Updates and More Updates!

I'm a bad bad blogger.  March 6 was Spread the Word to End the Word Awareness Day.  For those of you who have been following my blog, know how strongly I feel about the r-word.  Yet, I didn't manage to find time to blog about it.  I did manage to flood Facebook with facts, photos and articles about why it's so inappropriate to use it.  I fought a few arguments as well.  Arguments I shouldn't have to have, about why I find it so offensive.  And why the word should be eliminated, even when used "appropriately" and replaced with terms like intellectual disability.  On the plus side, I'm happy to say that I haven't seen the r-word pop up on my Facebook newsfeed in a long time, so I consider that a step in the right direction.  Or everyone that uses it got annoyed with me and hid or deleted me.

In other news, we've been busy since the little miss celebrated her birthday.  Her 2 year well visit went wonderful!  She weighed in at 23lb 4oz and 32 inches, and although I typically dread the "developmental assessment" I found that this time wasn't so bad.  I recognize that she has delays and apparently I've had a pretty realistic depiction of where she is because I didn't leave with an overwhelming feeling of how many things we should be working on.  I adore our new pediatrician, who spent an unreal amount of time discussing things like nutrition and vaccines.

Unfortunately, a mere 12 hours after her "well visit" Kennedy got sick.  Our first stomach bug.  Which quickly made it's way through the house, and half the family.  The stupid germs plagued her off and on for an entire week.  Mommy and daddy learned that we can no longer call in the Grandmothers for backup, because they BOTH got incredibly sick.  We spent a lot of time reading and watching TV.  And keeping Kennedy from smothering Caleb with slobbery kisses.  Good times.  (Insert sarcastic eye roll here.)

Apparently turning two meant big things for Kennedy.  I think we're finally beginning to see the shift from her focus on physical development to her communication skills.  Don't get me wrong, Kennedy has never had trouble getting her point across.  But her signing and speaking has definitely not been one of her strengths.  However, in the past week she has picked up two new words and two new signs. She will run up to you with an iPhone, asking for music.  She will ask to be put down.  And although she's very capable of walking, she more often than not, asks to be picked up.  Because apparently mommy needs the work out of carrying a combined 46+ pounds of kid.  Her receptive language has continued to grow by leaps and bounds.  We started working with a new speech therapist who I really like.  Kennedy is not thrilled with her, but only because she makes her work.

And last but not least, Kennedy got to do something VERY exciting today.  She was able to meet Lauren Potter, from Glee!  Okay, so Kennedy didn't really understand the significance of it.  And I had a horrible time getting her to sit still for a photo with her.  Kennedy just wanted to run around, and she was over tired as a result of the time change.  But I was incredibly excited about the opportunity.  She was incredibly sweet!  And Kennedy loved her iPhone.  I'm pretty sure she was going to try to steal it.  Unfortunately, my husband was juggling Caleb, and I was trying to snap photos.  We were ALL trying to get Kennedy to cooperate, with out much success.  But at least there is a photo of Kennedy with her, right?  And we got her autograph.

Speaking of photos, here are a few of the latest, in random order.  And a few videos of Kennedy's impressive dance skills.  I would promise another blog update soon, but we're headed back to the sunshine state for some warm weather, beach time, friends, family and MICKEY MOUSE!!!  So, as usual, the updates may be sparse, but I should have some great photos coming up!

Watching Signing Times with brother! So incredibly sweet. 

Don't bother me mom, I'm reading.

I'm going to kiss you brother!!!!

Watch, this is how you throw a ball.

And this is how you play the piano.

MOM! Why won't he chase me???

Come on Caleb! Chase me!

Let me show you how this works Caleb.

Just brushing my teeth.

Uh, excuse me, I don't care if mom wants a picture, I want to run away!

No, I'm not going to look at the camera and smile.

I sure do love this horse, even if it doesn't go anywhere.

Giving daddy kisses. Poor sick baby. 

Daddy, I'll read you a bedtime story.

Hey people! 

I love this thing!

Mom fail. I dressed them both in gray stripes. And 5,000 people asked if they were twins.

My little princess doing her princess dance!

Dance Queen.  She'll get every musical toy going just to dance.

Kennedy's First Christmas!

I think it's safe to say that Kennedy's first Christmas was wonderful!  Unfortunately, around the time Santa finished dropping off presents, Kennedy also came down with the sniffles.  Christmas Eve was the first night of less than adequate sleep for us.  But, despite her cold, she made the most of Christmas day and had a lot of fun tearing into all the wrapping paper.  However, about 10 presents in, she lost interest in the paper and really just cared about the toys.  Needless to say, mommy and daddy ended up opening quite a few gifts.  I think it's also safe to say, Kennedy is a little spoiled (just in case you hadn't figured this out yet.)  Since she wasn't feeling great, we decided to forgo the Christmas dress and just let her hang out in her pajamas all day.  

I won't put off what you're all waiting for.  Here are some photos from our day.

Santa ate almost all the cookies Kennedy left, as well as most of the milk and coffee.  In exchange, he left a novel and a house full of presents.

This should happen to me EVERY day!!

Kennedy's first instinct while unloading her stocking, was to chew on the tags.

I love this bear mommy!

Am I supposed to eat this mom?

Opening the first gift of many.  There was a lot of paper eating going on in our house yesterday.

I know this is almost as big as me, but I can handle it mom!

I'll eat my way through this paper.

Look Mom!  I got more clothes!

Daddy took lessons in opening from Kennedy.

Hey mom, how come you don't make me bows like this?

