Busy Girl!

Addy's been a busy girl! We didn't have school Monday or Tuesday due to snow but went back right into party day :) Addy had a blast at her Valentine's party :) It was a Hawaiian Luau theme :) She rocked her hula skirt!

A little cookie decorating :)

Addy toddled over to her friend's table the other day and proceeded to pick up her Capri Sun and start drinking away! Needless to say I immediately bought her some and she has been doing fantastic drinking them! When this girl sets her mind to something she goes to town! She doesn't drink much, but it's a HUGE milestone for her! These are tiny straws! One of the last we present when working on straw skills!
The kids also got some mini bananas. Look what she did! Looks great huh?!?! Well after getting a minuscule amount in her mouth she immediately threw that banana across the table!


Addy loved the knocking down the Red Solo Cups (which Addy kept singing during the party! lol) They had heart shaped marshmallows and were supposed to throw them at the cups. Addy put hers on top of the cup and started clapping :) You rock sister!

This was a toss the fish in the basket game. Addy changed it to, walk up to the basket and put the fish in it, then clap wildly game :) How I love this girl!

Bowling with coconuts :) Some of our boys were pretty powerful with their tosses! How we didn't have coconut milk all over I have no idea!

This is Ms. Debbie :) One of our most favoritest people ever!!!

Tonight was the first of several kindergarten transition activities for the class of 2025 :) We went to Taste of Hubble for our first event. Addy had a paper with a bus on it to collect stickers on at all of the places she visited. Since Addy already attends Pre-K at school she was very comfortable! She had to walk a REALLY LONG WAY though and it definitely tired her out. That's going to be an issue next year. Hopefully by then she will have more stamina but those hallways are super long for those tiny little legs!! We are beginning Addy's evaluation for kindergarten as well. I'm not too worked up about numbers, I get it. I'm pretty sure we won't have a completely accurate picture of Addy's abilities but you never know. It just depends on the day! I know there are several things that we want for Addy's kindergarten year. I'm not going to get into them now, that's for another post after her eval.
Addy and Abby :) She's our Computer Lab teacher :)

Walking and walking and walking down those long hallways!

Addy and Nurse Vicki :) She's going to get to see her everyday! Tube Feedings ;)

Awful pic, but Addy riding the big bus with Daddy :)

My girl is going to kindergarten :) Bring it on!

Getting Dressed

We have really been working on Addy's independence lately. She always wants to do things herself, however, her size and lack of motor skills impede her progress. Since she will be going to kindergarten in the fall, independence is super important. So... she is responsible for hanging up her coat and backpack and putting her snack away at school. We had to give her extra hooks in her cubby, she was too short to reach the other ones :) She has a difficult time using both hands together and tries so hard to hang her things up one handed. Once we get her to use both hands she can usually do it.

At home we are working on her dressing skills. She can take her clothes off pretty well but putting them on is more difficult for her. The other day I put her in the family room and tossed her clothes to her to see what she would do. She always tries to dress herself but I usually have to intervene :) Check her out :)
Whoops, this is my shirt, not my pants!










Ta Dah!!

You go girl!

Don't forget! I am trying to get free 31 Gifts products so I can do a give away for Reece's Rainbow :) Check my previous post or click HERE to order away! Items will be shipped directly to you! Things are able to be personalized and they have so many cute patterns! I love their stuff! If you order $31 worth of products you get 31% off another item so think ahead for adorable gifts!

31 Gifts :) Updated :)

If you haven't heard of 31 Gifts you are missing out! A very good friend of mine, Amy Pena, is a consultant for this wonderful company! They are a Christian based company too which I love! Amy and I share a classroom and it's quite dangerous for me! I love their stuff! I finally broke down and scheduled to have a party on the 21st of this month. I never have parties because no one usually comes! However, I am throwing this out to my blog world community to order online :) I am hoping to earn a lot of free products so I can host a give away for Reece's Rainbow :) THIS MONTH'S SPECIAL IS SPEND $31 GET 31% OFF OF ANOTHER ITEM! THE MORE YOU SPEND THE MORE YOU SAVE! $62, 62% ETC!!!

I'm attaching pix of all of my products (and my new favorite, my new lunch tote!) that I have and some others that I think are great! I would LOVE to have an organized pantry like this:

My new insulated lunch tote :)



Addy's lunch tote that holds her big shaker of formula and all of her feeding supplies, including a can of formula if we need it.

Addy's "diaper" bag :)



I use this bag everyday, I LOVE it!

This is my big treat! It's a rolling tote, it has been very handy for all of my little trips!

Unfortunately this pattern is discontinued, but it looks oh so cute in Addy's playroom. I have two of these that hold play doh, markers, chalk, sensory stuff etc.

LOVE these to hold toys!

