Seamus is on the Move!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I think Seamus' commando style moves are going to be short-lived. He is now rocking on his hands and knees. And our lives are about to change....He is very driven and fast! :)

Minick and Simpson

Thank you to cousins Erin and Mark for reminding me, in the comments section, about a talent we have right in our own extended family!  I'd like to share their site.  My two aunts, Polly and Laurie, are very talented.  Polly specializes in rug hooking and Laurie specialized in quilting.  Their designs and products are amazing!  Check it out at their site:

http://www.minickandsimpson.com/

Those January Birthdays....Eileen and Bridget!

Both Eileen and Bridget have January birthdays and they seem to come up so quickly after Christmas!  This year we were traveling home from Michigan on Eileen's birthday so we celebrated on Saturday.  She is 15!!! Bridget will be turning 13 on the 22nd.  It's the year for her to get her ears pierced, so we'll do that on Friday.  And then we'll have three teenagers in the house!  Happy Birthday girls, we love you very much!!!

Since Eileen and Bridget share a bedroom, they are getting a room makeover for their birthdays.  How fun!  We will start with a new paint color then new comforters, sheets, curtain rods and curtains.  It's time to get started on it.  I'll try to post a picture when we are done.

Michigan Travels

Have I mentioned before how much Seamus hates to ride in the car? I don't think I have. Basically, I would say eight out of ten times we take him anywhere in the car, he cries. I am not talking about just a little fussing, but actual screaming. The screaming turns into gasping which turns into vomiting. As you can imagine, we have avoided long trips. For those of you who know Seamus, you know that he is a very happy, smiley little guy most of the time. It is just in the car that this very unpleasant behavior rears its ugly head.  As for the two out of ten times, or so, that he does not scream as if he is being tortured, well...I have no answer. We have not found a common denominator for those peaceful moments, so I guess I'll chalk it up to luck.  The screaming must just be in the paternal genes :).

As we contemplated the Michigan trip, which is a nine hour drive, our biggest obstacle and concern was Seamus' travel screaming. So we strategized and spent a lot of money prayed that all would work out. First, we bought a new car seat that allowed Seamus to sit upright more than his original infant seat which he so distained. Second, we filled a diaper bag with lots of interesting baby toys that he hadn't seen in a while. (When those failed, we resorted to odd objects in the car to keep his interest, such as cup lids, rubber bands, hair headbands, water bottles, floor cookies (just kidding), maps, Taco Bell hot sauce (unopened)...you get the idea).  And third, for the big guns, we bought a duel portable DVD player. I should note that we have made it through sixteen years of parenting and seven kids without the need for a portable DVD player.  For Seamus, we didn't bat an eye...we knew it was either try the DVD player or not go. Why a duel system? Because we figured if we had one for Seamus in the middle seat and Erin didn't have one in the back seat, it would only promote her screaming, which would defeat the purpose of getting the thing in the first place. (As it turned out, Erin was content either way.  She is our role-model passenger.  Hopefully she'll rub off on her little brother soon!). Our final strategy consisted of filling our DVD case with the most annoying toddler-friendly DVDs we could find. We overdosed on Wiggles, Barney, Bob the Builder, Signing Time (which I do like) and Kipper the Dog. (Kipper the Dog was actually a commercial that came before a Wiggles DVD, and it was his favorite! Who knew?! Imagine Moira and Eileen sitting in the middle seat next to Seamus, rewinding the Kipper commercial six dozen times. That will give you an idea of our lovely ride to Michigan. (Trust me, Kipper is better than screaming.)

We thought we'd start out our journey with some quiet car time, then bring out the toys.  We had planned to save the "big guns" (that would be the new DVD player) for when he really needed it...when his screaming became serious.

The big guns came out before we left the driveway.  Seriously.

And.......................it worked!!!  Here is Seamus, still smiling, around Chicago.

Saved by the big guns!!!

As I mentioned in my earlier post, we spend the day on Tuesday with family, which was wonderful.  After the funeral the kids had the opportunity to spend a little time with their cousins at the hotel pool -  a real treat!

Molly Grace

Cousins...(Colleen, Bridget, Emmett, Teresa, Molly Grace and Aidan)

Grandma M and Seamus

My Uncle's Funeral

It has been a while since I've blogged!  Don't worry, it is not for lack of activity or bordom.  Nope, not in this house!

