The Jones Girls

The girls have been learning how to emulate and copy dance routines from different shows like Fantasmic at Disneyland.   I have been thinking for a while that they would love to be in dance class.    The problem is with 4 girls in dance, it can be pretty expensive.

I got a coupon in the mail today from Savannah’s old Ballet Dance Studio, Adagio Dance. They are offering waiving the registration fee and offering a hefty discount for ballet and dance classes.

There was a schedule of classes included with the coupon and Pre Combo Ballet & Tap for 2-3 yo’s (triplets) and Pre Combo & Tap for 4-5 yo’s (for Savvy) are Friday nights 6:45-7:15 for the triplets class and 7:15-7:45 for Savvy’s class.  Wow, I could take all of them in one swoop, who could have planned that schedule any better?

Now mind you, I opened my mail at 5pm tonight so I just noticed that the time of the classes that are tonight’s classes are 6:45 and 7:15pm!!      I thought about it and called the dance studio and asked if I could bring the triplets down and have Ms. Jennifer, the dance instructor and owner, evaluate the triplets to see if they were ready for the 2-3 yo class.   I also wanted her to let me know if she thought Savvy could do the 4-5 yo class.

After I made the call, they told me to bring the girls down tonight if I wanted.   I am looking at the clock and it is now 5:50pm.  I have about 40 minutes for me to jump in the shower because I feel gross (it has been so hot and oppressive here) and also to get all 4 girls dressed up in the ballet gear and hair done.

I am running around with a vengeance and we managed to get to the dance studio at 6:50, just 5 minutes late.  Not too bad.    I had no ballet shoes or tap shoes for the girls and the studio said they have extras to lend people.   That was so cool!!   They were able to provide all of the ballet shoes and tap shoes for the 4 girls.  Yipee!!   I quickly get the triplets ballet shoes on and I walk them into the dance room.    I stay in there for moral support and observance for 5-10 minutes and then I left the room to be with Savvy who was watching vigilantly outside viewing through the one-way mirror.

One thing that impressed me about dance class on Friday nights is the classes only have about 6 kids in them and with my girls it made it about 9 kids in the triplets class and in Savvy’s class it was only about 5 with her in the class.  The waiting room for the parents was pretty bare and it made for a very relaxing and less hurried atmosphere.   The girls’ classes were the last classes of the day which made it less rushed and enjoyable for me.

Ok so back to dance!!  After 15 minutes of ballet, all of the girls ran out and I switched the ballet shoes for tap shoes.     You should have seen me, I was like a conveyor belt putting one shoe after the other…6 feet in all!! LOL!!

 The triplets quickly scuttled back into the dance room and tapped their little heart out.I had tears in my eyes.  I was so proud of them!!

I got Savannah ready for her class and she did beautifully in her class.    She has been out of ballet for about 16 months now.    She remembered most of her moves from her past and got to learn some new moves using new techniques.   She looked so confident and relaxed and had so much fun.

While she was in class, the triplets were running around the waiting area like my little banshee monkeys.  I had to remind them to be quiet to not disturb Savannah’s class.

It was amazing to see my parade of 4 pink ballet princesses, fluttering about in their tutus and laughing and giggling like little angels.    My 4 girls won the hearts of their teacher, Ms. Jennifer and also all of the other parents.

So I negotiated a discount rate with the owner.  I think the dance will benefit all of the girls in the following manner:

Amanda:   This will improve her sense of balance, strengthen her core and help her posture.

Maryssa:  She is pigeon toed, her feet point inward.  The shoes and the exercises will help align her feet to be more forward and hopefully help her overcome her pigeon toe.

Miranda:   She does not take direction well and easily gets distracted.  This will help her learn and follow direction in a group setting as well as keep her focused.

Savannah:   She has bilateral coordination issues and muscle tone issues which were inherited from me (so sorry Savvy!).    In the past when she was in dance, it offered her good therapy to help her promote good coordination and muscle tone.  

The nice thing about all of this is all of the girls have no idea it is therapy, it is fun, fun, fun!!

I just can’t stand unreliable babysitters.   Sabrina called me 2 hours before she was supposed to be here and CANCELLED.   She was supposed to babysit so I could take off to go to Savannah’s Kindy Back to School night.    I couldn’t bring any of the kids to this, it was parents only.   I tell you it is so hard to find a good and reliable babysitter.    Just a couple of weeks ago a babysitter cancelled on me 2 hours before I was supposed to be somewhere and I couldn’t bring any kids with me so I had to cancel the event.    That babysitter emailed telling me that I hurt her feelings and gave me a lame excse.  I emailed her back and just said…I am hurt too…Take Care.    Ugh…I am so disappointed in the new generation of kids growing up and how they handle responsibility.    Definitely is very concerning to me.

