Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. There 23 people at our home for dinner and we enjoyed having a houseful of relatives. Here is a picture of cousins from Dave's mom's side of the family. We're missing a few, but it is fun to have this picture. :-)

Spielberg's Montage

I made a montage for Spielberg. I need to tweak it some still, but I wanted to post something about my boys! Ice Princess has been monolpolizing this blog, so I figured it was time to post something about the boys. So, here's his montage.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Something Fun

I created this video of Ice Princess. I need to put some together of the boys too!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ice Princess competes again!

On November 8th, Ice Princess competed again. She skated 3 levels higher then the last time she competed. She did very well. She placed 3rd in her Freeskate and 2nd in her Improv. For improv, she had to make up her own routine on the spot! The music was plyed twice before the contestants skated to it. She did a great job for her very first improv!

Here are some pictures from that day!



Ice Princess and some of her friends in her skating club.


Ice Princess with her medals. She is so proud of herself!



Ice Princess on the podium with her medal from her Improv number.


Ice Princess on the podium with her Freeskate medal.



IP's beautiful catch-foot spiral! I absolutely love this picture!!



Doing her edges during her Freeskate program



A spiral during her freeskate program.



Another spiral during her improv program.

There will be more pics to come later... I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Fall Snow

For the better part of last week, the weather forecast predicted a big storm would come into the area and leave snow behind. Last night approximently 4-6 inches of snow accumilated in our area! It is early October and we have snow! Oh and not only do we have snow but we may get up to another 6 inches of snow before this is over! I guess this means summer is offically over? I feel like we've skipped fall and have moved directly into winter! Just last week we had tempratures in the 80's! Darn that global warming... I want fall. I'm not ready for winter just yet. :-(

Anyway... if I get around to it, I will take a picture and post it.

Edited to add this picture. This is not a picture of my house, but one a resident in our area took. I'll use this photo as an example of how much snow we recieved! I'm hoping it melts so that we can enjoy the FALL before winter sets in. :-)

And the Winner Is....

ICE PRINCESS! She did a fabulous job and won a first place medal at her competition yesterday! She is on cloud nine and is so very proud of herself! She worked very hard and managed to pull it off and place 1st in her group. WTG, Ice Princess! This is not something we expect will happen all of the time, but boy did it feel great when the results came in and we saw she came in first! Not only did she come in first, but all of the judges unanimously agreed! Anyone who understands figure skating will understand what I mean by that. LOL! I don't have any video to share just yet, but I do have a lot of pictures to share! As soon as I have video, I will share it. :-)



Her 1st spin.



Ending her spin.



Her lunge.



Her spiral.



Bunny hops.



One foot glide while smiling at the judges. Yup...one must charm those judges!! LOL!



Another spiral. This one isn't as pretty as the first one, but it is still notably good for her level! Her coach has said with practice and stretching, her spiral will continue to get higher!




Another lunge. This was her last minute lunge. She deviated from her program since she was ending a little early and would have ended before her music ended. She threw this lunge in which helped her to end on time! :-)



A podium picture. Unfortunarely, there was a lot of confusion when the awards were given out. Because of that confusion, the other girls in her group were not available for podium pictures. The gal taking the podium pictures didn't do that great of a job anyway, so who knows how the group pics would have turned out! LOL





Ice Princess and Drama Ice Queen(IP's best bud...lol). Both girls came in first place in their events! This obviously was after they were both finished skating. :-)

Ice Princess showing us how flexible she is!



Anyway, Ice Princess is a happy girl and we are so proud of her! Thanks for looking!

Skating Videos

We took the kids skating yesterday and Ice Princess practiced her routine as well as other things. Here are a couple videos of her skating. They are kinds of dark since one end of the rink did not have all the lights on! I tried to get better shots of her spirals since they look SOO much better then they did a couple of months ago. Those videos did not turn out, but hopefully I will get better video when she competes on Friday. :-) One of these videos show her doing spirals, but the distance I was standing from her, made it hard for me to get a decent shot of her doing them.

Anyway... enjoy!




Here she is, running through her program on public ice. I cut off the begining of it and my camera cut off the end. I ran out of memory space! OOPS.



Her waltz jump combined with my bad video skills! EEK!



Her 1 foot spin. She kinda loses it at the end... :-)

Anyway, there is a skating update for anyone interested! Hopefully, come Friday night, I will have better video and pictures to post!

