Happy #5!

Judson is turning 5 years old. My little guy is growing into such a big boy! And what a wonderful boy he is. The other night I was putting him to bed and I told him how much I loved him and that one of the reasons was that he had such a big heart. His initial response was "it's just a muscle with a bunch of blood vessels in it". So I explained what 'heart' was. I told him that his heart was so big that he wanted to save the earth and the endangered species and that made me very happy. I also told him how much I appreciated him helping with the babies and how proud I was that he loved them so much. His response was "I love Sawyer 'superman size'. Sometimes I don't love Ansley too much, when she is mean to me" I said, "but you still love her a little bit". His response, "sometimes it's very teeny weeny and you really can't see it". I told him that was alright. He'd learn to love her someday. (I'm hoping) They do love each other so much. Even when Ansley is in timeout and crying (giving one of her Oscar winning performances), Judson will ask if he can go back there and sit with her until she can get out of timeout.

We are celebrating J's birthday this weekend since Nana and Pop are here. Pop is helping Randy build a 'fort' for the kids. We are also making the obligatory 'train cake'. (I asked did he want to buy a cake or make one. He said 'make'. Then I asked (as if I didn't know) what kind. He said a 'train cake'. It's in the 80's outside and football season is starting and my big boy is turning 5. Can't ask for anything more. (OK. I would have asked for UT to win their opener but that would be selfish on my part, ay?) We just opened one gift today, Sunday. He got so enthralled with it, we decided to wait and open some more later. Stay tuned.








Nana and Pop gave him a book on the Universe and one with Bible stories











Fort Stricklin









Like Momma, like son.









"I'm ready for my close up" (Okay, he has nothing to do with anything except he's in our front yard and I liked the picture)

Happy Birthday To Me!!

Yay me! I celebrate my birthday today. As I tell Judson, I'm 39 years old. I will be 39 next year at this time and the year following that. (This revelation drives him crazy. He cannot understand why I do not age by 1 at each birthday like he does) I tell him it is a mommy's choice as to how old she wants to be. I'm going to be 39!

P.S. Happy Birthday (belated) to my friend Lori! Hope you had a good one on the 25th. Were you celebrating #39 also?

The Best News Ever!

We took Sawyer to the cardiologist for a follow up appointment. He blew them away with his healthy self! His pulmonary pressures were great. His valves were in good shape. The places that were surgically repaired looked wonderful. The spots that closed on their own, looked fantastic. Everything was A-O-K! Even better news.....he doesn't have to go back for 2 years! That's right. He'll be almost 5 before he has to see the cardiologist again. Can't ask for anything better than that.

On a side note, our cardiologist is also an accomplished artist. He has art shows for his paintings/drawings. He's apparently a very talented man. He picked up a doodle pro (magnetic drawing pad) that Sawyer was doodling on. He was very much impressed with Sawyer's scribbles. He said they had a Picasso-like quality to them. I said, "I think that has to do with his wrist not being very stable." (OK... I'm a mom and I think all their drawings are beautiful but I don't see things in terms of "Oh my God, I've got a artistic whiz on my hands") He was quite serious. He said, "You need to keep a pencil in this little guy's hands". So now Sawyer's two very left brained parents have to find ways to enhance their little guy's right brained abilities. No telling what the outcome of that adventure will be.

Just Plain Hot!

Is it H-O-T or what? We thought we'd take the kids out Saturday night. There was a car show downtown so, what the heck, we decided to go. We went by the play place at McD's first. Of course, Sawyer climbs up to the top but cannot easily get down without killing or seriously maiming himself. So Randy climbs up to the top of a very windy and small stairwell to retrieve him, not once but twice. After some fun and food, we headed over to the car show. Mind you, the thermometer at the bank was registering 95 degrees at 6:30pm! The hit of the show was actually the train that came thru. They all loved that. They really didn't care too much for the cars though. So after about 30 minutes (if that long) we decided to come home. Here are a couple of pictures, before and after. Notice how big Ansley is looking these days and how RED their faces look. Did I mention it was HOT?

Daddy - Judson Bonding Time

Randy and a new friend we made at a Down Syndrome function met last week and went hiking. They took Judson with them. They hiked for 3 hours in the heat! Judson absolutely loved it. So did Dad. They liked it so much that they intend on getting up at the crack of dawn this weekend and do it again, in spite of the 1,000,000 degree heat we are experiencing. Here are some pictures. (Forgive the quality of the pictures. They took the old camera that doesn't work so well.)

