Out & about

The last few days between fevers & rain, we were stuck in the house. Now while my dvr appreciated being cleared out of it contents, we were like caged animals.

Meredith & I played with lacing beads & made necklaces. Her new obsession is jewelry. She's such a girl.









And then I laid on the floor & she used me as a jungle gym and drum. She's lucky she's cute.















Of course no mommy's outfit is complete without being decorated with necklaces.




When Sean woke up I was looking at him & realized he's really starting to look like me. I don't know if you can see it from these pictures, but the 1st one is of me.

















And of course this is what Sean thought of me taking all these pictures. Isn't he sweet?



We went to the doctor, picked up dinner and came home. Meredith had some matzo ball soup, hard salami, french fries & some pastrami.

Today we went to the playground. I can't believe that everyone was fed, dressed & loaded into the stroller before 9:30am. We walked over there. Sean slept most of the way there. I had told someone this morning that the walk there was a nice one. A lot of trees and flowers.











When we got there and Meredith started on the slide. She climbed all over the place & finally made her way down the slide.









She climbed & climbed & climbed some more.

And this is what Sean thought of the slides.




Then it was swing time. We walked over & of course Meredith discovered the leaves. She loves how they rustle when she walks through them.



I parked Sean and put M in. Sean was awake watching her swing back & forth. I always wonder what he's thinking.


















We went back over to the slides & we ran into a friend of ours. Meredith made other friends & tried to play catch with a little boy. Unfortunately for her, he had a really good arm and hit her in the cheek with the ball. He didn't mean it, but she still cried. Poor thing.

And then she went back on the spiral slide. Which normally she has no problem with. She started to come down feet first, but flipped over mid-slide, hit her head and then finished up head first. Now she's afraid of all slides. I felt so bad for her. I think her sneaker got stuck.

She went back up & tried again, but I had to go up & get her off the platform. In doing so, I hit my head on the stupid bar. I thought it was just the spiral slide she was afraid of, but she wouldn't go down the regular straight slide either.

This weekend when Rob is home we'll have to goto the park and one of us will have to show her that she doesn't have to be afraid.

We walked home and I realized we hadn't stopped & smelled the flowers in a long time. So that's what we did. We stopped & smelled all the flowers we saw on the way home.

It sure has been a busy few days

On Monday I went to my ob and everything checks out ok. Woohoo!! When he saw me he asked how the kids were and when I told him they were in the waiting room, he went out to see them. He was out there a pretty long time talking to Rob & ooohing & aaahing over Sean.

When he came back in he told me that if you didn't know Sean had down syndrome, you wouldn't see it. I am still unsure how I feel about that. Was he saying it because it's true or was he saying it just to pacify me because he knows I was totally expecting to give birth to Quasimoto? I think he was being sincere & genuine. Dr. Abe has never been one to sugar coat things for me.

He went on to say how amazing & strong he thought I was. I really appreciate that. It's so nice to hear. Especially when you feel like crap and feel like an even crappier mother.

He checked me out and when I left I told I'd see him in a year barring any surprises. He then hugged & kissed me. There's nothing quite like getting the once over from your ob & then getting a hug and kiss after. It's very strange. I mean I'm glad he's such a great man and thinks highly enough of me to extend that kind of gesture, but still.

Yesterday we had the meeting with the city to decide what therapy Sean would be receiving. We knew it wouldn't be physical therapy because in that department he's excelling. He's doing things even typical newborn aren't doing. There are some things we're going to have to watch like his tracking and things like that, but..... I'm not worried about that. So he's going to get feeding therapy with a speech therapist to work on his latch. Our ultimate goal is to have a nursing session take 20 minutes of continuous nursing instead of the lifetime a session is taking now because of latch issues & the on again, off again relationship Sean has with the breast.

This makes me thrilled because I would feel like such a failure if I were to give up on breastfeeding. I know he can do it. I know I can do it. We just have to work at it & I'll be damned if I let a 6 week old's latch beat me. Hopefully this will hep us a great deal. I thought the meeting went well and Rob & I asked some questions that we had. And of course Sean charmed the skirts off of them. :)

Of course..... my kids have been sick. What else is new. On Sunday Meredith decided to spike a fever of 103+. In trying to figure out whether the thermometer was broken or not we found that Sean had a temp of 100+. Great. I decided not to call the dr because neither child had anything else going on. I mean what are they going to tell me? Give them tylenol or motrin (for Meredith) and make sure they're hydrated. If the fever doesn't go down, bring them in. Yeah yeah. I've been through this a few times. Plus they were both scheduled for appointments today.

