Indians Game

Will's second Cleveland Indians game in his short little life:)

Two Buddies

Will and his friend Sam:) Sam and his mom are great and have helped us navigate this strange and crazy world of doctors, therapies and the system that we find ourselves in. We are lucky to have met them and so enjoy spending time with them!

Will's Sweet Tooth

Our friend that is also a Pediatric Physical Therapist gave us a tip that I should try letting Will dip food in things to get him interested. She suggested ketchup or salsa but knowing my little guy and the sweet tooth he has already developed, we tried maple syrup. It worked! He brought it straight to his mouth and has been doing it ever since. As you can see in the picture he is practically choking himself with the cracker to get the syrup off. Great suggestion! Thanks Holly:)

Elmo

In this video Will is playing with one of his pal's Elmo toy. At first he just stared at Elmo and then he looked at me like, 'what is this thing?'! After a few moments he got curious and started grabbing Elmo to find out more. Take note of how he startles when Elmo laughs...it is funny:)

Will and Addison

I also have to post this picture of Will with his girlfriend, Addison. Isn't Addison just the sweetest:) Her and Will played together at playgroup and had fun flirting.

All girlfriend jokes aside we had our Buddy Walk Kickoff event this past week and the keynote speaker was a young adult women with Down syndrome named Jennifer Cunningham. She is amazing! She has won all kinds of awards and honors for her involvement on the national level in DS organizations, she speaks at different events, she works, she lives idependently in her own condo, she drives, she was on her high school gymnastics team and she is engaged. Yes, she is engaged! She is so inspiring and gives all parents of individuals with DS so much hope for what our children can and will be. So although I am joking when I say Addison is his girlfriend...you never know:)

To read more about Jennifer Cunningham and other amazing self-advocates go to: http://www.ndsccenter.org/selfadvo/council.php

Also, more to come about the Buddy Walk soon...but mark your calendars...the Columbus Buddy Walk is Sunday, October 3!

Busy Boy!

Will has been a very busy boy and we have a lot to update everyone on! Since I last blogged, Will has been sitting up independently and rolling himself all around the room. He has been to several appointments and a couple of fun parties. Will's calendar is probably busier than most adults:)

Starting with last week, we had another Occupational Therapy session, our regular Physical Therapy session and a follow up appointment at the Audiology Clinic at Children's. The OT started out well but Will fell asleep in the therapist's arms by the end of the session. We mostly worked on different oral exercises to improve mouth posture and prevent tongue protusion, grasping Cheerios, holding a sippy cup and just general sitting in the highchair. All things parents of typical babes take for granted...we have to work extra hard on to achieve. He is really not all that interested in grabbing Cheerios or other small objects or in drinking from anything but the bottle so we have a lot of work ahead of us. I think we need to go see a Feeding Occupational Therapist if we don't make some strides soon, but we will see what Dr. Parsons thinks at Will's 9 month checkup this month. Will's PT went well and he is doing much better with sitting up and rotating to grab toys and with putting more and more weight on his arms. She gave us more new exercises to work on to get Will to play at his sides while sitting up and new ones to get more weight bearing through his arms. His audiology appointment was not as positive. He again has some hearing loss on his left side which can be anything from ear wax to fluid to damage to the eardrum. We will know more after we see the pediatric ENT in September.

Last weekend Will also had a playgroup with his pals that we have meet through our support group. We had so much fun sharing toys and talking about what all of the kiddies are doing developmentally and in each of their therapies. We are lucky to have met these wonderful friends that we have something so unique in common with:) Saturday night we had a party at Aunt Amelia's and it was fun to see good friends and family and share Will with them!

The Gang

This is the gang that I watch and explains why I am crazy:)

(Tyler 1, Ava 3, Will 8Months and Jonas 2)

Playing in the Sandbox

Will loves the sandbox at Aunt Mere's house! Today he sat up for a long time and just played in it with the 'big kids'. Some went in his eyes and some went in his mouth but mostly he just loved the feeling of it between his fingers and toes:)

Will is 8 Months Old

Will is going to be 8 months old on Sunday and since it has been awhile since I updated on the new and exciting things Mr. Will is doing, here we go. His Physical Therapy has been going really well. Will's PT spends an hour with him every Friday and then gives us things to work on throughout the week. Several weeks ago he mastered rolling over both ways and does that regularly. He is still not quite sitting up alone...but he is sooo close! He will sit independently but still forgets that if he leans back too far he will tumble:) He is playing well with harder-to-pick up objects like spoons and sippy cups and has been using his hands to pass things back and forth really well lately. He is also very close to being able to pick up a yogurt snack (likes these better than cheerios so far!). He is babbling even more lately. He is saying 'baba' and 'dada' although there is no true connection yet:) On the occasion he lets out a 'mama' too!

