hanging in there

okay, so we are still here, just haven't given a lot of time to writing on here lately.  our weekends and days have been pretty busy and full.  between getting all my lesson plans done for geometry, doctors appointments, and preparing for a new little one to come in the next few weeks, time just slips away from us.  plus, we all could use a nap here or there and we would rather do that then be on a computer all the time.

mason update:

(35 1/2 weeks)

as for mason, we went to the maternal/fetal doctor this past friday and everything seems to be looking good on his end.  he is about 4 lbs 12 oz (23rd percentile) which is fine for down syndrome babies.  the doctor felt that this was in normal range.  he glanced over everything and thinks it all looks fine to his eyes.  we will know more once he is here about his heart and everything.  his profile pictures on the 3d and 4d ultrasounds really look like jay.  it is so cool to see.  i decided to ask the doctor what would he recommend to my ob about delivery.  he said as long as my cervix is favorable, that he would probably induce at 39 weeks.  if not, let me go an extra week and then see.  so great news to us for now.  we graduated and won't be seeing that doctor anymore.  i'm glad because i'm tired of so many different appointments.

jay update:

(3 years old)

yeah, jay keeps us on our toes.  being three just means he talks your ears off, climbs everywhere, and has a personality like no one else.  we love that he is a happy kid and enjoys playing with his friends at school and sunday school.  over the past month, we've really had fun with jay and watching him grow up.  today when we got home from church, i quickly ran to the store to grab a few things and when i came home, garrett and jay had their panthers' jerseys on.  i walked in the door and jay kept saying "mommy your panthers jersey is upstairs" as if i didn't know i had one.  he is so particular about his clothes and what we wear and where we go.  it is really funny.  as for his eating these days, it has improved tremendously.  he will eat about anything we eat and we don't take extra food with us out to resturants.  he just eats off of our plates.  we still refuse to buy him his own meal since he won't eat the whole thing.  he can deal with what we have for now.  jay also has been moved to a full bed instead of the toddler bed.  we needed to transform it back into a crib for mason's room.  he was so excited this week to get it.  he no longer wants to sleep with his blanket or monkey, but the baseball and football pillows we bought for his bed.  he thinks he's a big boy now.

as for the last month, here are a few pictures starting with some of the most recent to jay's birthday party in the middle of august.

jay can climb on the barstools to the counter and wash his own dishes, even after i said just put it in the sink and i'll get it.

we went to the stump town parade in matthews last weekend.  jay wanted candy!!  sorry, no good pictures were taken of jay during the parade.  i just wanted to throw in one.

jay has gotten really good on his bike that uncle chip gave him for his birthday.  we just make him wear the helmet, but he insisted the other day to wear the knee pads and wrist pads we bought to go with his scooter.  i think he is pretty well covered.

here's jay's new bed.  he took to it really well.  he hasn't fallen out yet, but i'm guessing he might some time soon.

mason's crib made it into his room this week.  we are ready for him.

garrett painted his room the other week and put his name on his wall.  it looks great.

on friday, we went to qudoba to eat dinner with the williams'.  afterward we went out to the fountain where jay was still hungry and i gave him the only rice krispie treat.  livvie wanted one too, so they decided to share.  livvie got the last bite though.  that a girl!!

i was lazy and didn't post anything from jay's 3rd birthday party.  you can see more pictures on my Facebook page, but here are a few pictures you can look at.  thank goodness it didn't rain!

piñata time!!  the kids loved hitting the piñata and getting all the candy afterward.

the kids eating cupcakes.

i think our child needs some body fat.  he is so cold in this picture.  we've been feeding him cookies lately to fatten him up.  i don't think it's helping.

Movin' on up

To add to yesterday's post, Jay went to the doctor today for his 3 year check up. He weighs 26 pounds (10th percentile, up from the 3rd) and is 3 feet tall (25th percentile) He's getting bigger.

Also, to add to Mason, he weighs about 3.4 pounds (30th percentile).

Both look great and are right on track.

jay and mason

4 weeks later and we're back with another update on mason.  there is not anything new to say this week, except that the doctor thinks everything looks good.  the ventricles in the brain look normal.  as far as he can tell, the heart looks good and everything looks to be on track for a 31 week baby.  of course, more will be told when he is born and has an echocardiogram done.  this was a pretty short doctor's visit and we go back in 4 more weeks for probably the last ultrasound at 35 weeks.  we wanted to leave you with 2 3-d photos from the visit today.

today was also jay's birthday!!  he turned 3 today.  this morning we don't think it had set in that it was his birthday.  he just knew it was water day at school and that was what he was looking forward to.  when he got to school, his teacher, Ms. Sue, from when he was an infant was ready for him to come into her room so she could give him balloons, a cake and a card.  she always does something special for him on his birthday.  we sent cookies and capri suns for the afternoon snack at school and we believe he liked that.  when i picked him up from school, his teacher, Ms. Mary really wanted him to open his gift from her.  she had bought him a watch.  he's been wearing that watch all night and is even sleeping with it on.  jay and i made our way to the kitchen so my mom could see him and the all the ladies were ready to sing happy birthday and give him a brownie with candles to blow out.  i think jay really got the special treatment today!!  by the time he went to bed, he knew it was his birthday.

here's Ms. Sue's cake.

jay's ready to blow out the candles.

uncle chip and aunt kim gave jay a bike for his birthday.  he's getting good at it.  don't worry, he has a helmet coming from someone else for his birthday.

