Halloweens of the Past

So I was sitting here tonight with my daughter watching It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and all of a sudden I started remembering what fun Halloween was for me when I was younger. My favorite memories were of the Halloween parties that we had at the Church. Everyone would get a room to decorate or set up for some kind of Halloween carnival type thing... the room the comes to my mind first would be the "Operation Room" Where you had some people behind a white sheet with a light shining towards you showing you their shadows during their "operation" and the poor guy on the table who was being operated on who would always lose his guts and so much more... It was really creative and I swear to this day there were eyeballs in the bowl of stuff that I had to put my hand in : ) Oh it was so fun and innocent in a way. I'm sad that today it gets taken to a level that loses that innocence and so you are limited to what you can do. Then there were the days of being so jealous of the high school kids who got to stay out late and have egg wars in the street... yea that is when you threw eggs at each other, not cars or houses... I think when I was actually old enough to join in I threw my eggs at the actual street just for the fun of it... We were pretty wild back in the day... So there you have it, some memories of the past that when I think about it were so much fun!!

Happy Halloween!!

All About Elle

So looking back over my posts so far I see a lot of Jack News, and it has sort of made me feel a little bad. I want our blog to be about happenings in our family and I guess that lately there has just been a lot of news to report on Jack. It is important to me to have posts about our different experiences with Jack because as someone who went straight to the Internet to find some sort of direction when we first had him, I know that reading other families blogs about their child with Trisomy 21 helped me in so many ways feel prepared for this journey. So by reporting everything about what is happening, I feel that maybe someday, someone might stumble upon our story and feel some sort of relief.

But that being said I wanted this post to be all about Elle.

Where do I start with this one?? She just turned 4 but you would never know it. I love Elles personality, her determination, her love of family, friends, school and singing. I even love the attitude that she is full of, even though as she is stomping away saying "Fine, Forget It" and I'm about to flip my lid, when I look back at it all, I can smile. I'm so grateful that even though she will fight with me about a decision, she always will do the right thing in the end. I love her curls and how she is very particular on the way we do her hair. Her love of accessories is something that makes me laugh every time I see her. She loves jewelry and if your not fast, she may walk away with a necklace or bracelet : ) If you could see this picture up close you would see she is wearing earrings, 2 bracelets, a necklace and a ring...

Finally she is such a loving sister. Her interaction with Jack, how she helps me with him and just how proud she is of him is something that I have no words for. It is a beautiful thing to watch. Even if he is pulling her hair for the 15th time in a row, I have never seen her get angry with him. She just says "Jack you need to be careful."

My mother would always tell me that "One day you will have a daughter just like you" and some times when we are butting heads and I'm about to pull my hair out, I know we do have some things in common. But, there are other times when I just melt at how sweet she is, so I'll take her, the good and all the rest!!

Parenting.com

On Parenting.com they are doing a special photo gallery in honor of National Down Syndrome Awareness Month
So you HAVE to go to this link:
http://www.parenting.com/gallery/Child/A-Special-Joy-2009-Kids-With-Down-Syndrome-Round-5
That's right Jack has made it to the big time.... I was shocked when I saw he was the 1st one of this group because his picture represents the groups : ) All of the photos are too sweet. If you are having a bad day, it will only take 1 photo to change your mind. One of the other moms who posted a picture said it best when she said "Children with Down Syndrome are more like typical children than they are different" Share it with all your friends... I told Steve the other day that the NFL should not only be wearing pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness but they should add blue and yellow as well....
Oh yea, and a quick update on Steve... he had/has the flu - normal but hit him hard flu- added to it was a sinus and kidney infection. So to say the least he has been pretty beat up the past few days...

A Princess Again??

So I have gone back and forth with Elle on what she is going to be for Halloween. She keeps telling me she wants to be a princess, the problem - for me - is for the past 2 years she has been a princess. So I have tried and tried to get her to change her mind... Well we found the cutest costume - not a princess - and I just really had to try to get her to change and as luck would have it she decided she would.. Here is your clue as to what she will be:

Jack Attack is going as a lion so it will go right along with what Elle will be... So I guess all we need is a Scarecrow and Tin Man...

Yesterday Elle, Jack and I went to the pumpkin patch for a Halloween party put on by a charity organization that we are involved in. Steve was sick - very sick - and was at home in bed... not sure what it is yet, but we will know more tomorrow... but anyway so the kids and I got to go and we had such a great time. We actually went to this farm last week to get our pumpkins, but we ended up going on one of the coldest days in October so far.. so we only stayed a short time. Last night was perfect.. The weather was great so we were able to enjoy all the different activities. It was so much fun!

