The Phamily Blog: October 2009

Happy Halloween!!

Just wrapping up my 31 for 21 post...another year down! Hope you all enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing!!
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Tonight we went trick or treating with some neighbors and had a great time. Cameron is still at an age where it's not ALL about getting as much candy as possible- but more about the experience. So even though we only hit up a total of maybe six houses, he thought it was the greatest thing ever!
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This was pre-TOT'ing...getting ready to leave.

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On our way out. This was as good as it got as far as a picture with both my babies.

First stop:

Nguyen was dying from laughter thanks to Cameron and his "Thank you, sir" after every house we visited.

Gabby got in on some TOT'ing action as well.
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and FINALLY, we were home. The kids had a blast sorting through everything, Gabby especially!
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Cameron's first pick was a reese's peanut butter cup. Yup...he must be my son!
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gabby just rummaged...
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until she found something that really got her excited!
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(don't worry- she never got to taste the sugar babies...just a couple of licks of a lollipop!)

Cameron enjoyed his last piece of candy for the night while lounging around with The Dad.

We had a great night and hope you all did too!

Happy Halloween!

round two: apology for the apology

4:15 PM 5 Comments »

In all honesty, that last post was 100% about me wanting to apologize for EVER offending anyone by words I may have used...I'm afraid that my earnest apology may be taken as an attack, and again, that is far from my intention.
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While I am glad I am not the only person in this world who uses the term "special needs," the fact of the matter is that it does offend many people. Walking on eggshells is never fun but until we all can accept that our kids may be "labeled" from time to time (even in the most innocent ways, ie: special needs, happy, sweet. etc.) eggshells will be breaking beneath my feet.
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To all of my wonderful mama-friends out there- I love you all...we're all in this together.

-Sheree

an apology

10:50 PM 13 Comments »

I learned today that when people say "special needs" in regards to kids like Gabby, or children with autism, etc., that many people find it offensive. I guess I feel like a complete boob for not recognizing that all kids have "special needs," but to me it was a polite term and one I used often.

Honestly, there are so many "rules" out there when it comes to referring to kids with...(insert whatever term you wish here) and frankly, I can't keep up with all of them. I get the whole "R" word thing- I definitely feel that sting every time I hear it, but "special needs" has never bothered me.

Anyway, sending out a big "I'm sorry" to the ( ~~special needs~~ what word do I put here?) community. It was never my intention to offend.

Monterey Bay Aquarium!! (Monterey part II)

4:50 PM Posted In cameron , gabby 5 Comments »

As I mentioned in my previous post, last weekend we headed out to visit our friends who happen to live in very close proximity to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Originally, we had planned on going to the aquarium with them but unfortunately, we had to get back home in time to prep for the 2009 Buddy Walk and Chrystal had to show off and run a 10k that morning so our schedules were a bit conflicted. :)

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Despite my lack of photographic evidence, we did, in fact, get a chance to meet up with C&D but dummy me forgot to bring my camera. Just to prove it, check out her post about us here. We had a blast hanging with them and Nguyen was thrilled that they chose to take us out to SUSHI for dinner!

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The next morning, we headed down Cannery Row to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. You may recall we, "The Phamily" took a mini vacation and visited the aquarium around the same time last year. Wow...I can't get over how much the kids have changed!

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Now, I have to admit something- My camera died after being at the aquarium for only a few minutes, so some of these photo's are borrowed from the internet including this one:

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Okay, now that I got that little disclaimer out of the way...

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Gabby and daddy hung out while Cameron and I explored every nook and cranny. Lucky for us, the aquarium wasn't all that crowded when we first got there so we were able to see quite a bit without getting shoved out of the way.

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Cameron was a little leery of some of the kids activities that invloved dark crawl spaces:

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Fortunately, I was able to persuade him into going in...but not without crawling in myself (with a baby strapped to my back) The view was worth it though!

They even had an area set up that made you feel like you were underwater in a submarine. Cameron enjoyed pressing all of the little buttons on the computer screen like he was a real-life submariner.
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We saw a lot of interesting sea creatures but this one was one of my most favorites- mostly because the shriek Nguyen let out when he saw it was quite entertaining.

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In this tank, they had a scuba diver swimming around amongst all the fish. Cameron thought that was pretty much awesome. (couldn't get a pic of the diver...I tried!)
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We were also lucky enough to see the sharks, tuna, and mahi mahi get fed. The school of sardines were amazing... (this is a borrowed pic but you can see the school over there on the bottom right)
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My "must see" at the aquarium this year was the new seahorse exhibit. I was not disappointed. They had several different species and I couldn't get over how calm and soothing they were to watch.
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This guy was my absolute favorite. He is a leafy dragon seahorse and blends in very well with his surroundings.
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These guys were dwarf seahorses and maybe you can't tell from the pic, but they were itsy bitsy and SO cute!

