Quick entycements

  Just a quick post of our great weekend.  It started of by Tyce, Bo (our dog) and I taking a walk in nice yet short lived February Michigan weather.  Tonight the snow came back. I know I shouldn't complain or be suprised we live in Michigan but right about now Im ready for some spring.  Ok, Blooming where I am planted and currently that is Michigan. PS- It was my birthday last week and I went to the Sec. Of State to renew my plates and for 10.00 more I got the plate that allows to enter the beaches for free, yah baby, looks like Ty will be enjoying some Great Lakes this summah!

Figuring out if he likes it?

Need he tell us?  Teething BITES!

We call these healthy rolls baby!

Why hello there monkey, whatcha doin?

  And on Saturday we were invited to two birthday party's (the second one was more for mommy and daddy). The first was a very dear friend of mine that I met just a few months back after Tyce was born. She  too was 26 when she had Gabe and Gabe was her first little guy who shares 47 studly chromosomes :).  Tyce got to play with some of his buds and of course the little ladies too.

Some of the kids are missing but here is Kaitlyn, Abby, Ty and Ian 

Here are us girls with our babies!

  Then us three had dinner at Kirbys in GH it was so fun. Come to think of it,  the three of us have never gone out to dinner alone before hmmm... Anyway, It went super well! Ty as usual was very good!  Shortly after we went to my dear friend Beth's Birthday party and played some Roulette hah oh what fun.  And today our little man is exhausted.  Seriously splendid weekend, with splendid people.  I can't emphasis enough the importance of great people in your life!  

Mom do you ever stop with that thing?

Sunday nap sessions

My beautiful boy, cheeks and all! :)

Because, 8 is great!

He did so big! 

  Tyce had his first pool party.  His cousin Nash turned five and Tyce got to put on his first bathing suit!  He loved splashing in the water, and seeing all his big cousins. He also got to play games and was in the bounce house :).  I love seeing my baby explore.  

Tyce and Royce

Tyce and Aryana

Bounce boys!

They were doing some sort of dance with all the little ones, too funny,  oh my sister.

Mmm dinner was great now my cousins are loving me :)

Hi Nolan, I love you!

  And my beautiful boy turned eight months old and with eight months his personality is ever evolving. He knows how to get our attention, he fake cries, he fake screams then laughs when we pay attention to him. He flips every single time I try to change his diaper.  He holds his own bottle (these things he has been doing for at least a month). He babbles and has a scooter crawl.  I don't know if he is on track, I don't know if he is too far behind. I try not to dig into it often or ever. I know he will do things, I know he will do A LOT of things, I know that they will come.  What I do know is that today he is doing amazing things and he is a fighter, he is determined, healthy and happy.  And I don't think I am in any denial, I don't think TJ and I lie to ourselves, we know there is a possibility for this... that... or whatever but the future is that, and it really is so far away.  I never wanted to be a ''special needs'' parent, heck I still struggle with it, but most of the time I really embrace it, not because I have too, but because I know this is what God chose for me this time around. But I also know it does not define me, it is just a part of me, I am a mother first and then a mother of a child with some special needs. I also know that God trusted me this much, to give me this much, then he must have known I could handle it, because even when I thought I couldn't do it, he pushed me, made me wipe those tears and told me I was a mom now to a very amazing boy.  So get up and be his advocate because dammit for some reason I made you a social worker, do work!  So, today we will enjoy our 8 because it is the greatest stage thus far.

  I also get asked if we are having more babies.  Truthfully I didn't know at first. But after testing we found out Tyce has Trisomy 21 which is a non genetic type of Down syndrome, meaning neither TJ or I are carriers of the gene.  And truth be told 95 percent of DS is non-hereditary so it sometimes (95 percent to be exact) just happens.  With all that we have discussed it, ok, we really didn't ever discuss it, we just both have looked at each other and know we are having more, because if Tyce is the only one we will drive him nuts :). 

Favorite new thing, chewing on those toes.  Flexible?

And here are some videos. Shortly after he was hungry so I was unable to capture his scoot crawl, but I will, I'm sure of it!  (ok videos wouldn't load:( will keep working on it).

  

   Thanks for reading and post something if you want!  I really do like reading comments :).  

Randomness 71/2 months

  We have had a busy couple weeks.  So I haven't been able to update or post much.  But, most recently we did get a second opinion on Ty's eyes and the second doctor said things looked really good.  Tyce has been doing good in general and I am happy to share him with you.

