He's Got the Look

Or rather, he’s got the leggings...

Joaquin from Three’s A Charm will be sporting some pretty cool leggings in the near future... since his mom and dad were the lucky winners in our Knotty Baby Wear leggings contest.

Random.org picked the 11th entry



Congratulations to Hector and Jennifer Varanini Sanchez. Email me and I’ll hook you up with Amber.

Thanks for playing everybody, and remember the leggings super sale is on until Friday, December 18th.

Everybody Should Do It

Imagine that you are a stay-at-home parent to three children and your spouse just had open heart surgery. There’s no short-term disability, no vacation hours to use up. There will be no paychecks during your spouse’s six to eight week recovery period. What a nightmare. Aren’t you glad this isn’t happening to you?

Well, the Flege family is going through that nightmare right now and we have the opportunity to help them out. CJ over at The T21 Traveling Afghan is holding an online raffle to benefit this family. Throw a few bucks into one or more of the raffle pots for the items you’d like to win (you can do this by clicking the donate button associated with the item you want and then use PayPal to transfer the money.) The winners will be chosen randomly after the raffle ends.

Go on over there and check it out. There are some really nice items up for raffle (ahem, some of which I made by hand.) Let’s show our support and help a family in our community who needs us right now :-)

He’s Hot, He’s Cold, Hot, Cold...

Young babies often have trouble regulating their body temperatures. A baby's body surface is about three times greater than an adult's, compared to the weight of his/her body. That means babies can lose heat much faster than you or I would. It also means they can overheat quickly as well.

Since babies are so susceptible to body temperature changes depending on their environments, we have the tough job of keeping them just right. Hats, blankets, mitts, and the infant seat cover are helpful when you are transitioning your baby from one place to another such as from home to the car, to the store, to the doctor’s office, and back home again.

While those basics that go on and off, or open and close swiftly are important to have, they just don’t cover everything when it comes to babies with Down syndrome. Our little ones very often get cold legs and feet even when the room temperature is an average 70 degrees. We could bundle them up but most babies do not enjoy having their lower extremities constricted by layers of stockings, socks, and shoes. I don’t blame them... I remember the itchy claustrophobic feeling you get when you wear tight panty hose and shoes all day.

What’s the solution?
Leggings. Soft knit leggings that slip on and off easily and can cover the legs as well as the entire foot or only part, leaving those prehensile toes free to play.



Not only are leggings the ideal solution for hanging around the house, but they are a godsend for babies who are doing time in the hospital or have other reasons why pants are uncomfortable.

I think leggings are so useful and snazzy that I got together with Amber from Knotty Baby Wear (who happens to think babies with Ds are awesome) to come up with a Leggings giveaway. That’s right... Amber is going to give one of you three pairs of her gorgeous leggings just because she thinks our kids rock!




How to Enter
To enter to win the leggings giveaway, visit Knotty Baby Wear and choose the three pairs of leggings you would like to win. Plan on spending some time over there because she has pages of fantastic selections to choose from. Amber's leggings fit children up to age ten, so those of you with "big babies" can enter as well! Come back here and post your choices in a comment. Ten days from today, on October 28, a random winner will be chosen. The winner will receive his or her selections compliments of Amber.

Christmas Sale
And if you’re not the winner, never fear, Amber is offering us the best sale she has ever had on her site. From now until Friday December 18th, order three pairs of leggings (regular price $8 each) for only $18 with free shipping. When you order your selections, put the sale code DS.MAMA in the comment box and Amber will adjust the pricing on her end. (Etsy doesn’t allow for discounts, so Amber has to do it this way.) So go on over and buy your favorite baby some stylin’ leggings for Christmas.


Picture Credit: That handsome boy is Jax from Jaxson's Fight.

Surprise

A while back I did a poll about when you found out your baby had Down syndrome. The results (way, way down the left column) indicated that around 60% of babies that come with extras come as an after delivery surprise.

