Topic Ideas

Saturday, 5 October 2013

Last year I posted a list of topics to help with brainstorming ideas for what to blog about during the 31 for 21 challenge. Reposting this list in case it will help anyone with needing ideas of what to blog about.

- myths about Down syndrome
- sign language and Ds
- people first language
- favorite bloggers/celeb who have a child with Ds
- photos from Buddy Walks
- what is Ds? (Non-disjunction, Mosaic, Translocation)
- a day in your life
- school/therapy
- your child's strengths
- your fears, your hopes, your expectations
- the r word
- siblings, only-child, decision to have a child(ren) after your child w/Ds was born
- where do you find your info on Ds?
- current news articles on Ds (materniT21, Alzheimer's connection, prenatal testing)
- birth stories/adoption stories
- did you find out pre-natally, post-natally, or suspected during pregnancy but declined amnio (like our story)
- lists of '21' things; ie about your child, child's favorite things, things your child says/signs, milestones/accomplishments
- facts and stereotypes about Ds
- favorite books on Ds
- characteristics
- favorite online resources
- favorite apps
- additional diagnosis (autism, sensory processing disorder, ADHD, Celiac Disease)
- medical issues (sleep apnea, AAI, heart surgery)
- Down syndrome and cancer
- if you knew then what you know now
- if you could go back at time of diagnosis what would you tell yourself
- what fears or expectations did you have at diagnosis that did, or didn't, come true

If you have any additional ideas for topics please share them in the comments and I'll add them to this list!



 

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What's In My Bag? A Smooshy Melted Snickers

Friday, 4 October 2013

Let's talk about things you see on, let's say, Instagram that you don't necessarily find to be all that true for a moment. Take the #whatsinmybag trend that Sarah so hilariously explained here, for example. Who are these women and why are the insides of their purses so immaculate?

So, then I went and mangled through the monstrosity I refer to as my purse and my hand brushed against a melted, flattened, smooshed Snickers and realized I'm playing in a completely different ball field than these other chicks over here. Let's take a gander, shall we?

Three: the number of koozies I have in my bag. Why? I like to party, I guess.

Bottom right corner would be the compilation of garbage just hanging out in my bag. Minus the Monopoly scratch off... that's worth $5.

Don't forget the melted Snickers and questionable dinner mint.

Also, like Sarah, I have a spare iPhone case and no idea why that's necessary.

And then there's the 90's Nokia that clearly doesn't work, but if it did I'd be all over Snake. All day, erry day. What can I say? I'm one nostalgic little peach.

An empty birth control pack. Because that's definitely something I need to save.

Then we have Advil (For hangovers, duh.) and my little pill case I put my vitamins in (because I'm old now and it's the responsible thing to do).

Donald Duck over there is a Disney annual pass holder, except for it's empty because my pass is in my wallet. So, really that's more garbage.

A memory card, for when I take pictures with my purse. Or not.

A Big Ben condom from Scotland... which was a gift from bear.... which is ironically placed next to the empty birth control pack in this photo. I wish I could say I purposely did that.

Eyeball juice. Because my eyeballs hate me.

Matches... because I like free stuff.

A USB plug. With nothing connected. You never know.

Eight products designated specifically for my lips. Looking at this photo, that may be slightly excessive. Maybe. 

Beach Babe hair stuff. Entirely purchased and tossed in my bag because of the cute, small size. I don't think I've actually used it more than once.

VS body spray... ain't nobody got time to stink. 

Probably my favorite part of this would be the tangled, broken necklaces I found. There are two and they are just hanging out in there.

Bobby pins. All of which I found spread out over bear's apartment when he moved out. Oops. I guess I'm that girl now.

Hair bows. You never know when you're gonna need to slap a bow on something. 

Tangled up Erin/Whit bracelet. From my first trip to visit Erin. Aka like 6+ months ago. 

Cards. You can never be too prepared.

Old grocery lists. Very important, as I'm sure you all know. 

And there you have it. The disaster that is what's in my bag. You're welcome.



Now, on to important business. #backthatazzup.
Except today my jam isn't exactly one you'd #backthatazzup to, but I love it too much not to use it. Oh, and if you want to get all emotion and sappy, just go ahead and watch the music video... amazing.

It's #backthatazzup Friday!

The purpose: To start our weekend with some fantastic jams.

The station that inspired it: "Back That Azz Up" on Pandora Radio.

The rules: Link your jams up and have a jam sesh with all of us!

Click here for a tutorial on how to embed a song in your post.

Happy Friday!
Grab a button, pick your jam, link up and let's get this weekend started off on the right foot!

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When Lellow Became Yellow

Like a lot of kids when they first start talking, Lucas pronounced "yellow" like "lellow."

