March for Babies

In the few moments after that final push that brought Adelaida into the world, it was the lack of sound that I remember -- newborn babies were supposed to cry, but I head nothing. The doctors knew she was in distress and had a team of NICU pediatricians, nurses, and support staff waiting for her birth. A dozen medical professionals bustled around the delivery room, performing a complicated but well-rehearsed dance to maintain and strengthen Adelaida's tenuous hold on life. I didn't realize it at the time, but it wasn't clear whether she would live or not. She had almost no signs of life when she was born: she was gray from lack of oxygen, wasn't breathing, and had no reflexes. Only a weak and irregular heartbeat demonstrated her will to live. She was stabilized, intubated, and hooked up to an IV and a dozen monitors in the moments after birth and rushed to the NICU within two minutes, where I saw her rosebud lips and her unruly black hair (between all the tubes and wires) for the first time six hours later.


Despite predictions of weeks to months in the NICU, Adelaida extubated herself when she was one day old, was released from the NICU at three days old, and has grown into a vivacious and intelligent 5-year-old with no lasting effects from her rough start to life.

Two years later, I learned I was pregnant again -- this time, with twins. My immediate reaction was joy: twins are so special, and we would have an instant large family. Three kids for the price of two! I began looking up twins online, and what I read was disheartening. Twins are significantly more likely to be born pre-term, have low birth weight, and require lengthy NICU stays than singletons are. 80% of twins are born pre-term (before 37 weeks) and 57% have low birth weight (less than 5 lb). My joy at having twins was quickly replaced by a fear of having tiny babies who were too sick to breathe on their own and would spend their first months in a sterile hospital room rather than in my arms. I wanted healthy babies and made it my primary job to gestate them as well and as long as I possibly could.


At 38 weeks gestation, we welcomed Estella and Cordelia to our family: two healthy, full-term, 7-lb babies! Their cords were cut, they were cleaned up, and within minutes of their births, Dale was holding both babies while my Cesarean incision was sewn up. They never saw the inside of the NICU and went home with us four days after they were born. They are now 2-1/2 years old and are active, smart, and beautiful little girls who love to follow their big sister around.


We are the lucky ones.

Against the odds, Adelaida survived.


Against the odds, Estella and Cordelia were born full term and with healthy weights.


Against the odds, we have three beautiful, healthy daughters who light up our lives every single day.


We are the lucky ones.

Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small, and often very sick. I'm walking in March for Babies to honor my own healthy children, and in honor of all those babies who weren't as lucky as mine. I'm walking in honor of every baby born too early, every baby unable to breathe independently, every baby whisked away to the NICU rather than being placed in his mother's arms, every baby who required the marvels of modern medicine to get through those first few terrifying minutes, hours, weeks, or months of life. I'm walking for the babies who didn't survive, and the families who had to overcome the grief of losing a baby. I'm walking for Trevor, for Amanda and Melanie, for Kevin, Trevor, and Courtney, for Chloe, for Christa and Courtney, for Jack, for Gwen, for Bronte, for Owen and Evie, and for Travis. I'm walking for the mothers and fathers who watch helpless from the sidelines while their babies fight for life. I'm walking in March for Babies because I want to do something about this. And I need your help.


March of Dimes is an organization whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. The March for Babies is a fundraiser sponsored by March of Dimes. Your March for Babies donation will support March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. Donations will also be used to provide comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care.

Please support my walk. Making a secure donation is easy: just go to http://www.marchforbabies.org/marieparkes and click the 'donate now' button on the right side of the page. Thank you for helping me give all babies a healthy start!

Sculpture in the Park

Loveland's biggest annual event is the Sculpture in the Park event (and concurrent Sculpture Invitational), drawing people from across the country to view (and buy) art of all kind. We've been a few times in the past and have always enjoyed it. This past year, we decided to go again and made a little family vacation out of it. We met up with Charlotte and Richard, Laura, and their kids, and stopped by the park after the sculpture show. Here are some of my favorite pictures from that trip.

My sweet Cordelia

Estella sitting on her Daddy's lap

Elizabeth and Adelaida

Benjamin in the swing

Sarah sliding down the slide

Elizabeth, Adelaida, and Cordelia sitting on the turtle

The tire swing was a big hit. Here, Sarah, Adelaida, and Elizabeth swing together.

The park had an old cannon that the kids could climb on. From left: Adelaida, Cordelia, Estella, Sarah, and Elizabeth, with Benjamin in the back.

One of the highlights of this trip for Adelaida was her first sleep-over. Adelaida got to stay with her Mamaw all night long while Dale and I (and Estella and Cordelia) stayed with some friends in Loveland. Adelaida thought that the sleep-over was a very special thing. I know she had fun with her Mamaw!

