RAISING JOEY

Glen Beck on Friday!

One of my favorite Mom bloggers, Barbara Curtis, who happens to have a child with Down syndrome, actually several children with Down syndrome is going to be on Glen Beck on Friday at 5pm!! Be sure you tune in!

Friendships

After reading Melissa’s recent post about reaching out and finding friends in the DS world, I thought I would chime in and post a little about my fellow mommy friends who also have children with Down syndrome.

No one truly knows how you feel unless they’ve been in your shoes. I’ve had friends say, “oh, I know how you feel. My cousin/ neighbor/ friend of a friend has Down syndrome.” I’m grateful that they’re trying to be there for me, but unless you have your own child who has Down syndrome, autism or something similar, you really don’t know how it feels. Somedays can be VERY stressful! Most of the time, it’s a beautiful world and I wouldn’t change one single thing about Joey. Joey is who he is thanks to that beautiful extra little chromosome. But then there’s the days when you need someone.

Anyways, back to my reason for this post. The first true friend I met who also has a child with DS was Cecily. Our sons are about 6 months apart. Together we got involved with the CDSC by first joining the Buddy Walk committee when by joining the CDSC’s board.

My online friends seemed to pour in once my blog was discovered. Rebecca, CJ, and Michelle were my first friends via the world wide web soon after Joey was born. And I even had the pleasure of meeting Rebecca and Michelle at the NDSC’s convention last year in Boston. One of these days, I’m hoping to meet CJ too!

I met Maureen almost 2 years ago at the CDSC’s picnic when Penny was just a wee little thing, then a year later, I met Melissa who has become one of my dearest friends ever! The bond I have with her is unbreakable! Then there’s Tricia, who at the time also lived here in CT then unforunatly moved up to Vermont THEN down to Maryland, so we don’t get to see them nearly as much as we’d like!

I’ve made so many friends thanks to Joey, I can’t even count them all. Many of them are fellow CDSC members. Some of us are on the board together, some of us attend Parents Night Outs, and some of us just know eachother from other various events.

It’s weird, besides my friends who I share this common bond with, I don’t really have many friends. After I moved up to Ohio 4 years ago, I got pregnant within 2 months and then a few months later we recieved the prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome so I reached out to the CDSC, so I never really had the chance to make very many friends.

Whenever I have a bad day or just need someone to talk to, I have so many other Momma’s I can talk to. It doesn’t matter what we are: straight, gay, Catholic, Jewish, we all have a similar bond that will be with us for the rest of our lives and no one can take that away from us.

Award time!

Awwwww, I feel so honored and blessed to have recieved this award from TWO fellow bloggers that I am proud to call my friends, Melissa and CJ!

So, here’s the deal. I pass these on to ten other bloggers, who in turn, pass them on to ten other bloggers. Once I dole out the award, I go to their blogs, let them know they’ve been awarded and then THEY get to award others. See? Fun!

1. Melissa at Banana Migrane

2. Leticia at Cause of Our Joy

3. Michelle at Elliot’s Expeditions

4. Shannon at Gabi’s World

5. Maureen at Penny, The Baby Girl

6. Jennifer at Pinwheels

7. Christina at Prince Vince Meets The World

8. Stephanie (my sister in law!) at The Blonde Chika

9. Tara Marie at Emma Sage

10. Amy at Life According to Emma and Joseph

Ok you lurkers!

I love knowing who all reads my blog, so if you never comment, today is the day to do so! It’s Delurking Day 2009 today! So come out from cyberworld and let me know who you are! That includes all my friends and family back in Ohio, I’d love to know who all still reads my blog!

Happy Delurking Day!!

Family My Way

One of my dear online friends has recently started up a new family oriented website called Family My Way and I wanted to share it with everyone and even take place in her Photo Frenzy! This week’s theme is Winter Fun, so I thought I would re-share a picture of Leah from Christmas.

Bringing Kellsey Home

One of my blogging friends is in the process of adopting a beautiful little girl named Kellsey. Renee is holding a raffle on her blog for a $50 Honey Baked Ham gift certificate to help raise funds for this. Please help this family bring her home to them!

Giveaways Galore!

5 Minutes For Special Needs is giving away a Fill In The Blankie!

Over at 5 Minutes For Giveaways, they’re giving away a Crock Pot e-Lume! They’re also giving away a Baby Dipper Bowl.

Sticky Feet (Part Deux) is giving away a pair of Stride Rite Shoes!

