50.5 % Mom 50.5% Dad

When you are pregnant for the first time you spend 9 months wondering what your baby is going to look like, whether he will have Daddy's dimples or Mommy's green eyes,whether he will be born with a full head of hair like Daddy was or be as bald as Mommy was ..When you find out that your unborn baby might have Down syndrome you stop wondering about who he might look like ,whether or not he will have hair and all the other exciting things we think and dream about while pregnant when you find out your baby is going to have Down syndrome all you can think about is Down syndrome. In the beginning you are scared to death of Down syndrome ,unless you are lucky enough to already know someone with Down syndrome ,which of course most of us sadly do not. I was told at 12 wks pregnant that Isaiah might have Down syndrome so I was lucky to have the time to research and learn about Down syndrome throughout the rest of my pregnancy and by the time he was born I was no longer afraid . It didnt matter whether he looked like me or his Daddy ,I knew he was going to be beautiful and as you can see he was and still is a beautiful boy. Some people think that all people with Down syndrome look alike which we obvioulsy know is not true, yes they can look similar to other children with Down syndrome since they do often have similar characteristics like their beautiful almond shaped eyes and low set ears BUT they can and most often do look just like Mommy or Daddy and their siblings. Some people say that Isaiah looks like me and some say he looks like his Dad...I see both of us when I look at him and most of all I see Isaiah for who he is ...a beautiful little boy with brown hair ,green eyes and a smile that melts my heart a thousand times a day. I love you Isaiah .xo

Love when this happens

Every single day my lovely boys wake up by 5am....which by the way sucks.However it is quite amazing what you can accomplish by lunch time when you are up at the crack of dawn. Today was a typical day off for me,up at 5am,2 diaper changesand  turn on the cartoons for the boys. By 10am I had a turkey chili made for lunch ,2 different breakfasts made (of course they wont eat the same thing) ,cut up veggies for me to snack on for the next few days ,2 loads of laundry done and the dishwasher filled. I got the boys and myself dressed and went to our playground for awhile .Since I am trying to lose this stubborn baby weight I always try to get out for a walk with them as well ,weather permitting of course ,so off we go for our walk. I pretty much take the same route as there isnt much option and today Noah for whatever reason wanted to go the "other" way..not that there is anything better that way of course and it would require going up a major hill which I did not feel like walking up pushing a double stroller with almost 80 lbs of boys ,which is why of course I always go the other way. So with Noah yelling at me off we went .My hope is always of course that they will fall asleep on the walk and have a short nap because when they dont nap they almost always fall asleep just before supper and then rest of the night really sucks for me. Well today as you can see by the photo the BOTH fell asleep, I can almost always count on Isaiah to sleep but Noah is much more stubborn , he finally konked out about 4 minutes before we got home .:O)  I removed them from the stroller and put them both on the couch without waking them , I love when this happens...its going to be a great day. Now off to have some of my yummy turkey chili.

Noah Derek

This is my Noah, my sweet little boy whos is already bigger than his big brother Isaiah. While I was pregnant with Isaiah I swore I was going to adopt my next child as I hated being pregnant so much .Well 9 mths after having Isaiah I decided I could do it again and of course got pregnant right away.I never had a problem getting pregnant ,just "staying" pregnant. This pregnancy was just as awful as my pregnancy with Isaiah was, I had all the same horrible symptoms and even though everything looked fine on the ultrasounds I still couldnt relax and stop worrying that something would go wrong.I wasnt worried about this baby having Down syndrome at all as I already knew that I could handle that.We were already living with DS and it was not so bad,Isaiah was such an awesome baby and we loved him so much we knew we could handle another child with DS. I was worried about everything else that could go wrong.Once you have achild with special needs and realize that everything doesnt  happen exactly the way you expect it to ,you also start to think about how much worse things could be and consider yourself lucky that your child has Down syndrome ,once you spend 3 wks in a NICU you realize that some babies and families have a much harder road to follow. Some of the families that I met while in the NICU were not lucky enough to be able to bring their beautiful babies home.I wish that I could have enjoyed being pregnant but I also know that I am lucky to have 2 beautiful perfect in their own way happy little boys.

Isaiah Michael

Isaiah entered the world on January 23rd,2007 almost 5 wks early and weighed 5lbs and 15oz. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen and made the horrible pregnancy I endured worth every minute.I was told at my 12 wk ultrasound that "the baby" might have Down syndrome based on his neck measurement.I had already had 2 miscarraiges and would never have done anything to risk losing this baby so I refused the amnio ,went home and read about DS for about 6 hours online ,went to work the next day and as I was walking from my car I saw a daycare group walking towards me.The kids were all holding onto one of those ring things but the last little boy in the line ,holding the teachers hand was the cutest little boy who happened to have Down syndrome and the biggest grin on his face. I truly believe that God sent me a sign to let me know that everything was going to be alright. I already knew in my heart that I was having a boy and that confirmed it for me.I spent the rest of my pregnancy learning about DS and all was fine until my 18 wk ultrasound when they discovered that my baby BOY (I was right of course) not only most likely had DS but he also had what is called a Duodenal Atresia which is a blockage of the bowel that would require surgery immediately after he was born.And to make matters worse he would have to have this surgery at a hospital 5 hrs away from home in a different province.And on top of all of it the doctor was pretty sure he also had a hole in his heart (which about 50% of babies with DS have).The rest of my pregnancy SUCKED ! I was already stressed out ,nauseaous,had major heartburn,major fluid retention due to his Duodenal Atresia,was hugely fat and uncomfortable and had to stand all day long at my job.I spent most of my pregnancy praying that the baby would make it and praying that if he did make it that he would survive the sugery.Obviously he made it through his first surgery ,he was quite the trooper really.He spent the first 3 wks of his life in the hospital and the day we brought him home was one of the best days of my life. I cannot imagine my life without him.

I must be crazy

I must be crazy because between parenting 2 boys ,one of whom has Down syndrome and Autism, working part time as a hairstylist and co-owning the business, taking Isaiah to his many appointments,taking the boys to playdates, being the secretary for the Saint John Down syndrome society which I started with a friend who also has a child with DS, raising awareness about DS, learning about Autism,trying to hit the gym a few times a week,scrapbooking for my boys preschool  and doing all the other things that go hand and hand with being a mom and wife I have now decided to add blogging to my list, lol... clearly I MUST be crazy. I have thought about it many times in the past and last night was reading about a blog called "distracteddaddy" that was quite funny and I thought why not try it and see if I can do it.So far I am quite confused and trying to find my way around here, Im sure it will get easier.I have downloaded a picture of my beautiful boys but the picture is huge! I dont know how to make it smaller,as you can see I am not very computer savvy but hopefully it will come in time. If anyone reading this has a child with Down syndrome or a child with a dual diagnosis of DS-ASD please drop me a line as I would love to follow your blogs.