Update

I can't find the camera... it's packed away somewhere. I will look for it.

The camp site was a joke. I burst into tears as we pulled in. Fortunately we still had fun.

Tomorrow our new furniture arrives! Super excited.

Will share it all with you soon...

But for now:

Randy: "Lacy, please use the front door, not the garage door because it's locked."

L: "You want me to use the FRONT door? Go AROUND?"

Randy: "Yes, please."

L: "Ooooohhhh... I see. You are managing me again. I get it!"

Ready, Set, Go!

We are off on a weekend camping trip. Waiting for my husband to get home so he can hook the trailer up to the SUV and we are outta here!!! Will post pics when we return!

Just When...

Just when I started to really wrap my mind around this whole Down's Syndrome thing... I was considering what life would be with YET ANOTHER special needs kid. I was picking out some pretty cool helmets for our physically disabled child-to-be (sparkly pink anyone?). I was coming to a point of acceptance, albeit reluctantly.

Just when I thought I could take anything, I get the results back ...and they are normal. No disorder. Normal. No possible mental retardation. Normal. No chromosomal abnormality. Normal.

My first thought? "Huh... not quite sure how I'm going do deal with normal!"

Only in the land of Isley...

Murdock the Bullmastiff...

Welcome to the family!

Lacy Loves Lobster

Here is a pic from earlier in the month with Lacy enjoying one of her favorite meals: lobster, king crab and steak! Yeah, it's a rough life for Miss Lacy!

This morning...

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Me: "Lacy, go wake up your dad... tell him you are the tickle monster!"

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L: "Tell him we're getting LOBSTER?"

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Me: "No! Tell him you are the TICKLE MONSTER!"

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L: "Nah, I'm gonna tell him we are getting lobster. I like lobster more."

Lacy's Proposal

Lacy: "Daddy, I have an idea... how about when mom goes to work we can sneak off and get married, pretty sneaky, huh?"

Dad: "Well, it's gonna be a while, mom doesn't work much!"

Lacy: (after kicking Dad in the leg) "That's for marring mom and not ME!"

Ten Points For My Team

L: "Mom, who is that guy with red hair?"

Me: "Ronald McDonald. He lives at McDonald's"

L: "Huh?"

Me: "He makes the hamburgers at McDonald's"

L: "Ohhh... he's the chef! Got it!"

My four-year old DID NOT know who Ronald McDonald was! Maybe I am doing something right in this parenting thing. Of course yesterday she told me that she wanted Domino's Pizza for lunch because we can get a pizza for five bucks!

It's the little victories, right?

I miss the huz and Lacy gives us superpowers.

So the hospital called my husband off for the night and then called him BACK IN two hours later! Sad for me. I miss him. I had BIG plans for tonight... I was gonna sweet talk him into doing the dishes! :)

Earlier this evening Lacy announced that we are a family of super powers. She informed me that her super power was lifting heavy Legos. Randy is able to lift heavy rocks. Grammy's super power is doing the dishes. Ha ha ha.

At The Car Wash...

Randy was called off tonight... oh well, I guess we scored a few hours overtime yesterday... anywho we decided to finally wash the cars today. Three cars, one tricycle.

At one point Randy finished totally detailing his Mustang when Lacy walked over with a brillo bad in one hand and the hose in another. Fortunately we were able to get the brillo pad away without any damage. Randy did, however, have to re-dry the front end of his car.

Too Much Week At The End Of Our Paycheck...

In response to my less-than-stellar accounting skills, my husband decided to pick up some overtime at work. That leaves me to deal with Lacy 23 hours a day for 6 days in a row!

My awesome parenting skills were put out on display this evening when I got nauseous and just wanted to close my eyes for a few minutes, but Lacy wanted me to play with her and her train set.

I offered her 4 chocolate kisses to play by herself.

She took the offer.

If you look up the term "maternal instinct" you will most likely find a picture of me... or not.

I'm Ready To Wake Up!

"I'm ready to wake up" is Lacy's morning battle cry. She will usually give it a shot around 6:30 in the morning... it is followed by us yelling back, "No you are not!"


Fortunately Lacy is pretty good about amusing herself until 7, unfortunately we keep a baby monitor next to her bed so we get a front row seat to her ENTIRE morning monologue from the time she wakes up to the time we take her off the vent.


Now, I am not complaining here... but we get up multiple times throughout the night to walk down the hall and just check on Lacy, making sure her vent circuit isn't all twisted around her head, checking her heart rate on the monitor... just the usual stuff. It's not a big deal really, it's our normal stuff. In addition, we keep a baby monitor next to our bed so we can count her breathing rate throughout the night and hear any alarms that might start sounding. So as you can imagine, Randy and I don't tend to wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed.


Lacy, however, wakes up going 100 miles an hour and chatting nonstop.


This morning was an especially rough one... my husband came home from work around 7am as I was dragging myself out of bed to release the Tasmanian Devil off of her ventilator. I stumbled into her room to find her bouncing on her bed singing at the top of her lungs.


I looked at my husband for SOME explanation to this madness... he had the perfect response:


"Of course she is all revved up... when she goes to sleep at night, she doesn't even have to BREATHE for herself... imagine the rest you'd get if your body didn't even have to work to breathe?"


Hmmm... if only.

The best place to be is where God puts you. Any other place is undesirable because you chose it for yourself. Don’t think too much about the future. Worrying about things that haven’t happened yet is unhealthy. God wants you to trust Him from minute to minute. This requires faith that keeps you in a place where you are not sure what will happen next. The strength He gives you in one minute is not intended to carry you through the next. Let God take care of His business. -- Fenelon.

For all the ObamaMammas out there...

Here's your sign!

I Love Old Navy!

I found this dress at Old Navy! Cute or what? Let's hope I can fit into it for my baby shower this summer!

Oh What A Wonderful Morning!!!

Just when I start to get a little smug about the genius of my four-year-old, I see something like this to bring me back down to earth.

I have been finding Lacy's dirty underwear on the tops of doors in our house. Mostly the door proximal to her bathroom. I didn't know if it was intentional or just dumb luck, until I walked into her bedroom to find her attempting to throw her dirty underwear onto her ceiling fan. Whaaa??? Is this why she tells me she needs some "privacy" while getting undressed for the bath? 'Cause it sure ain't for modesty purposes!

But wait... it gets better... this is what I find next to her toilet paper... so THAT'S where the shoe went!

Of course, we now understand why this happened... obviously she couldn't use the toilet paper because her SHOE was wedged against it! I didn't even bother to look at her bum, I just made her get in the tub! Sigh.