* Prayer Request *

Hi Guys! It's me, Colin!

I was just wondering if you could do me one little favor?

You see, I'm having a small procedure tomorrow under anesthesia {I'd rather not talk about that though because it's for my, you know, down there!} and my Mommy and Daddy are very nervous because they have never done this before. I was just wondering if you could all say a little prayer for me that everything goes smoothly and that I'm in and out very quickly like I'm supposed to be.
I don't want to make them more nervous than they have to be so I promised them that there would be no funny business tomorrow during the procedure.

Thanks guys! I really appreciate it and I know my mommy will be sure to update you tomorrow when everything is over.

Happy Mother's Day Weekend!

I have done a lot of things in my {almost} 30 years of life and the one thing that I am the most proud of is becoming a Mommy to my two special kids, Colin and Kailey. It is the most challenging, but by far the most rewarding.

I truly feel that I am the Mommy I am today because of the amazing mom that I have and because of the two grandmas that I have been blessed to have my entire life who are also amazing mom's themselves.

So on this Mother's Day Weekend, I would like to thank my Mom {Jaine}, Grammy {Betty}, Grandma {Madge}, Mother-in-Law {Hillary}, and pseudo mom {Monica} who have all been amazing moms, grandmas, memas and great-grandmas to me, Chris, and our kids.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mom's out there this weekend!!

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One Week Just About Down...

I am just about to finish my last day of the work week of week one back to work and we are all surviving! It truly does take a village to raise a family and we are thankful for the support of such amazing friends and family members who are there to help us out when needed.

Most especially, I am so thankful to my wonderful husband Chris who has truly been my support throughout my first week back, and always! To greet me on my first morning of the week was this note on our whiteboard...
...and then this on the side of the refrigerator.

I am so strong because of the support of my family...thank you Chris, Colin and Kailey! Only 4 weeks to go until the summer!

The Best Medicine

Years ago when I was an 18 year old teenager working at a bagel shop in a beach town, I met a group of guys that quickly became special life long friends. They are friends I don't get to see very often and can go for long stretches without seeing or talking with them, but they are very important to me nonetheless. They were in a band together and created the type of songs that have special meanings and for me, hearing those songs brings me back to special times and places. In fact, the first night Chris and I ever hung out (our first "date") was a night their band played in a local bar and we spent hours talking and having a great time. We've been together ever since...

One such song that stands out in my mind is called "Laugh Out Loud", which they wrote. It's a special song to me because it reminds me that although throughout life we have good times and bad (which often pass by very quickly), we laugh out loud, sometimes when we least expect to, and feel so much better. All we need to do is laugh out loud because isn't it the best medicine?

While I was running today, this song came on my ipod and it made me think about things. Things have been tough for us lately because of the fact that Colin is teething, he has hit a little bit of a plateau when it comes to different skills, and feeding still isn't going anywhere. There are days when it's tough and it feels easier to mull over the bad things, until something unexpected makes you laugh, like a little boy crawling around with his Mickey ears on, a little girl cooing at you, a little boy singing with the choir in church and clapping when they were done, convincing your husband that you bought more coffee and after searching incessantly for it you realize he is right and there really isn't any left...so you laugh.

I quickly put this video together with the song they wrote, "Laugh out Loud" (our good friend Keith Rella is the one singing) with the things that make me laugh on a daily basis. They truly are my "best medicine"...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Smile

On the eve of me heading back to work, I thought I would do a fun post of things that have made me smile being with my kids the past two months. Of course it's going to be difficult for me tomorrow morning, but it's just something that I have to do (and only for 5 weeks and 2 days), so I will survive until "schoooooools out for sum-mer!". I feel so lucky to be blessed with such a beautiful family and I have greatly enjoyed these past two months completely devoted to Colin and Kailey.

I Smile because...

- Kailey is here after 40 long weeks and she arrived healthy and makes me smile every day. She is pretty easy going by this point and after only a tough few weeks, she is sleeping through the night! {I hope I didn't just jinx myself for tonight!} I love the feeling of having her smile and coo when I talk to her now because she clearly recognizes my voice! Those coos make me feel love.

- There are just so many things that Colin has been doing lately that make me laugh. This first picture is the ending of what I walked into the other day. He was crawling around the room in his Mickey Mouse ears that he put on himself.
- This next picture is just proof of the fact he pulls himself up to stand on everything. The other day I caught him standing up at the toilet splashing in the water and then putting his hands in his mouth. Despite the fact that I typically would run and get the camera to document, I had to grab him and wash him (even though it was clean water in the toilet).

- He is trying really hard to say new words and is learning the signs we teach him very quickly. My favorite sign these days is butterfly because he has modified it to have his arms crossed with his fingers wiggling by his elbows.

- I just taught him whispering into my ear and although I'm not sure what he says, it seems very loving.

- I also taught him to yell for dad when we want him in the room. While I was rocking him before bed tonight, he went to hit me and I told him no and he started crying. He sat straight up, yelled "dad" (very clear consonant-vowel-consonant) and then started yelling in gibberish. He must have been giving dad a piece of his mind about Mommy.

- I smile because I just love Chris, Colin and Kailey and I'll be doing what I have to do for our family. So, although it will be tough, I just keep in mind that I'm doing it for them...

Back to school for me!

Annual Review

Wow, time flies! We had Colin's annual IFSP meeting today (which was a tad bit early to accommodate our schedule) to discuss his progress in the last 6 months and to make a plan for the next 6 months. We are incredibly lucky to have the service coordinator that we do because she is amazing! She is so accommodating to ALL of our needs and she really is just so caring and understanding. It's unfortunate we only get to see her once every 6 months!