Sandier Pastures is giving away a Resist T-Shirt of your choice! I really like the Peacock one!

Nurse Mommy is also giving away a t-shirt, this one is a Fly High Joy t-shirt of your choice!

Congrats to Mindy & family!

Stop by Mindy’s blog, Sharp Pointy Sticks and congratulate her on the newest addition to her family!!

Dinner fun!

Look who we went out to dinner with last night at Buffalo Wild Wings?! Penelope and her family!!

To all my blog readers…

Mama Loves Giveaways!

Check out what the fine ladies at Mom Generations are giving away on their giveaway blog!

$350 PLAYHOUSE BOUNCER from Playhousebouncers.com!!

5 Minutes For Mom Christmas Giveaways!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the ladies over at 5 Minutes For Mom?! They’re hosting several awesome giveaways just in time for Christmas!

Some of my favorites are…
Two copies of the 3-Disc standard definition DVD Version of WALL•E
$50.00 Gift Certificate toSudz N Bubbles
Epson Artisan 800 Printer
Multiple Moms Rock t-shirt
CARES Aviation Restraint System
Mrs. Goodbee Talking Dollhouse
$100.00 Gift Card to Sears
Get Cozy this Christmas with Lands’ End
Wholesome Groovy Girls
HP Photosmart Printer
Christmas DVDs for all ages and stages
Natural Wooden Toys From Cheekeyes
PlayStation®2 LEGO® Batman™ Bundle
Custom Photo Jewelry from J Woods
Educational Fun With All Star Buddies
StukOnU - Some Smart Jammies!
Win Warm Whiskers
Joe’s Jeans
PeaceLoveMom
Christmas Fun with RUSS
Super Toys from Step2
Stuff Their Stockings with Playskool/Hasbro

New Look

Let me know if anyone has any problems with viewing Raising Joey.

31 for 21, October 14th

One of the highlights of my year so far was going to Boston for the NDSC’s National Convention. I got to meet so many of my blogging friends who I had never met before. It was so much fun being able to finally meet you all face to face! I know I already posted some of these pictures, but I want to share them again!

Michelle, & Kayla from Big Blueberry Eyes!

Jennifer Graf Gronebury author of Roadmap to Holland & the blog, Pinwheels, and Kathryn Lynard Soper author of Gifts!

Amy & Mason from The Flege Farm, Tricia & Georgia from Unringing the Bell, and Nicole from All 4 My Gals just to name a few of us in this one!

And I can’t forget also meeting Jan from Mauzy’s Musings, Tara Marie & Emma Sage, and so many, many more of you!

One of the highlights of my trip was definetly getting to meet Emily Perl Kingsley, author of Welcome to Holland which as been a huge inspiration for me along with many other parents.

Don’t forget to enter in my second giveaway of the month, get your chance to win an awareness ribbon cookie cutter!!!

Award time!

I recieved 2 blogging awards in the past few weeks and want to pass the awards on…

Krystal from Mommy’s Escape gave me this one…

1. The winner can (and should, really) put the logo on his/her blog
2. The winner must link to the person from whom they received their award.
3. The winner must nominate at least 7 other blogs for an award.
4. The winner must place links to those blogs on their own blog.
5. The winner must leave a message on the blogs of the people they’ve nominated.

Geez… ok the 7 people I nominate are… (I hope you’ve not recieved this one yet)
1. Christina from Prince Vince Meets The World
2. Leticia from Cause of Our Joy
3. Tricia from Unringing the Bell
4. Melissa from Banana Migrane
5. Jessica from Ten Squares and Three Squiggles
6. Stephanie from A is for Aiden
7. Shannon from Gabi’s World

And Michelle from Big Blueberry Eyes awarded me this…

Here are the rules:
Mention the blog that gave it to you and comment on their blog to let them know you’ve posted your award.
Publish these rules.
Share 6 values that are important to you and 6 things you do not support.
Grant the prize to 6 people.

The 6 things I value:
1. My children
2. My husband
3. My faith
4. Time to myself
5. Sarah Palin!
6. My computer, lol!

Things I do not support
1. The R word
2. People who don’t understand the joy Joey brings to us
3. I gotta go with Michelle on this one… SEAFOOD! YUCK!
4. Hateful people
5. My driver’s side van window that won’t go back up…
6. Cold weather!

