Drive Thru Zoo

Who knew there was a little Drive Thru Zoo here in Huntsville? Well it's not actually in Huntsville, it's out of town a little, but who knew? It was a fun little adventure, Emers loved the animals and she thought it was great to throw food at them. Carsen slept the whole time, she woke up in time to see the tortoises, they had me worried, they were eyeing my little baby.

She's really driving, she loved it!

It cracked me up that she was brave enough to feed this little guy

It made me very nervous that she was brave enough to feed this BIG guy

These guys were so funny, they knew we had food and they wanted it, they are surprisingly fast!

Giving kisses through the glass, the kid needs to kiss everything!

First Time at the Pool

We took the girls to the pool for the first time a few weeks ago, Emerson went last year but this is the first time this year and obviously it was Carsen's first time. They loved it!

Can't you tell how excited she is!

This kiddo absolutely loves the water!

In the little shade tent

Taking it easy, this pool stuff is hard work

She has red lips from a popsicle

She loves the juice

Carsen's Video

I put together a little video of Carsen, just to see how easy/hard it was. Next will be one for Emerson! Enjoy!

Meredith

My great friend Meredith called me a couple months ago, and said she'd like to come down for a visit, of course I said YES! Meredith is from my same hometown of Rangely, our moms were actually really good friends when we were really little, but it was years later when Meredith and I actually became good friends. Meredith and her cute brother Isaac, and her sister Rachel used to work with me at a little place called Colorado Freeze, a great little greasy spoon in Rangely, we had a lot of fun there. I used to ask Isaac to marry me everyday, his response was always the same "but I'm only sixteen"! As if that mattered! But I digress, Meredith was also, the lab assistant in my Chem lab in college, she's actually younger than I am, but she was already in the Dental Hygiene program that I was trying to get into. We used to have so much fun having little picnics on my living room floor and watching movies, we would go and get every kind of junk food known to man, park our butts on my living room floor, and pig out while watching some 80's movie in the VCR, wow I don't even own a VCR anymore! She moved to Missouri when she graduated the hygiene program, she's actually the reason I moved to Kansas. Needless to say, we've been friends for years! She's gorgeous inside and out! I don't know what I'd do without her!

At my wedding...of course she was a bridesmaid!

At Emerson's Baptism, with her sweet daughter Bailey

At the Botanical Gardens with my sweet Emers

She looks great, not the most flattering pic of me!

Grandpa Bob and Uncle Rob visit

Grandpa Bob and Uncle Rob came down to meet Carsen and hang out for a few days. We had a great time with them, we took them to Cathedral Caverns (Brad's wanted to go since we moved here, so it was about time). Grandpa had a great time playing with Emerson, she completely adores him, he's really very cute with both of the girls.

Before heading into the Caverns

Walking with Grandpa, look how little she is compared to him

At the entrance

waiting for our tour time

Watch out Uncle Rob, she has a mouth full of water

Little miss independent, she insisted on walking most of the way

This is what Grandpa and Uncle Rob are looking at, in the above picture

Oh sweet baby

With Uncle Rob

The Big 4 0

As most of you know Brad just celebrated his 40th birthday!! Crazy! We celebrated by going down to Birmingham and catching a Marc Broussard concert! We worked it out that Victoria and her husband Chris could come and watch the girls while we were at the concert. I wasn't quite ready to leave them overnight, so it was nice to be able to have them back at the hotel. We enjoyed the zoo the next day, of course Carsen slept through the whole thing. That's pretty much par for the course with our kids, they sleep through all the firsts! We had a great weekend, we thank God for our little girls everyday, we love our little family!

Marc Broussard

Our little sleeper

Little miss personality and the birthday boy!

Feeding the flamingos, she actually got brave enough to try

This video is Emerson telling quite the story while we were driving home!

Carsen is 2 Months Old!!

Carsen went in for her two month check up today, she weighs a whopping 9 lbs 7 oz and she's 20 1/4 inches long! She's growing like a weed!! I guess I should have realized when we had to move up a size in diapers! Carsen is doing wonderful, we've started early intervention, she has a physical and an occupational therapist that come to the house and give us exercises to do with her to help build up her muscle tone. Right now we are working on head control, we do a lot of tummy time, baby sit ups, and we are now practicing rolling over, and I am working on some neck stretches with her. She is right on track!

We've recently joined a group called BUDS (Bringing Up Down Syndrome) it's a group of ordinary people just like us that all have a child with Down Syndrome. It's nice to know there are other parents out there that have been exactly where we are, be able to get advice, and have a common thread among us. It's been a very positive thing for us to get involved in. BUDS sponsors a walk every year called the Buddy Walk, it's to promote education and inclusion for Down Syndrome, mark your calendars, it's October 16th this year!