This abundent life courtesy of our Lord and Savior ~ Jesus Christ

May 252012
 

 

Ok, so that’s overly dramatic… although it did feel like my heart stood still for a moment.

One month ago I took Thaddeus to the pediatrician … it was simply to check out something funny his tummy had started doing the weekend before.

The whole thing was routine… he appears to be a fine healthy boy. Have no idea why his stomach is doing this, but bring him back if he appears to be in distress. Then I started asking questions. Since I had driven an hour to get there and actually had a professional’s ear … it was a long list of questions. She was very gracious about it and afterwards was telling me to make an appointment for his one year check up on my way out.

But I just had to ask about one more thing. I asked about -and she checked- his soft spot, which is still quite large.
She told me to wait … she was going to go get the doctor.

 

The doctor came in, looked him over, and then started talking about testing.

So, I and four kids rushed to the labs to get blood work done… which that experience alone is a whole story in of itself. Oiy.

 

Then we waited.

Then we fussed.

To call or not to call the doctor for results?

How soon is too soon to call?

How often should we call?

Thaddeus had his one year checkup coming soon and surely they would call us if the results were bad, right?

I finally spoke to one of the nurses on the phone and she gave me the news that the results were negative… everything was fine.

 

We were relieved and not really surprised.

 

So, on the 16th James stayed home with the children while I took Thaddeus for his one year checkup. The doctor gave him an exam, then sat down at his computer and began questioning me about his milestones. As I gave an affirmative to all the questions, on a few of them he would turn around and say “Really?” with a dubious tone and look. As I’d only met this doctor on one prior occasion, I thought it was strange but didn’t think too much of it.

When he was done with the milestones he then moved on to the test results. I of course was feeling quite confidant. We already knew what the results were –
so listening to them was just a formality.

  

“The thyroid test came back negative, that’s a good thing”

I just nodded and smiled.

“The genetics test however {as he’s turning to face me} show that Thaddeus has down syndrome”

  

 

THAT’S when the earth  my heart stood still.

  
Apparently when I had called all of the results we not in.

 

The doctor was a very nice man; however, judging by the way he was speaking I think he mistook my shock. My shock came simply from not expecting to hear this news after thinking that we had received a good report from the test. Because, just as we were not really surprised by hearing that he DIDN’T have down syndrome…

 

We were equally not really surprised by hearing he DID have it.

 

So, what do you do when you hear that your child has this? If you’re me, you take the baby and run the three errands on your list. Two places you just sit in the car for a while then leave because it’s just not worth trying to go in. Then you do the grocery shopping that you really need to do because you live so far out of town. You wander dazed in the store and take way longer then you should because you just can’t focus or find anything even though you know where everything is. Oh, and you bury your phone at the bottom of your purse so that hopefully if your husband texts you … you won’t hear it because you don’t want to be in a position where your tempted to lie and say everything went well because

this is news that has to be shared in person.

To be continued……

Coming up: Why it took us a year to find out our son has down syndrome.

May 232012
 

Every year summer seems to catch me by surprise but this time I’m being proactive!

The older kids are here for the first half of their vacation and I refuse to let them turn into BLOBS.  I figure that the first couple of days are plenty of time for enjoying laying around doing nothing… but after that…. TV and computer time will be at a minimum  especially during the day!

I want them occupied and engaged and avoid the usual
“Wow, I didn’t really DO anything all summer” senerio!
 
 

Summer To Do List

A few fun things to occupy yourselves with:

  

