Check this out!

This is what Dad heard the other morning when he was getting ready for work.

"Dad...there's a big grey squirrel with stripes on its tail in our front yard!"

Yep...it's dead. A dead raccoon in our front yard. DH went outside with his gloves and a shovel. It was stiff as a board and he picked it up and disposed of it. L & S thought it was quite interesting and they do know now that it's a raccoon.

Other things going on this past week...

More shenanigans when it comes to going to bed at night. Nothing major. No wild play or anything, but after months of the girls going to bed and STAYING in their beds. This is what we find a lot of the time when we go down to check on them before we go to bed.

and then we check the other bed...

I guess they just like sleeping and being together. SMILE

The girls have gone back to napping almost every day again. Maybe they are going through a growth spurt. I don't know. They are up early. Usually at 6 a.m., Lindsey a lot of the time, before that. When they nap, they do end up staying up later at night, but honestly, I don't mind it that much in the summer. I guess I'd rather have them nap and being able to enjoy the evening more as a family with dad around. A lot of the time in the summer, we are up later due to activities, being outside, and frankly, who wants to go to bed with bright sun shining in your room? LOL! So, we'll just play it by ear.

Mostly, we've just been playing...having fun with the neighbor...


practicing our cutting (they are SO good with the scissors, much improved from the beginning of the school year)...


and we've been watching the neighbor's horses. Seems like almost every day this week there as been another new foal born. The girls are fascinated. There were four as of this morning.


By the way...you can click on any of the pics to see them bigger or click HERE to see more of our Flickr photos.

TODAY is the last day of the girl's first year of preschool. And what a fun year it has been. Last Friday, the PreK and K classes had a field trip to a small farm and then a picnic at the lake and playground. It was a great morning and we all had fun. I'll post some pics of that in a separate post. The girls are excited for summer vacation and they are anxiously awaiting playing soccer. Their soccer games don't begin until June 5. We are also signed up for swim lessons during the second session, every day June 25 - July 6. I just hope they will actually participate in these things. They've definitely come a long way since last fall. I guess time will tell.

Preschool Questions...

So, I've been having a few preschool questions running through my mind and I'm trying to figure out what to do. I think I need some other opinions. I am leaning one way, but I keep thinking that I'm probably just putting too much thought into all this. I mean, really, it's preschool. I guarantee you that my mother never thought about any of this. You turned five and you went to school. End of thinking.

No, I guess she did think a little bit more than that, but it was when I was older. I was a very early reader (4) and apparently in 1st grade I was reading encyclopedias. My mom told me that she did worry that I wouldn't be challenged enough once I was in school, but I don't think she though much of it prior to going to school. In 2nd grade, I was tested and was reading at a 7th grade reading level, but they decided to keep me with my peers. Probably a good idea since I had already been with them for three years.

But back to my girls and MY thinking. I don't why I'm thinking so much about it all. I know part of it is the fact that they are twins, that they were micropreemies and I know they are still at risk for different learning problems, etc. And I can't help think how different school is now than it was 30 years ago.

So, to get to it. Currently my girls are in a private Lutheran school that has grades Preschool-Grade 8. It was their first year and they are thriving in this environment. I love their teacher and so do they. It's small, only 10 kids in the class maximum. Depending on the day they are there, there may only be 5-6 six kids. It's also a mixed age group with 3-5 year olds. I really like this too. They went three days/week from 8-12 and then after they got used to the school, I started sending them for full days once or twice a month. They love it! They love eating lunch with the big kids and are paired up with an older kid to help them with lunch. Plus my niece goes to school there too. My nephew will be going there next year. The main reasons I decided to send them there this year (rather than the community ed preschool) was the flexibility of sending them different days, changing their days, flexibility in the hours and smaller class size.

My girls are easily overwhelmed in new situations and freak out a little in larger groups of kids, especially if they are really loud. It takes awhile for them to transition. They can be quite shy at first until they know you well, and then well, they'll talk your ear off. I have already enrolled them at this same school for next year, MWF for the full days. We have full day kindergarten here so I want to transition them to that this year. They love school and sometimes they don't want to go home!

