Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesday's go to, http://wordlesswednesday.blogspot.com/

Super Duper Jack!

If you haven't already been to her blog, be sure to go visit Leslieann's blog about her son Jack, Super Duper Jack. What a wonderful blog!

Word Cloud

I made a Word Cloud out of words from my blog the other day and forgot to post it! It's interesting to see all the different words from your blog. Like Michelle said, it's neat to see.

Wow, it's been a busy last 2 days. Pat and I woke up two nights ago at 3:45am to Joey crying, which scared the heck out of us, it was the first time he's woken up in the middle of the night since he was two months old. So I ran into his room and picked him up and realized he was burning up. He had a 101 fever. I gave him tylenol and got him to go back to sleep in bed with us. His fever came back about 9 am so I called the doctor and took him in. Poor little guy has his first cold! The sneezing and coughing started today and his eyes are so puffy. They look awful! Dr. B said his throat was bright red (negative strep culture). I feel so bad for him! Then he woke up at 4:30 this morning crying again, but no fever. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for him (and me).

Before I had Joey, I never realized how stressful motherhood can truely be!! Gotta love being a first time mom!

Carrie and Sujeet are in the news again!

Carrie and Sujeet are in the news again!! "When Love Conquers All" was aired on ABC's 20/20 last night.

Their love for each other is so beautiful and pure. It brings goosebumps everytime I think about them. I can't wait for the day that Joey finds the love of his life.

The day I met Patrick for the first time still brings goosebumps everytime I think about it too. It was the summer before his last year of law school. We both worked at a nursing home. I was a nursing assistant and Pat was the ground's keeper. I would go outside for my breaks and saw Pat working. Word got back to me that he thought I was pretty so I decided to go talk to him. He asked me out on a date that day. I just had a gut feeling he was "the one" and that we were going to get married. Sure enough, I was right. It's kinda funny, I met my husband at a nursing home!!

Five Ingredient Friday

Berry Berry Cool Pie

Ingredients

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 cups assorted fresh berries (raspberries, blueberries or blackberries)

1 tub (8 oz.) frozen non-dairy whipped topping, thawed

1 Keebler® Ready Crust Graham Pie Crust

Directions

1. In large bowl combine sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice.

2. Stir in berries. Fold in whipped topping. Spread in crust.

3. Freeze at least 5 hours or until firm. Let stand at room temperature for 30 to 40 minutes before cutting. Garnish as desired.

OK, onto a much better, happier entry than my last one. I had such a great week with my friend and her daughter. I usually only get to see them about once a year so I enjoyed every minute of their visit.

Our trip to the Lyman Orchards on Tuesday was a blast! Teylor fed the ducks for a while and Joey enjoyed looking at all the sights and sounds. Afterwards, we went in the store and bought lots of good food! Their apple pie is the best!

Yesterday we went to Mystic Aquarium and had a great time. Teylor loved the sea lions the most, she actully wanted to bring one home with us. Her mom had to go buy her a sea lion stuffed animal to get her mind off of bringing a real one home!! Joey loves watching the fish swim. The sting ray tank kept him occupied for about 10 minutes!

Well, I better attempt to catch up on laundry and cleaning that I haven't done since last week!

What a jerk!

I’ve been contemplating writing this entry just for the simple fact that the topic really ticks me off every time I think about it. Well, a couple weekends ago we had some friends over for a bonfire. Our friend brought one of his friends along which was fine until he started dropping the “R” word every other word.

It all started when we started talking about movies we’ve all watched recently and I said that Pat & I watched “The Ringer”, and how mush I enjoyed it and thought it was great that the actors with T-21 were given a chance to act in such a big movie. This guy blurted in saying that all the actors were “f-ing R’s” and that’s all they’ll ever be, and he just started ranting and raving about people with disabilities. I sat there biting my lip as hard as I could for long enough and I finally jumped up and ran inside to my husband.

