The "Yes I know I am WAY behind" update!

Where does the time go? July and now most of August have come and gone in a flash. There is much to tell so this will be a long post! We have been busy spending time with friends and family and enjoying all of what summer has to offer. Heat and More Heat! We have enjoyed Pontoon Weekend, a Sip and See for Aaron, a Trip to Dallas, Swimming lessons, A Weekend at the Lake, a Trip to Seattle, Aaron's 2 month Appointment and first Big Boy Bath and the girls going back to pre-school. The Anderson family is getting used to a family of five and happy to say we will begin settling into the school year. We are still hanging out in limbo land, waiting for the house to sell and to see if I will be heading back to work but we have faith that all will work out in the end. We just pray that the "end" is near. Of limbo land that is - not the real end :) OK - let the pictures and stories begin!



How big is Aaron? "So Big!" Aaron had his 2 month appointment on Aug 10th and gained 4 pounds and 3 inches in 1 month! WOW! He is 13.4 pounds and 24 1/4 inches. He is ranging 85% on the "normal kiddo" growth chart for height and is off the chart on the down syndrome growth chart.

We are so excited to see his growth. He is holding his head up and REALLY wants to roll over. If he could figure out how to get some momentum then he would be gone. We will be setting up an appointment with the Pediatric Ophthalmologist to get a baseline for Aaron's eyes. We have not seen any issues yet but it is part of his preventative care for the 1st year. We continue to be blessed with his health. We went to the Dr. with his 1st fever on Tuesday. I was certain he was going to have an ear infection. Children with down syndrome have an increased risk of ear infections because the ear canals can be narrow and small and can be blocked easily. His ears were clear though - just a case of mommy overreacting!

The Andersons and the Jenkins celebrating the 3rd year anniversary of Anderson-Jenkins Signature Homes, Ltd. It has been a WILD 3 year ride and the guys are doing great. Rebecca and I are so proud of their hard work and of the success of their business. And yes - that is a mexican martini in front of me - MY FAVORITE!!!!!

OK - Most of you know I am a wee bit crazy but I thought it would be fun to take 3 kids by myself to visit Dad, Ann and Abby in Washington. My reasons included the fact that it is roughly 30 degrees cooler in Seattle, Aaron had not met his Granny Annie and Grampy yet and my sister Abby was headed off to college. For those of you that remember Abby being the 4 year old that came to visit me at Tech - YES we are OLD! She has started school at Carol College in Helena, Montana and is majoring in nursing. We were able to visit with family, attend my great Aunts 95th birthday, see the Children's museum, go to the beach, pack Abby for school and have a ton of fun.

Here is our "row" on the plane. You should have seen people's eyes watching us and hoping we were not sitting next to them. Actually - the flight attendants were great and everyone was very helpful. No Aaron did not ride here - he sat in my lap :)

We had a few funny things happen. Aaron had a blowout as we were pulling away from the gate. Allie had to throw away a pair of panties in the airplane bathroom and Ashlyn got left at the top of an escalator because she would not step on the "machine." Other than that everyone did really good and were very well behaved.

Ashlyn and Allie roasting smores at Grampy's. Notice Allie in a sweatshirt - AWESOME!

The Everett Children's Museum was incredible and so much fun for the girls. To my New Braunfels friends - the Mckenna Museum is good - but this one blew it away!

Ashlyn milking a cow - it really worked!

My little farm girls - seems like they feel right at home!

Ashlyn on the bridge of the tree house looking for Allie

Allie in the cave looking for Ashlyn

Mommy and Aaron making wind chimes with the girls in the Art room at the Museum. Miraculously those did not make it back with us on the plane!

The museum had an amazing roof top playground. Here is Ashlyn playing hopscotch.

And Allie playing the Xylophone.

A view of the roof top playground - so cool!

Great Grandma Kate, Dad, myself and Aaron at Grandmas house.

One of my favorite places to go when I visit my Dad is Mukilteo. When I was little and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa I would always ask where Grandma was and Grandpa always replied, "she went to Mukilteo." I never thought the place was real. It is and it is a beautiful beach, boardwalk and playground with some great seafood at Ivars. This time we got fish and chips take out and had a picnic with the kiddos.

Here is Aaron under Granny Annie's Hat.

Allie and Ashlyn balancing on the drift wood logs

Mommy and Aaron in front of the Sound. I am in a sweatshirt in August!! Hallelujah!

Dad, myself and Aaron at the Logan's backyard BBQ.

