Florida Vacation 2010 Day 1

WOW!! What a week! We just got back from a week long vacation to Florida. It was very busy, but very fun. Not too relaxing, but definitely filled with memories! We did so much and packed in so much that I've decided to blog about each day instead of the whole vaca in one post. So here we go.

Day 1.

We started our Drive at 5:45am and yes, we actually left on time!! I know, I know... shocking!! Jeremy, the girls, Nancy (Jeremy's mom) and I piled in a rental van (thank you Mom and Dad T) and headed for Orlando before the sun was up. We met up with our dear friends Cliff and Lori and their 2 girls and caravaned down. Oh, and my sweet, wonderful mom met us at 6:30am on her summer break to give us our Cinderella DVD that we had left at here house (love you, mom!!) There was no way I was going to risk heading to Disney without it!! The girls did AWESOME in the car!!! We stopped only twice on the 8 hour drive. Once for a quick drive-thru and potty break breakfast and then again at lunch for a longer stretch-your-legs and play break. We didn't have any potty breaks in between, which is super impressive for both Mary and me!

We got to our hotel, Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, between 3 and 4pm. The resort was beautiful and huge! It was set up with 6 different groups of buildings, each containing a pool and a beach area and then a main area "Port Royale" which housed a food court area, sit-down restaurant, Disney gift shop, Boat and Bike rental, and a larger pool with slides, hot tubs, and kids play area. Below is our Building in "Aruba" and the view from our door.

The girls made themselves right at home and Amelia immediately put on her swim tube (or tried) and they ran for the beach to play.

After getting settled and dusting off the sand we headed over to Coronado Springs Resort for the National Down Syndrome Congress Conference Opening Reception. The Conference provided a bus to and from, so we hopped on and could enjoy A/C with out having to wait for a car to cool off or having to deal with car seats and parking.


Neither Jeremy or Nancy had ever been to a conference before. The Opening Reception was wonderful. Great speakers!! I always love hearing the Self-advocates speak. It is so uplifting to hear their stories of success and happiness. Mary loved the reception and listened to the speakers intently and dutifully clapped with the crowd. At the end the NDSC introduced a new fundraiser called "Just Dance." All of the young adults got on stage and sang and dance to promote the program and to kick off the youth and adult dance that was to be held after the reception. Of course the audience joined in!


It was a great atmosphere; you could feel the energy and love in the room. If everyone had the same attitude, determination, respect and love as most individuals with Down Syndrome, the world would be such an amazing place to live!!

Life.

So, usually I just post updates or a quick cute story of the girls, but both girls are actually asleep. I am sitting on the front porch enjoying the hot, but breezy and bearable weather and something crazy happened... I had time to think. Not about what is for dinner or who made who cry and why, but about deeper more meaningful things. That may seem scary to some, but usually when this happens (on rare occasions) I realize how truly happy I am with my life. We went to the pool today, which both girls absolutely love and they passed out asleep on the way home. Days like this remind me of my childhood. We had a neighborhood pool just a few houses down from mine and every summer was spent at the pool...hanging out with friends from early afternoon till dinner. I remember the 80's pop songs that used to echo over the speaker and the sound of kids laughing and water splashing - one reason I will always love cheesy 80's music. Such carefree days. I never would have imagined I would be where I am now. From the outside it may look like we are so far from the "typical" 30-something family, but really I have all I ever wanted. An amazing husband who provides for his family in every way and whose love for them could never be doubted. He is strong physically and spiritually and serves his country, his church, his family, and his community. I have two beautiful, bright daughters who fill our home with laughter and love. They love life, love learning, and amaze us everyday. They each take after their parents in very different and obvious ways. I am they "typical" mom who's the chaufer, the chef, the nanny, and a teacher, but still have time to be me. To create, to dream, and to enjoy every little detail of my non-typical life.

Bye Bye Baby Food!

Most of you know that Amelia has some serious feeding issues. I should have seen it coming when she wouldn't have anything to do with rice cereal as an infant. We started intensive feeding therapy just over a year ago with the best Speech Therapist ever. The whole process has been super draining and frustrating on everyone. When we started therapy the only solid food she would really eat was baby food mixed with cereal or the equivalent. Even the smallest little piece of food would make her gag and she would spit it out immediately. She even gagged one time just looking at a tortilla chi! Yeah. Well, I am to THRILLED to report that my baby is EATING REAL FOOD!!! We had a major break through on the last day of school. Her class had a party and of course there were tons of yummy snacks. At all of her previous parties Amelia just played with her food, well this time she actually took a bite of her cupcake. I was shocked!! Even more so when she continued to eat the whole thing and try to take one off of another childs plate!! I took pictures to send to her therapist. :)

Since then she has taken slow and steady strides forward. Just lately we have taken her completely off of baby food. She LOVES PB&Js, quacamole, cupcakes, muffins, Pamento Cheese, carrots, pees, and macaroni & cheese and is trying more and more everyday. Of course we still have a long way to go. She isn't quite ready to eat harder crunchy food, but for us this feels like freedom!!

Creative Conversation

So Mary is finally really taking off when it comes to talking and having conversations. She is asking what everything is and is very much trying to figure out how things work. She wants to know what everything is when we are driving including what type of building we are passing and what each store sells. She will yell at me to "drive, mama." if both of my hands are not on the wheel. This morning on the way to school she was her usual chatty self.

