Are We Crazy?.....

Okay, for those of you who have not seen me in a couple months or not at all, I am very much delayed in sharing our good news. We are having another baby! In fact, I'm 5 months along and the baby is due December 8th. ARE we crazy???? Absolutely! I wanted to share the news earlier, but wanted to wait until the preliminary testing was complete...then after that, it was pure procrastination:) I had a sonogram and blood test at 11 weeks, then another blood test at 15 weeks (I'm 21 weeks right now). The final results showed a low risk for Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18 (mostly fatal to babies) and neuro tube defects (such as Spina Bifida) despite my age and having Ellie. It was a relief, but Dave and I won't be truely relieved until we see a stomach and four chamber heart on the sonogram today. Yes, we are having the sonogram today and will find out the gender of the baby. But, come on, we all know it's going to be another girl...after all, Dave "only makes girls." These are his words, not mine. As long as it's healthy, I don't care what it is. So, if you've gotten over the initial shock of the above, here's what else is going on:

Sydney scored two goals during summer soccer. We were so proud of her. She played hard this summer. She has also picked up a little habit that I remember doing when I was little. She likes to use big words. It started with "actually", then it was either (but she mostly used it wrong and the word she really needed was even), then I heard annoying (when she actually meant ignoring in the sentence) and the lastest is part of a whole sentence...well, isn't that convenient. That one just made me laugh. She'll have a good vocab though since we are teaching her the definitions too.
Reagan is unofficially potty-trained. She stays dry whenever we go places and during our whole vacation to Minnesota, but tends to have accidents occassionally at home. My take on it is that it's plain laziness at home. Part of her "I'll do whatever I want" personality. She tried really hard at soccer this summer. We didn't expect a whole lot, but were happy with her stamina. She played really hard, stayed mostly focused and ran her heart out. What more can you ask of a 3 1/2 year old. She had lots of fun though and they let us have Sydney and Reagan get their soccer pic together. Can't wait to see it.
Ellie has continued on her growth spurt. I forgot to write in the last entry that she had a new tooth coming in ( 2 yr molar) and now she has 2 more (another molar and a front tooth). A total 5 so far and at least 2 more pushing through. I know it seems odd that she's getting these molars already, but that's just part of Down Syndrome. The teeth don't come in the "usual" order (of course, Sydney's didn't start out that way either). So we are excited to see the new things she will be able to eat soon. Last night, we had breakfast for dinner and she had a ball eating pancakes with syrup and sausage. She is also picking up green beans and eating them on her own. The biggest break-through came on Monday when Early Intervention brought out a new "cup" to try. Actually it is a perm bottle with rubber straw taped to it. The drink goes inside, and as you squeeze the bottle, the drink comes up the straw. Ellie did awesome!!! She started sucking on the straw!!! Not all the drink stayed in her mouth but she got better as she went along. We've been practicing for several days now and it does seem to be helping a lot.

There's more to share, but I need to get the kids around so I can enroll them in school. I'll share more later!