Its been awhile!

 
I can't believe the last time I posted was over six months ago!.
Actually, I can believe it.

I swear this blog is like exercise!
I think about it all the time.
It's something I wish I did a few times each week.

However, at the end of a busy day, I am just to tired.
And another day passes without a post...or a workout!

Our days are so full, that sometimes it is easy to forget the "little" moments or the details of the "big" moments. That is one reason I enjoy posting/writing. It gives me a chance to pause and reflect on many of the amazing things that we have done, experienced or just remember the feelings I was having during a specific time.

Looking back at the last time I posted (October 3rd 2012) until now, we have had a tone of wonderful, challenging, scary, happy and meaningful moments.

All the usual: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, three birthday celebrations, Easter,  soccer season ended and basketball started (and ended) and a few fun vacations...
and the not so usual: Kamryn changed schools, 5 days in the hospital with Naomi. She went from being sick (we thought she had the flu) to getting really sick and having an emergency appendectomy! Which resulted in her being out of school and home for four weeks recovering!  A visit from my dad who came unexpectedly from Italy.  Diondray getting promoted! :) So much has happened over the last 6 months... 


I had a moment, not to long ago with Kamryn. A moment that for most people raising a 4-year old, would pass by unnoticed.  I know becasue I have already been through the "4-year old stage" with three girls and I never noticed this.
Language.
As soon as your baby begins to talk, they go from one word to two, then sentences in a matter of months.  You don't even think about the development of language and how challenging it is.  Because for most, it happens naturally, quickly and without thought.

Down syndrome can cause language delays.  This occurs on the physical level, due to low muscle tone and the development/processing level. We feel very fortunate that we have been able to provide Kamryn with speech therapy since she was about three months old. The other day her and I were in the car and I turned the radio down (for some reason I am not sure why),  from the seat behind me I hear,

"Mom, please turn up the radio, I like this song!"

Me, as a huge smile begins to surface on my face, begin to count to myself,  one, two, three...wow a 10 WORD sentence. UNPROMPTED!!!

With the huge smile (still on my face) I turn the radio up and hear Kamryn singing along to the song...

"We are never, ever, ever, getting back together" (by Taylor Swift)

Ahhhh, that moment had me smiling all day!
It makes me smile even now. 





                                          Easter 2013

Day Three - it's after midnight :(

which means it's day 4! But I am still counting this as day THREE!


Last night Jaden asked me to lay down with her.
I did.
And fell asleep.

I woke up suddenly and realized I had not blogged and it was only day 2 of the 31 for 21 campaign! I could not miss day 2! I dragged myself out of her cozy, warm bed and posted.

Tonight, after a long day at work, homework, soccer practice, dinner, getting the girls to bed, paying bills (wow, as I type this the day sounds so unexciting and uneventful)!

OK, I was just going to be short and sweet, because I am tired, but reading that last sentence about my day did not truly describe how great it was.  Yes, all the above did happen, but there were so many sweet, special, joyful moments too! I took a break from work and picked up Kamryn from school today (my mom ususally does this). She was not happy to see me at school and I was greeted with her usual stomping of the feet and chanting, "Grandma pick me up, Grandma pick me up!"  I am not sure how you are envisioning this scene, but it actually cracks me up. It makes me feel so blessed that she loves her grandma so much! The teachers almost always respond, "be nice to your mom" and after a few minutes she is fine.  I swear those teacher must think I am some big Ogre at home!  But I can't compete with grandma, and I don't try to!

I took her to McDonald's, something my mom usually does (OK, I was trying to compete:). This propelled me to the top of her likeable list and I was happy. :)

Another sweet moment, Jaden came home with 100% on her spelling test! That was awesome! Good grades always excite this mama!

I took Naomi to soccer practice and got to sit on the grass with Brynn while we did her homework.  Watching Naomi practice and sitting with Brynn. Two wonderful ways to spend the evening.

It was a usual day sprinkeld with wonderful moments.

Life is beautiful.
Sleep is too, good night! :)


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Day Two-Waiting for the bus.

 
I can remember, when I heard other mothers sharing how their children (preschoolers) rode the bus to school, I thought they were crazy!
My thoughts: None of my children have ever ridden a bus to school and neither will Kamryn!


This morning (October 2, 2012) waiting for the bus.  (Maybe I will write more about this decision later.  I am happy to share I am much less judgmental about the choices other people make for their families...lesson #152 I have learned over the last 4 years.)

                                  Field trip today with Brynn's class. We walked to the local aquarium.

It was a beautiful day. Life is beautiful.

Down Syndrome Awareness!

I can't believe it's October 1st!  This means we are heading into the holiday season and the New Year is right around the corner!  I don't want to get ahead of myself, and trust me I consciously try to live in the moment-day-by-day, but our annual Halloween party will need to be planned soon, then Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas will arrive (plus a million other great days in between) and boom, 2013. 

