Park Playdate

Ruby & I went out in the drizzly weather yesterday to a playdate - I'm glad we stuck it out, because it turned into a fun time! We had 7 families show up!

Ruby is very funny with her friend, Aaron. He's about 5 months younger than she is, but he's taller. If he gets to close to her, she yells at him and pushes him away.

I figure in about 10 years she'll be mooning over him and devastated if he doesn't call ...

Aaron & Ru on the teeter-totter - with help from Aaron's mom & big sis

Ruby was very serious (and keeping an eye on Aaron, I suppose!)

Hiding in her hood

We tried really hard to get a group picture ... it wasn't easy! Mine all turned out like this. If you want to see more pictures of Ruby & her friends at the park (including a group shot where they are actually looking at the camera!), you can visit Logan's blog!

July 18

My post last year on this date is still one of my favorites. Not because of my stunning writing talent - but the content.

Last year, on July 18 - Karly finished her cancer treatment.

Surgeries - 5 rounds of chemo - a stem cell harvest - 33 days of radiation - numerous blood transfusions - at least 4 ER visits

ALL DONE.

Karly's been recovering for a year. She's still clean - free of cancer! And her strength and energy continues to improve.

Happy End of Treatment Anniversary, Karly!

Just for fun - some recent Karly pics:

She did so great - we got her a tattoo! (Ha ha, just kidding, Nana!)

Another Good Question

Ria gave me an essay quiz: What do you think is your biggest challenge in raising Ruby?


In some ways, raising Ruby has been pretty easy. When she was born, she qualified right away for birth-to-3. We knew what the supports in our area were, because we were already involved in many organizations with Karly (who has autism).

Then, we went crazy into research - I didn't want to miss anything or let anything get overlooked. But once we realized that Ruby was pretty healthy and our pediatrician was on the ball, we relaxed a bit more about that.

Now, while Ruby still has therapies and playgroups with our DS group friends, she's also in a regular music class for kids, and took a little tumbling class this summer, too. I think both are important.

Right now, Ruby's pretty easy. She's social and entertaining and funny. She still likes to cuddle when she's tired. She's whiny when she's bored, and she loves to get out of the house and see new things. She's stubborn and naughty sometimes (she keeps throwing stuff away, she climbs on the furniture and stands on it) but it's all pretty typical of a 2 year old.

I think my biggest challenge will be what happens when she enters school and the differences between Ruby & her peers are accentuated.

I think I'll have to make a conscious effort to let go and let her try - and fail & succeed on her own - because I don't want to hold Ruby back. I don't want to say, "Well, she can't do that because she has DS." I don't want to be the reason she would sit on the sidelines or not try something new.

But, it'll be a delicate balance - because if she needs extra support, we'll give her that, too - because I want Ruby to find her place in the world. I want her to soar.

I want to be the wind beneath her wings. (Hahahaha - SORRY. I just can't stay so serious for long. But I meant all the other stuff I said.)

Tumble Bugs

Ruby's little Tumble Bugs class at the gym finished this week. I have to admit, it was kind of strange at first - I was wondering why we were having the kids do some of the things they were doing.

But by this final week, Ruby KNEW the routine. In fact, at the end of class when she was getting tired - she walked out onto the mat and did her sign for dance - because we do a few song-dances at the end of class, and she was ready to be done.

And after 5 weeks of class, Ruby learned to walk backwards, run on a trampoline and jump off the end (into a foam block pit where the teacher was waiting), and bear crawl on demand (for a few steps).

She's showing off her pretty green ribbon she got at her last class!

Arts & Crafts

My kitchen has been turned into arts & crafts central since Monday, when Braden discovered the joys of Perler beads - you know the beads you can iron and then they "stick together, forever!" as Braden says.


Braden & I made alien people

And he made all of these - a heart, a picture frame and a rainbow

I made these under duress, because he insists I make them, too, while he's making his.

Today, I made a patchwork teddy bear and he made this beautiful horse (Shhh - don't tell Braden, but the horse's eyes make me giggle!!)

I think we're almost out of all the black beads, now, too. No surprise!

