16 months and look what I can do...

Anna Gray learned to wave!! Yes, we celebrate even the smallest of accomplishments in this house. She can wave... but so far she only wants to show it off if she's looking in the mirror at herself, and then usually claps wildly at her achievement (umm... because we're all clapping wildly at her achievement!).

(I always forget to video it until she's done it a million times and ready to be done performing. Also, ignore the writing on the bottom of her foot. It's left-over from a failed project.)

She also learned how to give high five!
She weighed in right at 19lbs at the hospital Wednesday- so she hasn't gained much, but I know she's bigger! She's getting longer and leaner, I believe.  She's eating mostly table-food now and starting to wean herself off her bottle. She pulled to a sitting position from a reclining position a few times recently, and can tuck one knee underneath herself if she really wants to get somewhere (even though she doesn't actually go anywhere).

As long as I'm boasting, I might as well brag that Cale had his first real hit (left-handed!) in coach-pitch today!! He's been batting right-handed because "that's what the other boys do", but has had to use the tee everytime. For whatever reason, he decided to switch it up today and did a great job!!

We vacated!

The original plan was for us to go to my family's place in Santa Rosa for a week- a MUCH needed vacation and our first as a family of six! But at the last minute, we decided to go visit family in Amelia Island. It worked out rather well :)

(Although, I would imagine Aunt Angie and Uncle Dave rested quite a bit after we left!)

The nice weather was a little late to the party, but we had an amazing time regardless. Nathan declared it "the best vacation ever".
"Really? We went to Alaska! And Disney!"
"Yeah, those were AWESOME, but we didn't have everybody." and nodded at Anna Gray with a look of confusion that said How do they even compare?

The kids did GREAT on the drive down (11 hours) and the baby never made a sound. The beach wasn't really an option the first couple of days, but the kids did get to spend a lot of time playing with their almost-cousins and bonded quickly!

On Saturday, Uncle Dave took everyone crabbing just like he took all of us 20 years ago :)  Cale and Layla (umm... and Nathan) LOVED it.

AND WE SAW MANATEES! I've never seen them in the wild, so I was just thrilled to pieces.  The sky finally cleared up and we were able to hit the beach for just a little while that afternoon. Anna Gray's first time!!

 That night- low country boil with our catches from earlier in the day.

Brynn was so funny. She would start cracking pieces off and say, "Do I eat this?". Occasionally, we would say no and she had already put it in her mouth. Crunchy.

Sunday- SUNSHINE!

Finally. Happy Wests!

We weren't sure how AG would react to sand/ocean but she is definitely a beach baby! Happy as a clam!

These kids played and played and played. It was Nathan's last day, so we wanted to soak in every minute we could.

I drove Nath to the airport at 4am Monday morning and he was able to go strait to work.

The kids and I spent one last day on the beach and then got in a visit with Ashley's horses, Spring and Summer :)

Natalie is crying because Gigi put her in the water. Anna Gray is crying because I took her out of the water. And apparently, this is a popular swimsuit this year ;)

Tuesday morning, we headed home! I really do enjoy these solo road trips with my littles.  We'll ask them their opinion later, but personally- they are some of my favorite memories. Next one in three weeks!!

Anna Gray's surgery

*Warning- some slightly icky pics ahead...*

We are back from beach trip#1 (post coming) as of Tuesday night and Anna Gray had her eye surgery yesterday. It was a pretty minor surgery to insert stints into her blocked tear ducts.

Ready to go back...

Before I saw her, the doctor came in to say he had a little trouble. In children with DS, the space between their lower eyelid and nose is shorter than normal. In addition to that, she had some malformation and he couldn't really find the passage way to insert the stints. He had to do quite a bit of digging and create the space, which was pretty traumatic for her little nose. He said they may be a little bleeding and discomfort as a result. As soon as I walked into Recovery, I could hear her SCREAMING. Poor baby was terrified. Blood everywhere, tubes and wires coming from every arm and leg, six people standing over her, blood pressure through the roof.

Eventually, we were able to calm her down and stop the bleeding. She drank enough of a bottle to be discharged (we all knew she would feel better at home). By the time we got to the car, her paid meds had kicked in and she was dead weight! She had quite a bit of bleeding throughout the afternoon. She was just pitiful. We put socks on her hands to keep her from scratching her eyes (thus, pulling out the stints and having to have them replaced).

She was feeling much better this a.m. and had minimal bleeding throughout the night! Now the dried blood looks kind of like the nose hairs of an old man. With the help of Tylenol, she is acting mostly like herself :)