I keep suprising people!

Today a nurse came to visit from the Knox county health department. She is the one who refer's me to the help me grow program. She kept saying how suprised she was with me. She said she was expecting to find or see things in me because I have downs (she sees all the kids born with downs in the county and most the rest), but she said she found or saw very little she was expecting. I think she was actually taken off gaurd by how good I'm doing.

I've found in my first six weeks of life that I am suprising a lot of people. Just because I have 3 chromosones on my 21st set people expect me to be a certain way and they find out rather quickly that's not who I am. (For the record kids with 2 chromosones on their 21st set all turn out different from each other, so don't expect me to be the same as every other kid with my chomosonal pattern.) I'm not going to be what all the medical books say I'll be and I'm not going to fit everybody's preconcived notions of what I should look like and act like. I'm going to suprise the world with who I am and who I will become!

I'm a special unique creation of my Father in Heaven just like every other kid with downs or without.

I love watermellon! 

Late night fun

Last night I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to be fed. Mommy made daddy wake up to give me a bottle. I don’t think daddy ever quite woke up. He stuck the bottle in my mouth while holding me, but didn’t pay much attention to me after that. I showed him by throwing up all over his belly. He apologized and told me that I taught him a good lesson. I’m sure I’ll teach him many more lessons in the future.

Crazy week

This has been a busy week for my family. We had to go over to the college every day this week for these church services where Nazarenes gather from all over Ohio. It's cool cause I get to meet lots of people who have been praying for us.

On Monday night dad had to give a report in front of everybody on how well our church is doing. He decided not to read a report, but instead to sing it. He had our friend Sam play the guitar for him and dad just sang his heart out. Too bad dad don't sing to well. He got a standing ovation anyway, the people were really nice to him.

Big Progress!!!

This is me lifting my head up without any help. I can't do it all day long or hold my head up too terribly long (five to ten seconds tops), but from what I hear it is pretty remarkable that I am doing this already. Mommy and daddy say they are so proud of me and that I'm beating the odds already. God's been good!

fireworks

Last night daddy and mommy took me to see my first fireworks show. They said it was to celebrate Mount Vernon’s 200th birthday. I’d like to say I enjoyed them, but I really didn’t pay much attention to them as I preferred to sit on mommies lap in the car and stare at her the whole time. Daddy said they were really good, but that he understood why I would want to stare at mommy the whole time. He said he enjoys staring at mommy too.

Yes He does!!! 

Where did my hand go? 

Argentina

This is the first outfit my dad ever bought for me. He bought it for me a month after he found out I was coming. Translated to English it means “Argentina is in my heart.” He got it while he was on a mission trip in Argentina. He tells me that he can’t wait to take me there on a mission trip.

While he was in Argentina he met a sister in Christ named Mariela Rodriguez. She is one of the administrators at South American Theological Seminary, the wife of the president there, and the mother of two young children. My dad says she glows with the Holy Spirit in a way that he has rarely seen before. He also says that she a bad form of cancer that the doctors say only a miracle will heal. But from what I seen in my life already, our God does miracles. So when you pray for me today, pray for the complete healing of Mariela Rodriguez.

One month visit

My parents took me to the doctor yesterday for my one month visit. The doctor said I was really healthy and everything seemed to be going really well. When the doctor was trying to show my parents the physical signs I have for down syndrome he had a hard time finding many. He actually asked me if I was fooling him! My parents really liked that and thanked God for how good He has been to me.

my little hand 

My Chromosones

The above are my chromosomes. Each of us usually only have 46 of them, but I have 47. I have an extra one on my 21st set (they are circled). My dad says, "the more the merrier!" For those of you who are interested, the two X chromosomes indicate that I am a girl, and an awfully darn cute one at that!

Genetic's report

We spent almost two hours in the doctor's office today at Children's hospital. Most of the time was spent talking with a genetic counselor who told us what to expect and what are plan of action will be. I was hardly even examined and best of all no one pricked me with any of those awful needles!

They really didn't tell us much about me specifically, just about down syndrome in general. We probably won't have to see the genetic doctor again, but they say they will always be there for us as a reference. From here we get refered to the down syndrome clinic @ children's which we go to when I'm 6 months old and every 6 months after that for a while; they just make sure we are seeing all the right people. We also get refered to our couty "help me grow" program which will deal with early intervention.

The doctor's today said that they cannot tell how serious some of my problem will be, only time will tell. But for now they say I'm perfectly healthy. I'm just glad I don't have to go to Children's hospital again for another five months.

Oh by the way, I saw a picture of my chromosones today. How many people can say that? My dad says he'll try to post a picture of that here later tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning.

Little Big Miracles

Last Thursday night my parents broke a part of a machine that I really need. So dad wakes up the next morning to look on the internet to find where we can get a replacement part and he finds a place in Mansfield (35-40 minutes away). He calls to make sure they have the part and they assure him they do. So me and my parents jump in the car to go and get the part.

We get there and we ask for the part and they say, "oh that's the part you want. I don't think we carry that part." Sure enough they would have no reason to carry that part because they don't carry the machines that the part goes to. As we are about to leave the store a little discouraged cause we have no idea where we'll be able to get that part at now, the sales lady says, "oh is this the part you are looking for?"

Somehow the sales lady looked on a random shelf and saw the part that the store really had no business having in stock and it was exactly what we needed. She seemed suprised they had it, but my parents just smiled and made some comments to one another about what a good God we serve. On the way home they talked about how they thought God got the part in that store: Did He make it appear out of the blue while we were standing there. Did He have an angel order a few weeks ago and since no one picked it up did the store put it out for sale? My parents say we will probably never know exactly how God did it, just that He did it. We have a great Father in Heaven who likes to give good gifts!

hi 

Happy 4th!