked up while I was buckling Harper into her seat.  And she did!!

She’s been saying some funny/sweet things too.  We drove by our old house, and I expressed sadness that my cone flowers and black eyed susans were gone.  ”That’s okay, Mommy,” she said, “You can plant more when we live there again.”  Yesterday she was talking about rainbows; “I love rainbows…they fill my heart with beautiful colors.”  Aww…my sweet girl.

And this:  Ella noticed there was a hole in the screen in one of the windows and asked Ed what happened.  He said one of the boys who used to live here probably did it.  Later Ella asked Ed to read her a book…the cover got torn off over a year ago, but she really likes the story, so we’ve kept it.  She asked Ed what happened to the cover.  He answered that she probably ripped it on accident.  ”No,” she replied, “I think it was the boys who used to live here.”

We’ve been trying to spend some time outside with this nice spring/summer weather.  The girls and I planted some flowers and Ella loves to help water.  We go for lots of walks and are loving having the swing set in the back yard.  We’ve even been to the pool a few times too.  Looking forward to doing a lot more of that now that we are on summer break!!

And hopefully with summer here, I’ll get back on track with more regular updates!!

Things have been going really well (minus the stomach flu Ed and I had Sunday/Monday), just busy.  We’ve really been enjoying the fall weather and time with friends and family.

Today we met friends at Niabi Zoo for Boo at the Zoo.  Kids wore their costumes and local businesses set up little tables and handed out treats around the zoo.  We had lots of fun…was a little worried about the weather being too cold, but we had Harper zipped up in the Burley and Ella with a coat and hat over her costume, so it was fine.  By the time we left, Harper was hanging out in the Bjorn and Ella had stripped off her jacket.  Glad we had gotten there first thing in spite of the chill; the parking lot was packed on our way out, and it looked like cars were parked along the road up to a half mile away.  It was so full, had we just been arriving, I’m pretty sure I would have turned around and headed back home.  But this morning it was perfect!

Last Tuesday my coworkers and I worked at McDonald’s for McTeacher’s night fundraiser.  That was crazy busy too!  I almost had to park at Subway across the street but on my second time around the parking lot, I caught someone pulling out right in front.  As soon as we got there we washed up, and I was put on a cash register!  I’m not sure what task I was expecting, but I wasn’t really expecting to have an actual job!  I thought maybe we’d be there mostly to socialize but there was no time for that!  One of my former students was the one training me which I got a kick out of.  She did a great job, but I think my slowness frustrated her at times.  Sometimes she’d lean across or push me out of the way to complete an order that I was having a hard time finding on the register.  I was surprised by how intricate the register was and how it was possible to complete all the special orders (and there were a lot of them!).  Things would be ordered like add shredded lettuce or Mac Sauce or 1/2 sweet and 1/2 unsweet tea, and there was a button for it all.  Amazing.  At the time it was a little stressful, honestly, orders were coming in fast and I didn’t know what I was doing!!!  In retrospect however, it too was fun, and I think if I were to go back again, I’d be a lot better at it!  We don’t have the amount that we raised yet, but I’m thinking it should be a good amount.  Field trip here we come!

Little Harper is an official crawler now…no more need for the stomach scoot.  She’s busy following Ella around and trying to pull herself into a standing position.  She’s waving and shaking her head no.  Lots of fun but I have definitely got to rebaby proof the house!

Hey all, this is Edward, I’m hi-jacking LP’s blog to tell a quick story:
With a long and busy day at the zoo, we decided to cancel our evening plans (a fall festival party that one of our good friend’s parents throw every year!) and just put the girls to be early. Neither had any sort of solid nap today, and both were um… fussy, to say the least. Harper usually goes to bed around 6 and EJ between 7 and 7:30. Tonight, Harper was upstairs by 5:30 and I put EJ down at 6pm. There was no resistance from either side.

About half an hour after laying EJ down, I was in the kitchen talking to LP when we heard EJ yelling from upstairs: “MOOOOOOM, DAAAAADDDDDDY, etc, etc” I walked up, popped my head into her room and asked what the matter was. She said, very calmly, “I need that”. Pointing to a pound puppy that was resting on her rocking chair. I said “OK, but it’s time for bed now.” She said “OK” and took the pound puppy I was handing her.

It was a little dark in the room, only a night-light was on, so I hadn’t noticed when I walked in, but she set the pound puppy down in her crib at the front of a line she had made with the rest of the crib dwelling stuffed animals, 5 or 6 total. I asked “Sweety, what are you doing?” She said, as she sad down on the pillow in front of the line, “Going for a train ride!”

A little surprised, I said “OK, but it’s time for bed now so you’ll have to be quiet”. She replied “OK….wait, I can’t”. I asked “why can’t you be quiet?”. Her reply? “My train goes CHOOO-HOOOO, CHOOO-HOOO”……. With that, I kissed her goodnight and closed the door.

Today we went to the NICU reunion at Rockford Memorial.  It was packed with NICU graduates and their families…lots of babies but some older kids as well.  I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  There were lots of giveaways and prize baskets (I came home with three more cans of preemie formula which I just realized I’m stockpiling.  I now have 10 cans, and the girl doesn’t even drink formula!  Occasionally we’ll add a couple ounces to her bottles, but at most we’ll open one can a month, then have to throw away a mostly full can.  I also just realized it’s only a few more months before she’s drinking whole milk…oh my…I’ll have to find a preemie somewhere who will benefit from my new self-diagnosis of formula hoarding).  Anyway…There were games for Ella to play, and cookies and punch, and we saw four of Harper’s nurses including her main day nurse, and even some of the other babies who were in Harper’s little section of the NICU.

The whole experience reminded me of how far Harper has come.  She was born this tiny, fragile little 4 lb. girl, and now she’s so happy and healthy.  She’s got pudgy little cheeks and pudgy little legs and bright blue eyes.  She’s sitting up and wanting to crawl and laughing and “talking” and eating carrots and sweet potato puffs, and I’m just so grateful for how everything turned out.  She’s amazing.

In other news, daycare might be getting slightly better for Ella.  She did great when Ed dropped her off Friday, so maybe that’s the secret!!  Swim lessons started back up at the Y, and Ella’s teacher got her out a floaty belt to wear which Ella adores.  She exclaimed gleefully, “Watch me!  I’m ‘wimming’ all by myself!”