Here we are on the trick-or-treat hay ride... Elle loved having candy thrown into the ride, and Jack was just trying to figure out who this guy was that was taking his picture : )

Way Better Than Expected

So yesterday was Jacks ECHO and to say that we were relieved would be a huge understatement.... I don't know if we were just warned to expect the worst or what, but everything has turned out so much better that we were expecting. Jack still has 2 of the 3 original holes in his heart, but 1 hole has tissue by it which is a sign that the heart is trying to repair itself, so we will just be watching that one for now... and with the other hole it is 2mm which the cardiologist said is small but we won't do anything for it until we go see an ENT about his tonsils and adenoids. Meaning Jack has high pressure in his lungs that could be due to the hole but also could be due to his airway having restrictions to it -ie- his tonsils and adenoids are too big and would need to be removed.... Thank you to everyone for all the thoughts and prayers. Our next hurdle to cross will be "What is Elle going to be for Halloween??" : )

National Down Syndrome Awareness Month

October is National Down Syndrome Awareness month so I wanted to share the following in honor of our little man....

My face may be different but my feelings the same.

I laugh and I cry and take pride in my gains.

I was sent here among you to teach and to love.

As God in the heavens looks down from above.

To Him, I’m no different, His love has no bounds;

It’s those here among you in cities and towns

That judge me by standards that man has imparted,

But this family I’ve chosen will help me get started.

For I am one of the children, so special and few,

that came here to learn the same just as you.

That love and acceptance, it must come from the heart.

We all have a purpose, though not the same start.

The Lord gave me life, to live and embrace.

And I’ll do it as you do but at my own pace.

-Unknown

We love you Jack!!

Was it a Sign or just a Coincidence?

So as you all know our little man Jack has been getting check ups and such on his heart, and just this past week we were told that there might be issues. This was news to us as this whole past year we had been told that things were great, yes he had holes but they were healing on their own, and in fact 1 of the 3 was getting really close to closing. So we were shocked when we went in and were told that we were going to have to do some more testing to see what is going on. Well I left the hospital in a sea of emotions, which I'm still trying to figure out which one to focus on, but the other day I was going through a drive through at a convenience store to get a soda, when the guy helping me -who was probably around 17-18 - asked if Jack had Down Syndrome.. he could see Jack sitting behind me.. I told him yes and the guy went on to tell me how he had a 5yr old brother with Downs and how much he loved it all and just little stories about his brother.. It was so great to see how happy this boy was he was just a big smile from ear to ear.. well after he handed me my drink he asked about Jacks health. I told him we had thought everything was fine but that we were going in to look at his heart. He said that his brother had to have open heart surgery at 4months old but that he is just doing great today he said his brother is probably close to the same size as Jack.. That just so freaked me out I mean I know its pretty common for children with Downs to have heart issues which many require surgery but it was just the timing and everything... But anyway the cutest part was the boy asked if he could give Jack a sucker... which was so sweet but my little guy is a VERY picky eater to say the least and the look on his face if he was to try a sucker would just be way too funny...So we had to pass but just the actions of this boy were very sweet.. It was a good moment.
Our countdown to the ECHO is 3 more days... Keep your fingers crossed and our little Jack in your prayers...

Is It Really October??

I can't believe that October is already here!! It's crazy how quickly time flies by. I love this end of the year as you get Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas... one after the other.. The first snow is always exciting for me as well, although by the end of January into mid February I'm ready for it to be over : ) But it makes me want to take a minute to capture some memories that have been on my mind lately....

* I love the way Elle says Halloween - it sounds more like Hallow-queen... it is so funny and I know I should probably correct her but I just love the way it sounds so I can't
* Elle also has a cute way of saying its time for bed... she calls it bednight
* Jack amazes me with his smile... when you look at him and he smiles it is just so innocent and true.. I don't really have words to explain it.
* Watching Steve with both the kids is a really good feeling. It melts my heart. I think seeing any dad with his kids is a great thing but to see your husband, in a "Dad" moment is so amazing... even when it is just a Saturday morning sitting on the bed.
*Finally I wanted to show what a cute side profile Jack has... the problem is I have had a really hard time capturing it.. so I've posted the best one I've been able to get so far...