My rock!

I absolutely LOVE this! I had a not so good week a few weeks back. I was told by many people that I would have my ups and downs caring for a child with Down syndrome. I had my first "down" time... and for no particular reason. I just did. I guess it comes with the territory. None of my feelings were anger or upset with the sweet child I was given, but frustration for him and the challenges he will face. I felt very alone that week. But I am so good and 100% okay now! I had to remind myself that attitude is a decision. How could I possibly be feeling so overwhelmed when my sweet little boy is so full of happy smiles that brighten everyone around him, including me?! With all that said.... I have decided to not go private after all. I have stumbled upon some amazing families through blogging. I would love to be there for someone else who was looking for some encouragement just as I was. I am so thankful for my little Justin. He is my rock!

Lock down...

Tyler has been on me since the day I started blogging to make our blog private. I never thought it was necessary. I have taken polls on facebook and talked to many people about it. There seem to be many pro's and con's.... but I have decided to go on lock down! I know there are many of you who check out my blog that I don't know about. Anyone is welcome to read about our boring life.... I just need your e-mail address to add you! It will probably be happening in the next few weeks. Thanks bunches!

Happy Birthday babe!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!

You have gone from being this cute little boy and grown to be the amazing Daddy and Husband that I love so much....

You mean the world to me and our little family! I love you more than words can express and I am so thankful and lucky to have you in my life. I hope your day is just as wonderful as you are!

Happy 10th Birthday!

6 weeks

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN!
Our baby girl is growing up. I can't believe how quickly these ten years have gone by. We would be totally lost with out this sweetheart in our family. She is an amazing daughter and absolutely wonderful to her sisters and brother. I have cherished each one of these years as her mother and look forward to the many more years of memories we have ahead of us! I love you baby girl!

Just because...

Welcome to Holland

by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience, to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. Michelangelo's David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland ?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland ?? I signed up for Italy! All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills... and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say: "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things... about Holland.

Spring Break Run Down...

Wednesday the kids got out of school early so that Spring Break could begin! We decided to start the break off right away with a trip to Jumpin' Jacks! The kids could have stayed longer than the 2 hours we were there... but us Mommies had sore booties from sitting so long!

Friday I treated these cuties to a movie. I was a little hesitant to join them, after all, it was Hannah Montana. But ladies.... take your girls! It was a great movie! They had such a great time! Thanks Alissa for letting Brynn play while we went!

Great Grandma invited us to an Easter Egg Hunt at her apartment Saturday morning. The kids were so excited! They had a fun time running after the eggs, eating cookies, winning prizes from the raffle, and visiting the Easter Bunny! Thank you Great Grandma!

Uncle Chad and his band (Travisty) had a show in Provo Saturday night. We decided our kids needed to become his "groupies!" It took all of them some getting used to with how loud it was, but they had a great time with their cousins watching their cool uncle perform!

Now Spring Break is over.... it will definitely be missed!

HAPPY EASTER!!

Proud Mommy moments....

Today is just one of those days..... I am a very proud mommy! Justin had his therapy this past Tuesday and one thing (among many others) we have been working on is getting him to grab a snack out of my hand and put it in his mouth. What would come so naturally easy to a typical child doesn't come so easy for him. What one child can do in one step, we have to teach him in ten steps over, and over again. Practice will make perfect! I was so proud of him when he finally was able to grab that little treat out of my hand! He didn't realize that it was stuck under his thumb, but at least he was able to get it! I just had to put his hand toward his mouth, and in it went! We have also been working on sign language for "more." Right now he has no idea what Mommy is doing, or why I have his hands move.... but he will get it!

These pictures are some of my recent favorites! I absolutely adore my kids with all of my heart and love how much they love each other! I think these pictures are just so sweet!

Family fun!

Who doesn't look forward to a Saturday full of fun?! Once Daddy came home from a short day of work, we decided to head out to lunch and a movie! We saw Monsters vs. Aliens. The kids loved it! Any movie that can keep Brynn's attention is awesome! (I think it would have been so much better in 3D... but Brynn wasn't about to wear the 3D glasses.) Justin watched the first 5 minutes, then decided that napping was a much better idea!

After the fun time as a family, April said she would love to spend some time alone with me. (Gotta take advantage of those days while I can!) Tyler was the cool Dad and hubby that he is, and sent us on our way! We spent 4 hours together. I am so sad that I forgot my camera. We had so much fun picking out the kids' Easter clothes together. She is a bargain shopper like me and I LOVE IT! I think her favorite part was our pit stop at the Chocolate Factory where we shared a yummy carameled apple! I love a Saturday that is full of fun!

11 months already!?

Today my sweet little man is already 11 months old. Do you realize what that means? Just one more month from now he will be the big O-N-E.... I'm not too happy about that. He is growing up much faster than I'd like. I feel very blessed to have him because of the fact that he is still a baby in many ways. I don't have to let that go as quickly as I did with my girls. He isn't crawling, cruising furniture or walking like most 11 month olds.... but he is getting so much bigger and stronger! His personality is really coming out now. He's just so much fun to have around! Random post... I know... but that's what I was feeling all day today. I love my baby!

Smile that frown away....

Oh... poor Brynn. (or not) I had to capture these pictures of her. Yesterday we were waiting in the car for the girls to get out of school. She was begging me to let her play on the school playground, but I knew the bell would be ringing within minutes. I told her that there wouldn't be enough time today. The faces of "poor me" started! I grabbed the camera to show her what she looked like when she was mopey.

Once she saw how terrible she looked, she turned that frown into a smile immediately! Hmm.... I wonder if this will work on the older girls as the attitudes begin to come out! I'll have to keep you posted on that one!

Bye-bye oxygen!

Today was Justin's 6 week follow-up from his PDA closure with his Pediatric Cardiologist. We have been anxiously awaiting this day. They were really hoping that they could get an accurate echocardiogram with him awake and moving.... and so were we! They needed to make sure the closure worked and that he was no longer leaking blood. They also needed to check his oxygen level. Lucky for us, he cooperated! He stayed amazingly still! (Smart boy.... he knew he didn't want to have to be put under again!) They did the typical height and weight measurements and he is currently in the 40th for weight and 68th for height on the Down syndrome chart! Next up was an EKG. That was new for him! He was loving all the wires hooked up to his body. Brynn thought it was pretty cool to see Justin become some what of a Transformer for a moment! Finally.... in came the Cardiologist! She took a good look at everything and listened carefully to his heart. "He sounds and looks PERFECT! You may take him off of his oxygen now. We'll only need to see him once a year or so just to keep a good look at him." Wait.... did they just say NO MORE OXYGEN AT NIGHT! WOOO HOOO! We were told he could be on oxygen up to ONE YEAR! It's only been 3 months! That is what we were hoping for! We were so thankful that his closure took and is healing beautifully. But to not have to deal with oxygen anymore is wonderful! He is quite the trooper!

Sorry about the blurry pictures.... I'm not professional! He sure was one happy boy today!

Disney on Ice!

Thanks to Alissa and her wonderful hook-up, I was able to take April and Taylee on a Mommy daughter date with my sisters and their girls to Disney on Ice! It was the 7:30 p.m. showing, so I chose to keep Brynn home with Daddy and Justin. She was in heaven with Daddy eating steak and watching movies! (I'll consider taking her when Cars or Dinosaurs are part of the show!)

I didn't think to pull out my camera until later, so we don't have any pictures of The Lion King. We were also able to enjoy scenes from Lilo and Stitch, The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan! Thanks again Alissa! We had a fun night!