Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We celebrated the kids great-grandfather McNamara's Irish heritage in style again this year. We tried to teach the kids a little bit about Ireland and distract them from the leprechaun traps that were learning about at school.

We do silly things each year to celebrate, like wear our green headbands and eat Lucky Charms for breakfast. 

And, we had our Shamrock Shakes. To say they love the shakes is an understatement!

 

But, we like to keep the Irish Blessings in mind above all. Because we've found our pot of gold in these two :)

May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

3-4-15 Spread the Word to End the Word!

There's no better day than today...on 3-4-15, we "spread the word to end the word". You too can take the pledge to end the "r-word" by visiting http://www.r-word.org/. Take the pledge for Porter. Take the pledge for every person with an intellectual disability. Take the pledge, please. By taking the pledge, you're not saying that you're perfect. I know I'm not...I used that word in HS when people made fun of me for being a nerd. You're saying that respect matters and that language has power. You're saying that you're willing to make a difference in the world by eliminating one word from your vocabulary that can help build up a community. You're saying that all people matter. There are many words that negatively influence people and that have the power to hurt. Be cognizant. Be respectful. Show love!

Big News

Here's a video from a few weeks ago that I was waiting to share. We've got quite a lot going on in our home :) Within minutes of learning that Porter would be a big brother and she would again be a big sister, the questions and ideas started flowing out of Penny's mouth.

• Where does the baby come out from?
• Can I see the baby come out?
• How long will you have to stay in the hospital? I'll just bring my sleeping bag and stay with you.
• So when this baby is born, I'll be almost five and a half. When will the next baby be born? Maybe when I'm in second grade.
• Counting the ultrasound pictures...one baby, two babies, three babies...sorry Penny, but there's only one baby in there :) The tech was just nice and gave us many photos of that one baby.

When I picked her up from school the next day, she said to me "Today I was jumping up and down quietly and my friends thought I just liked what we were doing at school, but I was really so excited about the baby. Mom I really wanted us to have another baby."  I love that she is so excited! I asked her to wait a week to tell her school friends, and she listened. She was so excited to tell her friends and teachers! And she's been giving my belly hugs as often as possible...she even pats my belly during the sign of peace in church to give peace to the baby. She has been excited to read about the baby each week on Baby Center (we're in the middle of Week 19 right now...baby is the size of an heirloom tomato). She asks questions and tells us about the things she'll teach the baby. It makes me so happy to see her excitement!

How is Porter handling the news? Well, we're not sure what he understands. He was super clingy the weeks after we broke the news. Was it the fact that he had a cold, or that he recognizes that something is changing around here? When Penny hands him a baby and asks him to rock the baby, he smiles and rocks that baby. He loves to peek into the baby room at daycare to see the babies. And, he LOVES his cousin Codie. Hoping he is just as excited about his own baby sibling when he/she arrives! After seeing Penny kiss my belly so often, he now does the same and says "baby belly" or "kiss baby". If you ask him where the baby is, he points to my belly. And he's even told us that he thinks it will be a girl baby (we're opting for a delivery surprise).

There will be some big changes for Mr. P over the next few months. He'll move into a big-boy bed and a big-boy bedroom. He will take more responsibility for chores. He will walk (so close!). Perhaps he'll potty train (we're slowly but surely working on it). He will be a big brother. I'm excited and happy to see him grow!

Big Boy Bed

I was dreading the transfer to big boy bed. I remember what the transfer was like with Penny...she was much younger and much spunkier, but oh how I remember her getting out of her bed every few minutes to come see what we were doing and us leading her back and bedtime taking two hours before she'd finally fall asleep. Lucky for us, Porter appears to be much different from his sister. 

Last night, we made the transition to big boy bed in new big boy room. We followed the regular bed time routine and when we turned out the lights and turned on his music, he played with Elmo for a minute or two before falling fast asleep. He had a busy day celebrating his big 3rd birthday and he was tired. He woke in the middle of the night, unsure of where he was, but he fell back to sleep after some gentle reassurance. When he woke up this morning, the first thing he did was find his sister :) We will definitely have to try the green "Ok to Wake" clock to see if he'll stay in his bed until wake up time. But, overall, I'd say night one in the big boy bed was a success! Nice work Mr. P!