I know this guy was drunk but that makes no difference or excuse. I knew if I would have opened my mouth and said something to him, it would of just made him rant and rave even more, and I’m not sure if I would of opened my mouth it would of stopped. And I’m not even sure if he realized that our son has Down syndrome.

After this I found out this guy really is crazy and a drunk so he is no long welcome at our home and if we go to an event that he is at, I will leave. I just had to vent somewhere to someone and the majority of the people that read this are fellow T-21 parents.

I know that I’m going to come along other people who are going to be mean and disrespect Joey and us, but that was the first for me and it still hurts. The more I think about it, I feel like I failed as an advocate for people with Down syndrome by not saying something to this guy, but I know I would of just gotten hysterical.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle idiots like him and what to say to them when/ if this happens again?

Well, I just finished feeding Joey peas for the first time and he LOVED them. I expected him to spit them all over the place and making yucky faces, but instead I got a happy little boy smacking his lips together and smiling at me! I really wish I would have had my camera handy so I could of gotten some pictures.

My girlfriend and her daughter are here until Thursday, and we've had such a great time! Yesterday we went to Ikea (I love that store!) and today we're going to a local orchard. Tomorrow we're going to go to the Mystic Aqaurium. I'll be sure to post pictures later. On that note, here's a couple tummy time pictures to leave y'all with!

Great book!

OK, so I didn't think I would be online much, but the guys are watching a movie, so I decided to take advantage of the moment. I've actully been reading a great book the past couple days and wanted to share it with you, "Baby Laughs: The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood" by Jenny McCarthy. At first when I saw the book, I was like, "Heck no, she's been in playboy and seems so vulgar on tv", but the book is great! I gave up reading books on parenting and babies just due to the fact that to me, they are boring. This book is great. She is so truthful and funny at the same time!! This is definetly a must read!

Happy Birthday Terry!

My brother was 16 when I was born and unfortunately our father worked a lot of overtime and wasn’t home very much. Terry filled in for Dad. He has been like a second father to me. He took me to my first baseball game (Cincinnati Reds) and first concert (Melissa Etheridge). I would spend almost every Saturday night with Terry and his wife growing up. Many of my best memories have my brother in them. He also took me to about every movie I went to when I was a kid. For some reason one thing I remember more than anything is whenever we were in his car, we would listen to David Lee Roth blaring on the radio (gotta love the 80’s)!

The past year has been so hard being away from my family and friends, especially being away from Terry. You never realize how much a sibling means to you until you’re away from them for an extended period of time.

The day after I got the call from the doctor that Joey has Down syndrome and needed my family more than anything, it was Terry that I called crying wanting to go home to Ohio. He was there on the phone listing to me cry and telling me that everything was going to be all right. I could always count on him for anything, I still can.

When Patrick and I got married last year, I had a brother/ sister dance with him. The song was “Hero” by Mariah Carey. Terry is truly my hero and was who I looked up to growing up.

Today is his birthday and I wish I could be back home in Ohio to spend it with him. Happy Birthday Bubba! I miss you!!

I just wanted to give y'all a quick update. I won't be around a lot for the next couple days. One of my best friends from high school, Paco aka Ryan who is in the Navy and stationed a hour from our house, was able to get a weekend of leave so I drove to Groton yesterday and picked him up. Then Monday, another one of my best friends from high school, Chauntey and her 4 year old daughter, Teylor, who now lives in New Hampshire are coming to visit until Wednesday. It's going to be a busy, fun week!!

Joey is doing great. Still cranky and not wanting to take naps, but hopefully it will get better soon!

OK well, if you notice any weird changes in my blog in the next couple days, I just switched to blogger beta. Apparently it's easier to use it than the regular bloggler (we'll see).

It seems like the past few days Joey hasn't been doing as good of a job eating and drinking. He usually is an awesome eater, but lately he's been choking on his formula and almost gagging on his cereal. I talked to his occupational therapist about it today and she told me to call his pediatrician tomorrow and to talk to his speech therapist next week when she comes for her monthly visit. But I think I'm going to call her tomorrow too. Sometimes it seems like for every step he takes forward he takes two back.

