Don't be surprised...

Source: nads.org

Some good advice

When we learned that the baby we were expecting had Down syndrome,

I felt pretty overwhelmed.

I am sort of a control freak, and I like to plan things as much as possible.

I don't like to feel like I have no control of a situation.

This was definitely a situation where I felt like I was totally out of control.


I felt so worried about our little girl and what her future would be like.

We talked to some other families who had little ones with Down syndrome.

One mom gave me some good advice.

She said: "I am the kind of person who likes to plan everything. 
So when we learned our baby had Down syndrome, I wanted to plan out her whole life. 
But I had to let go of that. We don't plan our other kids' life up till retirement, either."

That was an eye opener. It was like I heard myself.

And I realized I needed to let go more.

Not worry too much about the future.

Just taking it one day at a time.

There are still days when I do feel overwhelmed by it all.

But trying to just take it one day at a time and enjoying the good moments, does help a lot.

When I try to focus on the good things, 
I am definitely able to just enjoy our little family and feel so rich!

So my little girl taught me a big lesson!

What can people with Down syndrome do?

The answer is: A LOT

Probably a lot more than you would think :)

The blogger of Life is beautiful, who happens to have a sweet little girl with Down syndrome herself, made an awesome compilation of video clips and articles featuring some amazing people with Down syndrome.

It is really quite something to check out, so please go to the following link:

What can people with Down syndrome do?

They can be musicians, athletes, teachers, actors, too many things to list really.

So please check out the link, you'll be amazed. 


And while you are there, you may as well check out some of her other posts and see her adorable little girl!

Weekly Planner Dry Erase Board - Tutorial

Just looking at my own blog during this first week of the 31 for 21 challenge, 

I realized something was sort of funny:

If you look at my blog and all these posts about Down syndrome,

it seems that it is the only thing I can think and talk about.

The reality?

It's not!

Mostly, we're just enjoying our little girl.

There are moments when we get reminded again that she has 

Down syndrome, but mostly, our life is just 'normal', 

whatever that is...

So to 'prove' that, here is another craft ;)

I needed something besides an ordinary calendar to keep track of my daughter's schedule. 

Since it would be hanging in our kitchen, I wanted it to be pretty, besides functional.

So I came up with this:

It's a dry erase board, that has her weekly schedule already printed on it, 
with things she needs to bring to school, and other things that happen every week.

I made sure I have plenty of room to fill out appointments, etc.

Now, every week, I can just add things that we need to remember that particular week.

Simple, but it works great.

Wanna make your own?

This is what you need:

* Picture frame

* Fabric, slightly larger than the glass in the frame

* Masking tape

* Cardstock (mine was just a standard 8.5x11), smaller than the glass in the frame

*Double sided tape

* A marker to write the schedule, or a computer and printer

1. Create the weekly schedule, by printing it or write it by hand.

Make sure you have enough room to write in extra things.

If you have more kids in school, you could make separate columns for each child, 
or even make a separate one for each child.

2. Take out the backing of the frame. 

3. Put the fabric on top of it, as if you were to frame it. 

4. Put some adhesive or double sided tape on the back of the schedule, and attach it to the center of the fabric.

5. Put the schedule and fabric, together with the backing of the frame, back in the frame.

(So it will be underneath the glass, that way you can write on the glass later.)

6. Fold over the extra fabric and stick it with masking tape to the back.

Not pretty, but who will see the back anyway?!

7. Grab a dry erase marker, and start using your new board!

And since this organizer thing (what do you call these?) is also hanging out in our kitchen, 
I might as well share it in this post, too...

I've had it for quite a while, but recently updated its look.

I gave it a fresh layer of spray paint and used some stencils to create this:

Since the cork board looked so plain, I stenciled part of that, too.

A fun, quick project, hardest thing for me was to wait till the spray paint was dry...

Shared at Blue Cricket Design.

So many sweet little faces

I know of at least 2 bloggers who made a compilation of a lot of sweet faces of kids with Down syndrome.

I looked at them quite a few times during my pregnancy, 
wondering what our little one would look like.

Although most kids with Down syndrome have certain characteristics, like the almond shaped eyes, they can look like their parents and siblings, just like any other kid.

