Two Beach Babes :)

Whoooooo weeeee, it's been too long since I last touched this thing!  I have not even laid my hands on a computer keyboard for almost a month.  Summertime has come and is taking us by storm with all the fun we've been having!  We've spent the majority of our summer so far at the beach, bronzing our skin and turning our hair even blonder.  Both girls have their first little suntans and it's oh so cute!  Lilly's hair is snow white and Emily's...well, it's still brown--borderline red.  Where that comes from, I'm not sure!  Maybe the mailman.

Reading with her Papa Joe at the beach.  She loves being read to!

Enjoying the ocean breeze!

Emily is progressing along just like she should.  She's hitting the milestones that we'd like her to achieve like holding her head up, spending some quality time on her tummy, reaching for toys with purpose, and becoming stronger and stronger at sitting up.  She still has very, very low muscle tone in her arms and back, but our physical therapist is fantastic and she is teaching us so many tricks and therapies to get her stronger!  I really hope that in a month or so, she'll be sitting up.  Fingers crossed!

I attended a class at Emory on raising children with Down syndrome and it was so informational!  There were lawyers, financial advisers, and pediatricians there to help answer questions and provide helpful information.  It's extremely important that we have someone in charge of our finances that has Emily's best interest in mind once we're gone.  We definitely learned that and all about Special Needs Trusts...basically the only account that we can have for Emily that won't affect her receiving financial assistance.  The pediatrician that was there harped on making sure we were on track with all the doctors that we need to see....so after that, I now have a whole new slew of doctors to visit.  It's time to get her eyes checked, 6 month shots, visit an ENT, and become established at the Down Syndrome Clinic.  Whew!  In additional, we have weekly PT which comes at 8am!  Talk about getting an early start to the day.  Our physical therapist, Mary Elizabeth, is so kind.  The whole family approves of her, even Luke.  You must get into his circle of trust to become a family member and Mary Elizabeth will be a very important part of our family for the next 3 years.  She's a graduate of UGA (which we definitely approve of!), she's young, and attentive to both my needs and questions as well as Emily's willingness to "participate" in PT.  Even at a young 6 months, my little sunflower has quiet the attitude and will let one know if she's not willing to work.

Emily has learned how to blow bubbles with her mouth and wiggle her way around the entire crib with her buns of steel.  She uses her lower body constantly.  She will have very muscular legs, that's for sure.  She loves to hold her hands to her mouth and give the biggest smiles...this is especially done when she's eating, much to my dismay.  Speaking of eating, she is a PIGlet when it comes to eating baby food.  I have not come across one food that the child didn't love.  We may be in trouble! She is literally inhaling the baby food.  Now that she gets the good stuff (well, I wouldn't say pureed carrots is good...), she doesn't think she needs bottles anymore.  I still have a little breast milk left, but that's going to come to an end soon too.  When I say she's a piglet, I mean it.  I guess she's making up for all the lost time and struggle of feeding before surgery.  Anyhow, she's doing GREAT and loving life.

Our other little angel is just that, an angel, that occasionally wears devil horns.  The things that she says these days baffle me.  Where do two year olds come up with some of their comments?!!  As I am typing, she is asking me what I'm doing and with no response from me, she yells, "TALK TO ME!"  and proceeds to tell me that I'm not very nice.  She talks 24/7, literally.  She doesn't rest her voice.  The beach was a whole new experience for her this year and after one whole week of being terrified of the ocean and waves, her uncles finally convinced her to go in the water and play.  From then on, it was perfect!  She loved building sandcastles, chasing the birdies, and swimming in the pool after her 3 or 4 hour(yes, you read right) nap.  I suppose all the fun in the sun just wore her out!
Lilly is in love with gymnastics and does somersaults all over the house on a daily basis. I think doing something like dance or gymnastics is just what she needs.  She can run and jump and hop and which is perfect for her petite little frame.  She is such a munchkin.  After being at the beach for two weeks, I became very frustrated at the fact that over 1/2 of her new bathing suits were too nig in the waist.  Once we got back from the beach, I headed to the attic to big through last summer's tub of clothing and drug out all her old suits as well as some shorts that STILL FIT!  She wore an 18 month outfit yesterday and is wearing 12-18 month shorts today.  She is nothing but skin and bones-and trust me...we don't go light on the fruit snacks and goldfish over here. 

Poor bear.  If you look closely, he's wearing Luke's dog collar.  Lilly could play with her bear for days!

These two pictures capture her personality to a T!

Life is about to get just a weeeee  bit harder because my paychecks from work have officially....S.T.O.P.P.E.D!!  Yikes!!!!  This is definitely going to be very, very, very hard to a girl like me that finds an errand to run daily.  It's also hard on "slow" days to sit around the house and think of all the decorating that needs to be done on a negative budget!  We now live in this big house with only 75% of it furnished.  Maybe we will win the lottery or fall into some big fortune by a long, lost relative (that we don't know of). 

Mothering is calling me now.  Emily is winding down for the night and this is her fussy time---which is why I gave into the pact that Billy and I made that we would not have a beer until our anniversary (this Friday-5 years!)....the 6:00pm hour calls for beveraging.  Plain and simple.  I give in.  Oops!

Until later...!