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!

Perfect Timing

Jen and Rowan two days after
he was born with our midwife Kate

Rowan is a week away from turning three months old! At times it feels much longer than that...but other times, it seems like just yesterday that he was born.

Before too much times passes, I wanted to share the story of his birth, and how God was in control of everything.

Rowan was born on an unusually warm, sunny day in mid-October. He was a week early, but not a moment too soon.

You see, Silas had been transitioning to full-day kindergarten for the last two months, and we had purposefully taken it slow so that he would not get overwhelmed and act out. It had been going well, and the week Rowan was born was Silas' first week going the full day. He was able to complete the whole week, which was a huge blessing! For one thing, it meant that I no longer had to pick him up from school because he would get busing home. And more importantly, it meant that he would not associate staying longer at school with Rowan's birth (and possibly be jealous or resentful).

God had it all timed perfectly! We had prayed for months, not knowing how things would turn out, but trying to have faith to let God handle everything.

Speaking of faith, having a home birth requires quite a bit of that as well! The pregnancy went smoothly, and we trusted our mid-wife. But you never know what could happen during labor...

Thankfully, God allowed Rowan's birth to go even better than we could have imagined. Having a child in your own home is a wonderful experience! It was so much more peaceful, serene (even with the pain), and exciting than it had been the previous two times. Our two midwives were great, giving us space when we needed it but intervening when it was appropriate.

Perhaps you remember that Allie came so fast that she was delivered by the paramedics? Well, we were worried the same thing would happen again this time. I'd been having periods of regular contractions for weeks before my due date with Rowan, which is what had happened with Allie. My midwife and I were concerned that she may not make it in time. So when I called her yet again to say that I was having regular contractions, she said that if it didn't progress this time, she would come the next day and "get things going." So that Friday, she arrived at 9:00am with her assistant and gave me an herbal tea to drink (a tincture, I think) and instructed me to take a brisk walk outside.

The brisk walk entailed pushing Allie in the stroller down the steep hill of our street to the Perkiomen trail, walking a bit on the trail, and then pushing her back up the hill, by myself. Boy, did that ever start the contractions! I labored for a while downstairs and Nate and Allie played, and the midwives chatted and laughed with us. After two and a half hours, they broke my water to speed things along (as if that was necessary!). Well, it worked, and Rowan came an hour later!

Even though I was nervous about the whole thing, I truly felt a peace about the labor, and was so thankful that it was happening in a controlled way this time. Everyone was there who needed to be-––Nate, the two midwives, and Allie (who watched a video while I pushed, but Nate brought her upstairs to see Rowan shortly after he came). My mom made it just in time to see him minutes after he was born. And when Silas got home from school, he had a fantastic surprise waiting for him-–a baby brother! It all worked out perfectly...not because of anything we did, but because of God's perfect timing!

First Christmas as a Family of Five

The holidays were exciting this year, what with a hyperactive 5 year old who was on break from school for 12 days in a row, an energetic 2-1/2 year old, and a 2-month old who requires lots of care. To add to the mix, the kids and I had colds, and Allie came down with a stomach virus on Christmas Eve night.

But it could have been worse. Allie was well enough to enjoy Christmas day. We celebrated our Savior's birth with presents, food and family.

Opening a gift on Christmas Eve night

Christmas morning we read the Nativity story together,
then open our stocking gifts.

The kids' favorite gift was a doctor kit...
Silas is trying out the glasses

Dr. Allie is giving Nate a shot.

Rowan's not too sure about that hat. 

What a silly bunch!

Christmas afternoon, opening gifts from Jen's family.

Snow, Smiles and Sleep

Winter pulled into town this week, about a month ahead of schedule. It began on Sunday with a pretty but light snowfall that didn't accumulate to much. The kids enjoyed watching the snow fall, and Allie even seemed enchanted by it. When we got home from church, she stayed outside and wandered around the yard in her dress clothes with a big smile, gazing at the falling snowflakes.

It was all harmless until the phone rang at 5:09am on Monday morning. The school district wanted to alert us of a two-hour delay. So Silas had a few extra hours here in the morning before he headed off to school. Not a big deal...

