A Necessary Fieldtrip

One of the great things about living in New Braunfels is that there is so much to do! My sister, Abby, came in town Fathers Day weekend to meet her nephew. We had planned on staying home most of the long weekend since Aaron is so small.

WELL....we quickly realized that we were going to need to find alternate entertainment. As I was feeding Aaron, Abby ran inside and tells me that Ashlyn has decided to go #2 in the yard and then proceeded to smear it all over the white exterior stone. HUH?!!! I asked Ashlyn why she did it and she said "I dunno." Awesome. She is either bored or still mad that Aaron is not a girl!!

As I cleaned poop off of the wall we planned a trip to the Wildlife Ranch - something the kiddos would enjoy and we could do from the safety of our car.


One note: If you visit the Wildlife Ranch - I would splurge for the $3 guide that identifies each animal. Unless you are like Shayne and have a Wildlife and Fisheries Science Degree then you will not know most of them!

OK - maybe Ashlyn has a bathroom issue. Or maybe she is just 3. Of course, halfway through the Wildlife exhibit she announces she HAS TO GO POTTY RIGHT NOW! What am I supposed to do? There are clear signs everywhere to stay in your car. There are no bathrooms and I have no idea where we are in the exhibit. I might add when Ashlyn says she needs to go - she means in the next 30 seconds. Okay - so don't judge me but I happened to have a pullup in the diaper bag. We quickly changed into a pullup from panties and our problem was solved. I know - mother of the year, right?
Ashlyn LOVES animals and hung out of the vehicle through the entire park trying to get them to eat out of her hand!

Allie and Ashlyn scoping out the animal situation...

Abby feeds the Zebra and Ashlyn wonders if his head is too far in our vehicle. The Zebras were so cool but we quickly rolled up all of the windows when the Ostriches and Emus arrived. The ladies in our car did not like large pecking animals.

Zebras.......What Zebras?

Some Good News

Thursday June 18th we had a cardiology appointment for Aaron. Congenital Heart defects affect 50% of kiddos with Down Syndrome and often lead to surgery. Praise God - Aaron's heart is perfect! Dr. Patel was amazing on the sonogram machine and it was actually quite fascinating to watch him view the heart and the blood flow. His exact words were "Aaron's heart looks fantastic!" This is such great news and a huge milestone for our little man.

Aaron's 1st BBQ

Aaron sleeps through his 1st BBQ at the Jenkins home!
Heather and Rilyn (8 months) with myself and Aaron. Aren't these kiddos adorable?!

The day that changed our life - June 15th

Once Aaron was born hospital nurses began to notice markings that warranted a test for
Down Syndrome. This came as quite a shock to myself and Shayne. We had the quad screen that produced a negative result and had 5 ultrasounds and a completely normal pregnancy. There was absolutely no reason to suspect that there was anything wrong with our son.
The physician ordered a chromosomal test and we waited two weeks for the results. Despite his normal behavior and appearance we received the confirmation at his two week appointment. Aaron has Down Syndrome. I am still in shock as I write about this. It has been a very emotional week and a half and I do not see that changing any time soon. Shayne has been an amazing strength in our family and we would absolutely not be coping if it were not for the support of our close friends and family. We know that it is not a death sentence. We know that at some point we will look back and be thankful for this special gift. Right now, though, we feel heartbreak for our little boy who will have so very much to overcome in his life. We feel overwhelmed with the surprise of the news and the mountain of information to learn about his prognosis. Please pray for our strength as we adjust to the shock of the news and try to move forward. We have been told many times this week that God only gives you what you can handle. Did someone leave out the "on Zoloft" part of that saying? the Anderson family has had a rough 2009 so far and we are only 1/2 was through. We can only hope for some positive news in the coming days.

Welcome to the world Aaron Shayne!

Third time is a charm !I actually went into labor (thanks Ann and Kevin for the cooking!) and Aaron arrived 1 week ahead of schedule on June 1st. It was a super exciting middle of the night car ride to the hospital and Aaron arrived at 4:24am. He weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Allie, Daddy and Ashlyn checking to see if we had a boy or a girl!

A proud Daddy and his perfect son!

Allie - Ashlyn Dance Recital 2009

I am finally getting with the technology and starting a blog for our active and growing family!
The first post marks an end to the official school year and the beginning of summer and a
new era with Baby Brother Aaron. On June 6th the girls performed in their dance recital at
the Civic Center. They thought they were "so big." They got to wear big girl makeup and did
such a great job on stage. Thanks to Mom, Mike, Shayne, Noel and Hannah I was able to see the
dances even though I was 6 days postpardum!! Shayne has the "rose" tradition so Allie is pictured with 2 roses for her second recital and Ashlyn got one rose for her 1st. The roses actually made it home to save despite hitting each other on the head with them on the ride home!