Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Special Olympics

Here's a link to an episode of Attitude which screened here last month. I found it really interesting, and hope Luke will be involved once he get a little bigger. The team travelled to Washington to the headquarters of the Special Olympics. A great story. Special Olympics Episode.

We are off to the Champion Centre tomorrow for our first session in the Early Years clinic. I'm sure it will be fine but I'm feeling a little anxious.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Walking

I have been trying to get a video of Luke walking, but the minute he sees the camera, he stops!

All sorts of new tricks have come with the walking. Yesterday I found him on the first shelf of the pantry- yes on it! So climbing is here too. And a new opinion of the world, which is different from mine. Oh dear- fun times ahead ;)

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Happy Birthday Emily

Yesterday my little girl turned 4, which I can hardly believe. Just a year until school. She's getting so grown up! She was born on Easter Sunday, and was such a good baby.
Here she is just a few hours old.

And here she is after her first bath at home.

Her 1st birthday
On her 2nd birthday. We're still on the fairy thing ;)
Making cupcakes on her 3rd birthday. We're still on the cupcake thing too!

And opening some pressies on her 4th birthday, yesterday!
Yes, she did manage to blow them all out first try!
About to eat a kitten...
Happy Birthday Emily!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

World Down Syndrome Day

We did celebrate, and here is a video. I have spotted myself, Emily and Ben, but no Luke or Neil that I could see. You have to be quick though to find us. You will see Luke's friend Aidan though- he's the little guy with hair of a certain shade who is being hugged by a bigger guy with hair of a similar hue. Very cute. We all had a great day. Aidan was also in the local paper- a popular boy!

http://updates.cdsa.org.nz/

Thanks Kimberley :)


Kimberley very kindly gave me this award last month, and because I am not up with the play at the moment, it has taken me this long to post it. But thanks Kimberley, I do really appreciate it. You can 'meet' Kimberley and her whanau over at http://www.drivingwithnohands.blogspot.com/. She has 3 lovely kids and also has a blog where she posts daily photos which take her fancy (and often mine). Check these out too at http://365kae.blogspot.com/

The rules of the award were to post the award and thank the giver- done :) Then share 7 (yes 7!) interesting things about yourself, then pass the award on to 7 others. I don't know if I can think of 7 interesting things about myself, but here goes.

1.  I am an eyebrow raiser. As in one eyebrow. I can use it to stop kids in my class at 100 paces. Very handy when teaching 11 and 12 year olds.
2. I hate watching sport on tv, especially cricket, rugby and soccer (yawn). And my husband LOVES these, especially soccer. And winter is nearly here....
3. I majored in French at university.
4. I have lots of steps- as in brothers, sisters, parents. As in 2 step-sisters and 3 step-brothers.
5. I loved to play tricks on my younger brother, who is a deep sleeper. I would sneak into his room at night, and do things like rearranging his furniture, including his bed as he slept in it, or tangling a ball of wool up around his room like a giant cobweb!
6. One of my earliest memories is of watching a Rolling Stones song on tv with Dad. I have no idea what the song was, but Mick Jagger was crawling through what I remember as cupboards and coming up to the camera with his huge mouth and giant lips and I thought he was going to gobble me up! Still can't stand his mouth!
7. I am not keen on spiders. Started when I was little and found a HUGE one down the loo. Getting better now because I have to put a brave face on it for the kids.
8. I don't eat tomatoes. When I was about 12 I was banned from eating them until I was 16 by my stepfather, on the theory (reverse psychology) that by then I would love them like the rest of the world, but be unable to have them. Don't try this parenting technique at home. Possibly the best punishment I ever got!
9. I hate watching programmes with kids getting hurt in them. Just can't do it.
10. I am secretly a nana. I love knitting and gardening and cross-stitch.

There. Did it. That was hard.

Now here's the easy bit: passing it on to 7 others.

Nan P. Love her blog, and her enthusiasm is catching. All the way on the other side of the world, where my great-grandparents were born, in Ireland. Feel like I know her :)

Sarah who is a great role model for all our kids, and who has a really special relationship with her mum (mom) Joyce.

Cherie who has two gorgeous boys, one with the fabulous name of Luke, who get up to lots of great adventures.

Nick who is a bloke so probably won't appreciate a girly award, but whose blog I think you should read. Always has somgthing informative or funny or profound to share. Just need more pics of Jacob please ;)

Angela with her Trisomy tribe, who always makes me smile, and feel like my life is not as busy as I think it is!

Sharon and her gorgeous 5 year old Maia, who is just off to school, and makes me know it will all be alright.

Beth over at Hannah's Shenanigans, my favourite bits are 'Cooking with Hannah'. Another great role model.

Thanks to you all for sharing your lives and children with me :)

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Long time, no see.

I Neil found it- the cable that is, hiding in plain sight, where we had both looked for it many times. I blame the kids. It could never be my bad looking skills, now could it?? So now that I have access to my photos again, I have gone a bit mad. Lucky you!


Here we are at Mum's on Easter Saturday. It was lovely. Now we are inside with the fire going and rain outside. Never mind.
In case you haven't noticed, we have one walking toddler in the family. We're all very excited, but not as excited as Luke is. Look out world!
And just to prove that he really is a big boy now, he has moved into a bed. I have left the cot up, just in case, but he hasn't looked back. Such a good boy. I had talked to lots of people who have kids with DS and can't keep them in bed, and had myself all worked up that it was going to be a difficult transition. Of course Luke went to sleep and stayed in his bed all night. No problem. One of these days I will learn that these things are a personality issue and not a DS issue! I will save myself a lot of worry. Ben was the one who wouldn't stay in his bed, but he went into a bed because he was climbing out of his cot in the first place, so that was no surprise!
Luke the musician, with his sister the dancer.
Nana's new kitten Millie, who is recovering from an excess of child love over Easter.
Luke is just the latest of our children to discover the cat's bed is a great place to sit. Mostly because there is an electric blanket under it!
No he is not enrolled in ballet lessons...
...but I think this cheeky monkey has out grown his parallel bars!
And yes I do clean him regularly!
I just love this guy!