happiness in a box

Has a box of Cheerios ever made you happy? I've never had Jay ask me for a box until now. If we go to the store, he'll ask for a box because he knows that some of the boxes house his Justice League comic book (aka batman books). This kid loves to look at the books in bed and make up his own story.  So much so, he won't go to sleep and would rather stay up.  This past weekend, Jay noticed that there is a batman mask on these boxes as well. Let me tell you, batman now lives at our house. All yesterday when we were at home together, Jay wore the mask. One little cardboard mask and a comic book out of a box had made him one happy boy.

Also, we are pleased to announce that we have a roller. Mason doesn't roll over all of the time, but did roll over from his belly to his back twice today at school. He did a couple of times at home as well, but I could never get it on video tape. The average down syndrome child rolls over at 6 months. Mason is only 3 1/2 months!! It's crazy how we celebrate the little things, especially with Mason. We expect him to be delayed, but I think he's going to prove us wrong and not be the average down syndrome child.

it's a new year

it's a new year and so much has happened all ready.  the biggest news in our household is that garrett found out on tuesday, january 3rd he passed his last two exams to be a registered architect.  he started taking the first of his 7 exams on jay's birthday on august 10th and then finished his last one in the middle of december.  he passed all on the first try and didn't have to retake it.  now he is a registered architect in north carolina and is working on being one in virginia as well.  i'm not lying now when i say he is an architect.  garrett's also been coaching a team of 13-14 year olds at church in basketball with ned hurd.  their first game wasn't so hot, but hopefully they will do better with their other games in the future.

as our year has started out, jay continues to be a typical 3 year old and choses to listen only when he wants to.  this has gotten him in trouble more than once in the last week.  yesterday, i picked him up at school and he was in the "think about it chair" (aka time out) with two of his other friends.  they were just playing a friendly game of push'em down.  in his mind, "what's so wrong with that?"  someone was telling me this morning at work that boys just can't keep their hands to themselves.  isn't that the truth?  on another note, Jay is the slowest eater on the planet, but a year ago he wasn't eating near the foods he is now, so i shouldn't complain.  tonight he actually asked to have tomatoes on his plate.  my child likes something i don't.  other than that, he continues to enjoy batman and every other superhero he can find on this planet along with their bad guys.  he continues to let us know he doesn't have the penguin (this might be our next purchase at target) as well as superwoman (which i don't think they make yet).  jay will definitely keep you on your toes and will talk your head off if you aren't careful.  although he has his flaws, he is still the cutest 3 year old in our minds.

mason continues to amaze us everyday.  he's started to smile a lot and cue.  he's determined to turn over one day.  i'm hoping by the end of the month.  he just can't kick his leg over yet or tuck his arm under.  i can't figure it out and neither can he.  instead of turning over, he just does circles with his body on the floor or in his crib.  yesterday, we let him go from 8:00 at night to 7:30 in the morning without a bottle.  why wake a sleeping child?  since he doesn't really make any noise in the mornings, garrett can hand him off to the daycare workers to feed him.  today he even took an 8 oz bottle.  in my mind, that's awesome for a 3 month old.  we aren't complaining either because we are getting sleep.  this boy is getting bigger each day.  i can't wait to go and weigh and measure him next month.  i'm always curious to see his stats each time.

as for me, i'm trying to do better with working out.  aren't we all?  i would love to run a 5k this year and just stay in shape.  i'm not up for the marathons or 1/2 marathons, but a short run is just fine with me.  also, i would love to get back to aerobics.  they have a class at church on friday afternoons that i can attend and plan to starting this month.  i can't wait to get back into it.  i'm also trying to do my best with making dinner instead of always going out.  so far this week, we've had pork chops, chicken tacos, soup and grill cheese.  the rest of the week has bbq in store as well as leftovers.  hopefully this will help to save some money and is most likely healthy for us.  as for work, exams start this week.  we are about to start a new semester with new students on the 24th of this month.  it's always great to get a fresh new group of students.  

i hope each of you has started off the year on a good note!!  see you in 2012.

