Seven Snippets Fridays, #5

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Claire is making an appearance on her friend Wyatt's blog today.  Wyatt is celebrating February with a whole month of Valentines!

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My headaches have subsided and for that I am extremely grateful. Things are slowly coming together.  A load of laundry for baby is done, so s/he will have at least a couple of options other than blankets.  The car seat has been located, though not installed in the car.  The taxes are almost done, with maybe an hour or two of fine tuning this weekend.  The only pressing issue continues to be the piles on my desk at work.  I've come to the realization that there are just going to be some things I have to pass off to others.

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I'm sure most of you know Courtney and the Squibs, but if you don't, you MUST visit her blog.  She is the inspiration behind many of the half finished projects I have for Claire all over the house.  But more than that, she inspires me.  Her post Getting to Integral is what I want for Claire.  Claire has jobs where she is integral (she is the drawer closer in the kitchen, and the best trash-thrower-awayer ever), but I've realized this needs to be a continual and evolving process, for both our kids.

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I've started packing my bags, both for the hospital and for the possibility we end up staying with Darren's parents for a while.  Packing for 3 people (Darren's on his own), for an undetermined length of time is hard.  In true procrastinator fashion, that means I've hit a wall after packing a few toiletries, a blanket for baby and some of Claire's silverware.

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Darren is under the impression that we have decided on both a girl and boy name.

He's wrong.

I'm still not sure on the boy name, just as I wasn't with Claire.  Makes me kind of hope for a girl.  At least the kid will have a name!

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If baby doesn't make his appearance on my schedule, and we end up living at the farm for a while, our internet access will be SEVERELY LIMITED.  There is no internet at the farm, and I'm not sure if there is wi-fi in the surrounding towns.  I may have to do a bit of traveling to get online. Because of that, first news of baby will probably be on Facebook. At least I have access to that on my phone.

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Claire at about 2 months old.  She was still on O2 while sleeping after her bout with RSV.

For more Seven Snippets, visit Bringing the Sunshine!

Seven Snippets Fridays, #4

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It's a snow day today.  Colorado has been all over the news for the monster storm that is supposed to be upon us.  Some parts of the state have a lot more snow than we do though.  It's still snowing, but so far, we only have about three inches.

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And related to our snow day....trying to get any work done from home while entertaining a 2 year old is pretty much impossible!

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On Monday we had another ultrasound to make sure that a VBAC was an option.  Everything looks good with baby and his position, so that is the plan.  We will head back to the doctor on Feb 29 to have my membranes stripped and hopefully have a baby soon after. I am hoping that baby waits until the next day to make his appearance though, so we don't have a leap year baby.

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Monday was full of appointments.  Claire also had PT, her first session since she started walking.  We brought her Sure Steps and a couple of pair of shoes to try with them.  These shoes were the best fit over the orthotics.  They come in half sizes and an extra wide width.

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Claire's favorite word right now is 'hot'.  Any time you give her food she will sign and say hot, and we have to reassure her that it's just right to eat.  Cute, but exhausting at times, as this can be an every bite question.

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Since we didn't get enough of all the doctor appointments on Monday, Claire and I headed to her ENT on Wednesday.  Both the audiologist and her doctor said her ears were pretty full of wax.  She hasn't been eating too much these days, so it was worth a trip to get her checked out.  The doctor cleaned one ear out, but said the other one looked good.  Both tubes are still in place too.  So, I guess the picky (or non-existent) eating is just 2 year old stuff...

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At the ultrasound the tech estimated baby's weight at 5 lbs, 7 oz.  Crazy, because that's already bigger than what Claire was when she was born.

For more Seven Snippets, visit Bringing the Sunshine!

Seven Snippets Fridays, #3

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It's still Friday, but just barely...

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We had a pretty laid back birthday party for Claire.  Just pizza, cupcakes and us.  As much as Claire loved her cake last year, she was completely uninterested in it this year.  She wouldn't even take a bite, just smooshed the frosting in her hand, and then wanted a napkin.  It's official, she has her dad's nonexistent sweet tooth.

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We had our 3D ultrasound a couple of weeks ago.  It really was the strangest appointment ever.  With Claire, every ultrasound we had was checking on her, checking fluid, checking blood flow through the cord, etc.  This appointment was just for fun.  No measurements, just pictures of Bob (that's what my belly/baby combo has been named, and no, we aren't really naming him/her Bob).  The one thing the tech did say was that this baby has a lot of hair too!

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Darren and Claire are gone this weekend.  Instead of something fun, it's going to be me and the computer all weekend, getting our taxes done.  Blech!

But tonight it's just me and my Nook.  And Facebook.  And Pinterest.

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Look how dark her hair was!  (5 weeks old)

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Claire has discovered pockets, and she LOVES them.  She looks pretty darn cute with her hands buried deep inside them, but the combination of pockets and a new walker is just asking for trouble!