My Grandma had her open heart surgery yesterday. The doctors had to replace the whole valve rather than repairing it. So she has part of a pigs heart in her now, it's truely amazing the things they can go with medicine now compared to even 10 years ago. But Grandma is a tough ol' bird, she was sitting up in bed this morning eating jello, so she's going to be just fine. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers for Grandma.

Peak A Boo!

Article time!!

I've been slacking in the article department so I figured it was time to find a few good ones!

"Families’ joy as Down’s pair wed", by Joanna Codd. Another cute couple ties the knot!


"Disabled Teen Becomes Eagle Scout", By Matthew Pleasant. A wonderful article about a young man with T-21 who becomes an Eagle Scout.

When I started posting about Joey having down syndrome, I was writing so my family and friends back in Ohio (Hey guys!!!) could keep up to date on what was going on with us. I never imagined that I would find an online community of parents or should I say, have the community find me. I enjoy my daily routine of reading all of my fellow T-21 mom's blogs. Writing on here daily has almost become a job for me. Since I'm a stay at home mom, besides taking care of Joey, cooking and cleaning, I really have nothing else to do, but write in my blog. I've also been trying to read at least one or two new T-21 blogs a day, and look for news articles pertaining to Down syndrome. If you are a parent that I haven't met online yet that is reading this, please introduce yourself! I love meeting new parents, T-21 or not!!!

Joey's newest milestone... rolling from his back to his side. He can't roll from back to belly yet, but soon enough!!

And his new favorite activity to pass the time... sucking his thumb!

Well, I called my favorite aunt on Monday to see if it was ok to stop by and see her and my uncle. She took a huge breath and said "no, I can't be around Joey for a while". I didn't fully understand at first and she proceeded to tell me that she's been hiding something from me, cancer and that she's on chemotherapy until November and can't be around children. She has lymphoma in her mouth on the inner part of her upper gum. She didn't want to upset me until she knew how bad it was going to be and she didn't want me worrying. Luckily, it's isolated and they were able to remove the tumor. Please say a prayer for her if you could.

THEN, my Grandma has been having asthma attacks one after another for a the past week. She went to her regular doctor and she was told that it was her allergies. My aunt ended up taking her to the hospital on Thursday. During all the tests, the doctors discovered that she had 700cc of fluid around her left lung and 500cc around her right. We were told it was either cancer, a bad infection or possibly her heart. The tests were furthered and she has a severely leaking mitral valve on her heart. Needless to say, she goes in for a heart cath on Monday and open heart surgery mid to late this upcoming week. Pray for her too.

These two women are two of my favorite people in the world and who I'm the closest to out of both sides of my family.

It was so nice to be home minus a couple bad news days, but I'll get to them later. Saturday was my cousin's baby shower. Everything went great, she recieved a lot of the things off her registry. It's so exciting... she's having a little boy September 10 and her brother's girlfriend is due to have a little boy the end of October. We're all going to have little boys!!!

Saturday night I went to my friends' bar and got to see some of my old friends. It was karaoke night, I didn't sing, I usually do, but just didn't have the karaoke itch in me that night. But my friend Josh did sing a very good rendition of "Baby Got Back" that was priceless to watch :)

Sunday we went to the Dublin Irish Festival to see my father-in-laws best friend John perform. He's an incrediable musician and such a fun person. He was the MC for the festival's finale. There were so many amazing Irish musicians on the stage at once... Celtic Tenors, Gaelic Storm, 2 of the fiddle players from "Lord of the Dance", just to name a few. We also ate a lot of great food, I think I enjoyed the corned beef and cabbage the best!

(John is the accordian player in the middle)

So much happened in the past week it's going to take a couple entries for me to update everything!!

