One Happy Boy

. View from the top of the ferris wheel

. Highlight of the day

. Riding the rails

. Emmie's first swing

. Mr. Conductor

. He's in there somewhere

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Today we headed to Edaville Railroad , in Carver MA, where Thomas The Tank Engine was visiting. This is our third year making this trip. It's all for Andrew. He loves it, and I love to watch his excitement. I needed this carefree day, there has been a lot of sadness around the "blogs" this week, mainly the loss of Pablo, who I think most every one knows. I needed to watch Andrew just be 5 and laugh and be silly. It was a joy to listen to him explain to Emilia that we were going to "Thomas World," as he calls it, and to break into a Thomas song at any given moment. These moments won't last forever, and I intend on enjoying every single second of them. I even went on the Ferris wheel with Bella and Sophia. I don't like heights or dangling, so there was a lot of anxiety for me! Of course the girls could smell the fear and ran with it,but I did manage to open my eyes for a second to take a picture from the top.

I did learn something this week, or rather was hit in the face with something, with the loss of sweet Pablo, and that is to enjoy something every day. Even if it's not a great day, make something great about it.

Mom Update

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my mom. The title was "And the Blind Shall See", Well I just wanted to give a little update. There has been some more progress. Last week I took my mother to her appointment and had the pleasure of meeting her wonderful Doctor. He informed me that he's not done with her yet. He is convinced and determined to give her more sight. He is really great. You feel so comfortable with him. He made me feel like I had known him forever even though we had just met. No wonder my mom likes him so much. Well he did a laser treatment on her. Not the one he is going to do for free, this was just a quick one. He said she would be blurry for a while but should be seeing more soon. He was right. She can see more things, today she called to tell me she read the labels of her can goods. she can almost see my face. Some color is coming back too. It's all so unbelievable. We are going to her house for lunch on Sunday, I am hoping she might be able to see the kids. Keep your fingers crossed.

Wordless Wednesday

. Photo by Sophia

Separation Anxiety

. good morning

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. what does he do at night?

....just a little and it's all mine.Emilia is 8 months old today. I am proud to say she made it through the night in her own crib. I've been trying for the past 3 nights. Yes, I've been trying, Em was doing fine. I admit I had some issues about putting her in her crib, soooo far away from my bedside and the safety of her bassinet. But it was time... plus her legs were hanging over the sides (only kidding), but it was becoming a tight squeeze. As you can see in the pictures she slept like a "baby". Woke up happy, and has her big brother to protect her through the night. Who looks like he's fighting his own battles at night, just look at what he does to his bedding, what a mess!

Anyway, I've come up with a master plan to switch every ones bedrooms around. I don't really like Emilia and Andrew sharing a room. When I was pregnant I thought for sure Emilia was a Matthew ( just my own assumption) and being with Andrew would work well.. Surprise! So she doesn't have her own pretty space. So everyone is moving, Peter and I are taking the big room downstairs, Olivia is getting our room, Sophia and Bella are getting Andrew's and Andrew is going into Olivia's. There is plenty of room in the big bedroom for Emilia to have her own little space...and she'll be with me again. There is a method to my madness.

I thought this would be a "fun" summer project, plus a chance to get rid of "stuff" that my pack rats can't seem to part with. Wish me luck!

We Love You

Emilia's first love

We love you!

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. Father! - to God himself we cannot give a holier name.William Wordsworth

Happy Fathers Day, Peter!!!!! Thanks for putting up so patiently with the whole bunch of us. We all love you. Hope we can give you the day you deserve.

Emmie's Good

As I sit here this morning , everyone is asleep,it's just me and my sidekick Em, I count my blessings. This time of the year is always a little overwhelming for me. The end of the school year and the beginning of another summer. I cross the days off on the calendar and anticipate the end... the end to rushed mornings and missing shoes and undone homework. But with the end comes no more pre school, no more ducklings, with the end comes a seventh grader, a pre teen, my baby boy in school all day in September, Bella will be making her First Communion.All signs that they are moving forward. With the end , which is Tuesday the 23rd,comes a school mass to end another year at St Peter School. Yes, I will cry as I do every year. As I listen to the children sing. Their sweet voices fill the church, I will ask God as I do every year...please don't let me forget this moment. Which gets me to the blessings part, I didn't forget. I am counting my blessings because with every ending comes a new beginning.