Easy Recipes

BBQ
 Buy a Boston Butt and the McCormick slow cooker packet. You will need brown sugar, ketchup and cider vinegar. Follow the directions on the packet and cook for at least 8 hours. It will fall apart and be some awesome BBQ.

 Chicken Tacos
 In a crockpot put 2-3 chicken breasts. Put a can of black beans, corn, rotel, and a taco packet with a little bit of water. Cook 6-8 hours. Shred the chicken with forks. Serve with lettuce, cheese, tortillas, chips and anything else you would like.

 Homemade Mac and Cheese
 Boil the desired amount of noodles. Shred some cheddar cheese (8oz). Put noodles, cheese, one cup milk along with an egg that had been beaten in a bowl and stir. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until no longer runny.

 Potato Soup
 Chop up a quarter to a half of a red onion. Sautée in butter and cayenne pepper in a pot. Chop up 3-4 large potatoes. Add the potatoes along with 2 cans of chicken broth. Boil until the potatoes are tender. Add a pint of whipping cream and fresh chopped parsley. Serve with cheese and bacon.

christmas 2011

this was our first christmas as a family of 4.  we switched up tradition and went to garrett's parents house on christmas eve.  we spent some time with them during the day and then made our way to church for the 2nd annual christmas eve service.  it's tricky with little kids to sit there for 45 minutes and listen, but we managed.  at times, jay was singing the songs and it was too cute.  we made our way back to garrett's parents house for dinner and to open presents.

here are some pictures with garrett's parents, chris and gloria, with mason.  they are so in love with this little guy.

here are some of mason just hanging out with his friends.  he really has been smiling more lately as well as becoming excited about things in front of him.  it's great that he is becoming more alert lately.

if you can't tell it already, batman and his friends invaded our house this christmas.  jay is really into superheroes.  he racked up on the batman shirts as well as got a spiderman and superman shirt as well.  new shoes made the list of christmas gifts as well as legos and other cool stuff to play with and the wear.

christmas day, after we opened all the superheroes from santa, we went to my parents house to open gifts with my grandmother.  no pictures yet, but we'll have some soon.

the past two days we've tried to clean up from the gifts and put them all away, as well as exchange a few at the mall.  it's been an exhausting, but awesome christmas.

we hope each of you had a very merry christmas.

ready or not...

garrett and i at his office Christmas party this past Sunday

are you ready for CHRISTmas this year?  are the presents wrapped?  are the kids excited for santa?  did you get your Christmas cards out?  we sure didn't this year.  maybe we can get something together to send out after the holidays.  it's been a very busy time of year for us this year especially.  jay wants all the superheroes he can get.  in that list, he has now included wonderwoman which santa doesn't make yet.  we'll see how this goes over on Christmas day.  another thing is a panther jersey, but he wants cam newton, #1.  he may be disappointed because again he will just have another substitute since santa doesn't make toddler size cam newton jersey's.  as for mason, he can't ask santa for anything yet, so he won't be getting much.  he'll be getting all the clothes, diapers and wipes throughout the year he really needs.  it will be Christmas all year long for him with new diapers as presents every few hours each day.

i love my little brother!!!

i can't believe that this time of year is already here and will be gone in a blink of an eye.  mason and jay are growing too fast and before we know it, mason will be all over the place.  each day he becomes more and more wiggly.  this is actually a good thing because hopefully he is building up muscle tone which many down syndrome kids lack.  one day, he's going to figure out how to roll over, then jay won't have to roll him over himself because he thinks that mason wants to be on his tummy.

look what i found under the Christmas tree

jay, in school, is learning all about this time of year.  he's celebrated Jesus' birthday several times in Sunday school and during the week at school.  it is awesome to hear him talk  about Jesus as well as that Herod was a bad king.

all in all, i think we are ready for Christmas.  i'm excited to go to the Christmas Eve service on Saturday evening at the church.  as well as, spend time with garrett's family on Christmas Eve and my family on Christmas.  next week, the four of us will get to enjoy each others' company.  garrett's taking the week off of work and since there is no daycare, we get a full week of playing with Christmas gifts.  we hope each one of you has a great Christmas as well.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

we're back...

