Living in Georgia

The playset arrived today and it was so hard for Jack to sit inside and wait f or it to be built! Once we got out there to play, we couldn't drag him back inside. In fact, there were tears galore at dinnertime. But luckily it wasn't that bad at bedtime. But man oh man was he filthy! I can definitely see us spending a lot of time outside now. Thank goodness it's finally cooling down outside. Other than that, we're just getting ready to head out tomorrow night for our trip to England. Jason is officially on vacation (for two whole weeks - I'm beside myself) and we're sitting here enjoying a beer before bed. Tomorrow will be a long day and night (10pm flight that is 8 hours 40 minutes). I'll be posting photos and stories while we're gone, so be sure to keep checking in.

Ethan had his six month check-up today (we're about a month late in our appointments) and he's doing really well. He now weighs 17 pounds, 4.5 ounces and is 26 inches long. He's progressing with his PT and doing most things for his age, so we're just happy that's he's doing as well as he is! Not much else to report - just hopping that Hurricane Hannah doesn't effect our flight out on Saturday night. It's supposed to hit the coast sometime on Friday and then come inland. Fingers crossed!!

Hi all, I'm blogging from the driveway this evening while Jack draws with his sidewalk chalk and Daddy and Ethan enjoy the lovely late summer weather. And probably being eaten up by mosquito's ! We're just wrapping up the holiday weekend and getting ready for our short week before taking off for England. It's turning out to be a pretty busy week, too. We've got a doctor's appointment for Ethan, another PT day, and our Fisher Price Play Date. In between all that I still have to get us packed and the house cleaned. Saturday we spend the evening with our friends that have a two week old and an older child Jack's age. They are our Canadian friends and we always have a blast with them. Yesterday we just did some last minute shopping and today was cleaning day. Hope you all had a nice relaxing holiday weekend.

Wow, I'm still coming down off my high from the VP announcement yesterday. I don't want to turn this into a political debate, but I'm so excited about the prospect of a possible female VP who happens to have a baby with Down syndrome! Just knowing that she could bring some much needed change to Washington, making like a little bit easier for Ethan and so many others like him makes me so happy! Plus, anyone who is willing to challenge their own party for what they believe is right is OK by me. Anyway you look at it, this year's election is historic. I can't wait for the debates!! We had a lovely visit on Thursday with my cousin (3 or 4 times removed - I can never get it straight!) and her new son, Alex, who is 11 months. He is so sweet and the boys loved playing together. They used to live here in Atlanta but moved to Boston just before we moved down (and are now moving to California). Luckily, she comes down often to visit all her friends so we have gotten q...

I know this email went out to most of you already, but I'm trying to reach as many people as possible - so please forgive the repetitiveness of it!! I know I've said in the past that I wasn't going to be selling PartyLite anymore. But then I got the new Fall catalogs and liked what I saw so much that I've decided to keep going! As Ethan has Down Syndrome, we as a family have decided to get as involved with the Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta as possible. On October 4th we will be participating in the Buddy Walk of Atlanta, helping to raise money. To help generate extra money, I'm hosting a PartyLite catalog party with proceeds going to the DSAA. If you would like to shop for a cause, please visit my website, www.partylite.biz/ellencornwell and view the catalogs. You can then contact me with any order you'd like to place. All orders need to be placed with me by Friday, September 5th. For those of you out-of-state, orders will be sent directly to you...

Just a quick one tonight, as I'm exhausted and it's late. It was a VERY rainy day today. It rained HARD all night and until about 11:30 this morning. Parts of Georgia got about 10 inches. I'm happy as we need it for the drought we're in, however, it rained so hard that it's started to wash away the dirt we had flattened out in our backyard for the playset. Hopefully everything will be OK!! Ethan turned 7 months yesterday and is doing really well. Nothing new to report but he keeps progressing, which is all we can ask for. I'm so happy that we decided not to travel to Seattle, as Jack and Ethan are now suffering from colds. Figures! But at least we have a little over a week to get healthy before we travel to England.

It's been a pretty quiet weekend for us, with Daddy off playing soldier, but a nice treat after a busy week. My main goal has been trying to get clothes ready for our trip to England, since it will be about a 20 degree drop in temperature. I've been looking for cool weather clothes that both boys will fit into. Jack was playing last night while I was with Ethan and he sat down next to Stanley and told him, "Stanley, you go hide and then I'll come find you, OK?" He just couldn't figure out why Stanley wouldn't go hide. It's so cute to watch him interact with the dogs. He REALLY wants Stanley to play with him more. Hopefully one day, Stanley will! We're gearing up for a fairly quiet week. We had the remnants of Hurricane Faye drop over us last night (downgraded to a Tropical Storm now). We should be getting much needed rain all week long, which will keep us at home more this week. Hopefully our playset will delivered this week too!