Buddy Walk Reminder for August

Last year many of you followed our adventure with the Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta's Buddy Walk. Just wanted to let you know we are doing it again and would love to have your support.

The purpose of the Buddy Walk is to raise money. They use the money to promote national education, research and advocacy projects for people with Down Syndrome. Obviously, that is important to our family.

If you would like to help you may go to our family site:

http://buddywalk.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=237018&supId=182868676

And donate online using your credit card.

You may instead send a check made out to DSAA. Please put Sawyer Stricklin in the Memo/For section. You may either send the check to us or directly to:
Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta
Attn: Buddy Walk
4355 J Cobb Parkway, #213
Atlanta, GA 30339

Thank you for your support!

More Pictures (as promised)

Here are a few more pictures. We took 200+ pictures. So I'm sure I'll have a few more to post later. Have a great weekend!

Here we are getting ready to go to church.

Pop and Sawyer. Nana and Sawyer on the tractor.



Just after getting our bath.

Visit to Nana and Pop-Pop

Let me just start off by saying, there are too many pictures to post at one time. So come back again later this week and I'll post some more.

We had a great time in Alabama. The children had a great time playing together. Judson went fishing with 'just the guys' and he caught the most fish with his new fishing pole. (However, he was not real happy when he found out what happened to the fish. He has a very tender heart.) Sawyer loved their dog and the their lawn mower and their tractor. He just might be a country boy?!?! Ansley was scared of the dogs but loved the 'animals'. (aka, COWS) She also ate up all the attention but you could tell she wasn't 100% comfortable in the situation. I'm not sure when that feeling will go away with her (IF it will go away). It made me sad sometimes to see the lost look on her face, as if she didn't understand this was just a visit and she was going to come home with the rest of us.

Enjoy the pictures! (you s/b able to click on the image to make it larger)

That's the expression on Ansley that made me sad.

Judson and Abigayle playing.Judson and Pop-Pop.
Sawyer, The Lawn Mower, and The Dog
More pictures later.

Orphan Update

A few months ago I told you about 2 orphans in need of adoption. They have found their forever families.

Louinard, from Haiti, will be moving to Minnesota! His new mommy and daddy have been able to visit him. They sent back pictures (I am not able to post them) and let me tell you, that little boy is one handsome guy. He was sick while they were there but they were able to keep him in the hotel with them. The downside to visiting your child before the court has approved the adoption is, you have to leave without your child. To top that off, Haiti's court system is not fast. It could be 6 more months before they bring him home. In a country like Haiti, where money and health care are in short supply, that can be a very scary wait.

Naum, from Ukraine, is coming home! His family is over there right now going through the courts. The Ukraine court process can take about 4 weeks. The family will be there the whole time. Then they can bring that beautiful boy home.

Anyway, I love happy endings and thought I'd share these two wonderful stories. Keep your fingers crossed that Louinard can get home soon. And visit www.reecesrainbow.com to see pictures once they get home. (Under the HOMECOMINGS tab).

HELP, I've been tagged.

OK. I've been tagged. In the blogger world, that means I have to now tell you 8 random facts about me. Here are the rules (which I must post prior to writing my facts):
Here's what I have been "tagged" to do:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged, and to read your blog.

Facts:

1) I used to talk like a yankee. It's true. (Or so I'm told) When I was younger, we lived in Illinois and when we moved back to the dear old south, I had a northern accent. So, you don't believe me? Ask my parents.

2) in a million years, I would have never said I would be a stay-at-home mom and be enjoying it. Never. Didn't really care if I had kids or not. Now, OMG, I cannot imagine doing anything else. It is the perfect job. (Okay, so they aren't teenagers yet. Let me enjoy it while I can)

3) I'm terribly afraid of heights. I absolutely hate looking out over the edge of mountains. I never go to the edge to look down into valleys. Don't care if I ever see the Grand Canyon. I also hate balconies. It doesn't bother me to fly though. The irony is, I love vacationing in the mountains much better than going to the beach. Go figure.

