Atlantoaxial instability {advice needed!!}

Needing advice T21 friends...just got notice from Children's Hospital that Logan is due for his yearly neck x-ray. We checked for Atlantoaxial instability when Logan was about 3 years old. At that time we had a scare that he had it due to a misread x-ray, but through further testing it was found that he did not have it. BUT Children's recommended that he have an x-ray repeated every year because "kids with DS can develop the condition later". I think they said they wanted to repeat until he was around 10 or 12?? I can't remember now. Anyway! I think this yearly x-ray is unnecessary! Anyone else hear of this new recommendation?? We were also told that he should NOT do anything that puts pressure on his neck! NEVER! Like forward rolls (summer saults). I think this is a little extreme! He doesn't have AAI and he LOVES gymnastics! Is this neurosurgeon just being too extreme??! He says this is the new recommendation for all kids with DS!

Nolan {our newest}

Here's Nolan now at 7 weeks old and also as a newborn at just 6 days old! It was so fun to photograph him as a newborn and I can't wait to try new things as he grows! He better like the camera!

Logan & Nolan {love}

Logan LOVES Nolan! He takes every opportunity to get close to him and lay his head on him. He has now started to try to put toys in Nolan's hands. I am excited for when Nolan can really interact with Logan. I expect that Logan will love playing with him and teaching him things!

It's been a crazy 7 months!

We're back! I have no idea where to begin, but I will quickly summarize where we have been the last SEVEN months....has it been that long?!!
Shortly before my last post I found out I was pregnant! We had been trying for a while and were relieved to be on our way to another new addition to our family. I am not a happy pregnant lady, so I was in survival mode and dealing with 24 hour morning sickness and many other aches and pains.
Logan finished up a year of early childhood and we were gearing up for 4 year old kindergarten! Logan turned 4 in May, but ended up in the ER with severe vomiting an hour before his party. And he was finally really excited for his party and understanding what was happening.
Devin finished kindergarten and was happy to be out of school for the summer. He prefers to be at home with his "stuff" and his family, but he quickly started to get excited to meet his new 1st grade teacher.
Aubrey is growing fast and has learned to be a "go with the flow" kind of gal! Being the third child has made her very patient and easy going. She won't be in school until 2012-13, so we will have plenty more time together....which I am so thankful for because I feel like I have spent the last time with her over the past three years. Balancing time with the kids is such a challenge.
In the fall, we again put on the Fox Cities Down Syndrome Awareness Walk in Neenah, WI. Thanks to all the help from family, friends and the fabulous walk committee the walk was again a HUGE success. I feel like my year revolves around the walk...which is fine, it keeps me busy and I have something exciting to look forward to each year. It is a challenge but gets easier each year.
After the walk, it was my busy season for photography. It was crazy, but fun to work with so many babies and families. I found that my true love is photographing newborns and I am excited to make that my focus from this point forward.
On December 1st, I gave birth to my fourth child, Nolan! Leading up to his birth I was fearful how it would be to go from three to four kids, but it has been a surprisingly smooth transition. It was much harder going from two to three, and part of that challenge may have been due to the fact that Aubrey (my third) was an extremely challenging baby. Nolan, on the other hand, is SO sweet and easy going. The other kids adore him and I have yet to see any jealousy issues or negative behaviors...we'll see if that lasts. Logan, in particular, is very loving towards Nolan, but we have to be very careful not to leave them alone in the same room together. Logan tried to pick up Nolan whenever he can. The picture above pretty much sums it up. :)
Well, I guess that gets us to the present. I will start my photography business back up this week after taking a month off. The kids have gotten back to their extra-curricular activities like swimming lessons and gymnastics. Logan has gotten back into hippotherapy and is loving every minute of it. It is busy around here, but that is the way I like it. Now, if I could only get a child or two potty trained so that I don't have three in diapers!!

I miss blogging

I just realized I really miss blogging!! It was nice to hear from a few fellow bloggers after my last post. I have been neglecting taking pictures of my kids lately, but blogging makes me take more...so I am going to try to post a little more often. We'll see how that goes! :)

Logan still LOVES to swim! We got him this little pool for his birthday. He has no fear of water though, so we have to keep a close eye on him. About 12 inches of water is perfect for him and Aubrey.

My kids LOVE their ipad! And it has really been a great learning tool for all of them. I dream of someday creating a list of educational apps online...don't know when I will ever have time, but I think it would be awesome to hear which apps are working for other parents of children with Down syndrome. We have many favorites!

I think Logan knows more about the ipad than I do! I just hand it to him and he goes in and out of his favorite apps all by himself. He even knows how to move apps around and unfortunately how to delete them too!!
Devin is such a great teacher! He loves to play school with Logan. Logan LOVED 3yr old early childhood this year and he still asks to go just about every day! He also asks to go every time we drive by his school.
This week, we found out how fun a big box and some balls can be! One of Logan's therapists told us this kind of play can help Logan with his strength and he loves it! He has to work hard to move around in it. He used to not be able to go from laying down to sitting up in the ball pit at therapy, but now he can!! Go Logan!

A Logan Picture :)

I have no time to blog these days, but I thought I would post a new picture of my little man!

Logan at School!

Logan LOVES school! He lights up when we talk about it and he always has big smiles for his teachers. I go in and observe often and it's so fun to see his progress. He is more and more talkative and catches on to the songs and routines quickly. His least favorite thing always seems to be PT, but his PT at school it learning what Logan likes and is making it fun for him. Logan is the kind of kid who would much rather sit and look at books than practice climbing the stairs. He is also making some progress with drinking out of an open cup!

More Letters by Logan

Logan has always loved flashcards and now he shows us how they are done!
Our next goal is lowercase letters and letter sounds. How do I teach him lowercase now without him getting confused. I plan to add the lowercase next to the uppercase on the flashcards. Does anyone know of a good app for ipad that he would like? He an extremely visual learner and learns best with repetition. He learned his letters with this toy...

It actually used to annoy me how much he played with this, but now I feel bad because he was actually learning as he played! I may also try to tape lowercase letters over the uppercase!

I got him this Leaptop toy for Christmas because it did a better job with letter sounds. He and Aubrey have one and they play with these SO much! It also has music, which they love and you can program it to say their name. It always says "L for Logan" when Logan presses L. But unfortunately, it doesn't have lowercase.

This LeapFrog toy does have lowercase, which is great! Logan does play with this on A LOT, but he presses the letters too fast. When you press a letter, it shows you how to write it, but Logan usually presses another letter before it finished drawing one. I can see Logan using this to learn how to write letters when he gets a little older. If you are wondering, it can be set to do upper or lowercase.

Here's Logan showing us his flashcards.

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Logan's ABCs 1/31/11

Listen to this! He says each letter just before I do. The first card is actually the sight word "stop". Right now he recognizes his own name and stop.

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Go Pack Go!