Down syndrome's rewards touted as new test looms

Click for MSNBC news article Positive View Down syndrome's rewards touted as new test looms

"Among 2,044 parents or guardians surveyed, 79 percent reported their outlook on life was more positive because of their child with Down syndrome."

Our lives are normal, our lives are the same chaotic race as the Jones', the Jolie-Pitt's and the Beckam's. If not, our lives are far better then the referenced because the view of the perfect family have not been blessed to live the Super Hero Life. I feel deflated when this topic is brought up - even though this article is the positive views of Down syndrome it reflects the negative as well, it just means that there will be less and less miracles in the world, that the medical community is still trying to control fate and play God's hand. I wish that human kind would leave well enough alone. Let the stars align the way they see fit, that's the way it should be... Myself and my family was chosen and given this blessing of having a child with Down syndrome and I would not trade or change my life for anything. I honestly thank God daily for the gift he has given me cause I have no idea where I'd be with out my angel. I can not imagine it any other way - Perfection is Made with 47 Chromosomes.... The negative views are from the ignorant, who have narrowed their intellect with out researching the truth.

The life of Down syndrome is far better then the life without.

A follow up article to Dr. Brian Stotko's research http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44708270/ns/health-health_care/t/inspiring-portrait-down-syndrome-odds-perfect-baby-pursuit/

Such is Life...

Life is never dull, it is full of those moments.

4 vaccines all at once last Thursday - FLU SHOT included in the mix.
  12 hours of trying to tame a 102 fever.
  12 hours of crying.
  12 hours of every 4 hours Tylenol wearing off and rocking until we fell back to sleep.
As the sun rose so did the little man feeling much better, but still punky from a feverish night. When they say vaccines don't make you sick that's a total crock of $#!+.

Yesterday our good neighbor called Brian at work because our smoke detectors kept going off. They are hardwired so when one goes off, they ALL go off. Our neighbor walked around the house but didn't see any smoke (thank God). Well, they do "go off" every once in awhile for short bursts and stop, they didn't stop yesterday. A trip to Home Depot for a fresh pack of batteries and that seemed to do the trick UNTIL... Yup, putting Asa to bed and he was almost asleep - BEEP, BEEEEP, BEEEEEEP. Asa tries to whistle to imitate the sound - LOL Brian comes into Asa's room not so happy and totally bewildered. I told him to go around and see which one is blinking red and that will tell us which one is setting them off. It happened to be the one in the living room, a word of advice for those that have hardwired smoke detectors with battery back-up. It is good to blow or suck the "junk" out of them whenever you replace the batteries. Brian pulled it down and unplugged it, I told him it probably needs to be vacuumed. Well, he shook it and wacked it on his hand. SO MANY BUGS fell out of it! It was nasty, all these little dead dried up bugs. So word to the wise, vacuum out your smoke detectors at least once a year!

Big School, Van, Preschool update;
Asa is doing excellent with his new busy schedule. We go to BIG School (insert the sign for BIG followed by school sign) M, W, F for Therapy, then he rides the van with Greg (insert sign for G at forehead) to Preschool (insert sign for P and then sign for school). He does this all by himself at 4 years old. No Mommy, No Daddy just his excellent team of therapists and teachers. He rides the van with only the driver "Greg". Greg helps him into Preshool (the next town over) but Asa walks through the doors hangs up his own back-pack and goes off to play. Preschool is done at noon, and Brian or Bampie (Grampy) picks him up. He is exhausted by this time and immediately falls asleep in the car on the ride to daycare, but he's doing good and gets a rest after lunch. I'm so proud of my little man and can't believe he's such a big boy...

Wordless Wednesday

3 Years Ago

3 years ago I joined a Down syndrome web board community called Downsyn.com. I was a lurker for long time before I finally joined, that was a difficult step to make, to others it may seem so easy to do. But when you are given this blessing of a child so incredible it takes a little while to blossom and reach out to those who share the gift that you have been given. I was welcomed by people from all over the world who I instantly felt were family, they knew the part of my life that nobody else understands - my life of love and laughter, tears and joy, my love of having a child with Down syndrome. This place was a daily escape for me for a long time, my time of learning and understanding. I am not a daily traveler now, but stop in every once in awhile and check up on people. One person I met here is Leah. Leah is the Momma Bear, The Expert, The Go To Gal. I follow her blog Garden of Eagan. She had this video posted this morning, a tribute by one of the daughters of a member of the group, mom's name is Adrienne. Over the years I have followed Adrienne's posts of Russell, of him losing his sight and the challenges that she and he have faced and met head on at every turn, an inspiration she is and she has obviously passed this on to her beautiful daughters. Here is Russell's older sister Regan's video tribute to her brother, I could not help but share, fantastic job Regan! "tissue warning".

