Life is Wonderful!

First of all, to my loyal blog followers, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I hardly post any more.

Life is flying by, I never get to bed before midnight any more and my personal blog just always seems to take a back seat.

I have so many pictures and videos but the thought of trying to deal with them is just too much when all I want to do is sit and veg out and get away from my computer. so sorry, this is a text post.

(and to those friends that I owe pictures too. I'm sorry, I PROMISE I'll get them to you. I really really haven't had a minute to spare)

Kaitlyn and Quinn update:

Quinn (although still a sensitive guy) is finally walking at 16 months!! 2 weeks ago he started taking one step and then falling forward. But he is now full-on walking. He is so proud of himself. His PT thinks that the delay came from his standing on tip-toes all the time, but he really seems to have the hang of it. It's amazing how quickly he caught on. From hardly taking a step to taking 3 and then "diving" for me or the couch to full own toddling all over the house! The first week of his walking was hysterical as he could only walk side-ways, as he was used to furniture walking. It was so funny! Good thing our house was fairly baby proofed already, but there are time I "forget", like a few nights ago when I found him sticking Kaitlyn's butterfly net in the toilet and was having an absolute blast!

Quinn is also talking, he's got about 10 words I think. This happened probably 2 months ago and I haven't been able to get to a post...his words:
Mama, Dada, no-no, more, bye-bye, ball (or ba), wawa (water) aqua (yes, he's already bilingual), duck. He is catching on to the talking thing so much easier than Kaitlyn did. Kaitlyn's first word was dada and everyone was dada (even me!)

Q is definitely a little mama's boy, he loves to nibble on me, especially if I've wearing something fuzzy. He loves fuzzy blankets and goes "mmm-mmmm" and nuzzles when he gets a hold of me or a blanket. He loves to be held at night before going to bed. How I love this, Kaitlyn never wanted to be held. He is FINALLY sleeping through the night (if he's not teething, as he screams all night and I have to rely on Tylenol) .

Quinn loves to smile and giggle, he super ticklish and has the BEST laugh. Remember K never smiled EVER until she was about Quin''s age. Where he smiles all the time (when he's not screaming that is).

Now, as much as I'd love to call him a "happy baby", that's not the case. Now, Quinn is still a sensitive guy, he cries a LOT/ I call him extreme baby, as he's either having a blast or screaming his head off. It's so bad at times that our neighbor knows when we are having especially trying days. Yes, he's LOUD and it's NON-STOP! It's horrible.... Thankfully (most nights) he likes to be held at night so I can calm myself down over the stress that his screaming (and my crazy buys day) causes me! I just love to kiss his little blond head as he nuzzles close to me. It's absolutely heaven on earth!

Kaitlyn is eating up a storm. Yes, I can't believe I can say this! It's like a new little girl arrived from somewhere who LOVES to eat. I cannot believe I'm saying this. Even this summer it was still a chore, as she rarely ate anything, but I changed my philosophy in feeding her to try to let her little body to teach herself what hunger was. it took 1.5 years, but her hunger and appetite finally kicked in. AND low and behold she weighs over 31 pounds now! I think it was only a year ago that she was stuck at 26 pounds... I'm not sure how tall she is exactly, but she is shooting up like a weed. She was always 1 or 2 sizes behind her age, and now she is wearing size 4 (her age). Even most size 4 pants fit (with a belt) as size 3 are way too short for her.

She's doing really well in her main-stream pre-school. The teachers can't believe what a difference. This is the same class she was in a year ago, as she is repeating the 3 year old program. She's now finally able to draw, (a year ago she was hardly drawing squiggles), now she loves drawing happy faces. She interacts a bit more with other kids, but still prefers to do things on her own.

What is currently worrying me is some weird new happenings. She clenches her jaw, grinds her teeth and goes: nnnn-nnnn-nnn as she shakes her hands up and down, or puts her hands on either side of me and hits me (gently) , she does this ALL the time. Seriously. at least 10 times an hour. It' sort of hard to explain. It's hard to get her to stop, she's sort of "stuck" doing it. She still also gets really wired/hyper and the best thing to calm her down is to put a "heavy frog" on her or the new weighted vest that I got. Both are therapy items. I say to her take deep breaths, hunny, it's time to calm down. But she can't seem to. She rolls around on the floor, pillow, soccer ball (whatever ball they were using in "sports class" that she just took)

Other stuff:
This is Prevention of Prematurity Month and as my role of March of Dimes Ambassador and Family Teams Chair I've visited two NICU's this week. the Nicu where my children were all born, and everyone was so happy to see me. Of course I cried as I thanked the nurses, (this was March of Dimes show of appreciation for all the NICU and L&D workers). I thanked the nurses again for giving me my most favorite picture of my 2 girls together for the last time.

