More Alike Poster | National Down Syndrome Congress

More Alike Poster National Down Syndrome Congress


I had made this poster online and submitted a few months ago...just found out they are taking votes and the top 3 posters will be used as part of the NDSC national awareness campaign for Down syndrome... Doesn't take very long...Brayden is #14 and could use your votes if you have a few seconds to spare! You can vote for the top 3 and submit your vote...they don't ask for any information from you...just takes your vote!

I would love to see posters of my little guy up! Thanks...and much love to all of you...

What we have been up to...

I feel so bad for not updating our blog more...I feel like by the end of the day, I am wiped and just ready for a little bit of olympics and bed. Jared and I have been excercising 5 days a week and usually my time to go to the gym is at night...my old time of updating my blog, etc...so finding some new time to do this will have to happen hear and there. Jared and I feel great though...eating right...excercising...I am down 18 pounds...not near my goal yet, but 18 pounds feels great!
Kids have been doing great in school. Brayden is becoming quite the little toddler...I can't believe he will be 2 in April...Crazy!
I had the opportunity to speak at a college about 45 minutes away last week. What a great experience it was. Spoke on being a parent of a child with special needs and about our journey from the start to now...amazing once again by those that listened, cried and had so many questions in the end. I took one of my great friends with me...she is actually Kaylee's school teacher, Renae and she has been there from the beginning of our journey with DS...I will never forget her comment to me while crying , " I am NOT sorry you have this diagnosis for your little one for I feel he is going to be a special blessing from God." She loves our little guy and can NOT wait to be his kindergarten teacher! We are so blessed to have her in our lives...Thanks Renae for the long talk up and long talk down from our mini road trip! You mean the world to our family. It really is amazing sometimes to me just how much our little ones touch so many peoples lives...God definately has a hand in that! Just knowing the ones to touch too!
So on to what many go on blogs to see...some pics...
We went to a friends birthday party at Tumble America last Saturday and Brayden had a blast...so did Kaylee!

Brayden met a friend...Madison. They were the same age I believe and he was fascinated with her.

This following picture is not the best...but we are so proud of our Cody. He made the High Honor Roll . What an accomplishment! We love you buddy! Keep up the good work! Cody is currently trying out for his Club Soccer team this week and is looking forward to another great year of outdoor soccer.

2 weeks ago, I was able to attend our first friday of the month at our local DS society. We had a guest speaker that spoke from "Heartache to Hope". She is a good friend of my moms, so it was extra special to hear her speak. So much fun to get together with many friends and their little ones...some new parents and new babies attended as well! Brayden had a great time once again!

Brayden sitting with Emme on Emme's sister lap...we love this little girl and her family!

Kaylee got to plan a surprise party for her teacher last week...Mrs. Prentice. The afternoon teacher happens to have the same birthday as well, so we doubled the surprise along with 6 other mommies. Lots of fun!

Brayden just LOVES Mrs. Prentice...and the feeling is mutual from her!

Two of our favorite teachers! Mrs. Prentice and Mrs. Aniotizbere...

I have no pictures of our valentines day...not sure why I didn't take any pics? My husband took me out to a fabulous dinner at Flemings...had pistachio crusted halibut, ceasar salad, sugar snap peas...all healthy right? Okay, well we had to have chocolate covered strawberries and Red velvet cake to end the night...so good! I love you babe and thanks for a wonderful night...we went with another couple who are our great friends, Jeff and Christy! Thanks to you two too! We love you guys! Hope I can update again soon. We had to cancel all of our therapies this week due to Brayden having a nasty little cold...but should be good to go for next week...

A perfect snow day!

Awww....the joys of living just 45 minutes from beautiful mountains with snow we can play in. That is one good thing about Fresno...2 hours from the beach and 45 minutes from the mountains...We headed up to Shaver Lake to play in the snow last weekend with some friends and family and had lots of fun! Everyone loved playing in it EXCEPT for Brayden...he touched it once and didn't want to touch again. He went down the hill once, and that was good enough for him...


We had to bring his FAVORITE singing bear with us...notice the one mitten off so he can press the on button for the next song...sorry everyone around us that had to listen to MR. BEAR the whole time we were up there!

Two beautiful nieces of mine...Kaitlyn and Alyssa!

He didn't cry...but notice the "pouty" lip...not his favorite ride.

Kaitlyn and Cheryl enjoying the sunshine...

Jared racing down the hill...

My NO FEAR Kaylee girl...

Our good friends Jeff and Marissa and their two boys came with us...this is little Caleb with Marissa!

Isn't this snowman so cute??? Tangerine eyes, melon for the nose, licorice for the mouth, oreo cookies for buttons...but no, we didn't build it! Somebody else did, but enjoyed taking our picture by it anyway!

Our Cody man...

Some of my favorite men...

I just love Cody! I rarely get to take a picture of him... so I am treasuring this one!

Thanks for a wonderful time at the snow everyone! Will have to do it again soon!

New kickers! and pics from our weekend vacation in Avila!

