busy busy

My goodness! time has been flying since I last I blogged! So much is happening in our world!

Darby has been in Argentina now for about 6 weeks! Oh how we miss her! Her boyfriend, Jared, went to visit her last week and they had a wonderful (adventurous) time touring around! He was so sweet to carry lots of things to her from me! I couldn't let her go through a spring without thin mint girl scout cookies, or peeps! lol! The poor fellow probably packed more of her forgotten items than he did his own clothing and stuff! ;) The babies still love seeing her on skype (mom does too)! Can't believe how she's growing through this! Most young adults are a bit nervous about navigating downtown Atlants, and she is surviving in the heart of Buenos Aires (population 15million) knowing not a soul upon arrival! I'm so proud of her!

Shane is still enjoying football practice almost daily and is still so involved with the babies. ( and teaching them not so great habits, I might add) ;) He is so funny! Can't believe he'll have prom and all the other spring events coming up soon! he'll be 17 next month too! Goodness, hard to believe it! It's a gift to watch him become such a amazing young man!

and the twins......ha ha! Someone told them for sure they have now turned 2! lol! More little pushes and spats as well as hugs! I can't begin to get all the funny stories in here! Anyway, Sometimes Annabelle just has a stressful moment here and there and needs to be held! ;) She will all of a sudden come up to her Daddy and say, "hold me"! Which of course he does...with a big grin! The other day, he was at work and unavailable so she walked up behind Cade and said it! He looked at her and then wrapped his arms around her and held her for a minute or so! She then ran off to play and all was well! Such a female! I'm taking notes and have tried the "hold me" with outstrecthed arms to Jamie as well, but for some reason it seems to work better coming from Annabelle! LOL! She's also very caring and demonstrative! We have a book ( 10 Tiny Kisses) in which there is a picture of a baby crying on the first page! She holds the book close and kisses the baby every time we read it! It's so cute! She has a funny little sense of humor too! Jamie will ask her something and then say, "maybe"? She will then play right into it and say, "maybe not"! They are quite the little comedy routine!

Cade Man has a new love! On my......it's Nascar on a 52" flat screen! Jamie flipped to the Daytona 500 a few weeks back and we thought the little guy was going to have a heart attack! He stood up on his toes, stiffened his entire body, pointed to the TV, and said "Oh, oh, oh, Car, car"!!!!! We laughed hyterically! Cade was glued to it! Oh my! He has not been using as many words as Annabelle ( she's speaking in full sentences- sheez) so the speech therapists will be starting back up with him so he can tell Annabelle what he's really thinking! But again, he can do many things she can't so I'm sure they will have different strengths always! I think all women are given the ability to verbally communicate early on! :o!

Miss Abigail!..ahh! Can you hear and feel the smile coming across my face! That baby is my therapy! She is doing so great! She giggles when I blow on her tummy and neck! I love it! I have maintained my routine of rocking her 3 times a day. ( 2 times for naps and then bed time) She falls asleep in the first 5 minutes, but its heaven!  The world just stops. I don't worry about being productive..the twins are napping..I don't even answer the phone! It's just sanity time! She's kind of now starting to want me to just lay her in her bed to go to sleep, but its hard for me to give it up!   She has mastered the sitting a while back and now she has started the sweetest thing!! When she's sitting and I start to sing, she sways. Not a little sway, but a big sway back and forth to my voice! Oh, I melt!!!! When I stop singing, she stops swaying! ha ha! Sometimes she will sing and sway! ;)  Last week in therapy, she stayed on her hands and knees in a crawling position for a long time and started practicing reaching for a toy with one hand while in that position. She seems motivated to get ready to think about crawling. We are prepared that she can throw a roadblock up and slow progress in therapy down whenever she gets the idea, but so far she seems very willing to keep trying and  working! She also leaned to the side (while sitting) and grabbed the tiniest string ( the size of angel hair pasta) that was attached to a toy and used it to pull the toy to her and play. Our therapist told us that was amazing for her age and that it was such a good sign for cognitive and fine motor reasons! yay! So proud that she's driven about getting what she wants....well she is an Anderson, not sure why I'm surprised! ;) The rest of us certainly do our share of trying to get what we want! Lol! I'll deny that later I'm sure! ;)  I think one of her most exciting recent accomplishments is cutting teeth! !!! I was so excited to find her first tooth around the end of her 9th month and the second came 10 days later in her 10th month! Wow! We were told that it most likely wouldn't happen until way after her first birthday. Many babies with Down Syndrome dont get them until 14-17mths. It was so exciting! We know the road ahead will be filled with difficult challenges in her little life (as well as victories) , so forgive me for being so proud, but I do plan on cherishing every little wonderful step she makes!

We have been enjoying some pleasant evenings outside in the neighborhood again! Thank goodness for the nice weather! Its so much better when the twins can get outside and play!  They both say "pay pay" when we tell them its time to stop for a nap or bedtime! ;) Funny little toddlers! Its good to get to spend time with the neighbors again too! Love doing life with the group we have here on Waldenbrooke Ct. Annabelle cracked us up the other day when she chased after Samuel ( the blond haired, blue eyed, very cute,  3 yr old, youngest Newton across the street) and said, 'Samul, hold me"! He ran far and fast as he didn't understand that all she wanted was a hug! He later told his mommy that he was too little to hold her! ha ha! I'm telling myself that she was associsating him with having a brother and that surely she won't chase a boy ever 
again!  ;)

There's so much more, but I must go cook dinner. I've had this up all day working on it! whew, its hard to get things completed! ;)