Bennett's 1 Year Checkup...

So here are the stats:

19.4 pounds -75% on the DS charts, 10% on the typical

27.5 length- 25% on the DS charts, 5% on the typical :(-he's a tiny little guy.

Ears looked good as far as fluid, we'll get them checked soon (recommended every 6 months I think for kids with DS)

Heart sounded great- the ped. could not hear any residual leaking sound or murmur so that's wonderful!

She wrote me a script for private PT and I'll be asking for a different PT all together at his 1 year evaluation with Early Intervention. I'm just looking for someone with a lot of experience with kids with Down syndrome and I think we need to really step in up in the PT department.

Bennett will also be getting Speech/Developmental Therapy once a week instead of twice a month. So it will be OT once a week, PT once or maybe twice a week and then ST once a week-whew, that's a lot but at this point I think it's necessary.

Bennett also has some issues with his testicles :(- poor little guy, I think it may require surgery, basically they are up too high and they need to come down and since they haven't come down on their own, that's what he needs the surgery for. We'll go for a consult and see what the surgeon says. I asked the ped if this was a minor or major surgery, (compared to open heart surgery) and she said extremely minor compared to that so I think we can handle it;)

So at a year Bennett can:

-clap

-play "so big"

-turns when he hears his name

-can sign "eat" and I think "all done"

-waves "hi" sometimes

-rolls everywhere

-bear some weight on his legs

-can sit up for an extended period of time

-get to his tummy from a sitting position to get to a toy

-working on getting up to sitting from his tummy-he needs assistance but I think he'll get this soon

-pivot all around

-pull knees up under and pushes up to crawling position with a little assistance and then rocks

-will eat a graham cracker and sip from a straw cup {some}- working on his self feeding and he's slowly getting better-he's on all stage 3's and tolerates large lumps like shredded cheese, carrots, diced apples but will not pick them up on his tray;(

So it is what it is. Being a super control freak and a tad obsessive compulsive about things, Bennett is the one area of my life I really don't obsess about. I mean I want the best for him and will do whatever I can to get him the best services but as far as his development, I don't obsess over what he's not doing compared to other typical children. He has Down syndrome for goodness sake! Sure, if I read about another little baby his age with Down syndrome doing something I may get a little anxious and wonder why Bennett isn't doing that-let's admit it now, you know you do that if you're in my shoes. But I'm not nervous about his yearly evaluation because stressing over it isn't going to make him magically do something. He'll do it when he's good and ready and I'll be there to help him but I've decided to not let it overtake my every thought.

It's only going to get harder from here but I think if we take it day by day and not let the future creep into our thoughts so much, we'll be fine. And who knows, maybe the future won't be like I've envisioned, this first year has been nothing like I thought it would be so I have a feeling Bennett will surprise us:) Just taking it day by day.

Beginning of Summer and Graduation!

Well it's finally warming up around here and it's been down right hot this week so Ainsley had a playdate with her friend Ellie and we decided to bring out Mr. Crab! The girls had a blast but I can't say the same for Bennett. Once his chubby legs touched the water he screamed and was not having it! So he sat close by in the shade and watched...

Much better! Poor thing, he's used to warm bath water and I try to throw him in cool (I tried to let it warm up in the sun for a few hours) water from the hose, not a happy fella. I got some really cute pics of him sitting on the steps but this one is becoming his signature look I'm afraid...

I'm telling you he'll do this one second and in next shot he's smiling and vice versa- so funny!!

Later in the day we had my baby girl's preschool graduation!! Can't believe she's going to be in kindergarten!!!

Looking so grown up in her little cap;(

Holding her "diploma" with her Daddy.

And then with mommy and brother.

After graduation we took Ainsley to dinner and then for some ice cream! It was 93 degrees when we left the restaurant at 7 pm so ice cream was the perfect treat!

Ainsley wanted one last picture of her in her cap and of course Harper refused to move:)

Congratulations Ainsley! You're growing up way too fast!

We have one last thing this week and it's big- Ainsley first dance recital!! I'll be sure to share pics but unfortunately none of the actual recital- we've got a rather strict dance instructor (not necessarily with the little girls just the older ones) and she runs a tight ship so I'll just have some of her in the adorable costume!