We enjoyed our second Annual Lake weekend with Chris, Gena, Alyssa, Mom and Mike. It was fun, relaxing and great to visit with everyone. The kiddos had a blast. Allie even road on a jet ski!

Here is my adventuresome Mom riding a Jet Ski with Chris. Go Mom Go!

Alyssa, Ashlyn and Allie - catching some rays

The kiddos - hanging at the Lake House

OK - while we were in Seattle...Shayne with the help of Gregg installed an electric fence. Apparently our yard became the hang out of the baby cows. Ahhhhh cute. So cute except for when they eat the grass and leave behind cow presents!! My girls named these babies Allie Cow and Ashlyn cow - so creative!!!

Thank goodness for swimming lessons! At the end of July when the girls and I had seen enough of each other we had two weeks of fun in the pool! After the first day of lessons, Allie looked up at me and said "I still don't know how to swim!" Some people have no patience! The girls did great and learned a ton. They are both swimming under water now - as long as it is shallow!

The kiddos and I made the trip to Dallas to visit Andrea, Nicholas, Sophia and Marcus for Nick's birthday weekend. We had a great time and the little ones got a long well.

This is Ashlyn and Sophia eating at Mi Cocina at the Galleria.

Andrea and Aaron

The girls posing on the Galleria playground.

Lucy was very protective of baby Aaron. Only authorized adults are allowed near the baby!

Nicholas 6th Birthday Party! Allie and Ashlyn had so much fun at the Jump Zone that they want to have their parties there. Not at the jumping gym in New Braunfels, but at the Jump Zone in southlake - not sure how that is going to work!

Thank you to my Awesome hostesses for a beautiful Sip and See. It was so much fun showing off Baby Aaron and we received so many amazing gifts. Little Boys things are so much fun! From the Left: Rebecca Jenkins, Ann Byrd, Stephanie Anderson with Aaron, Heather Blackburn, Rebecca Greebon (with Emry in belly) and Casey Allen.

Aaron the "chick magnet" is 5 weeks old today!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a BUSY 4th of July with lots of friends and family! We started with Aaron's 1st fourth of July picture with his sisters. Then we partied on the Guadalupe at Gregg and Rebecca's river house. We finished with fireworks at Aunt Noel's and had some VERY sleepy kiddos!

Aaron's first experience with "tubing" the Guadalupe! It was quite entertaining to watch the tubers get through the chutes!!! The girls were able to get in the water and fish with Daddy.

Shayne - enjoying a break from all of that River excitement! The boys did an Awesome Fish fry for about 50 people and I think he needed to cool off!

Allie, Ashlyn, Hannah, Aaron, Drew and Luke waiting patiently for the fireworks. Once they started we found out that you could actually NOT see the Landa Park fireworks from Aunt Noel's. They were completely blocked by a tree so the kiddos (with the exception of Aaron) hopped in the back of Shayne's truck to move closer to the action. I am not sure if they were more excited about seeing the fireworks or getting to ride in the back of a pick up!

One last wagon ride before heading home!

Grammy (Shayne's grandmother) meeting Aaron at our house.

Papa (my grandfather) was also able to meet Aaron over the Holiday at Mom's house!

We can count our blessings!

Tuesday June 30th we had a one month check up for Aaron. The goal was to make sure he is still growing and feeding well and to have a Q&A with our pediatrician now that the shock has subsided a bit. Dr. Rieger was kind enough to invite our family to attend so the Andersons, Griesings, Noel, Shayne and I crowded in the room to ask questions and feel better about Aaron's diagnoses.

Here are our blessings:

1)Aaron gained 1 pound in two weeks and 1/2 inch! Yea!! Feeding can be a big issue in Children with Down Syndrome and he is eating well.
2)Aaron's thyroid levels are normal
3)His platelet counts are normal
4)His digestive system seems to be working A-OK
5)We had previously learned that his heart is fantastic!
6)Aaron is lifting his head and focusing his eyes - everything a one month old should be doing.

I will be registering him with Early Childhood Intervention this week so we can get him started in therapy in the coming months. (thank you Rebecca G for your help and expertise!) We will begin testing his vision in the next few months and we will test his hearing and thyroid levels again at six months.

So far so good - please keep the prayers coming for this little guy. We are so VERY BLESSED to have such a large and wonderful group of friends and family. Everyone has been quick to offer support and to share experiences, tears and laughter. Together we will jump over this hurdle and give Aaron the best possible life that he can live!

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?!