Resorting to Bribery :-)

There are hundreds of us, even thousands of us... parents, siblings, caretakers... people who know—really know— someone with Down syndrome. Combined we have a wealth of knowledge that surpasses any book written about Down syndrome, any expert’s opinion, and all stereotypes.

The only way to harness that knowledge is to come together and share it. Does left-handedness occur more often in the population of people with Down syndrome? Only we can answer that question. I am asking you to share your expertise on your child. I did a little begging on FB and now I am going to try bribery...

Take the poll over in the left column, leave a comment saying that you did (and how you voted if you want to) and you will be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card. If 500 people take the poll, I will up it to a $50 gift card. (If you are one of those who already voted, just leave a comment saying so and you are in.)

Thank you for participating. Every one of us matters.

Congratulations to a New Ds Mama

Adrienne is about 30 weeks pregnant with a little darling who has Down syndrome. She is blogging about her pregnancy (and other neato stuff) at The Upside of Wes. Check her out and get a sneak peek at Wes.

Another Lovely Baby

Chris and Kami are pleased to introduce their beautiful daughter Brya.







You can leave Chris and Kami some words of inspiration here in the comments or in the FB group, Our Adventures with Down Syndrome.


If you would like our community to know about the arrival of a child 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.

Birth Announcement

Tim and Vicki are proud to announce the birth of their son Kannon. He will be ever so loved by his six older sisters: Kendra, Kaylee, Karisa , Kasidy, Kambry, and Keanna, and his older brother Kyle.



Vicki isn’t blogging yet, but she is thinking that maybe she might start. When she does, we’ll let you know and you can follow along on Kannon’s journey.


If you would like our community to know about the arrival of a child 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.

Calling All Beautiful Babies

I have never seen a baby with Ds that didn’t melt my heart with stunning eyes or an adorable smile, and I would bet that Melanie from Melanie Rose Photography hasn’t either.

Melanie has embarked on a photography project, Joel & Friends, that aims to showcase the beauty and essence of children with Down syndrome. She kicked off the project in NYC when she photographed Noah and she hopes to complete the project by late Fall of 2012. Throughout the project, Melanie will be blogging the results of the photo shoots and preparing for exhibitions and ultimately a gorgeous coffee table book.

How to Get Involved
Melanie plans to travel across the US setting up multiple photo shoot appointments in major cities. She has a Facebook page and a Twitter feed that will keep us informed of activities. Families that participate in the project can expect to spend about 30 minutes in the photography session. In exchange for permission to publish the photos captured in the session, parents will receive digital copies of medium resolution photo files (great for producing high-quality prints up to 8 by 10 inches) and the option to order professional prints through Melanie Rose Photography at cost.

Don’t miss this awesome opportunity to show off your beautiful child! Email Melanie at melrose (at) melanierosephotos (dot) com to let her know you would like to participate. Please put your home city and state in the subject line of the email.

I gotta admit, I am so looking forward to drooling over darling babies like this one:



Noah from Noah's Dad

I'll be there...will you?

Guest post by Kelli

The National Down Syndrome Convention is fast approaching...July 16th-18th in Orlando, FL. I'll be there...will you?

Last year Monica over at Monkey Musings designed badges for all moms that attended and blog about their life with Down Syndrome so that everyone could be easily identified. This year, as she is expecting their 5th child (brave, brave woman)...she has passed the baton, to me! So, if you are attending and would like a badge, please let me know by commenting on this post or emailing me at livinglifewithes (at) yahoo (dot) com.

I hope many of you do attend...I cannot wait to meet you and shake your hand...oh, who am I kidding, I would love to give you a big fat hug... you have become an extention of my family through your encouragement and support. I can't wait to see your smiling faces in person and tell you how much I appreciate you sharing your lives through your blogs.

If you haven't registered yet..make sure you hurry over to the website and do it now, you have to register before June 10th to get the early bird rate (it sounds like I am talking about a meal, doesn't it!). If you haven't decided whether or not you are going...well consider that it's in ORLANDO where there is always an abundance of sunshine and fun, especially for the kiddos!

