A Big Hit

Here we have Peanut being introduced to Gogurt and absolutely loving the blue goo...

Heading to church wear snazzy pink shoes that she picked out all by herself from her shoe bin...

Sporting crazy little pig tails. One stands straight up the other, sits just right.

Proudly wearing Daddy's Hero hat...

Standing at the bubbly fountain at the Dogwood Festival and probably contemplating diving into this little pool of bliss...

Swinging every morning before breakfast and every evening after dinner...


It's ALL been a BIG HIT with Peanut last week. We'll be on the look out for more smile factor this week.

Furthermore, that fancy little American Flag Hero Hat...$4.00 of every purchase goes to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation AND you support a veteran's local business. This is a Four Star Rated charity that provides scholarships to families who have lost their soldier or whose soldier may have been severely injured. Check out their site and buy a hat for yourself, a friend, or even a stranger.

In Memory of Carly

Michelle came up with a wonderful idea to commission a portrait of Carly from Michael Johnson (an artist who als happens to have Down Syndrome). Any remaining funds will be donated to Mott Children's Pediatric Cardiology, as mentioned in Carly's obituary.

If you are interested in donating, please use the paypal button located on Michelle's page.

Sweet Carly, Now has angel's wings...

Sweet Carly has passed away. This is a blog I have been following since we had Marissa and I always found a lot of hope in her story. Since Carly is older, it was always nice to see how an older kiddo with DS was doing. I never met them personally, but their was always hope to be found in her posts. Even her most recent post was inspiring and full of thanks for the gift that God had given them. Please pray for their family. The loss of their daughter was very unexpected and unexplained. From her FB updates, I've read that they had no warning. She suddenly became terribly ill, they called 911, and the last message was that she was now an angel. So while Carly is resting peacefully; her family, friends, and those in the DS community are mourning with them. It's a great loss indeed and all prayers are appreciated.

Expressions of condolence can be sent to: Mott Pediatric Cardiology in memory of Carly E. George. About Carly

Dog Sitting

We're dog sitting for Bradley's cousin. Marissa LOVES having a cuddly creature that actually interacts with her, as compared with our cat who runs in the opposite direction with ABSOLUTE fear.
This is Scully and she LOVES to run and play.

Scully successfully scares away all the birds each time she goes outside.

She even plays nicely with Marissa.

Scully has no problem yelling at Marissa to let her know the corner of the couch is her safe spot. Marissa doesn't like getting yelled at by the dog.

Marissa is being sneaky about touching Scully's paws.

Marissa and Scully were fighting over rights to the T21. Marissa won, but Scully stole a kiss so it was a fair fight.

Overall, Marissa is happy to have Scully here for a visit.

T21 of her very own

Like I said, it's been a whirlwind of activity since we've been home. All the mail has been opened and Marissa has been enjoying her very OWN t21 afghan for a couple weeks now. She LOVES it and so do I. This afghan means so very much to me. It makes me feel connected to other families out there that are connected through Down Syndrome.

Thank you CJ for taking the time to make such a beautiful treasure piece that we will have for a very, very long time. CJ started this wonderful Traveling Afghan Project in which 1 very special afghan is making it's way around the world: touching hearts, spreading acceptance, and increasing awareness of Down Syndrome. It's all about loving that extra special chromosome.




I'll post more pictures soon, I just wanted to make sure I got a couple out there and that I said thank you for all of CJ's efforts. So THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts CJ. We love this project!

Snarkle

So I have absolutely been slacking on keeping up with my blog. We got back from vacation and it's been a whirlwind of activity between doctor's appointments, school work, a new part-time job, and everything else in between.

Peanut had her well-baby check up literally the very next day after returning home from vacation. We are military we are FORCED to see military doctors on post and getting appointments is nearly impossible, unless you feign a life threatening illness. So, I have a running list of questions I wanted to ask at this appointment.

One of my primary concerns has been Peanut's breathing. She's sort of has a snarkle sound to her breathing. Please note: snarkle is not a medical diagnosis :-). By my definition snarkle means congested and has fluid build up either in her lungs or throat. To breath snarkley there is raspy, wet breathing.

Peanut's snarkle breathing is worse in the morning, but also occurs while she's sleeping in the car or her bed. The Dr. checked her lungs and they sounded okay meaning it wasn't related to an infection. Despite the "wet" sound the Dr. didn't seem to be concerned and suggested it was related to allergies. She ruled out a cold or worse as it's been an ingoing issue for several months now. No medicine was prescribed though as Peanut doesn't seem to be impacted by her snarkle.

This leads me here. Bradley and I have been concerned about her sleeping habits. Now, she takes a 2 hour nap everyday and is a 12 hour baby, meaning she sleeps from 7 to 7 every night (no complaints from me on that!) But, I'm beginning to wonder how much of that she is actually sleeping peacefully. She is repeatedly woken up throughout the night, will cry for 30 seconds or so and then go back to sleep. This happens on and off throughout the night, every night. I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't causing sleep apnea.

Just curious, do any other kids with DS out there have snarkley breathing either related or unrelated to allergies or sleep apnea? Do you feel like it affects there sleep? What kinds of things have you done to decrease the snarkle? What kind of things have you done to increase sound sleeping habits?

Peanut's Vacation

There's monkeys on her feet!!!

Falling asleep in Grandma's arms, priceless moments!

She cleaned up the yard...

Spending time with her favorite youngest aunt.

Spending time with the family in S. Ohio.

Peanut's cousin testing out his big brother's scooter.

She also celebrated her cousin's 5th birthday with her!!

Easter

We were saved on Easter Day by the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!


We celebrated with prayer, praise, and a short crawl through a tunnel for a much awaited Easter basket filled with animal crackers, goldfish, and pretzel ritz. (Peanut's prefers salty to sweet).



Then the following day we celebrated a BIG girl moment as Peanut took on the GI-normous task of feeding herself applesauce with a SPOON!! She was one big applesauce mess, but her mama and Daddy were the proudest we could be. Little baby steps=BIG success for this little one. Thank you Lord for our amazing little girl!