31 for 21 Day 21 BUDDY WALK BUDDIES - The Wards!!!!

yesterday was our 4th buddy walk!!!!   wyatt's first buddy walk was when he was 3 1/2 months old!!!  that first year we had a huge team walking for wyatt....over 50 people!  it was a tremendous show of support for our family during such a stressful time!   we also raised the most money that year!    

we have one family who has walked with us every year - our good friends, the wards!   jeff, christy, caleb (one of forrest's best friends), claire, connor and kate!   well....they almost walked with us every year; there was the year that they were registered to walk, and their precious kate decided to make her early appearance and they were in the hospital that year!   but they were still a part of our team!  






i don't think that the wards have ANY IDEA how much their support has meant to us through the years!    they have been good friends of ours for several years now, and we LOVE spending time with them!   but for them to take a saturday and commit it to supporting our family is just a very special thing!  







we don't have to walk "alone!"    we walk, laugh, joke around, and have a blast!















they are such a blessing to our entire family, and we thank God for them!!!! 

31 for 21 Day 20 BUDDY WALK!!!!

2009

2012 

today was our 4th year to participate in the panama city beach buddy walk!!!   wyatt was so little that first year!!!!   3 1/2 months old!!!!  what a difference 3 years makes!!!!   that first year i was so nervous about seeing all those kids and adults with Down syndrome!!!   now i look forward to it!!!!
it was a beautiful day!   the t-shirts were designed by one of our own local adults who has Down syndrome, byron smith!!!   we had friends and family join us to celebrate our precious wyatt.... what a blessing!!!   we are so thankful for those who take the time to join us on this special day!  


and an extra special blessing.... wyatt won a hope haven (Ds clinic) evaluation!!!!  woo hoo!!!  hopefully hope haven will be able to fit us in sooner than next september, when we are scheduled to visit!!!   praise God!!!  

just thought i'd share a few pics tonight..... long day!!!! 

Happy Birthday Byron!!!

today's post features guest bloggers; laura, sharon and charlotte.....the smith girls; their blog is "a sister thing...."   they are the older sisters of byron, an adult who has Down syndrome here in our community.  this is the story of his birth 39 years ago today!   byron was named the florida special olympics athlete of the year in 2010, and was our local buddy walk ambassador for this past fall!  byron is a busy fellow with a family who loves him very much!   enjoy!

Happy Birthday Byron!  

Have a Wonderful Day Celebrating You!!!

Heeey…
“He’s just different”…these are some of the words these three sisters recall hearing as our dad gathered us together to share the details of the newest arrival to our family. Byron was born on March 1, 1973 and was the ninth child in our family. For us, making room for another brother or sister was not unusual, in fact it was a pretty usual event. Our parents always knew they wanted a large family and they accomplished their goal! But, this delivery was different—and because our mom was still in the hospital, it fell to our dad to explain this special delivery.

Daddy gathered his children together to share how the birth of this new brother was “different” than the ones before him. This brother was born with something called Down Syndrome. We’d never really heard of something like this before. Daddy continued…he explained that this brother was going to look different. This brother was probably going to have physical characteristics different from the rest of us. Byron would have stubby-webbed fingers, a short neck, and a flat bridge to his nose. We quickly decided this appearance thing wasn’t a problem at all. No one outside our family would ever have to know he was “different”—we would just dress him in sunglasses, turtlenecks and gloves and no one would be the wiser! The bubble soon burst when Daddy reminded us that we lived in Florida and the heat would make this “disguise” impossible!

He went on to share that he and mom weren’t sure what Byron would be capable of—the doctors weren’t very encouraging. The doctors had warned there was no promise Byron would ever be able to walk or talk, they weren’t sure if he would ever have the mental capacity to have opinions or make decisions They weren’t sure how a baby like Byron would fit in with eight “normal” brothers and sisters. The doctors recommended it would probably be best for their “normal” children if this new baby not go home. They suggested several “very good” institutions with resources to handle a baby like Byron…the doctors further explained, “he’s just different.”

To that point, Daddy told us he and mom had a plan. Good—we needed a plan. They decided they were going to raise Byron just as they had raised us. Our job was to treat this brother just as we treated our other siblings. Perfect—we knew just what to do!

Byron and our mom soon came home from the hospital and we all discovered Byron was different, but different in only positive ways. This baby was a bit slower to learn, but he did learn. He walked, he talked, he made decisions and he had opinions! Not many people could get away with telling Daddy no—Byron had the honor of being one of the few. When Byron held his ground and told Daddy “no-sir”—Daddy would chuckle and say, “I love it—that’s my son, the son who would never have an opinion!”