I pass this one onto…
1. Stephanie, my sister in law
2. Michelle, from Elliot’s Expeditions
3. Amy from The Flege Farm
4. Krystal from Mommy’s Escape
5. Renee from My Special K’s
6. Amy from Life According to Emma & Joseph

EI, poo & more

Ok, well I think I managed to fix my blog’s layout. I had to remove my blog roll from the sidebar but it’s still available by clicking on the “Blogroll & links” tab at the top of the page.

I’ve also added a few advertisements to my blog to bring in some extra cash for myself so be sure to check them out!

This morning Joey’s new speech therapist came over to do his new IFSP. I have a great feeling about this change. I hated to see all of Joey’s old therapists go, but we had to do what’s best for Joey. The good news is, his new therapists will start coming next week!

Hopefully, I won’t be as stressed out now. It’s crazy how stressed out I’ve been for the past couple weeks worried about Joey’s therapy & its future. Now this morning, I feel as if I’ve had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

Unfortunatly, Joey’s tummy is once again upset this morning so that has replaced the stress over his EI with new stress from dealing with yucky poopy diapers and a cranky Joe-Joe.

I can’t wait for Thursday night’s CDSC Parents Night Out, I need it!!!

Why I love the ladies at 5 Minutes For Mom

The fine ladies over at Five Minutes For Mom are at it again! Check this one out!  

Boy, would a new laptop come in handy for our family! As many of you know, I love blogging but always can’t seem to find the time to since I have my desktop computer. Having a laptop would mean that my husband and I wouldn’t have to share a computer in the evenings when he wants to work on work from home, it means I could work on Joey’s eating solid foods at the kitchen table and blog at the same time, it means when Joey’s therapists are here working with him I could sneak into the other room and blog, it means if I was to take Joey to the hospital again like last night (lord I hope not) I would be able to post an update, it means I could do more work for the CDSC away from home!

The main thing is that I could blog more than what I do now!

Heading up a parent’s night out, a playgroup, being on the buddy walk committee, starting up the prenatal diagnosis outreach committee and being on the board of directors for the CDSC takes up a lot of time and I would be able to take my laptop with me to these meetings if need be!

In my opinion, there are other families who could use the laptop worse than ours, but it would truely come in handy!

Words DO hurt

Dave Hingsburger has a post today well worth heading over to this blog and reading if you haven’t already, Words Hit Like A Fist.

Thank you Dave, you are such an awesome advocate for people with all different types of disabilities!

Check this out!

A good read!

Take a minute and go read Dave Hignsburger’s post today from his Chewing The Fat. Well worth the minute it’ll take to read it. I wish there was more people out there like him.

doctors, birthdays & more…

And again I’ve been slacking in the updates department…

I took the kids to the pediatrician for their checkups a couple weeks back. Joey’s 2 year check up went very well. He weighed in at 22 1/2 lbs and is 31 inches tall. Nothing else really to note from his appointment. Leah weighed in at 14 lbs 4 oz and is 24 1/4 inches tall. She unfortunatly had to get a couple vaccines so she was cranky for the next 24 hours.

Last week Joey had his annual appointment with his genetist. Dr. Bob was more than happy with Joey’s progress and how well he has been doing. On the Down syndrome growth chart, Joey is right at the 50% percentile, on a typical child’s growth chart, he would be only 5%. What a difference!

He also had an appointment with his ENT and thankfully his ears are looking good and we don’t have to schedule an appointment to have him sedated and his ears cleaned out!

Also, in the slacking department, I missed raisingjoey.com’s one year anniversary which coinsides with my birthday, so happy belated birthday to Raising Joey and to myself!

I’ve been so busy with so many things… taking care of the kiddos, working on things for the CDSC, cleaning the house, laundry, it seems like I don’t have much time at all anymore! Yesterday, I did take the time to go get a birthday pedicure with my friend, Cecily and boy it felt so nice to take the time to relax! I even slipped in a 5 minute trip to the tanning bed!

Speaking of the CDSC, now that I’m on the board of directors, I’ve been keeping myself busy planning new events including on Friday, we had our first playgroup at the local mall which was a HUGE sucess. We had about 6 families that showed up and for a first event, that’s great! Also, this week we have a parents’ night out coming up. BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, but it’s all so worth it! I also volunteered myself last week to help plan our members’ trips to the NDSC’s convention in Boston this summer. The things I get myself into, hahaha!