I have been told that usually around 6-8 months old is when you really have your 'ah-ha' moment. Thus far developmentally there has been very little difference between what Will is doing and what a typical child his age is doing. Around 6 months a typical child will take off and conquer many milestones very quickly. As we have been warned and been prepping ourselves for, Will's development will come, it will just be much slower. Since many of our friends are turning one and on the move, I have been trying to find the silver lining to all of this and this is what I have come up with so far...I will have more time to cuddle Will before he wants to always be put down...I have a few more months to get my house baby-proofed...I don't have to worry that Will is going to pick up stray crumbs and put them in his mouth yet...and I can still get pretty good pictures of him since he is not completely mobile yet!

We are practicing with the spoon and sipply cup in this picture. Will is such a big boy!

Loving Littles

Yet again Kelle Hampton put into amazing words what I am feeling and I didn't even know it. You must read her post from Tuesday 7.6...it is so good. She is so true and honest and so right when she says sometimes it just hits her that her daughter has Down Syndrome and that she doesn't always know when it is going to hit. That is the worst of it. If you knew, you could prepare yourself or at least make sure you are somewhere that you can cry freely, but when it hits you in JoAnn fabric for example...as it did hit me last night (Mere you know why!)...it sucks because you just have to brush it off and wait until you get home to let your gaurd down.

I know she is right that moments like this hit 'in non-special needs land' too...'Parenthood is hard and beautiful. Scary and rewarding. Sad and happy.'...or so I am learning. It truely is ALL of those things. She put it best when she said 'Loving littles is one of the greatest, most wonderful things that will ever happen to you.'! So I will end on that happy note:)

(Kelle Hampton's blog is linked to Will's blog...it is called 'Enjoying the Small Things'.)

4th of July at the Lake

Will had an exciting first 4th of July. Although he slept right through all the fireworks, many of which were exploding right outside the window of the cottage where he was sleeping, he did really enjoy splashing and playing in the lake all weekend. He loved kicking his feet and splashing his hands in the water, which was really theraputic and really cute. It is really hard for me to not see every moment as an opportunity for therapy, but this type of therapy he did not seem to mind and it let me off the hook for the weekend:) He did have some fussy moments since he came down with a bout of Thrush and had to take an antifungal medicine all weekend, but he was a happy guy most of the time. Thrush is an infection in the mouth that infants and older adults get that causes uncomfortable white patches on the tongue and cheeks. I am told it is very common and I am happy that it is already clearing up. He is a little reluctant to eat, although he is always reluctant to eat his veggies, and is holding his tougue out more because I think it feels funny, but most of the patches are gone and he is eating his bottle much better today.

Here Will is lounging in his baby float trying to stay cool:)

Do I Have Something on My Face?

Will discovered grass for the first time this weekend as well. He was grabbing and pulling it and managed to get a lot in his mouth. This may, or may not be why he has Thrush. (That is a joke, you don't get Thrush that way!) It was pretty funny!

Picnic at the Park

Today Will had a picnic in the park with Ava and Jonas and our friends Emily and Charlie. We had a good time eating and making a mess and playing at the park afterward. We found out that our friends are moving to Michigan in a couple weeks. Although we are sad that our picnics with Charlie will come to an end...we are happy for them and their new adventure and wish them all the best!

Three Little Monkeys

Although Will doesn't have any siblings yet...his cousins are pretty much his brother and sister. They just love him and fight over who gets to be closer to 'Baby Will'. He thinks they are pretty neat too and during the few moments when Will is inconsolable, Ava and Jonas are always able to make him smile:) Finally, I got a picture where they are all looking at the camera...it was very much like getting three monkeys to sit still!

Thanks Grandma!

Grandma took me shopping and got me sunglasses!

