Growing So Fast!

Hi Everyone!

Lily was three weeks old yesterday! Wow! Where did that time go? She is doing so fantastic. At her doctor's appointment on Tuesday, the doctor was thrilled with how she is doing. When Lily was born she weighed 8lbs 2ozs. When we left the hospital she was 7lbs. 6ozs. At her very first doctor's appointment she weighed 7lbs. 14ozs. On Tuesday she was 9 pounds 4 ounces! She's always eating...which is a good thing. Yes, I nurse her. I nursed Isabella until she was 18 months old and donated breast milk the entire time. I weaned her at 18 months because Chris and I wanted to have another baby and we knew it would be a little harder to conceive if she was still nursing. So Isabella and I went to visit my friend Nikki when she still lived in Kentucky. A vacation, in my opinion, is the best way to wean a baby. I was able to distract her from nursing with no problem.

I've had a lot of people email me asking about Lily's delivery. I didn't know people were so interested. So I'll share a little of it. No, I wasn't afraid that Lily would have Down Syndrome. The odds were so slim. I was however a little worried that my pregnancy would hit 30 weeks and my body would say, okay, time to get this baby out! Thankfully, that didn't happen. Lily was born via C-section. This was my third C-section and I knew it was coming. I opted not to have a natural birth with Raymond and Lily. I was fearful of the complications one can have with natural birth after having a C-section. I must say, I wasn't disappointed not to be in labor or hours. All I had to do was show up at my scheduled time and lay there while someone else did all the hard work. Easy if you ask me! I was up an walking around a few hours later. I had Lily on Friday and went home on Sunday. It's been a blast ever since. Once when I was pregnant with Raymond, I was watching a birthing show on TLC. The featured couple was having their fourth baby. I remember the husband said having baby number two was the hardest. After that, it's pretty easy. I doubted his fatherly wisdom at the time. Our second birth obviously didn't go as we expected. Even with all the complications, once we got Raymond home, I thought it was going to be much harder then it was. I was remembering the father from TLC. It was, well, easy. He just fit right in. Now with Lily, I feel the same way. I thought I might have a hard time dividing my time between three children but I don't. Maybe the TLC dad was partially right. Adding baby number three has been a breeze. All three kids are great!!! We are truly blessed!!! (And yes, as crazy as it might sound to some, I'd have another one.)

Isabella and I made mermaid magnets. We molded them, waited for them to dry, then Isabella got busy painting. The magnets didn't stay on the backs very well so I have to glue them on today for her (we used self-stick magnet tape the first time). She's my crafty girl!

Since Raymond is cruising everywhere, we keep the doors in the hallway closed. He stays out of trouble that way! : ) In this picture he's sitting outside of Isabella's room because he knows she's in there. He was banging on the door like a crazy man until she opened it and let him in.

Friday was a nice day outside so I decided to load everyone in the car, including Sadie, and go to the Daniel Boone Homestead. It's such a nice place to walk around. I took a plastic zip-lock bag and Isabella filled it with things from our "nature walk".

Lily and Raymond were riding in our new triple stroller. It's considered a triple because there is a seat with a lap belt that pulls out in the back for Isabella to sit on.

Raymond has been having a lot of trouble with seizures again. We are hoping he just outgrew his dose of medicine. His neurologist has increased the amount but it takes almost a week for it to take full effect. I hope it helps because the seizures are very intense. Much more so then before. Yesterday we got the delivery of Raymond's medical equipment. His new car seat is huge! Chris put it in the car and Raymond loves facing forward now. His new stroller is going to be a big help too. It has an IV pole and a bracket to hold his oxygen tank. They actually forgot to order the oxygen tank holder but said it should be here within two weeks. It's a $5,000.00 stroller. Yikes! Some people's car's didn't even cost that much.

This morning Lily and I went to the Eastern Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Center's Membership Meeting. Chris and I decided it would be better if Raymond stayed home because of the seizure problem. We are used to seeing him have seizures but it can be pretty upsetting to others. I'm on the Buddy Walk Committee again. Hopefully I can count on everyone's support again this year! : )

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

Getting Ready for the Holidays

On Friday, Raymond had an appointment with his new neurologist. The appointment went well and Raymond's medicine had to be increased slightly. We've seen hardly any seizures since then. The medicine increase normally takes about one full week to take total effect. I think we have finally found the correct amount for Raymond. Raymond will also be having an MRI after Christmas to see if the cause of the seizures can be pin-pointed.

While we were waiting for Raymond's appointment I noticed a PSA poster about texting while driving. For the record, I never text and drive. It's such a idiotic thing to do. I don't understand why people don't think it's distracting. This poster, in my opinion, should be in every high school in America. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons has joined forces with the Orthopedic Trauma Association to urge people to NEVER text while driving. Orthopedic injuries are extremely common as a result of texting while driving accidents.

Pretty powerful in my opinion.

On a brighter note, do you remember the kitchen we bought for Isabella for her birthday? Well, it turns out that Raymond loves to play with it too. He rolls himself over to it then sits up, plays with the doors and takes things in and out of it. I think he looks so cute sitting there.