My Great Find!

Ice Princess participated in a Skate-a-Thon yesterday. At the Skate-a-Thon was a skate swap. Not only did I sell Ice Princess' old skates, but I also found her a new competition dress for $20.00! Not too shabby, IMO. The dress looks great on her and will be a good fit for her "Be Our Guest" routine. I LOVE good deals and finding a competition dress for that price is a STEAL. :-)





Here's hoping I find MORE great deals! :-)

A Somber Moment

September 11th, 2001 is a day those of us old enough to remember, will never forget. I remember vividly hearing my phone ring at 6:30ish AM(we lived on the West Coast). I remember thinking, "Who on earth is calling us at THIS hour? I hope the phone doesn't wake the baby." Dave answered the phone and all I hear is "WHAT? Honey, turn the TV on now. A plane crashed into one of the Twin Towers in NYC." I Jumped out of bed and turned on the television. What I saw, horrified me in ways I cannot describe. I am sure, for most of you reading this, I do not need to describe that horror because you too, know why I was horrified.

We moved to the living room and continued to watch the footage of this horrific event. We watched in complete shock as the second plane hit the second tower. I think at that moment we knew we were under attack. At first, I don't think we truly knew what was really happening until that second plane came barrelling towards the second tower. We could not deny it at that point, this was not an accident. Soon after that, we heard about the plane that hit the Pentagon followed by the plane that the courageous passengers helped take down in the field in Pennsylvania. I don't think any of us ever thought ANYTHING like that could happen on American soil. After all, we weren't at war! That day, as a nation we mourned for those lost and prayed for the families who directly affected by those attacks. I don't think any of us in the United States could understand why on earth this was happening.

I remember the silent skies. What an eerie feeling that was. I remember watchig the news and wanting to know WHO did this and why. It was surreal, to be honest. To this day, I am tearful as I remember watching the live footage. It took years for me to get to the point of being able to watch the video footage. I was thousands of miles away from NYC and by simply watching the footage, I was deeply and profoundly affected by what had happened. I still tear up when I watch the footage or hear stories of survivors and from family members of those lost. I cannot begin to imagine how they must feel today.

God Bless America! I am proud to live in such a wonderful land. I know we are blessed to live here and to have the freedoms we do. Let us never forget, 09/11/2001.

Ice Princess Attended a Spin Clinic

Today, Ice Princess went to a Spin Clinic. I was very impressed with the man who put it on. He is a very positive person and the handouts he gave the kids just screams that. He talked about goals, he talked about fun, he talked about the importance of having both. He talked about heart and the importance of having that too. It was a great way for her to spend a couple of hours of her time and I think we will have her do it again next year!

Here is a You Tube video of the guy who taught the clinic today: Craig Heath



Here is the link to his website:

http://www.craigheath.com

Angie's Adventures in Sewing

When I was in 7th or 8th grade, I made a sweatshirt in my home economics class. I didn't do a fabulous job, but it turned out well enough that I remember actually wearing it to school. Now, that probably doesn't say TOO much since I was just "geeky" enough to wear something like that! I don't recall any of my friends wearing theirs to school so I'm sure I wore it because I was proud that I had actually created it. LOL!

After that, my next attempt at using a sewing machine was in April of 1999. My sister-in-law was visiting and I asked her if she could help me make Ice Princess a dress. I believe that while I tried to do it, she ended up completing the project.

Fast forward to 1 week ago. for the last few months, I have been on the hunt for a inexpensive, used sewing machine. I considered buying a new one but to be honest, I wasn't 100% sure I would use it enough to justify buying a new one. Anyway, most of the machines I found for sale were 200 and 300 hundred for a REALLY GOOD used machine or they were sergers. If I found one in the price range I was willing to pay, it was typically an antique machine in a cabinet or belonged to someone who lived 30 minutes or more from me. Gas prices being what they are, I certainly did not want to travel very far!

A week ago, I was browsing the ads once again and to my surprise, I found a machine located in my town and it was a price I was willing to pay! YIPPY! It is an older machine(I would guess 20+ yrs old), but I didn't care. The lady I bought it from, didn't know much about it since it had been given to her. When I got it home, I tried it out. I'm grateful it came with the manual... it has come in very handy! This machine has some quirks that drive me batty, but so far I am figuring it out. I've turned pants into shorts and I've made some cloths for the kids to use to dry off their ice skate blades. I can see making curtains, placemats and various other things I will use around the house too. However, the biggest reason I wanted to learn how to sew, was so I could make my daughter ice skating dresses.