When the phone rang at 5:09am on Tuesday morning, waking us up with yet another alert, it was quite a surprise––school closed! It hadn't even snowed yet; a storm was expected. At least it did end up accumulating about 4-5 inches, so it was worth closing school. But it caught me off guard. I admit, since Rowan came, I have not been keeping up with the news, and am only vaguely aware of the weather forecast. But I've learned my lesson...I will be checking the weather report faithfully for the rest of the winter!

The snow storm was particularly exciting for the kids, and they were anxious to get outside and play. It took approximately 45 minutes to get all their snow gear on, with lots of tugging and pulling and impatient children and a frustrated mommy...perhaps other parents can relate?

So out they went mid-morning, while it was still snowing, unable to contain their excitement. Allie came back about 10 minutes later, very cold, her excitement extinguished by the chilly temperature. She told me she didn't like the noise the snow made when she stepped on it.

Silas managed to find a mud puddle in the back field, and decided to stand it in for 5 minutes. I convinced him to come back to the yard, and he played a little longer, but also came in far too soon considering all the work it took to get him ready for snow play.

Anyway, besides dealing with snow, we've been busy getting ready for Christmas. Last weekend we decorated the tree, Nate made pizzelles with Rowan in the front carrier (quite a humorous sight), and he and I have been trying finish our online shopping (we get very excited when the UPS truck pulls up). Rowan has started smiling in the last two weeks, and this week it's been a little more predictable. Now we are preoccupied with getting him to smile...once you know it's possible, it's hard not to keep trying every time he looks our way. We're cooing and smiling and giggling and making silly faces and funny noises...and every once in a while he smiles. But it's good. More of a return than we got in the first 6 weeks.

We also had a breakthrough with Rowan's sleep, thanks to a program developed by "Moms on Call". I made a few seemingly minor changes to our routine, as the MOC suggest, and the very first night he slept from 9:15pm-2:30am, when I fed him, and then slept until 6:30am! A huge improvement! And all that changed was that I gave him a bath at 8:30, fed him at 9pm, and swaddled him. I never would have imagined it would work so well. Honestly, I think that it was a gift from God. He intervened, and Rowan slept. Yea!

A sleeping baby is a wonderful baby.

Rowan is eight weeks old now!

The kids "helped" with assembling the tree. 

Jen held Rowan and watched while the tree came together.

Decorations are fascinating to Silas and Allie,
who can't seem to keep from taking them off the tree
 despite our efforts to teach them otherwise.

The sibs hanging out.

Nate gamely trying to get a smile. 

Allie got her fill of snow in about 10 minutes.

Silas and Nate drove the snow blower together and cleared the driveways.

The Sick Hut Comes to Life

The Paines were hit hard by a virus that swept through the household over the last two weeks and took out every member of the family. This is very unusual in that Nate rarely gets sick. But we all had it––fever, congestion and cough. Allie and Jen are still dealing with a lingering cough, and poor Rowan, the last to get it, still has some stuffiness. Thankfully he did not get the other symptoms. Breastfeeding ought to be good for something.

You know it's bad when Allie starts calling music "mucus." Last night she repeatedly talked about the "mucus" she wanted to listen to as she put her CD into the player. Sheesh.

Silas was home from school last week for four days with the virus, and unfortunately this past week he already had off for Thanksgiving. He had a long, unexpected break that was made even more challenging because the rest of us were also sick.

Nate and Silas passed the time by baking several batches of cookies, making chicken and lentil soups, and baking our traditional Thanksgiving apple pie. Silas loves to help with cooking and baking, mostly doing the "dumping" and mixing work. Every day he'll haul out a bag of chocolate chips and ask to make cookies. Although it's fun to mix up a batch with him, it's not so great for our waste lines!

The good news is that God brought us through the sickness, and protected Rowan from the worst of it. We still had a good Thanksgiving, despite being sick. And Rowan is now six weeks old––hooray!

An invention that came out of our long sickness was the
"sick hut". Here is Allie resting in the the first of the sick huts.

Silas' sick hut was more like a secret hideaway.

An early morning game of hide-in-the-cube.

Nate and Silas made a batch of chicken soup, which was a very nice treat
for mommy. Silas has become quite the sous chef lately.

Despite being stuffy these past few days, Rowan
continues to do well and is growing fast!