Last day to give in 2009

Trisomy 18 is a very special birth defect to me. You see, it gave me so much strength in dealing with Faith's Goldenhar syndrome because we were told she might have Trisomy 18 when we first discovered that something was wrong when I was 32 weeks pregnant. We spent a very difficult weekend waiting on the results of chromosone testing to rule it out, thinking that she could die at birth or within the first year of life. I was so torn up over the possibility that when we discovered she did not have it and that she had something else (they thought it was Treacher Collins at the time) I was thrilled. She would live and I could handle anything else.

Since then, I have been receiving emails from the Trisomy 18 Foundation and I am finally planning to contribute to them today, even though it will only be a very small amount. I thought I would share their information with you in case any of you are interested in supporting them too. Here is the email I received from them today:




Dear Robin,

Today is your last chance to give a 2009 gift that helps create the Miracle of Christmases in the Years Ahead for a family affected by Trisomy 18. Your gift before 2009 comes to a close will help us prepare for all the challenging work we face in the New Year.

All charitable gifts to the Trisomy 18 Foundation continue to benefit our research, advocacy, and family support efforts. Working together, we can ensure families have the support they need and that progress is made in the coming year. Your gift brings hope to families and their children living with Trisomy 18 all year long.

Wishing you a safe holiday, full of hope and possibility for the New Year ahead,

Victoria Miller,
Founder and Executive Director

Donation Link: https://secure2.convio.net/tris/site/Donation2?idb=1971955681&df_id=1500&1500.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=jravrrouk4.app1a

Fun Sunday

The kids and I had some fun playing in the snow on Sunday, especially because it was quite warm - maybe upper 60s. We got almost 2 feet of snow from Wednesday to Friday and school was canceled for 3 days! Now the snow is disappearing fast; poor snowman's head was gone when I got home last night!

Happy Halloween!

Faith started out saying she wanted to be a witch for Halloween, but when I took her to get a costume she kept going to the princess costumes so we decided to stick with this pretty Sleeping Beauty dress she got for her birthday last year. I, of course, think she made a beautiful princess, no bias at all!!! ;)

Anthony decided about a month ago that he wanted to be a UPS guy for Halloween and just by coincidence, our UPS guy stopped by a couple weeks ago to bring Anthony this hat! So then I went to The Goodwill store to find a brown shirt and drew the UPS patch and sewed it on for him. He looked so cute and they both had so much fun trick or treating this year! He filled that box almost halfway and loved organizing all the candy when we got home! Faith kept giving her candy to Anthony and signing that it was too big for her, so sweet.

Faith's new big girl bed!

Faith is loving her new toddler bed and her new found freedom with it! Plus at her 3 year old checkup the pediatrician said she doesn't need to wear her pulse of monitor through the night anymore either! Now she is experimenting with sneaking downstairs after we put her to bed to try and watch TV with us and getting up at 6 am!! And we had just started to enjoy Anthony beginning to sleep later! Oh well, it's very exciting to see this new phase!!

For the last 5 years I thought that this crib woud transition to a twin size bed by taking off the drawers at the end which then becomes a nightstand, only to discover in the middle of trying to redo Faith's room that it is 6 inches too short and 6 inches too narrow and the company making the crib went out of business! But it makes a cute toddler bed, so that'll work for now.