I'll go backwards though... today wasn't as crazy as I thought it was going to be at the airport. We arrived at Columbus at 2:00 for our 4:30 flight. Luckily the security checkpoint line wasn't too bad. Joey and I made it through the medal detectors but they saw something in my purse that looked funny so they took us off to the side to search my purse and of corse found NOTHING! The hardest part of today was not being able to take water with me. I had to buy water to make Joey's formula but then couldn't take the leftover water on the plane with us. Oh well... Joey did great on the plane except for the last 20 minutes. He didn't scream his head off but he was definitely not a happy little boy.

After we got back to our house, we weren't even home for 5 minutes and the power transformer blew outside of our house!! I had just turned on my computer and sat down to get online and "BOOM!!!!", it sounded like a shotgun was shot right outside our front door! So needless to say after a day of traveling with a 5 month old, all I wanted to do was come home and get on my computer and we had no electricity!! We came over to my in-laws house until our power wil hopefully be put back on soon! Luckily it's only in the 70's tonight. I just hope my computer didn't get fried in the process!!

I'll update about our trip tomorrow, computer permitting!

Joey and I are off to Ohio tomorrow until next Friday, we'll talk to you all in a week!!

We went to the Social Security office today to apply for Joey to get SSI, unfortunatly Patrick makes $300 a month too much to qualify for it, BUT... that doesn't matter now because PATRICK GOT A NEW JOB!!!!! Now he'll be making more and money won't be as tight. We can finally start saving up for a house too! We're going to move into a little bigger of an apartment this fall/ winter, then start saving!! Pat has been looking for quite some time for a job, but it's hard to find a job for an attorney who's been practing for less than 2 years. But our patience paid off in the end and the other plus to this new job, FULL BENEFITS!! We've been paying for our health insurance out of our own pockets and now we don't have to!!

I just want to say a quick Happy birthday to Michelle!!

Just thought I'd give a quick update. Between Joey's first case of diaper rash and the poor little guy being constipated it's been a long two days. I finally got him to eat some baby food prunes in with his rice ceral so hopefully that will help. Wish us luck!!!

Well we're off to Ikea and the Christmas Tree Shop to spend money!!!

Also, don't forget to keep brainstorming ideas for our buddy walk team's name!!!

I just came across this website, T-21 Club and I want to buy everything off of it! I've been wanting something different to get certain family members and I think I found it!

I don't think I have much else to update on. I'm going to be busy helping to plan the CDSC's Buddy Walk on September 30. Pat and I joined the committee and are doing what we can to help. It's only the CDSC's second walk, but we're expecting around 400 people. It's been nice helping to plan something as important to DS awareness as the Buddy Walk. I'm looking forward to get more involved as time goes on. It's hard right now with Joey only being 4 1/2 months old, but once things get more settled down, it'll be easier (I hope).

I've been thinking about before Joey was born, how boring our lives were and how lonely I was. We got married and I moved up here to Connecticut with Patrick and knew no one besides Pat's family. I still don't know many people, but having Joey has actully helped me to make friends... if he didn't have T-21, I wouldn't be meeting the wonderful families that I have, not to mention all of you other Moms that I've met on here.

Back to the Buddy Walk, I've been trying to come up with ideas for our Team Name. I don't want to do "Team Joey", there's going to be other Joeys there so I need something different. Does anyone have any ideas?

I've been trying to read new T-21 and other parenting blogs and added a couple new ones to my list Overwhelmed With Joy, Sweetest Cherry In An Apple Pie, and Till My Head Falls Off. I'm looking forward to reading more!!

I've been tagged!!

Big Blueberry Eyes Tagged Me!!

Five items in my freezer - Ground beef, ice cream, ice, chicken pot pies, popsicles

Five items in my closet - clothes, blankets, shoes, purses, belts

Five items in my car - stroller, CDs, blankets, kleenex, hands free cell phone thing

Five items in my purse - Driver's license, debit cards, cell phone, appointment calender, makeup

Five people I tag - Always Chaos, Brady's Bunch, and whoever else feels like doing it!!

