Snow Play II

The kids got to have a playful snowball fight with our friends and neighbors down the street during the warmish weather this past Sunday. The kids and Nate had a blast! Even Rowan participated––as a spectator, of course.

Rowan's first ride in the jogging stroller! 

Allie was a lean, pink, snow-balling machine!

It was a free for all, with five kids hurling chunks of snow at each other.

Rowans and I watched the action
from a safe distance away. 

Allie survived unharmed,
but was hungry and cold by the end of the battle.

The short walk up the hill back to our house
was enough to put this little guy out cold.

A Weekend of Milestones

Rowan is on a development roller coaster all of a sudden! He just turned four months last week, and since then he has gained two brand new skills...

Can I Have a Bun with that Roll?

Rowan does not like lying down much, except for sleeping. He'll hang out on his playmate for a little while, but it's not his favorite activity. He'd rather sit with us and play with his toys, or stand and watch the action while someone holds him up. So he wasn't making much progress on rolling over...until Sunday, when he finally fought and lurched until he had completely rolled over! It was so cool because we were all in the room having lunch, and all watched his successful roll together. We cheered for him and he actually looked pleased with himself for a moment, even though he had no idea what he'd done.

This roll was from his back to front, on his left side. I've seen him almost make it on his right side, too. I snapped a couple shots right after he rolled.

A Spoonful of Progress

Since Rowan had been sleeping through the night for a few weeks but then went back to waking up, his pediatrician suggested that I give him a little cereal before bedtime to help him sleep longer. So this weekend I decided to give him his first taste of real food (if you can call oat cereal real food...it's mostly breast milk with a little flaky cereal mixed in to make a mushy consistency...yum!).

I expected his first meal to be a messy, difficult affair. But instead, Rowan was a very willing participant! He kept most of the food in his mouth, and eagerly awaited each bite. He was so happy to be eating! I couldn't believe it...Silas was almost 9 months before he became a willing eater (he started at 6-1/2 months but fought every bite), and Allie was 6 months before she started eating solid food. Rowan is ahead of the game on this one! And to top it off, the pediatrician said he's cutting his first tooth, which explains why he constantly jams his fingers in his mouth and drools like a Saint Bernard.

My current favorite thing to put in my mouth...

...Enter oat cereal...

This stuff is pretty good!

I love eating solid food!

Rowan's a-Growin'

Our little guy gained 3 pounds over the last two months, putting him over 15 pounds (and my sore back can attest to that)! As if that wasn't impressive enough, he grew 2 inches as well, and now measures 25-1/2 inches tall. He's wearing 9-month clothes... No wonder he's ready for food!

Rowan has completely outgrown Allie's lap,
but she still tries to hold him!

Snow Play I

Snow is more fun when you can play in it! 

After many, many hours of snow plowing, shoveling and scraping this month, we finally got some decent weather that allowed the kids to go out and experience the snow rather than just watch it from the window. These photos are from last weekend after another freshly-fallen snow (upon many layers of previously-fallen snow).

Silas makes his own path in the snow

The Sweetness of a Sleeping Child

There’s something precious about a sleeping child. Watching one of the kids lying quietly in their beds, lips pursed, their face in a peaceful expression, gently breathing to the rhythm of slumber, always dims the days’ frustrations and challenges. I try to pause during these moments and soak up the sweetness, because this is what gets me through the rest of the day when things aren’t so rosy.

Over the weekend I often have the privilege of sleeping in while Nate watches Si and Allie. When Rowan wakes up, I’ll nurse him in bed, and he may take another nap while we lie there together. It’s very cozy and lovely. I so enjoy watching his little face as he sleeps... He still smiles in his sleep, and sometimes laughs, and I wonder what his dreams are like.

If you have little ones at home, don’t pass these moments by. Sear them into your heart so that when your children are long gone, the memories will remain.

Sweet baby

Allie sharing her nuk with Rowan

Rowan visiting Allie's bed one night

A Carousel in Winter

Allie loves carousels. She often talks about how she rode on one last summer at the sea shore. (And frequently asks when we can go back to ride it again.) So one Saturday in January when it wasn't snowing (hard to believe there was such a day) we took the kids to the Plymouth Meeting Mall to play and ride the indoor carousel. We had gone last January too, so I added a photo from 2013 to compare with the current ones.

The boys hanging out in the mall's cool play area.

Rowan's first carousel ride

Allie loved the ride and the smile proves it!
(Silas did not like it...we'll leave it at that.)

The fountain always charms the kids.

What big kids! (See the photo from 2013 below)

Allie can't contain her excitement!

Rowan catching a nap with Nate

Our mall visit in January of last year

What a Doll!

Even though the kiddos are years away from dating in our family, Rowan has already developed his first crush! He takes the cake for earliest ‘first love’. (Allie had a crush, possibly ongoing, on Quincy from the “Little Einsteins” videos, but she was well over two when it started.)

So who is the lucky recipient of his admiration? 

