sherriknits

And we have actual KNITTING CONTENT!

I’ve been working on the Tulip sweater…what a fun knit.

I started this Tuesday night and it has been so easy and relaxing.  I’m ready to start the side borders and then the sleeves and we’re done!

I kind of don’t like how it pulls in on the bottom so I didn’t go down needle sizes as suggested.  I need to see if I can get it to lay flat before I continue.  It’s also 1 3/4 in. shorter than the pattern says it should be but I think it looks proportionally fine so am going to leave it.

and now 31 for 21:

Before we get into the hair cut…we had to have “worship practice”…those papers continue to be part of his daily routine.

Now, the haircut.

When Tyler was little, you would not believe what we went through with haircuts.  It took most of the family to be actively involved in the process.  Some to hold him, some to entertain him and one to cut.  I can still almost get sick to my stomach when I think about it.  He screamed and fought every step of the way.  We did everything we could think of to ease his terror.  We would put a huge sheet on the living room floor, put him in the high chair in the middle of it, put on his favorite movie…bribe him with ice cream.  Sometimes we’d get part way through.  Other times we’d just do it in the kitchen and the other kids would hold his hands, would sing to him…anything we could think of.  Screams.  Often we’d set the whole thing up on the deck so the neighbors could actually see that we were not killing him.  No amount of talking, bribing, begging, reasoning..nothing really worked.  Yes, we also prayed.

Then along came Brittany.  He loves Brittany and he made the choice to let her cut his hair.  They always have fun. 

Yesterday I reminded him of how he used to act.  He looked at me so seriously and said, “I was a little boy.”  Oh my gosh, sometimes he just shocks me.  (always keep in mind that you have to listen for the words but they are there).

So…today Kenny and Tyler headed off to see Brittany.

Yes, they are silly.  You gotta love that girl.

And then Tyler had to take pictures.

See him in the mirror?

When they were done, they walked down to center court to see the birdhouses that Brittany’s dad made for Clip for the Cure today (breast cancer awareness).

Nice haircut, Bud.

And to Brittany, I am forever grateful for taking that horrible task we had to face and making it a joy for him.

Today Tyler got to spend the day with his dad who took a rare day off.  I am so thankful to have a husband who is willing to spend his much-needed time off with his adoring son.  They went to the beach and let the dog run after they brought me some lunch.  I was going to show you some pictures he took himself of his time with Dad but he doesn’t appear to remember where he put the camera.  Tyler went to Wal-mart and bought himself a new memory card for his camera since apparently he had tried to put the original one inside my laptop.  We’ve not been able to shake it out of my laptop and so we are not sure it’s really there.  This morning I found a new word document started with his famous songlist.  This is a constant battle around here with our electronics. 

Another humorous (I’m not sure to who, but someone probably thinks it’s funny) is that last night when we went to bed, the clock radio was missing.  We’re not sure where it was put originally but tonight while we were looking for the camera, we found the radio in the room Tyler’s tv is in, we could see the time from the other end of the hall.  Dad’s iPod was close by.  grrrrr

ok….an hour later, found the camera and made a collage of the pictures either he took or Dad took of him.

It’s always interesting to see what catches his attention. 

Tonight you get to  hear from Rhianna, our oldest . . .I am just going to leave it as she wrote it, I usually remove names but really, most who read my blog have become friends anyway so I don’t really want to take away from what she has to say.

I have thoroughly enjoyed having Tyler in my life since I was fifteen. I was excited to have him in my wedding. I love that he gets along with Kyle so well!

When I was pregnant, I really looked forward to Tyler getting to be an uncle. I was excited to see how he would react to me having a baby around all the time. He has responded very well, once his initial shock was over. He originally hated it when she would cry, but now he is “braver” and is able to help comfort her and “make her feel better”. He is so patient and good with her.