I had been playing with my machine long enough to know that all of the stitch functions worked and I was able to sew a straight line. I decided to go and buy a pattern and some material to make Ice Princess a skating dress. I found some material for less then 10.00! I actually paid more for the pattern then I did for the fabric! I wasn't too bothered by that since I intended to make her more dresses.

I measured my daughter, cut out the pattern, arrangedthe pattern pieces on the fabric and then cut the fabric. I was so proud of myself for doing all of that! I was so excited thinking Ice Princess might have a new dress by Monday(this was Thursday). I sat down at my machine and decided before I tried sewing the actual dress, I would practice on some left over, scrap fabric. Much to my dissappointment, I could not get the same results I was getting on the other fabrics I had been practicing on! I don't know what the problem is! I can't figure it out. I have tried and tried to no avail. I can sew other things just fine, but for some reason, I cannot get my machine to work well with this fabric! I haven't given up on sewing Ice Princess a dress, but I have decided I will need to ask for help! Thankfully my mother in law can sew. I am hoping she can enlighten me and show me what I am doing wrong! Yes, Kelli, I am planning on askingyou for help! Hee hee! I am bound and determined to make this dress! One way or another, I will figure this out. Making Ice Princess'dresses will definately save me money in the long run! Now if only I can figure out HOW to get my machine to cooperate with me! When I get it sorted out, I will post pictures of her in her new dress. :-)

Just Playing Around

I am trying to learn how to make videos using still pictures. I found a website that has templates for them, so I made a video. I'm not sure what to think of it and honestly, I don't have the exact pictures I would like to have in it. Our scanner broke and since some of the pictures I want to use were taken pre-digital camera, I have to rely on my photobucket account for copies. Seeing as most of those pictures were resized, they tend to look a bit distorted. Anyway, here's my video!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Camping Pictures

We spent Saturday night and Sunday with Dave's mom and stepdad. They own some property and invited us to come and stay for the night. It was a great time for the kids to spend some time with their grandparents and their aunt and uncle(who are 16 and 17). We had a lot of fun and it was nice to get away, even if it was only for 1 night. Here are some pictures from our little trip:

Spielberg, doing what most teenage boys do...EATING!



Ice Princess also eating...hmm I sense a theme here! LOL



Speedracer sitting on a rock looking as happy as can be!



Speedracer and Ice Princess climbing!



Speedracer driving Grandpa Glen's tractor. No, he was not driving it completely alone, but shhh don't tell him that! He thinks he is hot stuff after driving Grandpa's tractor!

Sharing a Piece of Me

Today I want to share my little boy, Little Warrior. Little Warrior is Ice Princess' twin brother. As I have mentioned before, Ice Princess and Little Warrrior started out this life in a way I do not wish on any family or child. They were extremely premature and because of that, life was certianly a challenge from the get-go.

Little Warrior came into the world weighing 2 pounds 5 ounces and measuring 12 1/2 inches in length. Despite being so premature, he still looked a lot like his older brother, Spielberg. I was amazed the first time I saw him. His eyes were still fused closed and it took an additional 9 days before they opened. He was beautiful...small but beautiful.



Here he is at 5 days of age. It's hard to see him! The socks he is waering are newborn sized socks, they look gigantic on his little feet! He was also under a bili light because his bilirubin levels were too high. Not an uncommon thing for premature babies.



Little Warrior and Ice Princess on August 23rd, 1998. This was the night before Ice Princess was discharged from the NICU and this was also the first time the twins had been together since their birth. I cherish this picture and the others from this same night.



Little Warrior at 9 months of age. He had just eaten ceral. You can't tell from this scanned picture, but he had the most amazing baby blues I have ever seen! Speedracer's eyes come close, but Little Warrior's eyes were sooo amazing!


