Dennis needs a home! Click the link below to see this cutie! http://reecesrainbow.blogspot.com/2010/01/11th-hour-crisis.html

Kid updates

Noah is pretty much walking!!! He's taken 7 steps together once and often does 3 or 4 to get somewhere before plopping down. It's so cute to see him upright like a big boy!

Zeze is speaking in full sentences and takes it upon himself to correct Noah. Yesterday he said, "Noah, don't throw your food! Time out! Good boy!" He amazes us with he dexterity and cleverness and has such a great sense of humor. He is almost able to put his pants on all by himself and easily puts on his own hat, mittens and boots each day. This is something I was working on with Kai at the beginning of the winter.

As for Kai........

***The following has an extreme amount of potty talk, so skip it if you don't like to hear about poop. :) :)*****

Kai is officially potty-trained!!! Woo Hoo!!! We started the week between Christmas and New Years. He got the pee under control at the end of the first week. It took another greuling week for the poop. He refused to even try to go in the potty and would purposefully poop in his underwear every day. I finally started making him do the messy clean up including floor, undies, tub and himself. He would cry, "This is gross! My hands are going to get dirty!" and I'd say, "You're right. It is gross and I'm not doing it any more. I don't want that on my hands either." (Thanks, Heather, for the advice!) The first time it took 45 minutes of crying hysteria before he took his messy underwear off. After 3 times of self-maintenance he stopped going in his underwear! Today he jumped up from playing and said, "I have to poop!" and ran and did it in the potty like a pro! Phew! Thank you, God! I haven't prayed about poop this much since this summer when we were having the Noah Poop Wars! I guess I pray about poop a lot, but come on, when you have 3 in diapers, poop is a big and stressful part of the day! :)

That's it for kid updates!

You and I can (and did) make a difference!!!

Reece's Rainbow is an organization that specializes in the international adoption of children with Down Syndrome and other developmental disabilities. They have it set up where you can donate money to a child's fund. If someone chooses to adopt the child, then some of the adoption costs can be payed for by the donated money in that child's fund. To me, that seems like a great way to help these kiddos! In other countries, when children with Down Syndrome turn 4 years old (Noah is 2 right now and perfectly aware of mom and dad) they are sent to an institution where they are tied to their cribs and scantily fed until they die. No speech therapy, no pre-school, no hugs or bedtime stories just because they have 1 extra chromosome. It breaks my heart!!! As I've said before, we are not able to adopt right now, but we can surely put money into some of these kids funds so that when God moves the hearts of another couple to adopt, they will have some money to start with to waylay the $20,000 needed.
Here is some evidence that my money (and yours) does make a difference! Thank you to those who donated money to help these wonderful kids with their adoptions funds!


Grab This Button

A Ministry that has touched our hearts

Don't worry, we aren't planning to adopt any time soon. We aren't even 'allowed' (per an agreement between Chad and I) to talk about more kids until the twins are 2 and even then it'll have to wait b/c Chad will still be working nights! Ha! I love this ministry, though, and while we can't handle another kid right now we can help families that can! Thanks for watching this video and feel free to pass it on!

UPDATE: I can't figure out how to shrink this embedded video so you can see the whole frame. Sorry, Click this link instead if you want. http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=9b08ab7214bb71b4b33e33&skin_id=1602

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Noah took his first step tonight!!!! He did it 3 seperate times, just moving one foot forward while he stood all by himself!!!!!

Not The Same

Word to the wise (or to the exhausted parents just trying to get the dishes done and go to bed)...If you run out of Dishwasher soap, DO NOT use dish soap instead. They are not the same. Even if you think, "I'll just use a tiny amount b/c it'll probably get sudsy", DON'T DO IT! Not only will sudsy water be covering your floor in the morning, but your dishes still won't be clean! *Sigh*

Heaven or Hell?

(This is Zeze looking out our front window at all the action. He's brought his drink, his snack and a toy and put them on the window sill so that he doesn't have to miss a thing!)

They have been digging up my front yard/parking lot for the past two weeks in order to install a new septic system and leach field (or whatever it's called). There is an enormous excavator and dump truck, a medium-sized excavator, a mini excavator, sometimes a crane, a jack hammer, a couple of skid-steers, the poop truck (this is what Kai calls the septic truck) and a very large DEEP hole 20 feet from our front door. Every day I have to usher all 3 boys past all these "BIG TRACTOR, MAMA!!!" (Zeze exclaims this at least 10 times every waking minute of the day...it's like having 100 boys screaming, "BIG TRACTOR, MAMA", at me all day every day, but it's really just Zeze and Kai....I hate these big tractors!)...anyway, I have to usher the boys past all this to get Kai to school and then walk back again with the twins, then load the twins up, yet again, 2 hrs later, to go get Kai from school, only to walk past these "BIG TRACTOR, MAMA!!!" for the 4th time in three hours with 3/4ths of us still in our pajamas. While this is a huge pain in the, ah...bum, for me, these are heavenly things for boys to see ALL THE @#%@##& LIVE LONG DAY!!