Father's Day

We spent Ron's first Father's Day weekend in Cleveland and Wooster. On Saturday we headed to the Cleveland Zoo with Grandpa Ron and Grandma Susan and had a lot of fun. It was a bit hot and Grandpa and Will got a little tired toward the end, but we saw lots of cool animals and had fun walking around. On Saturday night we had dinner with Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Jim, Aunt Maggie, Aunt Kelly and Uncle Steve. Will had fun playing with everyone and showing them all how well he can roll over and sit up (with a little bit of help from mommy!). Will never has to look too far to find someone that loves him:)

Bouncin' Around

Although our PT doesn't want us to encourage it...Will loves to stand up! He thinks he is sooo big:) And it is sooo cute! He is really starting to enjoy some of the many toys we have aquired. He especially likes to stand in his jumper and play with the toys...and mommy loves it because it gives me 15 minutes to get something done!

Down Syndrome Clinic

Will went to the Down Syndrome Clinic at Children's Hospital this week. We met with Dr. Nash, a physician that specializes in developmental disabilities and sees patients with DS in the clinic once a week. It was a good chance to have another doctor examine Will and evaluate him and also have him seen by an Occupational Therapist, which is the only therapy discipline that we have not met with yet. We had received alot of negative feedback from other families in our support group about the clinic but wanted to check it out for ourselves. We like Dr. Nash. She was very sensitive and compasionate and did a very thorough exam of Will and a thorough interview with us. She was very happy with his development so far. The Occupational Therapist did an evaluation as well. She assessed him on how well he could grab and hold objects and rated him on which types of objects he held and for how long. She was also happy with his development so far and thought he would benefit from visiting with her once a month so that we could get her feedback on what types of activities we should be working on at home. So she generously offered to fit Will into her schedule so that we could avoid the dreaded run-around with the Children's Hospital Therapy waiting list:( We like her already!!!

We do see how the clinic needs some work. We were told 3 different appointment times and informed that we should arrive 15 minutes early, only to get there and find a dark office and no one there yet. Then, once we watched the staff walk in and finally got into the exam room, we waited and waited and waited some more. We were there for over 3 hours! Poor Will missed his nap, his breakfast and went through all the daipers in the diaper bag:( So we had to beg the nurse for one! We appreciate that there is such a clinic right here in Columbus that it will be a good resource for us and Will, but can see that it is under-staffed, under-funded and under-organized. We will continue to visit with Dr. Nash at this clinic on a yearly basis and hope it gains some speed, but we are also hoping to check out the Cincinatti Down Syndrome Clinic.

We finished off the day in the heat and sunshine at the Columbus Zoo. It was hot but a lot of fun:)

First Trip to Adams Lake

Will made his first trip to Adams Lake this past weekend. My family has a little cottage on this lake and we have spent weekends and vacations there for almost 30 years. It was fun to bring Will there for his first lake experience. He loved the water and although it was a bit cold and shocking at first, he was kicking his feet and loving it by the end of the day. Which is good therapy and also very entertaining!

Will's 6 Month Pictures

Therapy

Will has finally, officially started Physical Therapy! Yipee! We had our first session two Fridays ago and a second one yesterday. It has been fun so far. We really love the Physical Therapist that is working with Will. She finds fun ways for us to play in constructive ways. I have been telling people unfamiliar with baby PT that all we really do is learn ways to play constructively. We do 'sit ups', and 'push ups' and we roll around on the exercise ball. She shows me new things to do with Tummy Time and Will pukes all over her boppy pillow :( He has already improved his sit ups and roll overs and was sitting up independently for a couple of seconds yesterday! We will go to PT every Friday for now, since we have the coverage at the moment, and continue to wait for the home-based Help Me Grow services.
Will was evaluated by a Speech Therapist recently as well. She thought his mouth posture was good and was happy with all the verbalizations he is making. She gave me good advice on how to properly feed him with the spoon and gave me some recomendations for encouraging new sounds and expressions. She also made some recommendations on Infant Sign Language books and CDs and showed me some exercises to do with his mouth and facial muscles...which he already can work quite well since he is very expressive with his little face. Will has the biggest, brightest smile but also the saddest, most pathetic pouting lip you have every seen :) :(

This past weekend we had a family wedding in Fort Wayne so we got to see many of our family and friends that live in Indiana and we celebrated Will's Great Grandma's 90th Birthday with a big party. We love Grandma Brough and hope our lives are half as full as her's has been!

(In this picture Great Grandma Brough is holding Will and Great Grandma's OLDER sister, which is Will's Great, Great Aunt Mary, is in the middle and Papa Brough is on the end.)

