31 for 21

I just wanted to explain that little button over to the right. 31 for 21 is an effort (that I've already failed at) for bloggers who love someone with Down syndrome to write a blog post every day during the month of October. The post doesn't have to be about Down syndrome, just about life.

And life these days with Nikki is good. I had to take her into the pediatrician last night (I thought she might have strep or pneumonia again) and we saw one of the doctors in the practice whom we haven't seen in years. I joked that I thought the last time she saw him she was still a newborn with a feeding tube.

It brought back some memories of those days. It doesn't seem possible that it was really six years ago. She was so tiny and it was so scary to be her mother. At 6 weeks Nikki has a NG feeding tube inserted because she was declared failure to thrive. Four weeks later she had open-heart surgery to repair her complete AV canal defect.

She was one very sick little baby -- but the changes after her surgery were almost immediate. She became rosy-cheeked rather than grey, active and feisty instead of lethergic - it was amazing.

Today, she gets sick a little bit quicker than other children and it lingers a bit longer but she has more in common with her peers than she has that differentiates her from them. Nikki can read on a first grade level, she actually enjoys doing her homework and schoolwork, she's trying to teacher James his colors, shapes and ABCs.

So who is the person you love with Down syndrome?

Welcome addition

James Douglas arrived on July 1, 2007 (I have no idea how the date got messed up on my last post - it should have been from April of this year) weighing in at 7 pounds 9 ounces.

He's two months already and we just marvel at him. I don't think that my husband or I ever realized Nikki's delays until we saw JD in action. Obviously we knew she was delayed we just never had a way to quantify it.

He's a beautiful little boy and Nikki is a fantastic big sister. Just this week she decided that Brian did do the diaper change to her liking. He had changed JD and put him in the pack n' play (he's in the bassenette part) and left the living room to go make Nikki lunch before preschool. He comes back in and she standing at the pack n play and JD has his pants and diaper off and she's using a wipe on him.

Brian saved JD from Nikki's help -- I only wish he thought to grab the camera first.

My biggest thrill is how JD is growing. Largely due to her heart defect Nikki was declared failure to thrive at six weeks and I discontinued breastfeeding in favor of a NG tube and high calorie formula. But at two months there's been no formula and JD is already up to 10 pounds 10 ounces. Boob Juice really does work.

My knitting projects are coming along. I've finished the back of a sweater vest that will by my grandmother's Christmas present and I have the two front pieces on needles. I started and put aside a shawl I'm working on in laceweight yarn (laceweight yarn must be from the devil) because no matter how much I work on it it never seems to get bigger. I bought a different yarn and I'm doing a shawl out of that for my aunt. I'll go back to the lace weight when I don't have a Christmas deadline looming and a bunch of other projects I'd like to get done before then.