Why???

Why is it that one little extra chromosome can cause such a problem for some people. I am so upset that this is an issue and especially to some folks in our family. I have been thinking about this for a couple days now and didn't want to post too quickly about it because I wanted to be less upset when I did.

IT'S ONE CHROMOSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Down syndrome occurs in 1 out of every 800-1000 births. It is mostly "chance" but sometimes it can be genetic. (if it is genetic then there will be others in your family that have Ds as well-and you will know about it!!!) Laney was born to us with one extra chromosome 17 mths ago. Why is it a problem??? She is a beautiful, happy, healthy little girl that is doing everything every other baby does...maybe in her own time but still she will do it if she isn't already. When we first found out, I know there were some that held out hope that maybe the amnio was wrong and she really didn't have Ds and Ricky and I did as well in a small back part of our heads cause let's all face it...science is science and nothing or no one is perfect so you always allow room for errors. Anyway, once Laney was born, I didn't think of it. All I could think was how chubby she was and she was 4 weeks early!!! Of course, once she headed to the NICU (low blood sugars because I am diabetic) I started worrying about my baby even more but that is NORMAL! We stayed with her everyday except one and that is because I was sick (cold or something) and the nurses told me to go home and get a good nights rest since she would most likely be coming home the next day.

Laney had some feeding troubles but some babies do. We resolved those. She has had tubes put in her ears and her adenoids removed...I can't tell you how many people in our family have had this done. It is so annoying to hear that some people think that my daughter has Ds b/c it came from someone on my husband's side of the family or my side of the family or that maybe she doesn't really look like she has Ds...are we sure she really has it...she is out growing the features and it isn't as noticable anymore...

COME ON PEOPLE!!! This isn't how we define a person. She is a little girl that just happens to have Ds and yes I am sure because I went through the amnio process and the genetic test came back that she has 3 number 21 chromosomes which means Trisomy 21 otherwise known as Down syndrome. She is not a Down syndrome baby so don't say it.

Please stop worrying about where it came from or what features she has that are typical Ds features. She is our daughter and we love her no matter what and are sick and tired of hearing about this crap. If you can't accept that she has Ds or are ashamed of it or whatever it is that is causing you to say these hurtful things...yes they are hurtful...then don't feel obligated to be subjected to her beautiful, infectious laughter and the overall joy of her life as a baby and toddler and growing into a beautiful, smart, young woman!

Buddy Walk

I just wanted to post the link to the buddy walk registration and donation site just in case anyone was interested in joining our team or making a donation for Laney.

http://dsac.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=316683

Our team name is Laney's Alliance. I will be updating that site soon and will try to update it often so that it tracks our progress.

Thanks to everyone again!!!

Fundraiser

So today was our first "fundraiser" for this year's buddy walk. We decided to have a yard sale and hot dog sale to raise some funds. It was AWESOME!!!!! We had tons of stuff donated to us for the yard sale (a whole enclosed trailer full!!!) and then we had the hot dogs which my mother in law and father in law cooked and donated the hot dogs and buns and fixin's for. We went from 7am until 2pm and boy was it hot. We sold all the hotdogs we had bought for today (including the ones we ate...lol) and I only have about half of the trailer full of stuff left to sell at the next one. We still have people that said they have more stuff to donate to us to sell for Laney's team and if you have anything, just let us know. We really appreciate everyone that helped and donated stuff and their time and energy today!!!

So I guess you would like to know how successful we were today....

We raised a total of $770.00 (after we subtracted the money we started with)!!!! How awesome is that. Amazing right. We have a wonderful community here and everyone was so sweet today and generous as well.

I will post some pics later (when I have time to download them from my camera) and I will let you know when the next sale will be as well. We might have biscuits and coffee at that one cause apparently we had alot of folks asking if we had some coffee this morning. (I really don't understand how you can drink something so hot when it is 90 something degrees outside at 7am...lol.)

Picture Perfect!!!

Logan at his 1st tball game

Daddy and Laney at the DSAC picnic

Mommy and Laney at the DSAC picnic

I love this picture!!! she was eating cake

Logan in the jump house

Hey you...wanna swim with me?

Logan aka water boy

Logan on the boats at Carowinds

Laney at Carowinds

Laney in the kiddie pool again

Logan at one of his soccer games

Doctor update and Tball Too

Laney went to the eye doctor last Thursday. Her vision is still great and there were no changes...this is good and kinda bad in a way. If she had a vision problem, we could get her glasses and that would help fix the turning in of her right eye but since there are no problems with her vision, at her age, glasses would just be a headache for me and Rick to try to get her to wear. Her eye isn't any worse but it isn't any better either. We go back in 2 mths for another recheck.

Logan was supposed to have his first tball game tonight but all this darn rain keeps messing things up. Game was cancelled tonight but our next one is on Monday. He is so excited to start playing. I will post some pics once we have our first game because we all know I will take a million that night..LOL.