Happy Camper

Will had a busy weekend! It started on Friday with his 6 month well check. Dr. Parsons was happy with Will's progress and kindly answered all my silly new-mom questions. He is 16 pounds and 26 inches. He got his immunizations and had a thyroid screen that came back normal.
Saturday morning Will had his monthly playgroup with some of the kids and families that we have met through our support group. It is great to get together and compare notes on what they are all doing in therapy and how they are all moving along. Will is the 'baby' of the group so he mostly observes but hopes to join in the fun someday soon!

Saturday afternoon we went to the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio's day at the Zoo. It was neat to be there after it closed for the day and have the place all to ourselves! We got to see the new polar bear exhibit with out anyone else around and watched the brown bears wrestle with each other up close and personal. Will might not have enjoyed it nearly as much as Ron and I did:)

Saturday night Will went on his first camping trip. We joined the Brown's on their camping adventure just north of Columbus. I expected to be in the car driving home half way through the night because he wouldn't sleep...but he did very well. He ate his green beans and applesauce by the campfire, drank his bottle while we roasted marshmallows and slept all night in his baby travel bed despite all the noise the bullfrogs were making. I think Will likes the outdoors:)

On Sunday we went to church and had breakfast with Grandma Sandy and Aunt Amelia and then took a long walk in the evening. It was a very busy, very fun weekend. Will, mommy and daddy were pooped by Sunday night:)

My niece Ava is a bumble bee in her Bitty Bug Ball. The quality is pretty bad...but you get the idea! (Facebook wouldn't upload this video so I posted it here for all her 'fans'!)

My First Mother's Day and Will's First Indians Game

For Mother's Day we took Will to his first Indians game in Cleveland. It was a bit brisk on the lake but we had fun sitting in the sun, all bundled up, watching the Indians beat the Tigers. It was a great way to spend my first true Mother's Day...holding the baby boy all snuggled under a blanket and sitting next to the other one! It was a good day.

I got the best Mother's Day present too! Ron, I mean Will, got me a Down Syndrome necklace charm. In the picture you can see that the three vertical lines represent the 3 copies of the 21st chromosome and the 47 dots around it represent the total number of chromosomes Mr. Will was given that make him so special. On the back are his initials and his birth date. I love it! Thanks Will, and Ron:)

Will and the Girls

I have some cute pictures of Will and his little girlfriends. He got to flirt this weekend with the Miller girls and even had a sleepover with Miss Jillian! This first picture is of Will and the girls at the Buddy Up walk. Morgan is on the left and Jillian is on the right. He is so lucky to have two beautiful girls to ride with! The next picture he is in his jammies with Jillian. He had enough flirting for one night so he is pushing her away...haha!

Also Will absolutely loves his cousins. He especially lights up for Ava. I think the feeling is mutual. He is her real-live baby doll and he loves all the hugs, kisses and goos he gets from her. He recently started to grab her hair. In the last picture you can tell how much he enjoys it! I can't wait until he discovers mine!

Buddy Up 5K

We had so much fun at the Buddy Up 5K! Will had all his biggest fans there to walk along side him through Franklin Park. It was a wonderful evening with music and bubbles and we met a lot of great new people. Will and his little smiling face may not have known how important it was to be a part of this event and to have so many people there to walk beside us...but mommy did. It made my heart smile:)

Pictures and Buddy Up

I posted more pictures on the Shutterfly page of the last couple months with Will and also of Ron's race and our visit to Louisville. Also wanted to remind everyone that this Saturday in Columbus there is the Buddy Up 5K Run/Walk at the Franklin Park Conservatory. It benefits the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio which does great things. There is a kids run and other fun kid stuff too. We will be there with many family and friends so if you can, come and get some excercise and Walk for Will!!! (or all the other wonderful people that this organization serves!)

Tulips

I love tulips. I have always loved tulips. Every year on Valentine's day I tell Ron not to bother with over-priced roses...all I really want is white tulips. I even loved tulips when I had to dig up over 20000 bulbs every spring at the park I worked at in Fort Wayne. I love how simple and complicated they are. I love that they are planted as a plain, boring bulb that you don't really expect much from. I love that it is hard to envision what they will look like come spring but that you do it anyway. I love that you have to have a little faith that in the future they will be beautiful:) More so than any other plant, if you are just patient and wait they are even more beautiful than you imagined.
This year tulips have a special meaning to me. I will always look at tulips in a different way because they now remind me of Holland. And of Will. And this makes me happy:)

Run Daddy Run!

