HAPHI Dance Troupe

Several weeks ago I posted some pictures of my trip to Washington D.C. with the LEND group.  Another project that I worked on while in the LEND training was with HAPHI (Haitian American Public Health Initiative) here in Boston.  All of us LEND fellows were matched with various Community Based Organizations (CBO).  Ashley & I were matched with HAPHI.  The purpose was to give us an opportunity to pursue a cross-cultural experience and learn about issues of culture and disability.  In order to do so, we all come up with a project to do in conjunction with the CBOs.

This year’s project was formation of a dance troupe.  Members include children with a variety of disabilities and their siblings with goals of integration, the opportunity to showcase their talents and chance to become role models.  This also gave the families respite which has been difficult in the current economic climate.  The culmination of their work was presented at this year’s Mother’s Day program.  Above is the logo we made for our Dance Troupe.

We usually started the day out warming up.  We meet every other Saturday for the past 4-5 months.  After 1-2 hours, we always had Haitain food waiting for us provided by "mama"… one of our parent supports.  Ashely & I could never get away by saying we were full… there was alway a plate waiting for us to take home.

Some times we got side tracked with various moves but always seemed to back on track with some help.

One of my favorite buddies… Jean-Michel.

We chose two dances to perform.  The first one was a traditional Haitain dance.  As Ashley & I are not versed in such a dance, Marise (in the purple) was the leader and did a great job.  Again, mama provided our outfits.

The second dance we did was chosen by the kids themselves.  They were all infatuated by Michael Jackson.  So we picked "Thriller" and did our version of the thriller dance.  They did such a good job!

The group after we were done.  Another one of our parental supports was Claude (holding the red envelope).  We had these T-shirts made with the dance troupe logo on it so the kids could be proud of their accomplishment.

Izzy Turns ONE!!!

It's hard for us to believe Izzy turned one!  This year has gone by so quickly.  I feel as if I'm losing my baby but am having so much fun watching her grow, acquiring new skills and becoming "Izzy".  We celebrated this milestone by having a birthday party at our house today.  We invited several other little ones to join us.  It was a good day but exhausting.  Abe asked if we had to do this for another 18 years or not.  Izzy even went to bed half an hour earlier which I think we may be doing as well.

Prior to the guests arriving, Abe got several balloons for the little ones to enjoy.  Izzy loved them as well.  We have some left over for her to enjoy for the next few days.

This one if for you Oma & Opa… Mr. Whale found a new calling in life.  He is no longer sitting in the corner collecting cobwebs :-)

Mommy did go a little overboard with Izzy's cake.  I had a lady up here make one that resembled one of her favorite toys.  She even made the flavor one of our favorite… red velvet.  It was a hit in both those areas.  Most of the guests had never had red velvet.  Just in case anyone is confused… the cake is the one on the left, Izzy's toy is on the right.  She did this all with just a picture.

This was nearing our "I need a nap stage".  But we had to get Izzy to pose with her cake.

We had a "smash cake" made for Izzy.  Here she is after just being given this cake surrounded by ~20 large, strange people signing "happy birthday" and cameras going off.

This was Izzy a few short minutes later… I guess there was too much pressure for her to perform.

Here's mommy & daddy's birthday present.  A rocking frog.  Now we have several toys called "Mr Frog" but who's counting.

Oma… this is for you.  This is one of the hair bows that you gave Izzy for her birthday.  You did a great job picking those out!

After all was said and done, we fed Izzy supper and then tried the cake thing again.  This time she enjoyed it.  She LOVED the cake but spit out the frosting every time.

Here is yet another funny Izzy face.  She just loved to razz after eating the frosting.

Random Izzy's

I figured I'd better post these before I got to Izzy's birthday as they were taken prior to this event.  These are just a few random pictures that we've taken of Izzy.  It's been fun watching her personality blossom.

Izzy enjoyed sitting in the box and being taken for rides.  Pretty soon her imagination will make this box even more fun.

One of her favorite things to do right now is "tunnel".  She can weave herself between your legs, under the table… pretty much anything that she can fit under.

