Blah, Blah, Blah, Even Though I Know You Want To Know

Jen,

A lot has happened these past two weeks so there is much to share about the girls.

Catina continues to LOVE kindergarten and is disappointed on Saturdays when she is not going. We miss her, though, and June asks for her often throughout the day.

Really the only kink in this whole kindergarten thing is that Catina doesn't like to go to the bathroom in public so she holds it the ENTIRE day. Many of us, including Catina's teacher, are trying to encourage her to give it a try. Her teacher has been so amazing in standing outside the door while she tries but she still hasn't gone. My fear is infection or an accident so hoping this is resolved soon.

A lot is going on with June that is exciting as well. It looks like she will be graduating to a new speech therapy regimine where she will attend a parent tot class with me once a week and then go to a speech therapist on our her own for a 25 minute session. I really think June will stretch and grow as we proceed this way. I'm also really hoping that all works out and her speech therapy can be right after the parent tot class so we can free up another morning. Right now we only have one morning a week free and this really limits our time seeing friends or running errands. For the next few weeks June will be tested for her receptive and verbal language as well as her articulation.

Catina's picture day outfit and June's first day of school get-up.

Today we switched ear molds on June's hearing aids. We used to go to the doctor's office to have those attached for us but our audiologist was nice enough to show me how to do it to save the extra trip. The girls always love playing with the old ear molds and pretending they are audiologists. I've kept all of them from the tiniest until now. It's amazing to see how much ears grow!

I'm waiting for June to want a different color but she doesn't really seem to care so I always pick pink glitter.

Ada had her eye appointment. They told me it would take up to 2 1/2 hours but we were out in 1! She doesn't need glasses right now and although she has an astigmatism, the doctor said that he wouldn't really put her in glasses until she was ready and willing to wear them. Her vision was good enough to not need them. Yay for not having to keep track of glasses!

Ada sleeping in the waiting room as she waits for her eyes to dilate.

I am so grateful for how healthy Ada is. Whenever we would pray for Ada in my womb I never prayed that she wouldn't have Down syndrome but always prayed she'd be healthy. I don't know why the Lord has granted my request but I thank Him and praise Him for doing it!

Ada is now sitting up for moments at a time on her own. She rolls every which way to get herself places and has begun to rock on all fours. Some nights we don't sleep as well because Ada likes to jibber jabber to herself. She's not upset, just talking! I think her and Catina will have a lot in common.

Children's hospital tunnel to the parking garage.

Last but not least I had to share that after seeing my hair look like Farah Fawcett I decided to get bangs and color my hair my red annual fall color. Some of the young guys Greg spends time with call me the hipster Mom now and I'll gladly accept the title minus the vegan food.

Of course when my hair dresser does my hair it looks much straighter but this is the reality of the day to day.

Well, blah, blah, blah with the update but I know you and others like to hear what is going on. In a couple of weeks we will be walking our first Buddy Walk. It's a walk for people with Down syndrome. If any local friends are interested in walking with us you can join our team here. Our team is called Ada's Amigos and we plan to dress up. You can also give money to our walk here. We really haven't told the world about the walk only because it's our first one and we don't want people to feel the pressure to come. On the other hand, I'd hate to have people find out after and wished they were invited.

I'll leave you with this fun giggling video of Ada.

Ann

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Ann,

Thanks for the updates! As often as we talk I didn't know most of this. Guess that proves we don't really get to share a whole lot in our 2-minute phone calls with kids screaming in the background!

Jen

Jen