Cute Pumpkin Cake using two bundt cakes

We had a baby shower for my sister in law today. She had her baby a month ago and our church wanted to have a shower for her, so today was the big day. Since she had the baby already we did a Meet Our Lil Pumpkin theme. It was so cute and the decorations and stuff turned out better than I thought it could.

I made the cake. It was actually pretty easy and it turned out really cute.



Its made from two bundt cakes put together and an ice cream cone in the center for the stem. I used a chocolate cake on the bottom and a carrot cake on the top. It was YUMMY!

31 for 21 Day 24.... First Bowling Trip

Today was my nephew Daniels Birthday. Happy Birthday Buddy!! He held his birthday party at a bowling alley and I was very anxious to see how the twins would respond to all the people and noise at a place like this. They did WONDERFUL!!!

At first Caleb buried his face in my shoulder and refused to look at anyone or even eat pizza for awhile. After about 30 to 45 minutes he knew we were staying there if he wanted us to or not, so he decided to join the party. Once he was up and around he really started enjoying watching the people bowl and the reactions they gave after a ball was thrown. He was still pretty withdrawn and to himself, but we did get him to bowl about three times. It was so great to see this. They just turned four and doing something like this with them was something I don't think I really thought about even trying. But hey, birthday party = FREE bowling, and that's the kind of price I like to try something out :)

Here is a video of Caleb sitting and watching everyone. The light from Tom's phone bothered him a bit so he makes funny squinting faces, but its pretty darned cute:


Isaac on the other hand. As soon as we got to the bowling alley he was completely engaged in everything. The bowling alley was using a blacklight and they colors were very vibrant and he was loving that, he was so very interested in what the people were doing and he watched the ball from the time the people released it until it hit the pins. While we ate he sat backwards in his chair just to watch the bowlers. He was very happy when I asked him if he wanted to try and bowl with a ball. He ran as fast as his little feet would carry him, it was so cute. In this video the noise level must have been a little higher, this is the only time he acted like this the whole 2 1/2 hours we were there, but again, its CUTE!

(Oh and I dropped a piece of pizza on my lap while I was feeding the boys, its always me coming out messy and not them...hump!)

I thought this was a great experience and I'm so happy the day turned out as it did. My nephew had a nice turn out for his party, he seemed to have a great time, we had a great time and we made a memory today!!!

Praying for Polly

One thing about having online support is finding wonderful people and falling in love with so many families from all over the world and following their blogs and their lifes ups and downs. I'm calling out for prayer for a little one, Polly, who was just diagnosed with MoyaMoya and will require brain surgery. MoyaMoya constricts blood flow in the brain. They discovered this when Polly had a series of seizures paired with a stroke and paralysis of one leg.

Polly's family had three beautiful girls and very recently added another beautiful girl from the Ukraine to their family through adoption. They are just now adjusting to becoming a family of six and now will be facing some medical issues with Polly. If you could find it in your heart to pray for this family I would really appreciate it.


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31 for 21 Day 23.... Stubborn

Today all 5 of the children did not have school due to a teacher in-service day. The weather was rainy and chilly, the kids were all pretty hyper so I still sent them outside to play... rain and all. The twins still had their TSS come today to do drills with them and work with them for a few hours. After most of their work was done we all headed out to the Amish Bent N Dent store and bought a ton of groceries that's sure to last us two or three weeks. When we first got a TSS we were not allowed to leave the house. We were only allowed to use their services in the home environment as that is what the boys were familiar with. Now, we are allowed to use the TSS's out in the community since the boys are older and we need to help adapt them to social setting in the outside world. Its is TRULY nice to take them to the grocery store with me, especially on days like today.

