Look who we met!

Last week when I took the girls for their checkups, my mom came with me so that I would only have to keep one girl in the exam room at a time.  Piper gets a little…  cabin fever-ish when she’s stuck in the tiled room for two hours (yes, our well child visits are scheduled for an hour per girl), so she and Mom went for a walk around the hospital. 

Mom ran back and said that she’d run into someone. 

Guess who?

Yup!  Anna, Madalyn, and Victoria (and their folks and brothers, of course) were there, too!  Go figure!

Piper was, unfortunately, over-tired, over-hungry, and OVER being at the doctor, so all she wanted to do was RUN.  Sitting for pictures was not on the top of her to-do list, so I only got a couple, hence these lovelies.  They do make a cute crew, though, don’t they?

In the four minutes that we had the girls sitting there on the bench, we had about a dozen gawkers and several nice, well meaning individuals asking if they were quads.  Which made my heart palpitate as I was chasing after my ONE. 

Thanks for chatting with us for a few, Kirsten!  It was great finally getting to meet you and the girls! 

Concentrate!

I. Love. It.

The Cutest Dress EVER

I mean, seriously.  Could it be ANY sweeter???  Turquoise just happens to be her color…

Ohhhh how lucky the girls are to have a Nana who’s such a good seamstress!

Stealthy Parenthood

Any experienced parent knows that non-stop giggling is often a bad sign.

You’re forced with the decision to either ignore it, hope that it’s nothing too bad, and not have to deal with the required disciplinary action, or investigate and thereby committing to enforcing the appropriate rules.

If you’re really lucky, however, you can stealthily assess the situation.  This allows you to not disrupt the natural flow of things and not commit to any specific course of action.

This day, when I followed the trail of hysterical laughter, I found this:

Watching each other in the mirror is, evidently, one of the world’s greatest games.  Addy thinks it’s hilarious to climb up on the stepstool and look at the cute little girl in the mirror.  Piper practices washing her hands, brushing her teeth, and doing her hair. 

But the cherry on top comes from brushing each other’s teeth.

Who knew.

But it lasted a good 20 minutes, and they never knew I saw.  Oh the joys of sisterhood.

Pool day!

It got warm enough to pull out the swimming pool and sprinkler this week.  Piper was more than willing to indulge.

Addy was slightly less amused.

But once she figured out that it was supposed to be fun, she got a little more brave.  Piper helped her realize the fun that was to be had.  Even if it was only one foot at a time.

Piper’s most favorite thing to do is slide into the three-foot-across pool. 

This is called “game face.”

She felt the need to inform me that the water was a tad chilly.  Go figure.

Even with a swim suit that is, apparently, a bit too big, carrying the hose around, taunting your sister, is a great way to spend the afternoon.

Addy was… less than amused.

So long as the getting wet part was on her terms, Addy made amends with the water and ended up, mostly, enjoying herself.

I have a feeling it’ll be a common treat this summer-  Addy actually sleeps afterward.  And that is saying something.

Of course it’s probably just because she spends the entire time hypersensitive and on red alert (self preservation is a powerful motivator…)

Whatever works.

Mini Munchkins

The girls both had their birthday checkups yesterday.  Both appointments were delightfully simple with just referrals for Piper’s c-spine xrays and a sleep study. 

The official stats:

Piper weighed 23 1/2 pounds and was 33.5 inches. 
That puts her at the 25% for weight and 50% for height on the Ds chart!  Can you believe it???  Of course that translates to the .5% (yes, as in half) on the typical chart for both, but we won’t go there…

Addy weighed 15 lbs 10 oz and was 27.5” tall.  That put her at the 2% for weight and 4% on height.

We, apparently, specialize in miniature kids.

Sisters and BFFs

Seuss-elebration!

We celebrated the girls’ birthdays last weekend.  We had a ball!  The girls are so lucky to have so many family members and friends who love them so much!  Thanks to everyone who made it out- in the rain!- it meant so much to have you there!

