Category Archives: Down Syndrome
Down Syndrome the blessings and the “challenges”.
NOT the Blissful follow up you were expecting
Okay, before you get your big girl panties in a frenzy, yes, Blissdom Canada 2013 was fill of bliss.
Yes, I came home feeling spoiled, inspired and loved.
The wine was great, the food was excellent (as was confirmed by my scale this morning), the sponsors were terrific, the speakers were phenomenal. Tears of every kind were shed.
I learned a little, felt a lot and above all was reconnected with my dreams and for all of that, I do want to give a few shout outs…
First off, all you Blissdom Girls (& couple boys) you’re fabulous in every sense of the word. You ROCKED this challenge and proved that Canadians have all it takes to be the success we dream of. You are inspirations and I’m honoured to be able to call at least some of you my friends!
Sleep Country Canada – Although I didn’t win your Tempur-Pedic bed, “Bliss” is a welcome addition to our family. Thank you.
19 Crimes – Thanks for delicious wine, the cool t-shirt and for allowing me to wrap myself in your silky Australian accent. (Yes, ladies I was enraptured by the man, please don’t pretend that you weren’t!)
Good luck on your big launch this new year. I’m sure your “preferred location” will be absolutely fabulous! (And, just so you’re not lying awake worrying about me, my husband did let me in the house even though I didn’t win one of your gorgeous baskets.) 😉
Cottonelle – If I could make a suggestion for next year, KLEENEX! Blissdom Canada likes to bring out our tears and we can never find KLEENEX. Please, next year, could you bring that in your arsenal of awesomeness? That being said, #LetsTalkBums… Thank you for saving us from the standard 1-ply hotel TP! My bum is feeling very loved. 🙂
The BeautyTeam – You took a 40-year-old tired, and very sick mom and made her feel like there was still some beauty to be found! Thank you for that.
Tim Hortons – I’m not going to thank you for the donuts that made my scale jump to crazy heights this morning but I am truly grateful of the #timspiration and the peppermint tea I lived on this weekend as I fought a cold while attending Blissdom. Thank you. Your staff was tremendous and I loved having to the chance to connect with them.
philosophy – THANK YOU! Tiffany introduced me to “keep the Peace” and she has officially changed my world. #Fact
UNICEF – Always nice to get a chance to catch up with all that you do and are striving for. Plumpy Nut was an experience, I now truly appreciate my running water but, even more importantly, I’ve been challenged to make bigger changes in my world and I’m hoping that you will be a big part of it. #StayTuned
McDonald’s – Thanks for not bringing fries and Big Macs – my scale thanks you too. 😉
Canadian Lentils – All I want to say is “YUM!” ….Delicious, delicious, delicious!
Maple Leaf Foods – You’re right! Bacon makes everything better!
Chevrolet – Although I was EXTREMELY disappointed to miss your test driving session on Thursday, I was happy to see you’re pretty faces at Blissdom again. Thank you for the power station and for introducing us to the Chevrolet Hockey Helmet Program & “Chevy” – that kid’s got some moves!”
And since I could go on all day with specific mentions of sponsors, I’ll just leave it at this…. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Now on to the good part and why this is NOT a “Blissful” follow-up…
I am shutting down this blog.
Yes, after spending three days at the best blogging conference in the county, this post and one more (to let you know my plan) will be my last.
I will no longer be blogging on “A bear, A ladybug and A peanut”.
Thanks Blissdom Canada for giving me the courage & support to bring this to an end. I love you all!
Stay tuned, I promise you’ll all want to see where this weekend has led me, I just have to fill my husband in first. 😉
Lots of Blissful Love,
Jen
Watch what you say; you never know who maybe listening.
Awhile back I forward on a wonderful post by a another mother of a precious little girl named, Rowenna. The blog talked about not referring to children with the diagnosis of Down Syndrome as “Downs Child” or “Down Child” or any other way where the diagnosis is the child and not something the child has.
Simply put, you wouldn’t call a child with chicken pox “Chicken Pox Kid”, an over weight woman as “Obese Woman” or a boy with cerebral palsy “CP boy”. These diagnosis don’t make the individual. The individual HAS the diagnosis.
That being said, after posting this particular blog, I received a comment from a friend of mine from Mabel’s Labels who mentioned a situation she was in where a mom of a child with Down Syndrome was head counting her kids and said “now, where’s my little downsy? oh, there he is”… ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?
My friend commented that she was very taken back. She has experience with autism and made the comment that she has never heard anyone use the “hey, where’s my little autistic” phrase.
My biggest frustration with having a child with Down Syndrome is society’s genuine ignorance to these individuals, their capabilities and inturn how to change these perceptions. To have a parent call her child that in a public forum makes me sick to my stomach.