I would like to make sure that everyone that plans on attending gets a badge so if you woudn't mind helping me spread the word, I would really appreciate you linking back to this post from your blog or mentioning it in some way so that I can make sure that all DS bloggers receive a badge if they want one.

Hope to see you all in July!!!


(Note from ds.mama... Well, we were planning on going and then something big, something huge happened (I'll tell you about it later this week ;-) and we had to change our plans for this summer. We'll miss you guys and Mickey too.)

A Bevy of Boy Beauties

Remember William from last month’s birth announcements? Well, his mom Tracy was kind enough to send us a picture of him. Isn’t he adorable?



Andrew
Nykki and Amy have been blessed with a son, Andrew. Check out Nykki’s blog, Past The Apple Orchard to see lots of pictures of little “Roo”.




Curtis
With great joy, Josh and Berit announce the birth of their son, Curtis. BabyBee can be found hanging out and looking darling on the Beary Bee blog.




Jack
Angi and John are delighted to introduce their first child, Jack. He is the star of the show over at Life in Color.




John
Meg and Dan welcome a beautiful new son, John. He joins brother Danny and sisters Maggie and Emily. He's not on the Web yet, but mom sent a picture so that we can oooh and ahhh over him anyway.






Owen
Andy and Ashley are honored to announce the birth of their first child, Owen. You can let Owen completely charm you at My Little Peanut.




If you would like our community to know about the arrival of a child 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.

More 2009 Babies

I know you guys think I have been distracted by eggnog and mounds of Brie cheese... too distracted to get out the rest of the 2009 birth announcements... but I swear it isn’t so. I actually have been suffering (for the last month) through the worst computer quagmire ever. For now, everything is behaving so I will present to you a bunch of new darlings to visit and oooh & aaah over.


Prayer is Always Free


Schye Family


Living Life with E's


Cindy the Artist


The Baby Who Chose Us

If you would like our community to know about the arrival of a child 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.

That’s What I Like About You

Back in October I posted “The Best Part,” a few thoughts about the good stuff that comes with Down syndrome. I asked you to tell me your favorite things and what a great response you gave. It was a wonderful reminder that people with Ds are unique and fabulous in so many ways.

Things We Love
People with Ds live in the moment... they have determination and pride. And we have pride for them as we celebrate their milestones. We have the pleasure of never-ending hugs & kisses... wherever at whatever age. People with Ds express uninhibited love & joy. They have a lovely innocence about them...

“I love the innocence. The fact that my son doesn't see jealousy or envy in others, doesn't fuss when someone takes one of his toys, doesn't try to take others things - he just accepts everyone and everything at face value. I love that.”(Karen)

As parents and loved ones, we have become part of a wonderful community, we have learned through self-introspection the value of life, and have developed a great appreciation for the little things. We have learned to slow down and enjoy what is, and we have experienced personal growth... becoming advocates and cultivating an acute empathy for others...

“Having a child who is 'different' forced me to break down stereotypes and prejudices that I never knew I had. It makes me want to defend and advocate all of those in our society who are vulnerable and overlooked.” (Stephanie)

People with Ds have extraordinary physical characteristics... a chunky kissable neck, amazingly talented toes, stunningly beautiful brushfield spots in their eyes, and delicate facial features. They are sincere, caring, and non-judgemental of others. They are charitable, kind, and altruistic...

“My Favorite thing about DS is that having Ricki taught me to accept and love the positive things in everyone, and to avoid dwelling on the negative. I then applied this to my (then) teens. It was beneficial for all of us.” (Ricki’s mom)

Many babies with Ds give us the opportunity to enjoy an extended infancy, and a baby who sleeps through the night. They reward us daily with a pure, abundant, and uncomplicated love. They are easygoing...

“I love how cuddly Miss B is and how easy she is to console. When she is crying, pretty much all you have to do is pick her up and snuggle her in, and she's happy again. We've had very few of those “Is it your diaper? Are you hungry? Are you hurt? Are you sick? Is it gas? Are you hot? Are you cold? Why are you crying and why won't you stop??!!!??” moments with Miss Banana. Gotta love that too!” (Carrie)

People with Ds have the most beautiful genuine smiles that they give freely to all...and the cutest protest pouts you ever did see...