CDSC Picnic

Today was the Connecticut Down Syndrome Conngress's Annual picnic. We had a great time, it was at Hammonasett Beach. Joey was the hit of the picnic with the other T-21 children. It was so weird, there was other babies there but they all clung to us and Joey. I don't know if it was because we're younger parents, I dunno, but Joey was definitely one the hits of the picnic! They had an Elvis Impersonator, a DJ, kites for everyone to fly, and of corse the beach to go swimming!

Gigi's Playhouse

Here's a very interesting article called Learning to Read With Down Syndrome written by Karen Meyer. It's about a literacy program at Gigi's Playhouse in Chicago. You can also go to http://www.gigisplayhouse.com/

Today was a better day. No more episodes with Joey, hopefully it was just a one time thing. I found something at Target today that absolutely made my day though... Animaniac's on DVD!! It was my favorite cartoon when I when I was 13! It was one of Patrick's too so I splurged and spent the $29 on it.

Then we spent the afternoon over at my mother-in-laws. Patrick's family has been so good in helping me out. I know I've said this in the past, but I don't know what I would do without them, especially his mom.

This evening, Joey was in one of the best moods I've ever seen him in... he played/ exercised for about 20 minutes (he usually only lasts about 15). He was talking away to Pat & I, it was great!! Joey wants to sit up on his own so bad, but he's not strong enough yet, but the look on his face when he tries in so determined. I don't think it will be long at all until he's able to do so. Anyways, I guess that's it for now!

Reece's Rainbow

Always Chaos posted a link to this website, Reece's Rainbow. I can't express how important it is to pass this site along to any family who might be interested in adopting a child with Down syndrome. Or at least if you know someone who is generous in making contributions to charities, this one is definitely one worth giving to.

Today was definelty a bad day... it started around 1:30 when Joey's physical therapist was here. He was in a great mood... laughing, smiling, I couldn't of asked for a happier baby. About 20 minutes later he started crying and it wasn't his normal crying. It was different. His PT was even worried. She stayed around for a bit, then a few minutes after she left, his crying got worse, then he stopped crying and his eyes rolled back in his head and started shaking. This lasted about 10 seconds then he started crying uncontrollably again. I'm not sure if he had a seizure or what. I called his pediatrician in a panic and he said since Joey wasn't running a fever that he doubts it was a seizure. I just don't know what to think. The only thing I know is that it scared the hell out of me. After crying for about 30 minutes longer, he fell asleep. My mother-in-law came over a little bit after that. Joey woke up and was fine and happy as could be. But I had never been happier to see Pat's mom in my life. Joey really scared me, I just didn't know what to think when his eyes rolled back and they started shaking all over the place. Thank God he's ok now, I just hope that never happens again.

Meme!

Miss E tagged Joey!!

3 Things That Scare Me
1. Gas
2. Running out of milk
3. Dirty Diapers


People That Make Me Laugh
1. My Mommy
2. My Daddy
3. My Twin Aunts Margaret and Maureen (we'll count them as one since they look alike)

3 Things I Love
1. A clean diaper
2. A full bottle
3. A car ride to make me fall asleep

3 Things I Dislike
1. Gas
2. Shots
3. Dirty Diapers

3 Things I Don't Understand
1. how to tell my mommy what's wrong
2. why my diaper feels funny sometimes
3.

3 Things On My Floor
1. my bumbo chair
2. my tummy time mat
3. a rattle

3 Things I'm Doing Right Now
1. babbling
2. trying to finish my bottle
3. smiling

3 Things I Can Do
1. roll over
2. hold my head up
3. smile & laugh

3 Things I Can't Do
1. crawl
2. walk
3. talk

3 Ways to Describe My Personality
1. spoiled
2. determined
3. comedian

3 Things I Think You Should Listen To
1. Celtic music
2. baby einstein
3. Lynyrd Skynyrd

3 Things I Think You Should Never Listen To
1. me, when I have gas!
2. me, when my diaper is dirty!
3. me, when I'm hungrey

3 Absolute Favorite Foods
1. milk
2. rice ceral
3. applesauce

3 Things I'd Like to Learn
1. how to crawl
2. how to talk
3. how to walk

3 Beverages I Drink Regularly
1. formula
2. water
3.

3 Shows I Watch On Occasion
1. Baby Einstein
2.
3.

3 babies or toddlers I tag:
1. Tristan from Channelle and Tristan
2. Vincent from Prince Vince
3. that's it!!!!

