You know it's Spring Break when...

Breakfast time meets craft time! This doesn't happen often in our house. We are usually shoveling food into our mouths to get out the door A.S.A.P. Gracie & Lizzie Kippie were in heaven...

Making a spy glass!

See, Gracie & Lizzie's Kippie's spy glass.What's with all the cross outs ? Well first, Gracie doesn't usually name her "friends". But today was special,...and she couldn't decide what to name him her it. Second, I just learned how to cross out and I think it's super fun!

Oh, and this is Lizzie Kippie. If you remember, he she it has been with us for a while now. Remember...

There he she it is. Keeping Jake company in the ICU at Children's.

And what was Jake up to while all this crafting was going on?

He was enjoying a little Tigger and Pooh!
Happy Spring Break Friends!

Half way human

That's about how I feel today...half way human. Thursday night I started feeling like I was getting a little bit of a cold, and by Friday morning I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Sore throat, runny nose, and the beloved body aches! That lasted for about 24-48 hours & is now just starting to finally go away. So, now you know how my weekend went. Actually, it was a little better than that. I did have a few hours each day that I felt great and thought I was over it! So on Saturday, we went to the March for Respect! It was great. What an amazing community showing of support for all people with disabilities. It was very cool. Gracie had her last cheer performance at the March also! Then we took the kids to the park, came home for naps, had dinner with Grandma & Grandpa, and topped it off with S'mores in around our little fire pit! Gracie LOVED burning up her marshmallows until they were "small"...but loved eating them before they even made it on to the stick even better. And she managed to do it without us seeing most of them. Needless to say, she was a bit hyper by the end of the night. So we sent her off to Grandma & Grandpa's for a sleepover!! LOL! Here are a few pics of our Saturday!

Jakey on his way to the March for Respect!The Sparks cheer team!Go little cheerleaders go!Zach, Grandpa & Jake having s'moresCaught Gracie sneaking a little something...Gracie's goofy little dance...with the help of a little sugar! Our 1st s'mores of the year.Grandma & Lulu

Jake trying to feed Grandpa

Oh ya, and about my exciting news...

I'm going to head up a BIG fundraiser here in the Tri Cities. Don't know the full details yet, but I am super excited to be a part of something that is going to be SO COOL! In the past I made a special trip over to the west side to attend a fundraiser called Queen for a Day. Well this year, the group decided not to do it anymore. I had been talking to a few of the ladies at our Down Syndrome Group about it and we are going to make it happen here!! Yahh!! My little brain is spinning with ideas! Can't wait to get started!

Not today...

I have some very exciting news to share (I'M NOT PREGNANT...it's not possible anymore)...but not today. Momma got coughed on by a few too many little people in Gracie's preschool class on Wednesday. So it's going to be a very low key day. I may not even get out of my p.j.'s...we'll see. :)

Thank you Wednesday

Oh, today was a much better day. But I do have to say, I did wake up and thought to myself, "a year ago today....". Geezz, I can't wait for that feeling/thought to stop being my first thought of the day. Maybe tomorrow! I had to laugh at my own blog today. I noticed that I have a few new "followers", so I went to their sites to read about them, to find one that has a son with DS & another son with Jake's exact name. Too cool! Found another that adopted a child with some major medical issues, & couldn't be happier to have that little girl in their life. And not sure what the 3rd is about, because it is blocked up, but I'm sure I'll be reading it soon. Anyway, after reading thru the 2 blogs, I decided to go back and read bits and pieces of my own blog. I started with Jake's story. I got about 5 sentences into it and busted up laughing. I laughed about the part where I hid Jake's hands in his blanket to hide his flaw! LOL, if only life were that easy! If we could hide our flaws under a blanket and nobody would see! And even funnier, NOW I put Jake out there for everyone to see! I want everyone to see him, smile at him, pinch his chubby little cheeks. I want everyone to know that having a child with Down Syndrome isn't the end of the world, it isn't a sad situation that needs an "I'm sorry" attached to it, it's anything but those things. We, as parents of a child with DS are so blessed to have these little guys. We get to live, laugh, love (as much as I HATE that saying) something that not everyone gets to experience...not even for a day. So for me, putting Jake out there for everyone to see...well, it's my way of bragging. And I'm owning it! There it is!

Oh, and thank you to my new followers...I love that people are actually reading my blog! ;)

Wednesday please!

It's Tuesday. Tuesday really shouldn't be this hard. It was a year ago TODAY that Jake stopped breathing, and for a much shorter time, so did I. I remember the entire day like it happened yesterday. It's incredible. It's gut wrenching, heart breaking, over powering, exhausting. I so badly just want this day to be over. I would like for Wednesday to be here. I know you probably think I am crazy for still reliving this 1 year after the fact, knowing how Jake's story turned out...so far. But it is a day, a event that I will NEVER forget. I don't think those feelings can or will ever go away. I just hope that as each day, month, year that goes by I figure out a way to push it a little further back in the memory bank so that I don't have to have these feelings every March 23rd.

For the first time today, I read the short story Welcome to Holland. If you haven't read it, google it. It will take you all of 3 minutes to read. It could not have been written any more perfect. It explains EXACTLY what it's like having a child, different than what you expected.

Jake had therapy today, I took my camera. I wanted to take a few shots to show myself how far he has come, since last year. We laughed at therapy because he's trying SO HARD to crawl. He even looks like he made up his own version of "The Worm". He does his funny little army crawl. He contorts his little body so much that he looks like a snake, side winding. It's pretty funny.

