My babies are growing up fast!!

I can not believe that Auriana is already over a year old and in 2 days Kylee will be 4!!!! Time flies!! Kids grow up so fast!

I became a special needs mom a year ago!

I am a "special needs" mommy...
something I never thought I'd be.
The true meaning of this, I never knew
until you came to me.
Your sweet little toes,
your little button nose,
and your amazingly beautiful smile.
The doctors told me you are a little different,
with a broken heart,
and an extra chromosome,
but all I see is perfection.
I think you are a lot like me though,
we like to go our own direction.
You do things your own way,
and at your own pace,
Some things may be a little slower,
but slow and steady will win the race.
You may not hear or eat just right,
But when I think of all you've accomplished,
I know you are very bright.
Appointment after appointment,
therapy after therapy,
I know you hate to go to them,
but I want you to be all you can be.
You stole my heart before I met you,
when the doctors told me you wouldn't survive,
I prayed and prayed to God that you would be born alive,
and I thank God he answered my prayers!
Now you have been with us a year,
and it's just so hard to imagine
what my life would be like without you here.
Your sister, Kylee, loves you so much
and I know you love her too.
It amazes me to watch you
try to do everything you see her do.
Now it is your first birthday,
a happy day it's true!
I can't wait to watch you grow more and see all you will do!
Happy 1st Birthday Auriana!!

Auriana Faith Reyes
Born September 17, 2008 at 4:37AM
Weight: 3lbs. 10oz.
Length: 16in.

Join us for Boddy Walk

We are going to BUDDY WALK FOR DOWN SYNDROME!! Please visit our sponsorship

page !!! Buddy Walk will be at Duluth Town Green on October 18!
You can join our team and walk with us, or you can sponsor our team and help us raise money and awareness for Down Syndrome!!

sitting, school, and friends

Auriana is sitting up so good now! I am so proud of her!!

We visited with some new friends on Saturday. Callie also has Down Syndrome like Auriana, so it was nice for the 2 of them to get together. And nice for me to meet another mom who is dealing with some of the same things as me. Kylee was spending the night with Grandma so she didn't get to meet the new friends yet. We'll have to get together with them again.
Sunday, we went to little Hayden's first birthday party. He is another of our little friends with Down Syndrome.
Monday, I took the girls to Chick-fil-A to play and have lunch.
Today, Kylee started back to preschool! She loved it!! She loves seeing all her friends.

Auriana's Wishlist!!

Sisters...

I never had a sister growing up, and always wanted one. I am so glad to have had 2 daughters who get to experience that sister bond.... and I just love to see them doing things together and how connected they are! Kylee's already teaching her little sister to color!!! And little Auri just wants to do whatever her big sis does!!!

Auriana can sit!

Here is Auriana sitting!!! She has come such a long way in the past 10 months and is getting bigger and doing something new every day!!

Orphans with Down Syndrome!

Since having a child with Down Syndrome, I have become aware of HOW MANY children are born every day all around the world with Down Syndrome and other birth defects and disabilities! Thankfully, we live in America, where Down Syndrome and other disabilities have become more accepted by our society. Around the world, most other countries are not as accepting, and as a result of that there are millions of orphans with disabilities that are living in orphanages not knowing the love of a family and many of them locked away in mental institutes at a very young age! Please consider helping one of these orphans by donating to their grant funds on ReecesRainbow, praying for them, or if you can bring them home!
Just look at those faces!!! Who couldn't love them!?!? All of these precious children in these pictures are listed for adoption on ReecesRainbow. Some of them have Down Syndrome (like my daughter), and some have other disabilities, but ALL need a family! I am particularly fond of the ones in these pictures and would love to bring them home if I could, but there is no way I could give them the attention they need right now. If you can, please ask me about them and I can point you to them!

meet the family...

Many of you have probably been following our story on our carepage since I was pregnant with our second daughter, Auriana. Since I originally created that when I knew she would have a heart condition and her heart condition has since been successfully repaired (thank God!), I have decided to make a page more focused on our family as a whole, rather than just Auriana.
As most of you know, I am Katie. I am mommy to Kylee and Auriana.
Kylee is my first born, she is my little "princess"... she litterally thinks she is a princess and that she should always get what she wants, always! She will tell you "...because I am Princess Kylee". She is, at the same time, very helpful and a wonderful big sister. Kylee loves to help me with anything that is something she feels makes her a "big girl". She wants to unload the dishwasher, she wants to cook, she wants to fold the clothes, and she wants to help with EVERYTHING when it comes to her little sister. Kylee is very smart for her age! She started talking when she was 6 months old, and now at 3 years old she likes to play computer games by herself and she can spell her name all by herself.
Auriana is following her sister's footsteps in becoming another "little princess". She is a little more laid back than Kylee, though. She is also our miracle baby. We found out Auriana would have a heart defect when I was about half way through my pregnancy with her. We were also told that with the type of heart defect she had, AV Canal, she most likely also had a chromosome abnormality. I refused any testing for chromosome abnormalities because the policy of the hospital I was at is that if a child is known to have a severe chromosome abnormality (such as Trisomy 13 or 18) they do not allow you to have a C-section in the event the baby is in distress during delivery. I ended up having to be admitted to the hospital when I was 32 weeks, and Auriana's delivery was induced at 35 weeks because she did not grow for 5 weeks! The doctor told me before I was induced that because she hadn't grown in 5 weeks and had a heart defect and a couple of other ultrasound markers, she believed that Auriana had one of the severe chromosome abnormalities and gave me a 1% chance of her coming our of the delivery room alive! We prayed and prayed, and had Faith, just as we did the entire pregnancy, and she was born ALIVE with Down Syndrome and AV Canal heart Defect! She has had a rough start, had to have open heart surgery at 5 months old, and is still to this day receiving all her nutrition through a feeding tube. She is doing much better than the 1% chance to survive that we were given though! She is now, at 10 months old, rolling around everywhere, can sign 4 words (eat, finished, mom, dad), starting to sit by herself, trying to crawl, starting to eat some foods by mouth, and is almost always happy!
I thank God every day for giving me both of my precious little girls!


Now, you've met our family.... follow us on a glance into our life....