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend- we'll be in recital mode!

A "Crabby" Birthday Party-Part 2 (The Important Stuff!)

So now the important part of the party-friends and cake pictures!

Our friends Scott and Alex showed up in these cute crab hats-lol-this couple is hilarious! The kids loved these!

In the garage making our crab craft. Can I just tell you that this was not in my plan either, to be in the garage for the craft and we did a major overhaul of the garage (it was a disaster!) right before the party-talk about stress!

All the kids with their crabs!

For the record, I did not purchase my shirt for the party-LOL! I actually already had it and it was just one of those things that worked perfectly-love it when that happens!;) Now on to the cake...

Eagerly anticipating his cake-Ha!

Umm, what is that mom?

DO NOT try to make me smash it because that's not happening! And I know it's not a toy!

So after several attempts to get Bennett just to touch his cake, I fed a little to him with a spoon (we have some self feeding issues we're working on:)) He's thinking about it and touching it in this pic.

And...no, he's not having it-here comes the pout!

More pouty lip.

I must add that Bennett uses his pouty lip quite often now, however that's all it usually takes and he knows it-no need to all out cry, just show them the lip and they'll stop. The girls scream too loud-pouty lip. Something startles him-pouty lip. A stranger approaches-pouty lip. Mommy feeds him something he doesn't approve of- pouty lip, you get the idea but it's so darn cute!

Here I'm saying "lets try a cupcake Bennett!" -thinking maybe he would like the buttercream icing better. Just look at him look at that cupcake-pouty lip is about to make it's appearance once again! And again... no, he wasn't having it. Everything really was good Jeannie, don't be offended by Bennett's pouty lip;)

And the chaos of all the kids wanting their own piece of cake and Bennett smiling now that the pressure was off of him!

We then opened presents and Bennett loved this but most of the pictures are of him swarmed by little girls and covered in tissue paper, like this one...

So funny!

Here we are after opening all his gifts- he was a happy little boy!

Thanks again to all our friends for the wonderful gifts and for helping us celebrate Bennett's 1st birthday! And thanks to all of you that join us from afar in computer land-you've watched Bennett grow this past year as well and we appreciate all your sweet comments and encouragement!

A "Crabby" Birthday Party-Part 1 (All Things Crab!)

So I'm going to do this in two parts because we got lots of cute pics of Bennett's big day to share. I need to start off, however, with the actual day itself (before the party). You see I've been planning this for months, envisioning the perfect party for Bennett- outside on our patio, with friends, kids, all the cute crab stuff and the one big thing-SUN. Yep, I started watching the weather like a hawk on the Monday before his party and it was iffy. But as the week went on it got better and looked like just cloudy weather with absolutely no rain so really, was there a need for a plan B? Not when you're a perfectionist and you've had the perfect party planned in your head! I checked the weather several times the morning of-still cloudy but warm and NO RAIN until Sunday.

The sun started to peek through the clouds and Ainsley and I did a little happy dance and we brought more stuff outside. And then it started to get really cloudy again. And I checked the weather about 2 hours before the party but it drastically changed and they were calling for light showers from 4-6pm- the party started at 4:30! To make a long and stressful story short, we frantically put up tents because it called for LIGHT showers/DRIZZLE but about 40 minutes before it was to start, the sky opened up and the rain began to POUR {what the heck happened to light showers and drizzle weather man!!??}, all.over.the.decorations. I was in tears. I mean it's not like I had pony and elephant rides for the kids but you know how it is, right?

So I pulled myself together (Mike's saying "yeah, riiight" when he reads this) and quickly went with plan B-which never really existed by the way. Sigh. I know it's not important and our friends don't care, we don't need to impress them because they're our friends and that's what friends are all about but still:( Anyways, I thought I'd share everything crab that was at the party with ya'll...

Okay first, I just had to share this one. Here is Bennett opening up his family gifts that morning and Harper is so upset because she really wanted to "help" Bennett open them, only she was ready to rip right into them and not give him a chance. He's got his pouty lip out because he isn't pleased with her loud crying-LOL.