We are excited...but kinda sad too. Sad because my baby is growing up...he is now 21 months! Where has the time gone? I just don't know...but we are excited that he is ready for "walking" shoes...he LOVES to be crusing and walking with assitance EVERYWHERE! So, his PT definately said he was ready for his orthotics and what a better time than for a team of therapists and owner of the company from Leap Frog to come to our PT's office for a clinic for parents and children needing orthotics...because we volunteered to meet them, we walked away with a free pair of orthotics...these little things are not cheap. We are grateful to them. Brayden doesn't seem to mind them and feels very big when he is wearing them. Of course we had to venture out and find some great shoes to fit our orthotics. I stopped by Roxanne's Birkenstock to see if they may have a great shoe before going to Stride Rite...and we found some great shoes that are extremely lightweight, MACHINE washable, easy to put on with the orthotics on, so we got them! We will see what is to come, but I think we are one our way to having a little walker on our hands...

These are so flexible, and are called Leap Frogs.

Avila Beach Getaway...with Grammy and Papa

We had a fabulous weekend getaway with Grammy and Papa at the beach 2 weekends ago... Friday and Saturday was beautiful, bright sunny skies! We swam at the pool, played tennis at the courts, played some basketball, went shopping, ate at some yummy restaruants, and played some games. Sunday was overcast, and drizzly...but we still had some fun in the rain before heading home.
We definately have a little fish on our hands...Brayden LOVES the water.

Had an awesome dinner at good 'ole McClintocks...

Kids enjoyed every bite of their food, down to the last bite of dessert!

A pic of Papa and Brayden sacked out while the rest of us played some Yahtzee before going to bed...what a fun weekend and memories we will have for a lifetime!

Before heading home we stopped in Arroyo Grande...the Village. A historical town, didn't even know they had this here and we have been going to Pismo/ Avila Beach since I was in high school. They were closed when we got there and didn't want to wait in the rain until they opened so we took some pics outside of the old school house.

They have an old swinging bridge...last one in CA that you can still walk across...so we had to check that out!

Thanks for going with us Grammy and Papa! Can't wait for another fun weekend like it!

Brayden has been busy!

Brayden has been doing some fun things...getting more and more independent everyday. He continues to amaze us and we just love him so much. Just wanted to share a few pics from some of his therapy appointments we have had in the last couple weeks.

This is the waiting room of Occupational Therapy...she has a safari theme and Brayden just loves wrestling with the animals...

I was in kitchen the other day when I heard some yelling coming from Brayden and it was an "I'm stuck!"yell...yep he had crawled in his sisters babies playpen...too funny! He also surprised us the other day by pushing his rocking chair against the couch, climbing into the rocking chair and then climbing up to the couch and just sat there reading a book. Again, I was around the corner and found him in position after the fact...I think I have a climber!!

We had the priviledge of meeting with a team of therapists from WA last Friday to get fitted for some FREE orthotics...I am so thrilled as these little things can cost a pretty penny. Brayden did so good and they were quite impressed with his capabilities...so we should be getting them within 2 weeks and then we will be buying our first pair of REAL walking shoes...they recommend Dinosoles...and they are pretty cute.

I have downloaded a video of him in the orthotics at the end of this post...

VISITING our playgroup center...Brayden is officially ready for playgroup twice a week...Mommy isn't so much just because it is two more appointments, but we will do it because we love this program and he does too! Here he is last week checking out the swing...his speech therapy is also at this center and we started that last week too...

He loves cars as you can tell, he was checking out the car station. We are so blessed to have so much available to Brayden and he enjoys every moment of every therapy / service given. We love all our therapists and they love Brayden. We are heading to the beach this weekend for a little get away, so I will hopefully have some sunshiny pictures to post next week.

Little of this and a little of that!

We had a fun New Years Eve...My in-laws came over and since my brother and sister-in-law had to work we decided it would be fun to invite some cousins to spend the night with us...so we ordered Olive Garden to go, so yummy...played some games...ate some cake...drank some soda so we could all ring in the new year together! Kids had lots of fun and so did we!

Papa getting the first game of the night started...UNO spin!



Brayden being sneaky in the action...he loved it! He even stayed up until 9:45pm...which is late for him, usually goes to bed by 8pm.

Brayden telling Papa the game plan...

Brayden has been very helpful lately. His favorite thing to do is empty the dishwasher for me and the dryer...and the toilet paper, drawers, cabinets...but so fun to watch his independence and curiousity...

He is doing some fun things...he has been cruising furniture for about a month now...he loves to climb into small chairs, climb stairs, stand all by himself for 5-10 seconds at a time and will repeatedly practice this in the middle of the room looking for praise and lots of claps! He loves to walk with assistance from whoever is willing to practice with him. He is going to be fitted for some small orthotics tomorrow with a team of therapists from WA. We are excited as this will give him some extra stability with walking.
Below are some pictures of his FAVORITY time of the night or day...breaking and entering while his big brother is taking a shower...I prefer end of the day, so we can strip down and put him in a bath right after. He LOVES water! As you can tell...LOL..

And GUESS WHAT? Our Kaylee girl lost her first tooth this past week. She was so excited. It had been loose for about 3 weeks, so after rollerskating last week...MOMMMY got to pull it out with my method of pulling teeth. She was a little trooper...she is growing up way to fast!

On to me for a change...I never talk about me, but I have joined the gym with my husband this past week and we have changed our eating habits...I do not like new years resolutions, because 9 out of 10 times people tend to go back to their bad habits...I am hoping we are making lifetime changes and going to be able to stick through these new habits together. Jared is my rock and has been there for me for 18 years...I want many, many more years with him so we are on our way to a healthier lifestyle...YAY me!