Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Water park fun!

Ring Ring
Me: Hello?
Kristi: What are you doing tomorrow?  I want to do something fun with the family!
Me: Ummmmmm... 
K: We could do a park beach or something...anything...need to do something fun!
Me: Ummmmmmm..... Natalie doesn't sweat so it has to be indoors or involve water. and I am pregnant and too lazy and uncomfortable to play outside in the heat.
K: There is a water park near us that would fit all the kids ages.  LETS DO IT!!!
M: OK...I mean, how could you not jump on board that kind of enthusiasm for giving your kids a fun day and great memories?

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 Trying to climb over the wall of chairs to get to the water since the rest of us were just not going fast enough for her.

Mind you, we have NEVER been able to do this sort of thing with Natalie as she doesn't usually do well in this sort of situation. She used to fight us to go where she wanted then would melt down when we wouldn't let her run into the road over and over for fun.  Once we lost her to a meltdown we may as well pack up and leave because she wasn't coming all the way back from it.  If you have been at parties with us then you really, truly know what I mean. We have left birthday parties, get togethers, parks, the aquarium and trick or treating due to this reaction in the past.  

I hesitantly agreed to go thinking "well this should be a fun $24 wasted on 3 seconds of fun".  I know, such a positive influence for my family aren't I?  To our SHOCK Natalie LOVED it.  This is the type of thing that Cliff and I had long ago written off as something that we just wouldn't be able to do with her and we were ok with it.  Kristi was so darn excited to do something and I was just happy she suggested something that involved water and no walking don't judge me, I am pretty sure I am carrying a 90lb baby in there that I figured "what the heck, maybe.....just maybe the new and improved Natalie will blow my mind.

....and that she did.  Welcome to our new normal.  You will recognize it because it looks like EVERYONE'S normal!  WOOT!  

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Don't you love how Kristi and Greyson are making the exact same face?  LOVE IT!

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We should all have this much fun playing in water. Just look at that face!

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He LOVES when I take his picture. 


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Alyssa LOVED this place.  She tried everything there and wanted to go down the big water slides.  Cliff took her up with the intention of riding down with her but they wouldn't allow it.  Poor mini, gonna be a few bazillion years until she is tall enough to go alone....that's my gift to her.  ;)

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I am overjoyed to announce that the whole experience was a huge success!  We were there for almost 2 hours and only had to leave because it was lunchtime.  We all had a blast, made awesome memories and will definitely be trying many new things like this.  Any ideas?

Friday, July 8, 2011

June, in a nutshell...Part 2: THE BEACH!

YAY for June!!!  June for us means going to the beach with Cliff's family.  We all stay in this huge house right on the beach...as in, I walk 10 steps and I am lounging on the beach like a whale.  WOOT!  

This year was a bit more stress than usual as we began to go gluten free for Natalie...while ON VACATION. (see previous post)  Her bowels weren't quite back to normal yet so that made for a few fun times.  We were stressed about her looking so sickly, and we got there a day late which threw off our vacation chi.  breath  

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Once we were there and settled though we kind of fell into a rhythm of island life.  aaaaah deep breath.  We spent WAY more time indoors than we had planned but we still managed to have a great time. Just having Cliff around all day is a vacation in and of itself no matter where we are. It is always so awesome to be able to spend the whole week with his family without the craziness of the holidays.  Just beach time, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, good food, giggles, hugs and fun.  

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It only took 5 years but Natalie finally crawled up into her Uncle Darren's lap for a cuddle.

The beach was an adventure all by itself this year.  I had pictured long days in the sun with lots of swimming and sand castle making.  The reality was that Alyssa was terrified of the crashing waves since she ran out there like a sprung monkey and fell into the waves without her floaties on and FREAKED.  She wouldn't even try until the last day (of course right?)   

We did enjoy some nice walks together and she was happy swimming if I carried her past the crashing part of the wavesShe also had a blast digging deep holes with Ma-maNatalie seemed to enjoy it all but was still really lethargic and due to being SO SKINNY she would get cold really easily but have a tough time warming back up.  We got her out there a few times though to get her beach on.  haha


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Shell hunting anyone?  Why yes, I think I will...


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The boys first time at the beach

I love the beach because I LOVE watching all of the cousins together.  Growing up all I had was cousins.  The closest ones, the ones I saw all the time that are closest to my age, are the ones I consider the nearest thing to siblings I have.  Cousins are a big deal in my world.  When Natalie was born my thoughts went to "will her cousins treat her well, will they get her, will they understand how to play with her, will they do all of these things because they are told to or will they REALLY get it?"  I worried about it, I know she will run into people who don't treat her like a person with real thoughts and feelings in the world....but will she fall behind with her cousins and get left out?  I worried, not obsessively but it was always there in my thoughts....waiting for her to get to the age where I would know.  Oh how my niece and nephew have made me smile.  It literally brings me to the brink of tears to see them cuddle with her and make her giggle..on her level.  Sigh of relief...they get it.  They instinctively get that she won't play their games the same way that they do BUT that they can find her way and play and enjoy her just the same.  

I have mentioned before that Allen holds this special little corner of her heart and always has.  There is just something about him that she has always felt drawn to.  She would hug and hug him.  Seriously, my kid....would. not. let. go. haha  

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Sara is younger and took a little longer to understand how to play with her.  This year Allen as usual was the front runner, the one none of us can compete with. (which I LOVE) but Sara was right behind him as a close second.  Lots of cuddles and playing happening this year.  Alyssa on the other hand thinks that Sara hung the moon.  Big girl? Big girl toys? Playing at a big girls speed?  WOOOT!  Where ever Sara was we knew Alyssa would be close behind. 