Oh what a beautiful day...

Labor Day Weekend has come and gone for another year and we tried to suck the marrow out of it. We did not travel or have grand plans. Though Asa was adamant he was at the beach! "Beach Momma, My Beach" and how could I suggest anything different...

I have watched my butterfly bush flourish this year. Last year, and I'm not lying, it was a 1/4 of this size! It smells so sweet and the butterflies are bountiful...

So, we're just sittin' back and relaxin', enjoying the last days of summer before the north wind blows and the nights turn crisp with a chill in the air. Preschool has started along with therapy 3 days a week. It is a lot, but we'll just have to get used to the hustle and bustle and make sure we go to bed early!

We're Dry! Updated 8/30

As some may recall from our spring thaw we had a little bit of a water episode at our house. Well, Miss Irene didn't get us, the sump pump did it's job and we stayed dry. I can't say that for the majority of our local community. The main road connecting us to the world (interstates, stores, work) was flooded from the Connecticut River. Asa and I took the "long" way in this morning. Our little road bordered by a brook sustained some damage but was passable. Many other roads were not and as of this morning the majority of bridges crossing the multiple strings of rivers in our area were closed until they could be inspected for damage.

Here is video of the Quechee (pronounced Qwee-chee, like Queen) covered bridge going over the Ottauquechee River in Vermont. I worked for 6 years in the building just next door/upstream from the white Real Estate office in this video. There is a small hydro dam here and the drop below the bridge is about 25 feet (below the bridge) did I mention that's the height below the bridge? This was only one of multiply small bridges that got washed out during yesterday's storm across our region.

Updated 8/30/11:

Here are a couple more video's of West Hartford, Vermont. My grandfather grew up in the hills beyond the river and my "family resting place" is just on the other side of the road from the river in the cutest little cemetery you've ever seen, it sits on a hill so the water did not get this high thankfully.

The White River at West Hartford, Vermont, rose 16.47 feet by 7:30 p.m. yesterday 8/28, the last information available. The highest crest measured was 20.67 feet, which surpasses both a flood in November 1927 and the Hurricane of 1938, according to the weather service.

DURING the storm click here and here to see videos. The white thing floating is a hay bail in the second video, there are rumors that some unlucky cows didn't make it out of harms way. AFTER the storm click here, look at the front of the white house across road, the front is completely gone. The Village Library is to the left and the Country Store is the big red building to the far left. Our cemetery is just beyond that up a little hill behind the church (the cutest little church you'll ever see too, though it's vacant now).

Efforts

My mother has a cute antique looking image of a little kid sitting on a chamber pot hanging in her bathroom. There is a caption below the image that says "Efforts". I never imagined Potty Training would be such a HUGE EFFORT. We have put forth the effort and we've had success!

Friday evening I stopped and picked up all the necessities I thought I would need for a successful weekend of "going on the potty". 2 packages of Cars and Toy Story Fundaroos (these bad boys are pricey!), a new wider opening seat insert, glass jar with lid and a 1 lb. bag of M&M's.

We started right in when I got home with one successful attempt and lots of cheering. Saturday morning we woke up and picked out a pair of Fundaroos. We sat down and had the talk that our undies needed to stay dry and we needed to go on the potty if we had to go potty. Through trial and error - error being one # 2, with a little #1in our first set of fundies. We tried again, picked out a new pair and kept those dry for a couple hours. All and all on Saturday we successfully peed on the potty 5 times, we started to call it making yellow and that was a hit. We totalled only 3 pairs of wet fundies, 1 being the first error.

We ended up going to the Fair Saturday night and rather then having to finish our first day of potty training using port-o-poos we opted for the good old pull-up. Sunday morning we started fresh again, lots of "no-goes" and Ace insisting he did make yellow and deserving a yum I told him we did not get an M&M unless we made yellow on the potty successfully. Mid-morning only 5 minutes after we sat on the potty I walked into the living room and asked again if he needed to go potty. He responded "YEAH", this was a little too overzealous and quick. I asked him if his fundies were wet and he said "yeah". He was standing in the middle of a lake with wet foot prints leading to and from - UGH. He had held it for so long and then I imagine he couldn't anymore. A BIG clean up ensued and we started fresh again. Sunday was certainly not as successful as Saturday. We had only a couple successful attempts but the last one of the day after tubby was ex-streamly successful.

He is working on it at Daycare, trying to stay consistent and successful with our efforts. At least I know now that we CAN do it and we will work on it a little more everyday. I have to say this was one of my biggest stresses for Preschool and hopefully he will cooperate and go when he needs to there...