Special thanks

I don't have anything big to blog about, not even really any little things. Kaelyn slept GREAT until about 7 today! I picked her up and we snuggled on the couch and fell asleep to the news until 9! I can tell you one thing, I am going to miss the snuggles once she gets big enough to realize that snuggling her mother isn't a "cool" thing to do.

But Anyhoo, I just wanted to thank all of the people who I can vent to, who listen to me whine, and then listen to me brag about my sweet little girl! Whether I know you in real life, or you are one of the mom's from my "mommy group", I love you all and I'm so glad that Kaelyn has such great support and the BEST cheering section!

(and Jackie, this is my update. HAHAHAHA)

Kind of a big deal.

I've been asked, over and over and over some more, "Is Kaelyn walking yet?" or "Why isn't Kaelyn walking yet?" and the only answer I can ever give is this, "We have no idea! She was born breech, had a loose hip, she was a late crawler (at 10 1/2 - 11 months) and she also has a chromosomal anomaly."

So it could be any of those reasons, or one of those reasons, or none of those reasons. We truly don't know which of those, if ANY of those reasons is the true reason. I can honestly say that it breaks my heart to see my healthy, happy, NORMAL child compared to every other child. I write this with tears in my eyes and hope in my heart. Tears for my daughter and knowing that we have no idea what is in store for her, for us, for our future. Hope for a life lived as perfectly as she is in our eyes. A life of her own making.

We take EVERY day as it comes, never borrowing trouble and living life as if there was no such thing as partial trisomy 21. I wake up each day refusing to give in to the fear of the unknown and the anxiety of letting your mind wander to every "worst case scenario". I can easily go days at a time without thinking about Partial Trisomy 21. I can go days without SAYING anything about it. And most days that works. But it only holds out so long and then she has an appointment at 17 months for an extra hearing test, or we take her to have her eyes dilated so we can check as early as possible for any vision issues or she can simply get tired and cranky and her eyes just look so much more different than me as a baby, or Jeremy as a baby. The almond shape is so much more prevalent when she is fighting the end of the day and refuses to give in to sleep.

I try to live my life as a mother as normal as possible until I get questions about the shape of her eyes, why she isn't walking, what is partial trisomy 21? Why does she have an occupational therapist? What is "Birth to 3"? Why are you having her eyes/hearing tested? Why do you take her to St. Paul for extra check ups?

It is usually the well meaning person trying to understand, to make heads or tails of the information I am more than willing to share with them. It can be a family member, asking out of hopeful curiosity. The hardest part is that, if you didn't know enough to look at the subtle almond shape of her eyes, You would NEVER KNOW. And I know that because I have told people about Kaelyn's partial T-21 and they say "But she doesn't look like she has anything wrong with her!" and my heart breaks. Just because she has a chromosomal anomaly doesn't mean she is defective! She is simply different. I want to scream and pound my hands on their chest that she is a NORMAL CHILD! She smiles and laughs and melts your heart just like any other child. She loves to swing at the park, crawl through the grass and smiles when the wind ruffles her hair. Just because they aren't "normal" by societal standards, there MUST be something visibly wrong, right? WRONG.

My greatest hope is that someone out there might stumble upon this blog and think "I am not alone." I hope that somehow, this will chronicle her triumphs and her failures and prove to the world and to everybody that she is normal. She may do great things, and maybe not. She might climb a mountain or become a lawyer, and she just may be an "Average Joe". Even "normal" people are compared to each other and held to a standard that they may or may not ever live up to. Is that really fair? Everybody lives their life differently. It's our personal experiences that make us one-of-a-kind masterpieces. I ran across a quote this week that really put my hopes and dreams for Kaelyn into words.

"God gives us dreams a size too big so that we can grow in them. "

~ Unknown

Kaelyn may be small, and she may or may not have many hurdles against her. But how will we EVER know if we set the bar low and expect little? How will she ever have the confidence to achieve her greatest if people are constantly questioning and examining her every move and not giving her the space to be her own person?

I sure hope that the next time you see someone who looks different, sounds different, acts different, please take a second to rethink a snap judgement. That is someone's son or daughter. That person is someone's brother or sister. That person has lived a life different from yours but that makes it no less in God's eyes. That person has had struggles and triumps and deserves a chance to be judged fairly. So please, take a second before you ask that question of a mother or father who has been asked so many times. Please take a second before you judge a person and think poorly. We have no idea.

busy weekend and doctor's appointment update

Holy Moley! It's been a busy weekend! Saturday, I didn't work till the evening, so we grabbed lunch, drove to the Lions Club Game Park in town and ate under the picnic shelter. It was great. mid 70's nice breeze. Kaelyn got to see the bison (but by the time we got to the enclosure they were in the water/tall grass and not in view. Kinda Sad! ) We saw deer, and caribou! Then we went to the park and played on the swing, went on the slide a few times, on one of those rocking animals (you know the ones. with handles and a big spring so they kind of bounce and wiggle in all directions? those are the ones). Last but not least, Jeremy wanted to take Kaelyn on the merry-go-round. SHE LOVED IT!