Person first. Diagnosis last. It’s not complicated; just common everyday respect.
This past weekend I had the privilege of meeting another family of a child with Down Syndrome while out celebrating Canada Day in true Club 21 style at the Goderich Canada Day Parade.
Please understand, this family is very supportive and excepting of their child and his diagnosis but still some family members are using inappropriate language. Referring to having “one of those kids” or “Downs kids” etc.
I have two big problems when I find myself in these situations. First, I get so hung up on the language they are using that I can’t hear the actual conversation. Even though I know they are trying to support our kids, their choice of words is so insulting and segregating that it negates all that they are trying to say. Second, I don’t know how to begin to correct their error without insulting them because again I realize in this case there is no ill intent. Give me a blog to vent on, fine. Let me rant on twitter, great. But put me face to face in a situation that’s supposed to be fun and positive and I clam up.
Teaching “People First Language” is great and very important but how do you have that conversation in a face to face situation without insulting the uneducated speaker?
And for all those parents who should know better, I challenge you to choose your words carefully. You never know who may be listening.
Illness, Commitments, Loss and Indifference
I started off this year with high hopes of writing often. Photographing everything and documenting all our highs, lows and daily grinds…
Ya, that didn’t happen.
So what did? Life, I suppose, but that’s no excuse.
I started off ok but then January 25th my youngest got sick and then, shortly afterwards, I got sick.
Now I don’t mean I had a cold, or a headache or anything minor that I could or should have pushed through (although, I did try to for the first 5 days). I mean I got sick. Pneumonia to be precise. Three full weeks in bed with the inability to move, eat or even get myself to the washroom. Ya, sick.
Then, a week after I first got laid up, my little ladybug got sick. First with pink eye, then with an extreme asthma attack, followed soon after by pneumonia. Ya, that’s just how we roll around here. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another! Anyway, pneumonia isn’t fun for anyone but for my ladybug it can be very dangerous. She has very narrow airways and any kind of congestion is bad but once it gets to the pneumonia stage she’s walking on thin ice.
But I’m sick, remember?! Step in my husband Wayne.
Let me premise this with the statement that Wayne is a fabulous father. Helpful. Loving. Engaged. But when it comes to the medical knowledge of our kids, well, that’s my department. Wayne does not do doctors, hospitals or needles… EVER.
But he stepped up. He held down the fort so to speak. He came through when the chips were down.
Even when, just as I was starting to get some wind back in my sails, our youngest fell to the virus in our house, Wayne held strong.
Fast forward to the end of February – we’re all run down and still coughing but life is starting to return to normal. Wayne takes us to Ottawa with him while he attends a conference. We visit friends. We visit museums. We rest.
Then my mother delivers some tragic news. My Aunt Lynn (a fabulously positive and determined women) passed away. After successfully beating cancer twice in her lifetime, complications arising from her third fight took too big a toll on her body and she could fight no more.
We were on our way home from Ottawa but Wayne couldn’t attend the funeral. He had commitments he couldn’t postpone or miss so I took the children on to Midland alone. Still recovering from being sick, I tried my best not to cough on everyone and not to spread pink eye that was still circling through my children over and over again.
When we finally returned home, much delayed and fighting exhaustion I was indifferent. Lost. I felt disconnected from everyone and everything. I couldn’t get motivate. I put on almost all the weight I had lost prior to getting sick. I couldn’t write, tweet, or engage.
I celebrated my thirty-ninth birthday during this time. I wasn’t depressed about my birthday (I don’t get to worked up about my age, my son turning 8 soon is another story!) but still so indifferent.
In comes March Break. Usually I am not a fan of March Break but this year proved much different thanks to the weather.
I am a sun girl and this week has offered up weather that literally makes my heart sing! We’ve been outside everyday soaking up the rays. We took a trip to the Welland Canal. We’ve walked on the beach. We’ve started our seeds for our garden.
Things are looking up!
So, although I did completely dropped the ball on my New Year’s Resolution and even though I’m not a fan of excuses, I’m going to let myself off the hook for the past (almost) two months and try to just get back on my horse.
How have your new years resolutions been going? Anybody else dropped the ball? Are you going to start over or give up?
Jan 5 – Smiles for Daddy
My husband was away this day and the kids wanted me to send him some pictures for many different reasons.
Little Bear wanted Daddy to see her pompoms.
Our Ladybug wanted to send hugs.
and Peanut, he thought it would be fun to pose with his bear.
So for this day, you get three glimpses into our silly world!
Jan 4 – Animals from Down Under
No, not the kids!
My sister is living in Australia for the next year or so and sent some fun little cut outs for the kids to put together.