My mom, stitcher extraordinaire, made the girls matching outfits.  They seriously couldn’t have been any cuter.

We had lots of food- Hop on Popcorn, Yertle the Turtle food, Food of the Whos, One fish, two fish (goldfish crackers) and Red fish (Swedish Fish candy), Thing 1 and Thing 3 cupcakes (but don’t get me started as to the mess that cotton candy and moist frosting make- these were not nearly as easy as they looked like they should be!)

We went fishin’…

…and played with Bartholomew and his Oobleck.  Colored spaghetti noodles and water beads made for perfect “messy” play.

After we had some time to play, it was time for cake!  Everyone sang Happy Birthday- and neither girl was too sure as to why…

But the cake, that was a different story.  Piper, being the seasoned pro that she is, knew just what to do.

   

Addy, on the other hand, well, she had her own idea of how to eat her cupcake…

…I’m not quite sure why she felt the need to face-plant her cake, but she enjoyed it.  Silly girl.

And then Piper taught Addy how to open presents.  She was a good teacher.

But the best part of the whole day was playing with all our guests!

Happy Birthday to my sweet girls!  We love you to BITS!

The Addy Smile

It makes me laugh every time.

A curl?!?!

Piper’s hair is straight.

As in straight.  I can entice a curl out of it with the curling iron, which is a major plus (and the key element to a good hair day), but it does not bend on its own.

The whole idea of having a straight haired child is rather novel to me.  I have frizzy hair in the Albert Einstein’s long-lost niece kind of way.  It took me a bit to know how to handle the straight in Piper’s hair, but I’m coming to really enjoy it.  It doesn’t really tangle, it always pretty much does the same thing…  It’s the hair I always wished I had.

And just because I’ve come to terms with Piper’s locks, God throws me a curve ball and gives me a child with curls.  I’m almost certain, anyway- Addy’s hair is almost long enough to tell.

Yes, it’s conjecture at this point.  But the tiny amount of length she has on the back of her head never lays as flat as Piper’s did.  And occasionally we even get a cute little, tiny, itty bitty ringlet.

Hey- I never said I specialized in kids with hair.  Maybe by the time she goes to kindergarten we’ll know for sure her hair color.  And curliness.  But I won’t bet on it…

As close to the “famous” as We Get

One thing no one told us when we found out about Piper have Ds was that we’d have the opportunity to meet famous people because of it.

Of course, our definition of “famous” has changed slightly to mean “the lady that writes all the books about Down syndrome and speech.” 

Hey- we’ll take what we can get!

This weekend, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation (the group that puts on the Jet Set Fashion Shows) here in town invited Libby Kumin to come and give two full day seminars- one for parents and one for professionals.  Luke and I dropped the girls off at my mom’s so that we could, you know, actually pay attention, and headed down for the seven hour class.

And it. was. awesome.  We got to see so many of our friends, which just made it super awesome, and learned a lot, too.  We’re so fortunate to have these symposiums available to us so frequently! 

We learned about a few techniques that I want to try with Piper, like using a strip of big polka dots to “pace” speech (have one dot for each word you want, and tap the dot to emphasize the different words or syllables.)  I also got a better idea about some of Piper’s quirks, and whether it’s more “Ds related” or just Piper quirkiness. 

And to make it all even better, Luke won a copy of the new version of her book which is supposed to be released next month.  How cool is that?

While we were gone, the girls played.  Hard.  Thanks, Mom, for taking on the gruesome twosome.  You’re the best!

The girls love Mom’s Boston Terrier, Stitch.  She’s little, and fast, and they crack up when she’s around.

Stitch kinda likes the girls, too…

   

Hershey, on the other hand, is a giant lab.  She’s more of the grandma type, and pretty much lets the girls do whatever they want to her.  She’s a saint. 

…but even saints are a little weary when they’re personal space is being impinged upon.  She’s ready to bolt.