I couldn’t find anyone with such short notice.  So I called my very last resort, our next door neighbor Sid.  He said he would but that I needed to get back home right away.  Thank God for Sid!!

In the classroom I sat at Savannah’s desk.  She sits close to the front of class.  I check ed out her little name plate and what was inside her desk.  It was so fun to get acquainted with my litle girl’s school life!!   

On the Savannah’s desk I noticed someting…She had drawn me a portrait of herself and there was a little note that said the drawing was for me to keep as a keepsake of her fist Kindy self portrait drawing.  I teared up.   How precious…

I listened to her teacher, Mrs. Tarbell, go over the curriculum and expectations of her Kindy students and what we as parents can do to help our children do a successful job in school.

I wrote a little note and put it in Savannah’s pencil box so tomorrow morning when she opens it up she will see mommy’s special love note to her.  I drew a fish and wrote Love, Mommy and then wrote the word fish on the bottom of the fish.  It was done in orange crayon (her favorite color…like Nemo!!).

Afterwards I walked around and soaked in the whole classroom.   There are little stations for groups of kids to participate in.   A reading room which has a bunch of soft pillows, oversize stuffed animals comfy chairs – what a great little mini library for the kids.   There is a listening station with microphones and the children sit around a table and listen to the headphones and follow the reader with the books.  This will help the children learn to pace when reading.

I learned that the children will have library day every Wednesday and get to check out their own book.   Every Friday they have Music day and go to choir in the multi purpose room.

The goal that Savvy and her classmates have to reach by mid November is to count to 10 and know numbers up to 30, know upper and lower case letters by sight, sound, out of order and to be able to put the letters in order.  I have already been doing that with Savvy with flash cards so she is right on track – yay!!

The only negative that I don’t like about the school is drop off in the morning.  They want me to drop Savannah off and let her find her way to a line amongst 800 other kids and not get lost.  That scares the dickens out of her and me.  I walk her every morning to make sure she feels safe and to reassure myself she is not lost nor scared.

She wore the cutest little outfit for her first day of school.   It was a dress with an oxford white shirt with a pink vest and pleated plaid skirt.   She wore white tights with patent leather  Mary Jane shoes.      Call me biased, but she was the best dressed little girl in Kindergarten…LOL!!

We drove to school and got there at 8:15am.   Class starts at 8:30am, but I wanted to be a little early due to parking issues.    They do not offer the kids to ride buses in our school district so all of the parents drive their kids or walk their kids to school.    It was utter and complete chaos watching 800 kids on arrive at school driven in hundreds of cars.    I am so glad that I got there early, as we still had to park almost 2 blocks away from the school.

I took a lot of pictures of Savannah her first day.   She had her snack in the brown paper bag and we dropped off our $60+ worth of supplies in her classroom.

At 8:30am the class bell rang and the Kindy teacher announced that class was beginning and to scram!!    The principal invited us for a meet and greet coffee in the cafeteria so I decided to go.  I was so teary eyed as I watched my first born baby walk with confidence and reassurance and make her first big steps as a big girl into her Kindergarten Classroom.   I didn’t let Savannah see me cry.   I cried when the door shut.  Then the principal wrapped her arms around me and walked me to the cafeteria where we all visited and had an introduction from the Principal and the PTA.

I picked up Savannah at 11:50am and the triplets were in the car with me.   Picking up wasn’t so stressful as it was only about20 cars picking up our kids.

One day down, three hundred days to go….

Congratulations our sweet darling for starting Kindergarten.   Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you for starting a new huge and important chapter in your educational life.

my water bag broke for Baby A (Amanda) at 1:30am.   I remember when it happened…  I was sleeping and it felt like something wet was under me.   I thought I had peed or something, so I got up to go to the bathroom and a big gush of fluid leaked out on the floor.    Cliff checked me and said it was amniotic fluid.

So we had the neighbor come over to be here while Savannah slept and Cliff drove me to the hospital.    They whisked me into Labor & Delivery and checked me into the triage room.  They tested the fluid and confirmed my water bag had broke and it was amniotic fluid.  

They admitted and began pumping me with IV fluids.  Fluids help stop contractions and since my water bag broke for Baby A, we were trying to avoid labor because I didn’t want to deliver these babies at 28-1/2 weeks.    They also gave me a special steroid shot which would mature the babies’ lungs in case I did go into labor and had to deliver the babies.