I've wanted to post all month about it being Prevention of Prematurity Month, and of course haven't gotten around to it.

I also helped start a local Bay Area Twinless Twin group, and we got together for dinner this month. IT was wonderful and sad at the same time. There were 5 of us there and a lot of tears! I think next time we shouldn't meet at a restaurant so the waiter doesn't think we are all crazy. Then again, as we get to know each other and our stories, maybe it won't be quite so emotional. It was really nice to be able to support some moms with recent losses.

I also this month met with my feeding tube support group and continue to help new moms that come into the group whose children have serious feeding issues or are on feeding tubes. The moms that I've met in this group have become some of my closest friends.

Our heater went out on Thursday, (as I was rushing trying to prepare for the Board meeting and my poor children and nanny where at home freezing!) I had to deal with this too. Thankfully it was just a door left open to the blower, but it took PG&E to come out and tell us this as neither I nor any of my neighbors who tired could get the darn thing to start. (It all started when a helium balloon got sucked into the air intake and in process of taking it out the door was left ajar)

Real Estate Update
OH and yes, I think most of you know, but I do work full time as Real Estate Broker!

Yesterday I ran a full-day board retreat as my new position as incoming President for the Marin Chapter of The Women's' Council of Realtors. This took a LOT of time to plan and prepare. I'm sooo happy that it's over and that it went so well. I'm looking forward to working with my Board next year and am excited that everyone is so willing to help me as obviously, I have a LOT on my plate.

I helped sell a friend/client from my local mom's group sell their condo (we are in escrow) and are looking for a replacement home. We've put in two offers but neither of them have stuck yet.

I've spoken to 2 new wonderful clients (one is looking for a 2nd home and the other is coming back to the bay area and couldn't imagine living anywhere but Marin County). I plan on meeting both of them just after the holidays. I've been helping 2 other sets of clients make the move from SF to Marin for our great schools, but I can't see to find the right house for one family! If anyone knows of a high end very contemporary home, (preferably in Larkspur) please let me know!

I helped some clients relocating from NY purchase a house in West Marin (Inverness) after 3 weeks of serious negotiations. This was the hardest deal I've ever had to get into escrow as my buyers are self-employed and we had to pull out all the stops as it's next to impossible to get financing now if you are self-employed.

OH, and I went to San Diego last week for 5 days to attend the National Women's Council of Realtors Meeting as well as the National Association of Realtors meeting. I'm helping launch a brand new website for the California State chapter of Women's Council, so that's taken a lot of my time. I was so lucky to get to listen to some great presentations, Condoleezza Rice was the head-liner for NAR and Sashi Koto (former CNN Anchor) was the speaker for the Inaugural lunch of the National WCR 2010 President. I also took many classes on Real Estate, primary all focused on Social Networking for Real Estate agent. So much great stuff, but I don't seem to have the time to get anything started!!

The day I got back my pediatrician's office called and let me know they finally had the H1N1 in, so rushed to get them the shot in the comfort of our doctors office. Of course the shot gave them both a "cold" not too bad, this was on the heels of them both been sick earlier in the month, which of course for Kaitlyn means breathing treatments and all.

Ok, and that's just been this month!

Whew, I'm tired just writing all of this!!

The kids and I are heading solo to Los Angeles to visit my mom for Thanksgiving (it's a very, very very long drive (as Kaitlyn puts it), so I'm going to try to head down late Tuesday afternoon and hope Quinn will nap and sleep. Brian has to work on Thanksgiving, so figured we might as well go spend some time with Grandma Corinne as everyone knows I don't cook!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!!! Be thankful for all that we do have in this serious time of uncertainty. I know I'M thankful for my two children here on earth with me and for how amazing they both are. I'm thankful for my husband's willingness to put up with all that I take on (and that he KNOWS I don't cook) I'm thankful for all of my friends who are always there to lend a helping hand (which I often need), I'm thankful for all of my WCR Board members who are so willing to help me as I take on the Presidency. I'm thankful for my Real Estate clients who continue to know that I'll take good care of them. I'm thankful for all of my on-line friends for continued support of my family and my blog (when I rarely post any more). I'm thankful for my co-moderators of my Micro Preemie Support group (as I so rarely even have time to read the posts on the group any more). I'm thankful for the March of Dimes new friends I have that are willing to help me help the March of Dimes.

