Category Archives: Activism

Happy Independence Day!

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On this 4th of July, 2012, let us please remember the history of our incredible founding, the principles upon which the freedom-loving ideal is based, and the documents that were written as lamps to guide our feet during this great American experiment.

As a history junkie, I have read and studied Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, and James Madison’s U.S. Constitution and its enshrined Bill of Rights — the latter which was based on the writings of another famous Virginian, George Mason.

My home state has produced many exceptional political leaders (save Woodrow Wilson, who was merely born in the Old Dominion). Our state motto is Sic semper tyrannis — Thus always to tyrants! — after all.

On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry delivers his stirring & eloquent speech @ St. John’s Church in Richmond. 

During these pivotal times in our nation, we can wax philosophical about America’s libertarian roots or her federalist system of government. But instead, let us simply revisit the words spoken by yet another revered Virginian, the iconic statesman Patrick Henry.

Described as “the rhetorical backbone of the American Revolution,” Henry gave this famous oration at the Second Virginia Convention. It is fiery, yet cogent — explosive, yet reasoned.

Please take a few minutes this holiday to relax and soak in the words of the entire speech. And I’ll leave you with the passionate words of Henry’s conclusion:

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Please Support March For Babies!

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We’re very excited to be a part of this year’s March For Babies. You can visit our personal webpage by clicking the image below if you would like to make a donation to the worthy cause and/or participate in the 5k walk with us in late April.

The Clan Dillingham goal is just $500. With our family contribution — as well as an extremely generous donation from our pal, Melanie — our team only has $350 to go. I urge you to please consider making any size charitable gift, since your donation will fund March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies to begin healthy lives.

Please help us give all babies a healthy start!

Funds are also used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care. As parents of twins who were nearly six weeks early and spent more than two arduous weeks in the NICU, Stephen and I know how important the work of this fantastic organization is. Thanks in advance for your support!

Playtime

Our playgroup schedule is bustling. We have been attending one to two Moms Club activities a week, as well as having playdates with fellow Moms Clubbers: Miss Lorrie, and her kids, 5-year-old Haylie and 1 1/2-year-old Savannah.

We have also been meeting Miss Lorrie and the girls for our weekly Y outings. It has been nice for me to have another adult to chat with, and the boys look forward to hanging with Haylie and Savannah at Child Watch.

I took the boys to the Natural Science Center with GMOM earlier this month. From dinosaur replicas, displays of creepy-crawlies and live-animal exhibits indoors, to the petting zoo, huge tigers and a variety of tropical tree-dwelling critters outdoors, stimulation was certainly not in short supply. With the exception of the twins not wanting to leave a large train set early on in our adventure, the 3 Amigos did a great job getting around at the crowded facility.

It helped, too, that Miss Cristi took Houston under her wing, since he hit it off with her son, Gunner. That way, Houston and the other pre-K kids could move ahead at their breakneck speed, while Gabriel, Zeke and the other toddlers were able to slow down and digest everything at their slower pace.

Zeke (background) & Gabe demolish brick walls @ the Kids’ Museum.

The oft-talked-about highlight of our adventure was during the birthday celebration of one of the female gibbons, and her mate dangled from a branch and shamelessly pooped for all to see. Reverberations of “Monkey doo-doo … ooh, stinky … throw it” can still be heard throughout our house.

Dooky made for a memorable time at last Friday’s Moms Club gathering, as well. Even though many kids played outside, the 3 Amigos were the only ones to tromp through big wads of dog doo. While other moms relaxed, I hosed off their shoes and carried them to the front door before gracelessly exiting. It was actually pretty funny, but just oh so typical of life as crazy Clan Dillingham.

With all the warm weather lately, the boys have also been having lots of impromptu playdates with their neighborhood gal pals, Maddie, Dixie and Alyssa.

Family activities

Since we got Houston’s front bike brakes finally assembled properly, we’ve been practicing his biking a lot more. He is also swinging independently, although he still needs a little push start.

We recently took the 3 Amigos on their first real hike along one of the nearby lakeside nature trails. Considering we trekked nearly 3/4 of a mile, the dudes hung in there, although Gabriel required some nudging and Zeke begged to be carried at the tail-end of our journey. Next time, I think we’ll take the red wagon just in case.