Little Warrior had a severe complication only a few days after his birth. He had 2 very severe brain bleeds called intraventricular hemorrhaging. They grade these bleeds on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the worst. Little Warrior had a grade 2-3 on one side and a 4 on the other side. Because of the bleeding, he developed another complication. He developed hydrocephalus and required a shunt to drain the fluid off of his brain. He had other coplications also, but none that were as severe as the bleeds. The complication of hydrocephalus would prove to be the worst possible situation. Our little boy fought so hard to be with us. He endured 10 surgieries on his head and 2 other non related surgeries. He spent 148 days in the NICU and 2 months after his NICU discharge, he spent an additional 30 days in the PICU. It always seemed that when things were going well, the other shoe would drop and we would be taking 2 steps back. When I look back on those days, I can hardly believe we made it through. It was extremely painful to watch your children struggle to survive. As a parent, you feel obligated to make all of the hurt go away... you want to endure it for them so they do not have to go through it. Unfortunately, we can't do that and it is a battle they must endure. Some people might wonder why we put our baby through so much and why we didn't stop but to be honest, from the very begining Dave and I decided we would fight with him as long as he wanted to fight. We tried our best to make the best possible decisions for our child. Little Warrior was an amazing little boy. He had every right in the world to complain but he only did so when he truly needed to do so. The nurses in the NICU commented on his gentle temperment. They told us that most babies with the kind of neurological problems he had, were cranky and fussier then other babies. Not LIttle Warrior. Little Warrior was a very snuggly baby who melted the hearts of those who came in contact with him. He was soooo loved by us, our extended family and the medical staff who cared for him. When little Warrior was 10 months old, he passed away at our home from complications of hydrocephalus. Just 6 days before his death, we had taken him back to the hospital because his shunt had malfunctioned yet again. Because he had stopped wanting to eat, he had stopped smiling and he was not acting like himself, his father and I decided we would not go forward with treatment. March 22nd, 1999 we brought our baby home one last time. 6 days later on March 28th, 1999, our baby boy went home to the loving arms of his father in heaven.

The journey as a grieving parent has been full of many ups and downs and eventhough it has been 9 years since his death, I still have days when it feels likt it just happened yesterday. This last week has been particularly hard form me and I honestly cannot put my finger on why! I think about my little one often and not a day will pass when I wish things were different, but I can tell you he has taught me so much about love and life. He was an incredible little man and we were so blessed to have him as long as we did. I also look forward to the day I will be reunited with my son. I cannot wait to hold him in my arms once again! I've been thinking about posting this for days, but for some reason I have not been able to get the words to come. Eventhough I have posted this, I still feel as if I cannot explain myself well. So, for now, I will include this you tube video. It features the song, "He's My Son" by Mark Schultz. I first heard this song in 2001 or 2002 and I have loved it ever sicne then. This song really does say how so many of us feel!

Ice Princess the Chef!

Today I asked Ice Princess if she wanted to help me cook dinner. She said yes and ended up cooking most of the meal(with my guidance, of coarse!) She made chili, cake and corn bread. She was so proud of herself too(and she should be)!!

Here are some pictures I took of her:



stirring the chili



standing in front of the cake she made her dad :-)

Car Seat Safety

About 9 years ago, I started researching car seats. Ice Princess was starting to outgrow her infant seat and it was time to move her into a convertible seat. I found this great web forum on Parentsplace, an i-village wbesite that was all about car seats. The parents and car seat techs there were VERY helpful. Before long I was hooked! I clearly remember the day we purchased Ice Princess' car seat. We got it home and installed it. Dave was less then happy with me, because I was being very picky about this installation. I think it took us over a 1/2 hour to install that thing! He was NOT happy with me and at that point was not buying into my new obsession. :-) Before long, he was ALMOST obsessed as I was!

Anyone who knows me knows I am still pretty particular about my kids being in seats. My kids aren't babies anymore but 2 of them still need seats. By Utah law(as of May 2008), children are required to be in a booster seat until they are 8 years old, but age should never be the deciding factor. A child should not move out of a booster seat until they pass the 5 step test. Speedracer is 7 Ice Princess is 10 and they both still rides in booster seats. Booster seats will be in our cars unti they both pass this test.

Booster Seat 5-Step Test

Did you know most kids need to ride in a booster seat from about age 4 until at least age 8?
If your child isn’t using a booster, try this simple test the next time you ride together in the car.



1. Does the child sit all the way back against the auto seat?
2. Do the child's knees bend comfortably at the edge of the auto seat?
3. Does the belt cross the shoulder between the neck and arm?
4. Is the lap belt as low as possible, touching the thighs?
5. Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?



If you answered “no” to any of these questions, your child needs a booster seat to ride safely in the car. Kids like boosters because they are more comfortable, too!