And mainly I'm thankful that life is wonderful. Life with all it's up and downs, it's still a wonderful road to be on. Life. I'd never be the person I am today without all that's happened in my life. Good and Bad. I'm a much better person that I could have ever have hoped to be. I constantly think about all the people that are now in my life that I would have never met and I'm so thankful that my life took the path it did (even thought I'd still trade paths a million times over), I'm totally at peace with the road that was chosen for me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Fall

Guess it was only a matter of time. This is Kaitlyn's 3 cold this fall so far. This one went directly into her lungs and she has mild bronchitis. Her coughs are just soooo horrible to hear.

Quinn now caught it today too.

At least the last 2 weren't too bad. We are back to doing round the clock breathing treatments and she's on antibiotics. I'm mainly soooo fearful of the swine flu. I've heard of some really horrible stories, a father supposedly passed away who lives near by who was healthy, and a 30 year old former preemie spent 4 weeks on a ventilator in a medically induced coma.

Can you believe that this happened:

Bankers getting vaccines

That wall street bankers are getting H1N1 Vaccines, while children like mine can't find the vaccine? My pediatricians office hasn't gotten any in yet at all.

What are your thoughts?

Oh and another "fall" story:

Oh, and yes, if you see my face book posts (which I am doing MUCH more often than my blogging updates as I'm sure you can tell). Quinn fell out of my car. It was horrible. It was sort of the perfect storm of events that happened, I felt like a horrible mother after wards.

But after another ER visit (we had just left Urgent Care an hour before to check on Kaitlyn's lungs from her last cold). K was very hungry, we stopped to get food, there wasn't any place to sit, so I had both kids, K was having a temper tantrum (from being so hungry) busy parking lot, my carrying Quinn while holding take-out food, his food, my purse, Kaitlyn's had, tried to put K in car, but had to open her car door and as I stupidly put Quinn in his car seat (for just a second) that's in the middle of the car, he got out of his car seat as I sprinted to the other side of the car, to make sure he wouldn't crawl out of the seat he rolled out of the car in front of my eyes before I could get there and onto the pavement.

Stupid mother of the year award I know....sigh.

Thankfully, now 2 weeks later, he no longer has a black-eye and his scratch near his eye is just a bit red still

The Best Doctor Visit - EVER

Today was Kaitlyn's 4 year old Doctor Check-up AND we went to the Dentist also.

The day started out great, Kaitlyn was very excited to go to the Dentist and her teeth looked great! She had fun and loved the small dog in the Dentist office and of course the staff loved Kaitlyn. All good reports on her teeth.

Then we were off to see Kaitlyn's regular Pediatrician for her 4 year old check-up (Kaitlyn had already been given a flu shot a month ago) so there weren't going to be any shots involved, but for the first time ever Kaitlyn was fearful of the Doctor and the check up. (at her 3 year old check up she WANTED a shot, which was certainly a bit strange). I actually felt it was good news that she was showing some fear (meaning to me that she doesn't remember all of the horrible things she's had to endure) and that she's doing basic kid normal things.

Kaitlyn is 30 pounds!!! I weighed her the day before her birthday and she weighed in at home at 30.0 pounds, and today, her official doctor weight was a bit more (but with clothes on). Wahooo!! 30 pounds puts her at about 3% on her ACTUAL birthday growth chart. (not the adjusted for her early birth chart).

She is 38.5 inches Tall. That means she's close to 50% for height (not-adjusted chart).

Everything looked and sounded great. I asked the Doc about possibly needing surgery to correct her gtube "hole". Her old g-tube whole looks almost like a 2nd belly button. Poor thing, I can just imaging her as a teenager wearing a bikini getting kid about having 2 belly buttons. I think something will need to be done (and the doc agreed and decided to ask a surgeon, whether it should be done by a plastic surgeon or not and when).

Also one of Kaitlyn's toes is curling under another. I've been paranoid that I had her in too small of shoes or something and the doc said, not it was going to happen no matter what. I guess she's not going to have the cutest toes, but at this point all-in-all, that seems minor. The scars on her arms from her recent crazy bug bites or poison oak episodes that she scratched to bleeding seem to be healing, and the doc felt the scars would go away.

But, I think the most important thing of all, is that Kaitlyn's doctor told me how absolutely incredible Kaitlyn was doing. On the way out, she said to me that she could never, ever have believed that Kaitlyn would be doing so incredibly fabulous for all she's been though, and you know what, I totally think so too. Going into this check-up was a joy. I KNOW she's doing great. I was all smiles. The last 6 months have given my the most amazing little girl I as a mother could ever hope for. So many of my posts over the years have been mom worrying. Mom fighting to find answers. To find help.

