Goofing around

I took some pictures of Ella the other day while she was sitting at the kitchen table munching on some Kix. I have been meaning to take some of her wearing her little headband for sometime. I crack up when she wears this and I refer to her as Bret Michaels (the lead singer from the 80's group Poison, no I am/was NOT a fan, but will guiltily admit to watching Rock of Love a couple of times) anyhow he always has on a bandanna and wears it just like this....

I was messing around with the color

on my camera

Hunter wanted nothing to do with

having his pic taken, so I snuck one from

around the flowers in the middle of the

table : )

This last pic is how Ella spends most of her days lately, chewing on her fingers. She has had one new tooth appear, in the front on the bottom. This whole delayed teeth thing is SO strange to me!!! Ella has been pretty crabby the last couple of days as well (well, crabby for her) Chris said today she is recovering from her concussion. She didn't really get a concussion but she was riding on her rocket yesterday and Hunter was pushing her down the tile hallway and, well as you can imagine, he pushed a bit to fast, she flew over the handlebars and landed face first on the tile. Poor kid, but boy she will be tough!!

I received an email the other day telling me that the 2008 Times Square Video was now available to watch online HERE. This was the second year in a row that my two cuties appeared on the jumbo tron during the Buddy Walk! Along with the link to the video I ran across the link to this video, it is a little cartoon based on the book My Friend Isabelle, it is SUPER cute and a great way to explain Down syndrome to kids. So watch it HERE!!!

Soooo blessed!!

Okay, I had planned on doing a couple of posts on what I am thankful for, but the truth is that I have SOOOO much, I would be writing for days!! I do want to say really quick that I am so thankful for my family, I know that I don't say thank you nearly enough. So, thank you!!!!

I happened to have my camera with me today at Ella's school and took some pics. Unfortunately the first couple didn't turn out but I want to post them anyway. Ella's physical therapist tried this vest thing (technical I know) on her today, it is made of a really strong spandexy type material and is pretty tight. The thinking was that it would give her just a bit more support in her very weak core area letting her do more exercises. Let me tell you it worked so good!! Ella was doing her situps and was overall more stable in everything she did, it was cool to watch! Also very funny because it looks like a little leotard and I just had to laugh at her wearing it!

Working with her Special Education teacher, Mrs. Janet

A visit from her boyfriend Riley

Magnets

Thankful

It dawned on me today that I really haven't posted anything except for the day to day stuff. Hmmm what could I write about??? Well, with Thanksgiving coming up this week I could try to do a little series of posts on what I am thankful for in my life.

I have received two emails this past week from readers of my blog, one from a mother that is 21 weeks pregnant with a little girl that has Down syndrome, and one from the mother of an ADORABLE 5 month old girl with Ds (HI LADIES!!!) Both wrote to say that reading about Ella has really helped them.

When I get these kinds of emails I am always reminded of how I felt those first few weeks/months. I felt so alone, so sad, so angry, so hopeless, so scared, scared of the unknown what Ella's life would be like, what my life as her mother would be like. Never did I imagine that my life would be so full, so happy, and so "normal."

I think of all of the things that have happened, all of the people I have met, the places I have been, and the place I now live and how none of this would have happened had Ella not had Down syndrome.

So, today (and most everyday : ) I am thankful for Down syndrome. I realize that this may seem strange to some, some may think I am lying, but it's true. Down syndrome helped form who Ella is, don't get me wrong Ella is NOT Down syndrome, but it is a part of her and without it she would be a different person. I used to try to imagine Ella without Down syndrome, the little girl of my dreams, but I was never able to picture what she would look like, how she would act, how she would sound, how she would move. Why? Because that's not Ella, it is simply some other little girl, some other girl that does not belong to me. This is how it's supposed to be, I am supposed to be the mother of Ella. And I am so very thankful for that.

Today the kiddos and I went to a little birthday celebration at McDonalds for a couple of kids from Ella's school that also have that extra magical chromosome : ) Here are the pics..

Introducing...

My new baby niece, Paige!! My little brother and his wife Marie had their baby earlier today, I can NOT wait to get my hands on her (the kids and I are going down to visit in a little over a month!) Paige wasn't due to arrive until December 7th, but she's here and healthy! She weighed in at 7lbs1oz and has RED hair (Hunter was so excited that Paige "matches" him and I because of the red hair, I had to remind him that Paige's mommy has red hair too!!!) Here are the pics of her so far....












Check out these toes : )












The proud new Daddy (my baby brother)

Some pics

I took some pictures of the kiddos yesterday. I was trying to get one good one of the two of them together, ha ha ha!! Obviously that didn't happen, but here is what I ended up with.

Here are the

"smiles" I

get when I

tell them

to smile.

So handsome

Riding Hunter's old rocket

aero-dynamic

Playing with my old baby doll crib

patting her baby to sleep

How Ella always watches TV

Still watching

this is the look I get when I interupt her.