Meet Jordan.

I know I'm not supposed to have favorites. But I'm not perfect. And he is so sweet.

Those eyes. They get me every time.

He was the man of the house this week with Thomas away at camp and Chipper helping with tornado clean up in Joplin. He taught Zhen to play ring around the rosy and more! He's a great kid.

The Hunt

Mr. Blue Eyes survived his cataract surgery and the awful recovery. Weeks of restraint and tape and tears are over. Well, sort of.

We've entered a new phase of cataract recovery. His brain must learn how to use his new bionic eye. This involves years of restraint and tape and tears. *sigh* Six hours of patching daily. It's really going well. Not as many tears as I expected.

At 1pm daily the patch goes on. So do the no-no's and pajamas. Footie pajamas donned in reverse keep arm restraints from slipping off.

Next we start using bifocal glasses. From experience I knew that Specs4Us would not work for Zhen. The one pair we have for Theo have been a disaster. Theo bends them into a pretzel at every opportunity. I can only imagine what sort of damage Zhen could do.

I started hunting for Miraflex retailers in my area. Then I had to find a retailer that was a provider for our particular brand of vision insurance. Our eye doc's office didn't have any of these frames and didn't know how to find any.

Zhen's eye doc belongs to a large group practice with many locations. I did find one location that was listed on the Miraflex website. I threw Zhen into the car and headed out to find this location so we could get the frames ordered ASAP.

We ended up at a warehouse. The sign on the door said that if the door was locked to ring the bell at the shipping and receiving entrance on the west side of the building. Crap. Why is it so hard to find glasses for my guys with DS? Huh?

I drove immediately back to the doc's office and insisted that they order some frames for Zhen to try on. It worked! The frames arrived last week and they are so stinking cute! And Zhen loved them! We'll see how long that lasts. The lenses will arrive in 2 weeks and then I'll get some photos to share.

Phew! I'm glad the hunt for indestructible glasses is over!

Theo started physical therapy at Heartspring last week. He's getting so heavy. He almost looks a little pudgy in this photo. :) Trust me, he's still tiny. He's just getting buffed out.

Ralph and I have so much fun together. I say "ring! ring! hello?" Then Ralph punches some imaginary buttons on the bottom of his feet...and then...

He answers me on his foot phone!
So...do you have a bionic eye? Can you put your toes in your ears?

I didn't think so.

Theo's Clues

Thomas made up a Blue's Clues game for Theo tonight. He's so cool sometimes I can hardly stand it. The clues are:

1. Tired eyes
2. Pajamas
3. Dark outside

The answer is: Time for bed!! Yay!!

Photo fest!

So look who is causing trouble now! That would be Theo, up and cruising. Can you even believe it?

The camera loves Ruby.

Zhen really wanted to smile here. I almost caught one.

We had a photo-fest in the bounce house last Saturday.

No one had more fun than Ralph.

First time on the big-kid swings. Still working on that smile!

Pure love. :)

Well, I had some great photos, but they don't want to load. OK, I got one! More later. Today was a fantastic day once we got it kick started.

We woke up to double poop nightmares. God bless my husband for tackling the worst of it. He knew that I needed to get started on the salad for the picnic later on. I suppose I will insist on PCD's (poop containment devices - footie PJ's worn backward) from now on, no matter how warm it is.

The weather was perfect for our Down Syndrome Society picnic today. We all had a great time. The four littles, Ralph, Zhen, Theo and Ruby, spent lots of time in the bounce house. They jumped, which is a huge deal for a child with DS, they rolled around, they lounged and jiggled. No big bad kids to run them over. No timekeeper making telling them their time was up.

We did make a short stop on the way to the picnic, but I can't really tell you about that today. :) Well, I could. But I'm not going to. Soon!

Hope you are having a fun weekend, too.

Can you tell?

Since Zhen had a cataract removed and an artificial lens implanted, we say that he has a bionic eye! (Are any of you old enough to remember the 6 Million Dollar Man?)

Can you tell which eye is "bionic?"

Zhen had a eye appointment yesterday and he is healing beautifully!

But when we walked in the front door and down the stairs to the office, he tried to bury his eye under my arm. He's delayed, but he is no fool.

In the waiting room there was a little girl who wanted to play with him. He promptly walked over to her and threw a toy truck at her head. :(

As I was apologizing to the girl's mother he was called back to the exam room. The nurse dilated his eyes with a ka-jillion eye drops while I wrested him. Then we were sent back to the waiting room for another half hour. :(

The little girl was still there. She still wanted to play with Zhen. Not too bright. He took the same truck, walked over to her and dropped it on her head. *sigh*

Next up...the desperate search for indestructible glasses. Stay tuned.

The open door.

