SNOW!

Well... we did not have snow on Christmas... but 2 days after Christmas Day is still fun! It is also my Dad's birthday (happy birthday Dad!) We were able to go outside and play today. This is the first year that Whitney has been able to walk around and play in the snow. The last couple of years she has tolerated being out in the snow for a little bit then was not too happy about being bundled up and getting wet and cold from the snow. This year she had a great time sledding down the little hill behind our house, walking in the snow and eating the snow. Anne had a GREAT time playing, making snow angels, snow balls, sledding and eating the snow. Here are some fun pictures from playing outside today:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Angel Tree 2011

Reece's Rainbow is a Down syndrome adoption ministry and they have a fundraiser called Angel Tree during the Christmas season to raise money for the adoption funds of some of the children who are available for adoption. If you make a donation of $35 or more to one of the children featured in the Angel Tree fundraiser you will receive an ornament with that child's picture to have as a reminder of the angel you helped to find a family of their own. We can't wait to receive our ornament with Emily's picture.

http://reecesrainbow.org/25299/emily-15h

http://static.reecesrainbow.org/angeltreekids/

happy heart day Whitney!!!

We are still alive! I have been terrible about uploading pictures for the past couple of months and our computer has been running very slowly and I just haven't wanted to deal with it - so I apologize for the complete lack of updates. Anne and Whitney are both doing very well and are healthy!

We are celebrating Whitney's 3rd heart day today - this is like a birthday for us because without her miraculous open-heart surgery on December 1, 2008 we truly believe we would not have Whitney with us today! If you saw her 3 years ago today you would never believe she would be as healthy and full of life as she is today! We are so lucky!!!

She’s perfected her technique

Whenever I put Whitney in her chair at the kitchen table and forget to buckle her she has taken the opportunity to climb over the side and get down all on her own.  At first it wasn’t pretty and luckily I have been at the table and able to stop her or help her down.  She has used this method (going over the side of her chair) to work on getting down by herself and has perfected her technique.  She did it this morning and I was able to capture it on video… it is funny to see her just hanging there from the side of the chair.  At first she would hang until I came to get her down… now she waits a little bit and then drops to the ground all on her own  

first day of school

today was the first day of preschool for anne and whitney. this is anne's last year of preschool - it truly seems like each day is going by more quickly than the one before and i know she will be having her first day of kindergarten in just the blink of an eye. whitney is in her second year of preschool. she made the cut-off for the 2 year old class last year by 6 days. she was by far the youngest and on top of it did not even walk until february... this year is a different story. we are so excited to have her in class with the same teacher again this year! she went just one day a week last year from 9-11:30 a.m. and this year will be going 2 days a week. both girls had a great first day! the director even found me in the hallway and said what a difference the summer had made for whitney. she knew just what to do, was listening and following directions. we are also working on potty training, so keep your fingers crossed that she will continue to do well and that i will have the courage to make the gigantic leap to underwear soon. i learned about the foxx-azrin toilet training method at the July parent meeting sponsored by Down syndrome Indiana. we had already been working with whitney on going on the toilet and trying to get her to recognize when she needed to go to the bathroom. we have been saying "go toilet" and she now says "go toilet" and signs "toilet" at the same time. this has been a "slowly but surely" type of training so far... but after learning about the Foxx-Azrin method I think to put us over the edge and make the leap to underwear we are going to need to dedicate 2-3 days of staying home and wearing underwear and trying to get whitney to drink drink drink! hopefully soon.... yeah and agh! at the same time!

here are a few pics of the girls from just before school this morning:

Sassypants

In the words of Whitney's pre-school teacher - Whitney is a "sassypants" and this is her latest "sassypants look":

Monsters of Rock circa 1989

Tommy used to work on the docks, union men on strike he's down on his luck it's tough, so tough...livin' on a prayer…

 

Ricky was a young boy, he had a heart of stone... now it's eighteen and life you got it, eighteen and life to go...

He's the one you call Dr. Feel Good he's the one who makes you feel alright, he's the one you call Dr. Feel Good... he's going to be your Frankenstein...