Well, that’s all I can think of for now, I will leave you today with some Leah cuteness. She fell asleep in her bumbo the other day and I couldn’t resist a few pictures!

Under construction

Check back soon for Raising Joey’s new look!

A year in review…

2007 started out saying goodbye to Joey’s helmet. After 18 weeks of him wearing it, we were ready to be rid of it. January ended by finding out that we were expecting our second child!

February had two wonderful milestones for Joey his first tooth, and he started going from laying to sitting all by himself! We also got our first look at Leah!

March was a very busy month. On the 14th, we celebrated Joey’s first birthday.  The 21st, DS parents around the world celebrated World Down Syndrome Day. We also went to Chicago for my brother in law’s wedding. The end of the month we celebrated my birthday.

We started out April in Ohio with my family for Easter and for a belated birthday party for Joey. In the midst of my frustrations with Joey and trying to get him to eat solid foods, he achieved another milestone… holding his own bottle! We also found out that we were expecting a baby girl!!!

May was a pretty calm month… we had another trip to Ohio and my hubby & I celebrated our second wedding aniversary

In June, Joey started pulling to stand & he discovered his love for the TV.

July was a long month full of new teeth and Senators Kennedy & Brownback’s bill being introduced back to Congress.

 We had another trip to Ohio in August. I also was started to get very uncomfortable and started nesting in preparation for Leah’s arrival!

September started out with a false labor and ended with a c-section and we welcomed our beautiful baby girl, Leah Rose into the world. Less than a week after giving birth to Leah, we went to our second Buddy Walk.

October was Down Syndrome Awareness month and along with other bloggers, I managed to post everyday (but one or two), mostly about Down syndrome & Joey.

November was such a crazy month, I didn’t get to post as much as I would have liked but one post that comes to mind was this one. We also celebrated Thanksgiving here in Connecticut with my in-laws and my parents who came up for a visit.

In December, Joey had his biggest and best milestone to date… he started walking! He also had one heck of a cold that he decided to share with Leah. My sister in law, Eileen and I took the kids to visit Santa. We took the kids to Ohio for Christmas to celebrate it with my family. It was also Leah’s first trip to Ohio to meet my family. We ended 2007 here at our house. Patrick and I fell asleep about 11:50 and woke up at 12:05

I can’t wait to see what 2008 has in store for us!!! Happy New Year everyone!

Free time, what’s that?

I had come to the computer early (much earlier) today and post a wordless wednesday picture but of course that didn’t happen. Things have become so hectic trying to take care of both Joey and Leah, I barely have time to post anymore! I don’t even get to read as many blogs as I used to. I miss reading up on all my favorite people online!  The free time I had today was spent paying bills, attempting to balance our checkbook, mopping the kitchen floor, doing laundry, and I know there was more but I can’t think at the moment.

Thankfully, Joey is feeling MUCH better after I took him to the doctor and we started giving him antobiotics. He’s back to him old goofy self!!! And boy, when he was sick, he was blowing some HUGE booger bubbles, lol!!! He would look down at his nose with his eyes crossed and laugh! The picture is kinda gross but funny at the same time…

AND, drum roll please… he’s walking!! Yes, people you heard me right, walking! He’s taking 5-6 steps at a time, a few times, he’s even taken more! Unfortunatly, I still have yet to catch him walking when I have my camera nearby to get it on video or a picture. Hopefully in the next day or so I’ll catch him in the act.

Onto Leah… I went to my doctor last week and was talking to her about breastfeeding and how colicky Leah has been. I went over my diet with her and I told her everything I’d cut out of my diet and how it hadn’t worked and how Leah acted better when I would give her formula instead. I then asked her what she would do and she said, “truthfully, I would stop breastfeeding. Pump for a few days and see how she does on just formula alone.” So that’s what I did and guess what?? Leah turned into a whole new baby. Smiling, cooing, all things she barely did while I was breastfeeding. She just wasn’t a happy baby and now she is!!! Part of me feels so guilty that I quit breastfeeding. But after my doctor told me it could even be a food allergy and not dairy that I was eating that was causing Leah to be so colicky that I know it’s for the best. I have a happy little baby girl now and it’s worth it!

Sweet Treat!

Jennifer from Pinwheels awarded me with the “This Blogger is one sweet treat to read” award yesterday. It made my day yesterday, thank you Jennifer!

I have decided to give this award to…

1. Shannon from Gabi’s World

2. Michelle from Elliot’s Expeditions