Seven Years Old!

 

LIttle Miss Rachel turned SEVEN last week!  I can’t believe how fast the time has flown!  I swear it was just yesterday that we were sitting in the NICU with her, cheering her on as her weak and premature lungs strengthened enough to function properly.  What a difference a few years can make!

 

Rachel is such a giggly, fun, sweet, smiley and tender little girl.  She is so loving and thoughtful, and she tells me all the time how much she loves me and how I’m the best mom in the world.  She is an amazing reader and she loves math.

And she sure knows how to have fun!  There was only one thing she specifically wanted for her birthday: a pink sleeping bag.  When her wish was granted, I thought she was going to burst!

Some of her favorites right now: riding her bike, playing with friends, talking to mom, the color pink, cordon bleu pasta, yogurt.

We sure love our Rachel!  She seems to be the perfect balance point between our older kids and our younger kids.  She’s got a little bit of everything, and we’re so glad she is in our family!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Daniel!

 

Look who had a birthday!

 

I cannot believe this little dude is THREE YEARS OLD!! 

The birthday boy spent his morning at preschool.  Then he got to eat out,

 

 

open presents,

 

and try out his new hearing aids!!

 

Daniel is a curious and busy, busy boy.  He is on the go ALL. DAY. LONG.  (But he does take nice, long naps still.)

Here are some of his favorites right now:

Animals: rhinoceros, horse

Things to do: tease, RUN, read books, play outside

Toys: books, blocks, anything off limits

Food: bananas, crackers

Words: up, bye, drop, Grandpa/ma

We are so thankful to have this boy in our lives.  He is such a precious blessing, and every day we are learning to be a little more like him. 

We can hardly wait to see what the next year will bring!

Daniel’s Words

 

We sat down and made a list of Daniel’s words/word approximations tonight.  I was pretty surprised when we got to 28, and that’s not counting the sounds he uses to identify horse, cow, pig, dog and rhino!!

Here they are, in no particular order:

up	fish	hot	Jesus
bye	hat	duck	Josh
coat	school	help	backpack
Caleb	more	ball	Grandpa
cookie	Mom	cup	cleanup
cereal	pop	go	pants
cracker	water	cheese	stop

Of course, unless you spend as much time with him as we do, you won’t understand the difference between coat, Caleb, cookie and cracker.  They all sound like “kuh.”  But he usually puts a sign with them to help us out.  And you probably won’t be able to tell the difference between Jesus and cheese…but he knows, and uses the sign for Jesus whenever he says it.

He is very good at up, bye, hot and hat.  They’re clear enough that he doesn’t need signs to help interpret.

And I’m amazed at his use of backpack and Grandpa.  He even uses two syllables for each of them!

Daniel’s speech and language progress has had a mini explosion over the last few months.  Not only is he making more noise in general, but he’s identifying items when asked.  Tomorrow he is getting his hearing aids and starting preschool at Sound Beginnings.  I can’t wait to see what happens over the next few months!

Good-bye March, Hello April

 

There’s a saying I remember hearing a lot when I was a kid: March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  It certainly held true for us this year.  And I’m not talking weather.  March was a crazy month! 

The throw ups for Caleb.

A hospitalization for me.

A sleep-deprived Jared, who turned into the walking dead come daylight saving time.

A busy toddler.  Busy with audiology appointments and preschool and toddler group and speech therapy.  And busy the rest of the time getting into mischief!

Finding out my mom has breast cancer.

A sore-throat virus that made its way through almost everyone.

The throws of tax season.

Needless to say, March was NOT my favorite month.  We did manage to have some fun though.  We celebrated World Down syndrome Awareness Day!

 

We got a grant for Daniels’ hearing aids!  (Fun?  Maybe not fun, but happy news for sure!)

I made a wreath for spring!

 

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with corned beef and potatoes, clover rolls, rainbow fruit skewers, leprechaun punch and green bundt cake.  Oh, and our annual visit from the leprechauns (part of which was a little tricky to pull off when I realized we were out of green food coloring).

We made tamales!

 

Josh grew mold…ewwww!!

 

We went to Emily’s orchestra concert.

We got new glasses for Emily.

 

We played on the Kindle when it was too wet or too cold or we just didn’t feel like going outside.

 

And we made it to April!  Yeehaw and hallelujah!!

I’m looking forward to birthdays and flowers and tax day and sunshine.  And hopefully less of the crazy.

But if not…I guess we’ll know how to deal with it.