Friday, June 18, 2010

Happy Birthday Kylee!

I can't believe my baby is 1 year old! If only i could have seen a glimpse into the future when she was born, i would have seen how silly i was to be afraid to have a child with down syndrome. When Kylee was born and i found out that she had down syndrome, i was completely devastated. I really honestly thought that her diagnosis was the worst thing to happen to me. I didn't know much about down syndrome, basically all i knew of was outdated information. In this past year, i have realized that my feelings were shared among many mothers who also received the down syndrome diagnosis for their child. Also, in this past year i have witnessed what an absolute blessing Kylee is! Yes having a child with down syndrome comes with extra work which involve therapy appointments and for some extra doctor's visits, but what you get in return is so so worth it! With any child there are going to be challenges. Sometimes, i think the challenges with Kate and her 5yr old attitude are greater than with Kylee. Don't get me wrong, Kate is a great child and is sweet, caring, loving, funny, but she can also have a attitude as well. The accomplishments that Kylee achieves are so much greater because of the all the hard work that is put into it. I am amazed at how far Kylee has come! Going in for open heart surgery at 7 months old was definitely the scariest thing i have been through, but she sure showed us how strong she was by only being in the hospital for 4 days. I could go on and on about how great having Kylee is, but i will keep it short. She is an absolute joy! She wakes up happy and has the biggest smile on her face, her grin is from ear to ear! She has already become an attention seeker and loves to get a laugh out of others! She loves to dance, play and hardly ever cries! I truly feel like i am the luckiest mom when it comes to my girls! Happy birthday to my sweet, precious Kylee! We love you soo very much!  
 
from being in mommy's belly
to the NICU after being born
just plain cute
after OHS
learning to sit
trying to crawl
being cute again
                                            to just being an absolute angel!

  Ok, so the second to last pic is of Kate at Kylee's age, but i just can't get over the similarities!
          
 Kylee just loves to dance as soon as we play this song.  She could be crying but the second she hears it, she starts bouncing!
                       

                                

Saturday, June 12, 2010

My Girls Are Getting So Big!

I can't believe it! Both Kate and Kylee are growing up way too fast.

Kylee will be turning 1 in just a couple weeks. It just doesn't seem possible. I know i have said it before but she is such a happy baby! I think she has already tried to use it to her advantage. For example, when it is time for bed and she doesn't want to go to sleep, she will bounce up and down on my lap when i am trying to rock her and then she will laugh and stare at me hoping to get a reaction out of me. She is still doing really well in regards to her health. She will follow up with the cardiologist on July 12th for a sedated echo to get a good look at her heart function. She just got her cranial band to help fix the flatness to her head. So far she has fussed or really payed too much attention to it. They estimate she will have to wear it for 3-4 months, but i think once we notice a difference where it isn't noticable, then we won't have her wear it anymore. Developmentally she has been doing great! She started to do an army crawl and she also has been bearing alot of weight on her legs(which 20lbs of Kylee is alot of weight!).  Edited to add, since i started this post(almost a week ago), Kylee has figured out how to crawl the right way and she gets going pretty fast when she sees something she wants.  She just got braces to support her ankles for standing and when she moves onto walking because her ankles have a tendency to turn out.

I am still amazed at how well Kate has progressed in preschool. She had her graduation this past Wednesday. For a child who likes to talk non-stop and is loud, she sure was really shy and quiet when it came to reciting her lines for the school play. She seemed to be bored as well, as i noticed her pick her nose on a few occasions and let out a few big yawns. Oh well at least she wasn't the only one. She received an award from her teacher called the "radical reader award" because of how well she can read. We are amazed to see how well she can read and the words she reads, for example she asked daddy what psychology means? She was able to read all the kindergarden words without a problem. She also had her dance recital last weekend and she was so excited to get dressed up and put makeup on.  Lastly, she lost her 2 front bottom teeth and the new teeth are already coming in.  She was soo excited when the tooth fairy came as well as seeing her new teeth!

I guess i got a little picture happy!



                                           showing off where her teeth fell out
posing as usual before her dance recital


on stage with some of the other dancers
at her graduation play, Kate is in the yellow shirt
after getting her diploma
with her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Courtney
this is the new face Kylee likes to make, so funny!

 it was also after taking her cranial band off, hence the wild hair

here are a few pics from our photo session for Littlest Heroes Project
done by a great photographer, Melody!