Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I'm Brilliant {According to Renee}

My friend Renee, over at Life with My Special K's, gave me this award for being a brilliant blogger ... a premier blogger! LOL. I pass this on to Amy over at Larkin's Place, because her blog entries are always so deep and brilliant. :)

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Bosman/Jones BBQ

To start off the celebration this past weekend, Kyle and I hosted a BBQ at our house with my dad's side of the family and Casey's family {Casey is my sister's new husband}. We had a great time hanging out and getting to know Casey's family better.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Kristie and Casey's Wedding

My sister, Kristie, got married this weekend to her fiance, Casey. We had the best time ever and I'm so sad it is all over. Kristie did an amazing job planning all the details ... everything turned out beautifully. I have an amazing extended family and it was so much fun to see everyone again.

Mason was the ring bearer ... he did awesome and was so handsome ...

Payton was one of two flower girls ... she looked adorable in her little dress, but she had quite the attitude! When she walked down the aisle, she basically stomped and she had that lower lip sticking out the whole time ... basically making it clear that she wasn't happy about having to walk down that aisle, but she did it. I can't wait to get a picture of her coming down the aisle. When she got to the end, she wasn't quite sure what to do ... so she stopped and looked up at all of us standing before her ... so cute ... isn't her dress adorable?


A rare moment in time ... a smile ... that was a rare sight on Saturday ... little stinker!
{Sorry for the poor quality photo}

More pictures to come soon ... thank you everyone for such a fabulous weekend!

Our trip to the dentist

I took the kids to the dentist this morning ... Mason went first. He sat in the chair like a big boy and took his cleaning like a champ. This is a kid who begs me to go to the dentist. Weird. His teeth look great and most importantly, no cavities!

This was Payton's first dentist visit. Even though she is only 2 1/2, I wanted to get her in early because kids with Down syndrome can have bad teeth. The dentist put flouride on her teeth and took a look ... we will wait six months for a cleaning ... I suspect it will be brutal. Payton has all of her upper teeth and most of her lower teeth ... her laterals on both lower sides are missing and it is a very real possibility that they are not even there. This can be common in kids with Down syndrome. So essentially she has her bottom two front teeth, but the next two teeth on either side are missing, right before the molars start. We will wait to see if they ever come in since kids with Down syndrome can have delayed teeth eruption, but I'm not getting my hopes up. If they never come in, we can only hope that her adult teeth will sort of fill in that gap there ... time will tell. The dentist said that is a possibility, especially in a child like Payton who has a small mouth {another feature of kids with Down syndrome}.

Poo poo on the potty! Poo poo on the potty!

Woo hoo! Payton just went poo poo on the potty! I had her sitting on the toilet a few minutes ago and she did nothing. So we went to the kitchen and she signed that she needed to go potty ... her sign is pointing to her diaper. I asked her if she had to go and she nodded yes. So we ran to the potty and as soon as I sat her down, she pooped and peed! We sang and clapped and cheered ... woo hoo! :)

Learning love from Baby Grace

As you may recall, I contributed to a book called Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives. There was an article that was published after the recent Down syndrome convention in Boston. Essentially, a new parent of a child with Down syndrome said that she learned of her daughter's diagnosis prenatally. She was given a certain amount of time to process the information before she would decide how to proceed with her pregnancy (i.e. abort or give birth). During that time, she was given the Gifts book and it rocked her world in such a way that her little angel is now about six months old and thriving. How cool is that?! I'm so honored to be part of something so special.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Tag {I'm it}

I've been tagged by Christina at Kwisteena's Kwaziness and I am supposed to define my life in six words ...

1. Blessed
2. Fun
3. Loving
4. Fulfilling
5. Happy
6. Resilient

Now I'm supposed to tag five more people ... (the rules are to describe your life in 6 words and tag 5 more people, leaving them a comment on their blogs so they'll know they've been tagged). I tag ...

Kristie at The Jones' Journey
Shay at Karl's Kraziness
Renee at 3 Little Lady Bugs
McKenna at Our Blah Blah Blog
Stephanie at Megan's Got 47

Thursday, July 24, 2008

I have the worst luck

Yesterday I ran to the post office with an arm full of express and international packages to ship out, with both kids in tow. Of course, the kids were running around the post office like a bunch of wild apes ... at least everyone else thought they were comical.

Fast forward 10-15 mintues, as we are driving through the parking lot to leave, we hear what sounds like a gun shot. That gun shot sound was actually my tire popping ... I realize this after my car suddenly thuds along. I stop, get out of my car and see that my tire has essentially fallen off my rim. What in the world?! Although I didn't want to drive on it to pull the car over, I did pull it forward about 20 feet to get it out of the way. I'm now hoping the rim isn't bent.