My daughter is a miracle and is the most amazing, beautiful, full of life, smart little girl. She has the most wonderful sense of humor, loves to laugh, is one tough little thing and people are drawn to her wherever she goes. I love her more than life itself.

At her IEP from special education she tested in the 4 to 6 year range in many levels (except some of the pragmatic (socialization) skills, but she is doing so very well there too. They said that she likely does have sensory processing issues and in unstructured environments she does go a little haywire (which I know). Her teacher said she's changed so much in the last 6-8 weeks and I totally agree. My amazing, little micro preemie is the most amazing, bring tears to my eye daughter.

But today, which really helped me to realize what's the most important thing in life: Kaitlyn's Doctor and I were emailing each other this afternoon after the mornings Check-up (about my needing to have some breathing medicine on hand for this upcoming winter and her gtube site) and this is what she wrote to me:

"BTW, I just loved my visit with Kaitlyn today. She is delightful. Even though she was fearful, she was able to comply with and become engaged during the check up. To me this reflects maturity in her behavior. I recognize that Kaitlyn's accomplishments are the result of the extraordinary efforts required of her parents, who were willing to step up and do what was needed. She and Quinn are very lucky children!"

I truly think that was the best email I've EVER received. I've known in my heart how hard I've fought for my daughter (and Quinn too) but to know it was noticed by our doctor was really was special to me. I can't change the fact that all of my children were born early, I can't get my daughter back, but I could do everything in my power to help ensure Kaitlyn and Quinn's future. Isn't that a moms job??

Enjoy some great pictures:

Last day of school (Special Ed) last week

Last Day of Special Ed

No eating issues here...

And to think that the package of M&M's was Kaitlyn's FAVORITE gift, boy have we come a long way!

Celebrating her Birthday on October 3rd with Mom and Dad at home

Kaitly's Birthday Celebration at school on her last day

And of course Quinn got in on the celebration too!

Even my little man is growing up too!

A few days away

Fun picture of Kaitlyn at our neighbors super duper sudsy fun party (well and Margarita party for the parents)! They put bubbles in the hot tub for the kids to enjoy!

The girls birthday is coming up again. October 4th is around the corner. I CANNOT believe that Kaitlyn is going to be 4 years old!

Today was her last day of Special Education (she is still going to qualify for a 1.5 hour program 2days a week), I kept tearing up the entire day! Her last day of school with an AMAZING teacher that has done so much for Kaitlyn and we celebrated her birthday. I took some great pictures, but just don't have the time to process the pictures at the moment.

Her face broke out with glee as the other kids sang happy birthday to her. It made my heart sing with joy!

Quinn started "walking" today, with the aid of a little push cart/walker toy. Oh my, he was sooo happy with himself! He's become quite the mamas boy lately, gets very upset when mom leaves the room (or the house!) I captured on video, but again, don't have time to edit and post it.

Last night dad and I got all fancy and went to the March of Dimes Celebrity Chef's event in SF. It was very touching and nice, but I got teary eyed listening to the family share their story, all preemie stories are so touching. It was nice to get out and dress up, it's been a long time and the food and wine were just amazing, I've been a bit slow all day today.

Real estate is CRAZY at the moment. It seems to take 3x as much work for every deal. I've had some difficult ones recently that are sucking up my time (time which I don't have anyways). I'm leaving to attend a Women's Council of Realtor Conference in San Jose on the girls birthday, which is heartbreaking to me. We had to move Kaitlyn's birthday the following weekend. My mom will be coming up for it. I feel very guilty. Dad and I are going to celebrate with her tomorrow (as I don't think she'll know the day of the 4th vs the 3rd). But I'm going to have to find time to work, pack, oh and plan her party that I have done NOTHING for.

I'm overloaded and overwhelmed and totally exhausted at the moment, sorry for not posting very often, or with much news...I guess the good news is that the kids are doing really well and remember, I usually post when I'm down and worried about them, I guess that's a good thing right, that they are just being kids and I'm a busy working mom!!!...

Yosemite here we come

Brian and I went to Yosemite and climbed Half Dome last month for our 5th year wedding anniversary and my 43rd birthday!

And we are off to Yosemite again with the kids this time for a few days!

Sorry for the long blog silence, just really busy and tired. Have too much on my to do list.

Kids are doing great, Quinn has officially outgrown his reflux and is finally a MUCH happier baby (but he still has his moments). He's crawling all over the place and is really close to walking.

