Tag archive for "lila"

The Tooth Fairy and A Tale of Three Temperaments

Good Times

The Tooth Fairy and A Tale of Three Temperaments

5 Comments 05 January 2015

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And so it has begun – the draining of the Tooth Fairy’s bank accounts due to our kids beginning to lose their teeth.  Jack was the first – lost one of his lower front teeth in October.  It was loose for awhile and then one day he decided it was time for it to go.  I gave him the idea of gnawing on an apple and sure ‘nuf he had that tooth out in 10 or 20 little tiny bites.  The excitement that coursed quickly through all of the Fab 5 once that little tooth popped out was quite an experience for all of us!  The Tooth Fairy was generous – left him two bucks underneath his sleeping noggin – and so was Jack – when he found the treasure, he gave half of it to Brooklyn and declared that every time he lost a tooth he would give a dollar to one of the girls.  This is not the first time Jack has exhibited a generous streak towards his girls and it melts our hearts every time!  Chivalry is not dead as long as Jack Jones is part of our world…. :)

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The next to discover a wiggly tooth was Brooklyn and it appeared a few weeks ago.  And there it still is, not-so-firmly attached to her less-than-generous gums.  Brooklyn won’t touch it except for the occasional wiggle to make sure it’s still there.  Every time we suggest a way to get it out, she quickly says “No!”  It’s been at least 3 weeks since the wiggle began and if teeth were attached to their gums with thread and a needle, that tooth would literally be hanging by a thread – a single, tattered, weathered, chewed up thread of a thread.  And she won’t touch it…no way, nope, forget it.

lila loses a tooth

And then there’s Lila.  Lila discovered a wiggly tooth 2 days ago.  And the tooth was out 10 minutes later.  She first went for the apple and even though it got her gums bleeding, it wasn’t doing the trick for her.  I told her that it might not be ready to come out and to give it a few days.  A few minutes later as she was brushing her teeth she showed me how far she could push it back.  It didn’t look ready to come out yet, especially since there was a decent amount of blood and I told her to give it some time.  The next time I looked at her – no more than a few seconds later – that bloody spot on her gums had grown quite a bit and on further inspection I confirmed that the tooth was out!  We found it in the bathroom sink…Lila had been pushing on it with her toothbrush and didn’t realize she had pulled that sucker out and spit it into the sink.  I immediately went downstairs and hid the pliers…ha!  The Tooth Fairy bestowed the same treasure upon Lila as she did upon Jack – 2 crispy dollar bills.  And Lila danced!  And Lila also sang!  She sang and danced and showed everyone the treasure; and she showed us all the joy of being a kid who believes in magical fairies……

Three children, three teeth, three temperaments.  It is such a joy to discover the the differences between our children when life’s experiences draw them out!  Jack:  patient to a point then focused on the task then surprisingly and blissfully generous.  Brooklyn:  patient almost to a fault, perhaps a little timid, but good things happen to those who wait…and especially to those who wait contentedly.  Lila:  hmmm…impatient maybe??  Excitable, eager, and ready for the next big adventure.

Three children and two more to go.

Three teeth and 110 teeth to go (give or take a few when adding in Eliot’s).

Three uniquely crafted temperaments (plus three more when their siblings are included)…………..And untold joy to discover in each.

“LLIIIIIIIILLLLAAAAA!!!” (aka: Lila Addison)

The Fab Five

“LLIIIIIIIILLLLAAAAA!!!” (aka: Lila Addison)

8 Comments 19 June 2012

Unexpectedly to me as I sit here, intent on writing a blog update about Lila, the words are just not coming.  With her curly blond hair, crystal blue eyes, and powerhouse of a personality, you would think that any description of Lila Addison would practically write itself.  But as I sit here and stare at my blank computer screen, all I can think is, “how do I begin to adequately describe who this little girl is and what she means to this family?”  There are so many different words and descriptions that pop into my head – curious and adventurous (otherwise knows as mischievous); ornery, stubborn, and willful (or you could say sure of herself and of her convictions); sweet as cotton candy (and at times sour as spoiled lemons); loving, caring, and kind (but sometimes really mean) – but each of them seem to only just peer past the opening pages of the novel that is Lila Addison.

It wouldn’t be exactly true if I said that we always knew Lila’s spirit was doused with an extra dose of indomitability, but it didn’t take long to figure it out…or rather, it didn’t take long for her to let us know.  As  soon as Lila learned to crawl, we knew we were in for a ride!  As parents all know, you constantly look to put your eyes on your kids whenever you are out in public.  Parents of multiples (or multiple kids), you know that you are constantly doing the count, making sure you have all of your kids accounted for.  When you have five and they’re all newly mobile, you do the count no matter where you are – home, back yard, bedtime, bath time, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even for snacks!  I can’t tell you how many times the count went like this, “1…2…3…4…………..where’s Lila?”  Which was almost followed up a few moments later by this, “Lllliiiiiiiillllaaaaaaa!!!  What did you do??!”