I knew that he would eventually start saying it correctly, and as it got closer to him starting Kindergarten I knew I should be correcting him so he would enunciate it correctly. But I was hesitant, because I enjoyed how cute it sounded to hear "lellow" and when he would say it, it reminded me that he was still my little boy.

A few weeks before school started, out of nowhere, Joe asked Lucas, "What color is the sun?"

We both fully expected to hear "lellow" and I knew that we would secretly share a smile over his head.

Instead, also seemingly out of nowhere, he answered perfectly clearly, "yellow." Joe and I shared more of a shocked looked over his head when that came out of his mouth.

No one had been coaching him to pronounce it "yellow." No one had even brought it up to him. It just naturally flowed out of his mouth as if he had been saying "yellow" this whole time. Except he hasn't.

We asked him again, and again, what color is the sun? And he kept answering "yellow." He didn't realize what the big deal was; he didn't even realize he was saying it differently than he was previously saying it until we pointed it out to him.

Joe and I shared another look - one that said we were going to miss the sound of 'lellow' and that this was just another sign that he was growing up.

He still has a couple of other things that he says that I'm going to miss when he grows out of those as well.

He got 'scented' and 'sensitive' mixed up at one point. Kayla gave him a scented marker for Christmas last year and he got some on this thumb and said that his "thumb is sensitive now." So when talking about something that is scented he says sensitive. He, in turn, gave her a scented pen for her birthday, but it's "see Kayla? It's sensitive, just like the sensitive marker you gave me."

When something is confusing him he says, "Oh I'm confusing!" instead of "I'm confused."

Contents became mixed up with continents. "Where are the Table of Continents in this book?"

I need to start writing down more of his little language quirks before he stops saying them...and before he grows up too much.

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Left or Right Handed?

Thursday, 3 October 2013

I don't think there is any connection with Down syndrome and left- or right-handedness, but I am curious to see results of left- and right-handedness in people with Down syndrome.

Kayla is left-handed.

Joe and I are both left-handed. Although Joe is more of a left-hander than I am. He bowls, golfs, bats, and throws with his left hand. I do the major things with my left hand: eat, write, and hold the phone with my left hand to my left ear! But for the rest of that stuff I use my right hand.

Lucas is a right-hander. Now how did he get to be the only right-hander in a family of left-handers?

So how does your family dynamics breakdown with left- and right-hand use?

What hand does your child with Down syndrome use?


What about siblings? You can chose more than one answer if some siblings are right-handed and some are left-handed.


What about the child's parents? (if anyone is ambidextrous which one do you identify with more?)



 

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I Wore Headphones to Work

If you're new here, let me catch you up to speed on one of my most favorite things real fast. That thing would be music and I'm all about it. I'm constantly updating my playlists on Spotify and every Friday here in Yoga Pants-ville I invite all of blog land to come share the songs they're currently #backthatazzup-ing to. When I'm running the only thing that keeps me going is music, when I'm driving the only thing that keeps me awake and away from boredom is music, when I'm getting ready the only thing that convinces me to actually stand in my sauna of a bathroom is music. It's just one of my things, I suppose.

One thing I hate about the whole running thing is trying to keep my earbuds in my ears because there's nothing worse than really getting into a song and then having your sweaty earbuds fall out, inevitably making you miss your favorite part of the song. Am I right? Answer: Yes.

Another issue I have with earbuds is that after a while of wear they start to make my baby ears sore and when you're on a 2+ hour flight, that just isn't going to cut it. Why can I just have my comfort and eat it too listen to my awesome music too?! Oh wait, I can now thanks to a little company called Monster who offers stylish, comfortable and, wait for it, durable headphones that don't force me to shove things inside of my ears.

These babies are pure awesomeness, incredible quality, and I'm already scoping out which color I want to get bear for Christmas (shhh, don't tell him.) because I know he would love these just as much as I do. But in all seriousness, these Monster Candy headphones are the shiznat. To be honest, I questioned them a bit because I thought, "Who really needs headphones this extravagant?". Answer: I DO because they're freaking amazing and I feel like Miley is singing right into my ears.

To win your very own pair of N-Tune headphones (valued at $150), read all about the Monster headphones here and let me know in the comments of this post which color you prefer. The comments on this post will be aggregated with the comments on the posts from the other bloggers participating in this review, and 25 pairs will be given away. This giveaway will close on Nov 1.

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

• Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
• Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
• Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post.
• For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner  will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

BlogHer will pool entries from participating blogs and select a sweepstakes winner at random and will contact the winner with details about fulfilling the prize.

The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 10/2/13 – 11/1/13.Please let me know if you have any questions.

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