“I love Maddie's smile...she smiles with her whole body...her hugs are big, warm, and so calming...and I love how when she does not like something she lets us know with the greatest wrinkled/scrunched face...she is priceless!”(Chromosomally Enhanced)

I’ve already said that my favorite part of Ds so far is the extension of the trip through babyland but I want to also mention how much I love it that my daughter plays with her toys... really plays with them. With my typical kids, buying toys (other than Legos) was a waste of money... there was zero interest in toys geared for babies. With Summer I have the pleasure of watching her gradually figure out how each toy works and then actually playing with it over and over. She has taught me that life is not about the race to success... that instead it is the joy and peace of this moment, the only moment of our lives that is guaranteed.

Oh yeah, and the toes... did I mention the toes?

Your Turn
You guys wrote some awesome posts on this subject, and if anyone else is inspired to do so, please send me your link so that I can add it to the list.

Zip - Perdue - Dee - Dah
Mutterings & Musings
The Tao Of Tulips
Livin for the Love
SaySay’s Reality
Bradi & Madi’s Blog
Life as We Know It

Guess Who Is Getting the Goodie Box
Random.org picked Brandie and Goldie from Livin for the Love. Congratulations! Email me and I will get your package out right away :-)

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 :-)

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.

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.

Baby Pictures, Please

By now you know ds.mama loves showing off darling babies from our online community. And, I am sure you enjoy looking at all these beauties.

As I visit our blogs and read about our families I often come across a picture that strikes me and I tuck it away in my mind for a future post. Then when the time comes, I forget who I saw where doing what... (let’s blame that on my four kids.) If I am lucky, I remember where the perfect picture for my post is but I am not sure if I have permission to use it.

Which brings me to my request. If you are willing to let me use pictures I come across on your blogs of your children, please leave me a comment saying so (even if I have already used a photo of your child in the past). I’ll make myself a file and the next time I see your cutie doing just the perfect thing, I’ll save the picture with my post notes.

If you are willing to be on a picture email list that I will use to make calls for specific types of photos (e.g., babies eating, reading, signing, etc.) then please email me (ds.mama at yahoo dot com) with your name and email address.

Thank you, a great big one, to those of you who have already let me post pictures of your babies and to those of you who decide to let me in the future.

It’s Rocking Around Here

Ok, I swear to you... I am not a slacker. Its just that there are babies, babies everywhere! And with new babies come new blogs...

New Blog and New Baby
Cole has been hanging out with us for a bit and has just launched her new blog, The Tao of Tulips. Go check out her beautiful Abigail (aka The Quail). This baby girl has the cutest smile. It makes you want to plant a big smoocheroo right on her.

New Baby
These guys post some funny pictures, seriously, laugh out loud funny. Go check them out at Teeny Tiny Hopkins and meet Lucy Mouse, I mean Lucy Kate. This baby girl is a real fighter. She has grown big and strong since her tiny start and has just aced heart surgery.

New Baby and New Blog
Let’s hear it for the cutest boy in Iceland. Kristófer, I am in awe of your swimming skills little man! Dig out your passports and head over to Reykjavik, Iceland to welcome Thelma and Kristinn to parenthood and the blog-o-sphere.

New Blog and New Baby
Lara and Michael welcome baby number four. This is one busy mama, but thankfully she found the time to start a blog, Parker's Purpose, so we get to enjoy her lovely family too.

New Baby and New Blog

Logan Christopher is one tough baby boy. He’s just under three months old and has already sailed through heart surgery. But it isn’t OHS that knocked my socks off, no... it was the picture of him holding his own bottle while still in recovery.

New Blog, Baby on the Way
Oh how exciting... Henry’s still in utero ;-) But you can check him out now because mom, Kara, has awesome 3d ultrasound pictures posted of him. By the way, they are still searching for the perfect middle name, so if you have any ideas make sure you head over to Three Little Kings and tell her.

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.

Does She Really Look Like Me?