It is driving me, and my mommy neighbors, CRAZY trying to get to our cars with all of our boys in tow. You can hear, "Don't go near the edge. Get off the rock pile. No, you can't take rocks with us in the car. Fine! one rock. No, that's not poop it's a tree root. Yes, you can kick it. Don't touch the excavator! Don't go near the edge! Yes, it's a big hole and it's for naughty boys who don't listen!(my neighbor said this to her boys...hahaha). Yes, it's a big tractor. Please, keep walking. Please, keep walking! Noah is dead weight in my arms and you've seriously GOT to KEEP WALKING! Leave the workers alone! You can't wait for the tractor to drop the dirt. The man is not going to move the digger while we're standing right up along side it. Keep walking! No rocks in the house. "....FOUR TIMES A DAY, PEOPLE! The only thing that would make this project more exciting for all our boys is if they were filling this monster hole with candy or puppies or something!!! As it is, rocks and dirt and cement slabs are pretty exciting, or maddening depending on who you talk to!

10 seconds

I could hear Kai and Zeze playing downstairs today and I heard the most amazing and rewarding thing! Here is their interchange...

Kai: "OWWW, ZEZE, THAT HURT ME!!!"
(I'm holding my breath at this point waiting for the hitting and screaming to start)
Zeze: "I'm sorry, Kai."
Kai: "That's OK."
followed by happy playing sounds.

1st - We've been working with Kai a lot about telling people when he doesn't like what they are doing to him instead of screeching unintelligibly. He did it!!!

2nd - Zeze apologized without ANY prompting or time-outing from me! AMAZING! And, he spoke a whole sentence SO clearly!

3rd - Kai, yet again, verbalized and said it was OK!

4th - Kai let it go and didn't carry on screaming and crying and yelling for me to come down and give Zeze a time out...which often is the other scenario to this interaction.

What transpired peacefully in 10 seconds could easily (and often does) become 1/2 an hour filled with time-outs and mean mommy voice. Thank you, God, that my boys are learning to interact like actual people and less like rabid squirrels! It was so nice to be "thanked" through a moment of manners and good behavior...all my efforts ARE sinking in!!

Dance Lessons

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A Little Fun

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October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month, so I'm including this link to let you meet a woman with DS that lives on her own and has her drivers licence! Thanks for learning with me, friends! :)

Down Syndrome Awareness!!

October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month!!! Help spread the word to end the use of "R" word (ie retarded) in everyday language. 'Retarded' is such an outdated and hurtful word that is completely inappropriate to use as an insult or just in terms of someone/something being stupid, lame, ridiculous etc. You guys can help me change the future for my sweet Noah by learning more about DS and spreading the word. Visit http://www.ndss.org/ or ask me questions...I love talking about my amazing little boy!! Thanks, friends!!!

ok, ok!!

The commenting natives are getting restless! :) (see the last 2 comments on my previous entry by clicking here)

Not much news lately. Kai was puking all morning, every half hour. He was finally able to keep a little juice down and then a cracker and then toast, etc. I asked him this evening if his belly still hurt and he told me that his hurt belly went down through his body, out through his leg and down the drain. I guess that means he's feeling better!

Fever

Dance Fever, that is!

Labor Day Weekend At Nan & Grandpa Chet's

This is a montage of the kids riding on a train for the first time. We go by this little train every time we go up to see Nan and Grandpa, but this was the first time that Kai was willing and able to ride it. Zeze and Kai were SO excited to ride this train! The rest of us were kind of along for the ride. :)

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This is Kai and Chet walking down to see the green tractor. Big excitement as Kai was willing to first sit on the tractor by himself and then take a ride with Grandpa. In May (not gluten/dairy free) he wouldn't even go near it b/c it was too scary. This time he rode around for about 20 mins!!!! Yay, Kai!!!!

Look at the smile on his face! I'm so proud of him!

CatFishing

Potty Talk

More Catch-Up Pictures

Kai's first day of Pre-School 2009! It was a much easier transition for everyone this year. Click HERE to see last year's experience!

Wolves around the kill (ie bowl of blueberries). They were shoving fistfulls of blueberries into their mouths. At the end they all had blueberry juice and seeds running down their chins and bellies. It was a feeding frenzy! :)

Zeze will climb on almost anything. He's got great balance and can stand straight up on this toy!

My silly little Zeez. He is totally into this orange hat or any hat for that matter. He wants to wear hats all the time! He is also extremely happy here b/c he has scored 3 off-limits items: Kai's toothbrush, baby Tylenol and Kai's Nuk. Zeze is in heaven!

Kai and Zeze being monkeys.

Noah doing his Peek-a-boo routine...he's such a funny little kid! Oh, he also signed "music", "water", "Stop", "No" (along with the head shake) and "yes" all for the first time this weekend! Such a smart boy, too! Even pneumonia can't slow this kid down!

pNOAHmonia

Case Study:

20 month old male presents

Father pushed to have son seen today. Parents say that the only thing identifiably wrong with him is that he slept until 10am this morning and went back to sleep right after eating breakfast. Mother said, "He seemed fine yesterday, but seems "off" today."