Before they moved into booster seats, they rode in 5 point harnessed seats. When they outgrew their infant seats, they moved into convertible seats. A convertible car seat can be used rear facing and forward facing. There are many different convertible seats on the market, but my youngest son used a Britax Marathon convertible seat until he was over 6! He did use a booster starting at 5, but I ended up moving him back into his Britax seat so I could keep him harnessed longer. He outgrew that seat by height when we was 6 1/2 years old. The most important thing about convertible seats is finding one that fits your car, your child and your budget the best. Always choose one that will allow you to keep them rear facing the longest. Rear-facing is the safest way for a child to travel, so the longer you keep them rear-facing, the better!



After they are too big to rear face, it is important to keep them harnessed as long as possible. Some parents think if a child outgrows a convertible seat, they are ready for a booster seat. That's not always the case. Many kids will outgrow a standard convertible before they are 4 and 40 pounds. Most children are not mature enough before the age of 4 to ride without a harness. Heck, the reason I moved my youngest back into his 5 point harness was because he was having a hard time sitting correctly in his booster seat. He was 6 at the time! The best rule of thumb is to keep your child harnessed as long as you possibly can.



Our children are the best gift given to us... do all you can to keep them safe! If you are ever unsure of what type of seat your child(grandchild, niece/nephew, ect) should be in or if you are wondering if you have the seat installed correctly, please contact your nearest fitting station. There will be certified car seat techs who can help you.

The National Highway Safety and Traffic Association(NHTSA) can help you find a fitting station. Follow this lik for more information!

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cps/cpsfitting/index.cfm

Ice Skating Videos

We went skating on Wednesday. It was the 3rd time this week and I had hoped to go yesterday also, but we ran out of time. This week, we were able to skate for free on Wednesday, so that is ALWAYS a bonus and definately something we take advantage of whenever possible. If at all possible, we never pass up free ice time! :-)

While we were at the rink, I decided to try and film Ice Princess skating. She's improved quite a bit and I wanted her to be able to see herself skate. She's obviously never seen herself do some of these things and I think it is helpful for her to see her own skating. I also figure this way, I can show her how she has progressed! I'm going to post the videos here so that everyone can see the progress she is making. :-) Her coach is very pleased with her progress and told us she was the only skater who actually improved while she was gone on vacation! Ice Princess worked very hard while she was gone, so I am not surprised she improved!

Here's her Scratch Spin. She still needs to work the kinks out, but this is not bad for a little girl who has finished up through Basic 8 in the USFSA program! She can do it from back cross overs also. She learned this spin 3+ weeks ago. This spin is still a work in progress! It will get better and faster.



This is her sorta sit spin. LOL! She's only done this a few times and this wasn't her best one. She's just begining to learn this spin. With more practice and time, she will improve her form and the spin will look much prettier then it does right now. :-)



Ice Princess' spiral! She does spirals well for her level. This isn't her best spiral and it isn't perfect, but it's definately pretty good for the level she is at. :-) I'll try to cature one of ehr better spirals another time. :-)




Dave and Speedracer on the ice...

Ice Princess' Progress

Over the last few weeks, Ice Princess has been working very hard. She has been working on her scratch spin and her sit spin. She's been working on her basic skills too. She is trying very hard to improve and I think it is showing! Her coach was out of town, so it has been awhile since Ice Princess has had a formal skating lesson. On Wednesday, she will see her coach for the 1st time in about 3 weeks. I am hoping her coach will be surprised and that she too, will see some improvement since the last time she saw her!

Ice Princess has been skating about 3 times a week and during those sessions, she has been practicing more then playing(this is GREAT!)! When she is not on the ice, she is jumping and spinning off ice! Just recently, she has started to use her roller skates and is trying to practice in those too! She scared me on Saturday as I watched her try and do a Waltz Jump in quad skates on our front lawn! Her roller skates are not well made and offer her ZERO support! I was terrified she would fall and hurt her ankle!

The past Saturday, we held a garage sale. The main reason for doing so was to try and earn money to help pay for Ice Princess' new skates. Ice Princess is begining to learn some Freestyle elements which require a better boot and blade combination. Not to mention, Ice Princess is currently OUTGROWING her current skates! Those parents who have children who figure skate, will know how expensive boots and blades are! I am hoping her new set will last her about a year. One can hope, right? LOL! Anyway, I am happy to report that our sale was successful! Ice Princess' new skates should arrive ANY day!

