Happy Birthday Charlie!

My little man turned 4 years old today! He woke up this morning with the most excitement ever for he knew today was HIS day!

It truly was.

My Charlie was suppose to be here on July 30, but after 32 hours of long hard labor followed by a csection, he finally made his appearance. He was born with the loudest cry. In fact, he still has that same cry!

Because I knew then that he didn't want to leave the warmth of my belly, he was always going to be my boy, and he still is.

Happy Birthday My Love!

Wordless Wednesday: Up close!

Enjoying a day of sunshine and warmth!

How not to cook breakfast with a 3 year old!

me, "Charlie, what did you?"

Charlie, "I'm helping!"

note to self:  keep the pepper away from his reach!

Charlie, "Mommy, I can cook too!"

Hmmm....how can I fix this?

I scooped out most of the pepper with a spoon and added two more eggs.

What was I doing and why wasn't I watching him?

That's right...blogging!

Finished product...not too bad.  Hopefully it taste OK!

Breakfast is done!

Eggs with pepper, rice with sesame seed oil and soy sauce, and grapes.  

Bedtime ... please baby go to sleep

Ahhhh....finally!  It's 9:30 p.m. and the kids are in bed!  But, all are not asleep :(

Right now I'm trying so hard to ignore Charlie.  Not that I don't care, but for the love of sleep, I wish he would just fall asleep!  For Charlie, it's "Mommy, I need you", "Mommy, I can't find my blanket", "Mommy, I want a drink"... "Mommy...Mommy...Mommy!"  I think I'm going to change my name.  I've always liked Red Sonia.

Red Sonia...Warrior Mom!  

I really need to make up my mind...I either need to be a super hero mom or warrior woman.  I should be both!  

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It's about time I share some Lillian news!

My baby girl has been working so hard!  In one week she has learned to army crawl and is putting herself in the sitting position!  It's the greatest thing to see and watch her do these things.  Especially when she knows she's done something and she has her own celebrations.   Those celebrations are so cute...I must catch them on  camera!

BTW...Lillian is a wonderful sleeper!

  

The Urologist...AGAIN!!!

And the new member of our family..."Maxie" Maximilian

The happiest baby ever!

Practising her new milestone!

Can you tell she eats well...look at that belly!

Better late than never...Trick or Treat???

Well, I hope you enjoyed the new pictures.  I know, I've fallen behind now that 21 for 31 is now over.  But, I'm back and hopefully will continue!

Actually, I know I really don't have much to share because there hasn't been anything special going on with us the last two weeks....except for I have another consult with the Urologist.  This time it is for Charlie!

Charlie had a 3 year well baby visit, which really wasn't all that necessary because he was up on his shots and nothing was going on that we couldn't deal with at home.  So glad that I went.  Because Charlie's "little boys" are not behaving the way they should!  I had no clue.  The pediatrician said that by this age, his testicles should not be communicating with each other and his are.  It's not a life or death situation, more like a fertility issue.  She said that if it is not taken care of, it will cause infertility when he is older.  And I do not want to be the reason that he can't bear and carry on the family name!  I swear, I think the Urologist is going to think my family is  "urologically" dysfunctional?  If there is such a thing!

Lillian had her first round of Physical Therapy and met with her teacher twice.  So far so good! She also is able to sit up without assistance when you put her down on her bum.  Lillian is doing great actually!  She also starting giving the most cheesiest grins ever!  It's like she can't smile big enough so she just continues to smile even if you don't smile back.  It's so funny, but oh so CUTE. I must say, that not all things with Lillian is so happy though.  If you miss her bedtime, she will let you know.  She will scream and scream until she's put to bed.  And this scream hurts, not her, but the rest of us!  At least she's learning how to communicate with us her own way!  And it's the weirdest thing, if she is not in bed by 7 p.m. she will wake up one or two times in the night and get up at 5:30 in the morning.  But when she is in bed on time, she will sleep to close to 7! Amazing, now only if my older two could do the same thing!

Vesicoureteral Reflux or VUR

Yesterday, I briefly mentioned that the girls went to see a Urologist.  Both Katie and Charlie had Vesicoureteral Reflux  until they both had corrective outpatient surgery in May and June 2006.  They both had a grade III VUR, I being the lowest and a V being the highest grade.  Because Katie suffered from more than one Urinary Tract Infection that lead to Kidney Infections, she suffers from kidney damage in both kidneys.  It is not a life threatening disease, but something that might cause high blood pressure.  When we knew for sure that Charlie also had a grade III, we opted for him to have the surgery so he wouldn't sustain any kidney damage either.  