Byron’s easy-going temperament and zest for life has been a guiding light for all of us! His “differences” have made our family different. As a family, we are closer because of him, we are more loving because of him, we are more patient because of him, we are more understanding because of him, and we are more appreciative because of him. Our lives are enriched because of him.
Byron’s influence on our family has been profound—we strive each day to be more like him. Daddy was right—he’s just different!

Friends....On Facebook and In Real Life!

this past weekend the little boys and i drove over to spend the weekend with the older guys!   in case you didn't know, my hubby tim and our oldest, ethan are now sharing an apartment in pensacola.  tim accepted a new position there in december, and ethan is in college there!   we are in the process of selling our home and all moving over there this summer!  we've been mighty busy around here!


a highlight of our weekend was getting to meet and spend some time with some of my facebook friends who have children with Down syndrome as well.   friday night we were able to have dinner in pace with the wallis family.  we ate at one of their favorite restaurants, la hacienda, which is sure to become one of our favorites as well!   anna, paul and grace met us there and we had a wonderful time visiting and getting to know one another.  anna had found my blog several months back, and we started getting to know each other through our blogs; visit hers here, and facebook.   anna and paul adopted grace from equador about a year ago, when she was 5!  she is completely adorable, and has the most beautiful eyes!   AND she did NOT want me to eat the chips in the basket!   she was quite adamant about it!   and cute as can be!   i am thankful that the Lord has blessed us with new friends who love and serve Him in the same aread we are moving to!  they are strongly encouraging us to live in pace....they love it there!   after today's news report on florida school rankings, i strongly suspect we will be moving there!   the santa rosa school district is ranked #2 in the state, as opposed to the escambia school district being #44! 
 
we were delayed by fog from coming home on sunday as we had planned, and my facebook friend, patti, suggested i stop by crestview for a quick visit on our way home.  so glad she suggested it!  the boys and i met patty and her precious marissa at burger king and had a wonderful visit!  the kids had fun in the playplace, and were so cute together!!!  patti and i actually met last year at our buddy walk, but we did not realize at the time that we were already facebook friends!   so it was neat to see them again!   marissa is recovering from her tonsilectomy, and is now doing great!  she has an infectious smile that melts your heart!   we had fun sharing our Ds "stories" and getting to know each other better.   glad that we will be closer to each other when we get moved over as well!    be sure to come back tomorrow to see more pics of wyatt and marissa!   such cutie pies for wordless wednesday!   you can find patti's family blog here!

i know i say this all the time, but wyatt's Down syndrome has brought so many wonderful people into our lives that we would never have met!   we have been so blessed to meet folks in our Ds community who encourage us as well as who share our Christian faith!   blessings....

31 for 21: Day30 It's Sunday Again....

this is sunday, and an unusual sunday for our family, because we will be traveling instead of attending worship service in our home church.   with very little exception, if it's sunday, you can expect that we will be in church somewhere, if not our home church!  

we have been blessed with a very supportive church family who were very attentive to our needs when wyatt was born and we received his diagnosis of Down syndrome.   our church family was so excited about his birth anyway, since he was such a surprise and we were so OLD!!!   (it was pretty weird having a baby at the same time those young girls i watched grow up were having babies!)   they turned out in FULL FORCE that first buddy walk when wyatt was just 4 months old....we have a team of almost 60 with us that day!   they have continued to support and encourage us in many ways since. 

what makes me sad right now is that every time that we put wyatt in the nursery at church, within that week he is SICK!!!    i know that there is no hard and fast data that kiddos with Ds are more prone to infections (or is there?), but i know that wyatt gets sick a whole lot more than our older boys did.  they were in the nursery or their preschool class starting about the time they turned 1!   and they loved it!   wyatt just seems to pick up every little cold that is out there, and after about a week it turns into a sinus, adenoid (no longer) or ear infection.   i know parents bring their kids to church with "a little cold," it's just so hard on wyatt, because he cannot seem to just get "a little cold" without it turning into an infection that requires antibiotic.  EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.  and it's about to wear me out!  and then when he gets sick, we are out of church.......again.....ugh!!!   

i want him to "build those immunities," but i also want him to stay healthy and be able to hear.  because once he gets sick and congested, we are never certain if his hearing is compromised.  if his hearing is compromised, the harder it is for him to learn to talk.    the longer it will take him....when it's taking a long time anyway.....  UGH!!!    poor little guy.....he wants to play with friends, too!   and he needs to learn to play with kids....... but for now, tim and i just take turns with him, bringing him into worship and Bible study until he becomes restless and needs to be taken out to walk around and visit with folks....  

thanks for listening......

