Indie {33 Weeks}

Indie is getting stronger and sitting long enough for a picture.  She looks like such a big girl;  I'll just have to get used to that!  

Indie {32 Weeks}

Indie has had an amazing week!  

1st we received an email to let us know Indie's picture was selected to be shown on the Jumbo-tron in Times Square before the Central Park Buddy Walk.  We were all so excited for her and the girls were running around the house saying "Indie's going to be famous!"  

2nd thing is that Indie can SIT!!!!  The night of July 12 (exactly 7 months, 1 week) we were doing our normal workout except this time I gave Indie my watch to hold onto.  It was just the confidence boost she needed and she started sitting for 1-2 minute increments!  We have worked so hard for this milestone and that made it even more exciting!!!  I love to sit and watch her work on her new skill.  It fills me with such pride, excitement, and hope for Miss Indie.

We have started giving Indie table food instead of pureed baby food.  Pureed food is tricky because Indie's tongue just pushes the food right back out, but she is doing great with pineapple pieces, watermelon chunks, carrot sticks, bananas, and puffs.  She doesn't have a great pincer grasp so I let her use my hands to guide the food to her mouth, then she aggressively naws on her fruits and veggies.  Once Indie breaks off a piece, she uses her tongue to carefully push it around her mouth, then swallows it.  I think that this method will help her build oral strength, provide fine motor therapy, and help with any future food aversions by letting her sample different textures now.  It is time consuming and I get nervous about choking, but we'll stay with it and see how things progress.  We have been working on drinking through a straw for about a month and tonight she figure it out!  3 major accomplishments this week!!  

And this seems to be a right of passage at our house.  I guess I'll have to watch that bag of rubber bands from now on......

It was bound to happen...

We have had craft scissors downstairs for a year without any incidents, but today Cora decided to cut her hair. I really shouldn't be surprised.  And she was so proud of herself.  Cora told me that she cut her hair short so it could grow healthy, which is an explanation I gave her before her last professional hair cut.  So, she does listen.  She could tell I was sad about the hair cut and that made her sad.  We talked about never cutting her hair again, hugged it out, read a story, then she forgot all about it.  I made an appointment for a professional trim, but her wave hides the short spots pretty well so rescheduled until after our camping adventure.  

Indie {31 Weeks}

Something very exciting happened this week, but it was more for me than Indie (that statement could be said about this entire Down Syndrome journey.)  Anyways, I have reintroduced soy into my diet and there has been no reaction so far!  I was slowly reintroducing soy oil, then Dave made me dinner with soy protein and I decided to go for it.  I am so excited to eat soy again and looking forward to reintroducing dairy next.  

Back to Indie, she was so cute taking a nap with Dave that I couldn't resist taking a picture. The click of my camera woke up Dave, but our little princess was exhausted so I let her sleep another hour before I woke her up too.    

4th of July

4th of July in Omaha is extreme, 3 days of neighborhood fireworks from noon to the wee hours of the night.  I refuse to buy fireworks since I feel like it is like burning up money, but we did enjoy celebrating with friends.  

All the late nights caught up with us though because the girls were in rough shape on the 4th.  I thought meeting up with the Williams and walking the pedestrian bridge would snap them out of it, but the mugginess did not help.  So I mentioned a special holiday dinner and 4th of July cake- vanilla cake from the box with some strawberries and blueberries- and it worked like a charm!  All of a sudden, the girls were working together, laughing, posing for funny pictures, and sharing poppers.  

Since Indie hates loud noises, we bowed out of fireworks this year.  Dave took the older girls to watch a big show.  They ended up driving all over Omaha then found some great neighborhood shows nearby.   And staying home so Indie could sleep was unsuccessful because it sounded like we were in a war zone.  (It really is different here!)  Now we know the sweet spot for next year- our driveway.