Sean's stats from 2 weeks ago were 7lbs 12oz and 22" long. Today he is 8lbs 8 oz & 22.5" long. I knew he was growing. He's getting so long. I don't notice him gaining weight. I notice him getting longer. I'm in awe of how he's growing. He's growing very similarly to the way Meredith grew. So for a typical child, he's following the same curve as Meredith did. 10th percentile for weight & about 50-70th percentiles for height. For a child with Down Syndrome, he's between 25th & 50th percentiles for weight and he's in the 90th percentile for height. I'd say that's pretty damn good.

The doctor said that I should have called when Sean had a fever. They would've run test after test to make sure he was ok. In my head I immediately thought "yeah right. Now I'm certainly going to call you." I knew it was nothing. I knew there was nothing they'd be able to do. I knew it was a virus. And that's exactly what it was. If it had gotten worse, if he had gotten new symptoms, if he had stopped nursing.... I would've called. Then the dr said that it didn't get worse because he had my antibodies. Whatever works.

Sean got 2 vaccines and we have to increase his zantac until Monday and then stop it cold turkey. If we see a marked difference, continue the zantac. If we don't see much difference, stop it. He went on to say that babies need acid in their stomach to fight off bacteria, such as salmonella. Um..... Sean is only eating breast milk. I'm pretty sure I'm salmonella free. Especially since I stopped rubbing raw chicken on the girls.

And then he checked Meredith. Poor Meredith had developed a lovely rash after her fever. The dr checked her out & told us it was an enterovirus. Enteroviruses cause stomach issues and things like coxsackie. Meredith does not have coxsackie. She didn't have the sores in her mouth or anywhere else. He said the rash would last about 5 days total. And with these things, once the rash comes out she's no longer contagious.

Then he told me to keep Meredith away from Sean. Uh, that's not happening. I'd love for him to tell me how to keep a 2 year old, who's already pissed about having to share me away from her little brother who she adores. Good luck.

So we go back to the pedi in 2 weeks for another weight check & more vaccines. Sean has to be up to date before his surgery.

I'll post more tomorrow & some pictures.

New Friends

Yesterday Meredith and I went to "Build a Boulevard Buddy". It was one of the baby be crafty classes hosted at the bookstore a few blocks away.

A woman walked in with her 2 kids. I instantly knew her daughter was 2 years old. Then I peered into her car seat & saw this teeny little angel. We were like a lover's cliche. She saw me. I saw her and we instantly locked our gaze and met in the middle. Her daughter is 2 years old and her little one is 2 months old. Could we be more perfect for each other? Oh yes.......

The first thing she asked me was "Do you find it difficult to get out of the house now?" I knew it was fate. I told her "Oh god yes!" And then she told me that her house was a wreck! Oh my god she could be my best friend.

She wasn't little Miss. Perfect. She wasn't a skinny mini that I'm so jealous of. You know the type. 2nd baby and already to a size 2 within weeks of birth, with perky boobs, hair done just so and make up done. I'm lucky I make it out of the house with my hair neatly tucked into a bun, much less caring about anything else. I was so happy that she wasn't perfect. I would've felt like such a schlep.

She's around my age. Her kids are around my kids' ages. And she was normal!!!



We went downstairs to build our buddy. We picked our seats and our new friend sat next to us. She put her car seat down on the floor. Ad that spot became car seat parking for all the younger siblings.  Her little angel was sleeping and of course Sean was sleeping, but Sean was in the carrier.









We got all of our supplies together & got down to business. Meredith set about looking at me build her bear. She started to build it, but she didn't like the feeling of the polyester on her hands. Every time she touched it, she'd wipe her hands off in disgust. So mommy built the bear. But it was fun. My new friend built her bear as well. Isn't that always the way?












After the bears were stuffed, each kid was given a heart. They made a wish & put the heart inside the bear. Then they zipped up their bears and got them dressed.







Meredith also tested out a new park this week. We went to Dyker park. I haven't been to that park since the playground was renovated. I am highly impressed. We walked over there. Sean was not interested in staying in the stroller so he stayed in the carrier most of the time. 