4) My husband and I have a 'mixed' marriage. Yep, he's and Auburn fan, and I'm a Tennessee fan. Somehow, we make it work. We just keep our fingers crossed that our children don't become Georgia or Florida fans!

5) I can't dance, sing, or play a musical instrument. I have no artistic abilities. I really don't have much athletic ability either. That bothers me. Now, it's not the worst thing in the world but geez, you look at my family and you wonder, how could you not get any of those things? Ahhh. but life goes on.

6) The best thing I ever did was leave Tennessee. I would have never met my husband had I not left. He is my soul mate!

7) Favorite food: Corn

8) I hate chain letters. So don't worry, I won't be 'tagging' anyone else. Just thought I'd share a few odd facts about me.

Good Week

Not much going on. We are getting ready to go visit Nana and Pop soon. That will be exciting! The pics are of our favorite afternoon past-time, watching Curious George (or Calliou) and eating popcorn. Also, Judson has a tomato plant (no one in this family will eat tomatoes). It has not produced many tomatoes but we check it everyday and water it too. We cannot fertilize it or put bug spray on it, since it could harm the wildlife and pollute the ground water. Yes, he's been reading the Eco-Kids website.

Dog Days of Summer

Can you say H-O-T? Whew! It is definitely summer time in the South. Lots of iced tea and banana popsicles are being consumed. Thought you'd like to see the pictures.

As usual, Ansley has on 3 layers of clothing.









Also, we are slowly getting the backyard 'kid friendly'. We were setting out stepping stones leading to the swing set and decided to add a personal touch. Whatcha think? Cute, ay?

Mom's Musings

Just thought I'd write the thoughts going thru my head:

1) Every mom needs a Krystal Kompanion. I mean, who wants to eat Krystals all alone? Well, I have mine in the form of Sawyer! Yep, the little bugger likes them. Of course, his have to be plain. Between Sawyer's heart issues and my weight issues, we don't eat them too often but it sure is nice to have a cohort.

Speaking of Sawyer, he had his Early Intervention 6 month review. Can you believe the little guy had already met his yearly goals? So we set more goals for him. He's a wonderful little boy who loves to learn. He is always trying to keep up with big brother and little sister too.

2) Every mom needs a bossy little girl with an exceptional giggle.

Speaking of Ansley, why is it both Randy and Judson are constantly calling me Ansley? Don't answer that question! I swear she can't help herself. Sawyer will be on the potty with Mom saying, "Come on Sawyer, put poo-poo in the potty". Then little miss bossy pants, will say (while making straining sounds for demonstration purposes) "Sawyer, poo-poo, potty, okay?" Now she has not once EVER poo-poo'd in the potty but she feels qualified to give instructions! It's like that constantly with her. But then there are times when she starts that giggling and you can't help but smile. She is so happy and proud that it just bubbles out of her.

3) How is it Judson does not have to go potty when he wakes up in the morning? He absolutely cannot go to the bathroom when he first wakes up. Sometimes it might be an hour or more before he goes. What is his bladder made of?

He is such a wonderful kid. From the time he wakes up, till the time he goes to bed, he never stops talking or asking questions. Questions like: "why can't you touch the sun at sunset" (when it looks like it's sitting right on the horizon) "why did Christopher Columbus not know that N. America was there" (On his way to find a new route to the Indies) "when did Abraham Lincoln die" "do we need green rain or red rain" (ever looked at a weather radar. he does.) One of the cutest questions of today, "when you dream, do little bubbles come out of your head" (As in cartoon drawings showing someone's thoughts).

Have a good day! I certainly am having a good one.

4th of July and other stuffs (lots of pictures)

Here's a mix of 4th of July pics and some other everyday pictures also. We took the kids to the parade this year. They had a great time as did Mom and Dad. Judson and Mommy made the coordinating shirts!

Judson was completely amazed at the guy on stilts. This guy bent over backwards almost into a back bend position. (I was too amazed to think to click a picture of that trick.) I couldn't get a good read on Ansley. Not sure if she liked anything or loved everything. I think she was overwhelmed by the people and activities. Sawyer LOVED the bands and music.Mom loved the National Anthem. The guy who sang it did an awesome job. I also loved the bagpipes.

Dad loved all the old cars.

I can't say enough about the many veterans who were marching in the parade. Thank you for serving our country.

