MAMABILITY

When I was about 7 1/2 months pregnant with Everett, Vic & I went out to dinner one night at one of our favorite local restaurants, an Italian joint. I distinctly remember that night. I remember what I wore, I remember what I ordered, and I remember where I sat. I remember these (what would seem like mundane) events, because that evening a young man with Down syndrome chose our table for us, seated us, handed us our menus, and began telling us what his favorite menu items were (including HIS banana pudding recipe in the dessert section). This young man was very professional, well-spoken, and it was obvious he was the most popular guy at the restaurant. Everyone, literally everyone, knew his name. Vic & I talked on the way home about what a neat experience it was, seeing this young man in action. Days later, Everett was born and diagnosed. A lot of people began telling me everything Everett wouldn’t be able to do. He’ll never go to college they said, work, or learn how to snow ski, etc. And every time someone would say things like this, I would think to myself, “but what about that guy at the Italian restaurant?” It’s so funny to me now that I used to think of Austin Underwood as “that guy at the Italian restaurant.” He is a good family friend of ours now, as well as his amazing mom Jan. If you’ve never met Austin (which would surprise me, pretty sure everyone in our area knows him), then you should. He’ll tell you all about his new business venture, his old college days, and how he loves to go snow skiing every year ?.

On a side note, if you’d like to learn more about Austin’s business venture (Austin’s Underdawgs) and donate to the cause, here is the link! It’s a great way to support a business that is giving back to the differently-abled community!!! https://www.pieshell.com/projects/austins-underdawgs Continue reading Confessions of a Rockin mom #25: Fears related to growing up

When Everett was about 6 months old we took him to have his picture made with Santa at a local mall. When we got settled into the long line of families waiting for their obligatory Santa photos, we realized the parents in front of us had a daughter with Down syndrome. Her name was Meagan and she was about 5-years-old. Meagan was an adorable little girl but I noticed her mom was having a hard time wrangling her because Meagan liked to run away. She darted all over that mall with her mother trailing her from store to store. And I’ll have to confess…this concerned me. While I was glad to see that Meagan was so physically active, I envisioned a future for myself that would involve me wrangling Everett. A lot. This fear was definitely warranted. Like Meagan, Everett has a mind of his own. And when he gets it in his mind to go somewhere…he runs for it. I chase him down and practically hogtie him every morning when it’s time to get dressed. And you should see the scene he makes when it’s time to leave a playground. This trend becomes really concerning when parking lots are involved, so I came up with a temporary solution. As you can see in this photo, however, the “runaway” fear isn’t necessarily Down syndrome specific ?. 

Continue reading Confessions of a Rockin mom #22: Fear of behavior issues

 We didn’t announce the fact that Everett was diagnosed with Trisomy21 until he was about a year old. We told friends & family, but we let our social media peeps figure it out for themselves over time. I believe I made it FB official 2 years ago during DS Awareness month when I posted a series of facts about Down syndrome. There is a very good reason why we did this. Because Everett got a birth diagnosis, we didn’t have time to prepare how we would “break the news” to others. We were still trying to figure out how to “break the news” to ourselves. And I’ll have to confess, the few people we told responded in ways that really upset us. The worst was when a friend told me they already knew because Everett’s characteristics were obvious in the newborn photos I posted. This crushed me. No one wants to have anyone, let alone a friend, point out characteristics that make your child stand out. We also got a lot of “I’m sorry” reactions. We didn’t think Everett was something to be sorry about, so that hurt our feelings too. We became very fearful of how people would respond to the news of Everett’s diagnosis, so we stopped telling people and let them eventually figure it out for themselves. This fear, unfortunately, was very warranted. If you are reading this post and know of someone who recently had a baby diagnosed with Down syndrome, please be thoughtful in how you respond to that news. Words are very powerful and can be very hurtful to someone else when not selected carefully. And maybe Everett does have some obvious characteristics of DS. But who cares…he’s an adorable child who is worthy of celebration. Not “I’m sorry.” Continue reading Confessions of a Rockin mom #19: Fear of breaking the news