Sounds all good, right? What I am also thinking of doing now and I'm just not sure I should or that I need to, but I've been pondering on enrolling them at the community ed preschool too in their 2 day a week program for 4-5 year olds. They would then go T/TH from 8:30 - 11 a.m. at this other school. My reasons for this is to expose them to more kids and most likely the kids that they will be entering Kindergarten with. At this point, I'm not planning on sending them to the private school so that is why I'm thinking of doing this. But really...I'm probably thinking too much into it. It's not for academic reasons. Their teacher told me yesterday that they are just as sharp as the almost six year olds entering kindergarten next year; that they really know their letters, sounds, numbers well. I know that. They are already reading some sight words and doing basic addition and subtraction.

I guess I'm just worried about the transition stuff and I want them to be as prepared as they can be with large groups of people. With the PreK class through community ed, there can be up to 18 kids (w/two teachers) in the 4/5 class. But then I keep second guessing myself too...thinking that I'm sure they'll be just fine going to the one preschool. Why spend the extra $1200-1300 for the year for the two of them? (Yes, I know it's cheap! LOL)

What to do...what to do...I guess I could just pay the $60 to register them both and decide later. I am just all over the board here. Of course this is just me analyzing things to death! Any thoughts? Any readers out there? What would you do?

Things going on over the past week..

Seems I have a little bit of catching up to do. The girls and I have mostly been hanging out. Last week, we spent a little time planting some seeds that we acquired. I'm not sure where, but thought, hey-we'll try these out and see how it goes. It was fun just letting the girls do their thing. We planted three things, Zinnia, Helicrysum and Gypsophila. I don't know how they'll fare as it has been HOT here. Monday it was over 90*F! Too darn hot for us, especially in May. Plus it's been so dry. Our grass is already turning brown so we're having to water it. We'll keep you posted on how they do.


My perennial gardens are doing well, really coming in nicely. It's been so fun seeing what's coming up. I'm sad though, as the crabapple trees are done blooming and the lilacs are on their way out too. It smelled SO GOOD here for several weeks!




Also last week, Dad took Lindsey on an errand and Sydney stayed home with me...AND with no tears! THIS is a big deal. We have been trying to ease our way into having a little separation between the girls. Literally, I can count on my two hands, the number of times they have been apart in their 4.5 years. The few times that we do separate them, there is always crying. THIS last time, NO crying! I guess the little trips more often are working. One thing that I've been doing with whoever is staying home with me (and it's usually Sydney), is trying to do a fun little thing; do a new craft, a project, etc. This last week, we popped popcorn on the stove and Sydney got to help from start to finish...and of course, then we ATE it! LOL! I have to admit...it is pretty cool to watch those kernels pop!

And last but not least, I've been really getting into the thrifting these days. I'm just getting my feet wet, seeing what I can find, but it's been really fun! Last week I found these great children's books. The first was called The Hungry Fox and the Foxy Duck and the other was called A Garden for Miss Mouse. The girls LOVED them! Great illustrations. They took them to school for sharing time and they were a HIT! I'm always on the lookout for good books!



This week, we will be heading on a field trip with the girl's preschool class; to the farm and then a picnic at the lake! Should be fun!

Happy Mother's Day!

Can I just say how proud I am to be my mother's daughter? And my grandmother's granddaughter? I am just so very blessed and thankful to have two such wonderful, strong and inspirational women in my life. They have always supported me in anything I chose to do, whether they agreed with me or not; always with encouraging words that lifted me up, not bringing me down. They taught me to be caring and compassionate, yet strong and independent. They listen and care and are there with a hug or shoulder whenever I need it. They are women that I've always tried to be like. I hope that I can be the same kind of role model for my daughters.

I had such a wonderfully normal childhood, able to live close to my family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. I think by having that close-knit bond is part of what made me the person I am today. Being able to provide that same opportunity to my children; the ability for them to be able to foster those same type of relationships with their grandparents, is very important to me, and a big part of the reason why we chose to move back to my hometown last year. I can only hope and pray that my girls will be able to learn, grow and gain some of the same strength and wisdom that I did.

Thank you Mom! Thank you Grandma! I love you both so very much! And as my girls tell me every day..."You're the BESTEST momma EVER!"

This is one of my most favorite pictures. It was taken while the girls were still in the NICU. There were about three months old. FOUR generations of women...

A VERY proud great-grandmother...