Apparently, having a VUR is hereditary and either Bobby and/or I were carriers and gave it to them.  So, now we have Lillian and she will be examined also to see if she has this condition.  Katie still has a grade I, which the doctor hopes it resolved on its own.  The problem is the only way to check it is through Ultrasound and a VCUG (voiding cystourethrogram).  The VCUG is not very comfortable.  They insert a cathetar to fill your bladder with a dye and you must void the dye while they take x-rays of the dye voiding the bladder.  They are looking for the "reflux" part, and to see how far the dye will travel up the urethra and into the kidneys.  For little kids, this can be very intimidating and scary.  Although, Katie has had four procedures done, she still hates the thought of doing it again.  On the upside, if all goes well, she won't have to ever do it again!   I'm just happy that Lillian is young enough, that she won't remember.  Lillian's procedure will be towards the end of May and Katie will have hers during the 2nd week of November.  Both girls will go back on November 17 to see the doc again.  Wish us LUCK!  Hoping that neither of the girls will have to worry about surgery!

I'm so tired and a stinky poopy story!

This week I started working out with a friend of mine at her gym.  I meet her at 5:45 a.m. and I run about 2 miles on the treadmill and finish off with push ups and crunches.  I'm trying really hard to keep motiviated so I can finally fit into my old clothes from before Lillian!  Well, today I'm just tired!  My back hurts and my legs hurt.  

So, then I'm trying to get ready for bed and Charlie comes out of his room having to go pee, but I smell poo (mind you that he's been having some stinky farts all day long) .  He goes to the bathroom and pulls down his pants and I see poo all over his butt and underwear!  Oh ... come on!  Why now?  I just want to sleep!  Then, as he is peeing he farts again and stuff lands all over the floor!  So, I get him cleaned up, the bathroom cleaned up, and  I put on one of Lillian's diaper on his butt, give him some diarreah stuff, and put him back to bed.

Asked my husband to write for me tonight, because I'm tired, but he said, "No.  It's not my blog and my challenge.  If I write in it then you wouldn't have completed the challenge."  I think otherwise.

Now, I remember what I really wanted to write about.  Lillian and Katie both had a doctor's appointment for the same reason.  They had to see a Urologist.  But, I'm saving that one for tomorrow.  Because I'm going to bed now.

1 in 900 chance

When I got pregnant with Lillian, I was 30 years old.  Which meant that I had a 1 in 900 chance of having a baby with Down syndrome.  After she was born, my friend told me I should audition for Deal or No Deal because I'm so lucky :)  I'm weighting (get it waiting) to loose my baby weight first, so I look hot on T.V. (OK I know corny)

So, this picture was taken when the kids and I went to Italy to spend the summer with Bobby.  I had just lost a lot of weight and felt so good.  In the picture is Katie and Bobby's niece Kimmie.

To my right is my husband Bobby and Charlie.  Charlie was 22 months in this picture.  Look at his hair.  I secretly regret cutting it.  But he's still cute anyway.

Charlie..."Mom, get Lillian off my blanket"

"Ok...we can share, but take my picture"

Lillian learning to fly

Mom...enough already!!!

BTW...Lillian made it in the "A Special Joy 14: Babies with Down syndrome" on parenting.com.  There are so many cuties on there.  Also, there are a lot of babies on there from one of my favorite online message boards, babycenter.com. 

Me me me me me!!! It's all about me!(well sort of)

I'm being a  little selfish today.  I figure I better start early just in case I have a rich family member out there reading my blog.  Today I want to post my Christmas Wish List:

1. $50,000  enough to pay off my debts and to put a little bit of money in my rainy day account :)

2. A very nice double jogging stroller, you know, it's for my health.  I need one that can handle Charlie and be delicate enough for Lillian.

3. A new SLR digital camera, like the Canon - EOS Digital Rebel XS 10.1-Megapixel Digital SLR Camera- Silver(I wanna start taking my own professional shots of my kids)

4. Laser Hair Removal.  Enough said on that subject.  It just needs to be done!

Alright...that's enough with my wishes.  On a positive note, I worked out today!  I haven't been to the gym since I left Washington and working out felt great!  I really need to focus on my weight and becoming a healthier mom.  Besides, if I can't take care of me, how can I take care of my children?  Both Charlie and Lillian were wonderful at the gym.  I hope they keep it up!

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Speaking of Charlie, he ate his dinner tonight!  Now, I'm wondering if he likes Daddy's cooking better than mine???  

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A very good friend of mine had asked me a question about Down syndrome in an email.  She wanted to know what it was that made the doctor's suspect that Lillian had Ds when she was born.  There were a few things:

1. The sandal toe, or v shape space between her big toe and second toe

2. Her upward slanted eyes  Although my mother insisted at the time Lillian has eyes like her.  My mother is Korean.

3. The simean crease on one of her palms

4. The extra skin on her neck, nuchial fold

5.  The heart murmur which lead them to believe she had some sort of heart defect

So, those were the main things.  And of course, it was confirmed after her tests all came back.

Down Syndrome Fact:

Down syndrome is a chromosomal disorder caused by an error in cell division that results in the presence of an additional third chromosome 21 or "trisomy 21".  There is also Mosaic Down Syndrome and Translocation Trisomy 21.  They all deal with chromosome 21.

This picture was taken at a museum in Seattle.  I found it interesting about how much information chromosome 21 holds!  Can you imagine how many extra pages they had to add to talk about Trisomy 21!

I think I will start posting a little Down syndrome fact daily.