is my 2 front teeth so I can wish you Merry Christmas!
Both teeth fell out within 10 days of each other! Now that it's stuck in your head, why not take a listen to my Christmas songs on the sidebar of the blog? Play song #2 in honor of Alexander and his beautiful smile. Happy listening!
How about that? I entered a contest to host a cookie exchange party with HERSHEY®'S and Betty Crocker®. This is handy as we've planned to have a cookie exchange and ugly holiday sweater contest regardless. I just found out today that I won!
They are sending the following supplies to make the party even more fun:
HERSHEY®'S and Betty Crocker baking staples to help create Chocolate Snowball and Peanut Butter Blossom cookies for my cookie exchange
Recipe cards for guests to create their very own holiday cookie recipe book (for 15 guests)
Custom bakery boxes for my guests to take home their favorite cookies from the exchange (for 15 guests)
A HERSHEY®'S and Betty Crocker apron as a thank you for hosting
I found the ugliest holiday sweater in the world and other accessories at a local thrift store. There will be a prize for the ugliest sweater. If you're local and don't yet have the evite, let me know!
Now to find the perfect ugly sweater prize.....I'm thinking a scary elf or something goofy. Ideas?
We were exhausted from getting the kids dressed and that was before heading to the photo shoot. Our real camera decided it wasn't going to recognize its fully charged battery, so we had to use the iPod camera. The kids were wild monkeys, as per usual. What you will see in the embedded video below are a small sampling of the shots that won't be making the cut for our holiday card this year.
As Mark and I did our best to position the kids and get them to smile in the same direction, strangers passing by began joining us. They offered encouragement and tried their best to get the kids to cooperate. In the end I got a couple of shots that I love. That's what is important. Not the hundred or so of the nose picking, shoe losing, tights ruining, running, crying, jumping, escaping, dress over her head lifting, funny face making shots that we snapped. (sigh) This is why egg nog was invented. Yum. Enjoy!
embedded video below. If it doesn't appear, refresh your screen or click HERE
photo from our DS playgroup at my house, March 2008, Sophie, Maddy, & Braska pictured
A week has gone by in a flash since my friend Colleen lost her 4 year old Madison to a tragic accident at home. The entire Down syndrome community and beyond has been awash in grief. As I hold my kids even tighter I find the tears starting up again without warning. I cannot even begin to imagine how my friend and the family are coping or how you come back from this.
Maddy's accident has struck a nerve deep inside of me, in a primitive place where a mother's protective instincts have been imprinted in our DNA. As parents, we do the best we can to teach our children about safety. For those of us with children with special needs, the fear of our child being in an accident is heightened. Many of our kids, like Sophie, have little sense of danger but also do not understand the consequences of their actions. This is a very dangerous combination.
We call Sophie Houdini, and it is not a term of endearment. Sophie can and will escape our house or her school at any given opportunity. Why? The Lord knows. The point is that when our many baby gates, locks, her Personal Care Assistant at school, or our other security methods fail, she is gone. When this happens at home, she heads to one of two places; the street/sidewalk, or the back yard.
Sophie is currently sporting a blackened fingernail as she tried to slip out the door behind me as it was shutting and it got caught. On Monday, as I was getting her out of the van, even as I had her in my grasp, she wriggled out, headed up the street and straight for an oncoming car. This isn't the first of these events, and I know it will not be her last.
Last Friday my friend Colleen left her 4 year old Maddy at home with her 14 year old brother while she drove the younger boy to school. Maddy got out of the house. No one knew until it was too late. Maddy was struck in her driveway and mercifully passed away immediately. This is not Colleen's fault, it is not the brother's fault. It doesn't matter that they were in a large vehicle versus a small car. It was an accident and every parent's worst nightmare. It could happen to anyone. Although I desperately want to be there to hold my friend up on Sunday for her daughter's services, I cannot travel back to Champaign, IL at this time. So I will join with the rest of the community who are mourning Maddy's passing by honoring her mother's wishes. Please read and share what Collen has requested:
"God wanted her home- while we can't understand and may never understand why-He called her home to Him. She is safe and will always be with us- in our memories, in our hearts, in the breeze, the child's laugh that resonates throughout the place we are at- her spirit remains with those who loved her."
For those wanting to celebrate Maddy's life:
Celebration of Life Service St. Matthew's Church 1304 Lincolnshire Champaign, IL
Sunday November 6th at 1pm
Balloon launch to take place after service
A meal will be prepared for family and friends following the balloon launch.
PLEASE: Mom does NOT want any flowers/plants- if you would like to make a memorial donation to help with the Celebration costs, you can do so online at: www.bezichflowerdonation.kintera.org
If you would like to leave a comment about Maddy (memory of her) or words of encouragement for the family, please do so- we will print all comments and put in the memory box for the family.
For those that can't attend: If you want, light a candle for Maddy on Sunday at 1pm and post pic to mom's facebook page or email it to me at ReJenerationS@gmail.com, I will forward it on.
