Family Pics / Gabi 2 Yr pics

We had our pictures taken yesterday at Camera Shy in Lehi. Here are some of my favorites. Poor Gabi started with a double eye infection right before we left. They started to swell and get really goopey. She was not pleased that we wanted her to perform and so we are lucky that we got any good ones at all. I just wish she wasn't so sleepy eyed in all of them. I must say I love the color choice I made with our outfits! The pop of color made them look much better!

Gabi is having a Minnie Mouse B-day party so I wanted to get some pictures in her Birthday outfit. The pink wall was perfect!

They also had Bunnies for Easter she was not very interested so the fact that we got any picture that looked like she was is a miracle!

I wish Gabi was feeling better and We got some better pictures showing her personality but for the most part I am happy with them.

Gabi Lately...

HELPING MOM:

Gabi has loved being more involved at home, she loves to be up on the counter helping me cook dinner or what ever it is I'm doing. I have to remember that she needs the stimulation and she needs to be shown these things. Its much faster to just do it myself but she loves it when I show her new things. this day I gave her a few bowls a whisk and some M&Ms and she was in heaven stirring them up and sneaking a few in between!  She loved helping me make smoothies. She helps poor in the ingredients and then puts her hand on the blender to feel the vibration and giggles away!

Gabi also loves the Laundry she will play in a laundry pile almost more than anything! she sits right next to me as i fold and shakes them, holds them over her head and of course throws them all over the room. she hasn't figured out the part that you don't touch the folded clothes yet and she gets a little angry when her pile is dwindling and i wont let her touch the newly folded ones!

BOOKS:

Gabi's newest love is books! she looks at books all day long. She will bring me new ones to read over and over but she has a select few that are her favorites. Most of them have Mickey mouse on them!

She has quite a few look and find books that she is slowly getting the concept of and can usually always point to characters in the books when I name them. she loves to kiss mickey when she shes him on a page and points him out the best.

Usually Gabi isn't patient enough to sit on your lap and actually let you read the story. We have to simplify them and make it up as we go cause she gets frustrated that we are taking too long to turn the page.

MESSES:

This girl LOVES to make a mess! She will pull out anything she can get her hands on, here are a few pictures of her favorites!

Her pants are always all over my house!

She got a hold of a box of tissues at Grandmas ans ripped the entire box apart. She loves to pull out her wipes and unroll the toilet paper too.

The paper plate and plastic utensils are always a big hit too, not sure how safe plastic knives are but she loves to play with them!

Tupperware = trip hazards all over the house!

They are way more fun than any toy I could buy for her!

This is a typical mess left multiple times a day... especially if she sees me putting it away! Just know if you ever show up at my house unannounced it will be a disaster! I do my best to keep on top of things but it gets really tedious and old after you do it 20 times a day! Sometimes its just not worth it until this little one is snug in her bed, and lets be honest it doesn't always get done even then! She wears me out!

BATH TIME:

Gabi always love a good bath. This one she is in Grandmas big tub. She can see her TV from the tub and especially loves watching Mickey Mouse as she baths! Talk about spoiled!

Sometimes those bubbles are just too tempting and the excitement cant wait so bath time with PJ's doesn't sound too bad! She was shocked at first...

Then ecstatic because she realized that she actually got in all by herself!

Whoops Mom! Silly Kid

MAMMA'S GIRL:

The past few months Gabi has grown to be more attached to me and when I have to leave her to go to work she doesn't want to let go. It makes it extremely hard to leave her. I know that she has a great time with Grandma but it melts my heart and makes me feel a little guilty for having to leave her.

I will take her snuggles any day and its worth every second that I am late for work!  ;)

MICKEY MOUSE:

This girl LOVES her some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! I think I have seen every episode about 20 times! I may be brainwashing her a bit but I love that she loves it! It makes it that much more exciting to take her to Disneyland in September!

This is her Favorite spot to watch TV. Her favorite is Mickey Mouse but Signing Time and the Ellen Show are close seconds! I love that she will watch Ellen with me every day, we laugh and clap and dance and its adorable. I have tried getting it on video to send to Ellen herself but i never get it good enough it is much cuter in person. I know that Ellen would love her though!

FUNNY FACES:

Gabi has been really into imitating lately and she will try to copy any faces you make at her. This is her fishy face!

This picture cracks me up! i flipped the camera on my phone so she could see herself and she kept making funny faces at herself. She looks scared that her pigtail is missing! ha ha!

 

Showing her Teeth!

Her fishy face has turned into fishy kisses!

JUST BECAUSE SHE'S CUTE:

I love this picture, she has princess hands!

I could just eat her cute little body! This is her new swimming suit I had to see it on!

Getting so big!

She is such a little tease and grabs her legs like this so I cant put her pants on her! Flexible little monkey! Cracks me up!

She loves to go up and down the stairs, she also loves to walk by herself any where we go. She hasn't go the concept of staying with mom yet. she just wants to go where she wants as fast as she can with not help. Try and hold her hand and she sits on the floor until you let go! She is very independent and wants to do it by herself!

