FHE Easter lesson

I love the Easter holiday. It's not as full of all the holiday consumer trappings that Christmas holds. We're able to focus more on Christ and less on the bunny and plastic eggs (although we have fun with that too).

Connor and I decided to make 'raised' doughnuts for the dessert of our family home evening lesson about the easter story this year. They turned out fantastic!

Colorful Birthday Wishes

Since last summer, when Cailin participated in the Summer Musical's production of 'Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" Delaney has been wanting to have a "Joesph" birthday party. Every month, she reminded me...."remember Mom, I want to have a 'Joesph....color party'." Her birthday month finally came and her desires became a colorful wish come true.The birthday guests. What a wonderful and colorful crew.

The party began by painting their own t'shirts, any way they wanted. Using paint brushes, bottle caps and canning rings they all came up with clever designs.

Delaney wanted a rainbow of colors on her shirt.
One party friend painted this shirt. The weather outside was cold and rainy...I think there was even a bit of snowy slush coming down at one time, but, inside we were very happy.

Showing off the myriad of colors.

After painting, the kids played a round of musical chairs. Of course, the music was from Andrew Lloyd Weber's 'Joesph...technicolor Dream Coat".

We learned from Cailin party last year, that the best way to play musical chairs is keep everyone in and only take out a chair after each stop in the music.

Piling on each other is just to much fun!

After a completely kid friendly, yet non- nutritious meal of hot dogs, chips and soda pop, it was time for cake. Because life has been a bit stressful lately, a dear friend volunteered to make Delaney's birthday cake for me. It turned out wonderfully. Thanks so very much L.

(As it turned out, the day became even more busy than I had anticipated. The day before the party, the ped's office called and told me that they had an appointment for Brianne's pulminologist for the next day. I told them I couldn't take it and they said, it was very hard to get into this office and it would be a long wait for the next available appointment.....okay, we're going to take it, I guess." We also had the book club group meeting. Whew, what a day, I sure couldn't have done a bit of it without great friends helping me. Thanks to everyone! )

It's present time!! She came away quite a few more LPS--littlest pet shop, toys to add to her ever growing collection. Other wonderful gifts were a soccor ball, barbie car, & gumballs.

Part of her plan was to put on a show for everyone at her party. She and her friend J. have practiced often in the past few months to refresh their memory of the songs they learned last summer. They performed wonderfully. It's amazing how well they can remember that list of color words-- "It was red, and yellow, and green and brown, and scarlet and black, and ocher and peach, and ruby and olive, and violet and faun, and lilac and gold, and chocolate, and mauve, and cream and crimson, and silver, and rose and azure, and lemon, and russet, and gray, and purple, and white, pink and orange, and BLUE!" (from the song)

C. with her birthday buddy. They both share
the same birthday!

Having fun playing LPS. Happy Birthday dear Delaney!

The D-Day Memorial

We're moving along in our history studies....the time period is 1920's to 1940's; the world wars and depression eras. To kick off our unit we traveled to Bedford to visit the D-Day Memorial--a monument to those who died during the invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944; a key battle of WWII.



We had a wonderful day learning about the planning and execution of those plans and the sad, yet victorious outcomes. Afterwards we enjoyed a picnic lunch at a local park. The day was sunny but, windy, after all the cold rainy weather we've been having it was great to be outside.

Connor-Hello! Pop question! Who knows what the D in D-Day stands for? If you said Day you're right! This field trip was pretty good. For those of you who know how much I hate tours, you'll be surprised when I say this one was pretty good. Plus, my friend Jess, was able to sleep over at my house. What's my overall opinion? Hmmmm let me think, AWESOME!!!

Before the tour of the actual monument and surrounding grounds we spent some time in an army tent learning about the daily life of a soldier and what it was like for those back home.

Brianne did wonderfully...especially when she finally subcombed to sleep.

Hi, it's Cailin. I liked the field trip and two of my best friends were there.

Did you know that on the D-Day attack they sent one company of troops (177 soldiers) at 6:30 am, but only 15 of them survived.
I think that was a great sacrifice for our country. I think that I never would have as much bravery as these American troops had to have. They truly loved their country.

The monument was full of symbolism. Here is a representation of what the soldiers faced as they left the boats and struggled to get to the shores.

Courage, strength and valour--the men, women and children of this era gave us a great legacy of hope, perseverance and freedom.

Early Intervention

Brianne and I have begun a program in Virginia called Early Intervention. This is a program designed to help infants and toddlers that need extra help in order to learn and develop. The focus is on increasing the child's participation in family and community activities that are important to the family. This is done by identifying and implementing learning opportunities throughout the day in order to enhance Brianne's development.

Right now, what's most important for Brianne is to strenghten her neck and chest muscles. She needs to be able to breathe without the aid of oxygen.