31 for 21: Day 22 BUDDY WALK SATURDAY!!!!

 today was the panama city beach buddy walk! what is a buddy walk? according to the national down syndrome society, "The Buddy Walk^® was established in 1995 by the National Down Syndrome Society to celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October and to promote acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome. Today, the Buddy Walk program is supported nationally by NDSS and organized at the local level by parent support groups, schools and other organizations and individuals."

it's been such a blessing to our family to have so many family and friends join us in our local buddy walk! the first year we participated, we had over 50 people join us! last year we had over 20, and this year we had close to 40 registered! it was a beautiful day, and we had a great time visiting with family, old and new friends, as well as other families whose children have Down syndrome! this is wyatt's first year to actually WALK the buddy walk too! what a great day we had.....

31 for 21: Day 11 The Boy Likes to Eat!

busy day today, but wyatt has been a trooper!  today i had many stops to make, and he just kept on going!  we got to go see his uncle rudy to wish him a happy birthday, and went and saw a friend who will be joining us for the buddy walk, then we went and saw his cousin katie at her office....whew!   and of course he spreads great joy to most everyone he meets!  who wouldn't smile when they see this face????

that was all after 2 therapies this morning....so i thought he'd be ready for a nice long nap this afternoon, as he does every afternoon.... NOT TODAY!!!!   wyatt normally naps 3 hours!   today he would not go to sleep!!!   so he watched sesame street instead....  he loves those furry critters just like his big brother forrest did!  elmo is his favorite!  

tonight we went to the buddy walk meeting and he did pretty good to have not had a nap....we picked up a sonic kids' meal for him (and a lime cherry coke for mama) for supper while we were at the meeting!  he loves hamburgers, brocolli, pizza, sweet peppers, beans, tacos, steak, spaghetti....the list goes on!  the boy loves food, and will eat most anything....

and that made me think about some good friends of mine whose kids have "feeding issues," they can't or won't eat typical food that i take for granted.  some of the reasons kids with Ds have feeding issues has to do with their "low tone," which affects their facial muscles as well.  also, medical conditions can affect their ability to eat, such as when there are serious heart conditions which make babies tire easily, they often "wear out" when trying to suck or eat.  they often must be fed by a "tube" when such serious medical conditions are present.  another cause for feeding issues in some kids with Ds is that the physical size/shape of their mouth is often smaller, which can make feeding more difficult, as well as problems they might have with "tongue thrust."    so in addition to the many therapists that wyatt has, some of his friends have "feeding therapy" as well!  

we'll be looking at wyatt's therapies over the next week or so.....

31 for 21: Day 23 Buddy Walk 2010

well, our 2nd buddy walk has now come and gone.  it was a very fun day!  our team had a great time walking and hanging out together on this beautiful sunny saturday in florida!  we spread out a couple of blankets and just really had fun visiting with one another.  our little wyatt is so loved!  we are tremendously blessed with friends who love and support us!    and i will never forget all of us walking along doing the motions to "YMCA" ...

it was a lot of fun to meet a couple of new families who have babies with Ds!   it's fun to know that our kiddos will have each other in years to come.... i know that as wyatt gets older he will be so excited on buddy walk day...that will be even more fun!  it was great watching the older children visit and play together; they get so excited!   the joy on their faces is priceless....

we saw a clip of me walking wyatt around at the buddy walk on the news report tonight....they did an awesome piece!   lots of good info about Ds!   we also found out today that wyatt is on the cover of the calendar for 2011!  woo hoo...very exciting!   an overall terrific day....

next year i'll be walking the buddy walk! 

taking it easy in my wagon!

waiting for the awards ceremony!

 

31 for 21: Day 22 Buddy Walk Here We Come!

tomorrow is our local buddy walk.  in case you're not familiar with it, "the Buddy Walk^® was established in 1995 by the national down syndrome society to celebrate Down syndrome awareness month in october and to promote acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome" according to the NDSS website.  it's so fun to join with other families who have kiddos with Ds for this fun day!

last year i was VERY nervous at this point, having never participated in a buddy walk before!  we did have a HUGE team last year...almost 60 people...and we raised the most money for our group!  we had tremendous support from our church family.....at least 45 of those folks were members of our church!   we were overwhelmed with the support that we received!   it was a beautiful and fun day...we felt very loved and encouraged!  

this year we have a much smaller team....about half that size!   i know that many folks are busy, and i just didn't "push" for anyone to join our team.....i put out the announcement about the walk, and let it go at that!   our group is not using the online mechanism for fundraising, which makes a huge difference in the financial aspect.   the economy is very different this year too, so i didn't want anyone to feel obligated to join us!    i don't know how other walks go, but you pay to walk in ours.....curious if that's the "norm"....

i'm looking forward to seeing our friends with kiddos with Ds.....and to spending time with our friends and family.  it's supposed to be a beautiful day!   i know that as wyatt gets older, this event will mean a lot to him, and i look forward to many future buddy walks.....

wyatt's first buddy walk last year!  
what a cutie!