Indie {30 Weeks}

 6 months flew by and this little lady is still not sitting independently.  I was getting a little bummed that Indie has to work extra hard for her achievements.  I had a whole pity party going, but then I uploaded some pictures and I have to say, Indie is adorable!  I love that her smile lights up her entire face.  She doesn't care if she sits when she's 6 months so I'm not going to either.  

The zoo

We bought a zoo pass when we first moved here, used it a ton, then the older girls were over the zoo so we took a break.  We met our friends the other day and everyone was suddenly super excited about the zoo.  Perfect, I bought an annual pass and we visited today, along with everyone else in Omaha.  The parking lot was crazy, but it was easy breezy once we got inside.  We checked out some animals, passed up the splash pad because it was a tad chilly (we have clearly acclimated to the midwest), picnicked at the play ground, fed the fishies (where Eden shared her fish food with Cora like a champ), oohed and aahed over the baby sea lion, then watched an IMAX movie about National Parks.  We had some tears from our tired little ladies at the end, but overall it was a fun day.  

 This cute little lady was pooped and I couldn't resist a sleeping picture.

Indie {29 Weeks}

Indie is getting so so so close to sitting!  She can sit independently for ten-ish seconds at a time.  The first time she sat, Milan and I got super excited and started cheering for her.  Of course, she fell over then started crying because we scared the heck out of her.  Now we get her nice and distracted so she'll sit without realizing it, then silently cheer for her.  I know she is going to love sitting to play with her toys and have a better viewpoint for watching sisters!

I have been offering pureed baby foods and feeling discouraged because Indie doesn't seem to swallow anything.  Since she loves to have her little tongue out, the food just comes right back out with it.  I was ready to take a break, but Indie's OT suggested we keep offering baby food to help strengthen her oral muscles.  Today, I thought I saw some improvement with baby food and water in the honey bear cup.  The good news is that Indie is great with chewing puffs!  Eating is a process just like everything else and we will keep working on it.    

In other news, Indie went swinging for the first time while we were camping.  Judging by those cute smiley faces, I'm guessing she liked it!  

Camping

We took our renovated camper on an adventure!  Wait, nope, our camper is still torn apart in our driveway.  Oh well, we didn't let our pending projects stop us from having fun.  We went out to the campground to hang out with our friends until 10 pm then I took the girls back the next morning.  Everyone had a blast playing on the playground, throwing rocks into the gross lake, making Smores, catching fireflies (Cora's all time favorite part!), and paddle boating across the lake.  It was so fun to watch the girls and made me even more excited for our month long camping adventure in a couple weeks (yes, our camper will be done by then!)

Bridging Ceremony

Another year of girl scouts down and the girls even have most of their patches attached (go mom!).  Milan bridged up to Juniors for next year.  That will probably require a different uniform so Milan better frame this sash and all my sewing accomplishments forever.

Milan and Eden were super excited about their gift bags and have been carrying them around all week and busting out chalk, card games, and nail polish at the most random times.  Just one more way that Girl Scouts has been a fun experience for the girls!   

Swimming

Swimming is definitely our thing in the summer!  We have been doing swim lessons and our biggest news is that Eden is now putting her face in the water!  Eden made a special connection with her swim teacher, Maddie, last session.  It all started when Maddie told Eden that she was her favorite kid.  When Maddie offered Eden a sucker if she put her face in the water, Eden was up for the challenge.  Eden is doing awesome, she is comfortable putting her face in the water without goggles, and is working on her strokes.  On the last day of swimming, Maddie gave Eden a special note and stuffed animal and made Eden's day!  I am so grateful for people who make a little extra effort and make such a big impact on my girl's development.  

Last week, we went to an evening session at the Plattsmouth Pool and it is my new favorite kind of swimming! The weather is cooler and there is a finite amount of time for swimming so no complaining when it's time to go home.  The added bonus is the pretty light for swimming pictures (go mom!)

And since our summer revolves around swimming, you can bet that we are constantly wearing swim suits, even when we're chlaxing at home.