And my mom and her granddaughters last Halloween.

I hope you all are able to spend the day with someone who is important in your life. We never know how long we have with each other. God's Blessings to you all!

Weekend in the Dells...

I can't believe it's already been a month since we snuck off for a long weekend in the Wisconsin Dells and I'm just now getting my pictures uploaded. I guess that happens though. After we got back, I was so busy with WalkAmerica coming up. Being on the planning committee and the Ambassador family took a lot of extra time, but was worth it and so fun!

We headed down to the Dells on Thursday night. It's about 2.5 - 3 hours from here. We stay at our timeshare at Christmas Mountain Village. We love staying here, and especially in the spring, the off season. It's not so busy, but still can be nice weather. Granted, a lot of the waterparks aren't open, but my girls aren't really big into that yet anyway. They like the little zero entry pool right at Christmas Mountain.


What do you guys think of their swim suits? Do they look too small? You know L & S are 4.5 now. I'll tell you a secret...those suits are size 18 months! ACK! They are getting too small and we are retiring them, but I'm amazed they could still get them on!

One of the days there, we took the girls on the Original Wisconsin Ducks tour. Very cool! I loved it too. You can read about it HERE. It's about an hour long tour where you go on land and on water (the Wisconsin River). It's very scenic. The girls loved it.

We also made a trip down to Prairie du Sac and toured the Wollersheim Winery. SO beautiful and the tour was so fun. Great wine too! We came home with a few bottles.



One evening we ate at this German restaurant called the Essen Haus, where all the wait staff dress in traditional dress. It was quite enjoyable! Virtual Tour Then, afterwards, we tooled around the square (that you see in the virtual tour and headed into the ice cream shop where Lindsey quite enjoyed her Cookies & Cream ice cream.

Sydney was more interested in the games and the bubble gum machine!

We came home Sunday evening, via Dh's parents. We had a nice couple hour visit with them. We don't see them that often since they live three hours away. We weren't planning on coming back until Monday, but they were airing my radio interview for the March of Dimes on Monday morning and I didn't want to miss it. We had a quiet ride home.


All the pics from our weekend away and tour of the winery can be seen HERE.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Pediatric Opthamologist appointment update and other things...

I took Lindsey to the ped opthamologist yesterday where it was decided that we need to treat the Amblyopia with more than glasses. It was totally up to me as to whether to go with the patch or the drops and if one doesn't work, we can always switch to the other. I really wasn't sure which one to do, but after thinking about it for a bit, I decided on the patch. She doesn't like eye drops, so I figured that she would tolerate the patch well, knowing that if she doesn't, then we'll have to use the eye drops. She was pretty enthusiastic about that.

She has to wear the patch for four hours a day, so she will not have to wear it to school. We're planning on wearing the four hours before bed. Then, we'll go back again in another eight weeks and see how she is progressing. Here's a pics of my little sweat pea...

After the appointment, we went out to lunch and we tried one of my favorite Chinese places, Leann Chin's. Boy, did Lindsey surprise me! I ordered the Lemon Chicken and fried rice and we split it. She ate all hers and asked for more chicken! She loved the fortune cookie!

Then, we headed home to pick Sydney up at school, after which, we ran a few errands. One of our stops was at the Salvation Army where the girls picked out a few new books and items. I LOVE going there and coming out with all kinds of neat stuff for $5! I'm definitely heading back there, as there was some table cloths and crocheted afghans that I was looking at. There's another thrift store in this town too, that I need to check out. Next time, sans two little girls though.

The girls sure make me chuckle every day. I'm pretty adept at reaching into the back seat of the van, picking things up off the floor, handing them to the girls, etc. (as I'm sure MANY of you moms are!). As I was doing that for the millionth time yesterday, Sydney says to me, "Mom, it sure is a good thing you have really long arms!"

Gosh, there was something really funny Lindsey said too, but the ole Mommy brain hasn't kicked in this morning yet. I imagine I will remember it, but I think I need another cup of coffee first.

We have been having the most beautiful weather. My flowers and trees our blooming and we have so many birds here. I love waking up to the birds. Here's to a wonderful week!

WalkAmerica was a SUCCESS!