Here is a picture of him watching her on the couch:

I also encouraged him to help her roll over and play on her tummy. She was a little fussy, so he got down and talked to her:

At the store, he is quick to jump out of the car and get the cart for Mayah (because we put her car seat on the cart)… and he is very proud of himself for helping out. He even helped put the groceries in the trunk, because he noticed that it is a lot to get Mayah in and out of the car.

I am so blessed to give Mayah the gift of growing up with Tyler around….and I am blessed to let Tyler be a part of Mayah’s life as she grows up. He is such an important part of my life and I know he will be special to Mayah’s life too!

And a memory from me:

When Tyler was born, we had to go directly to Children’s Hospital in Seattle.  It was there that we were told that he had Down Syndrome (although we had figured it out ourselves immediately for some reason the delivering doctor did not). 

When we called home to tell our family, I will never forget Rhianna’s reaction.  She very calmly said, “Mom, if this is what God has for us, He will give us what we need to do this.”  Out of the mouths of babes. 

Well, she went to her room and dropped on to her bed…I am sure she was in a state of shock somewhat.   Playing on the radio at that very moment was a song called “Sometimes Miracles Hide” and it was a song about a family having a special needs child.  She knew that she knew that God was affirming what she had told us.  I cannot tell you the comfort that brought me in the early years.

When the little imp threw the opening pitch for the Tacoma Rainiers, we had to have a photo to be used for publicity.  As far as I know, it was never actually used and I cannot tell you the work we went through to get this taken. 

It was a fun time.  He worked for weeks and did a great job throwing that pitch.  He truly thought he was pitching for the whole game, though, and that was a bit disappointing to him!

It’s really been interesting for me to go back and look at these old pictures.  If I can ever get a computer to read some of the old disks, I can go way back in time but haven’t been able to get that done yet. 

I said there would be knitting content today but I sillily left my knitting at work.  Sorry.  The days are just way too busy day after day.  Tomorrow afternoon we head out of town and am hoping we can get big sis to do a guest post as we’ll be getting home late.

I’ve had the day count off a few times.  We’re almost halfway through Down Syndrome Awareness month.  Has it helped to get a little glimpse into our lives?  I always like to share the every day kind of normal kind of existence so it doesn’t seem scary to people.  We didn’t ask to join this club but God saw us as able and we’ve lived it knowing every day that He would give us the grace to do that day.  That was a big lesson to me in the beginning.  Every day…just have to make it through today. 

To be honest…life is way more normal than I ever thought it would be.  Most of the time if I think about it being different, it’s a little comical to me.  Sometimes it is not comical at all and I have to cry a little.  I learned early what it was to laugh on the outside and cry on the inside.  But really, most of the time it isn’t that way.  Most of the time I see the blessing.  Wouldn’t life be miserable if we always looked at what is hard in it instead of choosing to look for the good thing?  I don’t say that lightly, it’s been a lesson learned.

These pictures have appeared here more than once, but I can’t let them go this month when focusing on DS.  These are the good times.

As a knitter, I learned to use a lifeline when knitting lace projects.  A lifeline is just a cotton thread run through a row, usually at the end of a pattern repeat.  This allows you to have a place to go back to if you make a mistake.  One day I had cut a lifeline and turned my back for a few seconds, when I turned around, this is what I saw.

No, I didn’t use that one.   lol

Another day, he walked in and startled me so bad when I turned around and saw this!

Never a dull moment.

I was going to show some knitting content today but I forgot to take pictures earlier and I’m too tired to now.  Tomorrow.

These pictures were taken 2 years ago in July.  I cannot believe how the kids have changed in such a short time.  At that time I wasn’t a mother-in-law yet or a Grammy.  The little imp looks so little.

This was my birthday.  Where am I?  I am terrified of heights and cannot climb the stairs at the Astoria Column so I was down on the ground watching.   I remember this birthday because hubby and I spent a few days in Astoria and the kids all came down to spend my birthday with me.  It was the last time we spent it as just our little family.  I remember missing the “extras” that day because by that point, they had become family, too…but in a way, this was just a sweet time.