My Large Utility Tote! I love this thing too! It holds sooo much stuff! It is perfect when we go to the pool or lake, holds towels, sunscreen, snacks etc :)

Addy's dance bag :) It could easily be her backpack but we keep it all for dance stuff right now :)

So click HERE and order away! Things will be shipped directly to you! Think ahead and order gifts! You won't be disappointed, these products are wonderful! The more you order the more the more will be in my Give Away!!!

Here are just some pictures of other items just to give you an idea :) The complete catalog is available on the website :)

Yearly Visit

Weight 28 pounds :)
Height 36 1/4 inches :)

ENT chair, she was beginning to fade!
Playing with the beads at the Eye Center. She is finally playing with things!

Last night Scott, Addy and I headed up to St. Louis for her annual whirlwind doctor visits at St. Louis Children's Hospital. I love that place! We had an eventful evening in the hotel. My poor hubby has SEVERE sleep apnea and has not had a sleep study done to confirm this or get put on a CPAP machine. He needs it desperately! I forgot my ear plugs and could not sleep at all! Neither could Addy :( Finally at 4 am I took off in the van with her to let her get some sleep. She did fall asleep and once she was good and out I parked us in the parking lot and decided to just sleep in the van but then I was afraid that the battery would run down so went on back into the room. Fortunately, Addy was able to fall asleep so she go at least a couple hours of sleep last night!

This girl is absolutely amazing, with no sleep she was still an absolute angel at all of her visits! We started at the Down Syndrome clinic and got some great information on new guidelines for things that need to be checked with our chromosomally enhanced kiddos :) Addy showed off as usual and was quite the charmer :) No one could believe that she was just released from the hospital a couple of weeks ago! They were very impressed with her cognitive and language skills :) Motorically is a whole 'nother story :( She was excited to hear about Addy's toilet training progress as well. She has definitely regressed since being in the hospital but we are getting back on track :) Poor girl still has a horrible yeast infection from all of the antibiotics she had in the hospital :(

After the DS Clinic we headed to ENT. She was being very silly waiting for the doctor! He looked in both ears and felt that the tubes really weren't where they needed to be. After holding her down and doing a little digging while looking through the big microscope, both tubes were removed with a pound of wax! He felt that since we don't have any hearing concerns he didn't feel a repeat audiogram was necessary since the one from last year was completely within normal limits. This was fortunate since we were already 20 minutes late for her orthopedic appointment! He discharged her from ENT unless she starts having repeat ear infections again :0

We got to Orthopedics and they were running really behind so it wasn't a huge deal that we were late. Gross motor skills are definitely Addy's biggest weakness. When watching her walk the doctor felt that her ankles were turning in and was anxious to see what the Orthopedic doctor had to say. Addy's gait is still very Frankenstein. She is just beginning to bend her knees when she walks. Addy currently wears JumpStart Cricket inserts which just fit in her shoe and don't support her ankles. Her orthotist in Springfield is hesitant to put her back into Sure Steps since it would make her have to use fewer muscles and when she wore them before she wouldn't even stand in them. The doctor x-rayed Addy's hips again and they are still as good as they are going to be since she was such a late walker and she is one of the "loosest" kids she's seen. Addy's feet can completely bend to her shin, I can't imagine! She watched her walk and completely agreed with our current Orthotist and doesn't want to brace her anymore than she already is :) However, Addy gets 1 hour of PT per week and both doctors agreed that she needs at least double that. I really doubt we'll be able to get it through the school so we are hoping we can get her home health agency to provide PT in the home. If not, we will take her to the same clinic we go for feeding therapy. We go back in 9 months to a year.

We then went onto Ophthalmology. We were sent a letter that her doctor would be out and they were scheduling us with another doctor. I really like her first doctor and he was there so I don't know why we had to see the other guy. He was fine, I just kinda liked the other doc better. Addy did fantastic during her exam even though she had been all over the place and was getting hungry and tired! He wasn't concerned with her eyes crossing they aren't any worse than last time (I guess they take really good notes on that!). He dilated her eyes and we went to the lab for her blood draw. It was so nice having Scott with me so he got to do all of the holding down torture procedures today! She was a trooper and barely shed a tear! We went to have her eyes looked at and she was so tired she was almost asleep! He said that her eyes aren't quite as bad as her current prescription is for! An improvement, yeah! He said that we don't need to change her script unless her glasses break, that the current script isn't going to hurt her any. He does want to follow up in a year.

We spent just 4 1/2 hours there and got so much done! Poor Addy was soooo tired! She was asleep almost instantly in the car :) I let her sleep the entire ride home since I knew she was sooo sleep deprived! I'm hoping that she will go to sleep pretty easily, I am exhausted too! I don't do well with no sleep!

FOR SOME REASON BLOGGER WOULDN'T LET ME MOVE THE PICTURES! SORRY!