Question

Does anyone know how to arrange the posts in the order that you want them? For example, I just put up a vacation post, but it ended up underneath the visit to the endocrinologist post because I had started it, saved it, and then published the dr. visit post 1st.

Day 1 of our Vacation!

After a long start to our summer with a late end to my school year, moving out of one house, staying in temporary homes, and then finally getting settled into our new home, we had the opportunity to get away for a few days thanks to some gift cards (thanks Brian and Maureen and mom and dad!) that we have been saving. We headed up to Hyannis in Cape Cod for two days and then one night in Cambridge just outside of Boston. I'm going to break up the trip in different posts because we have a picture overload!

On Friday morning we loaded up the car and headed out at 5:30am. Colin was originally not happy to be disturbed...

...but you should have seen him 10 minutes after this picture was taken. He was all smiles and talking up a storm because he was just so excited to be spending 4 days with his Mommy and Daddy!

We made great time after only having to stop for breakfast and arrived at our hotel around lunch time. Colin was so good in the car and slept for a good amount of the time. He was so happy to try out our king sized bed...

I wasn't the craziest about having Colin roll around the hotel floor (even though that changed the next day), and he can't be trusted on the bed alone, so Colin spent some time playing with his toys in his bed.

We just relaxed our 1st afternoon, and then got ready to go out to a nice restaurant about 40 minutes away (thanks to a recommendation by Colin's Uncle John who used to work at the marina there!). We had a little photo shoot after getting dressed before leaving. Colin was a good subject as always...

Despite Colin's nap, he fell asleep on the way over to dinner. I mean, so tired the mouth hung open kind of nap...

We got over there a little bit early, so we hung around in the car for a few minutes to let the light sprinkles pass by. Colin tried to convice us that he was big enough to drive Daddy's car, but I'm not so sure about that.

We had an excellent dinner at the Chart Room...Colin did too!

and greatly enjoyed the beautiful scenery...

The Endocrinologist

Today we had our first visit with the pediatric endocrinologist to discuss Colin's levels of thyroid enzymes that have been off the past 2 times he has had blood work. Hypothyroidism is a common problem in children with Down Syndrome, so it's important to check blood work every 6 months or so. When Colin's blood work was checked at birth and 6 months, his levels were normal, however when they were checked again around 14 months, they started coming back slightly off.

Unfortunately, we had a very long wait because there was apparently a misunderstanding regarding a change in our appointment time that we were unaware of, so we had to kill lots of time in the room by ripping (and eating) paper. Don't you love the island of paper he created for himself?

We can now add self-feeding paper to the list where sand already exists (who would have thought something that tastes badly would be a favorite self-feeding item).

We also killed time by playing a fun paper throwing game.



The doctor explained to us that the thyroid works cooperatively with the pituitary gland in the brain. Sometimes, in children with down syndrome, the thyroid enzymes can be off for a reason that does not imply a problem. However, in other cases, there is a trouble with the production of the enzymes and in the 1st 3 years of a child's life, brain development is very important. Therefore, it is highly recommended that Colin take a medication to help with the production of those enzymes so that in case there IS a problem, we did not wait too long to begin the medication. There are no side effects associated with the medication, so it's worth it for us to begin this process. The medication is a pill form which we will have to crush and get him to eat all of it.

At 3, if Colin's levels were easily maintained by the medication, then we will be able to take him off and see how his body reacts. So, there is the possibility that he will not have to be on this medication for life. The only downside is that we will have to check in with her every 3 months, which we did not find to be a downside since she was very good at explaining the details. She made us feel comfortable with everything for the time being.

Special Visit

You know that feeling you get when you to talk to a friend that you haven't seen in a long time, and you just pick up right where you left off? Well, I had the honor of getting to meet a friend that I feel like I have known for a lifetime and it seemed as though we just picked up where we left off...

We got to meet our blog friends Landon and Kelly and the rest of their family, Scott, Mason, and Elijah from My Little "Son-Shine". It was a great day and we all had so much fun!! We were up vacationing in their neck of the woods and met in Plymouth, MA at a restaurant with a beautiful view.

My heart just melted to see our little boys sitting together in their high chairs and become fast friends.

They both have a great sense of humor and were quick to laugh together, clap excitedly, and bang on the drums on the table together.

Kelly has a great shot of the boys holding hands (we got the pre-shot) which was so adorable on her post.

Chris and I were talking after we left and we hope that one day Colin will have the kind of loving, caring and playful siblings that Mason and Elijah are to Landon. They quickly made Colin one of their own and left no bit of hugs, kisses, and high-fives behind. Kelly and Scott, your kids truly are special and we were so lucky to spend time with all of them.

