Every year it is a tradition here in Texas to take pictures in the bluebonnets.  Despite the recent rain and hail, today was a gorgeous 70 degree day!  We found a patch of Bluebonnets and snapped some pictures.

No, the BORG is not coming to Texas, but they might as well be.  If anyone ever wonders why thing don’t get done around my house in a timely manner, I invite them to spend a little time in my shoes.  For the sake of brevity, I will just touch on one domestic issue, “laundry”.  When it comes time to doing laundry, we don’t really have a great system.  I am working on it, but this really isn’t my strong suit.  The first hurdle to successful laundry in my house is the presence of animals.  I sort piles of laundry in my hallway and the two dogs and cat think that they are personal pet beds.  This would really not bug me (since it IS dirty laundry) except they apparently don’t like the way I sort the piles.  They feel the need to pull and push, and re-sort the laundry to best fit their current mood.  ARGHHHH!  I walk up to three blissfully sleeping pets and ask “What is THIS?”  The dogs slink away (at least they have the decency to feel shame for this atrocity), and the cat just meows at me and curls her head back under her paw. (I have SOME nerve to disturb her royal highness!)  So much for my sorted piles… now it is one big mess. 

THEN when I get the laundry re-sorted, down to the laundry room, and through the washer and the dryerm it finally makes it to for folding.  Just when I think that my system is working… along comes my laundry nemesis…

yes, that is underwear around her neck!

Note the devilish grin

She's recruiting Boomer

"MOO-HAH-HA"

Late this afternoon we were put on alert with our lovely Texas weather.  We had grey skies this morning, then some blue poked through this afternoon, THEN the sky changed to a very ominous thick grey, the winds furociously came in.  All the while we had a tornado watch came on the TV.  Just as we started to check the weather radar screens for what the storm cell looked like, we heard the disctinct sound of hail.  Now hail precedes tornadoes so I was a tad concerned.  Before we knew it, the hail storm intensified and I moved the kids to the center of the house.  I was sure that the windows would break because the wind was so strong and the hail was hitting at an angle.  There was so much of it and it ranged from pea size to golf ball size.  Poor Anthony got a little freaked out.  I think it was because I put him in the hallway and urgently told him to get away from the windows.

Just as it was hitting the hardest I noticed our neighbor coming home.  It was just Angie and her two kids (you can see them in the post before this), her husband was at work.  Randall grabbed an umbrella and ran over to help her get the kids out of the car and into the garage.  It all blew over, no broken windows.  I haven’t looked at the cars yet, I don’t want to know.  Our friends on Facebook reported broken windshields and skylights and dented vehicles.  Ugh!  Gotta love spring in Texas.

Here are some pictures. 

Last week my friend and neighbor Angie and her two kiddos Olivia and Ethan.  Her kids are the same ages as Anthony and Sydney.  We went to Kiddie Acres which is a small child’s amusement park.  The kids had a blast.  You can see that Olivia and Anthony went of everything together.  There was a bucket ride, boats, planes, a merry-go-round and a train.  Poor Sydney was having a allergic reaction so she looks terrible, poor baby.

Today is National Down Syndrome Day on March 21st…  In recognition of the 3 copies of the 21st chromosome.  It was 50 years ago when the cause of Down syndrome was identified.  we have come a LONG way in 50 years!  Thanks be to God for this!  Please take a moment to hug on the person in your life with Down syndrome.  If you can’t hug them, send a prayer for them.  This is my prayer: 

Today I say a prayer for the world that I live in.  I pray that my daughter grows up surrounded by love.  That the world grows more accepting and tolerant.  That people see her for the wonderful girl that she is.  I pray that people see a beautiful little girl with brilliant sparkling blue eyes that are the color of the deep ocean.  I pray that people see a smile that lights up a room.  That her milestones and are celebrated and that others have patience with her delays.  I pray that people see a little girl, then a teenager, then an adult, NOT a diagnosis.  That she will not be sold short before given a chance.  That she will be will share the gifts that God gave her and will be able to serve others and not just be served.  I pray that she grows up to know that God loves her and HE created just as she is, and she is a work of divine art.  I pray that when she acts up that people around her see a child acting like a two year old, or a three year old, etc. and not attribute everything negative to Down syndrome, it’s insulting.  I pray that I am a good parent and give her what she needs; LOVE, Peace, joy, therapies, patience, as well as discipline and fairness.  I pray that I listen to what God tells me and I do right by her.  Lord watch over us all and keep our eyes on you.

My husband told me this morning about Obama’s faux pax last night on the Jay Leno show.  Frankly, it just makes me sad.  For those of you who don’t know what happened, Obama was talking to Jay about his bad skills at bowling.  Jay mentioned the bowling alley in the white house and Obama said that he had been practicing and bowled a 129.  Jay snickered at this and Obama made a crack about it being almost like the Special Olympics. **SIGH**  REALLY?  Did he really say that?  It’s just another example of how it is part of our common language to slam people with disabilities and not even intend to or realize it.

I feel like there are several people fighting inside of me right now, the Angry mother who wants to lash out and protect my baby (^%$&*#@!), the tired mother who feels like she is always working to make the world better for her daughter, the humanitarian who just wants everyone to get along and be respectful of each other, and the Christian who leans to prayer for understanding.   The angry mom wants to scream at the top of my lungs!  I went to Youtube to link to the video, but was so disgusted by the comments that people left about not all people in the Special Olypics are (insert R word here).  I just want to cry!!  I realize that Obama and his staff caught his gaff and he profusely apologized to the Director of the Special Olympics, and I do appreciate that.  I wish the makers of Tropic Thunder would have handled it as well.  I don’t have any brilliant words of wisdom here, just a heavy heart for the world I live in that only values stronger, faster and smarter.  I’m going to go hug my beautiful daughter and be thankful that she has a circle of family and friends that love her to pieces and value her for being Sydney!