(terribly blurry cell phone pic as we were headed to school and missy couldn't stand still at all)

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If you haven't read The Human Bobby by Gabe Rotter, you should.  Super fast read and a whole lotta crazy going on.  It's one of those books that I've had rolling around in my head for the past few days since I finished it.
  

For more Seven Snippets, visit Bringing the Sunshine!

Seven Snippets Fridays, #2

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In case you missed it....Claire is WALKING!!  In other milestone news, she reached another one this week that I am *almost* as excited about.  She can nod her head.  Sounds crazy, I know, but I have been working with her on this FOREVER.  And, it's the cutest nod too.  Very deliberate and even used appropriately a couple of times, though mostly mimicked.

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Target featured an adorable little boy with something extra in an ad recently. What I love about this is that Target didn't make a big deal out of it.  They didn't expect praise for including this little boy, they just did it.  Actually, our Ds community has more more to say about the ad than Target does.

ETA:  The media has taken this story and run with it, and that, unfortunately puts a damper on my excitement a bit.  It was one thing when parents were pointing out the ad, but all the media attention put a spotlight back on the differences of Down syndrome, when the beauty of the ad was in having those differences not mentioned.

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Thanks to my mom (love you mom!) I realized I do look pregnant this week.  Mom told me I was looking very pregnant, and I kept disagreeing with her.  Then, a couple of days ago I saw my reflection in the kitchen window, and thought "holy cow, you're huge"!  Don't get me wrong, I love being pregnant, but I do hope to avoid the comments about how huge I am as I've still got two months left.  Hopefully it was just the shirt I was wearing....

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Claire will be 2 next Friday.  How in the world is she 2 already??

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One year ago...

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Our winters are DRY.  Claire's lips are constantly chapped and cracked.  I'm trying to keep them covered in  chapstick and aquaphor, but it doesn't seem to be helping much as missy is always chewing on something.  (She's getting her 2 year molars).  If anyone has some other suggestions, I've love to hear them.

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When I was pregnant with Claire, I had issues with preeclampsia right at the end.  My blood pressure is already starting to go up this time around.  I'm hoping for a VBAC, and really need it to stay down, as the doctors won't induce on a VBAC due to risk of rupture.  I have another Dr appt on Monday, and hope my blood pressure stayed the same or has gone down!

For more Seven Snippets, visit Bringing the Sunshine!

Seven Snippets Fridays, #1

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I love this blog, and most especially the friends I've made through it.  However, I haven't made the time taken the time to keep up with it like I really want to.  So, in an attempt to be a better blogger, I'm going to try some new things.  I'm not sure that adding features, like this post, will help, but a for a procrastinator like me a deadline is always a good thing!  I'm also going to try the 365 project this year.  A picture a day posted on my new blog.  I may be getting in over my head....

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If you are part of the Down syndrome/adoption community on Facebook, you've probably seen this video of Mia's story posted many times.  If you haven't seen it yet, please watch it.  This is a segment that ABC World News did on Mia's adoption from the Ukraine.

Hidden Angels: American Families Saving Children With Down Syndrome - ABC News

This link includes the video and the more in depth article.

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The end of the year always means 'best of' lists, and the highlight of these lists for me are the best books lists.  I'm not going to point you to the publishing world's best of list, but rather a blogger who has never let me down.  When I need any kind of book recommendation, especially audio, I look to Sandy.

The Best of 2011 - Books
The Best of 2011 - Audiobooks

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Last Christmas...

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Claire had a repeat swallow study and hearing test a few weeks ago that I neglected to blog about.  The Ped at the Ds Clinic wanted another swallow study as he thought she still might be aspirating, even though, as I understood, we were cleared for thin liquids with the study about 6 months prior.  They couldn't get her to drink very much (always the story for our swallow studies), but they didn't see any aspiration or penetration, so we are cleared again for thin liquids.

Claire also had another booth hearing test done, as she wasn't responding to some frequencies last time.  Maybe she just had a cold, because everything checked out perfectly with this test.

That means all of her two year appointments are finished except for her well checkup and her thyroid and iron blood work.

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My pregnancy is just flying by.   30 weeks tomorrow.  Once again I love being pregnant, but this time around has been such a different experience.  I know a good chunk of that is the lack of complications, some of it is also 'been there, done that'.  (There's a whole blog post in me on this subject...)  We have our 3D ultrasound later today and I can't wait to see our little one again.

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I hope that this new Friday feature will mean that I'm actually posting here at least twice a week.  A big thank you to Andi for hosting (the link to her awesome blog is below).  If you don't know Andi, definitely stop by for a visit.  One of my favorites is her Kelle Hampton post.

For more Seven Snippets, visit Bringing the Sunshine!