Ice Princess will also be competitng in 2 months. She will be moving up a couple of levels which is exciting to me! She has beautiful psirals for her level, so I am excited to see her do them in front of some judges!

One of these days, I will buy a camcorder and record her while she practices. She has improved so much over the last month! Next week, she will begin her Freskate 1 learn to skate class. She is so excited!

Falling Behind!

SO much has happened in the last 3 weeks! I kept waiting because I wanted to add pictures from our trip to Idaho. Since I used a FILM camera instead of a digital camera, I still do not have pictures, so I decided I would post now and add pictures later.

Overall, we had a great time. We visited with family and the kids had a BLAST with their cousins. Spielberg brought a friend and everyone got along and enjoyed eachother's company.

The firework show in Idaho Falls, was pretty spetacular! It wasn't Ocean Shores(our usual 4th of July location!), but I.F. does put on a nice show! We were able to spend time together as a family and in all honesty, that is probably the best gift of all. It isn't so much about the location as it is about the time we get to spend with those we love, right?

We had planned a day trip to Yellowstone, but those plans were foiled when we "lost" some money. We ended up driving home and went to the Hogle Zoo in SLC. We enjoyed ourselves eventhough we all wanted to be in Yellowstone!

Most of the pictures on my camera are from our day at the zoo! Once they are developed, I will share some with everyone.

The summer has been busy and this week(the 21st-26th), Spielberg will be at Boy Scout camp! He was so excited! This is the first year he has been able to go and now Speedracer is counting the days until HE is 12, so he can go to scout camp too! LOL!

Sorry for my random rambling, but since it had been awhile since I last posted, I figured I had best update!

Lagoon Day

Today we were able to take the kids for a fun filled day at the Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington,Utah. My husband's employer throws a summer BBQ/party annually at Lagoon. We went to the park early and Dave and the boys rode "Wicked", a rollercoaster they were unable to ride last year due to a 2 hour wait in line! They also rode other coasters before meeting up with Ice Princess and myself, who rode much less intense rides. LOL!! Lagoon also has a water park, so we were able to go and cool down by riding on sides and doing some swimming. All in all it was a good day! The kids were well behaved and I think they were able to ride on almost all of the rides they wanted to ride on. :-)

I didn't take many pictures since I did not want to get my camera wet or drop it! Here are a few pictures from our day!



Ice Princess waiting in line to get on a ride



A shot of all 3 kids. Speedracer was showing his true self in this one! Oh and those black marks on his arm are not dirt. They are the left over tatoos he decided to plaster all over his arm and hand last week! KIDS!

Every Child is a Miracle

Here is the Webster definition of "miracle"

miracle

Main Entry: mir·a·cle

Pronunciation: \ˈmir-i-kəl\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin miraculum, from Latin, a wonder, marvel, from mirari to wonder at
Date: 12th century
1: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs
2: an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment
3 Christian Science : a divinely natural phenomenon experienced humanly as the fulfillment of spiritual law

The second definition hits home for me. I am a firm believer that ALL children are miracles and are gifts from our Heavenly Father. We are entrusted to raise these little humans to the best of our ability. When you think about it, raising a child is an awesome responsibility and one that should not be taken lightly.

As a parent, we have the responsibility to raise our children in a way that will allow them to grow up to be happy and well adjusted citizens in a world full of temptation. When most of us become pregnant or start the process of bringing a child into our lives through other means, we dream of that child and what he or she will be like. Often, we glamourize what parenting will be like and then, that precious little being enters our world and we are never, ever the same.

As I said earlier, I am a firm believer that ALL children are miracles. That said, I must mention my daughter, Ice Princess and her miraculous begining. Ice Princess and her twin brother, Little Warrior were born 14-15 weeks premature. Ice princess began life in this world weighing 1 pound 7 ounces and measuring 12 inches in length. Ice Princess spent the first 6 weeks of her life on a ventilator, she had a heart procedure done when she was just under 1 month old, to close a fetal/meternal duct(PDS ligation) that typically closes at birth. She weighed 1 pound 11 ounces when that procedure was done. I love to tell people how during this time, it once took 3 nurses to hold my little 1 pound 11 ounce baby still long enough to put a new IV in her! Imagine that! This little girl has had spunk from the get-go! It was that spunk that carried her through her early days of life. Ice princess had a fairly "easy" stay in the NICU... all things considered. Once her PDA ligation was done, she seemed to sail on through her NICU stay with very few bumps along the way! She surprised us at 7 weeks by coming off the ventilator before they planned! July 7th, 1998 was a special day. Little Warrior was scheduled to come off his vent that day. I called from work to check on the twins and to my surprise, Ice Princess was OFF THE VENT! Any preemie parent will know how HUGE that was. Both of my babies were vent free! Anyway, they cautioned us not to get too excited. They had not planned to take her off the vent but due to her tube getting blocked 3 times that day, they decided to give it a shot. They told us she might end up back on the vent, but if she did, it wouldn't be long before she was permanently off the vent. To our surprise(and the medical staff), she never went back on it! Ice Princess came home from the NICU on August 24th, 1998. She was 91 days old. She weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces and was around 18 inches long. She was a healthy baby. She came home needing only a higher calorie formula and iron drops for anemia. She nearly came home with oxygen but she avoided that too!