We had a wonderful trip to Louisville, KY this weekend. Ron ran the Derby Marathon and Gaga, Papa, Uncle Ricky, Great Grandma Brough and Aunt Amelia and Tom were there as well to run, walk and just hang out. Will met his great, great Aunt Mary and Uncle Paul and cousins Jim, Gene and Tina too. We went to Churchhill Downs and Jim Beam. We didn't make it to the Louisville Slugger museum or get to explore much downtown because it rained most of the weekend. We hope to go back sometime soon to see more of the city because it was a really fun place to visit!

Will's First Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. We celebrated Easter for two weekends...Easter weekend #1 we spent in Cleveland and Wooster visiting Grandma's and Grandpa's and Aunts and Uncles, and our friends the Miller's. Will had fun hanging out with everyone and got some good flirting in with Miss Jillian.
On Easter weekend #2, we stayed in Columbus and Gaga and Papa Brough and Uncle Ricky came to celebrate with us. We also met our new friends the Arbona's, and Will exercised with his new buddy Sam. We had lots of fun and learned a lot.
Will got tons of good things from the Easter bunny including candy that Mommy and Daddy are enjoying!
Several weeks back Will and I also went on a blind date with Liz and sweet little Addison. It was great. Will and Addison slept most of the time but the Mommies got lots of good note-sharing done!
It is so nice to play with old friends and forget about DS for awhile and also to meet all these new friends that we have a unique bond with. We love all our friends old and new:)
I am usually good with remembering to take pictures...but I forgot to take pictures of Will with all his new friends. As cousin Ava would say...next time!

Eat It Up!

Will is doing lots of fun and new things. He is eating baby food and baby cereal. He really seems to like the stronger flavors. So far carrots and prunes seem to be his favorites. He is bringing toys to his mouth. He is grabbing his feet and has ALMOST managed to get a toe in his mouth. He is a crazy babbler...especially when he has a mouth full of carrots or prunes since those stain the worst! He is really starting to react to familiar voices even when they are far away. Best of all he continues to smile with his whole body. We just eat every little bit of it up:)
All these little accomplishments pass most babies by without much celebration. At the Bartosch house we get really excited about small things. We know that these little things are HUGE. It makes me sad that I can't just assume that he will do all the normal stuff when he is supposed to, but it also makes me grateful that no accomplishment, big or small, will ever go undetected or uncelebrated in our lives!

Three Little Leprechauns

Our session with Help Me Grow went well. Will received lots of praise for how well he is doing in many areas and we got some good ideas on new activities to work on. The physical and occupational therapists were concerned about him still favoring his right side so they gave us suggestions on how to get him to grab for toys and look towards objects on his left. They also gave us ideas for working on his head control other than just tummy time. This was helpful because William does not always love his time on his tummy. The speech therapist was pleased with his mouth posture and his babbling and gave us some resources to help get us stared on sign language. Mostly it was a good day and Will loved being fussed over by all these women!

The disappointing news with Help Me Grow was that we will have to wait at least 60 days to get another therapy session at the clinic because we are actually on a waiting list for regular home services. They told us that we may have home services start for Will by this summer but until then we are looking into private services. The major down side to the private services is, of course, the cost, and also that there is a waiting list for these as well. We hope to get started with at least physical and speech therapy through Children's Hospital or Easter Seals, whichever can get us in faster.

Will's well baby check was great as well. He is up to 12 lbs 12 oz and 24 in and doing very well. He got more immunizations and a thorough check up. He started a small amount of oatmeal cereal this weekend and likes it so far. We may see if he likes peas next!

His vision screen went well too. The appointment itself took about 10 minutes but we were there for over 2 hours, so it was a lot of waiting on Will's part. They mostly checked to see if he followed objects and lights and then they dialated his eyes and looked at them under the lenses. He was a trooper through it all and slept it all off on the way to Fort Wayne that afternoon.