I called Kyle ... after going to the wrong post office, he finally arrived. In the meantime, I remembered I have OnStar (best thing ever, BTW), so I called for help and they sent out a roadside assistance guy within 15 minutes. Well, the roadside assistance guy grunts as he exits his truck ... and I'm thinking, "How in the heck is this guy gonna get on the ground and repair my tire?!" So he proceeds to get out the iron rod that lowers my spare from the bottom of my truck. But first, he totally popped himself on his knee with the iron rod. So he is hopping around, cursing in pain as we stand there watching him. Seriously, is this happening? At this point, I am thinking we are going to have to take the dude to the hospital ... he already has a bum knee, and now he knocks it senseless with an iron rod. But no, he charges on and changes my tire, grunting the whole way.

The kicker now is that Kyle doesn't even think I have a hole in my tire, so somehow it was pulled away from my rim enough to lose the air. Sigh.

Monday, July 21, 2008

My precious angel baby

I took this picture this weekend of Payton asleep at the pool ... I just love it and thought it deserved its own blog entry ... isn't she beautiful? :)

Fun in the sun

This weekend we spent a lot of time in the sun with Kyle's family, who is here visiting. We have had a great time with them and it is so fun to watch the kids playing with their cousin, Ethan ...

Mason, Ethan, Payton and Jaxson {Cousins}
Mason and Jaxson ... yay for a smiley baby!
Ethan and Jaxson ...
Slip-n-slide time!Jaxson looking so very inquisitive ...
My sweet baby girl ...
Shawn {Kyle's older sister}, Ethan and Brian ...Ethan and Mason {Cousins}

Jaxson's Baptism

Yesterday, Kyle and I become Godparents for the first time ... we feel so very honored. Our Godson, Jaxson, is the cutest little thing if I do say so myself.

Kyle, me, Shay, Jeremy and Jaxson ...
The whole family ...
Jeremy, Shay and Jaxson ... oh, and Payton {she is part of the family}Payton and her Uncle Brian ...

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Brother teaches sister

I just opened a can of those Gerber Graduates raviolis for Payton. Of course she wants nothing to do with them, but Mason does. Mason goes and sits next to Payton at the table with his own fork and ...

Mason: Babes, watch how bruder (aka: brother) does it. (Eats ravioli)
Payton: No, noooo.
Mason: Babes, eat it like this. (Stabs ravioli)
Payton: No, noooo. (Holds fork up by Mason's face)
Mason: No babes, we aren't playing swords.
Payton: Noooo.
Mason: Babes, watch how bruder does it. (Eats ravioli)

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Our trip to Boston: Day 1

This past weekend, we drove up to Boston for the national Down syndrome convention that I have attended every year since Payton was born. It is a great place to learn new things, network and meet up with great friends.

We got into town just in time for dinner. I met up with my friends, Stephanie, Renee and Megan, and we headed out to Cheers in my car. The girls rode in the back of my Yukon with no seats and we headed out to 84 Beacon Street, which we put into my navigation system. After driving for what seemed like forever through random city streets, we wondered where the heck Cheers was. Finally, we arrived at our destination ...

Ummm .... yeah ... not so much Cheers. OMG we laughed hysterically and had to take a picture. Apparently there are TWO Beacon Streets in Boston and this particular Beacon Street had 82 and 86 Beacon Street, but no 84 Beacon Street. So back to the hotel we went ... dropped off Kyle and the kids (Payton was asleep by this time) ... and us girls got in a cab with McKenna and Shylo to try to find the real Cheers. All the girls were too scared to ride in the front seat of the cab, so I did for them. LOL. We had the weirdest, creepiest cab driver ever and he gave me a run down of every building we passed. He even told me about how he used to smoke joints in the park we passed. Fabulous. Then he complained about the justice system and about how they turned a Boston jail into a hotel. Maybe I should have pulled my badge out? ROFL. Anyway, we finally got there ...

The girls (L-R: Shylo, me, Renee, Megan, McKenna and Stephanie) ...

Renee, McKenna and me ...

Stephanie and Shylo ...

Monday, July 14, 2008

Adoption Update

I have had a few people asking me to update about our adoption here. I am going to try to save that for our adoption blog now that it is public and will stay public throughout the rest of our journey. So if you have noticed the link in my sidebar, please feel free to link up here. :)

PS ... I also just posted an update over there!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Apparently Mason wants to move

Me: Mason, do you want to help me clean out the garage?

Mason: Why?

Me: We are going to have a garage sale in a few weeks.

Mason: Well, are we moving?

Me: No, we are just going to have a garage sale. Why, do you want to move?

Mason: Yeah.

Me: Well don't you like our house?

Mason: No, I just want to move.

I hate to beat a dead horse ...

... but Payton is doing so well with potty training! This morning we were in my bathroom, where her potty is. Her potty was sort of covered with a pair of my pants, which were draped over the tub. She walked over to the potty, pulled my pants off and pulled at her diaper {which was dry}. I took her lead and took her diaper off. She sat down and peed! She is so stinkin smart, I can't get over it!

Also, a funny story ... after she pees, she knows that we remove the little potty insert and pour the contents into the toilet. So today I did that after she went pee and then put the insert back in the potty after rinsing it. She sat back down, but didn't go any more. She stood up, removed the insert and went and shook it over the toilet as if she were emptying it. Too funny.

