Half Birthday!!

What did you do for your half birthday?  We actually DON'T celebrate half birthdays around here because lets face it, the regular 1 per year about kills me! :)  No, really when I started really listening to the kids and not the adults nor the blogs or pinterest, things got much easier!!
(but that's another post)

 

It was someone's half birthday this month... Someone turned 6 months old!
 NOOOOOOOO!
Time slow down!!

So, this is what Mr. Cade did for his half birthday.  This is over the course of 2 days, because let's face it everybody around here gets to celebrate for more than 1 day!

Posed for nude photos!

We're working hard on sitting up, and Cade is sooo close!  It's difficult as Cade's arms are shorter.  Sooo where other babies can use their arms to stabilize, he has to go much lower to stabilize. 

Some of you remember "raise the roof" (Yes, we've established I'm old) for Cade we like to raise the floor.  We actually put the boppy around his front so the "floor" (boppy) is closer to his hands.  He is better able to stabilize without having to go so low.

He also did his first real swimming.  He was pretty excited about his swim trunks.


And still very much excited after swimming.

He posed with his doctor.  We had just been there Friday for synegis, but now we are here for 6 months well child.

We played a few cut throat games of UNO.

 

Cade's kind of a card shark.

Tried some rice cereal, which was good for the first 30 seconds and then all came out.

"This is fun Mom!"

 

Finally, we did some light reading.  His favorite is Polar Bear Polar Bear, but Brown Bear is not too bad either.

 

Hope your half Birthday is as good as Cade's!!

 

Feel the Love

Shew, let's just say it's a good thing we started on the whole valentines day thing early!!  We've had a busy week celebrating!  We started by making Valentine Heart shirts.  I think they would have been cuter on white shirts, but beggars can't be choosers. 

 

Then, while we were letting our shirts dry, we decided to do an impromptu photo session.  Which turned out to be a hilariously good time! 

Claire was ALL ABOUT IT, but Livie was pretty busy making her Valentines.

 

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR PICTURE OVERLOAD!!!

Seriously, I don't think there is one picture where at least one kid isn't laughing hysterically!

 

 

We made these pictures of Claire into her Valentines at Walmart!  It was easy and relatively cheap.  We then made heart crayons and attached them.  Can you see them in the picture below?

As you can see, this week has been right up Claire's Alley... Tuesday she got to go to Preschool in red, pink & hearts. 

Then on Thursday it was "Fancy Day" which was inspired by Claire and her friend Spencer who often wears a suit to preschool!!

 

 

Definitely the most stressful part of Valentines was making another child's Valentine Box!  Each child did another child's box.  It was a very sweet idea, but oh my!  If you mess up your kids it's one thing, but another kids... YIKES!!  

We found a fabulous idea on Pinterest, a hot air balloon!!  It was easy, cheap and we thought super cute!

We were also in charge of this little lady's Valentine Party on Friday.

We made play-doughh, cut the dough into hearts, put eyes on them, and individually packaged them.

Play-dough and a book is a great way to get kiddos calmed down after an exciting party and lots of candy.

 

Kool Aide Play Dough is our favorite...

 

Boil 1 Cup of Water

Mix in 1 Package of Kool Aide*

1/4 cup of Salt

1 Tablespoon of Oil

1 1/2 cups of Flour

 

Voila Terrific Smelling Play Dough

 

Cade kind of helped!

 

The party was a good time.  I wore Cade in my Moby, and Mom of the Year Here, got chocolate on his head!!  Sorry Buddy, but I love me some Chocolate Covered Strawberries!! :)

 

That night we went to the Circus!  Can you say Busy Week!!??

The girls' favorite, the Quick Change Girl.  Cade's favorite the band and Ribbon Girls.

His eyes were pretty big most of the night, but he finally gave in after intermission.

Happy Valentines!!

Oh wait it isn't even Valentines yet...

to the Woman at the Zoo

It's been an absolutely GORGEOUS weekend!  We tried hard to enjoy every minute, but alas it was cut short by sickness.  However, that's beside the point.  We were able to go to the park on Friday afternoon with our babies.

 

Mine didn't make it long...

 

 

Then we went to the zoo on Saturday, and that's where the thank you comes in.

 

It was Cade's 1st Zoo Trip, and

 

our 1st time not taking the wagon... Claire was not super happy about that! :)

 

I THOUGHT this was super cute, but now that Livie is throwing up on our couch, I'm having second thoughts.

Finally, to the point of this story.  I was wearing my MOBY as a stylish accessory without a baby because my baby was on the changing table.  An inquisitive pregnant woman began asking me about my wrap, and you know how I LOVE MY MOBY.  So I was telling her all about it, and why I liked it.  I got to Cade having Down Syndrome, and it being okay for his joints.  She did a double take at Cade (not meanly, just surprised).  Anyway, after our conversation another woman came out of a stall washed her hands, then sweetly patted me, smiled and said, "Thank you for choosing life." 

Then she left. 

It made my day.  It made me cry, but it made my day. 

Frankly, you may or may not be surprised at how many people don't agree with our "decision"

(not that we care) :)

Yes, we did choose Life,

and wouldn't have it any other way.