Also, due to low muscle tone, she naturally keeps her arms splayed outward from her body. If she doesn't learn to keep them centered, or in midline, she won't learn to grasp at objects; and in the future feed herself or other activites.
She also won't be able to roll over or learn to pull herself into a sitting position.

Putting her on her side forces her to keep her arms at midline. Once she is there she naturally grabs for toys. What I find most interesting is that most infants learn this on their own. For her, these skills must be taught. (Just as Ryan needs to be taught social skills.)

By two or three weeks of age, my other kids were able to hold their heads errect without support. This is still difficult for Brianne. So, this is another thing we are working on. By lightly bouncing her on the ball she develops greater muscle strengh. She actually likes this, but, she's not thrilled with the other exercises that we need to do on the ball.

Like this one, she has to sit on the ball with one leg bent behind her. At first I thought it was awkward to twist her leg that way, until I got up from the floor and I put my leg behind me in the same fashion to get up. It's never to early to strenghten these muscles and learn these techniques. (Except they put her in a foul mood.)

She is doing so well at supporting her head on her own. She'll pop it up and look around-- sometimes she'll keep it up for a few seconds. Such a strong little girl. It's really exciting, just as exciting as it is to see Delaney put letter sounds together and learn to read.

This little frog dude really caught her attention. She'd pop her head up and follow it with her eyes from side to side for quite a while.

She has to take frequent breaks, all this work tuckers her poor body out! She'll even take mini sleep breaks from time to time...but she does this when she's eating too. Even drinking a bottle to milk wears her out physically--which is why we're trying to build better muscle tone.

I never really paid attention to the physical development, in minute ways, with the others. Of course I noticed the big events--rolling over, sitting, crawling, walking--now I'll get to notice all the little steps that needs to be learned to get to the big ones.

3.141592653... it's pi --or pie day

Mmmmmmmm, a delicious way to spend a mathmatical day.

(Okay, I really need a good pie crust recipe. Anyone have an easy one?)

Three months old

I can't believe that Brianne is three months old now. It hardly seems more than a few weeks ago that Vicki told me that we had a child on the way. Being home for Brianne's birth was very special. Seeing Vicki's heroic struggle, and the birth of Brianne has convinced me that men are wimps in relation to the pain that women handle in childbearing. I had also forgotten how it feels to be there and look into the face of a newborn. I have decided that for me, this is standing on holy ground.

Brianne is doing well. Her personality is beginning to shine through. She is a grunter. This means that she and I can communicate quite well, (It should be noted that "grunt" is a nickname for infantry soldiers).She also is quick with a smile and coo. She is a good sleeper. This means that she usually is content to bring up issues that arise in the night, in the morning. The big exception to this of course is "feeding time". That is just one thing that is not optional but satisfaction on demand.

Brianne is quite beautiful and charming. This "Downs Syndrome" thing is very new to me. In fact at times I find that I have to remind myself that she has it. The amazing thing is that even after five previous children, the wonder and excitement of looking into her face, playing with her tiny fingers and hands is still so strong. I don't tire of it. At times when we lock eyes, it is as if she looks right through me.

I think that Brianne has a very cruel since of humor. Thanks to this we have had several "Hazmat" incidents. I am surprised that we have not ended up on the evening news. Diaper changing is very different with Liam vs. Brianne. When Liam is ready for a change, all his work is done. It is just holding the nose, or breath and making the best of a not so good situation. But with dear Brianne, every time can be "Full" (pun intended) of surprises. There is an art to this. First, you must have all needed supplies on hand and organized. Second, there is a need for speed and effecteness. Woe to the man who leaves Brianne uncovered for any amount of time. You will be wearing your mistake.

In closing, the dress that you see Brianne in is very special. It is not just Brianne's. But it has been handed down to her by each of her sisters. It was also worn by Vicki. Vicki's grand mother, Kaye Stumm, knitted it for Vicki at her birth. Which was a long time ago, okay, we wont say just how long ago. But the dress is holding up nicely.

Scientifically Speaking...

It's pure fact....Connor loves science. So do the rest of us, it's just that his love of it goes a little deeper.

At the first of the year we spent a month or so learning about the different systems of our bodies. I helped them do this experiment about our five sense. They had to identify similar yet different (sugar/salt, peeled apple/potato, canned chicken/tuna) items using only one sense, say, taste with out sight or smell. Could they do it? ....we were trying to see how all our senses work together; that our ability to taste depends upon our nose to work better (which is why when you have a cold nothing really tastes all that great).

While the kids did their own studies of other systems I was busy reacquainting myself with a baby's digestive tract....how can a little body produce that much poop anyhow?

Ryan is busy with a science curriculum that is geared for high school age kids. He's not thrilled with doing experiment so Connor joins him (and learns alot) and Ryan has more fun doing his projects. Ryan and Connor tell me this experiment was about DNA extraction, only it didn't work out so well this time.