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Updated: Twice more today Payton has approached me tugging at her diaper as if telling me she needs to pee. Sure enough, she did. Yay baby girl!

Chicky eating breakfast in the sun

{with a little photo manipulation}




What is it with the garbage?

When my son was younger and started understanding what it meant to throw things away in the trash, he began throwing everything away. Shoes, toys, you name it. I'm not sure how many things we didn't catch and really ended up going out with the trash.

My daughter has understood the concept of throwing things in the trash for quite a while now, but she historically has thought it was more fun to take things out of the trash rather than put things in. Over the weekend, Kyle and I both, on two separate occasions, caught her filling the diaper dekor in her room with clothes. This morning I asked her to go throw away a piece of paper for me ... she did and then she proceeded to empty my purse, item by item, into the garbage. When I caught her, she was throwing my badge away. Uh, not sure how well that would go over with my boss!

Do your kids do this? What has been the craziest thing you have found in the trash?

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Update four hours later ... I think this picture {taken a couple minutes ago} speaks for itself ... I think we have a problem here ... book, sippy cup, fridge dj, old maid card game, etc

We are going to be Godparents

Shay and Jeremy (my sister-in-law and brother-in-law) asked us to be the Godparents of their son, Jaxson. We are completely honored and promise to be the best Godparents ever! Here is the little man on the 4th of July ...

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Only my son ...

Mason has had a thing for sleeping with us lately. Tonight he and I crawled into bed and he felt something under the covers. He pulls out a small little hard thing {it felt like a tiny pebble} and said ...

Mason: What is this?

Me: I don't know, let me see.

Mason: Well, maybe it's an old booger.

That's fabulous! Apparently he remembers leaving boogers in my bed? GROSS!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Two more times!

This morning when Payton woke up, she was dry again. So off to the potty we go ... presto, pee! Woo hoo! Today when I got home from work, she was dry so I put her on the potty ... presto, pee! Man, I never thought it would be this easy with her. Let's just pray it continues!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Her strength amazes me

Kids with Down syndrome typically have low muscle tone, which is not to be confused with muscle strength {confusing, I know}. Payton's muscle tone is mildly low, which is why I believe she has done so well in the gross motor department. Given her lower tone, I am just amazed at her strength {even though I know it is separate from tone ... it still confuses me}. Over the past several days, I have witnessed her pull her entire body weight up in ways that amaze me. For example, when she wants to get on the swing, she will wrap her tiny little hands around the chains and dangle her body in the air trying to get her butt on the swing. Heck, I can't even do that!

Remember Kennedy?

I posted a few days ago asking for prayers for Ms. Kennedy. She had her surgery today for AAI and AOI. After more than seven hours, she came out of surgery looking like this ...

God bless her soul. She will remain in the hospital for 28 days and then in this halo for months. Please continue to pray for her, as she is in quite a bit of pain right now. If you would like to send well wishes to Kennedy and her family, click here for their blog or click here for their temporary address while in the hospital. Ms. Kennedy has been through more than her fair share of medical issues {mostly thanks to that extra chromosome} and it is her turn for a break!

Just one regret...

The only regret I have about pulling the kids out of daycare is that we will dearly miss Ms. Nora and Ms. Lucy ... they are mother and daughter. Ms. Nora works in the infant room and took care both of my kids as infants; Ms. Lucy now works in the toddler room with Payton and she absolutely adores {with a capital A} her. These are two ladies that we truly will miss ... they are so sincere and they love my kids to death.

Today Kyle and I went together to pick the kids up from daycare one last time. Ms. Nora was there waiting for us and we cried together. She gave me her phone number and told me to call whenever I need a sitter on a weekend. We definitely will be in touch Nora and Lucy ... you have made a profound impact on our children's lives. I only hope that every caregiver that Payton {particularly} has in her life will love her as much as you have loved her the past two years.

Okay, now I'm teary eyed again.

Payton's 1st IEP

Today we had Payton's IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) meeting with the county school officials. For those of you not familiar, kids with special needs start school through the public school system the fall after they turn two years old. For Payton, that is this fall. Yikes. The IEP meeting we had today was to set goals for her and to determine the program in which she would be enrolled.

We found out that starting the first week of September, she will attend school at a local elementary school two days a week. In addition to that, her teacher will visit us at home for an additional 45 minutes. They will bus her or we can drop off and pick up. Putting my two year old baby on a bus is a very scary thing!

Daycare Schmaycare

So we are pulling the kids out of the daycare they have attended their whole lives. Things have gotten ridiculous, not so much regarding their care, but other things. They have only been attending two days a week and now they are going to get a real summer vacation. Our friend who has been watching them two days a week will now watch them four days ... I'll still have them one day a week. Payton will start school in the fall and I want to enroll Mason in a true preschool program, rather than a "daycare" preschool program. We'll see how things pan out.

Such a big girl

So in light of Payton going potty the other day, I have tried to stay more on top of it. This morning when she woke up I noticed she was completely dry still, so onto the potty she went. And she peed! We cheered {loudly} for her and she just smiled. Let's hope we will continue on this path!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008