Pet Peeve

When I decided to write each day this month I asked for suggestions for topics. Only one person was kind enough to give me options. Luckily, one of the ideas struck a cord with me, especially recently. Please forgive my minor rant.

I'm tired of blogs. Not tired of writing this one, but tired of reading them. About 80% of the blogs I read seem so fake. And trust me, I read a lot of blogs. I read family blogs, and blogs of friends, scrapbooking blogs and blogs I come across just by following links. But to me, 80% seem just unreal.

I like things to be real. I like knowing the truth. Why wouldn't I? I like reading that I'm not the only one with frustrations with my kids. I like people I can identify with. I like it when people keep it real. I'm not finding that with the blogs I'm reading. The stories about kids are all about how cute they are and what was so adorable about them that day. They have perfect pictures showing smiles and laughs with perfect backgrounds. They talk about how wonderful life is and how lucky they are.

Is that real? I don't doubt that people are happy and their kids make them happy and their children are cute. But I do question whether that's what their life is like day in and day out. Unfortunately, I will never know. I only read about the perfection. Never the trials or the rough days. Why is that? It doesn't make a mom or a family any less happy if they have rough times. It makes them more identifiable, more real, and more human. I need that. I need to know that there are people out there with real everyday problems, real trials with their kids and that their life isn't perfect.

So, here's what I'm asking for. I doubt that the blogs I read will change, but I'm asking for someone to direct me somewhere so I can read more blogs that I can identify with. I don't mind reading about the happy go lucky families that claim their lives are perfect, but I need the "real" stuff more. So, suggestions??

Thanks for listening. I promise tomorrow I'll write about how perfect my kids are. HA!

Total Slacker

Alright, so my intentions were good. I really had planned on a post a day. But coming up with topics that are somewhat interesting is tough. I had a total brain block all weekend and couldn't come up with anything enlightening. I'm still not sure I have a great topic today, so it will just be a quick post to tell you about my favorite things that happened today.

Dylan, Isaac and I are now spending our days downstairs. This allows for the kids to roam free and play with all their toys and for me to do some digital scrapping in my office, or play with them. I'm trying to choose to play with them more often.

I love to watch Dylan play with her brother. She has so much patience with him and doesn't even get upset when he encroaches on her territory. There were a few precious moments that I wish I had my camera for today, but unfortunately I didn't.

Dylan sat on the floor and read a story to Isaac. Actually it was more, pressing the buttons so the music would play, but regardless, Dylan went and found the book and sat on the floor next to him and turned the pages while pressing the appropriate keys. I loved watching them "read" this story together.

Later, Isaac was on my lap and Dylan came to sit beside me on the couch. She scooted real close, leaned over and gave Isaac a kiss on the head, then put her arm around him the way I always put my arm around her. It was a priceless moment to be sitting with both my children so close and have my daughter show such affection for her brother.

Lastly was tonight. Again, we were playing in Dylan's room and Isaac was a little fussy. Dylan went and grabbed a musical toy, sat down right in front of Isaac, kissed his head and said "sshhh Isaac, it's okay" and proceeded to show him how to play with the toy. They must have played like that for 10 minutes.

I sat in the rocking chair watching them, and wondered how in the world I got so lucky.

"Bye Bye"

He speaks.

You may scoff and say, "no way," but, Isaac speaks.

During our stay in California a few weeks ago Isaac started to wave bye bye. Or hello. Whenever grandma or I would wave, Isaac would respond with a wave in return. It was so cute to watch him get excited as he learned this new trick. Todd didn't believe us for a day or two, but then he saw Isaac in action and decided that my mom and I weren't crazy after all.

As his waving has improved (he now has more control over his movements) he's also started to say "bye, bye." Dylan waves "bye, bye" to Isaac whenever she walks away from him and she always accompanies the wave with the words "bye, bye." At night when we tell Dylan to say goodnight to her brother, she wave, says "night, night" followed by "bye, bye." And Isaac waves and says "bye, bye" back to her. The first time or two I didn't believe it, and thought I must be imagining things but last night, Todd heard it too. He looked at me and wondered if Isaac said "bye, bye" and I knew I wasn't making things up. Isaac says "bye, bye" to Dylan.

He might have said "mama" yesterday, and I thought maybe he said it today, but I know that Isaac's first word is "bye" and it's reserved only for his big sister.

"Go, Go, Go"

Those were the words coming out of my tear-stained daughters mouth when we went to see the dentist.

Most of you know Dylan had a little accident in California a few weeks ago and jammed her teeth up into her gums. Yesterday was the follow-up appointment with her local dentist.