  Last week Saturday we had a play date with his cousin Jackson who is about nine months older then Ty.  His parents are Katie and Peter and they are very dear to us.  Peter and TJ are very close cousins and they have been so awesome to us before we had Tyce and after.  I have even texted Katie at 4 in the morning when I had questions about Tyce, she is awesome!

He is "exploring" Jackson :)

  And we went over to my sisters house to watch the NFC championship game. Of course we are Michiganders, thus hopeless Lions fans ;( (Next year).  And my brother in law is a huge Packer fan, he grew up in the U.P. and very close to Wisconsin.  We got to their house and they had a jersey ready for Tyce to wear, he was baby Reggie.  

  

   I caught this beautiful smile on camera :). And he loves that walker, he goes everywhere but forward.

  And the following pictures are of Tyce doing physical therapy with Jodi, he loves working with her.  She is an awesome therapist, I feel so fortunate to have her for him. 

He loooves to stand!

Pre-crawling stuff

Working on kneeling

  His therapies are going really well.  They are always giving us fun ideas of stuff we can do with him if we want.  I'm learning to have a good balance with the whole therapy thing.  And hey, I can always handle someone else playing with him for a couple of hours a week while I sip on some coffee in quiet just watching :).

 My best friend Krista came for a visit and it made my weekend spectacular, she lives on the other side of the state and doesn't come home enough (ha that's my opinion, and her mommas too :).  These last two weeks have been wonderful.  TJ and I have been able to hang out with all sorts of old friends, the ones that were there before the birth of our precious boy and are still there now.  Good friends in your life are so important to have, they totally re-fuel me.   Also thanks Adrienne for coming over Friday morning for some adult time and coffee with me and Tyce :).   

  TJ's best friend from College Ben came for a visit to a couple weeks ago from Lansing.  And this has been is Facebook profile picture since.  So fun, Tyce can't wait to watch Breakfast Club with Uncle Ben and his dad.

  Tyces first Janurary in Michigan... we are so ready to say good bye to you, because Burrrr... its cold!!!

  

Treated to his Remixe's

    Video of Tyce for a little surprise that is to come later this week, I'm excited to see what is to come of it.

  Tyce had to get his kidneys re-checked.  He was diagnosed with hydronophrosis (sp?) in his kidney's in utero.  Basically what that means is that his kidney's were retaining some fluid, when it all should have been released.  He was checked at three days old, then at one month and now at seven months.  The results were good!  One kidney is in the normal range and the other is a grade 2, 4 being the highest and zero being the ''normal''.  So overall it was a good result day.

He is so not a morning person, just like his mama.

Playing in the waiting room at the new DeVos Childrens Hospital

  We are thankful as we too know God will not leave us on this journey!  Being a mama is a little different then I imagined, oh I laugh because I didn't know how much you could love, I didn't realize how much my mom really loves me, until I became a mom.  I mean, I knew I would love him a lot, but really, I didn't know I could love someone this much it is like literally walking with your heart outside of you body!


  “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” Elizabeth Stone 


 (Thanks Brooke for the great quote).  


   I know my personal journey into motherhood was initially very different then I expected. But I am so to the point where he has Down syndrome so what!  I read, I research, I try to educate myself as best as possible all for him, so that he can benefit. ( I should probably add that I stalked a few moms thru facebook across the country, most total strangers, now like sistas).  So, if I am ever down or sad it's because I want him to be healthy, to have the best care possible and I want him to have so many opportunities, I want him to be BIG. And I want that for all our kids, I am sure all moms want that!  Yes, there are some days that might get my spirits down, but the good, his smile, his laugh even his super fake smile totally outweigh the sucky days. He outweighs any sucky day in this mom's heart! 


 I got asked if I get sad, and Im sure I might if I try, I have to try really hard.  I was not built to be sad because of his DS, I do not have it in me, I was not wired that way.  I don't know if not being sad is normal, I don't know if I am supposed to mourn the loss of the child I thought I was having.  I can't help but when people say that I go insane, because that drives me nuts!  He is the baby I wanted!  I wanted mine and TJ's baby and Im pretty sure that is what he is.  Maybe, I mourned for a month or so but really, how can I?  Again, that is not me, i'm just not that way.  ( I just had to add that because when this sad stuff ever comes up I just want to drop kick the person).  Maybe I should drop kick myself for ever time I cried a tear over his diagnoses. 


