As you can see I just posted some pictures of Emily. Some are a little blury....she ever stops moving, so it is a it hard to get a good picture of her. Today she had PT and Al said that the PT put her on the mini treadmill to work on walking. Oh was she not having any of that. he said all she did was cry. She is big on "standing", but try and get her to move her feet...no way. You would think her feet were glued to the ground. She is now going to PT twice a month AND they made an extra appointment for just the treadmill. We'll see how that goes I guess.

Emily's New Glasses!

These are from about a month ago

Update

Ok...I know that I said I would post pics of Emily in her new glasses (which by the way are not called PolyFlex...they are called Mira Flex..oops) but I have been ridiculously busy and lazy at the same time. She is doing so much better with the glasses. It amazes me how they know that little babies need glasses, but she obviously did. She seems to notice a lot more. The glasses themselves have been wonderful! Everyone says that they are too cute, which I would have to agree. The PT even took the information for them and a parent at therapy was brought into the room to see them and get the info. I don't know how well they will work for her in the future as she grows, but for right now they are perfect : ) She is doing so great in all of her therapy sessions. Right now we are working on crawling and "cruising". The cruising is for when we put her standing at the table. She likes to do that and can stand for quite awhile, so the PT figured we could try the "cruising". She gets pretty crabby when it comes time to work on things like that. In fact, she has quite the little attitude. She likes to let out a loud scream if she doesn't get what she wants. It makes for a great time when you are trying to get her on her knees. Hopefully I will find the time and energy to post a pic of her in her glasses tomorrow. She is growing so much : )

Glasses

We took Emily to the Eye place on Saturday. The people there were wonderful! We walked in with her prescription and got helped right away. There were no forms to fill out, no questions to answer, nothing! She came out and spoke with us personally. She knew right away that I had called her earlier in the week and she knew we were looking for the Specs 4 Us/Erin's World glasses. She pulled out a couple of pairs to try on Emily, and we all decided together that they were just not for her at this point. They just looked a little goofy because she is so little. I then told her about the cute hard plastic pair that we had seen at the other place, and how big the arms were on them. She pulled out a pair of glasses that were called Polyflex (I think). They were hilarious...but cute at the same time. They are made out of a flexible plastic/rubbery stuff. You can bend them and twist them and drop them and they will not break. She showed us all of the colors and told us which ones didn't look so good and we decided on pink (of course). She took our insurance card, took the prescription, asked my address and phone # and that was it. I would recommend this place in a minute. Besides the glasses, we got Emily's 1year pics taken on Sunday. This place was great as well! They let you bring in different outfits and they let us bring in a cupcake for her to eat while in her diaper and a birthday hat. It was so funny. She got so excited, especially when Al put a little in her mouth. After she got one taste of it, it was all over. After this post I will post the pics from that day. The place was called Portrait Innovations...well worth it. Of course, we went a little overboard with the purchasing of them, but they do have very affordable packages. Other then those two things, we did nothing to interesting this weekend. Riley's soccer game was cancelled because of rain and Austin played football and actually had a few tackles. Well...I am going to post the pics now. Hope everyone has a good night!

Update

I have had many requests for some updates on little Em....so here goes (sorry been really busy). Emily is now sitting like a pro. She can even look back at you and not fall over! It is very exciting and such a relief to have her sit. She used to get so aggravated on her stomach, and of course we could not hold her at all moments of the day. Now we have to work on crawling. The PT gave some suggestions on how to help her reach that milestone, but she has not been so cooperative. She will get up on her knees for a second or two at times, but then just falls back down. She has this new way of getting around that involves her being on her back and kind of jumping up off of the ground, which in turn, makes her go backwards. It is quite cute, but not so cute when it comes to diaper changing time. I mentioned in the last post about her needing glasses, which has not happened yet. We went to a place the other day, but they said that the glasses that we likes could not be sized. What?! All of the other glasses looked horrible. The pair that we liked had arms that went like a inch past her ear, and they said that they couldn't cut them down. You would think that they would be able to do that, but whatever. We are going to a new place tomorrow to see what they have. This new place carries the specs for us, but they will not be free (which sucks). This place seemed to be more knowledgeable about Ds and glasses in general, so I am hoping that they have a pair like the ones we liked...and that they can size them. I am sure that glasses on a 1 year old always looks a little funny, but most of the glasses we tried on her looked ridiculous. Maybe they were all too big, who knows. Emily's birthday is coming up soon. I cannot believe that I have been blogging for so long. I cannot believe that Emily is going to be one. I cannot believe that almost one year ago, Al and I got the news that she had Ds and we just about lost it. Now, for the most part, I pay no attention to the Ds (with the exception of the therapies). Due to a busy schedule, we don't really go to the play groups anymore, and I don;t go to mom's night anymore. We have been so busy with the kids. It is so easy when kids are little because they have nothing to do. When they get older, it is like you are constantly running around with them. Between Riley and Austin, we have gymnastics, soccer and football. Football and soccer ends soon, so we are pretty happy about that. Riley just turned 6 in Sept, and is doing great in 1st grade. Austin turns 9 this month and is in the excel program at school and is doing wonderful as well. Emily will be 1 this month and keeps us on our toes. Well, I will post again Saturday or Sunday after Emily's eye appointment.

