Cute Pills

Must be Saturday because I'm at the beach snuggling with my Mermaid.

Annual return to the place I told My Hero we were expecting Mermaid.  

First rock climbing.  She gets that from her Dad.

Just SO cute!  She gets that from her Dad, too.

Didn't get anything at the Americana sale, but Mermaid will be back for jewelry. ;)

Christmas with P.T.  We love our physio-ball


First Brownie!

First dirt. (I think she liked the dirt better!)
Pre-Barium enema.  She was fine, but we got slammed in the pocket book.

Mermaid has definitely been sneaking in some cute pills. She just keeps getting cuter every day.. and she's more of a pill, too! She's not walking solo, but if she can grab your hands she'll take off "running." If there is something she wants to do, she does it quickly. This includes flipping over during diaper changes, combat crawling towards a marble, snatching up finger foods, grabbing a bowl of soup and getting fistfuls of sibling hair. She's quick to see and surprised the opthalmologist by having completely typical healthy eyes. Most of all, Mermaid is quick to smile.

Recently diagnosed with "moderate to mild hearing loss in at least one ear," she may be slow to hear. I'm not rushing to tubes, though. My instinct, my speech therapist and my neighbor who oversees the baby hearing tests at another hospital all indicate waiting. Mermaid has never had an earache and she recently added "M" to her babbulary. I'll take some intermediate steps (some spiritual, some more conventional) before her next test in August.

The family is doing well. Keeping our homeschool on track during daytime speech therapy and making time for afternoon fun around all the other therapists is a challenge. Everyone seems to be surviving, but I'd love to find something special for the oldest kids like a weekly theatre group. Torpedo loves the therapists and always steals the cool toys, so he doesn't need an alternative activity, yet. I still haven't joined a support group, but may be convinced after Plainbellied claimed her support group helps with babysitting during doctors appointments. What a luxury! I feel less frustrated when Mermaid plateaus and it's never long before she's off and "running."

(pictures loaded out of chronological order, but are all from the past 6 months)

Walking!

Sort of.

So I was demonstrating for my father-in-law the support I will do for The Boy when we get him started on his treadmill regimen. I held him under his arms and moved one foot forward and then the other and then The Boy moved his own foot forward!

I KNOW!! (a la Craig Ferguson)

I guess I really need to track down a treadmill for The Boy ASAP. For now, I'm making him walk between the stairs and the living room, and I help him move his feet a lot of the time, too, but the fact that he can shift his weight to one leg and move the other leg forward and not fall on his darling little bum is so impressive to me. What a super star.

The Mundane

Someone in my area is joining the club. She found out in May that her baby girl (due in October) will have Down syndrome. She introduced herself and posed a practical question: "What are some of the hardest things you have to deal with in the everyday life of your child with Down syndrome?"

I thought back through The Boy's 8 months in our family as an array of answers grazed past me. Surprisingly, it was the most mundane response of all the lingered and eventually settled in: exhaustion.

And you know what? That's kind of a relief.

It's a hassle to clean The Boy's helmet. And I've forgotten his touch therapy for the better part of the past 2 weeks. I hated lugging around his oxygen tank after he was first born, and it's irritating not being able to let him 'straddle' anything for a month while he recovers from his surgery. I sometime feel strapped for time as I schedule and attend his many appointments (and struggle to get the house straightened for the 'at home' ones). I even worry that I may be draining my support group a little by asking them to watch Her Nibs so often while I deal with The Boy's appointments.

But I only really feel overwhelmed by it when I'm sleep deprived. A little rest and even a child with many special needs becomes quite manageable.

The dishes are another matter....