Thank you all for your generous donations and support! We were, once again, Top Team for our walk location. We raised over $3,500 and I was able to exceed my personal goal as well! It was a beautiful day! 85*F and sunny to start. I will not complain about the weather, as the previous two years were rainy and snow flurries! But I will say that I was glad it clouded over a bit for most of the walk. A nice breeze off the Mississippi kicked up too. VERY nice!

Since I was on the planning committe and we were the Ambassador Family, we had to be there early to help set up and to take pictures. We set up a table with pics of the girls through the years. Amazing! In my last post, I posted a pic of our local newspaper. Here is another town's paper where we made the FRONT PAGE! It was a very nice article.


And here is our Photo Display...


Here are a couple shots during the walk at the first fun stop...




And here are our little Ambassador's modeling our TEAM shirts!


I want to thank all the team walkers, Grandma Gloria, Uncle Darren, Aunt Kristy, Chelsea and Dylan, Aunt Jane, Brandon, Brenda, Ryan & William, Lisa and Andrea, Sandy and a special thanks to Mrs. Palla, Lindsey & Sydney's preschool teacher, who showed up to walk with us! We didn't expect her and it was such a nice surprise!

We had such fun and can't wait until next year!

Ambassador Family newspaper article

The fundraising is going well and we are having a blast being the Ambassador Family this year for the March of Dimes WalkAmerica. We've given a couple newspaper interviews and also a radio interview. THAT was a lot of fun! Here is a picture of one of the newspaper articles, a full page spread. Very cool!


We are still trying to reach our goal. $2, $5, $10 - it all really goes a long way to saving babies! Click Here to Donate

I'm off to get some arch support for my shoes. Seems I'm having a problem with fallen arches and need to get orthotics. These will have to do for now. I'm a little nervous about all the walking on Sunday, but I'll get through. It's going to be a great day!

Thanks so much for your support!

Please, the March of Dimes needs your HELP!

On Sunday, April 29, 2007, our family will be participating in the March of Dimes WalkAmerica event to help save babies from premature birth, the #1 cause of newborn death. This is our fourth year walking as The Niehaus Twins Team and this year we were selected to be the Ambassador Family for our walk location. We are very excited to share our story and have been busy giving radio and newspaper interviews. It's been a lot of fun and we are looking forward to walk day!

Some of you may or may not know that our daughters, Lindsey and Sydney, were born 16 weeks early, weighing only 1 lb. 1.5 oz. and 1 lb. 2 oz. at birth. This picture is an example of how very small they were. It is a copy of Sydney’s footprints taken at Thanksgiving when she was about seven weeks old! We couldn’t get footprints before that, as they always had some kind of IV in their feet. Lindsey and Sydney are now happy, fun-loving preschoolers, thanks to the March of Dimes. The March of Dimes funded the research that resulted in the development of artificial surfactant...used to help mature the lungs of premature babies. Without artificial surfactant, Lindsey and Sydney would not be here today.

America’s babies need your help. Please visit our personal Web site to make a donation and learn more about the March of Dimes.

ANY donation is greatly appreciated. We CAN make a difference! By helping fund research that will help with preterm labor signs, education programs, and tools to help health care providers find better ways to detect risk, we can be a part of the solution.

Fifty years ago, your dimes conquered polio…PLEASE give us a hand with preterm birth. Thank you!

Easter 2007

Oh what a difference a few years makes!

Easter 2003...


Easter 2007...


Easter 2003 - Lindsey and the girls this year, 2007:


Sydney was sick with a bad cough so just Lindsey and I went to church. Then later, we had brunch at great-grandma's house, but we didn't stay too long. Lindsey started getting sick too. They did enjoy their baskets this year!

Thanks for looking!

Reflections...

The girls had an appointment with the NICU Follow-Up Clinic on Tuesday. They GRADUATED! It was our last one and a LONG one. They both met with Child Psychologists who administered IQ tests. Lindsey was done in about an hour, but apparently Sydney was just getting a lot right, so kept having to answer more questions. She ended up taking a couple breaks in the TWO hours and then we left to go upstairs for the weighing/measuring/eye/ear stuff. Then we went back so she could finish the last section.

Sydney was 39.5" and 30 lbs. 15th percentile for both.
Lindsey was 38.75 and 27.5 lbs. 7th percentile for height and <3rd for weight. Still following her own curve.