You may also grab the digital blog button below made by our friend Randa Kay (RK) on her daughter's website Braska Bear:
Some of you know the Christian artist Steven Champan Curtis. He wrote the following song for his two young adopted daughters and tells the story behind it below. Their family suffered a similar loss when his teen son accidentally struck his daughter with their car and the song took on a much deeper meaning. His later album "Beauty Will Rise" is about how they were able to come back from this terrible loss. Colleen this is for you. I love you Hon.
Last year Shutterfly ran a promotion for 50 free holiday cards for bloggers. See a copy of our card HERE. We were thrilled with the quality of their customizable cards and the speed in which they were delivered. The hardest part about using Shutterfly is that they have so many beautiful designs to choose from. I was contacted recently by Shutterfly as they are running the promotion again. This time they offered me 50 free cards AND gave me codes for 25 free cards to give away to 3 lucky readers!
I can hardly wait another month to haul 10+ boxes out of the basement to decorate for the holidays (no exaggeration). I find comfort in traditions and do my best to make these special times magical for my family. Cards are another way to honor the holidays and mark the passing of time. Many of our friends and family live 1000+ miles away and cards are a chance for our family to reconnect with theirs. I prefer to send personalized photo cards and Shutterfly has an amazing selection to choose from.
I've posted a few of my favorites above. It will be tough to choose which one to use. If you would like a chance to win 25 free cards from Shutterfly, please visit their Christmas collection HERE, the holiday cards HERE, and photo Christmas cards HERE. Come back to this blog and leave a comment telling me which one you would use. Then tell me what your favorite tradition is and why. It doesn't have to be a winter holiday tradition. Be sure that I know how to get a hold of you. Winners will be chosen on November 9th. Remember, I have 3 sets of cards to give away so your chances are good. Thank you Shutterfly!
Team Sophie! Thank you Maureen, Ras, Samuel, (and baby to be) for joining us for our 2nd Buddy Walk at VU.
October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. For the past few years this blog has participated in the 31 for 21 challenge. 31 for 21 is when bloggers commit to post every day in an effort to raise the awareness of Down syndrome, otherwise know as Trisomy 21. Although our lives are too busy this year to participate, you can find a list of bloggers who have taken the challenge HERE. You can also do a search on this blog for 31 for 21 and find around 100 posts from previous years. Once again Team Sophie rallied for our local Buddy Walk. Here is Alexander with the Star Wars character Boba Fett (he's going as Boba Fett for Halloween this year). Seeing his favorite characters in person proved a bit scary, so all of the pictures are of Alexander with the Star Wars guys in the background, a safe distance away. Grandma Paula flew in to spend the week with us and walk with Team Sophie. We are so blessed! While we celebrated near Philly, family members who could not make it once again rallied and attended the Buddy Walk in my hometown. Pictures forthcoming (hint, hint Liz!) We are touched beyond words to see such an outpouring of love and support from our family and friends.
We are grateful for our wonderful friends. I met Melissa in the C2P2-EI course that I took through Temple University - Institute on Disabilities. She brought her sweet family and signed each of them up to different teams as so many of our friends had teams participating this year. Melissa and her husband were on Team Sophie. Thank you so much!!!
This is my friend Kim representing her son Nolan & Sue representing her son Sylas. Mara, Nancy, and Cecilia were busy bees as they worked the auction tent and shot photos. If any of my C2P2-EI friends have a picture of us together, please send it to me.
I got up close in personal with these guys for Alexander. Note to self: Stuffing the sweatshirt front pocket with cameras, kleenex, etc. WILL make you look 7 months pregnant. D'oh!
Team Sophie and Alexander as close as he could muster.
The Buddy Walk at Villanova Stadium is a big event. We have bounce houses, live music, cheerleaders and football players cheering on the teams, face painting, food, exhibitors, a silent auction and raffle, games, Star Wars characters, Berenstain Bears, Elmo, a Tot Lot play area, and more. It truly is a great family fun event.
We even had a chainsaw ice sculpting artist make this right in front of our eyes.
Here's Sue and Sylas. Sy is currently hospitalized with Croup (mama has it too). Please send up a prayer for healing.
Buddy Walks are always a highly emotional time. There are great joys to be sure and each year there are fewer tears. Yet old wounds that never fully heal can easily be broken open. Memories of past events collide in my head with thoughts about our family's future, about Sophie's future. I wonder about her siblings and when the day will come when one of them asks why we have a Team just for Soph. We don't hide the fact that their sister has DS, but our discussions are purposefully age appropriate. To them, she's just "Sister."
We had a prenatal dignosis of our daughter's DS. We were scared and hadn't a clue as to how incredibly lucky we were. We needed the gift of time to see with new eyes. Having a child with DS has its challenges (as all children do), but the overwhelming joy far exceeds the hard times. Sophie is a gift and our family is blessed. Life is good. Go Team Sophie!
for new parents of a child with Down syndrome ..."There’s so much to consider! About learning how to manage prejudice, and about what to say and when to say it, and about how to juggle schedules and therapies and all that. There’s forgiveness, for all of us, and strength, and love, and hope, too. And faith, in yourself, and your child. Let your child show you the way. You will find it, together, and it will be amazing. It will be all the things you hoped it would be; it’s all there, waiting for you."
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