Patrick's boss brought Joey home a set of Mickey ears when she went to Disney, isn't he just the cutest thing?

Also, cross your fingers for me that my digital camera is up and working again :)

Poor Joey, I took him to his doctor yesterday for his 4 month check up and he got 2 more vaccinations. He was running a slight fever still this morning, even with me giving him tylenol. It is so obvious he doesn't feel good. He's slept most of the day away and when he hasn't been sleeping, he's been crying. I feel so bad. The good news about his Dr. visit, he weighs 12 lbs 8 oz and he's 23 inches long!! I can't believe how big the little guy has gotten!

One of our local groceries is having a sale on canned goods this week so I figured I would go and stock up. Well I get there and it was a MAD HOUSE! I braved the crowd anyways, found some good deals and got the heck out of there. Sometimes I just think that it's not worth getting messed up in the crowds and waiting in the lines just for a cheaper grocery bill, but then a penny saved is a penny earned :)

Yesterday, Joey's speech therapist decided that we should go ahead and try Joey on another food besides cereal so we tried bananas. He loved them! His smile got bigger with every single bite! I don't think I have ever seen him so happy before. Today, applesauce!

I can't believe how hot it is today! The news said it was 85 degrees at 7:30 this morning. I'm so glad that we have air conditioning... where would we be without it?! I thought moving from Ohio to Connecticut would give me a little freedom from the extremely hot summer days, boy, was I wrong!

Joey can't fall asleep on his own during the day. I lay him down in his crib for a nap and he screams his head off so I try rocking him, patting his back, feeding him and it rarely works. He gets so tired, he can barely keep his eyes open and starts crying. Finally when he falls asleep, I put him down and he wakes up 5 minutes later. The only way I can get him to stay asleep is if I lay him on my chest, which doesn't give me a break during the day to get stuff done. Does anyone have any suggestions or advice?

Chad's Chopp'N Company

Another great article...

A man with Down syndrome starts his own business. Posted in the Star-Telegram written by Terry Lee Goodrich.

Wow, I'm on a role today finding articles!! Here's a couple more that I really enjoyed today...

"Swimming lessons of a lifetime" written by Brad Gaskins. Hunter Thomson decided for his senior year project that he was going to teach his neighbor who has Mosaic Down syndrome how to swim. A wonderful article!!

Another great article, "Can-do Kim Bain refuses to let Down's syndrome hold him back" published in the Freeport News is about a man with DS who was voted employee of the month at his job.

As some of you might remember, I wasn't very happy with TIME magazine (look back to my November 16 post) after they published an article called "The Down Dilemma. Is a life with the syndrome worth living? A first-trimester test raises the question earlier than ever". Many parents including myself were very unhappy with this article, but they actully published an article worth reading this week, "A Very Special Wedding. A new generation of people with Down syndrome are living longer, finishing school, getting jobs and now--with a little help--beginning to marry" written by Claudia Wallis. I cannot wait for the day to see Joey go to school, graduate college and get married.

The groom, Sujeet, has his own webpage with more details from their wedding!

I just wanted to share this website in honor of Olivia Grace May, a baby girl that had Trisomy 18 who passed away after couple days after she was born. I had read a little on Trisomy 18, but the impact this baby girl had on her family and friends was amazing and I just wanted to share it with you. Thank you to Barbara for posting Olivia's webpage on her blog.

I just wanted to wish a Happy 3rd Birthday to Michelle's daughter Kayla!!!

4 MONTHS!!

I can't believe how quickly the past 4 months have gone... Joey is 4 months old today! It just seems like yesterday that I was in the hospital giving birth to him!!

I was on the phone with the social security people for almost 20 minutes this morning trying to get a human being and finally got through to someone. I made our appointment to get Joey on Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Between formula and diapers the little guy is going to bankrupt us so I figured it was time for SSI.