A new play set

When we moved into our new house, we were excited that the house came with a "real" playset (as opposed to the small plastic toddler play set that we had at the old house). However, after a few months, a few dozen splinters, and several instances of wondering if the play set would hold two or three kids without collapsing, we realized that the wooden play set was well past its prime. Dale took great pleasure in taking a sledgehammer to its wobbly posts!


We quickly purchased a replacement play set and took advantage of Richard and Laura's visit last spring to build the play set while we had help.

Step 1: Lay out all the various pieces of wood. Laura and I made piles of the different play set sections and kept the kids occupied while Dale and Richard starting building the foundation.


Step 2: Build the platform. Here, Elizabeth watches while Dale and Richard build the main portion of the play set. Next the canopy, slide, ladder, rock wall, picnic bench, rope ladder, swings, and bars went up.


Step 3: Play!




A big thank you to Richard for helping Dale build this play set last spring. The girls just love playing on it!

Playing School

As Adelaida, Cordelia, and Estella have gotten older, they are spending less time at my feet (or in my arms) and more time playing with each other. I love it!

One day last summer, I found them playing school together. Adelaida was leading circle time while her sisters listened to the book she read them. It was so precious!

House to Home

Dale and I knew when we moved into our new house that we wanted to decorate it a little more than we did our old house -- in other words, we wanted to hang at least a few things on the walls and didn't want to have any completely empty rooms. Despite living in our old house for a decade, we never really got around to buying furniture or decorating. And I knew that without some help, we'd wake up ten years from now and realize that we still hadn't done anything with our new house either!


So, we called one of the most artistic people we know and requested some help. My Papaw and Ruth (Nana) live in Florida, are retired, and enjoy traveling. I asked if they would come out for a visit and help us decorate, and they said they'd love to. "In fact, we're going on a little road trip in May to see our niece graduate from high school. We could just stop by on our way to her graduation." Perfect!

As the trip got closer, I happened to ask where they were headed for their niece's graduation and was surprised to hear it was in Pennsylvania. New Mexico is "on the way" from Florida to Pennsylvania only to people who have a sense of adventure, are willing to drive across the country for weeks at a time, and love their grandchildren so much that an extra six days of driving is worth the week they'd get to spend with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And I'm lucky enough to have just such grandparents!

So, Papaw and Ruth arrived to the blank slate that we had called our home for the previous five months. We had several pictures and paintings -- some framed and some unframed -- and no sense of what looked good where.

Fortunately, Ruth has a confidence in decorating that I've never had and she knows how to decorate on a budget. We spent the week scouring consignment shops, finding frames for our unframed art, deciding on paint colors, selecting greenery, and rug shopping. I never imagined I'd have so much fun shopping!


As we brought home our new things, Ruth arranged everything for us, from placing greenery and decorative bowls above our kitchen cabinets to figuring out where the "to-die-for mirror" should go for the best effect.


And while Ruth and I shopped, Papaw was up on ladders hanging artwork, patching holes in our walls, taking out shelves in our closets, and generally doing all the little handyman things that needed to be done at our house. Looking back on it now, I'm sure that the week Papaw and Ruth spent here was more like work and less like a vacation for them!


By the end of the week, our home had been transformed from a blank slate into a warm, inviting home.




Thank you so much, Papaw and Ruth, for visiting us "on your way to Pennsylvania" and for helping us decorate our house. We love the things you did for the house and we learned so much about decorating from you!

A visit with cousins

Last March, Richard and Laura came to visit us for a few days in New Mexico. We enjoyed playing games and spending time with them, and the girls loved playing with their cousins.

We spent a glorious spring day at the zoo, seeing animals, running around, and riding the zoo train. Here is a picture Laura took of us on the train: Dale and Estella in the back row; Marie, Cordelia, Elizabeth, Adelaida, and Sarah in the middle row; and Benjamin and Richard in the front.


Here's a cute picture of Elizabeth at the zoo, with Adelaida in the background.


Cordelia and Estella were young enough that walking around the zoo all day would have been difficult for them, but old enough that they wanted to run around a little bit. We took the stroller so they could ride if they wanted, and even though it is only a double stroller, Dale found a nice little perch for Adelaida on the top.


All six cousins on the lion statue: (from left) Benjamin, Elizabeth, Sarah, Adelaida, Estella, and Cordelia. Adelaida wasn't too excited about posing and ran out of the picture moments after this one was taken.


One of the highlights of every zoo trip is feeding the ducks. Here, Estella, Cordelia, and I are throwing food to the ducks in the pond.


We had so much fun last spring with the Colorado Parkes family and are looking forward to seeing them again in a few weeks, in Colorado!

Happy fifth birthday, Adelaida

I have once again gotten behind in updating our blog, but today I'm staying home with a sick little girl so thought this would be the perfect opportunity to catch up. So expect several posts over the next few days!