I loved the park because it was clean & spacious and Meredith loved all the climbing gyms. She especially loved the spiral slide. I love that she can now climb the stairs alone. And she just goes around & around. Slide down the slide, climb back up the stairs, go through the tunnels, etc.














I did have a problem with the older kids (mostly boys) shoving her out of the way when she took to long. And I made it a point to do what the parents, who were standing right there, should've done. I let those kids know that I wouldn't tolerate it. I told one boy in quite the stern voice, "that wasn't very nice and knock it off with the shoving. You have to wait your turn". He looked at his mother and so did I. It's amazing how one look can make a mother muster up the "courage" to tell their kid not to push others out of the way. I also had to tell a little girl not to push Meredith and I made sure that Meredith went in the turn she was in line for and not a moment after.

I also had to say "excuse me could you let her go?" to a tween boy who decided the little platform for the slide was his personal den. He looked at me, looked at Meredith & continued to bounce his ball. Um.... MOVE IT BUDDY!!! After my excuse me he did move though.

Can someone tell me what the hell is wrong with the parents of these kids? And what the hell is wrong with these kids that they see people waiting & think it's ok not to move? Oh well. I can only teach my kids better.

I am going to laugh though when Meredith gets a little older and won't take that BS anymore. Especially when it comes to her little brother. I know that feeling. It's not going to be pretty when the first person pushes Sean out of the way on the playground & Meredith loses her mind.

Yesterday a package came to the house. It was newegg.com. I thought it was a gift for the baby. I called Rob and told him he had gotten a package. He said, "Open it. I think it's for you." I was afraid. Very afraid. So I opened it very slowly. And guess what. IT WAS THE CAMERA I HAD BEEN EYEBALLING!!! Yay!! I have a new camera. I love this thing & I haven't even figured it all out yet.

So of course I got to the job of taking new pictures.

And this is what happens when Meredith is left alone with Sean's bouncy seat.




And this is what happens when mommy takes to many pictures and asks for a "cheese". 







This is what Sean thinks of mommy going buck nugget with the camera.








Today we went to BJ's to go shopping. I had to wake the king up from his nap. He looked so comfy and I felt so badly doing it, but I was hungry. We went for breakfast and then headed over there. 



We stopped at babies r us to pick up some things. By the way.... I love Fisher Price overnight diapers. To bad I can only find them at babies r us & only in a pack of 18. So if anyone sees them in a bigger package, please let me know where. We picked up a mirror for sean and a "cd player" for Meredith and some clothes as well. Then we headed to famous shoe warehouse to get Meredith some new shoes for the fall.

Here's what Sean thought of shopping in Babies R Us.




As we shopped in Bj's I got Meredith her first churro. My younger sister loved these things. I never had a hankering for them, but Meredith sure did seem to enjoy it.



After we left, the cart was so heavy that the wheel strap thingy kept sliding off the wheel & making the cart stop short. So Rob decided to turn it around and push it backwards. Meredith loved it. She finally didn't have to ride backwards in the cart. She hates that.






And this is what Sean thought of shopping at BJ's.




As we were loading the car Meredith got to see the planes that land at JFK. Now we remember from Rockaway that some of the jets fly pretty low when they're landing. Especially the 747's & the like. Meredith kept looking up & screaming "It's coming. The plane. It's coming." She loves it! I took a picture of a united jet landing and it was at a normal height. I took the picture so I could show Meredith when we were home.









Then an Emirates jet came by. This was LOW. We're waiting for the news to come on so we can see if there was a problem. Rob & I sat there and watched this plane as it got lower & lower & lower. I swear to you if I wasn't in such awe of how low this plane was, I may have stopped to wave at the passengers.









When we got home I opened up the mirror & cd player for the pests. I put Sean down on his belly so he could see the mirror and Meredith played with her cd player. I thought to myself "awesome. We found a toy that Meredith likes. Maybe it will keep her engaged for longer than 5 minutes."

Sean absolutely loved his toy & Meredith loved watching him & playing with him.


















Meredith however, loved her toy for exactly 10 minutes & then left it back on a box as an indication that she was done with it. She was more interested in the ipod touch. Which by the way she knows how to change the videos on the damn thing.









A spot in the boppy opened up. Apparently just for her. 




Can someone tell me exactly where Sean thinks he's scooting off to?






And then Sean enjoyed his mirror some more.