Back to the IQ test...we just got the raw scores on that day, and they will be sending out a detailed assessment going over all the subtests. BUT, we were told they did very well. The neonatologist said they wouldn't expect to see scores this high. All I was told was that anything over 100 is good, because 100 is average.

Lindsey - 119
Sydney - 133

I went home and looked up this IQ test to see what it really meant and 110-119 is High Average, 120-129 is Superior, and 130+ is Very Superior! I'm anxious to see the details and see where their strengths are. I know there are still issues that can come up. I'm definitely not naive about that, but this is just so much more than I ever expected.

I almost don't know what to think about it. I'm really not that big into tests and assessments. I mean they have always had them and I think they've been a good guage for us, but what does it really mean? I was very reflective about this on my drive home that day. I guess just because the things that my girls have done I just was not expecting, given the fact they are 24 weekers and how their stay was in the NICU. Their whole life to me is just amazing. Those long weeks on the ventilator I thought for sure would cause tons of lung damage, months on oxygen, breathing treatments, illnesses, asthma, etc. None of that happened. They didn't even get so much as a cold until they were 17 months old. I expected all sorts of issues, possibly delays in walking or speech. Nothing. No OT, ST or PT., and meeting all their milestones, etc.

On my drive home, I just kept asking myself why? Why them? Why not others? I meet a lot of preemies through my volunteering and there are so many with so many issues, especially early ones like L & S, but also ones born bigger and further along. Why don't L & S have these same issues? Is it something Brian & I did? Is it due to their genes? Is it the care they received in the NICU? Or is it God's grace, God's plan? I know I'll never figure it out in this life. I guess it's probably all of the above.

It just makes me wonder though. You know, nothing at all has ever been normal about my reproductive life, not getting pregnant, staying pregnant, or delivering. So, I sometimes wonder if maybe God isn't just trying to give me a little "normal".

Things to think about...

Tagged myself!

I saw this on a friend's blog. I love doing things like this, so I tagged myself! Feel free to do the same.

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion. You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party. Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences. But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

I'm still here...and finally some vacation pics.

You probably thought I dropped off the face of the earth. Sorry. I'm not sure who is following this anyway. After we got back from vacation, Lindsey proceeded to come down with some bug that resulted in coughing, fevers, more coughing, sleeping, whining, but luckily, no puking! The fever lasted six days and on Day 5, Sydney came down with it. It lasted about the same for her. Needless to say, we missed a few days of school. Finally, Lindsey went back last Tuesday and both on Wednesday. Then we had a snowstorm that closed schools for two days! But as of now, we are all back to good health and the girls are back to school. They really missed it.

Now to our vacation pictures. I've put them on Flickr and you can view them all HERE. There are some good ones from our stop and visit with my twin mom friends (and all the twins) to beach pics.

Here are a few favorites:

My friend, Tanya, and her family, graciously put us up for the night in the Atlanta area and also hosted a litte shindig for a few other friends. Here are us moms:

and here are our kids:

Then, on our way down to my parents, we made a quick stop near Tampa, where we stopped for a lovely dinner at Stacy's home. It was great to meet Stephen, Kara & Nolan and the kids had fun playing!


Brian and the girls at Vanderbilt Beach near Naples:

It was cold and then got warm!


A granddaughter adoring her grandfather (Happy Birthday Grandpa!):

This was WAY COOL. We found a baby seahorse swimming in the hole that the kids had dug out in the sand.

Playing dress up:

Anyway, those are a few pics. Check out the rest! We sure had a wonderful vacation. After we left Marco, we drove up to Panama City Beach and stayed with Brian's parents for two days, and then we headed home. Usually we take two days home, but we decided to drive straight through and made it back in 21.5 hours arriving home at about 4 a.m. It was nice to have an extra day to get back to the regular routine.

Enjoy! And please leave a comment if you stopped by!

WE'RE HOME!

Our 11 day Florida roadtrip is in the books! We decided to drive straight through and made it home in 21.5 hours, getting in at 3:50 a.m. this morning. Just wanted to let you all know where we've been and that we're BACK! More details to come...

Just a snapshot... Lindsey & Sydney on Grandpa's birthday! Just silliness!