Parents report No fever

No vomiting/diarrhea

Eating/drinking well

Bright Alert Responsive

Coughed 2 or 3 times last week.

Sounds a little bit stuffy, but no nasal discharge and no cough presently.

Child has Trisomy 21 and a repaired AV Canal.

Physical Exam:

Axillary Temp=97.9

ENT all look normal.

Lungs sound clear.

Heart sounds normal

Slight petechia (red spots) on abdomen.

Pulse/O2 Sat = 148bpm and 99% (normal)

Doctor says child could just have a bug which would cause the discomfort and upper respiratory noise and the rash. Parents seem very concerned and anxious though nothing significant is presenting except that child seems "off" to them. Doctor suggests bloodwork and if that looks abnormal to proceed to an xray. Parents agree to bloodwork and mother requests an immediate xray. Doctor asks mother what she hopes to see/find with an xray. She doesn't know as it doesn't appear to be pneumonia, but she still requests an immediate xray.

Bloodwork: Normal

Platelets normal (Petechia can be caused by low platelets and other scary things).

WBC normal indicating no infection.

Radiographs/Xray:

Right sided Perihilar Infiltration (ie crappy fluffy looking lungs on xray...ie pneumonia).

Results:

Doctor says it's possibly viral pneumonia (as opposed to bacterial) but will start on antibiotics regardless. He says that a mother's instincts really do count for something and looks amazed that we caught pneumonia before any concrete signs presented (cough, fever, crackly lungs, etc.)

All I have to say is, "Thank you, God!!" We had NOTHING to go by except a feeling that Noah wasn't doing well and that he slept late. Kind of hard to go to the doctors with nothing to show and to basically ask for bloodwork and radiographs. When we got in the car Chad and I got the breathless shaky feeling when you realize you almost got hit by a car, but didn't. Then you get that nervous hysterical kind of laughter when there is really nothing funny going on. As some of you know, we were in the hospital 2x this past winter for pretty bad pneumonia that cropped up after merely 1 or 2 days of Noah having a simple cold or slight fever. We are so thankful to God for making Chad so in tune to Noah's behavior this morning and that he didn't pass it off as Noah just being overly tired or just coming down with something (which is what I was thinking). Chad urged me to get a doctor's appointment. Also, once I was on board I insisted on a radiograph when all my medical training, Chad and the doctor all said this was an unnecessary diagnostic due to lack of signs. If we hadn't gotten the chest radiograph we wouldn't have found the pneumonia for a couple more days. God let Chad and I be aware that something was wrong when, in any other child, nothing appeared to be wrong. If we had waited 2 days for the fever and bad cough to crop up, I am convinced that we would be facing a week-long hospital stay for pnuemonia....during a week when Chad will be starting work for 12+hrs a day. God also gave us a doctor that was sensitive and responsive to our intuitions and didn't berate us for being hypochondriachs or whatever, and God gave us an actual Radiologist to read the films a few minutes after they were developed...that has never happened for us. We always have to wait days to hear the official report while the Pede waffles with uncertainty.

So, again, we say, "Thank you, God!" instead of "God, why does Noah get so sick? Why do our lives suck so much?" That's a big change for us!

As I've said before, I've been realizing that our lives are probably not going to get easier as far as the health of our children and the ease of raising them. However, Chad and I are learning to see and understand that, instead of removing troubles from our path, God might choose to help us through them. I used to be pretty pissed at this concept, but now I am starting to take comfort in it. I'm not fully sure yet why that comforts me, b/c I still think that if God would remove our struggles things would be so much better. But I have an inkling that He's doing His crazy 'God thing' and trying to draw us closer to Him. Even that opens a whole new can of worms about suffering and God's plan, but I won't let myself go there. Right now, I am comforted and it's been a long time since I've felt that way.

Noah has pneumonia.

We caught it before anyone would ever detect it as pneumonia.

We are not (and hopefully won't be) in the hospital.

We have affected the things we could change and are not mourning the loss of the thing (pneumonia) we can't change.

That's huge for us! We are very thankful!!

First Fish

Kai and I went fishing with our neighbors 2 weeks ago at the little river behind our houses. It's a perfect spot for little kids to learn to fish b/c there are tons of small very eager fish that bite at the worms as soon as they hit the water. Kai caught 2 fish!!!! It was very rewarding fishing for the 5 little boys that were there. Kai was so excited and really loved fishing. He was so cute too; If he reeled in his line and there was still the worm on the hook, he'd shout, "Look! I caught a worm!!" Never a sad moment with that outlook, unless the fish eat the worm off the hook and there's only a hook left! It was really fun and I'm looking forward to doing it again. Here is a cell phone picture of Kai's first fish. I tried to circle it since it's pretty small and hard to pick out from the background.