Why, it’s Allie’s doll baby, who is aptly named ‘Baby’!

 It started innocently one day when Nana was visiting and holding Rowan. Nate was looking for something to keep Rowan’s attention, and grabbed Allie’s doll because it was sitting nearby. He wagged it in front of Rowan’s face, and made her ‘talk’ with a high-pitched baby voice. (This doll is mostly plastic and not even very real looking, so we expected Rowan to scoff at this silly attempt at pretending she was an actual person.)

When Rowan’s wide eyes first beheld the doll, we could tell there was serious interest there. They have since become close friends. Rowan can scarcely keep from hugging her whenever he sees her! We haven’t had the heart to tell him that she’s pretend... Hopefully by the time he realizes he’ll have moved on to someone or, ahem, something else.

The first time they met... 

Love at first sight!

"So are you doing anything tonight?"

Snuggling with his girl.

"Can we have some privacy here please?"

Stitches

It was that moment every parent dreads... Your child starts crying suddenly, and you know it's the cry that means they're hurt.

On January 31st, I heard that cry from Allie, and it signaled our first experience with a more serious injury than a scrap or a bump.

Allie had been running inside and had fallen against a chair with a wooden railing, which ripped open the skin under her nose. At first I saw blood gushing and thought she broke her nose. But after looking closer, I realized that the skin underneath was deeply cut, and knew she was going to need stitches.

Ugh.

This was our very first experience having to take one of the kids to get stitched up, and thankfully it happened at the best possible time. One of the teens from church was already at our house playing with the kids while I did housework, so we could leave Silas and Rowan in her care as we took Allie to the urgent care center. And Nate was working from home that day, so he was able to patch up Allie's cut for the drive, and more importantly, go with us. That was huge, because I don't think I could have handled it by myself. I was shaking the whole time.

We went to the Premier Urgent Care center in Limerick, and the people were great there. We were able to get in quickly and get Allie taken care of it fast. I think we were only there for two hours, and it was a late Friday afternoon into the early evening. The place was packed by the time we left at 7pm.

The worst part was that Allie had to be wrapped up in a sheet for the procedure, so that she wouldn't move around too much or try to touch the wound while the physician's assistant was putting in the stitches. And she had to get several shots in the area of the wound to numb it. So she cried through the whole thing (you could even hear her outside in the waiting room where I was) but the stitches came out great, and afterward Allie was talking about how gentle the doctor was and how nice she was. She was very brave through the whole thing! Allie continues to amaze us.

Now it's been almost 4 weeks later, and the wound is healing beautifully. We're putting silicone gel and vitamin E on the scar to minimize it, but it already looks much better.

Allie still tells people about when she fell and hit the chair and mommy and daddy had to take her to the doctor to get stitches. In fact yesterday she told complete strangers at Silas' speech therapy office. I guess the memory will stick with her for a long time!

Here are a couple pictures, mostly from Nate's camera. After they put the stitches in, the nurses gave Allie a blue popsicle and a blue lollipop, so she was very happy.

This was a few days after...
the stitches came out a couple days later.

This was two weeks after the stitches came out,
and the scar is healing nicely.

The Blur of Winter

Where are the Paines, you must be wondering? What have they been up to this month? 

I wonder that myself. These past 5 weeks have been a blur of storms, snow days and school delays. Shoveling, plowing, scraping, slipping on ice, bundling up, striping back down, piling boots by the door, sweeping up salt, and wetting socks from snow puddles on the floor. We barely seem to recover from one storm before the next one swoops in. I guess this is a ‘real’ winter, which is why I prepare California weather.

Anyway, there have been other adventures going on, but the weather has been central through all of them. Silas has had 5 snow days, 4 two-hour delays, and one early dismissal so far. And we still have plenty of winter left! One of Silas’ therapists said that it’s been like a long string of Mondays... Every time there’s a day off, the next day back is like Monday again. You have to adjust to the schedule and routine all over again. It’s been a long series of stops and starts.

This past week was a dosey––Nate was away in Seattle for a Microsoft conference, so while he hobnobbed with other geeks and discussed the latest DAX software with some of the best programmers in the world, we were at home getting blasted by two big winter storms. I’ve said this before, but I'm so thankful that our families are close by. They were a huge help to me, as well as our neighbors down the street...with shoveling, helping with the kids, and providing moral support. I was exhausted from all the effort, but looking back I can see how God provided for us even in the midst of difficulty. The power stayed on, and I ended up having help each day, despite the snow and ice. Plus the days Nate flew were both clear.

I’m going to be putting up a batch of posts over the next few days to make up for the lack this past month, and making it look like they were all posted at different times. That may be cheating, by hey, this is my blog and I can do whatever I want, right? So check back soon to hear more from life on the frozen tundra of the Paine homestead.

This series of photos is from Monday's long snow storm.
We got about 8-10 inches of snow.

Wednesday's freezing rain left everything with a thick coating of ice.
Though many in the area did, we did not lose power!