The most surprising part, however - is that Karly made all of these:


She stopped playing with these beads a while back, but when Braden started to really have fun with it, she didn't want to be left out.

Brian said Braden really is a good therapist - he gets Ruby running around, and now he's got Karly working on her fine motor skills.


Ummmm.... if you readers want more exciting posts than this, you'll have to ask more questions! (I do have a couple yet to answer that I'm working on! Beth - I will talk more about your question on Saturday, because that's an important date in the History of Karly!)

Bread

Does anyone have a breadmaker I can borrow? I want to play with one, before I buy one. Cuz they're pretty pricey to buy and THEN find out that you hate making bread.

UPDATED: I found one to use! Thanks :)

Help! A lizard is eating my son!

Braden brought his stretchy toy lizards on our little vacation last week - and they attacked him in the bathtub!

This kid never fails to entertain - he's a natural born comedian.

Did We Know?

This is great - I hope people keep asking questions I can turn into blog posts.

Janna asked if we knew about the girls having Down syndrome before they were born.

Nope - we didn't. But we had a clue (and yes, the girls were identical and both were diagnosed at birth w/DS). Lydia had a soft sign in an ultrasound - but we didn't look into further testing. We knew we wanted these babies, and we didn't feel an amnio was necessary, since they were so active.

I did have a triple screen bloodtest done, but that came back fine - they are notoriously inaccurate (and apparently even more so with multiples).

We found out we lost Lydia when the girls were almost 38 weeks along, and we'll never know why.

A Little Bit of Karly's Story

I realized a few months ago, I made a confusing comment about Karly on the blog. I can't find it now, but I think I referred to her adoption anniversary, and didn't explain it any further than that. Even people we know in real life were asking me if Karly was adopted - and she is, but she's not. Ha! How's that for confusing!?

I forget, though - I just assume everyone knows what I know!

Karly IS my biological daughter. I got pregnant when I was 19 and in college. It took me longer to finish college, but I eventually graduated, and Karly & I moved to WI, where I got a full-time teaching job. Karly was 5 when we moved - and she was 7 when I met Brian. In fact, we met Brian about a week after her 7th birthday, in November.

Then, that July we got married - Me, Brian & Karly. We even had a little ring for Karly during the ceremony. (If you're doing the math, yes, Brian & I got married 8 months after we met.)

Then, in February - Karly's adoption went through, and she is now officially Brian's as much as mine. Her biological dad had been out of the picture since she was a baby. Karly knows she has "an old dad" but she considers Brian her dad, and always calls him Dad - he's the only dad she's ever known in her life.

In fact, the only time it comes up any more is when we give medical history to a doctor. Karly's talked in the past about contacting her "old dad" someday - and I tell her we can do that when she's an adult if she wants to.

I don't have many of our wedding pics in my computer - but I have a couple - Karly looks like a long-legged little colt here!

Karly havin' a toast - of sparkling water :)

Your Turn

I'm very blah about blogging these days - I'm running out of ideas that don't include captioning cute pics of my kids.

Anyone have any questions for me? Anything you want to know but I've never covered??



And just for fun: Gratuitous cute pic of Miss Roooby

One Day

How many days after Karly returns from camp will it take before she is endlessly bored?

One. The answer is One Day.

Uno!

Facebook now has an Uno Application. Well, maybe they've had it for a long time - but we just discovered it.

Braden loves it. He rocks at it, too. He's super!

Do you think he's old enough for his own Facebook account? 'Cuz I'd really like mine back.

Livin the life of a Rock Star

Yesterday our little rock star had her 4 week follow-up to her ear tube placement procedure. Really?? It's been 4 weeks!? That's wild. Where does the time go?

Anyway, her ears look good, so we go back in 6 months unless there's a problem before then.

Wordless Wednesday: Ru & Boppa Bob

Shoes

When I was up north last week, I had a conversation with my cousin about shoe sizes, and I told her I wear an 8, but the shoes I had one were 8 1/2 - because I just bought them, and I bought them bigger, because I couldn't figure out the buckle to get them open while I was at the store and I was in a hurry, so I just bought the bigger size. That way - I can slip them right on!

I told my dad this later, and he laughed and told me I should probably stop telling people that story.

I probably should!