  Lately he charms Tj and I with his piano playing remixes, just when we think he is all DJ'd out he continues on with his turn tables, it really is a riot and the best treat to start our days! Nothing like hearing ''one.. two...three.. four... five... six...seven...eight...nine... join with me and count to ten, count to ten... ''A Bazillion times and a bazillion times over it makes him smile.  By the way I need new Ideas for musical toys because this song can really get annoying. hah  


 Here is to the best seven months of my life thus far!

He really sleeps this way! Ouch

This is the infamous music table.

7 Months (already)

  And to more love, remixes, and smiles!

Tyce the Builder and Pics

   It was our niece Aryana's birthday party on Sunday, and Tyce had a blast.  I mean, hello Chuckie Cheese, we really like you!  And Bob the Builder, your truck just plain rocks.  It was like he had been driving this tractor his whole life he knew his hands needed to go on that steering wheel, it was too cute.

  Here is my favorite!  These are my sister's babies :).  I am the youngest of six girls and all of my sisters have kids and these are the youngest four in our family.  Ty looves his big cousins.

From left to right (Nash, Tyce, Royce and Aryana).  Happy Birthday Ary we looove you!

Here is Ty and and TJ :), seriously I can't even do justice to how excited TJ was to be able to take the baby around Chuckie Cheese's and play games with him, it was adorable.

And Tia Evie putting Ty on the big screen, I think Ty was looking at Chuckie.

Such a movie star <3

Bye Chuckie you scare me a bit, but you have a pretty sweet pad, i'm sure I will visit again.

   On Tuesday Ty had to get his eyes checked again and his prescription isn't getting better, or worse its kinda staying the same and she want's it to be getting better.   So, he has to continue to wear his patch everyday for an hour :(.  He really dislikes it  and starts to scream when he has it on.  We will be looking into second opinions, just to be safe and make sure he is getting the best care.

  Well, the holiday season was so great to us.  We realized how many beautiful people we have in our lives. And the new family of friends we have made with Ty's DS.  I don't know if I have said this before but I have met some wonderful women in this area who all have little babies with DS under the age of two and all of the mom's happen to be under 30 when they had there babies (just found that interesting). These women are rocks in my life and their babies are so beautiful it brings me to tears just writing about them. And really, I couldn't be as strong as I feel if it wasn't for all these other mom's that I messaged in the beginning of this journey, moms across the country that I came across in my first moments of fear. Those moms all told me everything was going to be ok, and I looked at there little ones and realized how beautiful things really would be.

    TJ and I are blessed with super friends and family and there support an continued prayers are huge to us.  We feel lucky that Ty for the most part is really healthy.  We don't know what the future holds and I try not to look a head a whole lot, but reality sometimes smacks me in the face on appointment day's.  Appointment days are tough, they suck and I' not the greatest at in taking sucky news, but it is what it is.  I can't imagine my life without him so if we have three therapies and a few doctor appointment's a week, every week we will do it.   I say all of this because not everyone knows what we do on a weekly basis, but today we are thankful, thankful for Tyce and his health, stay strong beautiful boy!

   He really is pushing the button on the puppy's toe! He started doing that this morning and wouldn't stop pushing the pupp's buttons. Lastly,  we say thanks for looking at our blog and reading about Tyce!  

Think Big

   When I was pregnant with Ty I insisted on him not having a sports theme room.  TJ and I both played a lot of sports growing up.  I remembering wanting/want Ty to be and do whatever he wanted to do.  I just always want and wanted him to THINK BIG, be him and play sports because he wanted too.  I dream of giving him every opportunity in life possible and open many doors for him. But at the end of the day I want him to do what he loves most and what makes him happy, so on with thinking big, because I want that for him.  I guess I can't lie if I say I hope he loves to be outdoorsy and liberal minded like me, or loves sharks, baseball and comics like his daddy.  But when it's all said and done I want him to think big my little man.  We just put this sign up in his room this past week!

Where is Tyce? ha... can you see his little head peeking in there?

This next picture captures his hard work ethic :).

And he is sooo big (on with the big theme) :) (kind of, ok really deceiving because he was really just throwing his hands up). 

Of all his Christmas presents, the biggest hit was the wrapping paper :).

   Super hero books TJ's favorite and hopefully Ty's too :)

  

  Ok, so I hope you guys have the most amazing year! I hope you always think big :).  I'm at a loss for words in explaining 2010. All I can say is thanks for the most beautiful gift this  momma could ask for!

I loooove his little laugh!

                 So here is to a happy, healthy 2011 and that we may continue to be enTYCEd :).