Of course there was lots of kid swapping because I just HAD to get my snuggles with Landon. Ah, be still my heart...

This little boy is a love bug. He snuggled right up to me and gave me an endless amount of smiles and kisses. He is just so cute, I can't get enough!!

Chris got his turn with Landon too...look at that hug!!

Of course, Colin had to say hi to Kelly and Scott too! I think our kids tell us a lot about people sometimes the way they react to them. Colin is in this phase right now where he will sometimes need time to warmup to someone before he will act like he normal hammy self. However, he must have known how special Kelly and Scott were because he warmed RIGHT up!

I think back a lot to finding out about Colin's diagnosis at birth and how much it affected Chris and I. At the time, I just couldn't look past my grief to see what was in store for us in the future. I wish I had known then that because of how special Colin is, we would meet so many special people in blogland and in person. I have now had the opportunity to meet my 2nd blog friend and again, it feels like we've been friends forever...

Kelly, it was so wonderful to meet you and your family, and especially your sweet little boy Landon...you guys are truly a special family and we are honored to have met you! I can't wait for your trip to NJ in the future (then, you'll definitely hear the accent...LOL).

Bedtime when Traveling

We have been on vacation the past few days in Cape Cod and now Boston, and I had to take a quick second for this post. We have done so many fun and great things, with one of the highlights meeting Kelly and Landon and the rest of their family!! More on that to come once we're home...

...but....

I just wanted to show you how difficult it is to put Colin down to bed when we are all in the same room. He is just too nosey and still wants to be part of the action! He tries to get our attention by doing this...

It makes us laugh so hard!

A Tooth!

Ok, I know this is NOT the best picture (I took it with my phone and Colin is upside down), but Colin's 1st tooth is almost here!! Colin's upper right tooth is starting to poke through and I can actually see the ridges of the tooth! We are super excited since Colin is 15 months old and doesn't have any yet and can't wait to see his new grin with teeth in there! I think the upper left front tooth won't be far behind.

We are still loving the beach! We forgot that we had gotten this cool chair last year and I decided to try it out on the beach today. Colin was so funny in it waving hi to the people walking by. If you can see in the background of the picture is a woman that Colin started waving to so much so that she had to come over and say hi. He even gave her kissy faces! At one point, he had his face in the cup holder of the chair trying to see what was inside (there wasn't anything in it) but he looked so cute.
Colin's Aunt Jen came to visit the other day and it was so much fun! We haven't gotten to spend time with her in awhile and her and Colin had so much fun playing with his toys together at lunch time. We are headed to Cape Cod on Friday for a little family vacation and we can't wait! We are also super excited because we are meeting up with Kelly and Landon and family at My Little Son Shine on Sunday! Woo hoo...we love meeting blogging buddies!! :)

Update on Feeding

We've been MIA this week! I think this is probably the longest amount of time I've gone without updating....both Chris and I are coming off of a very busy work week and now that it's done, we have some more free time again.

Colin's progress in the feeding department is coming along very slowly. I am very happy with the progress because I can see the little changes that are happening over time. We have gotten a lot of great tips and suggestions and have slowly started applying them to feeding times.

The Positives:

• If presented with some food on his tray, Colin will attempt at times to take a tiny speck of food (yep, he picks out the smallest speck) and put it in his mouth from either his thumb or index finger.
• He is pretty much eating all types of table food (which I put in the food processor leaving very small chunks) without any resistance.
• He will put large items (pretzel rods, cookies, etc.) into his mouth without prompting.
• He assists with putting the spoon/fork into his mouth.

The Negatives: (I should more appropriately call this concerns)

• Colin still doesn't really go through a chewing motion (unless in a non-food setting, he is watching us eat something and then he will mimic the chewing motion). This is concerning to me because I wonder how well the food is getting absorbed when it's not broken down more thoroughly. I try to puree the food pretty small because of this reason, but there are still chunks. We put the food into the side of his mouth, he quickly moves it over, and slides it down his throat. This is the area we are struggling to improve.
• He is not using a pincer grip to pick up food (literally just pokes and hope it sticks to his finger). However, we just got OT added, so hopefully that will help.
• I am happy with his progress, but fear the start of school in a classroom that is more unassisted feeding (he will obviously need help, but I was hoping by then he would be independently feeding).

Tonight, I decided to not fear the mess as much and allowed Colin to really explore and play with his food.
He poked and prodded and smeared and threw, and a few pieces ended up in his mouth on his own (of course the pieces that just stuck to his finger).

He was happy, of course. What kid doesn't love making a mess?

I can't tell you how many pieces of spinach and ravioli were floating in the bathtub, but it was a fun and rewarding experience. Here's to many more of those experiences!