We took a long over-due trip to Michigan for my Uncle Pat's funeral.  Pat passed away shortly after it was discovered that he had cancer.  The Funeral Mass was a beautiful testimony to his life, which he lived so generously.  He will be missed by many....as was evident by the large crowds that gathered for his funeral. 

May eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.  And let perpetual light shine upon him.  May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen!

As is always the case with family funerals, there is the benefit of seeing family you may not have seen in a while.  This was the case for us (it had been years!) and it was sooooo nice to see my dad's side of the family again.  I saw all of my aunts and uncles and many of my cousins.  I saw cousins Mark and Kate and met their lovely spouses, Erin and Bryce.  Kate and Bryce's two kiddos, Mason and Casey are adorable! Really, it was just so great to meet up with them again.  My only regret is that it has been so long since we've seen them and, somehow, we missed both of their weddings.  We'll have to make sure we connect more frequently in the future.  It was also great to see cousin Jeff and his three great kids!  Again, I wish we could connect more....but it is hard when we all live a distance away.  A planned reunion would be nice, that way we could get a date on the calendar and just make it work! 

Ok, I have one more regret....I didn't get any pictures of our extended family at the gathering on Tuesday after the funeral!!!  Sigh.

Happy New Year From IDSC For Life!

The latest project from the International Down Syndome Coalition For Life turned out beautifully. It is a little video highlighting some of the members who have Down syndrome and their families. Thank you to IDSC teen members, Megan and Moira, for putting it together, and to Eileen for picking the song! Of course you will see a couple pictures of our smiling Erin in there!

Happy New Year from the IDSC For Life from IDSC For Life on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas!!!

We had a great Christmas weekend with both sets of grandparents, Uncle Pat, Kelley and Kelly and the cousins.  We went to Mass on Christmas Eve, which was beautiful.  Here are few pictures...just a sampling of our fun times!

Conal and Aidan with some new Legos

Moira trying to make Seamus happy...

Now he's happy.  Must be the pink headband...

Molly Grace and Margaret

Conal and Aidan getting ready to open their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa M.

Grandma M outdid herself again with personalized pjs for the whole gang!

Colleen, Bridget and Teresa

Eileen

Moira

Molly Grace and Margaret

Owen and Emmett, waiting for their turn....

More great pjs...

Erin opening hers...

Colleen and Erin

The whole gang...TOP:  Seamus, Bridget, Moira, Erin, Owen, Emmett, Eileen, Colleen 

BOTTOM:  Aidan, Margaret, Teresa, Molly Grace, Conal

One of the goofy pictures...

Mother and Daughters

Teresa and Molly Grace got their hair cut this week.  Aren't they cute?  Teresa's was very long, so it's a big change for her.

Yesterday Moira spend way too long (a long story!) putting together our Christmas photo collage card (which we hope to mail before Christmas).  We wanted to have equal representation of the members of our family on this collage. This was not an easy task with ten family members and 8 photo spots to fill.  We discovered, with the oodles of arrangements we could come up with, that we were short a picture of Teresa, Molly Grace and myself.  So, onto the porch we went to get a photo. Here is our attempt to take a posed picture that is not supposed to look too posed. So, now you know the inside scoop.  And Moira is going to make an awesome events coordinator some day, as she is gaining all the experience she needs by being the oldest of eight children!  

Look Closely, It's a Christmas Tree!

We were just about to give up on the piece of junk cute little mini Christmas tree kit that Molly Grace got  for her birthday.  After watering it for about a month, setting it in the sun and checking it every day, I told Molly Grace that I was convinced it was just not going to grow a tree.  She kept asking to wait just a little bit longer before it ended up in the trash.  Finally, after forgetting about it for a week to our great surprise, we saw a little sprout growing!  It looks like Molly Grace will have her own mini Charlie Brown Christmas tree after all!

A Little Distraction...

So, we were all supposed to be doing school work when I walked into the room to see this little scene...

I know....it's almost Christmas break and we are distracted.  In fact, Teresa was taking her last math test before she found Seamus, a pair of sunglasses and a guitar to be much too tempting.  And of course I found my handy camera nearby to also be much too tempting :)