The past couple days, Joey has been crying a lot. I don't know if adding cereal to his diet has upset his tummy, or if he just wants to be held all the time. I dunno, it's just getting really frustrating at times.

unfortunately, my digital camera is on the outs, I'm hoping I just need a new memory card, so I have no new pictures to post :(


Anyways, I will leave you with this...

Cereal, oh my!

Well, I started Joey on baby cereal. The first attempt didn't go so well, the second a little better and today it actully went fairly well. More still got on his face and bib than in his mouth, but with practice, we'll get better! The pictures don't do justice to the amount he was actully wearing by the end of the feeding!!!
Any advice or suggestions?

I found a very heartwarming article called The birth of a 'messenger from God' written by Norris Burkes. Like this mother, I feel like we were chosen by God to be Joey's parents. During my pregnancy, I turned to prayer when the doctors told me that Joey had some health problems. Thank goodness, my prayers were answered and Joey has helped to make my outlook on religion much stronger. I just wanted to share this article with everyone and hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

Vacation

Well, I had this awesome post about our trip and somehow managed to delete it (don't you hate it when that happens?!

Anyways, our trip was so much fun. We got spoiled by my mom... every morning when Joey woke up, she would feed him and let us sleep in!! My dad bonded with Joey daily... they took naps together! We went to the pool almost everyday, Joey even got in once!

Friday, we went out to the bar that my friends own. It was nice to see everyone. My cousin's Sara and Carrie were there with us. I even had a couple drinks! Well, a couple too many, but luckly, I felt ok the next morning. It felt so good to be out with my friends and having a good time!

Saturday, we went to church and saw Father Ray. He was so happy to see Joey for the first time.

Sunday, we went to the Cincinnati Zoo. It was 100+ degrees outside, so we left Joey home with my parents. It was a lot of fun though. The zoo had a nice hands on birds exhibit so we were able to feed them and dodge getting pooped on! Margaret and Maureen seemed to enjoy the zoo too!

Monday, my dad took Margaret and Maureen fishing for the first time. They each caught a fish, one caught a couple bluegills and the other caught a bass!!

On the 4th, we went met up with some of my friends from high school at Delco Park. The rain held off until about 10 minutes before the fireworks started so we braved the rain and enjoyed the fireworks show rain and all.

Unfortunatly, our trip went by way too quick but luckly, Joey and I are going back next month for the Dublin Irish Festival in Columbus.

We just got home today from our vacation to Ohio to see my family. It was so nice to be home with my family and friends. Patrick and I took his twin 13 yr old sisters with us. We had such a great time. I'll post details and pictures hopefully tomorrow. Right now, I'm extremely tired, we drove through the night last night then had dinner this evening over at my in-laws THEN I had to go to the grocery so I think it's time for me to hit the sack!!

Please repost!!

This was posted on the Connecticut DS message board and needs to be passed around ASAP... There's a little boy in China with DS and needs to be adopted ASAP!!

http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2006/06/urgent_adoption.php

We had a nice time over the weekend despite the rain. The Irish Festival was a lot of fun, I got Joey the cutest shirt that says, "I drink me milk by the pint"!! The twins danced at the feis and did pretty good. The music was great like always and I can't wait for next year. I'm actully going home to Ohio in August for another Irish Festival that is going to be even larger than the one we went to yesterday! Before I met Patrick, I never listened to Celtic music or even knew what a feis was, now I can't get enough!!

About a month ago, I planted a couple tomato plants in larger patio pots and they've been growing on our back porch. I just went out back to check on them, and they're going to outgrow the pots I currently have them in! And to top it all off... I actully have little green tomatoes forming!! SUCCESS!!!

I just want to thank Radonna for letting me copy her adorable DS blinkies!! THANK YOU!!

Onto a Joey update.