Today, between worship services and Sunday school, I stopped by the nursery to check on my little children. Like I always do. Theo doesn't care if he sees me. He's just happy and playing with interesting new toys. Same with Zhen. I have to be sneaky when I check on Ruby. If she sees me she will have a major meltdown.

I noticed something interesting when I checked on Ralph. The door to his classroom was open. He was sitting with the group and participating in class and the door was open. Wide open. And he had not escaped. He wasn't trying to escape. WOW! My little curious boy is growing up! Here's Ralph and Ruby, trying to tie Theo's shoe.
Guess who lost his snaggletooth! Finally! He actually pulled it out himself and then cried for a half hour because it tasted funny.

God gave this boy amazingly beautiful eyes. It's a good thing he's so cute.

Theo had a blast playing on the floor with daddy today. He was really connecting with his brothers today too. He is always progressing in one way or another. Every day it's something new.

I'm so happy to have a new camera! I may soon need some additional digital storage if I don't slow down. Is two hundred photos a day too much?

Grandma's post.

We made our first trip to the YMCA pool today. I brought Zhen, Ralph, Leroy, Thomas and Chipper. Rose busted open her big toe, so she gets to wait for that thing to heal before she can hit the pool :(

I was hoping that the little boys would keep their swimsuits on. They get to swim in their birthday suits in the back yard so I was afraid they would assume that was ok at the Y, too. They were good boys did not disrobe!

Ralph was in heaven in the crowded pool area. He had a great time waving and making friends with the other visitors! A few lucky individuals got a pat on the butt from him! ack!! Walking without braces is difficult for him and the moving water makes it worse. Occasionally he put a hand on a conveniently located adult butt to keep his balance! Oh boy!!

Here are some photos for you grandma...

Like that shiner?

So grown up!

Mr. Photogenic!

Mr. Congeniality!

Front Row Seats at The Installation Show

Yesterday I personally moved all the furniture out of our family room. Side tables, lamps, chairs, TV and stand, and yes, PIANO! I still have it. :)

Today our new carpet was installed!!

My choice this morning was 1) take the children to the zoo and leave the installers alone in my home OR 2) stay home and keep the children downstairs and out of the way. I chose #2.

Did you know that carpet installation is more interesting than Sesame Street? Several children took turns sitting in the recliners that I had moved into the dining room, the front row seats at the installation show. I had to periodically run after Ralph. He really wanted to make friends with the installers!

When the guys removed the floor vent covers, they found a boat load of toys stuffed down in the vent. When they pulled up the old carpet, all my doubts about spending money on carpet were erased. Blech!

We finally decided on commercial grade carpet, due to the ummm....stuff that our children can dish out! They are at greater risk of carpet burn now, but at least the floor will look nice and hide a multitude of sins.

I also moved Ralph's mirror from the hallway were he likes to play. He didn't seem to miss it all day long. Then grandma stopped by this evening. Ralph likes to swipe her shoes. He puts them on his feet and then heads over to his mirror to see what they look like on his feet. Or he might steal her cell phone and go sit in front of the mirror to watch himself talk. My little narcissist!

Tonight he slipped her shoes on and turned toward the hall...and stopped...and looked. Grandma asked him if he was looking for his mirror and he shook his head "yes." :) How cute!

It's good to know that he can shake his head "yes" because all day long he shook his head "NO" at me. Uggh! He's rebelling at an early age I think.

Once upon a time, in a faraway land...

Once upon a time, in the faraway land of our cold war enemies, a baby boy was born on the second day of June. In a city by the sea, this baby boy entered a mean world. A society which would make no accommodation for him. A society which would not accept him.

His young mother, a full twenty years younger than her husband, in her distress, fled. She ran away from the maternity hospital, as if she could escape from the reality of her son's apparent imperfections.

You see, the little baby boy was born with 47 chromosomes instead of the typical 46. This little microscopic addition to every cell in his body sealed his fate. No mommy. No daddy. He would serve time in a lonely crib, to pay for the crime of being born with Down Syndrome.


I cannot tell you about his so-called life for the next four years. Those years remain a mystery except for one thing. A woman, an angel to me, visited this little boy's orphanage grouppa in 2008. The little boy caught her eye with his big beautiful melancholy eyes. She took his picture. She made a little video. She left.




By and by, I saw this photo.
His sad eyes spoke to my soul. I recognized him as my son. Today that little boy is officially my son. He is officially a U.S. citizen. He is writing a new life story. Ten months after arriving home...
barely escaping the faraway land with his precious life...




...my son, the little boy with the sad eyes, is five years old. Happy Birthday dear Theodore. And many, many more.

Many more trips to the zoo.

Many more swings.

I'm so glad you are mine.