It's Official

So it is official....Emily needs glasses. I knew she did, Al knew she did, we all knew she did...we just didn't think that she would need them right now. Her pediatrician didn't seem too concerned about our concerns since she is still so young, but I just knew she wasn't seeing very well. When she was only a couple of months old, it was almost as if she was always looking past you. She never focused on you and if she did it was for a second or two. Within the past couple of months, she is focusing a lot more and seems to be able to see farther, but still not as good as she should be. After her 9 month checkup, her Dr. finally referred us to someone who has experience with children with Ds. Al took her today and her tear duct is blocked yet again (which we knew), she has a slight lazy eye and doesn't see very well. According to him, if she wears the glasses now, it will help correct the lazy eye and obviously help with her vision. As for the blocked tear duct, it happens all the time because everything is so small. He gave a prescription for some drops and mentioned a procedure that he does sometimes to help open it up for good...but we don't need to think about that right now. So as for the glasses, I looked online at the Specs4Us site and am hoping that insurance will cover them (not sure how all of that works). For those of you who do not know, Specs4Us is a site which has glasses made especially for children with Down syndrome. These glasses were created by a mom in our area. She has a daughter with Ds and noticed the need for a special type of glasses to fit our children's faces/noses. Hopefully we can get them soon. The Dr. wants to see her again at the end of Dec. to see how she is doing. It is going to be quite the task to keep them on her I'm sure, so I will keep you all posted as to how that goes.

Oh how Emily is growing! Like I said in the last post, it is so hard to imagine that she is going to be one. She is so teeny tiny for a one year old. I find myself sometimes having to remind myself that she is not a little baby anymore and that we can try things with her that we tried with our other children at age 1. As I am sure I have mentioned in the past, Emily is now on stage 3 food and even some regular table food. She loves green beans...of course they are cut up. We also found out today that she loves french fries with ketchup. She chews very well now, so we have been slowly introducing different foods that we eat. She cannot have big chunks of anything yet, but she is getting there. She is sitting up much better than the last time I wrote about it. She still tips over once in awhile, but not much. Life is so much easier now that we don't have to carry that crappy car seat everywhere. It is not easy carrying a 20 lb baby around in that thing. Not only is she sitting in the cart now, but now she is sitting in the highchairs when we go out to eat too. I think it makes her feel big because she gets so happy, bangs the table and smiles a lot. There is still no crawling, but it has to be coming soon. She can pivot all the way around when on her belly. She is still not napping too well which is horrible for Al, but he is managing. Every couple of days she will take a 3 hour nap for him which is nice. Other than that, not much is going on with little Em. As all of you know, she will be 1 on October 29th. Riley just turned 6 and Austin will be 9 on October 22.

Summer is over

The kids went back to school this week. Riley started yesterday and is now in the first grade. We talked to her on the phone last night after school and she was very happy. Her favorite part of the day was recess! Who would have thought?! She said she had a lot of fun and met a lot of new friends. Austin's first day was today. He transferred to a new school to be in the Excel gifted program, so I was a little worried how it would go. When he got home he said he had a good time. He met some new people, played at recess with two people that I guess came from his old school and already did work today. He likes his teacher which is a plus. As for me, I started my new job today. It was rough being away from Emily for the whole day, but I knew she was in good hands with her dad (he now works 3rd shift so that he can watch her during the day). I was a little worried that he may just pass out during the day from sleep deprivation, so I of course, had to call him every so often...but it went well. She had PT today and did great again. She gave us some ideas on how to help her crawl. Emily was way crabby at the end. She didn't want to cooperate or do anything. I told Al that that is a typical 1 year old attitude...lol. I cannot believe that she is almost one. I try my hardest not to compare her to other babies or to her brother, but it is really hard. I think back to Austin's first birthday party and I remember it like it was yesterday. I can remember what he was doing at that point and Emily is not doing any of that. It is kind of nice because I don't have to chase her all around, but at the same time, I want her to be there. Actually, I couldn't even imagine her walking right now anyways. She is so teeny, it would look hilarious. I can't compare...I know that....I am trying not to. She is her own person, and Ds or not, she will do things at her own pace. She has been working really hard and has accomplished a lot in her 10 months of life and for that I am so proud and happy : )

