Glaciermeow

Today is Jacob's 8th birthday! We took him to six flags white water in Marietta. He was so brave I just could not believe it.  He used to cry just to get in the water and now he will enthusiastically do the scariest slides at the waterpark. I took him to the pool and he went to the diving board in 13ft deep water and jumped right in and swam to the side! After I got over my anxiety and saw that I wasn't going to have to jump in and save him I was so proud I had tears!   We ended up getting him a schwinn stingray, chopper looking scooter with air tires and a spongebob game for the wii.  He is getting so big, he's about 5ft tall and wears the same size shoe as I do now! 

I loved that he picked this cake as it went well with the chopper looking scooter we bought him.

Joshua is getting really tall and is such a smarty.  I measured him yesterday and he is 41" and 34lbs at 3 years and 8 months old.  He is a whiz at computer, ds, and wii games and can even beat me occasionally..(and i'm good lol)  We went and got his hair cut and he looks like a totally different kid. I did't want it this short and he liked it for a day or so and then looked in the mirror yesterday and says that "I don't want this hair anymore, I want my Joshua hair back"  I'll have to get a picture tomorrow, the ones I have are pre-haircut.

We have been pretty busy lately. I started a small garden at the end of April and all of the plants have gotten so enormous that I can barely walk through to turn on the water to water them. One of my grape tomato plants is 6ft tall!  I planted some cucumber seeds and they have spread through the whole garden and into the grass, I had no idea that it was going to go crazy like this so I guess that I'll know to plant less next year. 

We also got an HUGE surprise at the end of  April and found that just two lowley little weeks after I cleaned out the house of anything related to a baby and  not very long after we started the south beach diet, which by the way I've lost 25lbs, Jacob has lost 15lbs and Chip turning into a toothpick and has lost 40lbs.  We found out that we are expecting a new baby due January 7.  My boobs started hurting a bit and I told Chip that the only time I've ever experienced that was when I was pregnant. I took the test and it was positive. 

We totally did not expect it but we are happy now that it's sunk in a bit lol.  I've been so not energetic and had morning, noon and night sickness  for what seems like forever but it seems to be backing off to mainly evening sickness.  I have my next appointment on Thursday for a check up.

I'm so excited. I submitted a picture to a digital photography magazine and they published it. They told me a month ago that they were but it's totally different to see it in print!  too cool! :) 

This photo:

A lot has gone on over the past month. My mother in law got an infection that went to her back and knees and had emergency surgery on both.  Now we are taking her to the hospital twice a day for 27 days for IV antibiotics.  Anyway, while we were there the other night it started snowing which has been extremely rare the past few years. In fact, Joshua is 3 years old and had never even seen the snow until then!  We went out into the hosptial "yard" and although there wasn't a whole lot of snow, it was excellent snow man/snow ball making snow and we made ourselves a snowman and snow angels while waiting.

I got an email the other day from a lady named Chelsea that I used to talk to on a special needs message board. She has two little girls and one of them has down syndrome. She told me that she had been trying to find my blog and wanted to let me know about her daughter that she named after Amber.  She told me at the time that she was naming her daughter after her, but I really didn't have any idea of how Amber really touched her life. thought this was so awesome that she shared this with me and on her website at  

http://myangelsaliandpeanut.tripod.com/

 ShaeLynn Mercedes. This was the perfect name for my little girl. I wanted to honor Amber Lynn as well as the impact she and her family had on our lives.

Amber taught me that the value of a person is not in what they can do. I already knew this to an extent but Amber made it perfectly clear to me.

Amber was her family's precious little girl. Just like my little girl's are in my family. Their differences in abilities do not matter. All 3 of these girls are loved and cherished. Amber's family did everything they could to help her reach her potential. In the end her abilities didn't matter. They missed seeing her smile, hearing her laugh. They didn't care that she never walked or talked. Amber's abilities were not who she was.

Everytime I write ShaeLynn's name I am reminded of what Amber Lynn taught me. That while I am here to help my children reach their full potential, I don't decide what that is. I do decide how I react to it.

I remember that in the end what matters is my little girl's happiness. Seeing them smile, hearing them laugh, watching them while they sleep. It doesn't matter what they grow up to be. They are my little girls.

All I ever asked for was happy and healthy children. I said I was willing to compromise on the healthy part as long as they were happy.

I didn't realize exactly how much I meant that, until Amber Lynn came into our lives. Amber Lynn and her family taught me how to truly appreciate that in a way I might not have otherwise.