1. Make bubbles and wands

2. Swing on the tire swing

3. Building a play house/fort outside

4. Play school, bank, store

5. Memorize a few Bible verses

6. Memorize a poem

7. Write a play

8. Act out a play

9. Hold a recital

10. Look up and learn some hand rhymes

11. Make a campfire

12. Make knight costumes and hold a duel with your sword and shield

13. Play board games

14. Make a tent out of blankets or sheets

15. Squirt each other with hoses

16. Run through the sprinkler

17. Learn fancy jump rope moves

18. Read a book

19. Make homemade play dough

20. Play with play dough

21. Write a nice letter to someone

22. Make a craft from the junk box

23. Draw a picture

24. Make homemade watercolor

25. Paint with watercolors

26. Hide and Seek

27. Print out fun pages to color

28. Rake leaves into jump pile

29. Write and illustrate a story

30. Dress up and perform a circus

31. Play card games

32. Play catch

33. Play baseball

34. Collect interesting rocks

35. Make Rock Pets

36. Play Frisbee

37. Play dress-up

38. Uses scraps to make costumes

39. Cook a meal

40. Prepare a “restaurant” lunch with menus

41. Have a tea party

42. Have a picnic

43. Build roads for toy cars

44. Build a town for the toy cars

45. Play house

46. Collect weird bugs

47. Plant seeds and watch them grow

48. Have a tea party and practice proper manners

49. Sprout seeds or beans

50. Make sock puppets

51. Put on a puppet show

52. Make Christmas presents and cards ahead of time

53. Make decorated picture frames from cardboard

54. Make bookmarks

55. Watch the clouds and find shapes

56. Whittle soap into something

57. Make musical instruments

58. Wash the cars

59. Decorate the tree in a summer theme

60. Decorate things with beads

61. Pickup sticks…pleeease

62. Copy your favorite illustration

63. Design your own board game

64. Build with blocks or Lego’s

65. Learn to play marbles

66. Paint a picture with lemon juice on white paper

67. Make a dessert

68. Make and design your own journal

69. Write daily in your journal

70. Play flashlight tag after dark

71. Play soccer

72. Pick experiments from science book

73. Make up a progressive story

74. Stargaze

75. Listen to the birds and find out what it is

76. Try to imitate bird calls

77. Read a story to a younger child

78. Dye noodles

79. Make a necklace or craft from dyed noodles

80. Learn to play jacks

81. Write a song

82. Make a teepee out of sticks and blankets

83. Draw a cartoon strip

84. Finger paint with shaving cream

85. Make puff paint

86. Collect sticks and mud and build a bird’s nest

87. Learn to use MS Word well!

88. Write articles for a pretend family newspaper

89. Put together a family newsletter

90. Bake a cake or cupcakes

91. Bake a batch of cookies… or two

92. Decorate a shoe box to hold your treasures

93. Learn to make paper airplanes

94. Have a paper airplane race

95. Learn origami

96. Make an obstacle course

97. Make homemade face paint

98. Paint your face

99. Learn to braid your own hair!

100. Play tag, red-light-green light, mother may I?

101. Learn about sundials and make one

102. Make pom poms out of yarn for decorating

103. Paint and decorate cans for plant pots

104. Make chalk paint

105. Dig a mud hole and get dirty!

106. Spray paint beans and use to make a mosaic

107. Make paper or tissue flowers

108. Make bean bags and learn how to juggle

109. Do good deeds for someone!

110. Draw caricatures of each other

111. Make birdhouses out of the recyclables

112. Make and fly a kite

113. Learn simple embroidery

114. Make rock candy

115. Make geodes

116. Make pickled eggs

117. Play with mini salt filled sand box

118. Color salt and use glue to make pictures

119. Build a volcano outside

120. Learn how to digital scrapbook

121. Use photo editor to make funny photos

122. Make piggy banks from bleach bottles

123. Make sturdy pretty paper fans

124. Dye rice for making artwork

125. Build a robot from the metal recyclables

126. Make a detailed model of the solar system

127. Make dollhouse from extra bookcase

128. Make animation flip books

129. Make keepsake handprint art

130. Decorate scrap fabric with melted crayon art

131. Make windsocks and plastic spinners for the trees

 

 


And if you’re brave enough to say “I’m bored” the following is what you’ll be doing!

 

 

132. Clean your bedroom

133. Clean your bathroom

134. Clean under the couch and cushions!

135. Dust the window blinds

136. Clean sliding glass doors

137. Clean inside and outside of car windows

138. Help fold and put away laundry

139. Sweep kitchen, bathroom , hall, or porch

140. Pull weeds

May 212012
 

  It’s soooo hard to believe that Thaddeus is already one! His first year went by way to fast! You’ll note he’s the only kid so far who is privileged enough to have a balloon!

 

 

 It’s just as hard to believe that Miss. Daphne is already three ………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 092012
 

Gretchen and Duel’s birthdays have gone and past…  Gretchens was 2 weeks ago and Duels was 9 days ago.

(sigh) Between pregnancy tiredness  and a few other things going on during that time  things just didn’t work out well.

Poor kids… their birthdays were rather bare and rushed this year.

We didn’t even do balloons.

We ALWAYS do balloons at least.

Don’t worry….we’ll make up for it next year!

Extra balloons even!