We've been having a very hard time getting Raymond to leave his oxygen tube alone. He keeps ripping it off his face. His little cheeks are so sore! You can see it in this picture. Honestly, this isn't even that bad. Normally his face looks so much worse. We really can't give him a break from it either. If we do, his little feet turn purple because his oxygen level is too low.

Dress up time for Isabella

We've been doing a lot of holiday related crafts. Isabella loves it do anything crafty. She started by making a Santa snow globe.

She and Daddy put together a gingerbread house. I kept having to remind both of them that the candy was for on the house!

Is that a gingerbread cookie?!?!

All of our holiday excitement is wearing Raymond out!

My brother and his family were supposed to come to our house this past weekend and we had a slight bump in the road. At the last minute, we drove to their house in West Virginia instead. It was a short visit but nice to see them before Christmas.

Poor Sadie didn't know were to lay. She kept getting wrapping paper thrown on her head. (Yes, we take Sadie everywhere. Luckily she's a good girl so we can.)

After we got home from West Virginia on Sunday we decided to go to Whole Foods. Then we drove past the King of Prussia Mall to see if it was still open. It turns out the mall was open to 11:00pm - on a Sunday! So we walked around there for a little while. Isabella really liked the gigantic Christmas tree. When we walked past it on the way back to the car, it came to life! Music started to play, lights flashed, the dolls moved, drummers drummed, the toy soldiers marched and the carousel horses went around the tree. It was really cute. We stood and watched it until it was done. I was glad we had got to see it because I had been to the mall around Christmas in past years and never realized it did that. It must start on the hour.

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

Erica

Catching Up

Well hello there! We've been so busy that I really haven't been on the computer very much. I hope everyone had a safe and happy Labor Day weekend. August 31 was Isabella's first day of preschool. She couldn't wait to leave. "I don't want to be late Mommy!" I heard that about 100 times. When I dropped her off she went in like a big girl and I knew she was going to have a blast. The next day when I dropped Isabella off she ran in the room without even saying goodbye to me! She was ready! I'm so glad she's enjoying it. This is what she wanted to wear on her first day.

Last Saturday we went to the Hamburg Hamburger Festival with Grammy. This was the first time we've ever gone and we enjoyed ourselves. All three of us tried different burgers which allowed the other two to taste. Yum! There were a lot of children's games and performers. We walked past a woman singing who thought she was Reba McEntire...too bad she didn't sound like her! We read online the next day that 20,000 people attended this year. I don't really know how they figure that since you don't have to pay to get in. It was crowded but not overwhelmingly so. Five streets were shut down so people could walk freely.

Isabella and Grammy went through a small petting zoo at the Hamburger Festival.

Then last Sunday we got a little painting dome outside. Isabella and Daddy made a birdhouse a few weeks back at the fair so I asked Isabella if she wanted to paint it. Now we just have to find a good place to hang it.

Raymond has been such a rollie-pollie. I've been letting him lay on the floor more then normal during the day because he's so close to crawling. He's all over the place! Take a look...

Oops...chair!Back the other way.

Give me that camera Mommy!!!!!I needed to get red cupcake liners for a special treat I am making for Isabella's snack day at school, so we decided to go to A.C. Moore to see if they had anything. While we were there Isabella asked if we could get something to make a craft. So this is what we decided on.

And this is what we made! : )

This is what Isabella and I do to Raymond when Daddy isn't home. Poor kid.

Speaking of Raymond, he really loves to look through books. It's almost impossible to actually read him a book because he ripes it out of my hands. However, if I give him a book (board book or cloth - all others are a goner) he will look at it for a long time. Raymond picked this one out at the library.

On Friday night we went to a football game at Fleetwood High School. My cousin Stephanie's school was playing them so we went to watch her and the other cheerleaders. This was Chris' 1st ever high school football game. It only took 34 years! Isabella really liked watching them do their cheers. Stephanie is in the first row, second girl in.

We sat with Aunt Jeannie, Uncle Chuck and Mom-mom.

Raymond was a total chick magnet!

I wasn't sure how long Isabella would stay interested. She actually did really well. When there was about 10 minuted left in the game she said she was "just so sick of these men!" I asked her what men she was talking about and she pointed to the field and said "Those men!"

On Saturday we went to the annual Chili Pepper Festival. It was a nice day and we had a good time sampling everything. My uncle was supposed to come with us but at the last minute he had to work. When we got there we ran into Chris' cousin, wife and kids and ended up walking around with them. We bought a jar of stuffed peppers and they are so good!!!

The 11th annual Buddy Walk is in two weeks. I can't believe it's so close already. If you would like to walk on our team you still can but online registration is closed. You will have to register at the walk. Chris and I were so flattered when we were told that our family had been one of three selected to be honored at this years walk. We will also be leading off the walk by helping to carry the Buddy Walk banner. If you need a reminder why the walk and other Down Syndrome Awareness events are so important to our family and other DS families, watch the following link.

Dreams - A message from the National Down Syndrome Society

I also want to send out a BIG congratulations to our friends Sean and Sarah who were recently married in a beach ceremony in California. We are so thrilled and wish them a happy and blessed life together.

On a side note - Chloe, stay out of the bassinet!

Until next time!

Lots of Love,

Erica