Gabe (foreground) & Zeke lounge in the museum gardens.

The clan saw the bluegrass gospel band, the Rochesters, perform at our church. The twins thoroughly enjoyed the tunes, but Houston was surprisingly unimpressed. Despite the fact that bluegrass is his and little bros’ favorite style of music, I think Houston was disappointed that the band didn’t play “By the Mark,” a Gillian Welch song I’ve been performing for the boys most days before nap time.

Then last Saturday, Daddy took the kids for a wild outing at Bumper Jumpers, while I ran errands, got a haircut and had some Rebecca time. It was a much-appreciated break for me and a good practice for Daddy at handling the dudes in a crowded, active public setting.

Healthy endeavors

The kids’ dentist said that Gabriel should stop sucking a bottle while in his crib and Zeke needs to cease his thumb-sucking, unless we don’t care about paying for braces for two kids. We haven’t yet implemented his recommendations since Zeke is still being awakened on a nightly basis by that damned cough; I would just hate to subject him to his favorite soothing nighttime activity while dealing with that.

Zeke has an appointment with an “allergy, asthma and sinus care” doc later this week, so once we figure out his cough, we’ll then start kicking the twins of their bad bedtime habits.

Daddy and I took Gabriel and Zeke to their six-month follow-up with their behavioral doc. He is pleased with their speech progress and all other age-appropriate milestones. Diagnosis: the twins are right on track and perfectly normal, and we need not come back for another appointment.

Gabe takes the wheel, while Zeke sorts mail in this postal truck.

Two days later, Gabe and Zeke had their final shot in a three-part series of vaccines. They weighed 33 and 34 pounds respectively.

Houston-isms

“Houston, what do you think God looks like?” I asked. “Oh, He has hair and wears a hat,” he said, adding that God’s headgear is probably similar to that of Thomas the Train’s boss, Sir Topham Hatt. Houston’s reply was so quick and confident that I felt as if he may be privy to something that I am not.

After all, kids are born into this world without any pre-conceived notions and biases, and Houston’s opinion made me so appreciate the wonder, innocence, purity and beauty of what it means to be a child.

I found Houston poking around on our computer and he confidently notified me: “I’m just checking the weather, Mommy.”

“Mommy, I’m smarter than you,” Houston declared. After I explained that that day had not yet come, although it unavoidably will, he said, “Okay, I guess I’m not smarter than you, but brothers are.”

Today Houston stated, “I love everything in the world, toys and games and books and food … but I don’t like poison ivy.” I’m just now recovering from a nasty outbreak of the stuff on my forearms, so I suppose the addendum was empathy kicking in.

Papa keeps the beat, while Stephen shows off his Rock Band chops.

Other notes 

The 3 Amigos are still sharing a room almost every night. (Check out a couple pics of Houston in temporary digs.) The transition has been so successful that we are starting to save for a bunk bed with steps to the top bunk, instead of a ladder, and a third pull-out trundle bed. Daddy and I very happy at the prospect of getting our computer out of the bedroom and back into an official home office again.

On a sad note, Granny and Grumps’ “Duke dog” recently went to doggy heaven. A brave and selfless Granny got the sweet Schnauzer put down due to some major health problems he was having. We love and miss you, Duke!

But on a happy note, Grumps and Uncle Dale have been dealing with some life-threatening issues lately, but both have pulled through and are doing well. We’re keeping up the prayers, now y’all just keep up the good fight!

Click the top photo of Gabriel and Zeke to check ’em out at the Children’s Museum and the above photo to view Gramsey, Papa and the fam jammin’ out with Rock Band.

Therapy & Training

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Tonight, we picked up Daddy at work so we could attend a “Spending Revolt” rally at the coliseum. Being that it took place at their bedtime and all, the kids didn’t make it long, but at least we made it out to the event. But the funny thing was that it didn’t dawn on Stephen and me till we were pulling in our driveway some 2o minutes from his work that we never stopped by to get his car after the rally — a fitting anecdote to typify our zany lives.

Mommy takes the twins for a ride on the Lazy River @ our Surfside Beach condo.