Dan, aka Captain Dan and OS Alpha, over at Down with Oz, Oz Squad, and DOWNTOWN has passed the Golden Advocate Award along to me. I am honored that he said such nice things about my blog (and managed to stick to just the positives ;-) Dan is a great writer, father, and advocate, and I am proud to be on his team (which you should join if you haven’t already.)

Not only was Dan kind enough to bestow an award on me, but he also customized it to personally represent me. Does she really look like me? Well, believe it or not, I am not actually that cute, lol. Thanks Dan, you’re the best!

I have to tell you, there are a lot of amazing blogs out there, like Living In Invisible Cities (one of our fancy friends) and Take a Walk on the Happy Side (home of my favorite identical twins). There are also some fantastic disability champions out there like The Accidental Advocate and Welcome to Illinois. So it was hard, really hard to decide what to do with this award.

After ruminating about it for a week or so, I've decided I am giving it to Lisa of Bridget’s Light. Lisa is a gifted writer with a creative streak and a powerful voice for our children. Go spend some time reading around her blog and you will agree. I am thankful that this mother of five makes the time to share her beautiful daughter Bridget as well as her valuable contributions to the ongoing public conversation about disability.

Visit Rejenerations, the home of the Golden Advocate Award, to grab the real version of it... the one without my goofy face on it. There you will also find the specifics about accepting this award and passing it along.

Kaitlyn Has Arrived

As promised, beautiful Kaitlyn was born on August 4th. She has broken the boy streak we had going. Jenee has newborn pictures posted, so go over and see the little princess.

Thank you Rebecca for the lovely announcement graphic. 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.

Prenatal Diagnosis of Down Syndrome?

What Other Mothers Say
Congratulations! You are blessed! --Jill

...everytime I think of the what ifs I also think what I would be missing if she didn't have DS. You know Holland is absolutely breathtaking. =) --Laiken’s Mother

There may be struggles but you will never find regrets. The love you will have for this child will take your breath away. I never would have believed it myself. --Stephanie

But this sweet little baby has often brought so much peace to my heart that I never expected. As sweet as my other babies were, that is one thing I never remember feeling with them. That's why she is special to me and not because she has DS. --Chris

Our son with Ds is adopted and needs open heart surgery soon. No one said it would be easy, but I feel honored to be his mother. --Kristin

She shows me everyday what it means to not give up if you don't succeed the first time around. She has taught me patience and courage and to be proud of who I am and to enjoy the little things in life. -- Tasha

... this is just a baby- and you need to hold onto that no matter what other people say or feel. -- Nicole

This little life is not what you were expecting but everything will be alright. In fact, everything will be great! -- Sally

They are going to learn so much from this child. They are the lucky ones!! -- Amy

Give this child life and you will learn more about yourself than you ever dreamed there was to know. --Jen

More importantly, he will be a delight and will bless your life in so many ways. He will thoroughly charm everyone around him and I promise that you will be smitten when you first hold him in your arms. -- Tara

I know that I never could have had such a life change without my sweet boy. --Angela

You are meant for your baby. Your baby is meant for you. -- Ria

Read more of what moms say on this topic here and here.

Posts Written for Pregnant Parents
Chrystal: What Would You Say
Lisa: Open Letter to Parents Facing a Diagnosis of Down Syndrome
S: My advice for a new Down Syndrome family
Karyn: To Those With A Prenatal Diagnosis

And the Winner Is...

Stephanie of Our Daily Smiles. Email me to let me know which prize pack you are selecting.

Thank you to everybody that entered the giveaway. Your words matter and I am glad you shared them.

Picture Credits
From left to right, top to bottom:

Emilia of Our Daily Smiles
Finnian of Finnian’s Journey
Lily of A Walk In Lily’s Garden
Jacob of Our Jacob
Joey of Our Bundle of Joy
Leah of Everyday Elliott photographed by Melissa Jones Photography
A baby I can't wait to meet
Quinn of Quinn’s Crusaders
Ella Grace of Ella Grace with the Pretty Face
Charlie of Blessings and Glory
Playette of One More, More Than One
Max of Hang On Little Tomato