I think Dylan has a sixth sense. The minute we walked in the door her whole attitude changed. She just stood in the middle of the room and didn't move. I talked to her and got no response, the receptionist tried, and nothing. The hygenist tried, and she stood stock still in the middle of the entrance. I finally had to pick her up and carry her into the back room.

The minute she saw the dentists chair, she started crying and whining and pointing at the door saying "Go, go, go!" It broke my heart.

It turned into a very familiar visit. Again she sat on my lap, again she screamed and fought, and again I had to hold her down so the dentist could get inside her mouth. Thankfully he was quick and the fact that she was screaming made her mouth open nice and wide for him.

The prognosis was good, sort of. I shouldn't say that. It was good, but her two front teeth are gray and the dentist told us that they could either lighten up or darken. That helps, doesn't it? He also said that it looked like one had dropped a little bit back into place, that we still weren't out of the woods regarding them needing to be pulled and that she could finally go back to eating her normal, everyday foods. Yeah!!!

Poor Dylan hated this visit and it was such a fast one. I wonder what's going to happen in three weeks when she goes in for her first cleaning!

Stay tuned...

Lucky Dog!

If you've ever been in our house, you know that we have a gate at the top of our stairs and one leading into the kitchen as well. These gates are for two distinct reasons: 1) they keep the kids contained, and 2) they keep Michael out of areas we don't want him in.

When Dylan started crawling we noticed she was picking up quite a bit of dog hair. Not just anywhere though; in her slobbery hands, in her mouth and stuck to her clothes. As new parents we were sure that being covered in dog hair was not a good thing, but eating it was worse. So the gates went up.

These gates assured us that once we gave the floor a good scrubbing, and the basement the once- or twice-over with the vacuum, Dylan was safe. And, soon after Dylan was walking, Isaac was on the floor so the gates stayed in place, the kids stayed contained and Michael was stuck wherever we wanted him to be.

Well, in the last week Todd and I have started to make some changes around the house. Each day poor Dylan wakes up to find that something new has happened in her home. Yesterday it was to find there was no more tv with breakfast (the tv was removed from the room) and today she went to open the gate to the kitchen, walked right through and then stopped and stared at where she just came from.

The gate was gone.

She looked at me with a puzzled frown, looked again where the gate was supposed to be, then climbed into her chair for breakfast. After those first few seconds of confusion she was fine and realized the freedom this entailed. No more asking mom and dad to open the gate. She could just go wherever she wanted (except through the gate at the top of the stairs).

We came back into the kitchen for lunch, and again the look of confusion before climbing into her chair.

That's when it happened.

You know those commercials or tv shows where the little kid is feeding the dog under the table?? That could have been filmed in our kitchen. Dylan decided she didn't want her chicken nuggets today for lunch and since Michael now has the same freedom as Dylan, he was the lucky recipient of not one, not two, not even three chicken nuggets. He got all five of them. And he got to lick Dylan's fingers!

For a dog that hasn't been allowed in the kitchen for almost two years, he sure made up for it today, and if I had to guess, will continue doing so as long as the kids can sneak food under the table.

31 for 21

I have to say I found this idea on Whit's blog, but I did know that October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month.

A few months ago Whit called to tell me one of her oldest friends had a little girl with Downs. It was totally unexpected and obviously, a huge shock. Then on Sunday Todd and I found out that friends of ours are expecting their third child in March and their little girl will have Downs as well. Again, a shock, but this time they will be emotionally and mentally prepared to bring this beautiful girl into the world.

So, what is 31 for 21?

The idea is to blog every day for the next 31 days to try to bring more awareness for Downs Syndrome, and Trisomy 21 to be exact, to anyone and everyone we can.

I'm not sure I can do this because I don't have a lot of excess blogging material to use, so I'm going to need your help. Add a comment and leave me some topics to cover. Ask questions you'd like me to answer or anything else I can blog about.

This is the goal, let's hope I can reach it. For more information, you can go here.

The Magic Number

Last night, after putting the kids in bed, Todd and I were playing an intense game of dominoes when we heard a "thump." I heard a little cry and was up and running immediately. After that first cry, there was total silence. Todd wondered which room it came from, but I knew.

It was Dylan's.

By the time we got to her door, she had got her breath back for the next wave of cries. And she was sitting on the floor. Hence the "thump." Dylan had fallen out of her crib.

Now, why is two the magic number??

Two times in the last two days we've been asked by two different people if Dylan climbed out of her crib. We've proudly answered each time with a "no" resulting in shock from those that asked the question.

Add to that, Dylan finally attempted this feat at two years, two weeks and two days old.

Who says two isn't her Magic Number?