First of all, I LOVE these child seats in public bathrooms. Gabi tends to want to crawl all over the floor or under the door and it always stresses me out. They may not be the most sanitary thing but at least she has to sit in one place and I don't have to worry about her getting away from me. She looks so cute in this picture and I have no shame admitting that I was using the bathroom when I took it! If your kid looked this cute sitting there you would do the same thing admit it! ;)  I can't  Believe that she is turning two in less than two weeks! Blows my Mind! Why do they have to grow up so fast!

Croup.... then Pukes....Yuck!

Two weeks ago Gabi had her first bout of Croup. She went to bed sounded completely fine and around 1am she woke up sounding a little raspy and having trouble with her Reflux. I could smell  the acid on her breath and she was really gulpy trying to keep it down. She guzzled down a ton of water and I gave her her meds but it wasn't seeming to help. We gave her some bread and crackers hoping that would calm it enough to go back to sleep. We put her in bed with us... the only time she gets to sleep with us is when she is sick... She slept on my chest the rest of the night which was so nice to cuddle but after a few hours my back was killing me! I noticed her breathing being very shallow and she continued to get worse. I was very worried and like i always do i started googling her symptoms and found that severe reflux can cause croup. I took her into the Dr the next morning to make sure things didn't get worse. This is the first time since she was born that she has had any lung problems so i was extra cautious. Her pediatrician basically told me to double up her reflux meds and told me her lungs had sounded fine. He said if she got worse to call and he could change her prescription. I wasn't very happy because I had told him how shallow she was breathing and she had a horrible barking cough. she did sound better but that was only after we had steamed the bathroom and went outside for 10 mins. The next 2 days she continued to get worse. poor thing could sleep and would wake up gasping for air and panicking  because she couldn't catch her breath. Days went much better and we started sleeping during the day because we were up all night!

The 3rd night was the worst. we had to steam the bathroom or go outside every 2 hours or she was gasping like crazy. The picture above is at 4am she was crying so hard and essentially having a panic attack because she couldn't breath. the only thing that calmed her down was Mickey Mouse! she LOVES Mickey! In fact she knows that the first thing we do in the morning is climb into bed together when she wakes up and we turn on Mickey Mouse. She woke up one morning while she was sick and when I checked on her she held her hands up with tears running down her face and said..." Ickey Bed" I just laughed! That was the first time she said bed and she only says "ickey" when she really wants to watch it! I called the Dr on her 4th day of being up all night and getting worse and worse and he wasn't there so the nurse said I would have to just come in to see another Dr. I was a little irritated. I am actually thinking about changing Dr's because I feel like they are all in a rush to get patients in and out that they don't fully listen to my concerns as a parent. They always answer my questions but never really give me a straight answer and its frustrated. I also don't feel they are completely familiar with the needs of a Down Syndrome child. I decided instead to take her up the street to the instacare. I'm so glad I did! They got me in quickly they were super friendly and patient to Gabi and I could tell that they were concerned about her and getting her well. The Dr knew right away what she had and how to treat it.he said that there was a nasty virus going around that was like Croup but 10 times worse. He said the symptoms are more severe and last way longer. He gave her an oral steroid for 5 days to help open up her airway and help her breath better. Once she was on the steroid she did much better and things were smooth sailing from there. She was a much happier camper! Other than some congestion and her cough she was back to herself.

As the week progressed she also got better and better. I was able to go back to work and she was able to spend the day with Grandma! She was a happy Camper and seemed fine the whole day. When we got home that night she was exhausted and went to bed early. I had just sat down at the computer to update the blog and she began to gag and cry. I ran to her room and she had puked all over in her bed. I was really hoping that it was because she had drank too much of my Diet Pepsi before bed, (she is sneaky and continued to drink it when I wasn't paying attention! my fault!) Well turns out it wasn't the soda at all. She continued to puke every 20-30 mins for the next 8 hours! Pour thing was so exhausted she would wake up crying puke and fall over again. She was so weak we would have to hold her head up to try and make it in a bowl. we went through 5 pairs of pajamas 3 towels, all over her bedding, 5 other blankets, and my clothes. our house reeked of puke!

So so so sick :(

We set up a bed for her in between us and she stayed on it for a bit but she is much more of a cuddler. She likes to be right on top of you The picture below she is laying in between my legs and using my bum and a pillow!

She did much better the next day and only puked  a little bit once. She was still so weak and so exhausted she took a 6 hour nap and went to bed for the rest of the night 2 hours later! She has slowly gained her stregnth and felt a little better but today I noticed she is cutting another tooth! Poor thing hasn't had a break in over 2 weeks! I admire her so much though because even though she has been miserable she has been pretty happy and kept a smile on her face. I really really really hope that we are done with the sickness stuff. We have had enough of our share this winter! I need to start building up Gabi's immune system so its stronger and more resilient to all these nasty bugs going around! Keep your fingers crossed that we stay healthy!