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Scroll down for the infamous birthday blog post to Alyssa.  I won't go through all of that again but I couldn't leave her party off of this post since she got to celebrate at the beach!  Diva style right?  She picked out her theme this year.  Toy story...are you shocked? hahaha If you know us at all you know that we watch that movie roughly 7 times a week...would be about 3 million but I have to curb it a bit for our sanity. We had cupcakes, presents and FUN!  She is so into birthdays this year that she was beside herself with excitement over being the one the party was for.

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She had soooo much fun opening all of her gifts!  She totally cracks me up.  Her new thing is to do "stink eye" on command.  (thank you honey....your boy is in the making...please step away from the girls haha) I will leave you with a good stink eye today.  Have a great weekend!
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Thursday, July 7, 2011

June, in a nutshell...Part 1

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since the end of May!  June went by in a whirlwind of doctor visits, vacations/birthdays and play dates so lets just start at the first event.

Natalie:
June has been a VERY eventful month for my big girl. For the last month or so of school Natalie had started to act differently.  She grew very pale with dark circles under her eyes.  Her teachers would tell me that she was laying on the floor during playtime and not really communicating anymore.  We were seeing the same at home.  She also went from skinny, I just had a growth spurt, to SKINNY.....scary skinny.  I took her for bloodwork and it came back that she has hypothyroidism.  This is not a huge shock as many people with Down syndrome have issues with their thyroid.  Huge sigh of relief from us to finally know what was going on.  I started researching it and realized that all of the symptoms we were seeing did not correlate with her thyroid.  Double sigh!  So I started really looking into the symptoms we were seeing and everything kind of pointed back to Celiac disease.  I took her back into the peds office and he ran a ton more blood work.  While waiting for it all to come back we decided that going gluten free wouldn't do any harm but could help so we went ahead and started the diet.  At this point she looked gaunt, bones sticking out, pale skin, dark circles, pale stool, and a VERY distended belly.  We were supposed to be going to the beach but almost didn't due to how bad she seemed to be.  We delayed a day and went armed with gluten free foods and a laptop to crash learn what we were doing.  haha  About day 3 on the diet and she started to perk up.  Her cheeks got some color back and she seemed to get a bit of personality back. Here are a couple of before and after pics which show the drastic change because it just isn't an event without photo proof. :)

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The first one is the one of her from school on almost the last day and the second from the 3rd of July.

I have been AMAZED, as in jaw dropping amazed, at the difference in her in just the last 3 weeks.  Her color is awesome, most symptoms are completely gone and...AND she is talking a ton!  4-5 word unprompted sentences, hardly any processing time and her sense of humor is back.  BEST EVER!!!!!  Oh how I missed her sweetness.  I feel like she was gone on a long trip and just got home.  I missed her mischievous ways...well, kinda.... and her ability to cheer me up with her giggles.  Welcome back my sweet Natalie, Mommy is so sorry it took so long to figure out where you were. 

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Alyssa:
My "baby" turned 3 on June 19th!! (or like she told us a million times, "June nineteemph") 

Dear Alyssa,
I can't believe that it has been 3 years since I first looked into those deep souled eyes of yours.  I feel like this was just yesterday in so many ways.

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You have always been my inquisitive child.  You have an innate ability to understand people and gauge their feelings and reactions as if you are much older than you are. You are sensitive and wear your emotions on your sleeve. You turned three this year and I am so amazed and in awe of the little person you are becoming.  You love your baby dolls and stuffed animals and care for them as if they can truly feel what you want them to.  You are incredibly smart and amaze me everyday with random things that you have picked up in your short life.  You have tried new things this year, gone outside of your comfort zone only to pop out the other side stronger, wiser and more prepared to take on the next challenge we throw at you.  Your independence has taken on a life of it's own in the few weeks since your birthday and I have a love/hate relationship with that. hahaha I LOVE that you are a firecracker and stand up for what you want without conviction.  At the exact same time I am not loving those exact qualities as we try and get through our day.  

Now that you are three we wanted to give you something that would make you feel like a big girl.  This year you got your first bike for your birthday. You call it your Tangled bike because you think the girl with the blonde hair on it is Rapunzel from the movie Tangled...who am I to crush you and tell you it is Barbie.  tee hee

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Disclaimer: No five year olds were injured in the making of this photo.  ;)

This year you turned 3 and you are becoming such a little goofball.  Your personality is silly, dramatic, caring, sensitive, outgoing, nurturing, observant and adventurous. You can carry on a conversation with just about anyone...when you feel like it. The things that come out of your mouth have made me both laugh and cry by your depth. 


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This year you will become a big sister. You will have that forever special place in our family of being a big and a little sister. This both scares and excites me.  I fear you will think I have replaced you as "the baby".  I am scared that you will think that just because I cannot carry you or pick you up at any given time that I don't love you as much as the little boy I am going to holding.  I have done this before and yet my worst fear is still the fear that things will never be the same with our relationship.  I know that this is not the case as your sister and I still have a wonderful bond even after you came along....but I still fear that you will be hurt by our newest and you will lose your spark for a bit until you find your ground. 

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This year you turned 3 and your daddy and I are so proud of you! We can't wait to watch you tackle the world as you move towards 4.  

Take it all in little mini, breath in the yumminess that is being 3.... but don't forget to come back for a squeeze once in awhile. We love you to the moon and back.
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