A little bit of this n that

I have been telling myself to post for a while but every time I sit down to write my mind goes blank. Which is crazy because I feel like we have been really busy so I should have something to say. Anyway I will just start and hopefully I find stuff to say and that it actually makes sense. Here goes....

My sister Dawn is home from her Mission!!!! I am so excited. I have yet to go home to see her but I have talked with her on the phone. She sounds great. I am so glad she was able to serve her mission fully and have that experience. Next weekend we are all getting together to celebrate- should be lots of fun. Plus she will finally get to meet Miss Penelope. That is exciting.

Pennny has been working hard. We are still seeing a physical therapist for her neck (trying to get it to stay straight) and we are seeing another PT to help with her development skills. Now we are working on sitting. She doesn't really seem to have an interest to sit but we are getting there. It took about a month but now she can sit propped up with her arms. I have a feeling that soon she will be able to sit up tall with out any support. It is a work in progress but she is doing great. We are also teaching her to drink from a sippy cup. She loves her cup and always reaches for it but has a hard time grasping the sucking part. She would rather just bite it. Silly girl. We have started to expand her repertoire of foods she is eating. She still loves veggies and fruit but recently discovered that mac n cheese is just as good. I love eating time. She is just so cute and smiling. She can now feed her self some as well. Still needs practice in that area but she loves to try so that is good. I am just so happy things are going well with her and we aren't having any problems. She now weighs about 17 lbs. That is the 20%  on the typical growth chart but for Down Syndrome it is close to 90% !!!

I have been taking a sign language class and I feel like I am improving. I have been trying to be really consistent when talking with Penelope and I think it is starting to finally pay off. Last night as I gave her a bottle right before bed I did the sign for milk. Then she did it back to me. I was so excited. Her first sign. She is amazing. It was a very happy moment. I am so proud of my daughter. She is a very smart little girl. Now that I know she can do it I am going to try even harder to remember all the signs I am learning so I can teach her more and more as she learns. It was a great way to end the day!!!
 We are getting excited for Summer. The pool opened today. But I think it is a little chilly to take her out, hopefully next week will warm up and she can go have some fun. We bought her a little lady bug toy to sit in while in the pool, should be good times.
Oh yeah, we gave Penny her first hair cut. We just trimmed her bangs so they weren't hanging in her eyes all the time. It didn't turn out the way I wanted but she survived and as long as I put a bow in her hair or put it in a pony it doesn't look too bad. Plus she is really really cute so that helps alot. She is also starting to dance to music. It is really cute. She lays on her tummy and lifts herself up high with her arms and then sways back and forth. So fun to watch. She loves music and dancing. A true Yearsley girl. :)

Lacey and her family came to visit us last weekend. It was a blast. Tylin and Tanner are getting so big. They are a lot of fun and keep you on your toes the entire time. Lacey ran her 5th marathon while here. She did awesome!! I am so proud of her for pushing herself and reaching her goal. She is a great example to me and I am just so glad they were able to come and spend time with us.

James now has a full client case load at work. He is staying very busy, especially since he still works his part time job. This summer he is rearranging office hours and will most likely have every Monday off. So I am excited to get to spend more time with him. But in reality he will probably be fishing and golfing most of his time off, so don't really know how much we will see of each other. I am glad that he gets to have some time to himself before fall comes. That is when they are planning on moving locations for his clinic and then he will have his own office, which means more hours to work. So he deserves a fun summer before all that starts happening.

I included this picture because this is Penny's favorite thing to do. She will just roll around with a sock in her mouth. She is a crazy girl.

Well I have rambled on enough. I think everyone is all caught up with our life as we know it. Hope you are all doing well.