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I am blessed because as I sit there Tuesday and weep about another year gone and my children growing older, I will be holding Emmie in my arms. I am blessed because my Emmie is good. She wasn't born with any health issues, which I find almost impossible to believe. As I have grown to love and care so much for all of my new friends in "blogland" I have come to realize just how lucky I am. I follow you daily, pray for you daily and simply worry about you daily. If someone doesn't post for a while I wonder if everything is alright.

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Emilia was our new beginning, she came to us when we needed her the most. She has taught me so much in such a short time. She has opened my eyes to her wonderful and beautiful world, a world I never would have considered myself lucky to be a part of. She has brought me to all of you, who I now cherish and love.

Emmie ended my old life. She forced me to see beauty where before I only saw sadness. To count my blessings, to consider myself lucky. I will forever worry about Emmie a little more than I worry about my other children. But the new beginning she has brought with her out weighs all the worry. As Olivia says, "she is my sun".

Mack,Kack, Lack,Jack and Andrew

My "baby" boy

Andrew, 3rd from left

snuggle time

Mama Bella with her ducklings

Time for a little swim

Today my little boy, Andrew graduated from Pre-School.It was a beautiful celebration with songs and a video of pictures taken throughout the year... that's only there to make the moms cry. The kids looked so cute in the hats and t-shirts. That was a surprise, the parents had no idea. I treasure these moments, I love this age, everything is a big deal. I love to see his face light up over the simplest things. I love you Dewy.

Well it's on to Kindergarten in the fall. All day Kindergarten. What will Emilia and I do with ourselves all day? Shopping, a little lunch, a walk in the park? The possibilities are endless with 6 uninterrupted hours.

And... yes those are ducklings and yes they were swimming in my tub. It was the only place I could think of to put them while we were cleaning out their box.

Where, you may be thinking did we get 4 cute ducklings. Well, Isabella happens to have the best teacher in the world and after the kids read the book and took home the book bag, Make Way for Ducklings, what else was there to do but hatch some real ducklings. So along came Mack, Lack, Kack, and Jack. Somehow Bella did some quick talking and before I knew it I had agreed to take them overnight. So far so good...as long as no one lets the cat in. YIKES!

A 5k, a Parade and 2 cookouts

The drop off... good luck!!

watching for the runners

there's Sophia on the way up... lookin good!

And Sophia on the way back...Go Sophie!!!

My hero, after the race.

Emmie and Daddy enjoying the parade

Korean war veterans.

Emmie having fun at cookout #1

Andrew going wild

A little volley ball at cookout #2


Yesterday Sophia ran in her first road race, a 5K. The race starts off the celebration of Gaspee Day in Warwick.http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/legacies/RI/200003494.html. (I tried to add a link that tells the history of the Gaspee, but I'm not sure I did it right). Anyway it is a big to do around here. Two off the teachers at St. Peters got together and decided to train with any students interested in running. Sophia missed a lot of the trainig days due to her busy schedule and I was a little concerned how she would fare.

Can I have a moment here to tell you all how stinkin' proud we all are of her. She did so well!!! Not only did she finish but she finished strong! She was my hero yesterday. That head strong, stubbornness that she has, paid off. We don't have her official place that she finished or her time, but if I can get it I'll post it, actually I'm sure she will post it on her blog too.

The race is followed by a parade, which is followed by cookouts(BBQ).We had two invitations yesterday and had a great time at both. It was a lovely day to spend with family and friends. This was Emmie's first parade and she had the best time ever. She loved all the noise and bands. The weather was picture perfect. Good thing everything happened yesterday, because today it's raining buckets... again.

Simplicity

Bella had her first grade celebration today.It was called Joy of Poetry and Music. They sang songs and Bella recited a poem about butterflies. Sweet and simple, it won't always be like this... sweet and simple. I try to remind myself to slow down and enjoy, before it's all over. Sometimes I feel like a trained monkey could run through my days. Run the kids here and there, errands, pick ups and drop offs. Then the rush for supper, homework and bedtime. This was a long year for me, lots of extra stress with no end in sight, but that's another post. Anyway, this summer I am really going to try to keep it sweet and simple, to enjoy my beauties and celebrate their youth and innocence. I am going to try not to have any rushed days this summer. Last summer had the dark cloud of my pregnancy hanging over us, more me than us, but we were all affected , we were all worried about Emmie. It seems like every good time was tainted with that looming cloud in the background. This summer brings worries with it also, but I have finally come to realize, life or at least mine, will never be worry free, who's is, really. If I wait for no worries,life will certainly pass me by. I have to learn to be able to be happy even if everything is not in it's place...so to speak. So wish me luck as I attempt to enjoy the blessings in my life and not overlook the sweet and simple things, to relax and smile a little more....a lot more.



Sophia in half her costume... I tried.

This and that

The lovely,but forgetful ballerina, Olivia

After the show
Bella, did a great job

This is what I get from Miss Emmie when it's time to eat.

That's pretty cool





The girls did a great job and had a lot of fun at their show. All their hard work paid off. It was beautiful to watch.I still didn't get a picture of Sophia in her costume. She has a show tonight so I will get one there, (different studio).

Emmie had her first speech therapy appointment. She's not eating and we want to know what's up. Well, nothing major. They watched her eat and came to the conclusion that she is accepting the food and wants to eat but can't manage her tongue very well. Her tongue is pushing everything out. We have some funky exercises to do before she eats, to get her mouth muscles stimulated, we'll see how it goes. I'm sure this sounds familiar to most of you.

Do you have everything...

That's the question I asked my daughters, Olivia and Sophia as we were heading out the door this morning. It's "CULMINATION" day. No! It's not a recital, don't utter such a common word. It's a culmination.... it's a production..... and at this very moment it's a pain in the you know what! Two, no, three days of dress rehearsals, and then three actual performances,Costumes everywhere, tights, leotards, pointe shoes, canvas shoes, character shoes, leather ballet slippers,jazz shoes, make up, headpieces, hair pins, nets(for the bun heads) any ballerinas out there, you know the drill.Mothers of ballerinas, you know what I'm talking about. Early mornings, late nights and take out, costume alterations, I don't sew, not a good thing!!! Anyway ,back to that question.. do you have everything? YES!! Do you have all your costumes, hair stuff and everything else? YES, YES!!! was their reply. That was at 9:30 this morning, at approximately,11:45 this morning (after dropping them off for the afternoon show, and yes they have to be there 3 hours before the show oh , sorry, CULMINATION)I find a pair of black socks that go to a jazz costume, Surprise!!!!! You didn't have everything,honey,(that would be Olivia, Sophia did have everything). For a brief moment I thought about not bringing her the socks, teaching her a lesson in responsibility,but then I got a visual of the panic and anxiety she would be having when she went to put on that really cool jazz costume and didn't have the socks. Yeah, that was enough for me. Daddy to the rescue, socks are in route as I write, just in time for that 1:00 performance, after all, the show, I mean CULMINATION must go on.

All kidding aside, the kids, teachers and everyone involved, really work their butts off and it is always a beautiful show, I mean, CULMINATION. We will be enjoying their hard work tonight at the 6:00 performance. I'll try to post some pictures after the Sunday performance.

Shhhh... Wordless Wednesday

Shhhh..... the baby's sleeping.

Little by Little

She's up!

and... she's down.

No thank you

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Emilia is working her hardest to sit. She is happiest when someone holds her up so she can see everything, she doesn't want to miss a thing. She barely naps at all and I'm convinced it's only because curiosity gets the best of her. She is the most social creature I have ever seen and thrives on being in the middle of whatever is going on. In this house it's usually complete chaos. We are working hard with her PT, to strengthen her arms to help support her in a sitting position. Today I think I kind of tired her out, and out of complete frustration Emmie pushed herself up into a crawling position (was she trying to get away). I couldn't believe it! With tears in my eyes, I rushed to share my exciting news with Peter, to which he replied, "oh yeah". Oh Yeah. What the heck, didn't you hear me, the baby just put herself into a crawling position! Did you forget she has ds and this is HUGE!!! What's he say, "you know I did kind of forget". At first I was disappointed at his reaction, but the more I thought about it, the more I think, how lucky we are that right now Emmie is doing so well that we can sort of forget. don't take me wrong, I'm not saying I want to forget who she is or ever deny that she indeed does have ds.I just mean we're really blessed to be able to simply enjoy her. I never thought I would enjoy being a parent to a child with special needs. I am so glad that God proves me wrong every second of every day. One thing Miss Em has not quite mastered is eating. So... next Monday we go for eating therapy. Last night she did finally swallow a few mouthfuls of cereal with apples. I think she'll get the hang of it, little by little.

By the way , Bella decided that Emmie looks like a Littlest Pet Shop, with a big bobble head and little body