Everytime I talk to a parent who is struggling with their child's delays… with not having a diagnosis… with the same relentless search that goes with having children with special needs. I find myself telling them about Amber. How she taught me that in the end that diagnosis doesn't matter. What matters is the little girl.

Amber will continue to influence people's lives because her legacy will always live on. Those who were touched by Amber are not going to forget her.

Amber's kidney recipient Paco and his wife Gaby sent us a fruit basket for Thanksgiving. They have done this for us for the past few years and I'm always so touched that they think of us and do this.  Last time I talked to them Paco was still doing great and I hope that we will get to meet them both at some point. They are such sweet people. 

Joshua and Lily thought that the basket was a great toy and bed. I'm considering a cardboard box and a couple of baskets for these kids for christmas. Stuff like that keeps them entertained for hours where as they are tired of the toys after about 10 minutes!

Josh's birthday was fun, he got a ds to taunt Jacob with and that is just what he does.  For halloween the boys were Mario and Luigi. Both boys are really into mario and so we went to thrift stores hunting down the items we needed to make their costumes. I think it turned out really cute and they even won an online costume contest this year! Close to a month after halloween Joshua has changed his name to "joshua-mario" and must wear his red hat even to bed and often asks for a mustache in the mornings.

Chip and I had our 10 year anniversary on Nov. 15. We went out of town this past weekend to Calloway gardens and rushed back when Margie called Josh broke out in a bad rash with hives and was taken to the ER to be checked out. He had taken a nap on the living room floor and apparantly had a bad allergic reaction to something that was on the carpet, maybe the shampoo or cleaners we've used, I'm not sure. but she gave us an epi-pen if he ever had a bad reaction like that again for us to use. 

When we got home, our cat Mumble, came up our driveway meowing, Margie noticed his leg was dangling behind him and he'd been hit by a car.  We took him to the vet today and found his leg is broken and it's going to be a minimum of $400, up to $1000  to do surgery on it.  Our other cat daffy has a broken blood vessel in her ear it's going to be $150 surgery to fix that too. So if anyone is interested in donating to the "fix my cats" fund. Feel free.

I bring Mumble in tomorrow for the x-rays and so hopefully it won't be to hard to fix him up and he can be back to his old self soon.  I  don't think i ever posted about him on here.   My stepdad had a family reunion back in June  at a lake near our house. They asked if I'd do pictures for them and so that's what I was doing.  I went down by a fishing dock when i heard the most horrible pitiful mew and I thought for certain that there was a cat trapped somewhere. I had sandles on so I went to get shoes and socks so that I didn't get poison ivy to look for the cat. When I came back there was a tiny little grey kitten with the biggest meow I've ever heard. He was starving and afraid but still came to me when I called him. I fed him and we went to the owner of the cabins my mom and stepdad were staying at and asked what to do with him since pets were not allowed in the cabins. He said dont bring him in the cabins, you will be fined and kicked out. Dont leave him here because I'll shoot him, my suggesting is to leave him outside so that the foxes may get him during the night.  We were devistated to hear that was the little kitty's options and so we took him home. I had both boys crying their eyes out begging for us not to leave him. He took to the other cats right away, they had a little trouble adjusting to him but he's so laid back and easy going that it wasn't long before they started acting like they were his mama cat.   He's a sweet little guy and I hope that the vet appt goes well. I'll post how it goes later.

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted last! It didnt seem that long!  Anyway, Joshua is 3 today! I bought him some presents and balloons and when I walked in the door he says, "wow!! you bought me a party??" LOL He's very smart and imaginative. Last night, he was eating dinner and I hear him saying ahhh dont eat me dont eat me and he brought the fry to his mouth. Maybe too much cartoon network? I will add pics later after he has his cake.

We were out in the driveway last night and Joshua was playing with a tennis ball and racket.  He hit the ball against the wall and it rolled under the van.  He tried to get it out without climbing under and couldn't.  He says, "dang it" then he sighs, rolls his little eyes and tells me to give him the keys to the van.  I asked him why he needed my keys. He tells me very matter of factly he needed them so that he could move the van and get his ball.

Of course…why didn't I think of that?

When there are boxes! I brought this box up from the garage to try and make something to take pics and the boys took over it! They were enteretained for over an hour! Josh took the oppertunity to Jump on the box as soon as it was Jacob's turn to get in!  Jacob was laughing so hard he couldn't get out and Joshua just LOVED it lol!