We attended our second DSACO New Parents meeting yesterday and we were enlightened to many interesting things about different doctors and thearapies and clinics. Going to the meeting was both good and bad for me...it was helpful becasue it made me realize that we can not become complacent with the care and services Will is receiving, even if it means fighting to get the care he needs, but it also made me freak out a bit about some things that may or may not be cause for freak out. The hardest part is that we are learning as we go, and no one can or will tell us what we need to do, so we have to make these decisions based on what we THINK is best for Will. We did meet a lot of really nice people at the meeting that will be great resources and support for us because they are travelling down the same road:)

Will has been entertaining Ron and I with all these fun, new things he is doing. Just in the last couple weeks he has rolled over from his belly to back several times, started grabbing the bottle with both hands, grabs for his feet and holds on for awhile, rediscovered his little thumb and is chomping away at it and has started showing a lot of interest in some of his toys. He is also doing very well with his new bottles and really likes the baby cereal!

These pictures are from St. Patrick's Day and Will's cousins, Ava and Jonas, are 'helping' Will see himself in the mirror! They love to 'help' with Baby Will:) Happy 4 Month birthday Baby Will!

Mama Bear

We have connected with so many wonderful people near and far, new and old via the internet. Yesterday I was reminded that there are also a lot of evil people out there that use the internet to harm others. As I was happily starting my Saturday morning I stumbled upon an email from a group of parent-advocates that told of a very horrible group of people that are stealing images of individuals with Down Syndrome and creating captions for them that are very cruel and insensitive. This was not a good day for me:( I am somewhat nieve and it is hard for me to believe that there are really people out there that would think this is funny and not see how hurtful it can be to those who love these individuals.

Many times I still wonder, why was I chosen for this job. I am not sure I can be the fighter that Will deserves. I am just not a fighter, I never have been. I have always seen myself as the peacemaker. My mom says that this will bring the 'Mama Bear' out in me but I am just not so sure.

As a group we were advised to take down all our pictures on our blogs and to consider requiring people to sign in to access our page. I am just not going to do this. I was reminded by Ron that there are always going to be horrible people out there and we can't do much to change that (I really hate it when he is right when I am trying to freak out about something!), and we will just have to protect Will the best we can from insensitive, mean people. Will and his adorable, smiling face knows no different. Which is comforting, at least for now:)

Otherwise Will is doing great. He has starting grabbing for his toes and is looking like he wants to roll over. This week he has his big meeting with the Help Me Grow therapists, his vision screen and his 4-month well-baby check. So it will be an exciting week and hopefully a good one filled with good news. We have had a rough couple of weeks. Will was sick and on breathing treatments, Ron got carbon monoxide poisoning, our family dog Ellie died, the Deacon that baptized Will passed away, Uncle Ricky had surgery on his leg...so we really need some good news around here. Thankfully, Will, Ron and Ricky are all recovered and doing great!

One last thing...I hope everyone likes the new blog layout and has seen that I have posted some buttons on the one side that I hope you will check out. First, we are on the list for the Traveling Afghan and you will have to go to the website to read more about it. It is such a neat project! Second we missed the official day for the Spread the Word campaign, but please go to the site and pledge to help end the R-word. Third, all of you that are local and interested, there is a 5K run/walk on May 1 in Columbus to support Down Syndrome awareness. We will be walking/running and would love to have company:) There is another one in the fall that is nationwide so if you miss this one maybe we will catch you in September. Last, I have been following a blog written by a Mom that had a little girl in January with DS. She is an amazing writer and it has become so popular that CNN is doing a piece on her on Tuesday at 4:00 PM. If you haven't heard of her, she wrote an emotional, truthful and beautiful story of her daughter's birth. She too received the diagnosis at birth and in so many ways puts into words EXACTLY how I felt when Will was born but either couldn't express or was afraid to. Her blog is http://www.enjoyingthesmallthings.blogspot.com/ .

Life and Coffee

Have you ever been sitting in church listening to the homily...and think to yourself...'is he talking directly to me?' ? That happened to me at church this weekend.

We had a visiting priest that gave a great analogy of life to coffee. He said our lives are like coffee. If we just take whole coffee beans and pour water over them, on the other side we just get brown-colored water that tastes gross. But if we grind up the beans and then pour water over them, we get a wonderful version of water on the other side called COFFEE!

We too need to be ground up sometimes. We have to be ground by the stuff of life and carry our crosses and on the other side is a better version of ourself. On the other side of our crosses is salvation. On the other side of being ground up by life we find God:)

I guess what I thought this meant for me is that Will is going to help me be a better version of myself. He is going to help me come closer to God. He is going to teach me more about love, compassion, understanding and patience than I would ever have learned if I hung out all day in Italy with brown-colored water taking it easy.