These are the stairs they climbed and the little imp did just fine. 

When we were first married,hubby and I tried to go up these stairs, I was determined to “get over” my fear of heights.  It was one of my most embarrassing moments because I froze partway up and people had to wait as Kenny backed me down the stairs.  Amazingly, the people waiting for us were from our little town, 2 hours away.  Now I just wait as they all go up every chance they get.  I just love how the little imp is making sure he is copying his dad.

Hubby was turning off the light and I was shutting down my computer and I remembered this.  I said, “Oh no!  I forgot my 31 for 21!”  He laughed, turned off the lights and said “How could you forget that?” as he headed to bed leaving me in the dark.  I don’t want to be legalistic about this but I don’t mind taking a minute to do it and it really has been kind of fun.

Today marked the end of a very long week.  I have barely seen hubby so after he had a long nap after church, we went for a drive and ended up in our very favorite place.  It was dark by the time we got there but I tried to take pictures anyway. 

They walked down the boat ramp.

I just thought this was kind of cool.  It’s very dark by now but I took the picture without flash and lightened it in Picasa.  I like how they are standing.

This was from the car.  I was sad that we hadn’t been there at all this summer and I missed my climbing roses.  They’re just at the end.  We have sooooo many memories from this place and it was a good evening for us to visit, it is just beautiful there even at night.

Some of the joys of having a child with special needs (tongue in cheek) is we had a little incident that made us have to cut our trip short and come home.  We kind of laugh, kind of want to cry at times like that, but it is part of life and we didn’t need to be out late.  Of course, he is oblivious to the fact that he caused a change in plans and was happy to eat his Cheetos on the way home.

And just a quickie….the little sweet pea wore the little outfit her grammy bought her today.  Note the little shoes.

Need a closer look?

Little lambs and they say “baa” on the bottom.  Those are from her other grandma. 

And once again, off to bed!

Whew, what a day.  Nothing exciting, just full.

We went to a beautiful wedding today.   I could not be happier for them both.  I’m also wondering how many ways there are left to make the same church look incredibly different.  Haven’t seen the end of it yet!

Terrible picture but I snapped it as we were running across the parking lot. 

Today’s post is just a hodgepodge.  I found a few more pictures from the past.

I really wish I could remember who’s graduation this was for.  I do remember him being really excited to wear the hat, though. 

I just always thought this one was funny. 

That’s it for today…not much creativity in this tired head.

Last night we went to a fundraiser being held at the local Christian tv station.  Dad, brother and sister were singing and the little imp will never miss an opportunity to be there when he can.

When we walked in the door, look what greeted us.

Best friends and little sweetpea!

She’s a little cranky these days, but Grammy managed to get a smile out of her.

It’s so hard to catch the smile when it’s in it’s fullness, but she was definitely happy to see Grammy. 

Then we headed to the studio.

 That’s #2 sister singing in the red top, hubby singing with her, new son-in-law on the drums, big brother on the end playing bass and the little imp sitting in the stands.

After the whole thing was over, Dad and big brother gave the little imp a drum lesson.  You can’t really hear it but he really has a good sense of timing.

While we were all gathering our stuff, I looked down the hall and saw this….

He’s just a natural.

First of all, I actually have some knitting content!  Not too exciting but since this is a knitting blog, it’s nice to once in awhile show something knitting-wise!

I have some birthdays coming up and I decided to go kind of green for awhile and knit some dishcloths and add something green-related to it.  Besides, they’re so fast!

I started this post hours ago but got a phone call and then the little imp and I went down to the tv station to watch the worship team play for the share-a-thon.  I got some pictures so hopefully that will be tomorrow’s post.

This is my brother’s car and he really liked it.

He has always played hard and when he’s done, he just conks out.

He just loves his grandma’s lift chair, he’ll hang there forever.

I wish I had dates on these pictures.  The family has been marveling at how much he has grown up all of a sudden.