I had my own cart which I intended on filling up from the get go, I knew there would be no room for a squirmy boy. So each worker got a cart and one boy to push through the isles and talk about how to act in a store. OH BOY!! They just weren't fast enough today. I was in one aisle and I hear a BOOM..then a CRASH...then another BOOM. It was hard for me not to chuckle. I knew it was my boys before I even began to investigate. If you take your eyes off of them even for a minute they like to scoop items off the shelf and toss them. So they both got a pretty lengthy discussion on why they should not do that and they can get in trouble for this or they could break something (which thankfully today they did not). They both seemed to be processing what was being told them and I turned to continue my shopping. Not even 15 seconds later I heard another BANG... and then the TSS came over and told me they would be taking the boys out to the van while I finished up my shopping. I did laugh a bit then. When they want to do something, or don't want to do something, NOTHING stops them. They are stubborn. VERY STUBBORN!! And I think this is the great fighting spirit that I love about them. I've often thought that it was this stubbornness that got them through the tough start they had in the NICU as a 2 pound and 3 pound premature baby.

So many people label people with Down Syndrome as "Oh they're such Happy People". They are happy people, but they are also sad, mad, fearful, grumpy, hurt, shy, outgoing, confused, overjoyed, intelligent, moody, self-conscience, and stubborn.

I got off the idea I started to blog about so let me get back. So the kids had the day off school we did some running, weather was bad outside but we made the best of it. We all took our turn on the Gazelle exercising, we all cooked dinner together, we all sat and watched Twilight after dinner and folded laundry and just had a great night. I went in to sit with Tom for a bit to unwind and get ready to write something in my blog tonight and in comes the kids laughing and screaming with joy at what they had done. I asked them to all put their pile of clothing away and they decided to dress up our dogs instead. It was quite funny and I thought I would share my kids' humor.

Auggie Doggie "our girl"


And Rosco "our boy"


And this was Caleb trying to tell us what he thought about all the craziness


I am thankful for crazy days like this and I'm thankful for stubborn, silly children.

31 for 21 Day 22.. BUBBLE!!

I didn't get around to blogging yesterday, BUT we had some very exciting news!!! Caleb and Isaac attend a preschool called Stepping Stones that is set up for children on the autism spectrum. They go two days a week and its a great structured class that has a different theme each week and the teacher REALLY gets into her themes :)

I walked through the threshold of the doorway yesterday and I was greeted with a very excited "WE HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS FOR YOU!!!" They were playing with bubbles and it was time to put them away. The TSS began screwing on the cap to the bubbles and saying all done with the bubbles. Isaac came over to him and pulled his shirt and said "BUBBLE" plain as day. They had to take a double take to make sure it was in fact Isaac and it was. The teacher and the TSS both heard it and they said it was unmistakably the word BUBBLE. They said they both teared up and couldn't wait for me to get there.

So you know I've gotten out the bubbles and tried to get the word out myself with no success. BUT, I know that he has been making different noises. No words yet, but the way he hums and babbles has been changing. I'm so anxious to hear a word out of his cute little mouth.

When they didn't walk until the age of three, I was always wondering if they would walk. And now they run! Now I've been doubting any talking. I try not to. I know that on their own time they will do what they're going to do but its hard to be patient as a mom, especially having three typical children prior to the twins and knowing that they are really delayed in their speech.

I have HOPE! We are going to push harder and see if we can get more sounds without to much frustration from them. But... I have HOPE!! I have that spark of excitement back that they may say MaMa someday. When that happens nothing or no one will be able to burst my bubble for months :)

31 for 21 Day 20... God chose me because I'm strong??

I was reading a conversation today on Facebook talking about how the abortion rate is astronomically high for those finding out while pregnant that they are carrying a child with Down Syndrome. The rate now is about 90% of pregnancies are terminated when they find out that are carrying a child with Trisomy 21. I'm not going to get into a big debate on abortion here so just keep reading.