While these meetings have never been stressful because we have such a great relationship with all of Colin's therapists, I never used to like to hear the "numbers" of Colin's assessments because they showed the delays that we were facing in each area of development. However, today, there was so much to reflect on in terms of how far Colin has come that those numbers are a cause for celebration because they show how HARD he has worked to get to where he is today. He has made such great strides in each area. Colin's PT discussed reducing the number of sessions per week once he is walking because she knows it is coming soon, his speech therapist gushed over how great his receptive language is, and the OT is so happy with how well his pincer grip has developed since she started working with him. We all discussed adding developmental therapy back just to focus on age appropriate items like behavioral play such as finishing tasks when started because they will be so important for when he goes to school.


Speaking of which, our service coordinator discussed preschool! Yikes! I know it is a year away, but since we meet in 6 month increments AND we will begin touring our options in 6 months from now, she had to tell us what our options actually are now. There is a lot to think about and deserve its own post so I won't get into it now, but I am both excited and nervous about the thoughts of this transition. So, since it is literally a YEAR away, I'm not even going to think about this tonight.

Aside from the meeting, Colin, Kailey and I had an exciting day as we went to visit both Grandad and Nana's jobs! Coincidentally it was "take your kid to work day" so it seemed appropriate that we were there. We were so fortunate that so many people from both places of employment were very generous in their donations for the polar bear plunge, so it was nice for them all to see Colin. They were both gushed over and although Colin was shy at first in Grandad's office, he became quite friendly waving to everyone in the cafeteria as he ate his lunch. By the time we got to Nana's job, I realized that his mechanism for when he is nervous is to give lots of kisses to whoever is holding him, I'm guessing for the reassurance that we are there. My mom is a teacher in the district that I grew up and went to school in, and the school that she teaches in is where I attended 1st through 4th grade, so it was quite nostalgic for me as I got to go back and see what it was like now. I even got to see my 2nd and 4th grade teachers as well as my favorite science teacher from high school. It was a lot of fun for me to show off my kids at both places!

My little Kailey girl seems to be growing like a weed these days. The differences between the two are evident every day, especially when it comes to eating habits. Kailey does really well drinking her bottles (it was a struggle for us every day with Colin, but are you surprised?) so it's really helpful right now as we are still working hard with Colin's feeding. Whether or not Colin had DS, I know there would be big differences between the two, so it's interesting to me to see how different each child is. I'm sure it's always going to be interesting!

Beautiful Day

As I type, I can hear U2's "Beautiful Day" playing in my head...it WAS a beautiful day, although I was feeling a tad bit bummy today...

...I'm guessing it's a combination of things between feeling like there is a ton of things to do (without any time to do it...I am guessing that is welcome to having 2 kids!), the fact that I am going back to work on Monday (although, it's only for 5 weeks or so so I will survive), frustrations with feeding (is that anything new?), and despite my best efforts not to be, feeling a TINY bit impatient when it comes to Colin's walking. I HAVE learned to take things slow and enjoy the ride, but I just can't wait for all that we can do when Colin is walking in terms of having fun. It's getting tough always carrying Colin and the baby in the carrier everywhere, but I guess the positive way to look at that is that it's probably helping me ever so slightly get back in shape! I took the kids to the park today and when I pulled into the parking lot, it was packed with kids and was not the type of equipment that Colin could climb independently. I wasn't sure what I would do having Kailey and Colin and having to carry him everywhere, so I turned around and headed for the little River Beach next door instead. I felt bad, but managing it on my own seemed daunting.

This morning, Colin was sporting a new pair of pajamas (24 months) and he couldn't keep them up! I'm thinking I'm going to have to make some exchanges on all of the 24 months/2T shorts that Colin got for his birthday!

In between therapy and Colin's 2 year checkup, I had him watching Baby Signing Times and I love to watch him mimic Rachel and the kids. His receptive language has been great lately! I put him in his new lawn/beach chair and surprisingly he stayed in it for most of the video.

Fortunately, the little beach that we went to had a baby swing and I can't get over how tall and like a big boy Colin looks in this picture! I got him to keep the hat on for a very short period of time and then there was nothing I could do to keep it on his head. I think he looks so adorable, but he does not care for it...

He enjoyed playing in the sand immensely, as well as putting it in his hair. When we got home, I quickly bathed him and had to spend 10 minutes combing the sand out of his hair. I didn't want to show up at the doctor's office with chunks of sand in there! I saw glimpses of what our life this summer at the beach is going to be like!

Exhibit #1 why I can't wait for Colin to start walking....his poor knees were beat red and a little swollen from all of the crawling he did on the rocky sand and carpet at home!

At his 2 year checkup, Colin weighed in at 23 lbs and 3 ounces, exactly 17 pounds and one ounce bigger than on the day he was born. Although he is only in the 3rd percentile for weight (I love the fact that his pediatrician DOESN'T use the DS charts), he gained about 9 ounces since February. He is in the 50th percentile for height and head size (no worries there!). She spent so much time just hanging out with us and chatting/gushing over Colin. We also discussed what's coming up in terms of the recommendations for children with DS, suggestions I had for giving information out to new parents, and the fact that she would refer us to a parent who may have just gotten a diagnosis of DS for their new baby at birth (she is also the head of neonatology at the hospital I delivered both kids). I just love her so much and would HIGHLY recommend her to any new parent seeking a pediatrician.

Despite the fact I tried rocking Colin for a late nap after returning from the doctor, he wanted nothing to do with it. I was slightly irritated until he just started puckering up and kissing me over and over again with a huge smile on his face...how can you be irritated at that 23 pound 3 ounce ball of love??