Happy Birthday Superman!

Superman celebrated his 6th birthday with a new outfit from Daddy and Mommy. Two new Signing Time dvds; Nice to Meet You from Nona and Happy Birthday to You from his adoring fans(aka siblings). Plus balloons, bubbles and a ball from some sweet friends at church.

Some of Superman's latest activities:

Is finally growing out of some shirts he's had since age 2.
Talking more and calls everyone by name.
Loves watching Signing Time and Zorro.
Getting his family to chase him around the table.
Bugs his Lalaline by 'borrowing' her dolly and refusing to return it.
Has a definite dislike for soups and whatever else he doesn't feel like eating at the moment.
Would entirely subsist on rice cakes and apple butter if we'd let him.
Is going to take speech therapy soon.
Favorite words: No. Loo (look). My.
Still has an obsession with blowing out candles
Decided that once again, he loves to open gifts (and this time tearing neatly).

Happy Birthday Superman!!! I ♥ you!

Learning to Read

J has mild-moderate hearing loss in one ear and profound hearing loss in his other ear.
Recently we were blessed to receive some Love and Learning dvds and books from another family of a child with Ds. J really enjoys watching his 'school work'

I hope you all enjoy listening to J 'read' and hopefully, we'll be able to add more videos of J reading his other books!

♥♥♥You know........♥♥♥

that you know too much about medical things when you:

• restart the little guy on anti-fungal meds without talking with the doctors
• have to explain to the home health agency person on the phone that you need a catheter, ileostomy bags, g-tube supplies, and more ostomy clips
• miss giving a dose of antibiotic and don't worry about making it up
• recognize yeast starting under the ostomy bag

J has been getting too big for the paper diapers and we've wanted to switch to cloth diapers, but couldn't find one that the size charts said would fit him and give that extra leeway we needed for his ileostomy bag. And to tell the truth, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the diaper choices out there. I mean, there are pockets, fitted, contour, covers, inserts, doublers, etc.... and how is one suppose to know what's what?!?!  As part of a homeschool project and (kinda of a stress reducer for me) Momma and I have been working on a review and giveaway blog. Through twitter, I've met several moms who cloth diaper their babies, and one mom in particular has been really helpful. A week ago, she sent us a cloth diaper she had for us to use on J. It fit him perfectly, with room to spare. When I first put the diaper on J, he gave this big sign of relief and was so upset when we had to take the diaper off to wash it. The same night the diaper came, Momma and I found a site and ordered him 12 more of the same kind of diapers. They came this Monday and we washed them that night and since Tuesday, J has been in cloth diapers all the time.

Something I've learned with cloth diapers is, you can't judge how much they wet the diaper by feeling it, while they are still wearing said diaper. I left J in a cloth diaper for 6 hours and pushed fluids, because I thought "he isn't drinking enough, he's still really dry!"... When I took the diaper off, it was slightly wet soaked!!!

I'm waaayyyy behind on school and today, I asked Momma if I could stop the book I'm currently working on since I'm over 2/3 of the way through and so now I'm working on a placement test to see which book I will/can move too.  I love the thrill and tension of math, but it sometime seems that I've already seen that particular problem multiple times before.

Did you know that there are degrees in Graphic Design? I didn't... but I do enjoy some of the benefits that come from graphics, coupled with a well-designed site. I was looking at a program for graphic design that some blog designers use and then I noticed the price tag.......... over $600 dollars for this one software program! Ouch!


We've been doing some cleaning around here and I was told that our my nightstand that K and I share was a (putting it mildly) big mess. So, I spent some time cleaning it out and sorting through our piles. I came across my journal from our trip to Minnesota in 2008 and read through it. Something I had written down was a quote from a friend, 'why use one word when you can use twenty!'. I'm afraid that is rather me. I can go on and on about one particular subject and then change it without a moment of warning. My poor Momma is often the subject of my scattered thoughts.


I'm hoping to post pictures soon, but a little someone who shall remain nameless has dropped the camera once again... there is talk of said person buying a camera of their own so that they don't break any more cameras.  I'm thinking about getting a camera to use, but then I look at the prices and my bank account and they suffer large differences in the monetary factor.


A fun bit for you, I learned recently how to make hearts. On the computer for blogger!

here's how it works...
♥
& hearts ; remove the spaces and hit preview and your ♥ will appear. Now I want to learn how to make stars! lol!

and don't write Whala.... write Voila. It's French! ;)

Good night!

In Memoriam: Pierce

When 'J' was transferred to Georgia from Minnesota, we met a dad who always wore a joker hat. He was staying with his little boy who was in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit). Pierce had the same leukemia 'J' did and Pierce and 'J' had another bond, you see, both of them have Down syndrome. We've been following their journey since 2007. Pierce was scheduled to finish chemo this spring, but several weeks from finishing Pierce relapsed and had a BMT (bone marrow transplant). He did great through transplant and was doing awesome at home. A couple weeks ago, Pierce's mom posted that Pierce had relapsed again and there really wasn't anything they could do, it was just a matter of time. When 'J', Momma and I were in Atlanta in Monday, we saw Pierce and his dad. They had decided to stop Pierce's chemo since he was getting terrible mouth sores that Friday. Momma talked with Mr. Bill for awhile and I took 'J' back to triage. When we got to our room, Momma said Mr. Bill didn't think Pierce would make it to Christmas. Last night, I was checking my email and saw there was an update on Pierce. I opened it and saw that Pierce had passed away in his sleep that morning. There was another update this afternoon, Pierce's little brother, who is 3-4 years old, is taking Pierce's death hard. Please keep them in your prayers in the upcoming weeks.

Here is Pierce's website if you want to read it. Pierce Ruck