Life As We Know It

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Summer Days!

I know, I know. It's not summer. In fact, it's not even spring yet. But I'm so excited now that the days are getting longer and the weather is warming up! For us Floridians, that means temperatures in the 80s, pool season is officially back under way, and evening walks as a family. Last year we missed out on a lot of swim season, since Kennedy's surgery fell in July and she couldn't swim for at least 6 weeks. I truly love summer time, even if it also means hurricanes and humidity. This summer will also bring the birth of our son!

Today we spent a few hours at Busch Gardens, though Kennedy was less than thrilled with the amount of big kids in the splash park. Apparently during spring break, is NOT the time to go to Busch Gardens. We made up for it by coming home and filling Kennedy's pool in the drive way. She was more than pleased with it. 200 photos later, here's just a few of my smiling girl. Seriously, this girl melts my heart more and more every day. Her giggles and smiles only get sweeter.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Turning Toddler

That's it. Kennedy is officially turning into a toddler. Minus the toddling part. The things she's doing are insane. For example, attempting to climb out of the grocery cart and her high chair, all in the same week. She's more and more mobile by the day, though she does not like to be on her knees. She's perfectly content scooting or rolling. And when I say scooting, I mean she either scoots on her belly or on her butt. The girl can make it across the room in no time, on her butt. My house is quickly becoming baby proofed, and Hurricane Kennedy can tear apart her toy room in no time. Including her alphabet puzzle mat.

This is not something we're used to around here. So as my good friend pointed out today, we can officially celebrate the "I can't take my kid to a restaurant without her touching everything" and the "My kid is a menace in the grocery store" milestones. After all, don't ALL kids do these things?

In addition to all these new milestones that keep mommy and daddy on their toes (and completely exhausted), Kennedy has really started to pick up a lot of other things, like pointing. She's playing with more and more with purpose and has really mastered the "point" of many of them. We're always reading books, and the other day I asked her "where's the dog?" on each page of her book. This smart little cookie pointed to the dog on every single page! I could not have been more proud. The moment actually brought tears to my eyes. There's always a reason to celebrate anytime she hits a new milestone, but the cognitive milestones are definitely my favorite! It's really amazing to know that she understands us, even if she's not speaking more than mama, dada and lots of babble. And not 30 minutes later, she was standing at the ottoman playing with her blocks. She dropped one. With one hand, she held on to the ottoman, bent over, and picked up the block with the other hand. I sat there, holding my breath, waiting for her to topple over. She's done this before. Usually when I'm holding onto her, and she can bring herself back up. But anytime she's attempted it, with out my assistance, she falls over. To my surprise, she stood back up and resumed playing!!!! Seriously, I was one proud mama on Thursday.

I promise, next week I will have some really wonderful photos to share. I'm determined to be better about pulling out my camera again. In the meantime, you're stuck with random iPhone photos from the past few days.

Hey mom! What's going on?

Seriously, this smile melts my heart more every day.

Yes, I'm wearing bunny ears. I'm cute and I know it.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Spread The Word To End The Word

Today is Spread The Word To End Te Word Day. A day specifically meant to raise awareness to the fact that the "r-word" is not appropriate and to end it's use. It's no secret how I feel about the word and lately I've seen it pop up more and more on Facebook. I've even confronted a few people about how hurtful it is. Sometimes people truly don't realize and are apologetic, and other times, people just don't care, which is sad. I've deleted a few *friends* recently, after I suggested that their use of the word "retard" or "retarded" was inappropriate as well as hurtful, just to be bashed and called oversensitive. In my opinion, real friends don't use the r-word.

Many medical professionals still use this term, however I have started to see a transition to more appropriate terms, such as intellectual delays or disabilities. I think that's a step in the right direction. If the medical community can eliminate it, maybe there's hope that it will become used less overall.

I ask you to visit Spread The Word To End The Word and sign the pledge to eliminate the use of the word from every day speech and to promote the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. I also ask that you please share this with your friends and family.

Think of this face the next time you think about using the word or you see someone else use it. Please make a difference and do your part to eliminate this awful word from society.

In case you need more reasons not to use it. Take a look at this video.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Look How Far We've Come

Kennedy turning one a few weeks ago was pretty surreal. It was hard to believe that we had endured so much in her first year. This morning I was talking to some moms at my local Down syndrome playgroup. One of the mom's is just starting on this journey, and on the way home it really hit me just have far we've come in a year. It doesn't seem possible that Kennedy was ever that small, and it's amazing when I look back at how far I've come as a person and how much Kennedy has taught me over the past year.

Seeing such a tiny baby also brought about the reality of having another little one in the house in a few months! Of course, it all feels real, especially now that he's actively kicking and flipping around in there. I keep imagining Kennedy with her little brother, and I am so excited to see her in action. I know she's going to be a wonderful big sister! Speaking of the little guy, we have decided that his name will be Caleb Alexander! And since I've been such a slacking blogger lately, I don't think I've mentioned that we did get the MaterniT21 test results back, and they were negative. It's weird to say that I was relieved, but that's the best way to describe it. It was a relief to know that we would not have to switch prenatal care, and that the increased risk of things like cardiac defects is reduced.

Blogging isn't the only thing I've been slacking on lately, I've been pretty bad about taking pictures as well! But here's one of the little cutie watching Baby Signing Times and having a snack. It was also mommy's sneaky way of throwing in some therapy time. I mean, standing at the ottoman watching TV and eating goldfish is perfectly reasonable therapy.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Catch Up Post

I've been really slacking on the blog for the past week. It's not that I have nothing to say, but finding the time has definitely been hard! Between getaways, therapy, and life in general and being 18 weeks pregnant (yes - I said 18 - when did THAT happen?) it's been a nearly impossibility to find the time to get something written. I promise, I'll resume normal blogging this weekend. In the meantime, here's a major photo bomb to hold you over. The past week has included two trips to Orlando, two days at Sea World, two hotels, dinners out, a second birthday party, swimming amongst many other things. (Do you see why I've had no time or energy for blogging?) Anyway, here is all the cuteness from miss Kennedy!

I can't wait to see Shamu!