With her adventurous spirit, among the five Lila has been the first to do lots of things, but Lila’s firsts have generally not been of the baby-book-documentation variety!  She was the first to figure out how to take off her DOC Band and then she taught Jack how to do it.  She was the first to figure out how to take off her diaper at night and then refused our constant appeals to her to keep it on…and then she taught Ryan and Jack how to do it.  Once we figured out how to make it impossible for her to take her diaper off, she was the first to figure out how to reach into her diaper, pull out the contents, and throw them on the floor…and then she taught Britton that trick (and then Ryan mastered it!).

She was the first to pull her sister’s hair, the first to push and hit her brother, and the first to take a bite out of Britton.   She was also the first to figure out how to blame much of her destructive behavior on her sisters and brother…

No doubt, Lila is as sweet as sweet can be, but it is also quite clear that mischief is her middle name!  I wrote this about her back in November of 2010 when the babies were still babies, just 21 months along (and too young to be pulling such shenanigans!):

Just the other day I watched her steal a snack from Britton when Britton wasn’t looking.  When Little B discovered the missing treat and voiced her protest, I told Lila to give it back (she had not eaten it yet).  She immediately shoved the whole thing in her mouth and looked at me with puffed out cheeks and her bright, blue, innocent eyes which were clearly saying to me, “too late, sucker!!”

 

But life with Lila is not all mischief and mayhem.  She is, as stated before, as sweet as sweet gets!  She has a thing for grandpas and will immediately gravitate to one (not necessarily her own) whenever a grandpa is in close proximity (we were at a party once and Lila spent the entire time cuddled up on our friend’s grandpa’s lap…she had never met him before that day!).  Her real grandpa, Grandpa Bill, calls her his little buddy because of her constant companionship with him whenever he is around.

She also has a thing for ballerinas – she LOVES them!  Every day when she wakes up, the first thing on Lila’s mind is ballet – she goes straight to the costume bin to pull out the purple ballerina outfit she got for Christmas and put it on…every single day!!  And speaking of Christmas, she is also incredibly fixated on holidays, all of them!  Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Fourth of July, Father’s Day, Flag Day, Arbor Day, Columbus Day…doesn’t matter, Lila loves it, and when it comes to holidays, little girl loves to decorate!  She’ll first ask, “What holiday is coming up?” and then follow that up with, “When are we going to decorate?”

And then there is Lila’s curiosity which of course goes right along with the aforementioned mischief and mayhem.  Here’s an example of how Lila’s got-to-know mind works – we are planning a vacation to the Texas coast for later this summer and every day Lila has something new to ask about it.  “Will we play in the sand when we go to the beach?”  “Will we go underwater when we go to the beach?”  “Will we fly kites when we go to the beach?”  “Daddy, are you and Jack going to wear shorts when we go to the beach?”  “And the girls are going to wear our swimsuits?”  “Will we see fish when we go to the beach, Mommy?”  “Is the water going to be blue at the beach?”  “Will we build sand castles when we go to the beach?”  “Are there birds at the beach?” “And do the birds eat the fish?”  “Do we eat the fish, too, Daddy?”  New questions have been asked (and the questions asked on previous days get asked again) every day since we announced our beach-going plans!!

Let’s  just say that if curiosity really did kill the cat, I hope that its lethal capabilities are only effectual with felines!  Lila, Lila, Lila…

It is one of the great joys of life to me to witness how God can pack so much personality into such a tiny package as he has done with all of our kids.  Eliot is our happy-go-lucky, wild child; Brooklyn is our pink bunny loving, delicate flower of a princess; Britton is the fireball, as fascinating to us when she expresses her joy as she is when she is filled with anger; Jack is Mr. Happy, a giggle-box who just likes to have fun; Ryan, well…we’ll get to her with the next blog post…

But unlike the others who seem to overflow with their preassigned parcel of personality traits and who are relatively easy to define, Lila is different, a bit more complex, and more difficult to characterize.  She is a veritable variety show of moods and attitudes; a super-sized sampling of sugar and spice and of some things not really so nice.  She is a plethora of  pigtails and tutus, a bounty of ballerina twirls, daring adventure, and sometimes epic fails.  She is our Lila Bear and to know her is to know love…(and also to know some things quite other…) :)

God bless,

Ethan

 

 

The Fab Five

Twins Today, Triplets Tomorrow…Welcome Home, Lila Addison!!!!