Sunday morning we woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to go see my dad and step mom compete in The Border Battle WORS race in River Falls. It was a gorgeous day. If you were in the shade, with the breeze on you, it was PERFECT! Kaelyn loved playing in the long grass (and you can be sure I checked for ticks later). We packed a lunch and she got to play with toys and eat snacks on a blanket while cheering Dad and Tammy on! They both made the podium. Tammy finished 3rd, beating out her "nemesis" and whooping some butt! (GIRL POWER!) and Dad had a great race finishing 2nd! Grama Tammy even took Kaelyn up on the podium. I think they are trying to give her a taste of it now, so that she gets the bug. If She's like her momma, she'll end up at least giving it a try. (I raced for two years, before puberty and BOOBS got in the way. Among other things)

All in all it was a great, fun, family oriented, exhausting weekend.

Today, Kaelyn had her audiologist appointment and it went great! We have beautiful weather so we BIKED. yep. It was a bit warmer than expected but a beautiful ride. We tested great. awesome responses to sound stimulation. they want us back in 6 weeks though because she might have water in one of her ears that might have messed with her one ears' tests. even tho they were normal, she just wants to recheck. Kaelyn did NOT, however, like having them test the soundwaves (with the earphones in her

ears) but she was a trooper!!

A beautiful day here!

IT's been a rough few weeks at the Van Dreel House. Last week, we had the FLU! It started with Kaelyn waking up having puked in her crib. It was a rough night! Every half hour she was awake (or as awake as she could be being sicker than a dog and her body waking her up to be ill) and it broke my heart! By about 8am, this mommy was tired and daddy woke up to take over. He took the day off of work so that we could take care of her. She kept down pedialyte and napped a little with daddy while I crashed for a few hours. They played a little and then we ALL crashed for a nap! The rest of the day was uneventful. We were pushing the fluids and so happy to see her smiles coming back! The next day, MOMMY got sick, and then Saturday, DADDY got sick. Thankfully he was sick on a Saturday so he didn't have to miss more work! Sunday was a lazy family day until I went to work ( i missed 3 days taking care of Kaelyn, myself and Jeremy.) I love my family, but I needed to get out of the house. I needed adult interaction and a non-lysol environment!

We've spent the last week just recovering. The laundry was piling up. I washed and dryed but didn't fold laundry while everyone was sick so I had a HUGE PILE of laundry to fold. Ugh.

Kaelyn had her optometrist appointment last monday. It went awesome! She had her eyes dilated. They used the drops and we went in at 8am and she got 1 drop in each eye every 5 minutes. Between her drops and our appointment, she took a little nap and cuddled me, but the down side was that I had to wake her up for her appointment! No way was she happy! But she did awesome, her eyes look good. Nothing to be concerned about. She is a little farsighted, but most children her age are farsighted so it's nothing to worry about. (Although with so much of our family wearing glasses I am guessing it is just a matter of when and not if she will need glasses of some sort.)

We've been working on her walking and she's getting so much stronger and more confident every day! We are still using her Juppy baby walker. She LOVES to cruise the furniture still so I am so very much hoping that we have a walker on our hands soon! I have got to say that I LOVE using the Juppy because it means I can walk with her and my back isn't KILLING me after 5 feet!

We had a pretty good scare on Friday though. I logged onto facebook and saw a post from one of the local tv stations back home. They mentioned an explosion at the paper mill where my dad and my father-in-law work. It was pretty scary. Luckily, both of our dads, both of Kaelyn's Papas, were safe and had the day off! Phew! 3 people were injured, 2 were released right away and 1 was taken by helicopter to Madison with burns! It was very lucky for us that our dads were okay and we said a prayer for the families of the 3 men who weren't so lucky.

For now, I am off to make lunch and bake some banana bread. WOOP! We are teething like crazy. getting in 2 or 3 teeth right now and we are MISERABLE. Kaelyn is waking up 2 or 3 times a night! Hopefully we can bake some bread, eat lunch, I can shower and we'll take a good nap!

Tomorrow we get to shampoo the upstairs and downstairs living rooms. Our roommate moved out and we have less furniture downstairs and the carpet could use a good cleaning. I'm not 100% sure that the carpet was all that clean before we moved in! Add a year of furniture and high traffic and it's in need of some TLC! I'm Super excited. All the basement needs after the carpet cleaning is a couch and maybe a nicer tv, but for now, it makes a great big open room (baby proofed) for Kaelyn to romp around in! With the way the weather has been, though? Not sure we'll get to use it.

Have a great day! ( I know we will!)

Lara and Kaelyn