Kaitlyn is almost finished with Special Education, as she'll likely graduate on her 4th birthday which is only a few short weeks away!

I DO promise to blog more soon, Just too tired and too many things on my to do list!

Liz and Brian celebrating their 2nd ever "summit" to the Top of Half Dome. This time it was a LOT harder, in that I'm now in my 40's have had 3 children and am very out of shape as compared to the last time (BUT I still kicked Brian's butt on the climb!) Pictures a bit out of order..
Tired and very happy to be nearing the bottom of the hike. My legs were like RUBBER coming down the steps at Vernal Falls. We had hiked about 15 miles at this point. It was 4pm. We started our hike at 4:30 in the morning. We did get to spend 2 hours on the top of Half Dome though.
Pictures a bit out of order here, but this is from the morning after. I'm a "bit" tired after hiking 18 miles and climbing 5,000 feet UP and 5,000 feet DOWN in elevation in one day. But there was a deer near our tent, so Brian got me up to take a picture.
In the morning (probably just at sun-rise, as we are no longer using flashlights). We've already been hiking for about 3 miles (Brian's already got a sweat going from going UP UP UP the stairs). For a lot of people, hiking to Vernal Falls is a BIG deal. This was just the start of our hike. We left camp at 5:20. Vernal Falls are right behind us, but it's too dark to see.
Coming DOWN the cables. We were soooo happy to be on the cables by ourselves in the morning, as it's a nightmare (and dangerous) to have to deal with all the yahoos on the cables. That's me on the left passing someone as they are just going up.
Me again.
Liz on top of the world! 8,000 feet up! (we climbed 5,000 feet in elevation from the valley floor)


A view of the top portion of Half-Dome before we head up it. It's very imposing. And this is after you've just hiked about 7 miles.
Liz going down, passing people
This is why we left so early in the morning. All of these people were going up and we had to pass them on our way down. Not fun
Brian on top
Brian heading down. We don't have any pictures of us going up, because Brian wasn't doing well and he had the camera (yes, really the truth, something had to do with the amount of tequila he consumed the night before our hike). He was so slow, and I hated looking down waiting for him, that I just scrambled up as fast as I could and waited at the top for him. He's looking much better now on the way down.
A picture of the valley floor, hard to tell how far down it really is, but I couldn't stand at the edge, made me very queasy to my stomach.

Brian and Liz on top of Half Dome, one of the most famous places in the world. We felt very proud of ourselves. It was nice to have a small break from our kids for only the 2nd time since the twins were born. When we first got to the top it was very clear, but the smoke from the fire blew in while Brian was recovering. He really wasn't doing very well.
The view of the cables before we headed up
Right before our trip up the cables
The very large pile of gloves at the bottom of the cables that are necessary for the climb.
Trying to show how steep the cables really are.
another view of the cables in the morning with no one on them.

Bad fire that started in Yosemite just as we arrived in the park


Cool shot of the helicopter sucking up water to work on the fire (as we headed out of the park)

Quinn update

Wow, what a difference a few weeks makes!

We got Quinn off the bottle (amazingly easily) and transitioned from horrible tasting/smelling elemental formula onto real milk, with very little issue! I was so hoping that his milk protein allergy would go away and it seems to have.

- I am now even weaning him off reflux meds (he's been on huge doses of both Zantac and Prevacid) and tomorrow we may try to go med free for the first day

- The little guy has finally started to: roll over, rock on his knees, crawl backwards a few inches, crawl forward maybe 1 inch, and loves to pull him self up to standing anytime he can, and I've found him sitting up in his crib a few times too! (just a month ago he wasn't doing anything). Now we have started him on weekly PT, but I wonder if going on real milk had anything to do with his recent gains. They started at the same time (real milk and the real gross motor skills).

-The PT is still concerned, that he always clenches his fists and toes and easily gets upset.

The best news is that his incessant crying has decreased - oh he still has his spells (I know when it's really bad when my next door neighbor asks about him), but it's getting so much better and (3000% easier).

Kaitlyn has gotten sick again with her 2nd summer cold. Hopefully it will be a quick one!

I'm sorry I haven't been posting, I've been crazed with work (a good thing) and blogging has had to take the back seat lately!

I Pledge of Allegiance

Our smart little girl! While we were on vacation we realized that Kaitlyn knew the entire Pledge of Allegiance. We think she learned it in her Special Education class. Thank you Mrs. Gail Wish! Turn up your volumn as Kaitlyn's voice is quiet!