3 Comments 22 March 2009

Sorry for not updating sooner…we are in major transition in the Jones household, as you might imagine, which means the blog had to take a back seat, unfortunately. Well, as you know, Jack was the big winner and came home on Tuesday, leaving his sisters behind to battle it out for second, third, fourth, and eventually fifth place in our little race. It’s been a fun, busy, exciting, stressful, tiring, and sometimes dizzying week as we welcomed our little man to the house and finalized preparations for the final four to find their way home. Jack is doing very, very well as he continues the pattern he established in the NICU – eat, sleep, sleep some more, eat, and sometimes poop. He is on a three hour feeding schedule, round-the-clock, as his sisters are which means we have kissed our nights of restful sleep goodbye for now.
Though he will always be the little king of the castle, Jack’s solo flight has come to an end as today we welcomed home Lila Addison…we now have twins under our roof!! Little Lady Lila, weighing in today at 5 pounds, 10 ounces (nearly two pounds smaller than Jack!) arrived around 3:00 this afternoon and has been sleeping ever since. She has been enjoying some cuddle time with Jack in the Boppy on the couch next to me for the last hour or so…I guess they missed each other!

Tomorrow, our little brood will grow from twins to triplets as Brooklyn is expected to come home with us around noon! And in an interesting twist of scheduling, Casey and I will be on our own tomorrow night with the three…pray for us, brothers and sisters!! Thankfully, help arrives on Tuesday when my mom makes it to town just in time to welcome home Ryan on Wednesday! That just leaves Baby Bright Eyes Britton to finally conquer the bottle and make her way home…hopefully before the others start crawling… ;-)

I have to ask for you all to continue to pray for our family as the transition begins and we start putting the planning into action. Casey and I are excited, yes without a doubt, but we are also pretty stressed these days. The babies are absolutely beautiful and perfect in every single way…but all you parents out there know just how crazy things can be with a little one in the house! We are absolutely focused on making everthing about this experience a positive and uplifting one for our family and we need your help in making that happen! Please pray for peace of mind for Casey and I, understanding and patience for Eliot, health and growth for the babies, and a little sleep for all of us!!

Thank you all again for your support and prayers and for helping to fill the Fab Five’s lives with so much love!!!
God Bless,
Ethan

The Fab Five

Perspective…Quick Note

2 Comments 03 February 2009

Several have asked why Jack and Brooklyn can’t be held together so I thought I’d clarify. The only reason is that Britton’s bed is between theirs and the cords that they remain tethered to will not reach far enough for them to be held together. The unfortunate thing about holding a baby in the NICU is that they are hooked up to a feeding tube, a heart monitor, a temperature monitor, a C-Pap or other breathing device, or any number of other little cords and tubes at any given time. Because of this they can’t venture too far from their little incubators.

God Bless,
Ethan
www.JonesLife.net

The Fab Five

Lila’s Little Heart…Please Pray for Her!!

17 Comments 26 January 2009

It turns out that Lila was not responding to the meds they gave her to close one of the holes in her heart (the PDA) after all. Though they couldn’t hear the murmur any longer, the echo cardiogram they performed on her today not only confirmed the hole is still there, but also that it is a very large hole (the fact that it is very large is probably why they couldn’t hear it any longer). At this point, they are stepping up the meds to make a last ditch effort to get her to respond, but the doctors are not real optimistic that it will do the trick. If it does not close on its own and does not close because of the meds, the only options will be to wait it out or to operate.

She is not showing any ill effects from the hole at the moment, but there is still plenty of concern that she will begin to have issues. The question for us will be do we go ahead and operate while she is doing well so that she can handle the operation better or do we wait until she starts to have issues before we operate. Clearly, this is not a decision Casey and I would like to be faced with!

We were contacted through the blog by a mother of triplets whose child had to go through this operation. She said that it went great and her daughter did much better once everything was over. Thank you, Shelley, for your words of encouragement! I don’t believe that this is an all too uncommon thing for premies to go through, but it is a scary one nonetheless. We should know something in the next couple of days. In the meantime, please pray for Lila’s little heart!

God Bless,
Ethan
www.JonesLife.net

Faith

Uplifting? Check!

1 Comment 06 December 2008

Casey just told me this little tidbit from a friend today and I had to share. This is the cool kind of thing we get to experience several times a week…

One of Casey’s mom’s good friends came from Denton today to our baby shower. She drove four hours to get here, stayed for an hour or so, then drove four hours home…totally awesome, but not the reason for this blog.

This is why I write tonight – she told Casey that she prays for the babies every day and that one time while she was praying, she felt an overwhelming sense that she should “pick one.” So she did – she picked Lila Addison as her “one”. And from that day forward, she has said her prayer for the babies and then she says a prayer specifically for Lila. How cool is that? Little girl isn’t even born yet and she already has a prayer warrior assigned to her…VERY COOL!!

This is exactly what I mean when I say the response and the love that we have gotten from everyone has been so uplifting! It gives us such an incredible sense of the power at work in these babies’ lives when we have these encounters! Thank you, Jan, for the love that you’ve shown our family, the quints, and especially little Lila Addison!!

God Bless,
Ethan
http://www.joneslife.net/


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