I suppose the big news is threefold. First, Gabriel and Zeke start speech therapy this week. Last week, they had their evaluation with “Miss Pat,” who determined that Zeke scored in the third percentile and Gabe in the fifth on their standardized evaluation for “expressive speech delay.” As said previously, they’re in the top of the charts for hearing, comprehension, following multi-step commands, etc., but they just don’t feel it necessary to use that many words we big people use.

So, Gabriel and Zeke will be meeting one on one with Miss Pat for 45 minutes a week — Gabe on Tuesdays and Zeke on Wednesdays. I am confident they’ll respond quickly to the individualized sessions with Miss Pat, who seems to be the perfect, caring, laid-back but on-the-ball fit for the double trouble we’ll be sending her way starting tomorrow. (Vocabulary update: Zeke’s current favorite words are “nah nah” (Daddy) and “byun byun” (pumpkin), and Gabe’s are “moo” (moon), “doo doo” and “poot” … you probably don’t need a translation for those last two.)

Second, Houston used his last diaper yesterday. We polished off his pull-ups a while back, but still had some sleep diapers left. So we’d let him use them for naps or at night, if he so chose, but always reminding him that once they were gone, they were gone. Of course, he has accidents on occasion, but I’d say he’s 99% there. And to top things off, Gabriel peed in the potty before his bath last night, proudly mimicking big brother. If all three of my boys would soon be out of diapers, I’d be the happiest mommy around.

Zeke (foreground) & Gabriel trek up the Liberty Loop path.

Third, Houston is no longer taking naps on a daily basis. It had become such a struggle to get him to fall asleep (and to do so without waking up the twins). On those days when Houston would nap, he’d end up getting in to bed way too late at night. And on those days that he absolutely refused to sleep, I ended up wasting a bunch of time dealing with his shenanigans, frustrated and wondering why it had to be such an ordeal. Well, being that I get him into bed around 7 p.m. on his napless days, he’s still getting about 12 hours of sleep a day. So, Houston’s well-rested, I’m happier, and Gabe and Zeke have much quieter naps now.

Other stuff … Granny and Grumps came to visit for Labor Day weekend. This gave Stephen (a.k.a. Daddy the handyman) the time he needed to fix our dryer and me the opportunity to work on demolishing our encroaching kudzu. To get to the invading vine and all of its roots, I had to cut an access path into our backyard mini-forest.

While back there in the thick of it, I decided it would be a great idea if I connected the backyard path I made in the spring to this new one. And so was born “Liberty Loop” — a steep and adventurous circular trail that provides the boys lots of entertainment and exercise, and Mommy lots of teachable moments on the subjects of hiking and the great outdoors.

Houston poses for a shot w/ a firefighter @ the “Healthy Kids, Healthy Smiles” fest.

Also in early September, we got professional family portraits done at JCPenney. Let’s just say that Zeke did not want to cooperate and our pics may eventually find their way onto awkardfamilyphotos.com. Overall, though, I think they turned out as good as can be expected and do a fine job of capturing in still shots what a wild ride it is here around the zoo.

Then our pediatric dentist put on the “Healthy Kids, Healthy Smiles” festival. The event featured all sorts of emergency vehicles and personnel, games, play equipment, free toys and dental stuff, as well as free popcorn and Ruth’s Chris sliders — both huge hits with our hungry dudes!

More recently, Aunt Lisa and her awesome boyfriend, Albert, visited Clan Dillingham for a few days. We had a blast with those two cooking freaks and thoroughly enjoyed consuming all of the delicious appetizers, meals and snacks they created for us. Moreover, Lisa and Albert both love kids, so the 3 Amigos were in heaven with all the extra attention and fun.

With boys covered in food, making a mess & screeching like banshees, it’s just a typical mealtime for Mommy.

Then a couple nights ago, we went to a surprise birthday party of one of Stephen’s co-workers. The kids had a great time playing with wrestling action figures, playing pinball, climbing stairs and barstools, exploring the backyard, enjoying meeting new people and staying up way passed bed time.

Click the above photo to view all the September – Part 1 pics; the hiking shot for Part 2 stuff; HL and the firefighter for some of our around-town fun; and the top pic for more beach shots … and a hardy thanks goes out to a nice lady named Amy who took it upon herself to snap these pool photos and actually email them to me after the fact. Very nice.