What forced me here tonight is something very personal.  Anyone who reads my blog is aware of my (our) story....our youngest daughter, Kamryn has Down syndrome.  After almost drowning in grief the first year of her life (do to her diagnosis), I am back to being on top of my world.  Embracing my life, soaking up the joys that exist in each day, taking the challenges in stride and just feeling incredibly blessed. And HAPPY.

It's good. It's really good. In fact, I don't want to brag, but my life is pretty amazing! One (of the many) heartaches I had during the first year was that our life was no longer normal. That we were now different from everybody else.  And this wasn't a good different. This was an uncomfortable different.

I am no longer uncomfortable with my life, and sadly, it was never my life I was uncomfortable with. I was uncomfortable with Down syndrome. 

October is Down syndrome Awareness Month. The blogging community challenges those of us to a 31 for 21 campaign.  Post everyday on your blog (31 days), to spread awareness about Trisomy 21 (the medical term for Down syndrome).  I hesitate to jump into this challenge, because as you can see by my blog I don't even post weekly!  But I sit here tonight and plan to participate. I am reminding myself, just like I remind my girls,  "Just try your best and we are proud of you!"  I will try my best to post something every day to join in the effort to spread awareness.

My life is not normal.  Read the definition and you won't want your life to be normal either..."conforming to the standard or the common type, average."


This is definitely not normal. :) I know the last thing I said when I stepped out of the car was,  "Stay in your car seat and keep your seat belt on!"

Please take a minute everyday to visit my blog and share it with someone. Down syndrome awareness, PASS IT ON!

Dreading it.

I'm dreading tomorrow.  Only a tiny bit, but at this moment the dread is all consuming.  The alarm clock will be sounding off early, five days a week for the next 10 months. With work, I have had to be up and out, but now we all have to be up and out the door and going well beyond 5'oclock.

I seemed to appreciate this summer so much more than before.  The girls are getting older and all of them are playing sports and involved with extra curricular activities.  Not only are we out the door early to get to school (and myself to work), we get home and have homework, (throw in a load of laundry), head to practices, (put a meal together), read, (fold laundry), shower and bed. 

I considered putting a hold on all sports and extra activities this year.  The days are flying by, the weeks turning into months and I now have a 6th grader, 3rd grader, 1st grader and preschooler.  My babies are no longer babies and I feel like I don't see them enough, spend enough time with them and all this other "stuff" has taken over and intervened with our time together. School is consuming enough, then add all the extras.  I am not sure why I didn't pull them out of soccer (or basketball or swimming or what ever the seasonal sport is), why I want them in music lessons, why I feel guilty if they don't get their 30 minutes of reading in each day.

But until I stop all the extras...instead of feeling overwhelmed with it, I have decided to wake up and move through the day with joy and appreciation for it.  I take turns being at each of their practices, I sit and read with them (I enjoy 30 minutes of a good book too), and I have realized that dinner can be fresh fruit and toast (and everybody is still happy).

What I really dread is missing them....

Holding onto summer....

I can't believe I'm sitting here, typing.  I have been here several times this summer, in my head. Mentally writing rough drafts while I lay in bed or walk on the treadmill.  Sometimes they were very emotional, thought out, serious subjects and other times I was just going over the day and remembering the small things that made it so great.  My last post was in June, right after the Buddy Walk. That event has become the kick off to our summer. And now we are at the end and I have no posts in between. This summer I had two projects on the to do list: Clean out the garage and play room. Neither got accomplished. But we have had tons of fun! And the girls are all very tan! 

I have wanted to write about the days at the beach (watching all my girls in the water, unafraid of the huge ocean and screaming with joy as the waves crashed into them), Brynn's love of gymnastic camp (even before the Olympics came on. Then, we got to witness Gabby Douglas win GOLD and now she wants to be an Olympian :), the triathlon all three older girls completed (Brynn taking her time across the pool, waving and smiling as we cheered), our annual summer trip to Palm Springs (where we met up with awesome friends), the weekend in Seattle (to share in the joy of my BFF finding love!),  the four weeks of life guard camp Jaden and Naomi did, Kamryn's summer school experience-which included her riding the bus for the first time! This last one was an emotional, long, thought-out decision. None of my babies have EVER ridden a bus to school. When this first took place, it was something to write about. But tonight, those emotions and feelings are gone and I just love the picture of her walking (or strutting to the bus). If I had a "really good" camera, you would see her in the window smiling and waving to me. She loved the bus, it was her mom who was not fond of the idea! :)

The days have been without routine and structure.  Today, we did not get dressed and tonight we played basket ball in the driveway until 8:45. At 9:00 they were eating dinner. (I must confess, dinner was cereal and toast.) Who cooks at 9:00 at night?

Oh summer, I am going to miss you! But we know you will be back next year!