31 for 21 Day 17... Happy Birthday Boys!!!

Today is Caleb and Isaac's 4th Birthday. Where did the time go? I am still just so amazed that we have had 4 wonderful years with the boys already. Our journey with them has been rough at times and completely amazing and fun the rest of the times. We have some obstacles we face with them. A diagnosis of PDD-NOS Autism for one, being completely non-verbal another, and still some drinking issues that we have to thicken their liquids for.

Thanks to their TSS workers, the services we receive for their Autism are exceptional and very worth while. I have so many people tell me they could never have someone in their home as much as we do on a weekly basis. At one time in our lives, when the boys were sick and receiving early intervention and receiving TSS services we had someone in our home 60 hours per week!!! Yes that was a bit extreme, but its what we needed at the time and I can only look at it now and realize we've come so far and life is good.

Being non-verbal has its ups and downs. The biggest downer is I haven't heard them say Mom yet. We DO have communication, they sign. It's such a wonderful tool and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone with children. Not only children with Down Syndrome but even those children without. Teaching your child sign language does not keep them from talking, but it does keep some frustration levels down while they are learning to talk. We still have hope that the boys will talk one day. What is the up of being non-verbal? They aren't talking all the time..LOL My guys do alot of humming, they make some noises when they are playing and stuff but they are not complaining and bickering like my other three children are all the time.

I am so proud of all my kids. Tristin, Camille and Elijah are wonderful siblings to the twins. Life with brothers with Down Syndrome is just normal for them and they don't look at it as if their brothers are any different than anyone else's brothers.

Another thing that people always comment on is the fact that I get both boys smiling in photos all the time, when they may only have one child and can't even get the one child to smile for the camera. To that I say...see how many photos I have to take for one good one???