Ice Princess 13 days of age



2 months old and 2.5-3 pounds



3 months old



10 months old with her twin brother, Little Warrior



14 months old

Over the next few years, we monitored her closely. When she was born, we were given a LONG list of what could go wrong due to her being born so prematurely. She dodged the bullet on everything! She's been a pretty healthy kid. She's had typical childhood ailments and required speech therapy for a few years. She's always been small for her age, but she isn't the smallest child either. She has full term friends who are smaller then she is! She has visable scars on her arms and feet from IV's and PICC lines. She also has a scar on her back from her PDA ligation. I refer to those are her battle wounds. They are so much more then scars to me... they are a symbol of who she is and how fiesty she can be! She is a fighter.

I often look at her in amazement. She's come so far. She's a sweet girl and we treasure her. She's a bit of a drama queen but to be honest, I sincerely feel that attitude is what helped her make it through her first first few months of life.

My mother in law wrote a reply to my blog about Ice Princess being a miracle and how she thought about that fact as she skated last week. Interestingly enough, I was thinking a similar thing as I watched my daughter skate. It really is inspiring to watch my daughter grow. I owe so much to so many people who prayed and cared for my little girl. I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am to have her in my life. I came close to losing her once and I cannot imagine my life without her! She is an amazing little girl so full of love and a zest for life!

Yes, I believe ALL children are miracles, but when I look at my daughter, I see sooo much more. I know her life is truly miraculous. We know all too well the flip side of prematurity and how badly it can all go wrong... but for today, I am going to celebrate my daughter and the miracle she is.

Corvettes

Last month we challenged Speedracer to keep his room clean for an entire month. We told him if he did this, we would take him to a Chevy dealer and ask if they would let him look at and sit in a Corvette. The Corvette is Speedracer's favorite car so this was a huge motivator for him. Anyway, today we took Speedracer to the Chevy dealership and guess what? Not only did he sit in a Corvette, but he and his dad got to test drive it! He was over the moon! Then, on our way home we saw a car show that was being held in a near-by parkm of coarse we took him there too! He got to see a few more Corvettes in addition to some other very cool cars. He was on cloud nine! I'm already trying to think of his next reward! Here's hoping he can keep his room clean for another month. :-)



They rode in one that looked like this car! Speedracer was soooo excited!

The Competition

Ice Princess woke up very excited today! She could not wait to go to her competition! All in all, she did well. She skated her best and ended up coming in 3rd place. Not too bad for her very first competition. She is thrilled to have earned a medal and was so excited to have grandma and her best bud(who also competed and came in 1st place in her own level) there to cheer her on. She really had a great time. She looked lovely too. Once I recieve the CD of pictures, I will add a few to my blog. We have a video also, but I am having a difficult time uploading it. Ice Princess has watched her video already and it was funny to hear her critque her own skating! Obviously she has never seen herself skate, so this was a good thing for her to see. She knows what she needs to improve on for her next competition. :-)



The only some what decent picture my camera took. I'll post better pictures once I recive the disk from the competition.

Update: I added new pics 06/24/08

















This was such a great experience for her! Oh and as you can see we got the USFSA number situation taken care of! Thankfully between USFSA and the skating director at her rink, we had her number on Thursday. WHEW! She would have been CRUSHED if she couldn't have skated today! Thankfully, she did not have to experience that disappointment.
:-)

Here is a video of her preformance. She really did a great job. Her last spin coul dhave been better, but I think she was rushing thinking she wouldn't finish with her music! LOL. We're very proud of her!