Happy July from our little patriot… Apparently, Gramby has been pledging allegiance to the flags on their walks. This little guy has got a memory like a steel trap. True, he has no idea what he is saying except that it goes with our flag, but I’m still proud of him. I hope he keeps this ability as he grows! Whitney tapping into her...
As of Monday, we have dropped Whitney out of summer school. While we had been excited about her continuing progress this summer since her preschool progress was so great, the summer situation the district offered just didn’t make sense for us. Why? Well, first off, the bus wanted to pick her up at 6:30am (for an 8am start time). um. no. None of us...
Zum abenteuer! (German “To the adventure!”) It’s been a phrase Tyler and I have used now since the dating years. This month we had separate big adventures: I went galavanting around Italy with my sister, and he held down the family fort at home. All in all, I am so proud of him (not to mention infinitely grateful) at how well he managed the kids,...
She graduated!!! …to another year of preschool, that is. She’ll be in the same classroom with the same teaching team with a few of the same classmates next year. One big change is that Dylan will be doing private preschool at the classroom next door (they share the playground) for two mornings each week. We are very happy with how this year went for...
My apologies for the dead air for the past two weeks. A combination of busy calendar and kids testing my limits with yet another round of nap wars (sprinkled with a heap of general consistent defiance) have buried my blog thoughts a few rungs down on the priority list. But I’m going to survive. There’s hope. Lately…. The kids break through our slider onto...
Boy’s got some extra spunk. A few new things for him this past week: first blimp spotting. “Woah! MOMMY! Look at that!” and then he tried to explain it to Whitney later “something on Mommy and Dylan’s head, in the air, …” He repeatedly declares “I have an idea….[yes?]…it’s something…..it’s silly” and before ever getting to the idea he says the same thing about...
Whitney has so much joy. She delights in the simple things. She loves people and joining in with whatever the fun is. She really enjoys her life. She has her own ideas of what she wants (and is typically stubborn about getting it). I love hearing her laugh. I’m constantly reminded how worthwhile her life is. It’s worthwhile of her delighted experience of it,...
In response to my post about finding out Whitney’s Down Syndrome diagnosis, I was interviewed by 4Word Women about dealing with unmet expectations in motherhood. The interview came out today – check it out here! Work, Pray, Love. 4Word Women is a site geared toward professional women seeking balance in career, relationships, and faith. ...
Here’s a little shout out to my desert family. I married and changed my name to match theirs almost 10 years ago, and throughout the years have learned more and more about what it means to be one of the family. I understand better their language of love, the strength of their bond, and have come to appreciate some of the family favorites and...
Unfortunately, timeliness is not my forte. I’ve been that person sliding into the back seats of the lecture hall and running through the airport terminal carrying my shoes because I didn’t even have time to put them on after the security lines. Each time, I’m kicking myself for letting it happen again. Wrangling kids only amplifies the timeliness challenge – although they also buy...
My photography group introduced me to double exposures recently, taking two photos on top of each other (same “frame” if it were film). I was inspired by the silhouette portrait images I saw on this tutorial here and have been playing around with it ever since. It’s been a tricky skill to learn, so I’m showing some of the progression here. First I went out in...
[Great] Grandma turned 90 earlier this month. We were lucky to be with her on her special day. We consider ourselves lucky to be with her any sort of day! I was struck with how beautiful 90 years is. Grandma is the youngest of 11 from farmland South Dakota. She and Grandpa left farming and set roots in Southern California to raise their family,...
Hello Friends and Family…we dropped off the grid in the desert for Spring break for a while there. Four 6-hour drives, a 90th birthday party, swimming in 60 degree water, and an egg hunt later we are re-acclimating to our normal life at home. Here’s a little re-cap from our Easter day – which we spent with Tyler’s parents in Phoenix. First time aware...
Lord help us. We have some stubborn kiddos. We are in a stage where they want to do everything by themselves, but can’t quite do it yet…or can’t do it in any reasonable about of time. This is true for everything from getting dressed and buckled in car seats to pulling the wagon and pouring their own milk. Oh that I would be more...
Sleep for our little guy has been a challenge for the past month, we’ve tried a few different methods to help him quiet down and fall asleep. Tyler started reciting poems to him (I love this side of my husband, my Renaissance Man). A few days into this new attempt Tyler called me in “Michelle, listen to this” and he started the lines of...
Tyler’s out of town for most of this week. Nothing like travel and having to dust off the super suit alone for a few days to remember how much I absolutely love and appreciate my husband. The kids are constantly asking for Daddy. Where is he? What’s he doing? Declaring that he’s working or perking up and saying “Daddy’s home!” Nope, he’s not honey....
It was March 23, 2010 when they told us our baby would have Down syndrome. I was 4 months pregnant. The news was devastating. It’s very fresh in my mind still, what it felt like. I can go there, my heart wide open. It was a season of mourning – grief for the typical baby I thought I was having, as well as a...
It’s 3/21 – World Down Syndrome Day (in honor of the 3 copies of the 21st chromosome) Perhaps we will celebrate by ordering framed portraits of our family karyotypes. How crazy is this – the other day I stumbled across a biologist/artist who makes custom artwork out of photographs of DNA. I’d be totally interested in seeing what our karyotypes look like. He sends...
Some mornings promise particularly good hair days. As I poured Dylan’s cereal he said “You’re a good helper, Mommy.” Why thank you, son. It’s nice to be appreciated. Daddy fixed Whitney a taste of green tea, she liked it! We all wore green…well, at least I planned to but I never made it out of my workout clothes. Whitney ate her weight in...
I thought I was going to write a post today about what a significant day this is for our family, being the anniversary of Whitney’s heart surgery (read about it here and here). Yes, one year ago was a huge day for us – both insanely difficult emotionally, and positively wonderful to be be on the other side of it and confident in her...
Non-parents forgive me, it doesn’t make sense and is probably not very interesting, but I am all-consumed and can’t help but sharing that it’s Nap War II around here (not to be confused with Nap War I: the crib escape). The Dude has all but given up his nap…and has been fighting bedtime as well. He used to sleep at least 12.5 hours out...
March has become a significant month for me in the past few years…carrying the anniversaries of my top two most difficult experiences: in March 2010 we found out our baby would have Down syndrome (I’ve been wanting to write that post for a while now – stay tuned for it’s release in the next few weeks), and in March 2013 Whitney had open heart...
Last weekend we enjoyed a beautiful visit with my Aunt and Uncle and spent a lovely afternoon outside at the park with some friends. I tested out some spots at the lake for an upcoming family session and came home feeling like I had a double shot of espresso because of how energized and excited I felt about playing photography. Whitney decided she wanted...
Whitney had her first ballet class on Thursday. 45 minutes, 1 teacher, 17 girls between 3 and 8 years old. I was amazed at the class! The teacher is fantastic, leading the kids through real ballet (I mean real…french, twirls, arabesques, spotting) in a fun way that they were all trying their hardest to mimic. I really like how it was taught. Whitney did okay. ...