One point I want to make is that the initial diagnosis via bloodwork or ultrasounds is not enough in my opinion to determine if the child has DS or not. Let me explain. I was carrying TWO children with Down Syndrome TWO!!! Blood work came back normally and I had several ultrasounds done, including three or four Level II's. Especially during the Level II ultrasound the perinatiologist spent 15 to 20 minutes trying to measure Baby B's pinky and to make sure it was not crooked. He verbally said out-loud, NOPE no markers for Down Syndrome in these children. Not that it mattered to me either way, but it was said and I was given a false outcome. So if TWO children can come back showing all signs normal How many false reports say that the child your carrying does have Down Syndrome, and they DON'T?? My advice to anyone given the "this child might have Down Syndrome" report, should consider an amnio before terminating the pregnancy, if that's what they choose to do.

Second point I want to make is that people ALWAYS tell me that God chose Tom and I because we're such good parents and we're strong enough to handle something like this. Although I don't mind the encouraging words state that we're good parents. I DO NOT FEEL ANY STRONGER THAN ANY OF YOU!!! This was the interesting comment I found on facebook today:

"God doesn't give children with special needs to strong people; He gives children with special needs to ordinary, weak people and then gives them strength.
Raising a child with Down syndrome doesn't TAKE a special kind of family, it MAKES a special kind of family!

AMEN!!!!!

31 for 21 Day 19... Therapies

There are many things I never experienced before having identical twins both with a diagnosis of Down Syndrome. But the one I'm going to blog about today is therapies.

When the twins came home they began Early Intervention therapy at about four months of age. The first type of therapy they began was Physical Therapy. At four months of age the therapist came into our home and did little leg exercises with the boys. As they got stronger they worked on holding their head up, then rolling and sitting, then getting up on hands and knees and then into standing positions. This was alot of work for the boys and one thing that this made me realize is that we totally take our typical healthy children for granted at how naturally things just come to them. To explain this, its just a natural progression for children to lift their head, then learn to roll, then get up on their hands and knees..rock back and forth and then start crawling and so on. With my boys they literally had to be taught how to do each one of these steps. Its amazing how hard my guys worked to get where they are today.

Then Occupational Therapy started. They stared with play therapy. They would learn to push buttons on toys to make the lights and music go off. Then they would pull things, put rings on a post. Now that one was one that literally took us months to master. I'm pretty sure it took both boys about three months to be able to put four rings on a post. It was quite a challenge for them. Now we put shapes into a shape sorter, we're starting to work on pre-writing skills. They also put weighted vests on them for sensory input and this helps them focus on getting their work done. Here are a few recent photos from outpatient OT.

Isaac on the swing:

Building a tower:

Now stacking the squares back together:


After OT came Speech Therapy. The major surprise with this therapy was that the therapist(s) are not trained in sign language. All they do with the boys is try to get them to vocalize and make sounds. After trying this for three years now, I would think they would offer another suggestion. Now some of them do know basic sign and they incorporate this into the therapy session, but I'm still amazed that signing is not "part of their job". The twins truly enjoy speech therapy. Its alot of puzzles, reading books, signing songs, and playing with balls and cars trying to get them to make any noise we can.

Here is speech therapy putting puzzles together:

Here is TSS signing them a story:


Then the boys both had a VitalStim therapy for about a year. This was an electrical stimulation to their neck area to help strengthen their swallowing.

Notice the electrodes on their neck and the little gray machine behind Isaac, that was the volume controller. They would turn the intensity up if the boys would tolerate it. They were to eat and/or drink during this 45 minute session each week.




Now they also have TSS services due to their Autism diagnosis and I have to say that by far these girls are the best thing that's happened to me and my boys. They basically take each therapy that the boys are given and replicate it all week long. Each boy has 18 hours a week with their TSS and they behave better for them than they do me...LOL



Now that the boys are three they attend a preschool provided by the school district to prepare them for kindergarten AND they attend another preschool for children with Autism called Stepping Stones. So between the two preschools they have a four day week of schooling and TSS's at home three days a week.

So the boys are very stimulated and very intensely educated. I am very happy with where they are right now and it amazes me to see their wheels a turnin and thinking about what they've been asked to think about and doing what they've been asked to do. I am so proud of them. I am so happy with our journey so far with them and anxious to see where this journey takes us. God is so good and I am so honored to have been blessed with these boys.