Mmmmmm any one want some soapy onions?
Anyhow, I've decided to follow the 'Thomas Jefferson Education' by Oliver DeMille,theory a bit more, embrace John Holt's thoughts and let education be child driven. I can tell when Connor gets bored with something he gets more lackadaisical--or, well spacey for a lack of a better word. (He usually gets this way when he's not challenged enough) He's been getting that way with our current biology studies lately. I asked him if he wanted to start the same book curriculum that Ryan was doing, (the book geared for his comprehension level) "Yes!!!!" he gleefully exclaims. (Apologia-Exploring Creation) He's enjoying the vocabulary words, study guide questions, tests and most definitely LAB experiments! I love how he comes and talks with me about what he's reading and learning--he loves how he's being more challenged. I love that I don't have to remind or conjoul him to do science anymore. Yeah! This is a win-win situation

Yeah, for Oliver DeMille, John Holt and Connor!

I don't get it?

I'm not sure how to make this work?

I knew that some day, after seeing me pump multiple times during the day, that I'd find Liam trying out the pumping gear. Sure enough, he found these phlanges and "put them in the right spot", but it just wasn't working out for him..."hummmmm" I could almost see the the question in his eyes, "How does Mom get this to work? I don't get it?"

Feeding problems

When I was pregnant with Brianne I read about the difficulties babies with DS have when it comes to nursing. I was thrilled that minutes after she was born she latched on and nursed quite well, in fact, she continued to do so for a few days. This soon changed and due to low muscle tone she just wasn't able to get enough milk to keep her body growing and satisfied. I had to supplement with formula. Then my milk supply started to diminish because Brianne wasn't stimulating milk production well enough. Thus began 2.5 months of pumping milk, supplementing with formula and feeding her by a bottle. I grew to hate this. After a rather stressful day of tears and frustration, (an upside to the day--it was a Tuesday and we got to go to Macado's for dinner--I didn't have to cook), I decided that I was going to stop and feed her solely formula. I had bittersweet emotions about this, feeling of guilt but ohh so releaved (and overall quite happy) at not having to be teathered to a pump. However, during that week she had so many problems with two different types of formula--she had mucus in bm's and considerable amounts of gas (this was on a formula that was suppose to help with gassiness). While on a different formula she had projectile vomiting (and still gassiness, although not as bad with the other brand). It was during FHE, after she showered me with the whole bottle she just drank that I decided that even though I was only giving her 50-80% breast milk, it was still much better than 100% formula and I couldn't let her go through all the pain of a strictly formula diet. After a phone call to my visiting teacher/friend, who happens to be a lactation consultant, we have a plan and hopefully I'll get my milk supply back up, perhaps even better than before. My attitude has changed, now I want to pump because it's really beneficial for Brianne's abdominal wellness. So back to pumping every 2-3 hours (I even need to commit to getting up once in the middle of the night) What really stinks is that after 5 babies I finally have a baby that will sleep through the night. I can even put her to bed awake, but drowsy and she will go to sleep all on her own. Murphy's Law is alive and well in our home.

A Boy and His Cars

When Ryan and Connor were little I loved to watch them play with their matchbox cars. They would organize them by color, line them up side by side or from front to end. They'd play for hours watching them roll down ramps they created from old bookcase shelves. They also loved to race the cars against others to see which one was faster.
Liam recently discovered this fun. I love to sit and watch him too. Connor joined in the fun with him--he even remember which car was the fastest from his earlier days--they called it 'The Blue Champion'.
I look forward to many more days sitting while feeding Brianne, watching Liam immerse himself into a world of imaginative play with blocks and cars....Vrrrrmmmmmm

Visiting a Good Friend and Teacher

A wonderful primary teacher is a great memory to cherish. For Cailin, one such teacher was her CTR 7 teacher, Sister Carolyn Weber. According to Cailin, Sister Weber always made the lessons fun. Cailin says that one of the things that she remembered about the lessons were the "squeakey chalk".

Whenever Sister Weber used the chalk in the classroom, it would sqeak and the class, including Sister Weber would break out laughing.

Cailin also says that she enjoyed going over to Sister Weber's house. There they played games, watched movies and looked at pictures of Sister Weber's family.

Toward the end of their CTR 7 year, around Christmas, Sister Weber left for a mission--she was called to the Omaha Nebraska Mission. She would write to Cailin (and others) and Cailin loved to write back to her.

While on her mission, she became sick. Cailin fasted for her (her first time fasting). Sister Weber went home from her mission to stay with her daughter in West Virginia.

Last Friday, Beryl, Jared and Cailin took a trip (thanks Christine for suggesting and arranging the day) to visit Sister Weber. They spent the afternoon eating Happy Meals, playing Monopoly Deal and talking.

She came home happy to have had a chance to visit with her again (and glad that the long drive was over), yet, she was very sad to have to say goodbye, for a time, to a good friend.