I remember having to lie flat on my back and eat a special low-carb diet.   One of the side affects of the steroid shot is it puts the patient into gestational diabetes.  They had to check my blood sugars every few hours around the clock and once in a while I would need a few tiny units of insulin to keep me safe from high blood sugars.

It was so difficult laying in bed for two weeks before I gave birth.  I remember I had to pee in a bedside potty so I wouldn’t have to walk.   I was only allowed to take a 5 minute shower once.   The rest of the time I got daily bed baths.   

Amanda’s water bag would slowly fill up and then if I moved just slightly, the water would spill out of her bag.   I had to wear 3 monitors on my belly to monitor all fo the babies.    Baby A was hanging in there.  She rested on my colon and since she had virtually no amniotic fluid, my colon got really bruised and aggravated with her laying on it.    It was so excruciating.    I think I might have had something called colitis.    I had that even up to a month after giving birth to the babies.

When they first pumped me up with IV fluid, I got edema.   It was horrible.  I couldn’t breathe and thought I was going to suffocate.  I was laying flat on my back and had the babies up in my diaphragm pressing on my lungs.    I had a respiratory therapist come in and help give me special breathing exercises.  

I remember missing my Sweet Savannah.  She was our home with Nanny Feli.  Cliff would bring her by at night to visit with me.   There was a couple of nights that they didn’t come because Cliff was tired.    That was my first time away from Savannah.

My online group of friends formed a calling schedule and I had 6-10 friends calling me a day to keep me company, give me strength, and give me hope.   It also helped overcome the edema by me taking on the phone and breathing while talking.

A close friend of mine , Jennifer, who is a Labor & Delivery nurse, who helped me deliver Savannah, made sure she put me down as her patient.  We had some good times together while I was on bed rest in the hospital.  I remember she brought her whole beauty kit and gave me a massage, shaved my legs, and gave me aromatherapy lotion as a gift.  I still have that lotion and LOVE it!!  What a great friend…

Thank the Precious Lord for protecting my babies…especially Baby A – Amanda.  She had so many odds against her from conception right through the very end.   

I can look back and marvel at what a miracle that whole experience was.    I am so blessed with these precious little girls.  Thank you God for my babies.

Yesterday was Maryssa big official day to begin getting potty trained.  She peed on the potty chair 3 times!!  Yay!!

Her first time she was in the bathroom in the morning.  I brought her a cup of milk and a book and she sat on the potty chair for an hour and then finally did her first pee pee.     We all cried out for joy and she was so excited.

After we got home from the beach, we resumed potty training and put her on the potty each time after drinking fluids.   She peed both times.

I  am crossing my fingers that I can get her potty trained before  early September so she can go to preschool.   The preschool will only take potty trained kids.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday, May 30th, I hosted a Mother & Daughter Tea at a beautiful place called Tea and Teacups in Yorba Linda.   It started at 11am.  I made pretty little princess hats, wands, hair bows for each girl.   Each girl also received a package of beads and cord to make their own necklace and bracelet. 

Each girl was so excited!!   It was so special to see everyone having such a good time.     The food and tea was delicious.

I arranged some fun games and prizes for the moms and girls.  It was a lot of fun.

Everyone took home Rice Krispy Treats and Special Life Vitamin Water.

I took Amanda and Maryssa to the Public Preschool to be evaluated on Thursday May 28th.  

Since Amanda is being followed by the school district as a possible special needs due to her disability with her right arm, they want to do a global evaluation, academically and physically.   So Thursday we had it done.   She was tested at a 3-1/2 to 4 year old level!!  The preschool teachers and the school psychologist said they have never used the some of the pages of the evaluations for a 2 year old before and were amazed.  Way to go Amanda!!  So she will not need speech therapy or Special Ed Kindergarten.

Maryssa got evaluated because she currently receives speech therapy once a week and the school district wanted to see if Maryssa would benefit from the Public Preschool that would offer her speech therapy.  She tested much lower than Amanda in terms of receptive language which is processing and understanding language.   She tested a little bit better in her expressive language than receptive language.  Expressive language is how she communicates and talks.     I am hoping she will receive speech therapy at the preschool because I think she will benefit greatly from it over a traditional preschool because of the smaller classroom size vs. a larger classroom size in a traditional preschool.   Maryssa is such an adorable and darling sweetheart.  She is just my precious!!

We have a follow up appointment on the results of their evaluations on June 10th.