It's a Jolly Holiday with Evie

Gearing up for the holidays was a whirlwind. The week after Evie's birthday party, her class did some holiday activities, one of which was role-playing Santa and his reindeer, and climbing down the chimney (aka tunnel)! I absolutely loved the picture they sent me of Evie, aka Santa, being pulled by 2 reindeer classmates. This is what inclusion is! Evie was fully included in the activity, and she was given support so she could fully participate! I hope she understood how lucky she was to be Santa. At least she kept the hat on.

We went to visit my parents in CA over the break, and it was nice to have warmer weather and a change of scenery. Evie was an absolute angel on the plane going to CA and coming back. I am so thankful for the iPad...I mean... for my angel of a daughter.

Some fun family activities we found in the Riverside area were the Mission Inn, which was decorated for the holidays, Mt. Rubidoux for a quick hike and a Popeyes' picnic lunch afterwards, and the Pennypickle's Workshop Children's Museum in Temecula.

Enjoying the festive environment at Mission Inn!

Evie loved the toddler playground at Mt. Rubidoux!

Pennypickle's Workshop is a cute little museum full of hands-on experiences in science for children of all ages. Evie liked the kitchen the most!

Evie enjoyed playing with grandpa and grandma, and Mommy and Daddy got to go out sometimes on dates. Our longest date ever was for most of the day at a friend's wedding in L.A. I didn't really know what to do with myself. I felt like I should be feeding Evie or holding my hands over her ears when the applause was too loud. It was a nice break!

This trip was a little different in terms of Evie's feeding tube. We have switched to a different formula, and there are little considerations that I needed to prep for. More on that in my next post!

Back to real life for a full week tomorrow! Happy New Year, everyone!

Comments

It's Official! The Polka-Dotted Penguin book has launched!

It's official! My new children's book, "The Polka-Dotted Penguin" has launched today! How fitting that my labor of love launches on Labor Day. The writing of the book and putting all the parts together took about a year. It was definitely a pandemic-worthy project. I wrote this book because I wanted more books available for sharing with Evie's class for World Down Syndrome Day on 3-21 and for Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October. I'm happy to release my new book just in time for October! My hope is that this book will be used as a tool to start conversations with children about how to treat others who may look or act differently than they do. It's all about inclusion and celebrating differences. This book is perfect for ages 4-9, or any ages who love penguins, or really anyone who loves Evie! Here's how to order: Barnes and Noble (Hardcover): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/.../the-polka.../1140115530 Amazon (Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle) :

Repost with a giveaway! From Straitjacket to Starfish: A Shark Tank win

Update: Hi all, I am doing my first giveaway! If you read my blog post the other day on the miraculous Zipadee Zip, then you know how this thing has changed our lives as parents. The makers of Zipadee Zip liked my review so much, that they offered to help me do a giveaway. All you have to do is 1) "Like" their Zipadee Zip Facebook page and 2) leave a comment about why you could use a free Zipadee Zip on this post! The contest begins Wednesday, May 27 at 12:00 AM and ends on Sunday, May 31 at 12:00 AM. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway ------------------------------------------------------------ Original post: There was a point in time when I was just proud I could swaddle teeny tiny Evie with a hospital blanket. Then she came home and started busting out of the blankets, and woke herself up all the time. Her arms flailed and her legs kicked while she was sleeping, which of course woke her up. But then she got bigger and craftier, and I needed to fin

Going public: Down Syndrome Awareness Day and what it means to us.

Starting this blog was a big deal for me. It's hard to throw out there in conversation that my baby girl has Down Syndrome, because that extra chromosome makes people view her differently. But because it is Down Syndrome Awareness Day on 3/21, I'm going public. Do you know why it's on the 21st? Because of the 21st chromosome having an extra copy! So far, Evie has just been our beautiful baby girl who is learning to smile and reach for things. But as she grows older, I want our extended circle of friends to know, so that they can treat her as a typical little girl who may be a little delayed in her development, but will want to be included just like other kids. I want the other kids to play with her and to learn that little girls with disabilities like to have fun too. Our story about our diagnosis is here . Now that we've met Evie and know what we're dealing with, it's not SO scary as it was before. Still overwhelming sometimes , but I wouldn'

Evie the Extraordinary and Her Mommy: The Journey As We Go

Search This Blog