This was the last pic I took before my camera died, but it was a good one. Nguyen thinks it would be lovely to have a jelly fish exhibit in our room.
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We all had a great time. Gabby was doing this when we left:

Those jelly fish were really relaxing!

Thank you again,

Chrystal, Dwight, and Malea

for yet another super-fun trip. Next time we'll make sure we don't have to get home so soon so we can spend more time and maybe we can go back to that little cafe with the chocolate peanut butter cake?! Haha.

Monterey Part I

3:51 PM Posted In cameron , gabby , monterey 7 Comments »

This past Friday we headed out to Monterey for a quick getaway and to visit our friends for a bit. I was hoping the kids would sleep the entire drive but Nguyen brought along his favorite roadtrip snack (sunflower seeds), and that kept Cameron quiet and entertained for a good long while.
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Gabby did exactly what I thought she'd do...

Once we got to our hotel, we jumped on the beds a bit and explored what all our room had to offer. Cameron engaged in a photo-op with his mama.
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Chrystal and Dwight were just getting off from work when we arrived in their city, so we wandered around a bit and goofed off.
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We came back to our room to change clothes and get ready to meet our friends for dinner. Meanwhile Gabby was cracking me up.
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Once it was time to go, Cameron was having a fit about leaving. He wanted to stay in and "garden." I think I know what to get Cam for Christmas...
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He sat and played with this thing for a good hour before we had to peel him away. And then, when we had been away from our room for more than an hour, he was BEGGING to get back to his "garden." He was having major separation anxiety for sure.
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I forgot my camera in the hotel so there are no pictures from dinner (so bummed!) The sushi restaurant C&D took us too was really yummy and super-fun! Cam had a blast and Gabby was loving her rice and tempura veggies.
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The next morning, we woke up to the sounds of the waves crashing just below our room. Thanks to a lovely night of sleep with the fresh ocean breeze drifting through our window, everyone slept GREAT which is something I pray for when we go away from home. There's nothing better than NOT having to walk your screaming baby around the hotel lobby at 4am (and yes, I have done this on more than one occasion.)
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While Nguyen read the paper, and I laid in my very own double bed (Nguyen had to share his with Cameron,) Gabby played and came to the conclusion that sheer curtains are an absolute blast!
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We tried to relax in our room for as long as possible before Gabby started getting hungry and irritable. Usually the first thing she does in the morning is sign "more" which can be translated as "I'd like to say good morning, but really, all I care about right now is food" Which is what she told me at about 9am!

That was our cue to get dressed and head down for breakfast. We visited the aquarium later that day and had lots of fun so be on the lookout for part II very soon!

Wordless Wednesday!

3:48 PM Posted In cameron , wordless wednesday 3 Comments »

October 25th, 2009

6:51 PM Posted In buddy walk , gabby 10 Comments »

Sunday marked our second annual "Buddy Walk" which has been renamed to the "Step Up for Down Syndrome" event. We were super jazzed this year since last year Gabby was so young and the diagnosis was still somewhat fresh.

Aunt Nutty was sweet enough to bring a hot pink tutu for Gabs and it made for the perfect attire for the day!

Once we got to the walk, we met up with one of my old high school friends who happens to run a screen printing business. About five days before the event I remembered she and her husband ran this company so I emailed her asking if there was any way we could get some shirts by Sunday. Luckily for us, they were able to get the shirts printed and they turned out FABULOUS.

And to top it all off- Tiffany and her husband Mark donated the shirts for team Gabalicious! They were so kind to do that for us!

Cameron was none too pleased about having to wear a bright yellow shirt and he let us all know about it for a good twenty minutes.

We waited for our team to arrive and I was pleasantly surprised at what a great turnout we had. At the beginning of the week I was really unsure as to how many people would actually show but we ended up with a team of 29!

The walk was a mile long and there were signs along the way with information about Down syndrome.

Cameron enjoyed the scenery from above

And I mingled with everyone along the way!

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Gabby was overwhelmed with paparazzi but she was a good sport all day long.

she cruised in style

After the walk, Gabby and all of her buddies got together for a photo-op.
Could these kids be any cuter?

(check out baby Joey doing push-ups!)

Half way through lunch, a volunteer at the event came over to our group and informed us that we were in the running for the "most spirited" award and that we needed to head on over the the stage. I had no idea they would even be handing out such an award but I was ecstatic that we actually WON!