One happy girl...

The past week and a half have been fantastic with both of our little rays of sunshine!  The weather has finally gotten nice out and both girls are enjoying playing outside.  Our sweet Emily is chugging along, growing like a massive weed!  She is actually beginning to look fat-can you believe it!?  Her legs are huge, and well, her head is in like the 90th percentile.  It's a big one.  Her belly looks like a buddah took over.  While these features are common of DS kids, I can easily ignore those factors and relish in the fact that she's in 3 month clothes and those are quickly becoming tight!  Yes!  I also cannot stop smiling at the fact that this Friday, she gets to go back on breast milk.  I know she doesn't know what it means, but I am so, so, so excited for this.  I worked incredibly hard to get as much milk stored as I possible could before surgery and I am eager to begin using it!  I declare it a major labor of love to pump every three hours for 4 straight months.  Pumping, my friends, is very different than actually nursing.  More cleaning, more time, more everything.  Lilly was a champ nurser, so I can easily tell the difference in the frustration and time consumption.  I have 4 cases left of the Enfaport, the formula she's on, and hopefully we can send that back next week.  We will have to get a chest Xray next week to check her lungs and surrounding areas to make sure fat did not build back up.  If all goes well, bye bye formula.  She's finally gotten used to it and is not throwing it back up with every feed.  The doctor did warn us of that...he said most babies find it so disgusting they vomit everytime, resulting in a feeding tube (which was our situation for quiet some time).  Things just keep looking up for sweet Emily.

Emily's disposition is one of pure joy.  I swear the kid is just happy to be alive.  She's endured so much in her little life already that every smile someone gives to her, she returns one immediately.  She's happy and sweet spirited.  When she smiles, it's big, real big!  She loves to suck her thumb, which I suppose is better than Lilly's addition to the pacifier.  She is also beginning to hold her head up much better.  If I put her in the sitting up position, she will sit against me and actually keep her head up without bobbing it.  One step forward!  She is finally getting her PT evaluation this Friday and I am happy to finally begin these services again.  Her features of looking like a child with Down syndrome are becoming more predominant, and I have had two people ask me recently if she has Downs.  Like I've said before, I'd rather people ask me than stare! It has been people that have siblings with DS, so I assume they know what to look for.

Speaking of my big ball of energy, Lilly---we are beyond proud of her for using the big girl potty!  She is so proud each time she goes to the potty.  The one drawback of potty training is that she thinks that everytime she pees, she must shed every article of clothing she's wearing-and doesn't want to put it back on.  I've started to put her in only dresses so that it's only one item to put back on after she goes.  She is scared to go in public places and held it for at least 3 hours while we shopped at Lakewood 400 and traveled back home.  She gets that from me.  Apparently when I was little, I was scared to go in unsanitary places.  I still am.

We're headed to the beach for two weeks in June and I think we are all excited to escape the house for a little sliver of paradise.  Billy's parent's new house in Anna Maria is absolutely breath taking and makes you feel like you're in a bubble land.  I can't wait to get Emily's toes into the sand for the first time.  If she's like her big sister, she'll be eating the sand, running wild, and screaming for joy when she sees the ocean :)  So much to look forward to!