Basically, my response is DAMN IT!!!!

I have been wanting to do this for a while…  Over at San Diego Momma, she does a writing exercise each week where she gives a creative writing prompt, then you write something off the cuff.  This week’s prompt is Use in a story/poem: A skein of red yarn, a comb, and a bottle of water.  Okay, so here goes…

She collapsed into the big comfy chair in the living room, if only for a moment.  There was plenty to do, and she felt a pang of guilt that she wasn’t cleaning the dishes in the sink.  It wouldn’t be so bad if they were just the breakfast dishes, but the counter was covered with last night’s dinner dishes and pans as well.  She reached over and grabbed the remote control off of the table and turned down the blaring cartoons that seemed to run 24 hours a day at full volume.  “Why?” she wondered “Do children need to have the TV up so loud?”  As she turned down the volume, she could hear her son in the front room playing with the pool table.  “Crack” went the balls, followed by an enthusiastic “Woo hoo!” or a deflated “Awe, man!”.  She closed her eyes, but was cautious not to let herself relax too much, sleep deprivation has a powerful way of making sleep sneak up on you.  Suddenly she bolted upright as her bottle of cold water slipped from her hand and poured half of its contents into her lap.  She squealed, frustrated with herself for being so clumsy.  Then it hit her, she had fallen asleep!  Her heart was beating double time as she looked at the clock to see how long she had fallen asleep.  Luckily the clock was kind and she breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that only 5 minutes had passed.  “Whew, that was close”.  She listened to the sound of pool balls crashing, but realized that there was no other sounds.  What was the toddler up to?  Quiet children typically means that they are up to something.  She quickly got up and started walking through the house only to find that her daughter Mara was sitting with her half-finished afghan on top of her head.  Her first reaction was to get angry since she had struggled for two months to get half of the afghan done.  But before she had time to react to the three skeins of red yarn strewn around the dining room, she discovered what little Mara was doing.  She was combing the afghan on her head as if it were long flowing hair.  She remembered pretending to have long hair when she was a little girl.  Instead of getting angry, she slipped into the other room and grabbed her camera to capture the moment.  Who would have known that a moment of anger in the height of exhaustion would have turned into such a precious memory that was captured on film.

I hope today you were all a little bit Irish and enjoyed some green beer.  We celebrated with a beautiful 85 degree Texas day. (just after a week of cold rain).  It was a lovely spring day.  Here are some pictures of our day.  BTW, the dinner is spaghetti with butter and cream sauce and peas (requested by Anthony), all dyed green in honor of the day!

The green dinner…

I think that Sydney thought it was “silly”

I am in the process of overhauling our new parent information packets that we give to expectant and new parents of babies with DS.  I am going to start inserting some questions into my blog to ask the parents of children with Down Syndrome to help me shape the new parent information.  If you are a parent, I would REALLY like to get your input!  But hang on all of you readers that are not parents of children with DS, you most likely know someone who is so YOUR input is requested as well.  

This is going to be the first poll of several to come, and I want to get as much input as possible, so if you like this idea… please tell others to drop by and add their thoughts, or mention this poll on your blog.

So, on that note, here we go…

1.  
   1. What was the most comforting thing that you heard after receiving the diagnosis and who said it to you?
   2. What was the worst thing someone said to you?
   3. Non parent (sorry, can’t think of a better term yet) What was the hardest thing for you when you discovered that your friend (or other relation) told you that their child had DS? 

I am stealing a little from my husband’s blog today.  I have mentioned before that I am a step-mother.  My son Zach’s 9th birthday was today, but we are celebrating in two weeks when he comes back to our house for the weekend.  As I reflect back on the last past years that I have been in his life, it has been a long and tough road.  I have been in Zach’s life since he was very young and he has always known me in his life.  The relationship between my husband and Zach’s mom has never been great, but is improving over time, and I have been a continual target of his mom’s for all of his life.  In the beginning contentions were just between Randall and his ex… then as Zach grew older and aware his mom sent her anger through him and my job as step-mother became REALLY tough.  It broke my heart to hear such venom and hatred for me coming through such a young child.  (not to mention frustrated and angered me)  I am glad that I had no idea how tough it would be when I signed up for the job!   

BUT, I have invested my heart, my patience, and my intense prayers into Zach (and yes his mother too) for YEARS!  I have had my share of tears over the years, BUT the lately investment has been paying off.  Zach is growing and maturing, especially in the last year and a half.  It makes me wonder if Sydney has had a calming and loving affect on him.  The timing is spot on.  Anyway, for some reason he is very comfortable talking to me about the serious stuff.  Even though he tells me all about how much his mother still hates me and the awful assumption that are vocalized at his other house about us, he still feels comfortable to tell me about them.  SIGH!  I am honored to be his confidant, but at the same time, it is so tough to respond sometimes with God’s love and not my personal frustrations and anger.  Believe me, sometimes I have bit my tongue so hard that I am surprised it is still there.  If it weren’t for vent sessions with my BFF Kim and my mom, I don’t think that I could have kept my sanity.  I think our family’s consistency, our calm household, and ongoing faith life have touched his heart.  He is surrounded by constant and consistent love and he has come a long way.  He is growing up to be a delightful young man.  It is hard to believe that he is 9 years old today.  He has found his passion in basketball, skateboarding, Guitar Hero and spelling and reading.  Happy Birthday Zachary!