Reece's Rainbow

Reece's Rainbow is fairly well-known in the Down syndrome community, i hadn't heard about it till a few weeks ago. the Zoromski family who are members in our family network here in our area, are in the process of adopting a five year old little girl with Ds.

this is the history of Reece's Rainbow
if you haven't seen this video please take the time to watch it:


i'm not sure how many of you noticed my new button Bringing Lily Home


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just a thought... nick and i have planned on instead of trading gifts to each other for Christmas this year, we will be donating that money to help bring lily home, if you would like to help bring lily home please click here or if you would like to help any other of the many children please click on the button below.

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and you can follow the Zoromski family's adoption journey on their blog. click here

Thanksgiving

we have a tradition for thanksgiving with my family every year... we go around the table and everyone will say what they are thankful for. last year i had to ask my family to skip that tradition, because the day before last Thanksgiving was the day we found out max was born with Down syndrome. ever since i've felt guilty and ashamed that i couldn't say that i was thankful at that time. not that i wasn't thankful for my children, lilly and my brand new baby.... i just didn't know what to be thankful for? i was still thinking why him, why would God do that to him, and why should i take the time to thank him for doing it.

this year i know better. i know everything i should be thankful for and why God plans what he plans.

so,.... this is what i plan to say at the table tonight.

i am thankful for my family, nick, lilly and max.

i am thankful that lilly and max are healthy and happy children.

i am thankful for lilly's smart and silly personality.

i am thankful for max's sweetness and strength.

i am thankful for my mom, dad, sisters, in-laws, and other family members who have been such a great support.

i am thankful for my nephews and nieces, for the close bond they share with lilly and max.

i am thankful for all of our new friends and playmates.

i am thankful for everything i have discovered about myself.

i am very thankful for this past year.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone:)

cancer son, leukemia son, aids son?

do any of these sound right to you? i'm hoping not. this is exactly what 20/20 and barbara walters said last night, but in place of cancer, leukemia, aids... they said Down syndrome... Down syndrome son. to be honest with you all, in the beginning when i heard sarah palin had a son with Down syndrome, i was really excited. excited for the world to be educated(not that i'm not trying everyday). last night there was a special on 20/20, i thought so many people able to watch/learn positive things on Down syndrome. i do feel that a few important points did get through, but there were so, so, so many misted opportunities when barbara kept saying Down syndrome son!

our children, children with Down syndrome are children first. like any other child they are unique and different and should not be labeled.

when max was first born, to hear people say it made me so mad, so i asked advice from my friends and this was what i learned, the best way to explain/educated my family, friends, and co-workers.

do you say cancer kids, leukemia kids, aids kids? so tell me, why would people say Down syndrome kids/son?

i hope 20/20 and barbara walters reads this and learn something.

max is one!!!

my son is one today.

i can't believe a whole year has gone by.

the emotions this child has allowed me to feel, i am nothing but grateful.

looking back a year ago i didn't know what i was missing, i see now that i didn't take in the full joy of life. i was worried about small unimportant things, and wasn't really appreciating the actual important ones.

so it has been a whole year since my life has changed for the better all thanks to this blue eyed little boy with cake on his face:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX !!!

i can add crawling to max's list of amazement's, he just started early last week. he is also working on waving hello and goodbye. oh, and loves, loves, loves to hold onto your fingers and walk:)

God parents & a huge cookie

aunt jessie and uncle ben
i'm not much of a baker so for our guest i bought a huge cookie cake for his birthday,
nick picked up a small piece of chocolate cake for max to eat:)

wordless wednesday

the two grandmas

grandma elrick (my mom) on max's left and grandma pingel (nicks mom) on max's right.

max wasn't up for taking more pictures....

until grandma pingel whispered something pretty funny:)....

but then he went right back to not wanting his picture taken:(

balloon fun:)

for max's birthday party i blew up 149 balloons for decoration:) i would have had a total of 150 but one had a hole in it. it was a lot, i repeat a lot of work. it took from 7:30 till 2 in the morning to blow and hang them all up. i wish i took picture before the party of them all but of course i forgot, so i did take after pictures. oh and the best part for lilly and max was when we took them down.

i attached a ton of photos,

enjoy:)

so cute, his little feet up in the air.

max and his buddys :)

every month we have a get together with other children in our family network. our last one was on saturday so we had brownies for max's birthday, two other families joined us:) it was a really nice time:) i always look forward to seeing them. i attempted a group picture with all of the kids.... and this was the best on that i got:)

starting from the left, devin (logan's older brother), aaron, max, lilly, logan, and aubrey (logan's little sister)
max getting aaron:)

lilly, logan and aubrey playing:)

the three boys:)

birthday week!!!!

last night we had an early birthday party for max, so i thought throughout the next week i will be posting about max's birthday party, and a few of the gifts he received:) i was super excited about this first gift because max's grandma and grandpa pingel made it for him.

they made lilly one, for her first Christmas:)

another long day of playing with her cousins:)

at first glance i thought she was just watching her show while she ate her cheeseburger.

but then i noticed her show was off.... and normally she yells "mom my shows off", over, and over. but not a peep came out of her little mouth.

i said lilly... lilly... still no answer.

to my shock she was sleeping, how she could fall asleep on a stool? you got me.

as you can see, she did eat most of her cheeseburger:)

early birthday present:)

max's birthday isn't till next week friday, but i have a problem with giving gifts early. i really don't see the point in having something for someone and not giving it to them to enjoy. so for max's first birthday he got from nick, lilly and myself, three pairs of leg warmers from knotty baby wear and fisher-price stack'n surprise blocks :)

i'm not sure if he loved his leg warmers... but i sure think he looks super cute:)



look at him go!!!

lilly sat back and gave max a little time to play alone with his toy.

she finally gave into the temptation.

you can see her here, i would like to say helping max place the block on the stand, but i would be stretching the truth a little on that one. if you notice she is trying to collect all of the blocks for herself away from her little brother.

quick max look out!!! i see lilly eyeing up your blocks :) oh, the fun of sibling!!!