Mary: (Her book bag fell over on the floor.) "Oh no. My bag! What are we gonna do?"
Me: "Uh oh. What are you going to do?"
Mary: "Pull. Pull hard." (After grunting and pulling her book bag up right.) "I did it. Good pulling!"
Me: "Good job, Mary."

She is cracking me up all the time these days. She was talking to her "friend" in the mirror and had a whole conversation with phrases like... "you hurt?. Kiss it better. You're okay. Okay, bye bye." She also LOVES to sing!! The other day she ran into my room and slammed the door. I thought I heard her crying so I went in. She was on my bed singing her little heart out. She just looked at me and smiled her "aren't I beautiful"- smile. Poor thing... we will definitely have to get her some voice lessons in the future. She sounded like some sort of animal in pain. I love her so much and I love her sweet conversations!!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

This past week we have been out of school for Spring Break. Ahh, a week to relax and do nothing. Yeah, right! We started off our week with Jeremy being at Reserves all last weekend. The girls and I left Sunday afternoon for Chattanooga. Monday we spent with Aunt Julie at Cooledge Park by the River. Mary ran around, rode her bike a little, and rode the Merry-go-round. Mary Loved it! Amelia enjoyed running around, but wasn't too impressed with the Merry-go-round. Then it was out to dinner with Grammy and Julie. Mary was a nightmare and wouldn't sit in her chair or eat. Just tired and out of routine, I think, but still stressful. Tuesday we went to The Aquarium with Grammy. Mary was a little nervous about getting too close to anything, but still had a good time. Amelia, my lover of anything living, had a blast!! She tried to climb into the sting ray pool to catch one. She picked up a butterfly in the butterfly house and much to my suprise it actually survived. She reached into the sturgeon tank to pet one, but her little arms were too short. Funny how different they are and how much they enjoy different things. (I'll add a few pics soon.)

We left Wednesday and headed straight to Scottish Rite for Pre-op for Amelia's surgery (tubes.) Luckily both girls behaved like angels, even with no lunch. They were delighted to see Daddy when they got home and spent lots of time playing. Thursday we had a playdate with Mary's good friend, Abby.

Friday morning Amelia and I left the house at 5am for the hospital. Surgery went well and now my sweet girl finally has fluid-free ears for the first time in her life. Yay!!

We are back to school on Monday, but the craziness doesn't stop. Mary's Kindergarten IEP is on Tuesday and I have a yard sale in the works, a DS meet-up at my house, tonsilectomy for Mary in a couple of weeks, and of course lots of therapies. Geesh! I can't wait for Summer!! Hopefully things will finally slow down!

Amelia... aka: The Destroyer.

Amelia is smart, adorable and has a great sense of humor. She is such a joy... most of the time. Her whole life she has been a little mischievous. The thing is that usually she is smiling while she is doing it and so proud of herself, it is hard to get upset with her. Here is a picture of her handy-work in Target. (Sorry the quality is bad, it was taken from my cell.) You can see that she is beaming with pride!

Even though she has earned the nickname The Destroyer, she really is a wonderful part of our family. She is just over 2 1/2 (hence the terrible-two behavior) and is really doing well. She is talking a lot! Some of the cute Amelia sayings are: "Did it, Hooray!" "Bye, Bye. Love you." "want botbot (bottle)." "Drink botbot." "Baby Time (Baby Signing time.)" "Come on." and lots of other single words. She loves to sing and can say all the words to Head, Shoulders, Knees, and toes. and a few other songs. I'll get video of some of this as soon as I can.

She also loves figuring things out. She can open our Cd player and get the CD out and then put it back in. (She does this over and over... drives me crazy!) She Loves baby dolls. She puts her baby to sleep in it's crib and sits low down beside the baby while patting it's back. Amelia is Mary's biggest fan! She is so loving and sweet, despite her stubborn streak. I love her so much and I love that we have been blessed to have her in our family. Well, better run... she is being awfully quiet in her room...hmmm...

A New Language

Every Thursday evening for the past couple of weeks I have been taking an ASL (American Sign Language) class. I decided to take the class to learn a little more about communicating in ASL. I have signed with both of the girls to help with their speech development. They love signing and pick it up so quickly. It has really helped them to communicate their wants and needs to me. Up until now I have learned from books, DVDs, and friends. I only know basic signs and wanted to learn more. Well, I have found out that I LOVE ASL!! I have enjoyed learning the language and learning more about deaf culture. Although I have used ASL to teach my children the English language, I now know that true ASL does not follow the same speech pattern. It truly is another language. Once my class is done, I plan on continuing learning the language. I would love to interpret one day or to teach ASL to parents and children. Yet again, my girls have introduced me to a whole other world that I had been overlooking. It's amazing when you start to realize how much is out there that we don't ever see or experience. We usually are so busy with our own lives that we fail to really get to know or understand what is really going on in the world around us. A lot of times we chose to overlook the evil or depressing things in the world, even if they happen in our own neighborhood. I know I do. But every once in awhile we are introduced to something that has been there the whole time that is amazing and wonderful. Something that helps us grow and become better people.