Colin's BIG birthday party!!!

To celebrate that he is.......

Well, tomorrow he is!  But we celebrated this weekend!  And what a grand celebration it was.  Lots of family, a few friends.  A good time had by all!  He had a blast.

Colin's monthly pictures displayed.  WOW!  He's GROWN!

We did a red wagon theme!  FUN!

DELICIOUS red velvet cupcakes!

Colin is READY for cake!



"Happy Birthday to you....."

And then it begins.....

NOW THAT WAS FUN!!!!

Lots of presents - ALL FOR ME!  :-)

It was a fun celebration.  Tomorrow is his actual birthday.  Where has the year gone?!!?  Thanks to all those that helped us celebrate!

See Colin... Month by Month!

Baby boy has grown SO MUCH in the last 11/12 months!  I've been getting stuff ready for his party on Saturday, and here is the collection of his monthly pictures.  ENJOY!

A long-due update!!!

....from Mr. Colin!

Whew!  My boy is 11.5 months.  How the hell did that happen?!?!  Sometimes I look at him and I don't see an almost 1-yr old.  Maybe it's because I know the things that an almost 1-yr old should be doing, and Colin isn't doing those things!  Sometimes I want to scream at down syndrome because the things that should be so easy for Colin, aren't!  But then I know how things *could* be and I thank my lucky stars that everything with Colin is as good as it is!  He's such an amazing little boy.  We are so blessed.

So, what is Colin up to these days??  No teeth. {boo} Which makes feeding quite a challenge.  He still eats everything pureed.  He doesn't even like anything with texture.  We have a speech evaluation and PT evaluation next Monday.  I know he definately has texture issues when eating. 

He's a CHAMP when it comes to sitting up!  No problems there!!  Crawling?  Yea, no.  Apparently, uncomfirmed reports {aka, his daycare teacher!} are that he has done some army crawling at school.  We have yet to see that at home.  He wants to do it.  And we work with him, but he doesn't.  You can tell that Colin knows that he has to do something to get to the toy that is laying in front of him, but he doesn't do it!  I know, it will come.  It just makes me sad.  Again, it makes me want to scream at the down syndrome!!!  I have told Steve that I would be happy to have Colin crawling by the time he turns 1.  I remind Colin all the time that he's getting close.  Sometimes it makes me sad to see so many babies that are close to Colin in age and they are already WALKING.  And my baby has yet to crawl.  But that's ok.  It will come!

OT is going great!  This past week she brought in a few buckets with black beans and some with noodles.  He got to play in both and he LOVED it!  So that was great to see.  He may  have texture issues when eating, but not when playing!

Here are a few recents pictures of the little almost 1-yr old!  ENJOY!

He STILL loves his boat rides - falls asleep in an instant!

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD!!!

But, it's NOT so glorious when you're COVERED in it. 

Colin has been giving me fits lately when it's time for food.  I'm not sure what's going on.  It's either a texture issue, or he doesn't like it, or he's just being stubborn.  Augh.  I give him a bite, he spits it right back out.  Or, he blows raspberries and send it all over the lucky recipient.  Very frustrating.  Tonight's dinner was no exception.  This is how it went:

Tonights menu, peas and rice cereal

Yep, spit it right out.

Now Steve has to wipe off his glasses.  He was nailed by a huge raspberry blown by Colin.

We leave the spoon on his mouth or in his mouth to keep him from spitting it right out.  It helps {a little}.

Colin is really not happy.

"NO MORE!"

And another one, just cause he's so stinkin' cute!



It's a never ending struggle with him.  I really dread feeding him for this reason.  Any tips?  HELP!

{Welcome Home Sissy!}

There is NO denying that Colin absolutely ADORES his sister!!!!!!!!!  When she is around - no one else exists.  No one.  He watches her every move.  She walks in the room and a HUGE smile lights up his face.  I absolutely love this. 
Natalie came home today after being at her dads house since Saturday night.  She wanted nothing to do with me.  She was all about immediately getting on the floor and rolling around with Colin, playing with him, giving him hugs, and getting those HUGE chuckles out of his little body. 
I love their relationship.  It's beautiful.  I look forward to seeing it grow as they both get older.

Who is Colin?

This is my Colin:

He's a baby - and a sweet baby at that!  He's 9.5 months old.  He smiles a lot, and makes people laugh.  He gets a reaction from people, everywhere we go.  Probably because he's so darn adorable!
Oh, and he has down syndrome.   Yes, I know, I've mentioned this before here in my blog.  Colin is a baby with down syndrome - not a downs baby.  Not a downs child.  Not a down syndrome baby.  Not a downs kid.  He's my son and yes, he has down syndrome.  His "syndrome" doesn't define him.  Sure!  He has an extra chromosome - there's more of him to love!!!  But, first and foremost, he's my son, a little boy, my baby.
Where am I coming from??  Too often people refer to kids with down syndrome as "downs kids."  I HATE that - as probably does every mom whose child has DS.  It doesn't define who our children are.  Please remember that.  Lately, I have found doctors to be worst with this!  Colin went to the opthamologist yesterday and twice he refered to Colin has a "downs baby."  I wanted to scream at him and say, "He's my son with down syndrome!!!!!" 
Please remember - the syndrome doesn't define our children.  They are still our children.  Colin is still my amazing 9.5 month old, with that sweet adorable smile.  Oh yes, and he does have down syndrome.

My Superman!

This is Colins new superman!  He's kinda creepy looking, huh??  We won it at a Church Festival this weekend, and Steve knew that Colin HAD to have his own superman!  (Can you tell that Steve is a superman fan??)  But, it got me thinking.  Colin is my superman!  {well, Steve is too, but right now, Colin is my superman!}
Colin is now 9.5 months old!  It's hard to believe - the last 9.5 months have just flown by!  In some ways, I feel like I've lost some time because I've been so focused those stupid milestones.  I feel like I've spent so much time worrying about what Colin *should* be doing that I've lost a lot of time enjoying what he *is* doing!  Lately, my superman has shown me to just step back and enjoy!  Over the last three weeks, Colin has finally mastered sitting up!  It was amazing to watch him try so hard to master this huge milestone.  He didn't know that it was supposed to be hard for him!  In Colins mind, he was just doing what babies are supposed to do, right?? 
I know all moms think their kids are amazing - but Colin is truly amazing!  He has such a personality about him.  The way he smiles lights up the room!  Having a rough day?  Watching Colin {superman!} smile - it'll change your mood!
Colin has taught me a lot of lessons during his 9.5 months!!  In fact, his lessons stretch to my pregnancy with him.  He's my superman - an amazing kid!