I finally got him to laugh today! Before, he would try to laugh, but no sound would come out, and finally today, I got a couple giggles out!! Now I just need a "MaMa"!!!!!! Of corse that's a couple more months down the road, until then, I have his new laughter :)

The past two days Joey has been trying so hard to hold onto his bottle. Well, he's been trying for a while, but yesterday and today he is determined to hold the darn thing. The only problem is, he can't seem to keep his left hand up, but practice will make perfect :)

He's also been sleeping a lot more lately. He sleeps through the night (10pm-7am) and his naps have been getting a little longer during the day (which has been nice for me). I've also been finding myself getting tired a lot more, being a mom is definetly hard work!! When I was younger I would look at my mom and think how fun and easy it would be to be a stay at home mom and I've found out how hard it truely is!!

This weekend is going to be a lot of fun. Patrick's friend, Curt from law school is coming for a visit. We haven't seen him since our wedding so it's going to be nice to see him again. And as long as the rain holds off, we're going to the Irish Festival. Pat's Dad's band is playing and the twins will be step dancing at the feis on Sunday. Good music & food, how much better can it get?

I figured since a lot of the other moms have shared their children's montage, I decided it was time I make Joey one too.


I can change the world!

It seems like everyday, Joey does something just a little different. Today, his smile seems to have gotten bigger.

Tonight, Patrick, his brother and I are going to a concert! It's our second time getting out by ourselves without Joey. It's going to be so nice to have a night to have fun and maybe even have a couple drinks. We're going to see one of my favorite bands, Lynyrd Skynyrd. I really need to start getting out more, it's like, I know I need to get out, but I don't want to leave Joey. And we don't leave him with just any babysitter, it's Patrick's sister Eileen who I trust with my life. Even when I leave Joey with Patrick, I feel like I have to hurry home to take care of Joey. Why can't I just take time for myself? Am I just weird or is it a first time Mom issue?

Happy Father's Day

I just wanted to wish my husband a Happy Father's Day. A year ago from now, Patrick and I never expected to parents within a year of our wedding. We were married on May 28 and a little over a month later I became pregnant. He has been the best daddy ever, he doesn't even complain when changing a poopy diaper! Patrick and Joey are best buds and I don't see that changing ever!

Everyday when Patrick gets home from work, it becomes Daddy time. The first thing when he walks in the door he takes Joey from me and give him a big hug and kiss. He doesn't even put Joey down while eats his dinner. He cherishes every single moment with his son and I think that it is so wonderful.

Up & Going

I just came across this great article about a 45 year old man with DS in Malaysia who is considered one of the town's most important figures because of his job.

Say Cheese!!

I just wanted to share these new pictures that were taken by Joey's Aunt Stephanie (thanks Steph!). I just submitted the one with the race car bib to the NYC Buddy Walk photo contest... I love Joey's face in it!!

Cued Speech

I just signed up to take a workshop on Cued Speech and was wondering if any of the other T-21 parents have any experience with this or have any comments on this method rather than ASL or baby signing. Let me know!
Thanks!!!!

BUMBO!!!

Wow, I just realized how long it's been since I've given a true update! Joey is blabbling away now. He's so funny!
Joey loves sitting up although of course he can't do this on his own yet. I've been getting tired of dragging his high chair through the house so he can sit in it so last night Patrick and I went to Target and bought Joey a bumbo seat. He loves it!! I'll be sure to post pictures of him sitting in it as soon as I get a chance.
Speaking of the little devil... he's waking up from his nap so I better get going!!!

4 Legged Therapy

Last but not least... I just read a couple articles about horse riding therapy for children with disabilities. Pretty interesting... High Times With a Four Legged Friend by Susan Reinhardt and Horsing around, child’s play just another day at work for physical therapist by George Diepenbrock.

I also just found this article written by Jeremy Harmon. It's about a man with T-21 and about how times have changed since the 1960's and also about the accomplishments he has made in the special olympics.

Just a couple articles (thanks to RNP) that I found worth posting...

My Brother is Not His Disability written by Colgan Leaming.
Also, Down Syndrome, The Positives written by Peter Schworm.