Family

I was raised in a huge family, going to reunions every year, camping out, roasting marshmallows and jumping off an old bus tire into the lake.  I love and cherish all these memories and wish my kids could experience the same.  Times have changed and we stay connected with family through Facebook and other social medias.  It works but there is no late night game of cards or swimming till your fingers are unrecognizable and I always loved the game of baseball where we played families against each other.  Yes these are my childhood memories and now we all have families of our own creating indiviual family memories.  Don't get me wrong we do still get together but not always at the same time.  It is funny how the day to day gets in the way of connecting with loved ones.  Sometimes I think family takes each other for granted, knowing that if we miss that certain get-together there will always be another one.  Sure we get together at holidays, but what happens when you miss one and then it turns into three.  We will for sure talk about you but be so happy that you joined us again in the circle of people that always forgive and forget.  Family is my safe ground.  I can always show my frustration, anger and insecurities to them and nothing changes.  The love that was there before is still there.  We are not perfect and we need this safe place to go when we need to let it all out. 

My kids are lucky because they have a handful of grandparents that love and celebrate them everyday.  I love that they are in my kids life surrounding them with all that they have learned that I have not quite grasped yet.  I have selected a few pictures of family that we have celebrated reunions with or see on all of our special occasions.  Not everyone is pictured that is near and dear to me.  I could post pictures all day long and I am sad that I don't have pictures of me at the lake jumping off that bus tire.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of my kids and family.

My family that supports me and my family through all of our ups and downs.  I am celebrating them for all that they give everyday. 

Mr. Cold Weather

Mr. Cold Weather is moving into town and I can feel it in the way my head feels all stuffy.  The thought of Mr. Cold Weather finally arriving is always fun and exciting at first.  You know you can pull out all your favorite sweaters and make all my favorite cold weather foods that are meant to bulk you up for the long winter that is just around the corner.  I have a love/hate relationship with Mr. Cold Weather.  I can't stand to be cold, but I love hot drinks, hot soups, boots, sweaters, hot chocolate and snow.  I love it all, but like I said I hate to be cold.  So as I sit here listening to the wind pick up and the leaves fall from the trees I am reminded of all the warm weather fun we had.  I won't go into it because as you all know it was a good summer. 

Mr. Cold Weather hosts a great movie night with blankets and little ones all curled up in your lap or sleeping a little bit closer to Denis so I can keep warm.  This is all fun at first because it is always fun when Mr. Cold Weather first arrives but as the months pass and there is no sign of Mr. Sunny you start to get what we all know as cabin fever.  My family likes to be outside.  Just tonight as the wind is picking up my girl and Denis head for the backyard to kick the ball around.  So what does this mean for a family like us.  Well we switch gears.  Still active but we move the sport inside.  Ok well kind of.  We have been known to play in the garage during cold and bad rainy days.  So with all this talk of Mr. Cold Weather I am still not sure I am ready for him to move into town just yet.  I need more time to have the windows open.  Either way I know I will be wearing my clothes that I save specifically for when Mr. Cold Weather comes to town tomorrow.

Coming Together

Our Buddy Walk is fast approaching and I always remember the very first one we went to and how it made me feel.  My baby boy was one and it was cold.  I remember this because we had him so bundled up you could barely see his face.  The Buddy Walk was the first time I saw so many people coming together to raise awareness and acknowledge all the people in our community with Down syndrome.   This was a celebration of the friendships and obstacles that had been overcome.  We walked with hundreds of people that day all celebrating different things.  I was celebrating the fact I finally found the courage to join this group.  I needed to see the joy that was overflowing from everyone.  Kids were dancing, and playing games while I was finding comfort in parents interacting with their children in a way I wasn't sure would exist for us.  This was a joyous occasion for me because once my boy was born I didn't know what was down the road for us and I found out that it isn't that scary. 

It took me a whole year before I could make that call to the Down Syndrome Association of Tulsa.  I know some parents who were able to make that call before their child was born.  I often wonder why I couldn't do it before I did and to this day I am not sure what made me finally move forward and do it.  That is something else I remember,  I don't remember exactly what we talked about but I remember talking to the President of the organization, Erin.  She had this voice of happiness, I could just here happiness when she talked, I wanted to find that voice in me.  She invited us in and before we knew it we were joining play groups and talking to other parents dealing with the same issues.  This is important because I suddenly realized that we were not the only ones that were having issues with throwing, or feeding.  We were no longer alone. 

This will be our 6th Buddy Walk and my boy has his share of buddies that donate money and/or walk with us.  We love our buddies and thank them for their support.  Each year the walk represents a different stage of development for us because each year our boy does something different at the walk.  He used to ride in his car and then he started walking with us and now he plays on all the Jupiter jumps and participates in the carnival games, I am excited to see how this year will play out. 

The Buddy Walk means different things to different people and for us it is all about being with our family and friends celebrating something that has brought us all together on this particular day.  We are getting ready for Sunday and will be sporting our team shirts while raising our flag for the person who has opened our eyes to all the love that can be found in just his smile. 

A Big Bag of Firsts

This weekend started off just like all other weekends, which meant friends,  pizza, and soccer.  This weekend my girl was able to have a couple of friends over to just hang out.  We miss our old neighborhood when it comes to being able to have friends over.  Our girl had several friends that could just walk over for an hour or my favorite moments would be when we would have enough kids collect at the house for a soccer game.  Those days were rare but they did happen and those moments were fun for my girl.  While my girl is enjoying her time with some friends my boy experienced some of his firsts and when those moments happen I tend to celebrate the moment over and over in my head.  Now I want to remind you that we do celebrate the little things around here and when I talk about these firsts they are BIG in every aspect of the word BIG. 

Friday my girl placed her brother at the bar in the kitchen to eat breakfast.  The reason this is such a BIG deal is because he has never liked sitting up high on things.  He has now eaten three meals at the bar while I am busy in the kitchen.  I like having him in the kitchen with me.  Everyday he takes another step closer to us and this is worth playing over and over in my head.  This moment would not have happened if my girl didn't react to something that bothered her brother in the dining room and move him quickly into the kitchen and sit him at the bar.  So this is number one of three firsts. 

The second came at my girls soccer game today.  My boy truly dislikes going to these and we set up a huge umbrella that shields the noise and creates his own space away from everyone.  Today his space was invaded by four other kids at the game.  Again this is one of those moments that I know I over think and try not to say or do something that will bring the moment to an end.  I truly don't know how it all happened but the kids were interested in the iPad and I told my boy that we were going to share and let the others watch.  He did point them away at first but they watched a whole episode of Team Umizoomi together.  BIG stuff here.  The third BIG thing that happened also took place at the soccer game.  My boy drank from a water bottle without a straw.  Ask me why all of this happened today.  I don't know.  We were just doing what all the other people were doing today and somewhere along the way we hit jackpot and found a big bag of firsts.