I'm also including pictures of Judson building a wind mill and riding his bicycle as well as Sawyer and Ansley just being Sawyer and Ansley. What you need to know is that Ansley's wardrobe ensemble includes her 'day clothes' covered by 2 night gowns. She is constantly going thru her dirty clothes putting on several layers. (I swear it goes back to the old country where they always layer clothes on the kids) As you can see, Sawyer was trying the layered look also.

More Swimming

Today was the last day of swimming lessons. It was a free swim day and we all went. Judson LOVED the slide. He'd go down feet first and then head first. He would have stayed all day. Sawyer is not afraid of anything. He took off into the water. Of course, he is not strong enough to march as fast as he wanted to go. So he'd fall down, face first. We had a life jacket on him. However, that was probably worse than nothing. It prevented him from turning over on his back. He consumed mass amounts of swimming pool water. It did not deter him in the least. He, too, would have stayed all day with that fair skin turning a nice shade of red. (doesn't matter how much sun screen or how strong the SPF, this kid has at least 1 or 2 freckles pop out every time he gets out in the sun) Ansley was ready to go home after the first splash of water on her face. She did okay but she REALLY does NOT like water in her face.

Judson really enjoyed the lessons. There are no more openings for lessons this year though. Hopefully, we can get him in the pool some more and help him retain what he learned and maybe by next summer, he'll be really swimming.

Swimming

Judson has been taking swimming lessons this week. What a trooper! He's never really been swimming in his life. (Bad Mommy!) Several of the kids in his class are quite skittish but not Judson. He's always raising his hand to try something new. He REALLY wants to learn how to dive off a diving board like his cousin CJ. We told him he needed to be at least 8 years old and know how to swim. (Actually, I told him he needed to be 12 but he pointed out that CJ was only 9 and he was diving last year at the ripe old age of 8) You can tell by the pictures he's a bit tense but he keeps on trying and he practices in the bathtub each night so he'll be ready for the next days lessons.

On a side note, he just came in and asked if he was growing fur on his back. I asked why, to which he replied he'd been in the dog pen for "one whole hour" and he was trying to be a dog. He even sat in the dirt hole, like the dogs, to keep cool. He barked at me when I went out to check on him and his dad earlier. This kid is a riot! (And I don't think I've ever seen a dirtier kid in my life.)

Our Friends

What a wonderful group of friends we have! We are truly blessed with one of the best group of friends ever. We put out the word that we wanted to celebrate Ansley's Gotcha Day anniversary and they were ready. They even suffered through some major heat (what else is there in the South?) since we decided to have the party outside. We just wanted to say Thank You to our friends and tell you how much we appreciate your friendship. We also wanted to share a few pictures. We actually didn't get too many pictures because we were having so much fun chatting that we didn't get to take many pictures. (Dad, remember to click on the collage to bring up a bigger picture!)

Daddy

Daddy is very nice to me. He likes to play games with me. He lets me work outside with him. He reads books to me. He takes good care of my brother and sister . He takes me places. I especially like going to work with him and riding in the car with him. He teaches me alot of things, like math and geography. Another thing I really like is when he lets me type in the bills in his Excel spreadsheet. He teaches me about the plants in our backyard. He also lets me wash the car with him and he let me help build our swing set.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I love you!

Judson
(As told to Mommy, with minor editing)

Happy Gotcha Day Ansley! (June 12th)

Can you believe it has been a year? One year ago, Randy and his mom got to meet Ansley face-to-face for the first time. A very emotional day for them and Ansley. Ansley was suddenly flung into a whole new world with new people who looked, smelled, talked, ate, etc nothing like anybody she had known. She was flown thousands of miles away from all she had known in her short life to begin a brand new life. She was and still is a very brave little girl. She is a survivor in the most basic sense of the word. She landed on her feet and she is thriving.

Our family has changed too. For the better, I might add. She keeps us on our toes, for sure.

Ansley, thank you for being our little girl!

Little Einstein

Okay. Don't have any new news. We're just trying to get back into our routine. I just walked downstairs where Daddy and Judson are putting together their 600 piece world map puzzle. Judson asked his Dad, "is this the way it should look". (They were putting together Africa.) Dad said, "looks good to me". Judson asked, "But where is Burkina Faso?" Don't know where Burkina Faso is? Just ask my 4 year old. He'll tell you.