a tale of two divas

First of all, let me apologize for not updating the blog since July...I truly am embarrassed!!  I will try to do better for all my faithful blog followers, but things have been kinda crazy since we started back to school.  Chandler has been going to speech and physical therapy in Hattiesburg once a week at the Children's Center for Communication and can I say that WE LOVE IT!!!!!  It is the perfect place for us and is definitely worth the small sacrifice.  Also, we now have a one year old who lives in our house!!!  Bittersweet that's for sure, and I promise to blog about her pink ladybug party that was indeed a huge, well deserved celebration of her first year of life!!  Madeline is doing "schoolwork" at daycare and we are very proud of what she is learning and she hasn't even gotten a yellow or red smiley faces, only green (so far!!)

Now, on to our big exciting news about that certain one year old who lives in our house!!  Back in July, I submitted Chandler's picture to the National Down Syndrome Society on a whim.  I honestly wasn't really sure of what the "prize" was, I just knew that our girl is beautiful and they would be crazy not to pick her beautiful face!!  Well, they had 1,100 applicants and picked 200...out of those 200 was our one and only, Chandler Megan Smith!!!!  We were so proud and couldn't (really we could) believe it!  They would display the 200 pictures in a slide show in Times Square on September 21st to kick off NYC's Buddy Walk and October being Down syndrome awareness month.  Well, I had never been to New York so of course I wanted to go support Chandler and to see the big city.  Kris decided to stay home and keep big sister, but my sister Shimmy, my friend Kayla and Chandler, planned our trip.

flying wore her out!

tourists!!

Mama, where are we?!?

NYFD hard at work!!  Makes me proud to have a fireman in my life!

Not sure if Chandler likes NYC, staying up late, or both!!

We left on Friday, September 20th and came home on Sunday the 22nd, so we made a super fast trip, but saw lots of sights but the most important sight was our sweet girl's picture on the Sony screen in the heart of Times Square.  Okay, so let me clear some silly things up that I said before I went on this adventure.  As far as the screen goes, I said that they would put the pictures up on the screen in Times Square.  Um, yeah, there are too many screens to count in NYC!!!  Standing in one spot, there could be tons!  I also said that I didn't like crowds and get anxious around a lot of people...well there are just a few people in New York!!  More like a few hundred thousand!!!!!  So, now I know from personal experience that those were silly things to say!

Me, Shimmy and Kayla with the celebrity herself!

Mama and her baby girl

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, even though we never stopped!!  As one of my friends stated before we left that our eyes would be tired from looking and that they were!!  After we (barely) survived the taxi cab ride to the hotel and I got over my anxiety, we got a two day pass on the grey line bus and rode the full tour on Friday and ate at the Shake Shack..which isn't easy for me to say :)  On Saturday, we had to be at the Sony screen at 10:00 and weren't quite sure where said screen was!  Well, I'm sure we looked like we weren't sure where we were going because this nice couple and their children came to our rescue and helped us find our way!!  Keegan is our new friend whose picture was also chosen (for the second time!) and his parents are Lisa and Jonathan from West Virginia.  It is always so heartwarming to "meet" new families through technology because of our sweet girl, but it is even better to meet them in person!  We instantly connected and we hope to see them again!  Their girls were like little mamas to Chandler and she just loved all the extra attention!!

Her five seconds of fame made me extremely proud to be her mama..there are no words to describe how I was feeling at this moment...my cup runneth over..

This is our friend Jax, who lives in LA and we've never met (hope to one day!), but he was unable to be there.  Doesn't he look so handsome?!?

Chandler and Keegan

Not sure which one makes the funniest faces!!

Love!

"Keegan, you're so funny!!"

Right after the slide show and I dried my eyes, we hopped back on the bus to be tourists again.  These are just some of the things we looked at...
Chinatown, where we scored some purses and bracelets like ol' pros..Kayla had them eating out of the palm of her hand :)
Ground Zero, where we stood in awe and disbelief..
Statue of Liberty, we didn't ride the ferry, but sat on a bench and stared at it.  Smaller than I imagined but it was beautiful to gaze at..this part of New York was so pretty to me and hard to believe that we were still in New York sitting there.
FAO Swartz, and let's just say I won't be back in there..way toooo many crazy parents!!
We walked down 5th Ave and Kimberly took a picture of the front of every store...for example, Gucci and Prada to name a few!  Don't worry, we all acted like tourists, but who cares!!
Walked by Central Park and it is amazing to see!  There was even a couple getting married!!
These were just a few of the things that we did/saw; however, we saw a lot of other interesting people, also!!  New York reminded us of New Orleans, except much, much, much bigger!!!!!

Mississippi girls in the Big Apple!!

Macy's!

The Empire State building

WOW!!!

The Freedom Tower at Ground Zero

Look at the traffic and buildings..

Chandler at the Statue of Liberty

Isn't she beautiful?!?

This is what Chandler thought of the rude people always asking for a tip!!

This is the life!!

  (Check out Chandler..She's thinking "what in the world are y'all doing?!?)

I so badly wanted to go to a Broadway show, but since we had Chandler, I refrained, but that just means we have to go back again!!  We did eat at Ellen's Stardust Diner where aspiring Broadway performers serve you dinner and entertain you, as well.  So, we did get to experience a little taste of Broadway!  Overall, I had a wonderful first time in New York City!  So glad that Kayla and Kimberly were able to go with us and be there to witness our girl's debut as a STAR!  We had lots of laughs and made memories that will last a lifetime... In fact I can't wait to go back!!  But this time I want Kris to be there too, I would love to see his face when we sees the big city for the first time!!

Speaking of Kris, Saturday he celebrated the big 3-5 birthday!!!  I hated that we weren't able to be with him; however, he had a hot date with a certain 3 1/2 year old :)  He had told her that he was taking her to the Caboose, so she had that stuck in her head.  But she kept saying that she wanted to go to the Caboose to eat spaghetti.  Well, they don't have spaghetti and we knew she would be disappointed if they got there and they didn't have it.  He decided to take her to Fox's Pizza instead and when they drove up she said, "I don't want to eat at Fox's, I want to eat at the Caboose!"  So, Kris decided to go to Santa Fe and when he pulled up he said, "Santa Fe is too busy."  And she said, "I said that I want to go to the Caboose!!"  Kris explained that the Caboose didn't have spaghetti or a coloring book and she said that she would ask them anyway!!  So, they ended up at Ruby Tuesdays and everyone was satisfied.

Didn't know we had a DIVA on our hands, excuse me, TWO DIVAS!!  hahaha  One wants to eat at a nice restaurant, the other just went to New York for the weekend!  And who said girls weren't a lot of trouble?!?

Not sure who loves who more...Daddy or his girls!

Diva #1 going a date with the birthday boy

Kris, hope your day was great and that you know how much you mean to all of your girls!!  WE LOVE YOU LOTS!!

I think that everyone should experience New York at least once in their life!!  But I also think that people should meet a person with Down syndrome, too, because they will truly change your life, for the better!!  I know that our Chandler has affected so many people's lives in her short little life..she is such a blessing!

Stay tuned for the next saga of these two divas and their tired (but grateful) parents!!

until next time,

Megan