Summer Fun : )

Accomplishments

Up until today Emily has not been able to sit up on her own for more than 5 seconds, but today she was doing so great! She is pretty much sitting up, but now we just have to get her to realize that she can't throw herself backwards because she will fall and that she has to catch herself if she starts to tip over to the side. Once we get her to realize these things, she will be doing just fine : ) As for the crawling, still nothing...but that is ok. People always say that they wish their baby would crawl or walk, and then when they do...it is all OVER. You have to chase them around the house and make sure that they are not getting into anything. With Emily not crawling yet, it makes it much easier on me. Not that I don't want her to reach that milestone...I just like the fact that I can leave her on the floor while I run into the kitchen or to the bathroom and I know she isn't going to make it far. Other news, Emily has been on stage 3 food for awhile now and is doing great with it. Today I tried to give her Graduates...but only the macaroni. She did so well with it. She opened wide for every bite, she chewed very well and she swallowed like a champ then waited for more. She is about 9 1/2 months old for those of you who can't remember. She is already wearing 12 month clothes, although she still fits in some things that are 6-9...but not many. She is finally holding her own bottle (Thank goodness). I thought I was going to go crazy! It was getting so hard for me to feed her if we were in a store or restaurant, but now it is so easy! Who knew?! And finally...the big news is that she sat in a cart today on her own! WOO HOO!! I seriously have bruises all over my arms from holding that car seat and carrying into stores to lift it up into the cart. Today we figured since she was pretty much sitting up that we would try it. People were staring at us like we were crazy because she is so little. It looked like we had a 4 month old sitting up in the cart. You wouldn't believe the stares that we got. Oh well...she sat up the whole time very well...except for the part where she was letting out that loud screech that she does when she is getting upset or not getting her way...at that point we had to hold her. Man...the girl is not even ten months and knows how to work us already.

Austin started football this week so needless to say, we have been way busy. This is his first year and I didn't realize that it was almost an everyday thing. I figured one practice a week and then a game....nope....so far, four practices this week. Riley's gymnastics is almost over but then starts again soon after. Austin starts school in a couple of weeks. He is starting at a new school in their Excel program, so he is a little nervous. Riley will also be starting soon and will going into the first grade. CRAZY how fast they grow up. Emily is doing great. There is still no sitting or crawling or pulling up....but at her 9 month appt., the doc was pretty confident that she will be doing all of those things by the age of one (which makes me happy). As of Monday she weighed almost 17 pounds and was a little over 27 inches long. Pretty much in the 90th percentile in both. She is still clapping on command and occasionally just out of the blue. She has finally started napping just about everyday...great for me :) Our Buddy Walk team page is finally up and running. Not getting the response from family members that I expected but that is ok...we are getting there. Our Buddy Walk out here is on August 29th at Progressive Field. We are very excited to participate and meet lots of new people. Emily is fighting the nap today so I need to go and get her...until later...

Can she get a round of applause please!?

Today Emily had her second speech evaluation. Her first one was when she was almost 3 months old so there wasn't much done, but this one was great. I loved watching her interact with the ST. The ST evaluated her against a 6-9 month chart (she will be 9 months next week). She was pretty much on track with the chart with the exception of a few things that we have to work on. We still have to work on waving bye-bye, the clapping and object permanence (ex. looking for a toy under a blanket). I told the ST that we have been working on all of these and that we would continue. I have been working with Emily on clapping and waving for so long now. The ST reported that Emily is doing so well that she will not start therapy yet and will be reevaluated when she is 1. She believes that at that point, services will probably be started. She was very impressed that Emily is already on Stage 3 foods and that she can deal with the chunkiness of the food. So...getting to the meaning of my title. We drive home and Emily eats and I attempt to give her a nap (which didn't work today). After letting her cry for a few minutes to see if she was going to sleep I went to get her. I brought her downstairs and started playing with her and helping her clap. Then, I said, "Clap, clap, clap" and she clapped! I thought maybe it was a fluke so I said it again and she clapped again! We did this probably 6 times just so I could see that she was actually understanding what I was saying. This was such an exciting moment for me...I actually teared up. She is growing so fast : )