what a busy busy week (or two) its been!

Sorry for the lack of updating. its been NUTS! We went home for Grandma Lucy's funeral after the NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (GO PACKERS!! SUPERBOWL BOUND BABY!!!) She was 90 years old, she lived a good and full life, so it wasn't the same as most funeals i've been to. Grandpa Robert was young, Charlie and Chris were young, Grandpa David was still young. All of them were taken TOO SOON. Whether it was cancer, lung issues, killed by a drunk driver, or a tragic mistake, these peoples funerals were SOOO different from Grandma Lucy's. This one truly was a celebration of her life, because boy did she live it. We came home Tuesday night and cleaned furiously in recovery mode from the game and last minute packing for the funeral because the in-laws were coming up for to watch my husbands cousin play in a local peewee hockey tournament. And as luck (or karma) would have it, I was up on Friday morning at 7 am sick. For the record, no i am NOT pregnant. Although me feeling better by 3 was suspicious to some family members. lol. It was the first time when I was sick and Jeremy was so pressed at work that he was unable to come home to help with Kaelyn. So she had some quality time in her pack and play, nursed a little here and there, and was in general, a good baby for me. I felt SO GUILTY though because normally I get down on the floor and play with her, we listen to toddler tunes on the computer (Kaelyn has her own Pandora play list and we listen to it so often its the one that loads now every time i log in!) and we snuggle and she was kind of on her own. Not only because I was sick, but just in case it was contagious, I didn't want HER to get sick. As it turns out, I'm pretty sure it was something I ate, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out what it was that made me sick. But that's neither here nor there.

We went to the hockey tournament where Rapids beat the pants off of Altoona 4-1 (I think. ). We relaxed and went to dinner saturday night, watched a movie at home, relaxed sunday morning until they packed up, gave last kisses to Kaelyn and left to go back home. We weren't without company though because my mom, sister, and niece came up so that I didn't have to go to Kaelyn's appointment at St. Paul Children's Hospital by myself. I'm sure I would have done just fine, but I have never driven there by myself and with Kaelyn and the stroller (because its a LOT of walking from parking, to radiology, to genetics and back to parking and she's getting heavier by the day) and the diaper bag, and getting her in and out of clothes, It's so much nicer to have a 2nd set of hands to help out. As it turns out, Her renal/bladder ultrasound was awesome. YAY! She is right on track for meeting milestones timely if not early for NORMAL children, so she is beating all of the suggested times for Down's Syndrome Children. It makes me one very happy mommy. The reason that they are looking at her and following her as a Down's Syndrome child is because of the extra piece of chromosome 21. And she has SO LITTLE in what researchers are calling the critical range, we are not sure what, beyond the eye shape and other facial features will be affected. THey checked her heart, kidneys, bladder and all are awesome. They drew blood yesterday to check her thyroid and we should hear back this week or early next week hopefully. We thought we'd have to wait for a call for the renal/bladder ultrasound results, but Rebecca (nurse and in charge of DS Clinic at SPC) found us waiting in the lab lounge for her to get her blood drawn and told us it was all fine. PHEW! How often can you say that someone went out of their way to find you before you left the hospital to tell you your results to set your mind at ease!. Now we are just praying for a normal thyroid screening. Unlike the kidneys and bladder and heart (where once they are normal they never need to be tested) Kaelyn will need to have her thyroid checked on a regular basis.

I had such a fun time with my niece coming too though. We colored, I painted her nails (toe and finger nails) and we made a valentine's day present for her mommy and daddy). Her being big enough to want "CRAZY hair" and painted purple nails and to do crafts, makes me excited for the day when I can do these sorts of things with Kaelyn.

OH! I nearly forgot, all the night nursing? DEFINITELY a growth spurt. Between the 19th of December and yesterday 2/1/11 She went from 16#15oz to 17#10oz. Nearly a pound? She usually gains a pound a MONTH! and here she is growing that much in about 2 weeks? Makes me feel much better about letting her nurse as needed at night. although I think i will start giving her a breast milk BOTTLE at night because it is NOT good to fall asleep nursing a baby with TWO TEETH....YOWIE! Tonight we will hopefully have her crib mattress lowered because she learned how to pull herself up on the crib rails. Previously she tried using the cribs bumper pad and never got anywhere. lol. Last night I let her crab a little in her crib in hopes that she would calm down and go to sleep. and she was crabbing each time i checked on her. I finally got up to go to the bathroom and what do i see? Kaelyn standing up in her crib. So we pulled the pack and play out and in her room so that we could have her sleep somewhere safe until we get her mattress lowered.

Speaking of crabby, Kaelyn is starting to get fussy so I gotta go! Maybe I can get some MUCH needed cleaning done today!

Thanks for stopping by to read! I'm blogging in the hopes of SOMEDAY finding someone with partial trisomy 21 like Kaelyn, another mom or dad to talk to. It's not common, its pretty rare. If you are out there LET ME KNOW! I'm WAITING! lol

All of our Love

Lara and Kaelyn