Pour some sugar on me...in the name of love

Take me down to the Paradise City where the grass is green and the girls are pretty... oh won't you please take me home...

I’m on my way, I’m on my way,  Home Sweet Home… Tonight Tonight… I’m on my way just set me free Home Sweet Home…

Win Big – Mama’s fallen angel, Lose Big livin’ out her lies, Wants it all, Mama’s fallen angel,  Lose it all, Rollin’ the dice of her life…

My heart, my heart – Kick start my heart…

Sweet Child O’ Mine, Sweet love of mine, She’s got eyes of the bluest skies, as if they thought of rain…

found it!

I finally found the cord to connect my camera to the computer... here are a few recent pictures... we are still keeping busy "trying" to unpack in our new home, having therapy for whitney 7 times/week (6 through the early intervention program and 1 hippotherapy - horse therapy-), trying to get to the pool and enjoy summer and just living this crazy thing called "LIFE" :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July holiday and that the summer is treating you well! I LOVE LOVE LOVE summer - July is just about as good as summer gets!

Anne's 2nd jump ever from the high-dive!!!

funny blog/embarrasing dad

If you get a chance, check out this article that Mike sent to me and to my parents/siblings this morning... this is something that would have been up my Dad's alley (thank goodness he did not think of this!) This Dad waved to his sophomore-in-high school son every morning dressed in costume this past school year. Here is the article:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705373877/Teens-dad-spends-school-year-waving-at-bus-embarrassing-son.html?pg=2

here is a link to their blog if you want to check out some of the costumes:

http://waveatthebus.blogspot.com/

here is a picture of the Dad in costume on the second-to-last day of school...

still here...

Hi~ we are still alive. We moved to a new house about 8-10 minutes from our old house at the end of April and were without internet access for about 2 weeks. While living in the new house we have changed out almost all of the flooring so we have still not actually "moved" in. We have movers coming next week to help us with the big furniture and to move things from storage units. Hopefully someday we will be a little more settled. In the move I have misplaced the cord that connects my camera to my computer so I kept thinking I would post when I located it and could also post some pictures. Whitney and Anne are both doing very well and seem to love the new house. Whitney's evaluation to transition from First Steps (early intervention) to the school system was last week. She went on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 9-11:30a.m. and she loved it. She did not skip a beat when I dropped her off and we received the evaluation report already. Her IEP (individualized educational plan) meeting to set goals for the coming school year will be Monday, June 13. Hopefully all will go well at this meeting :)

Hope everyone is doing well in "blogland"!!!

Happy Easter

The face of a troublemaker

Hi, I'm Whitney. This is my teddy bear. Don't I look so sweet and innocent?

Look at this face - do I look like someone who would cause trouble or be naughty?

Yeah, actually I do - don't I???

Just wondering if anyone else has kids whose sole mission in life seems to be to "seek and destroy"???!!!

Flashcards

An important phone call

Denied a Family

Please read this http://pudgeandzippy.blogspot.com/2011/03/if-your-heart-hasnt-broken-for-this-boy.html about a little boy from Russia whose adoptive family was told by a judge in the region he is from that they could not adopt him - that his adoption was denied. because he has Down syndrome. Please pray that their appeal will go through and they will be able to adopt him and that other children with Down syndrome will not be denied a family who wants to adopt them merely because they have 47 chromosomes instead of 46.

Bathtime Fun

I have been terrible again about posting to our blog – things have been crazy! I have tons of blog posts in my mind and never seem to sit down to write them… we have been working hard to get our house on the market.  We listed it on March 16th, the sign went in the yard March 17th and on March 19th we received our first offer.  We countered back and forth and had an accepted purchase agreement by March 22nd.  The people who bought our house would like to close by the end of April – so we have 32 days from today until closing – yikes!!!

 

Meanwhile… we have a jacuzzi tub in our master bathroom that we NEVER take the time to use… we thought it would be fun to give the girls a bubble bath in the tub before we move.  Here are some fun pictures from what Anne said at least 20 times was “the best bath ever!!!”

 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend