Big Brother!

  We announced a couple weeks ago that we are adding another addition to our family.  Baby Matchinsky will be arriving in late May of 2012!!!  We couldn't be more excited.  Yes it is a busy time in our lives, but we thought this would be a great time to grow, especially when Ty is little, we wanted him to grow up close in age with a sibling.  TJ and my closest sibling are 6 and 7 years apart, we wanted our babies a little closer, ok, well we got a lot closer. And, two years apart they will be :).  To be honest, baby number two is due the day before Ty's second birthday, oh dear, we are cutting it close :).  But I am so excited, I love being pregnant, I love the thought of of us having more babies!  Now, for the question some might ask, are we worried about DS again?  I would lie if I said I wasn't, I would lie if I said it's no big deal, we did it once we can do it again.  I was scared, I was scared when we were told about Ty's diagnoses, I was scared for a long while, sometimes I still am.  I am a need to know type of person!  And I just wanted to know, I wanted to know to be prepared, I need facts, I need time.  TJ and I contemplated for a long time about testing.  We prayed and prayed and I truly feel God gave me peace with our decision.  I was told due to my age it was highly unlikely, I didn't care, I wanted to pursue some options.  TJ once again was wonderful and supportive and did I mention wonderful.  He knew my mind would be more at ease if we tested.  We knew the risks, we talked to genetic counselors, we were again reinforced that Tyce has T21 and after an hour with the genetic counselor we were told that there is no family history of DS that it was just something that happened, that the chances of it happening again were less then 1 percent.  With all that said, our odd's with Tyce were even less, and I still wanted to know.  Call it what you want, I am comfortable with our decision.  We decided to do CVS testing.  We knew the risk and I was once again, scared out of my mind, I was scared for this bean inside of me. But, again, my faith, my God knows me too well, and he knew that my mind would rest easiest if we just knew.  Two weeks later the results came in and Baby BOY number two does not have T21.  Yes, Tyce is going to have a BROTHER, and did I mention they are two years apart to the day, hello? I will not have to buy baby number two much clothes, yes! ha.  To be honest, I don't know if I would do the CVS again, I don't know if I recommend it, the doctor said things for us went text book in the procedure, I felt I was so unalone, I felt God was totally in that room with me!  I feel at peace with everything.  More then anything, I am excited, to be a mommy again! (CVS testing for those who don't know is Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) is a prenatal test that detects chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome, as well as a host of other genetic disorders. The doctor takes cells from tiny fingerlike projections on the placenta called the chorionic villi and sends them to a lab for genetic analysis.)   Baby two does not show any chromosomal abnormalities and I believe this testing is around 99 percent accurate.  We did the quad screen testing with Tyce, but obviously that was not accurate as we were told Tyce's chances of having a chromosomal abnormality  were 1 in 10, 000, another reason we opted for the more invasive testing. 

      Doesn't he look like he will be a great big brother!?

  Our family is growing, our house is for sale, it's looking like we might have a buyer, any prayers and good vibes are welcomed!  We need to move out of this house for a few reasons.  Biggest reason is the main floor only has two bedrooms and well in Ty's room two cribs will not fit.  Secondly, Bo needs a yard to run in and three, we are out growing this house!  Hopefully we will be out of here by next month.   

  Tyce has been flourishing in the signing department.  We teach him a sign and he catches right on.  His latest is 'Book', everything is 'book, please', 'more, book' and flat out 'book'!  I got my little scholar!!!  I would say he prefers a book over a ball, but I really think that is a toss up :/.  He has also been signing, 'milk', 'eat' and 'all done', those are the newest. We definitely work on talking with him, he likes to mimic sounds and actions, but he can't get words out so much.  He says dad, bo and papa clear as day.  I know he should have a few more words under his belt, but to be honest I am totally proud of were we are communication wise with him.  We totally understand what he wants at this point in time, and I feel good about that.  

   His newest funny thing is to blow at fans and  fireplaces, as if he is going to cause some major change with that that little amount of air that comes out of that body!  He points and tries to blow as hard as he can.  

  Tyce has been getting really sick this fall/early winter.  I think it has a lot to do with his going to therapy group.  And well it is to be expected for him to get sick, especially when he is around other little kids, but it breaks my heart to see him so stuffy so often.  This is his second sinus infection in two months.  I like the group therapy and I don't like the group therapy.  I like to socialization he gets, but I also don't like the lack of one on one time he gets, not to mention him coming home sick at the end of each week, but I guess I can't stop that from happening, better now then later.  With the move, the option for group therapy will no longer be there, so I'm sure it will all work out.  

He's about to sign book ;)

That is our life, these are our updates, we hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!  

Happenings

  We have a busy toddler in the house.  I used to have a cuddly, timid baby boy and now he is all sass.  He never wants to be held and he wants to fly crawl around the house.  Life in the Matchinsky household is no longer  quiet and we love it that way.

This video is about a month old but it was too cute I had to post.  Go to my playlist and push pause, it is too cute!!!

  October was busy, but beautiful.  We had the Step up for Down syndrome walk.  We had an amazing turn out and surpassed our goal of 1,000 and ended up with 1,360 that was GREAT!!!  We can't thank those who walked with us and donated enough.  I also want to thank my friend Betsy who designed our wonderful "All for Tyce, Think BIG shirts".  We wore red and white because we are from Holland and we have a lot of Holland High Pride still in us all :).  The back of the shirt had a big T and the Down syndrome foot with the extra gap in between the first and second toe, I love that little characteristic on Ty's little toes!!!

  October also brought on some fun Halloween festivities.  Tyce was our Chicken Little with bat, tights, feathers and glasses.

A very tired Chicken Little

Chewey, Chicken and Chucky 

Save the Chicken the sky is falling

He is flying away!  

  He was so fun, we swear we heard him say trick-or-treat and he said it again the next day at therapy!  A very baby version but it sounded like trick-or treat!  He also calls Tj dada but mama is not even close to being said ;-(.   I will take what we can get.  

  With October of course comes more Lions Football !

  Updates with us.  Well I will start with Tyce.  Therapy is still going good.  I wish he got more one on one time while at group to work on his walking.  He is loosing most motivation to walk because he crawls so fricken fast.  We hear that the crawling is really strengthening his core so that he can walk, but I feel like all its doing is making him fly around the house.  I know it will happen in it's time and when he decides that's what he wants to do, but sometimes I get the mommy guilt of "am I doing enough to help him''?  I don't ever want to feel like I am settling with answers I'm given but I also don't want to go nuts sending him to therapy's all the time if the therapist don't feel he needs it, and I want him to be a baby, to have fun.  I feel it's all such a balance. He is meeting goals in OT and Speech and he is learning new signs all the time (some of the signs are so similar he starts just throwing his signs everywhere until he gets us to understand what he wants).  Today, he brought over a book and wanted it to be read to him  while he sat on my lap.  He also will come up to me and sign eat when he wants a snack or pucker up and smack his lips for juice.  We are breaking some huge understanding barriers here!  One of his OT goals was to learn to drink from a straw.  I was initially told it was good for him to learn to drink from a straw so I really wanted him to meet this goal/milestone.  Well, he hates straws, they are like his enemy.  He is in LOVE with his sippy cup and has been drinking from his sippy cup since he was ten months old.  Whenever we would bring out the learning straw cup he would throw a tantrum until he got his sippy.  Luckily, this past week we were told to no longer push the straw cup use with him.  I was told that some kids are cup drinkers and some are straw drinkers.  Ty is a cup drinker, he now has a beginners training open cup and he does sooooo well, no spills, of course I give it to him.  But that is sooooo exciting, no need to push something that made him so unhappy.  In it's time :). 

   TJ and I have been busy being working and being parents to a very fun little boy.  He keeps us on our toes.  

 In the mornings when I get ready for work Ty likes to do his own thing around the house.  Here are this mornings happenings :)

Busted with the toilet paper

Sad it got taken away

Giggling can't remember why

Back into the bathroom after every roll of toilet paper was taken from out of his reach

Now throwing a fit

And I'm sure he is contemplating his next move

Which was going into his mom's drawer and take out her cords 

What mom? It is fun to hang things around my neck that are dangerous!

I was just wondering if you needed them for work today, that's all :)  Thanks Ty!!!