RAISING JOEY

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

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

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

31 for 21, October 23rd

Somebody has learned how to turn on the TV by himself (and he thinks it’s funny)… need I say more? I think I will be making a trip to the store to buy one of these today. Oh the joys of a very soon upcoming toddlerhood!

In other news, Michelle from Big Blueberry Eyes awarded me with The Community Blogger Award! (The Community Blogger Award celebrates people who reach out and makes the blogger community a better one.) Thank you Michelle!!

And I’m giving this award out to:

1. Nicole from All 4 My Gals
2. Tricia from Unringing The Bell (thank you so much from hosting 31 For 21! )

Alexander’s Heart

Today I recieved an email telling me that I was anonymousely nominated for Alexander’s “This site has Heart award” , I feel honored for this award.

His family has made the “‘This site has heart award’ for websites that show heart and it’s his families goal to make the world a little nicer in his memory.” Be sure to go check out Alexander’s Heart.

Nice Matters Award

I’ve been awarded the Nice Matters Award by Nell from Casual Friday Everyday. Thank you Nell for such a nice thing to wake up to on a Saturday morning!!!

“This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you’ve been awarded please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award.”

The seven bloggers I bestow this award to are…

1. Jaymi from The FlipFlop Mamma
2. Nicole from All 4 My Gals
3. Noelle from Jaden’s Journal
4. Kim from Kim’s Treasures & Snares
5. Heather from Flaugh’s Flaws
6. Aundrey, Jane & Sharon from The Pinks and Blues Girls
7. Amy from The Flege Farm

Another award!

 Michelle over at Elliot’s Expeditions has awarded me with the Blogger Reflection Award. I feel so honored to recieve an award called a Reflection Award! Here’s what Michelle had to say about me,”Jessica at Raising Joey is, beyond doubt, an inspirational person. Her heartwarming posts and special photographs and videos exemplify her love for life and her adoration of beautiful boy, Joey. Jess is also a preggo momma like myself and we are due at nearly the same time. I wish her all the best in the next couple of months and thank her for being such a source of encouragement.”

Thank you Michelle, you’re awesome!

Now, it’s my job to pick out a couple other Mommies who deserve this award!

First I pick, ChupieandJsmama over at Our Story. She shares her stories of raising her two boys, and dealing with multiple food allergies. She always posts her recipes and ways around these allergies. Not to mention all the great pictures of her two boys!!

Second I pick, Jaymi over at the The FlipFlop Mamma. She’s a SAHM who’s always sharing new parenting ideas and is another fellow preggo mamma! Jaymi, you always have me thinking! And after reading all your stories about babywearing, I think I’m going to buy a sling for Leah!

Third I pick, Tricia from Unringing the Bell. I think I saw somewhere that she’s already been picked for this award, but Tricia is awesome and I love reading about her daughter Georgia who is just the cutest little girl ever! Tricia posts to the best pictures!

And so many of the other blogs I read have already recieved this award, I’m leaving it at the three bloggers I picked.

Now here’s the rules for awarding something with this award…

1. Copy this post.
2. Reflect on five bloggers and write a least a paragraph about each one.
3. Make sure you link this post so others can read it and the rules.
4. Leave your chosen bloggers a comment and let them know they’ve been given the award.
5. Place the award icon on your site.

Rockin’ Girl Blogger

I feel so honored today because Melissa over at Banana Migraine and Janeen from Our Story both awarded me with the Rockin’ Girl Blogger Award. Here’s what Melissa had to say about me… “Jessica at Raising Joey always has tons of information to offer! She links to helpful articles, and awareness sites, and also takes the most beautiful photographs of flowers. Her son, Joey is such a little cutie too!” And Janeen said, “I love reading Jessica’s blog about Joey. Joey has an extra chromosome and reading ‘Raising Joey’ has really raised my awareness about Down Syndrome. He’s cute as heck and I just love all of the pictures of Joey.”

Thank you Melissa & Janeen for the award!

The 5 bloggers I choose to award with the Rockin’ Girl Blogger Award are…

1. Michelle from Elliot’s Expeditions. She always has the cutest pictures of Elliot & their family. And just the fact that we’re both pregnant and due about the same time makes her rock in my book!  
2. Nicole from All 4 My Gals. She always has inspiring quotes, beautiful pictures of her daughters and the best articles & information on Down syndrome!
3. Heather from Flaugh’s Flaws. She has the funniest stories about her son Tanner (who is such a cutie!) and talks about being a wife, going to school and being a mom all at the same time! I don’t know how she does it!
4. CJ from The Imperfect Christian. Everything from knitting, parenting, awesome pictures of her 3 children can be found on her blog and life’s lessons can be found on her blog. She’s awesome!
5. Pam from Rhett’s Journey. Rhett is the main focus of her blog and has the best videos and pictures of Rhett having fun. Pam, you rock!!

As a matter of fact, all you ladies rock which is why I awarded you with this award. Also thank you again to Melissa & Janeen for awarding me with the Rockin’ Girl Blogger Award!

Thinking Blog Award

I first want to give a big thank you to The FlipFlop Mama for awarding me with the Thinking Blogger Award. It’s nice to know my blog makes people think. When I started blogging, it was before Joey was even thought of. I had just moved up to Connecticut and away from my family and friends. I wanted a way that my friends could keep up with what was going on in my life and I thought blogging was the best way. Then I got pregnant with Joey, then we found out that he has Down syndrome. After he was born, my blog became Raising Joey and it became a way for my friends and family to keep updated on Joey and I also started using it as a way to share various articles on Down syndrome. Through Raising Joey, I’ve met many other parents online, some of the parents also have children with Down syndrome, others don’t, but it’s been a great way to give and recieve advice on parenting.

Boy, it’s not easy picking out other bloggers that make me think! The 5 bloggers must…

1.  If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

The 5 people I nominate are…

1.  Rhett’s Journey- This mom went through more than any parent should endure when her son became very ill and I prayed constantly for Rhett to make a full recovery and once he did, it made me think of how much I truely love my own son.

2. This Little Blog Of Mine- She’s a single mom who works as a 911 dispatcher and I admire her for who she is and what she’s gone through raising her children.

3. Overwhelmed With Joy- I was very surprised to see that she hasn’t been nominated yet (if you have, I couldn’t find it on your blog) Anyways, she has a weekly recipe exchange with fellow bloggers and it’s helped to make me think of new recipes to cook for my husband to help add more to our menu. She also writes about her son and her process in trying to adopt her and her husband’s second child.

4. The Road Not Chosen- This mom inspires me to stay strong and remember my faith in the Lord daily. Her blog is mostly dedicated to her son Evan who has been going through a tough time recovering from surgery.

5. Flaugh’s Flaws- Heather has been become a very good friend of mine online and if we were to ever meet in person, I know we would definetly be very good friends. Her blog is about her son Tanner and her stuggles in being a mom, a student and working. I don’t know how she manages to do it all!!!