I'm pretty sure I could have bought 700 slinkies and she would have been just as happy!

I'm over paper mom, let's play with the toys.

Does this mean I get my own iPhone now?

I love Christmas mommy!

Daddy surprised Kennedy with a special engraved jewelry box.

Mom this one is really big!

Someone bring on dinner. I'm sleepy.

We ended the night watching the Disney parade as a family.  It was a great end to the day, and probably the most TV that Kennedy has watched in her whole life.

Okay, okay.  So I thought that the parade was the end of our day.  But Kennedy had other ideas.  Despite not feeling well, she found the energy to stay up until almost 10pm playing with her new toys.

It was a great day, full of memories and new traditions.  I wish Kennedy had felt better.  She definitely had a good Christmas and lots of fun, but didn't have as many smiles as usual.  I can't help but think about how every Christmas will continue to get better and better as we add traditions and Kennedy grows up.  It's hard to believe that next Christmas we'll have TWO babies.  I think I'm going to have to figure out something different for Santa.  I'm not sure that he'll have room to leave gifts for two kids, in our family room. 

I'm crossing my fingers for a better nights sleep - last night was definitely one of the worst.  Hopefully Kennedy will wake up feeling much better...especially since we have Early Intervention AND a cardiology follow up tomorrow. 

Baby Snuggles and Kisses

So, I failed at blogging every day this week.  But I have a good excuse, kind of.  Kennedy's been sick, again.  I'm starting to think that our Early Interventionist is bringing us germs now that she works in a school three days a week.  The good news is that we got through our first fever and she seems to be feeling better today.  I have to admit, I did love the snuggles yesterday.  Everyone warned me to enjoy the snuggle time when she was a baby, and they were right.  It sure does come to a screeching halt.  Now most of the time she's climbing on me, grabbing my hair, pinching me, or clawing at my face and neck.  I even have marks to prove it.  But the last 24 hours have been lots and lots of snuggle time.  I have to admit, I really have missed the snuggles, and I don't mind putting the housework aside to cuddle my little princess.

The topic of baby snuggles brings me to another one of my favorites.  Baby kisses.  This has replaced snuggles as Kennedy's new favorite thing to do.  She grabs your neck and face (sorry to anyone she's scratched) and comes at you with a big, wet, slobbery, open mouth.  It's so completely adorable - even if it does leave you with claw marks. 

It's seriously hard to believe that in 2 weeks I'm going to have a NINE month old.  When did this happen?  It seems like yesterday I was pregnant.  And it seems like I was just trying to figure out how to take care of a "special needs" baby.  I have to admit, I had no idea it would be so easy and that for the most part, life is just like I expected it would be.  Now I find myself giving out my phone number and email address to talk to new moms going through a life changing diagnosis or facing open heart surgery with their baby.  It's amazing how quickly things change. 

I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.  But that's a very long post that I'll save for another day.

31 For 21: Appointment Day

Poor Kennedy had to put up with all sorts of appointments today.  First up was Cardiology.  Kennedy has a routine on Cardiology days.  She wakes up to party in the middle of the night, so that mom oversleeps.  She followed through as always.  Despite waking up late, we arrived promptly for our appointment.  And we waited.

I'll just sit here and play while you fill out those papers.

Then we got weighed - just under 16 pounds.  We measured in at just over 25 1/2 inches.  She skipped her tradition of peeing on the scale.  Then it was time for the EKG.

Hey miss Deb, let me help you with those wires.

Then it was time to wait for the echo.  We waited, and waited and waited.  Luckily, Kennedy was pretty content.  Her piggys were the hit of the office and everyone came in to see us her.  We played with Sophie and Flutterby and we even had a snack. 

Mom!!! Stop taking pictures of me.  I'm NAKED!

Nom nom nom....I love my Mum Mums. 

Finally - we had our echo.  Kennedy hates this part, and didn't make it a pleasant experience for the tech.  Fortunately, she loves Kennedy, and was happy to see her squirming and moving around the table.  Then we waited some more.  And we played with our ball.  Seriously, I have no idea how I got so lucky to have such an awesome kid.  This was more than 2 hours after we got to the doctor.  She was handling the wait better than I was.

I can't believe you only brought two Mum Mums. I guess I have to eat my ball.

Here mom, want a bite?  I'm okay with sharing.

Go long mom!  Hurry!  I'm gonna throw it out in the lobby!  Catch!

How come we don't come here to play more often?

All in all, it was a great cardiology appointment.  The doctor said that her repair could not look more perfect.  There's no leakage around the patches or the valves.  There was a slight increase in the pressures on the right, that we need to check again in 3 months.  He said it's not uncommon in kids with Down syndrome, and he really thinks it's an isolated incident.  However, it can be an indicator of sleep apnea, so we'll have to investigate further if it increases.  Soooo....we go back in 3 months, instead of a year. 

We also had Early Intervention today.  I'm pleased to say that it went amazingly well.  There were some tears in the beginning, but she spent much of the time full of smiles and showing off her accomplishments.  In an attempt to get Kennedy to like Amanda even more, EI will take place at the park next week. 

And to end our day on a negative note, Kennedy is officially sick for the first time.  I feel absolutely horrible.  We have worked so hard to keep her healthy, but we failed on this one.  Of course the mommy guilt is kicking in.  I've found 100 things I should or shouldn't have done.  I'm just praying that this is nothing more than a common cold and she gets through it quickly.  

I did manage to snap a few pictures earlier, before she started feeling yucky.