He will make us ALL a better version of us:) Thanks Will!

DS Research

Gaga and Papa Brough and Ron and I went to a very interesting talk at OSU last night about research to improve learning, memory and speech in individuals with Down Syndrome. The foundation has a website if you are interested in reading more... http://www.dsrtf.org/.

Some of what we took away is that there are many similarities in the treatment and research of people with Alzheimer's and those with DS, that there are lots of very promising drugs in the works to improve cognitive function for DS individuals but that they are still in trial, and that DS research is drastically under-funded.

It was a very interesting evening. Thanks Aunt Mere for watching Will so we could go:)

This picture is of Will and Ron at Jonas' birthday party this weekend...I'm not sure who is more unhappy about the hats Gaga and Ava made...Will or Ron!?! Happy 2nd Birthday Jonas Edward!

I'm Down With You

This is such a neat project...I can't wait to order the book and see the documentary!
http://www.imdownwithyou.com/

Pictures

This is my last post for today...when it rains it pours! I posted new pictures on our Bartosch Shutterfly page including some of Will's baptism. Enjoy!

Good Article

This is a very good article that was sent to me by Will's Great Aunt Sandy. Well written and very insightful!
The word that really hurt me The News-Sentinel - Fort Wayne IN

Adversity

This is a sad story about the US snowboarder Kevin Pearce that was supposed to be in the Olympics but had a bad injury that left him in a coma. He has a brother with DS that is a Special Olympian in snow skiing.
Check out this great MSN Video: Injury, adversity don't stop snowboarder

Smiley Boy :)

Will is getting so big! He is up to 11 lbs and 23 in. Will is smiling and cooing and sucking his little thumb. He is a very vocal boy and loves to just lay in his bed in the morning and cackle and coo away. It is wonderful to wake up to that sound! He has started reaching for toys when Daddy plays with him and is holding up his head very well. He loves it when Mommy dances him around the room and sings to him...although no one else would enjoy my singing! He smiles so big when I sing to him that you can barely see his eyes! His whole body smiles:) He loves when his cousins, Ava and Jonas, talk to him and kiss him. He just lights up when they play with him!

Since I wrote last ( I know it has been a long time...sorry!) we have had a few appointments to report. He had his follow up hearing screening, since he didn't pass on his left ear in NICU. This time he passed with flying colors on both ears! Thank the Lord! We went to the Children's Hospital Audiology Department to have them do a thourough check of his hearing and all 4 tests showed that he is hearing with both ears. He was a very good boy through the whole thing and all the ladies in the office went nuts for sweet William. We are so happy and relieved:)

We also had his 2 month appointment with our favorite doc, Dr. Parsons! She is so sweet and compasionate and said that "Mr. Will is doing awesome!". She said all of his stats were good and thought he was doing well holding up his head. She noted that he definately has low muscle tone, but reminded me that this is to be expected. Will got 2 shots and 1 oral vaccine. He was very grouchy at us that night but was back to his smiley self by morning!

We are still talking to Help Me Grow and hoping to get some services started soon. Our coordinator said that although he tested well, based on his medical diagnosis of DS, he should qualify for services through the program. So we are patiently waiting to be contacted to meet with the therapists to get started.

Will was also baptised a couple of weeks ago. We had a very nice ceremony after church and everybody that loves Will was there. His Great Grandma Brough even made the trip all the way from Fort Wayne! Will is so lucky to have Uncle Ricky as his Godfather and both of his Aunts as his Godmothers. Since Will is going to need all the support he can get we saw no other way than to have both Aunt Amelia and Aunt Meredith as his Godmothers! He is such a lucky boy to have so many people that love him. We know he has lots of people loving him and praying for him that weren't there as well. Trust me we know you are praying for us because we don't know how we would be doing so well otherwise.

Please keep up all the prayers for us. Although we are doing well we do still have our rough days. Sometimes it is still so hard to believe that Will has Down Syndrome because he is doing so well with all the 'normal' baby stuff. I know eventually he will fall behind and this will be very hard for me as a mother. Every once in awhile, when I least expect it, I get a bit sad thinking about the future. For now though we are doing well and staying positive. We absolutely adore Will and just love him to pieces!

(In this picture Will has foot rattles on his feet and bear-bells on his wrists. The foot rattles were recommended and are a baby toy...but the bear-bells are from Ron's wilderness runs to scare away bears. As you can see Will thought it was as funny as we did!)