There are lots of reasons for this. Maybe you didn’t care about prenatal testing... que sera sera... or maybe you did but something got missed. Doesn’t matter now. You have a wonderful new (or not so new :-) person in your life.

What does matter is that there are a lot of misconceptions about people with Ds and their parents. For one, there are some pregnancy/birth statistics that are skewed (and posted all over the internet). You who were delivered surprises can help to straighten that out (even if you didn't vote in my poll).

Please read the Oz Squad blog post, “What’s In a Number” and then, if you qualify, take the prenatal testing poll. Your participation is greatly appreciated.

It's a Boy, and Another Boy, and Another Boy!

Lots of congratulations are in order... We have three new baby boys to celebrate. Go visit them and send them some bloggy baby love.


His Highness Henry, from Three Little Kings, has arrived.



Elijah is the son of Scott and Beth over at Hope for Elijah.



Kheaven is the little prince over at +Bits and Pieces+.


If you would like our community to know about the arrival of a new baby with Down syndrome, please send an email to ds.mama with the baby's info and an email address or blog/website address of the baby's mom or dad.

Sweet Baby Girl

Beautiful Maddox is the daughter of Chad and Kim over at Chromosomally Enhanced. Make sure you pop by and congratulate them on the lovely addition to their family.

The Best Part—Fall Giveaway

Many times when I am speaking about my daughter I will say something like, “The best part about Down syndrome is...” and inevitably if the person I am talking to doesn’t have a child with Ds I get a raised eyebrow before I even finish my sentence.

As if one can’t imagine there are good things about Ds! Well, I have news for you... there are actually lots of really cool and wonderful things about people with Down syndrome that seem to be directly influenced by that extra chromosome.

Today I will tell you my favorite part.

Summer is my last baby. This was known and agreed upon before she was even conceived. I love babies... I truly enjoy my time in “babyland”. But as any parent of a typical child can tell you, it’s short-lived. From infancy to a walking and talking toddler flies by. And woe to you if you blink, you’ll miss something that will never come again.



When a child has Down syndrome, a parent gets the pleasure of meandering through babyland. All of the stages last longer and are more defined. You need not worry about taking a nap with your eight month old and waking up with a ten month old. After raising two typical boys whose baby books have many blank pages (guess I must have napped quite a bit ;-), this came as an enjoyable relief to me.

I love babyland. I love the fact that my 15 month old still looks and acts like a baby. I’m in no hurry and neither is she.

Your Turn
What do you think is the best part about Down syndrome?

Answer this question by November 3 in the comments section of this post or in a post of your own (but make sure you comment here to let me know!) and you will be entered into the DSNM Fall giveaway. During the first week of December, I will post a list of my other favorite things about Ds and link to all your posts. I will also announce the random winner who will win the prize pack listed below.

The Fall Giveaway Prize Pack
It’s books! One for you and one for your baby. For the parent, it is Gifts 2: How People with Down Syndrome Enrich the World and for your baby it’s Little Feet Love (which I couldn’t even find on Amazon, so I'm linking its sister book). Oh, and of course some sweets for after the little ones are in bed... a Lindt Classics Caramel Assortment box of candy.

Do You Live in Michigan?

And do you have Priority Health insurance? So far so good.... Did your baby have heart surgery at MOTTS Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan? Did you get PH to cover it?

PH is denying Kaitlyn’s upcoming surgery if it is performed at MOTTS. Kaitlyn’s mommy needs to find at least one of the families who got the surgery approved there. If you answered yes to all these questions, can you please go visit Jenee and tell her?

Facebook Blunders

I joined Facebook today (sorry Dan.) You all probably already know this since I think I accidentally emailed the whole world about it. But in case you didn't get my spam email, my name out there is Sandra Dsmama.

Facebook is quite demanding compared to say... MySpace. Between confirmations and validations, I can’t seem to get anything to do what I want it to. And worse, I can’t find half of you because you all have real names, lol.

So I will thank you now for bearing with me as I figure it all out.