Too funny!

Yep - I'm a bad blogger! Can't seem to find the time to sit and do a proper post. I have lots to say, too!Let me try to start here:Last weekend, Jack and M and I went to a meet-up of moms and dads and kids from a forum I belong to that's about Down Syndrome. These are people I "speak with" on a regular basis but most of them, I've never laid eyes on! I consider all of them friends though, so I was really excited to go to this event. Oh my gosh, I was NOT disappointed! So fun! We spent several hours at a rec plex, where we had space to let the kids walk, or crawl, or run around and play on soft "equipment" while us grown-ups talked. There was even a pool so some of us swam for awhile (yep, M and I took Jack and let him splash!). Then we all had dinner together and afterwards, sat in the lobby and chatted away while the kids had planty of room to play on the floor. My friend Adrienne and her 3 kids drove up with us, and we split the cost of the hotel room too. Worked out great! Here's a couple of photos:

M and Jack and a couple of friends:


The HUGE play area we got to use:


A group shot of SOME of the families before we all left Sun. morning:


Adrienne's lovely daughter Regan took some amazing photos, and those 2 framed a couple of special ones for me and M - I hope to post a pic of those some day soon.

Also, we have some really special news! A few weeks ago I realized I hadn't seen Jack crawl in a couple of days! That's right - he's officially a walker!! I'll try to get a short video of that but my computer has trouble reading this memory card of videos so I'll have to try a different one.

I'm sure I have more news but I'll post again later so I can stretch it out a bit!

Giveaway!

Hey go check this out:

http://mamamonkmee.blogspot.com/2008/09/give-away.html

It's a give-away for Down Syndrome Awareness. (And check out her blog too, cute boys are on there!)

Installment #2 - the Shower

My wonderful, amazing, couldn't go on without them friends decided I needed a baby shower for our new little someone since it had been almost 8 years since we had a baby here! My super buddy Jenny even made a special effort to include M in the planning, decorating, and gift buying so she would feel included and proud. I had family and friends come from far away, one of them my BFF since 7th grade, Lori. There were church friends, in-laws, my relatives, friends from college, and friends I met here through my kids' schools. It was truly wonderful to have all these people that I love in one spot, and All of them knew Jack had been dx with ds, and it didn't matter to anyone one whit! They all came to welcome him and give us love and support. I'll never forget it. We had lots of food and cake (my favorite!) and opened so many presents I knew we wouldn't need to buy anything for months! I still had the crib and changing table/dresser from the other kids (I was keeping those for grandbabies anyway, ironic, huh?) but I got lots of other great stuff, including a cute, cute bassinet that I'm now trying to talk myself into selling. Jack came early and arrived before I had everything ready, but that would be the next story. Apparently, I only got a couple photos on my camera from the shower, but here are two. One is the yummy cake, and the other is my 2 of my super friends from out of town, Lori and Sherry.

Sarah Palin

Well, if you know me at all, you'll know I'm not into politics at all. However, I've been pretty interested since McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. She's the youngest governor Alaska has ever had she has 5 kids the youngest of whom has Down Syndrome! I've heard lots of other things like she used to be a stay-at-home mom, her dh stays home now, she married her high school sweet-heart, and she has over an 80% approval rate at home. Don't know if any of it is true but I'm going to find out. I figure, as a 44 yr old mom of a baby with ds, she and I have lots in common. Maybe she'll care about healthcare, education, and funding for people with special needs. Most people research and talk to others and attend rallies and watch debates before they cast a vote. I'm guilty of listening to a dab of news and opinions of family and going a lot on first impressions. I have a great one of her, ever since last Apr, when I first heard about this governor who had the baby with ds. Anyway, we'll see. I'm sure I'll be posting more on this later!

On another note, it's our first holiday weekend of the school year! How excited am I that there's no school Mon?! Very!! We went to my son's high school for their first varsity game tonight (they won after a tie at the end of the 4th - they played college rules so there was 2 "overtimes"(?) - it was cool)! Tomorrow, maybe we'll paint M's desk. Sun, maybe a movie and Mon, who knows?!

So, the grateful list:
1. Sarah Palin and her baby, Trig.
2. high school football!
3. Jack was walking, and clapping, and flirting with girls at the game
4. new friends, old friends, and friends I haven't made yet! :)

Met Some New Friends Today!

So, I've been going to the local DS Assoc support group meetings.  There are a few of us with little ones and we decided to have a play date today.  Of course, I forgot my camera but I got to chat with a couple of super neat ladies and play with 2 adorable little cutie-pies!  Jack got to hang with some people his size but he was the oldest so he looked a little confused sometimes, like why are they down here with me?!  Maybe someday I'll post a pic of our play dates since we decided to do it again soon (and maybe Miss Braska will get to join us the next time)!

We went to M's open house for school this evening.  New school, new teachers, new friends.  She seems really happy there so that's great!  Now we have T's tomorrow and A's 2 days later.  I'm gonna be overwhelmed!

Smart Guy

This just happened and I'm so excited!  I was in the LR, checking out blogs, when I heard Jack fussing from around the corner.  So I went to see what's up and he's sitting on the floor facing me.  I ask "what's a matter, baby?" and he puts his arms up.  As I'm picking him up I notice he's kinda turning his body around so I say "what do you want?" and he POINTS to a dish of Cherrios on the kitchen counter!  Instead of giving them to him, I was cracking up and yelled for dh to come see.  So he comes around the corner and I said again "what did you want Jack?" and he pointed AGAIN!  Now we don't usually have many problems figuring out what he wants but to point from that far away and twice and no fussing in the process?!  That was HUGE!!  And I am thrilled!  And for a couple more notes:  he's walking more and more and I think when they unclogged his ears they turned up his volume!  Is this normal?  I woulda thought he'd be a bit quieter thinking he's hearing everything louder.  I guess not.