On December 20th, Adelaida turned five years old. She is a sweet, quiet, considerate little girl who is learning to read and loves to play princesses with her little sisters. She went through a difficult stage for a while where she would sulk and pout and have a bad attitude when she didn't get what she wanted, but for the past few months she has been very happy and we just love to see her smiling happy face!

Oh, and over the past two years, she has grown so much!

Here's a picture of Adelaida with the Pink Panther on her birthday. I told Adelaida that I wanted to see how much she had grown so she is stretching her body to be as tall as possible!


four years old


three years old


two years old


one year old


two months old

ACS in Indianapolis 2013!

When the American Chemical Society announced that they would be holding the Fall 2013 meeting in Indianapolis, all of my chemistry friends groaned. Who wants to go to Indiana? Boston, Washington, Seattle, San Diego, New Orleans -- these all sound like great vacation places, but Indianapolis isn't exactly at the top of most people's must-visit list. I, however, cheered and immediately started making plans to present my research at the meeting. The ACS meeting was a great excuse to visit my family -- or, having family in Indianapolis was a great reason to attend the ACS meeting. Either way, I decided to go, and to take the kids as well.

Our trip began with a drive to Denver so that Dale could compete in a trail run in Colorado, and Dale continued on to Ouray/Telluride for the Imogene Pass Trail Run while I flew from Denver to Indianapolis with the girls (without Dale!). I was a little bit nervous about flying with the girls by myself -- after all, I had to lug two car seats (plus a carry-on) through the airport with me, I had two recently-potty-trained two-year-olds who LOVED to visit new toilets, and the four of us couldn't all sit in one row, so I had to put Adelaida across the aisle from me next to some strangers. Luck was with me the whole way, though. First, I gave myself plenty of time at the airport so I wouldn't be rushed, and had the girls hold onto a rope so that they would stay near me. We ended up in the security line next to a very nice couple -- the woman was a retired elementary school music teacher and they were going to Indiana also! They helped me through security and walked (slowly!) with us through the airport to our gate, then even watched our luggage while I took the girls to the toilet in the terminal. I was feeling pretty good about my luck at that point, but that all paled in comparison to what happened next. While I walked the girls back to the gate from the bathroom, I saw someone who looked suspiciously like my Aunt Carol walking toward me. And right next to her were Aunt Debbie and Aunt Bobbi! I approached them and found out that they were flying to Indiana also, and were on the same flight with me! I immediately went from a lone mother flying with three young kids to a group of four adults and three young kids -- a much more manageable ratio! Debbie, Carol, and Bobbi helped me get the girls onto the plane, sat next to Adelaida on the plane, and helped us disembark and gather our luggage. I'm sure I could have done it without them, but their presence made my trip infinitely easier!

We arrived safely in Indiana and started the conference/vacation. I gave two talks (both of which went very well), met up with chemistry friends from high school and college, and attended several very interesting presentations. It was great for me to see what others are doing and have a chance to hear responses to the research I'm doing! One of the best things about the ACS conferences is that they have free day care for kids of conference participants. I took the girls to the ACS daycare two days, and they loved it! They did crafts, played games, watched movies, and even had meals provided at the conference. It is a great conference benefit for parents.

When the girls weren't at the conference day care, they stayed with Mom and Mikel, with a little help from GG and Auntie Rachel. With Simon and Anderson there too, it was a very full house!

The weekend after the conference ended was my dad's retirement party, so we stayed for the weekend and Dale joined us in Indiana for the retirement party. It was a great opportunity to visit with family, celebrate Dad's career, and of course take a hay ride. I'm not sure who enjoyed the hay ride more, my dad or the kids!

Although I did take my camera on this trip, I really didn't take many pictures. Here is one of the four "big" cousins eating suckers at Mom and Mikel's apartment.

Carving Pumpkins

Dale joined the girls and me for our annual pumpkin patch outing this year, which was, of course, super fun. However, Dale and I have different ideas on the "perfect" pumpkin, and rather than trying to convince the girls to get the smallest pumpkins they could find (so I could easily carry three pumpkins around all morning), he actually sought out nice, large, round pumpkins for the girls. I made Dale carry the pumpkins while the girls played on the fort, went down the giant slides, looked at the animals, visited the bunny colony, and generally enjoyed the pumpkin patch. The pumpkins sat at home for a few days, and then Dale bought a pumpkin carving kit and the girls were excited to help him carve their pumpkins!

Dale scoops out Cordelia's pumpkin while she watches


Adelaida and Estella proudly show off their pumpkins


The pumpkin-carving set came with a book of stencils, which made cutting cool designs easy!


Adelaida uses the detail knife to help her daddy cut the pumpkin


Estella admires her cat pumpkin


Cordelia poses with her ghost pumpkin


A ghost, a cat, and another ghost. These pumpkins look pretty good!