mason update

Six weeks later and we are back at the 'baby doctor' to check on mason and to make sure everything is going okay with him. Again the doctor looks at the typical places in mason that could be problems with kids born with down syndrome. The doctor glanced at his brain and said one side looks 'perfect' while the other side is borderline enlarged, but nothing to worry about since this is typical. On to his heart, the doctor was looking for abnormalities that could pose a problem at birth. Again, this time, his heart seems to be in good order and should be fine from what he can see. The doctor informed us that out of down syndrome children that 40% or more are born with heart problems. He feels no reason for us to see a cardiologist right now. At birth, mason will have an echo cardiogram (in short look at his heart) more extensively to make sure there are no problems that were not able to be seen from the ultrasounds. The third thing that the doctor looked at was mason's intestines. Your intestines are made in three parts; in downs children, many times the first part of the intestines does not develop. This can be easily corrected with surgery. Oddly enough, this could also cause problems with delivery and could cause preterm labor because of excess amniotic fluid. We are fortunate that mason is not showing signs of this problem with his intestines. All in all, everything is looking great with mason. The doctor believes that the delivery should be normal and looks to not have any major problems. Thanks for those who have been praying and thinking of us these past few weeks. We will have another update in 4 weeks when we go for another ultrasound.

updates all around

so much has been going on the past month and a half since we last blogged and also finding out our unexpected news about our future son "mason garrett".  we've found ourselves at birthday parties, playing at the park, baby showers, doctors appointments, family beach vacation (just the 3 of us) and tons of sprinkler fun.  since we last blogged the school year closed and was pretty busy with exams and last minute things that had to be done.  then a new summer school session started this week at providence day.  one week is now down (with only 5 kids), and 4 more to go.  garrett was able to stain the deck and keep up with the yard as it continues to grow after all the rain we keep getting from the pop up thunderstorms.

as for an update on mason, we went back to the specialist at 21 weeks (i'm 24 weeks now) and they did an ultrasound with tons of pictures and measurements.  the doctor came in and looked as well and analyzed all the pictures and was mainly concerned with mason's heart and ventricles in the brain.  As for his heart, it looks good for right now.  many down syndrome children have holes in their hearts, but for right now, what the doctor can tell, there is no visible problems; not to say that one won't show up when we go back later.  as for the ventricles in the brain, they will continue to monitor these to see if he will need shunts put in to drain the spinal fluid.  when we went in originally at 18 weeks, they were measuring around 11 to 12.  normally the doctor's like to see it less than 10.  at 21 weeks, when the doctor measured them, they measured at 8. something.  the doctor said that looks good as well.  we go back to the specialist in about 3 weeks for another ultrasound as they continue to monitor mason and  his progress.  we can only hope for more good news.

and now for some pictures from the last month and a half:

tons of fun at tucker long's birthday party

jake, jay and noah blowing bubbles

for some reason jay doesn't like to pick up his cupcake

birthday boy tucker with his parents julie and trey

a day at the park with mom and dad

sprinkler time at grandma and grandpa's house on memorial day

family vacation at the beach

jay loved the water

soaking up some rays

mommy look!!

fun times in the sand with dad

kristen walters' baby shower

hailey johnson's birthday party at monkey joes

we still haven't learned how to eat cake with a fork or with our hands

fun times at monkey joes on the slide.  jay loves this place.

expect the unexpected

In the past year, we have come to expect the unexpected. One can have their life planned out, but there will always be obstacles to overcome and your plan may not be God's plan. Last year we didn't expect to have an ectopic pregnancy in April which resulted in a surgery. And a couple of months later a miscarriage. One could only hope to get pregnant again and that's what happened this past February. We found out we were pregnant again. Doctors' appointments went well and the day to find out what we were having came this past Friday. We were very anxious and had our own guesses as to what the sex was. Well we found out it was another boy, but also that he had extra spinal fluid in his brain. The doctor wanted us see a specialist which happened to have an appointment right away. We had another ultrasound and the doctor started to name a few things that concerned him and that our baby was showing signs of Down Syndrome. We could not know for sure except if we did an amneocentesis. The risk for miscarriage was minimal, but was still there. For us, the risk outweighed the agony we would we would be put through the next few months of not knowing. The worst weekend was ahead of us because we would not know the results until Monday. Monday finally arrived and we found out that the test was positive for Down Syndrome. At this point, there was a lot of sadness and crying, but relief at the same time because we knew.

We want to let each of you know that we are doing fine and are excepting the reality of the situation. We are not looking at this as a punishment, but a gift from God. For some reason, God is giving us this child and we are excepting His challenge. We don't ask for your sympathy and pity on us, but your support through these next few months and years to come. We still have questions and fears of our future and what is to come, but we are going to take it one day at a time. Thanks for taking time to read.

Garrett and Morgan

mother's day interview

Of course happy mother's day to all you mothers out there. on the friday before mothers day it is always the anticipation if what is your child going to bring home for you. a card, flower or some other handmade gift. this year with all that, jay brought home a piece of paper that had an interview about his mommmy. his teacher pulled each of his classmates and him aside to answer the questions about their moms. of course it is hilarious and i want to share it all with you.

Mommys name is mommy.
Mommys hair is black.
Mommys eyes are white.
Mommy likes to stand and jump.
Mommy is 3 years old.
Mommys job is to take money out of my piggy bank.
Mommys favorite food is carrots.
Mommy carries money, just money in her purse.
I love mommy because I love my mommy.


of course if you ask him today, his answers have changed. both my eyes and hair are brown and I teach kids. I hope each of you had a wonderful day!!