Quality time with daddy!

One of mommy's favorite times… bathtime.  No matter where I go, my two babies are sure to follow.

Mother's Day

Today was the perfect 1st mother's day.  Not only did I get to sleep in an extra hour, I was greeted by my three loves with breakfast in bed.  We then spent the day as a family enjoying the New England Aquarium.  Abe tolerated me stopping by the Clarks store where both his ladies got shoes… yes, Izzy got her 1st pair of walking shoes!  To top it off, I was given a "family gift"… a Wii!  So, not only do we have family game night, but now we will have family Wii night.  Abe and I are already getting feisty on the tennis court.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's who have been special in our lives… especially mine.  We've had rough patches but we always seem to pull through.  I'm proud to say that you are my mother and best friend.  Love you!

The Circus is in Town!

The Circus was in town this past weekend.  Mommy just had to go with Izzy and daddy in tow!  But I'm not sure who enjoyed it the most.  The Big Apple Circus only has one ring and about 15 row so everyone gets a pretty good view.  We ended up sitting about 6 rows from ringside.  Unfortunately, a large scaffolding pole was right in front of Abe's view so he missed some of the acts.  Izzy was mesmerized they the arial acts.  Even the family in front of us commented at how observant she was.  But her favorite part was the live bandstand that played with each act.  She would sway back and forth to the beat.  We call her our "musical Izzy".  Unfortunately, mommy forgot the camera so these pictures are from Abe's cell phone. Not the best quality but they will have to do!

Goodbye to an Old Friend

We bit the bullet and said goodbye to a trusty ol' friend tonight… Mr. Whale… Izzy's infant bathtub. The last time we tried this she screamed the whole time prompting us to put Mr. Whale inside the tub instead of on the kitchen counter. However, since she's been taking her baths inside the tub & Abe was home to help, we left Mr. Whale behind. Izzy didn't even seem to notice. She had too much fun with all the water and extra toys that fit. We will always have fond memories of Mr. Whale until the next time.

Izzy sampling one of her new bath toys.

Isn't this face the best?

Izzy's Week in Review

Just got done snapping some pictures of Izzy to post as it has been a bit since she's been featured on our blog :-) This week has been a bit rough for her though. She developed a fever on Wednesday and it only broke early yesterday. Now, though, she's got a rip-roaring rash over her whole body… got to love the viral infections! But her mood is getting better. I think she's still recovering as her naps are 3-4hrs in length. Poor Izzy.

Otherwise, she's got a full plate these next several months. She's been going to Music Together classes on Saturday mornings (pictures to be posted later) and now back into Baby Splash. All these JP mom's work hard to get their kiddos into the program making is difficult for a working mom (i.e. me) to get her signed up. Once the registration is open, it usually fills in less than a day. It just so happened that I had a morning free, went to go work-out at the place were Baby Splash is held and there were 2 spots open. So were are back into. But she was still not feeling the best and was a bit crabby during some of the activities.

Izzy can no longer stay on the bed when mommy folds laundry because she's a girl on the move. So she is now on the ground. It didn't take her long to find Clay's water bowl.

Look how happy I am when I get to splash in water! Can you see all the mess I made as well?

For a while now Izzy has liked to stand. But she would rather have you hold her hips for support, freeing up her arms to play with things. Here she is just getting over her illness… can you tell by those red, puffy eyes.

This is a picture daddy is proud of… Izzy eating veggies! But not any veggies. When I give her this selection, she goes 1st for the peas, followed by the green beans and lastly the corn & carrots. In fact, if you catch me in the process, I will have cleared off all the green things before I even touch the others. I guess this is one gene she didn't get from mommy!

Izzy & mommy back into Baby Splash. The instructor had to give her a rubber duck to help her as she was having a "rough day"… still not fully herself but loved to kick in the water none the less.

Too funny a picture of Izzy. Last year, she was only able to pick up the little balls. Now she goes for the big ones and can put them in the hoop… with some help letting them go however.

Not only do I like the bigger balls… I can grab more than one of them. I got a couple of "looks" from other parents when she did this like we were hogging them all.