So, for the rest of today the plan is to finish up some housework, make some dinner & cookies, tuck my babies into bed...and wait for Wednesday. And if all goes well, there will not be any more tears today. Good or bad. Although tucking Jake into bed tonight might be a little difficult to do without a few tears...of joy.

Our day...& special it was!

It was COLD too!! But we had a great time, with some great family & friends! Here are our pics!

Thank you to everyone that braved the cold & rain...Grandma, Grandpa, Zach, Gracie, Jake, Auntie Patty, Auntie Carrie, Roman, Lexi, Delayna, Mathew, Macie, Lisa, Dylan, Kristiana, Denise, & Brock! You guys rock!

Me & Gracie all decked out in our Buddy Walk T'sFunny FaceDenise & Brock hanging out with JakeLunch time!Me & JakeMacie munching on crackers
Cheers to our beautiful babiesCheers with...my juice box!Lisa & Dylan getting ready to let our balloons go!Gracie added bubbles to the balloon release!There they go!And 1 yellow one trying to catch up

Patty & our cookieGrandpa & JakeOur wonderful family

Grandma, Grandpa

Gracie, mom, Jake, & dad!

Natural High

I'm on a BIG one!! I woke up this morning and the first thought in my head, ok the second thought. My first thought was...really Jake, it's 5:45am, but my second thought...It's World Down Syndrome Day! Yahh...fun! Then I got the kids settled at the table with their breakfast, grabbed the Sunday paper and started flipping thru the ads...this month is National Craft Month (according to Michael's...whatever, it's good enough for me)!! Whoo hoo!! And to top it off, Jake yelled out to me, "Momma up"!! Yes, he SAID it...verbally, no signs, real words!! He's been saying momma for awhile but "up" is new! And he knows what he is saying!! He holds his arms up when he's saying it! He wanted up and out of his chair!! With a little coaching I even got him to say it while I had Zach on the phone! Can this day really get any better?!!

Oh ya, for all of our friends that were planning on meeting us at the park today, we are still on, as long as it doesn't actually rain! Clouds don't scare us!

The Sparks Cheer Team

Our local cheer leading club offered to set up a special cheer team of children with Down Syndrome, their siblings & friends. Their team is the Sparks! They have been going to practice once a week for 45 minutes & learned a cheer and a dance to music with pom poms. Last night they put on their first performance! It was their night. They were a hit! What you can't see in the pictures are the 200+ people sitting behind me in the stands! Good job girls!!

S T R E T C H

Little Ms Flexible!Warming up...Go Anna, Go...Mia's turn...Sisters that cheer together..."Mom, Monkey wants to cheer too"

Sparks, stand upAnd yell...Go...Fight...Win!!Whooo Hooo!!
Sparks 2010

WOW

I honestly didn't know what else to title this post. So I went with WOW. Here is why. I'm in somewhat a state of shock, mixed with a little bit of heart ache, and pity. But thankfully that fun little treat is topped off with a huge helping of "thank God", education, and love. Let me explain...

I was just following another blog that I haven't looked at in a while. She started talking about the importance of this Sunday. Not really thinking much of it, I kept reading about how much love and joy she has and she will have all of her friends and family with her to celebrate with her on Sunday. Then she said what this Sunday is...World Down Syndrome Day! What? How did I miss that? Jake was around this time last year, how did I not know about WDSD? Granted I didn't know anything about DS before Jake, but surely I should have known about this...why didn't I? Think Julie, think...AHHHH...

On March 21, 2009 (WDSD) Jake was admitted into Kadlec hospital with pneumonia. Two days later he stopped breathing in my arms, was intubated, and flown to Seattle Children's hospital.

That may explain why I didn't remember WDSD. I had other things on my mind. LOL. But not this year. This year we will celebrate! We will celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness, we will celebrate a love so incredibly different that we have ever know, we will celebrate knowing and accepting something new, we will celebrate Jake and all of our new friends! There will be a PARTY! LOL...yes another party. It may not be a huge party, but we will party! NO, there will not be cake...but there will be DS Awareness ribbon cookies!! We (my family) will all be wearing our Buddy Walk t shirts, and our blue "Jakey" bracelets...will you help promote DS Awareness? Even if it's wearing a blue and or yellow ribbon on your wrist, do something and send me a picture! Next week I'll post all the pictures I get!!

So here are the details of our "party"! Myself, Gracie, & Jake (Zach has to work) will be down at Howard Amon Park by the playground at noon on Sunday with our lunches, DS Ribbon cookies, and most likely bubbles. If you would like to join us, please bring your lunch too! I am thinking we will have blue and yellow balloons that...may...oops...fly away at some point also! ;) We hope you can make it!!

Spring Fever!!

Oh friends...I will be making these. Possibly TODAY. Stay tuned for my end result!! If you would like to give it a try, click on the title Spring Fever and it will link you to the site! Looks super easy! Yhhh...so excited! Oh and I got our "20 lb." cupcakes out today!! It's gonna be a good Monday!

Today there was cake!

Because today, Jake is 20 lbs! We have always said that the day Jake hit 20 lbs we would throw a party. We were a little lazy today, so we didn't have much of a party...but we did have cake! And tomorrow we are going to deliver some to a few of our special friends that have been with us from the first 6 lbs!