i've been back to school for about a month now and we have started to get in the groove and juggle everything that needs to be done on a daily basis.  the kids have to be picked up, along with bottles washed and labeled for the next day, dinner ready, and putting the kids to bed on time each night.  every now and then there is a doctor's appointment that someone has to go to.  it's been crazy and busy around here.  not to mention, garrett's been trying to take his architecture exams.  he has one more test tomorrow and has passed the first five exams he took.  hopefully the last two will come back with passing scores in the next few weeks.

this past week, mason had his 2 month check up.  the stats are in and he is just a peanut.  not only is on a growth chart for regular kids, but he has his own chart for having down syndrome.

weight:  9 lbs 1 oz  (3%, ds 50%)

height:  21 1/4 inches  (3%, ds 25%)

he seems to be doing pretty well and is checking out in all areas.  the cardiologist said that there are two small holes in a vessel, but it is nothing to worry about.  they want to see him back in about 3 years.  they must not be too worried at all then.  we went to check mason's hearing as well last week, but fluid remains in both ears and there was no reason to repeat the tests we had done last time.  there was one test she was able to do and believes that there is some hearing in mason's left ear.  we confirmed last time he could hear out of his right ear.

mason is a great sleeper and normally sleeps about 8 hours straight until he wakes up.  the other day, he lasted for about 10 hours until i woke him to eat so we could leave to go somewhere.

the other thursday, jay, mason, my dad and myself made our way to the annual tree lighting in mint hill.  santa was there to see all of the kids.  jay made sure to ask santa for a lot of superheroes.  

take a look at these last two pictures.  jay and mason look a lot alike at 2 months.  it's so crazy how they resemble one another.

mason

jay

perfect

my maternity leave is coming to an end and it's back to work on monday.  i don't know what's in store for me and all the work that probably has to be done.  a workday would have been great beforehand, but jay got sick on thursday and we all had to stay home.  as i look back through these few weeks on my life and start to think, one word comes to mind PERFECT.  back in may when we found out mason would have down syndrome, it was devastating.  your dreams for your kids are to be the smartest, hit every milestone early and be the best they can be at all times felt like they had ended.  at that time, it felt like we had been hit by a mack truck and those dreams were crushed.  we excepted the fact that yes he would have delays and that there would be things he couldn't do or would take longer to do.  there were many tears the day we found out for sure this would be the diagnosis.  throughout the next few weeks/months, i know i thought about what he would look like and since all the hormones would be rushing through me after birth, what a basket case i would be once mason was here.  i guess i was preparing myself for this the rest of a the time.

the day of his birth came rushing in and i mean this literally and all of a sudden he was here.  i couldn't cry, but just look at him and smile.  it's crazy how one kid can just make you forget about everything from before.  the look on jay's eye when he saw him was priceless and still is.  for the most part, he is very gentle with him and goes up to him holding his hand and saying how small it is.  he's always interested in diaper changes and wants to watch.  jay knows nothing except that mason is his baby brother just like everyone else has a baby brother or sister.  he wouldn't treat him any differently than any other sibling.  throughout my time with mason, it has been great.  he isn't a fussy baby and just goes with the flow.  i think this has helped me along the way.  the feeling of being a basket case has not really come on.

one day, i think i was more tired than any other day because i was working on school work and just was exhausted from it.  garrett looked at me at dinner and asked if i had been crying, and i just looked up and said yes.  i started to explain and started crying again and said he's just PERFECT.  it doesn't matter the doctors' appointments i have to attend to make sure everything is alright or the delays he may have later on.  we will take this day by day, not looking too far into the future and thank God everyday for the blessing He has sent.  my worries of what he looks like were tossed out the window, especially when people just walk by the stroller and say he is just beautiful without knowing his prognosis.  and on monday when i go back to work, it is awesome to know that he is already loved by all of his teachers.  they are so excited to get him and i know will take the best care of him.