Here he is in the crab pool I found at Target-this was obviously outside for the party with a bunch of cute crab squirters for the kids-didn't get to do that though;( But he loves it- should be fun this summer when we can't make it to the big pool!

The outfit that inspired it all!  I made it.

The crab invites (info. blocked out-obviously) from zappos.com

The kitchen table that decorated at the last minute as rain poured down{boo-hoo}. I have to give credit to Mike because as I was crumbling under the pressure-lol-he whipped up 3 awesome dips in minutes just before the guests arrived.

My friend Jeannie did it again by making Bennett this awesome crab cake!

And a cute little smash cake too!

She also made yummy cupcakes and I added these crab cupcake toppers that I purchased from here.

Cute crab banner from the same etsy shop as the cupcake toppers.

More crab goodies!  The lobsters crabs were from Giant (grocery store)-they kind of looked like crabs:) I also did a cute crab craft with the kids- you can see the little styrofoam crab in this pic-got the idea from searching on-line. They seemed to enjoy it:) Bubbles were from the dollar store in the wedding section and I even found some crab lollipops from here.

These awesome monogram cookies I got here.

Crab totes for the favors (found them at Christmas Tree Shop for nothing-well not nothing but you know what I mean!) and more crab stuff-squirters (Doller store), beach critters sand toys.  The crab gift tags were from the same place as the banner and cupcake toppers.  And the tiny crab cut out confettis that I put everywhere were from here.

And if you look hard enough, you can even find a crab bib!  Dollar section at Target.

So you know I had to dress the entire family up in crab attire! {Minus Mike:)}

And then my friend Jenni made these adorable thank you cards and address stickers (info. blocked out again). I love the little saying "I could just pinch you" that she added- too funny!

All in all the party went great and no one cared that we were inside, bumping into each other (except for me but I got over it) and I'll share pictures from that in the next post- too many pics all at once!

I definitely learned my lesson in being flexible with this party, that's for sure!

And to always have a solid plan B!! Oh and to not really trust the weather man;)

Happy Birthday Bennett!

Today Bennett is 1!!!

Bennett you've made me a better person and for that I am truly grateful. May you always have that sweet, sweet smile on your face with those sparkling, chocolate brown eyes that could melt anyone's heart. We're so excited to celebrate your big day today!!

Stay tuned for Bennett's "Crabby" birthday party pictures to follow!!!

For Bennett...

Cannot believe he's going to be 1 in just a couple of days. I hope you'll take a few minutes to watch this montage I made for him of his first year with us. In case it's not obvious, we think Bennett's pretty cool. Turn up your volume:)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bennett Meets Colin!!

So when I started this blog I had no idea of the "friends" I would make through the many other blogs I follow. There truly are some wonderful people that I would love to meet one day along with their adorable children! Well, Sunday we got to do just that- we met Colin and his mommy and daddy, Kelli and Chris from Love For Colin!! We drove down to the beach and spent the day with this cute little boy and had so much fun!

At first the boys had to check each other out, you know poke faces, pull hats and then try to pull off their own hat;)

And then it was like they had known each other for years! Just look at Colin's hand on Bennett's shoulder!

Me and my bub.

Colin has mastered the clap and every once in a while he would get Bennett to sorta clap. Colin also had this adorable laugh, although a tad loud for Bennett's taste- a couple of times Bennett would just look at Colin after he laughed loud and would stick out his pouty lip to cry-LOL-it was hilarious!

The girls had a blast as well! They were so excited to put on their suits and play in the sand!

Kelli with Bennett

Here I am with Colin- he is too sweet!

It was so nice meeting Kelli and Chris-definitely have to do it again!

My girls
Lovin' the beach

Bathing Beauties

As the day came to a close we were able to catch up with an old friend of ours from college- Mike's college roommate Pat and his wife Kate and their son Grayson! We haven't seen Pat in over 8 years, maybe longer so it was really nice to see him again and it happened at the last minute but so cool that it worked out. And they will live just around the corner from Kelli and Chris when they move! Such a small world! We didn't get a picture though:( but I think we'll be back to the beach now that we have 2 sets of friends to visit!

Thanks again Kelli, Chris and Colin for such a fun day at the beach!