The little mouth of our third daughter with Down syndrome is shaped exactly the same as my oldest daughter's when she was a baby.

My youngest and the next older sister have exactly the same shape head.

All three my girls share their long, dark eyelashes and they suck their thumbs.

I love to see their little resemblances, and I think I love their uniqueness even more.
Just the little things that make them an individual. 

Anyway, I'm drifting away here....

I wanted to share these 2 clips with you

Please watch them, they are so touching!

This first clip was created by Patti, who has adorable little girl named Lily.



You can visit them on their blog:
A perfect Lily

If you want to read the blog post to go with it, please click on the following link:

Worthy of life

The other video worth watching is this one.

Kelle Hampton created it when she was organizing a fundraiser for the NDSS (National Down Syndrome Society) in honor of the first birthday of her daugher, Nella.

She tells her story in a nutshell, and has quite a few pictures and video clips of other sweet little ones with Down syndrome.

If you prefer to just see the pictures in her blog post, click the following link:

Pay it forward: rock the ONEder fund

This fundraiser has ended by now I think,

but if you want to donate to the NDSS,

you can go to their website:

NDSS.

The sky is the limit - free printable quote in red and aqua.

To celebrate Down syndrome awareness month, I created the poster above.

Feel free to download it, by double clicking it, and saving it to your computer. 

It should be fine to be printed in 8 x 10 format.

You can print it, and frame it like it is, or put it on pretty scrapbook paper or fabric.

So many possibilities...

Enjoy it!

My inspiration for this poster?

This blog:

Down syndrome - Up, up, up and away

Laura, the writer of this blog is a mom of a 4 year old girl with Down syndrome.

The reason why she writes the blog?

"I started this blog hoping to inspire other parents to help their children with Down syndrome reach for the sky! My daughter was reading words, before she was 2 years of age & reading books by 3.5 years. I believe kids with Down syndrome can do amazing things if we give them the right tools. I truly believe high expectations can make a tremendous difference in the lives of our children!"

This is such an inspiring blog to me, and full of great resources.


HERE is a video of the little girl reading the alphabet when she was only two years old.


This blog is awesome, and full of resources, not only for parents of children with Down syndrome, but for any parent who wants to give their child an early start with reading, and help them develop to their fullest potential.


Another awesome post is this one:
How can you stimulate a newborn?
Again, this post has great information for ANY parent of a newborn.
Most things in there are pretty easy to incorporate in your daily life as parent of a newborn.


Please check out this great blog!

Down syndrome - some facts

Even though I knew several kids with Down syndrome when I was growing up, 
during this past year I learned that there were a LOT of things that I didn't know about it.

Once we found out that this little girl we were expecting came with some extra genetic material, 
we did a lot of research.

Since I had never visited the NDSS site until I knew that I was expecting a little one with Down syndrome, I think it's pretty safe to assume many of you who happen to visit my blog for the crafty stuff on here, haven't been there either. 

I got the following information from the National Down Syndrome Society website:

• Down syndrome occurs when an individual has three, rather than two, copies of the 21st chromosome. This additional genetic material alters the course of development and causes the characteristics associated with Down syndrome.

• Down syndrome is the most commonly occurring chromosomal condition. One in every 691 babies is born with Down syndrome.

• There are more than 400,000 people living with Down syndrome in the United States.

• Down syndrome occurs in people of all races and economic levels.

• The incidence of births of children with Down syndrome increases with the age of the mother. But due to higher fertility rates in younger women, 80% of children with Down syndrome are born to women under 35 years of age.

• People with Down syndrome have an increased risk for certain medical conditions such as congenital heart defects, respiratory and hearing problems, Alzheimer's disease, childhood leukemia, and thyroid conditions. Many of these conditions are now treatable, so most people with Down syndrome lead healthy lives.

• A few of the common physical traits of Down syndrome are low muscle tone, small stature, an upward slant to the eyes, and a single deep crease across the center of the palm. Every person with Down syndrome is a unique individual and may possess these characteristics to different degrees or not at all.

• Life expectancy for people with Down syndrome has increased dramatically in recent decades - from 25 in 1983 to 60 today.

• People with Down syndrome attend school, work, participate in decisions that affect them, and contribute to society in many wonderful ways.

• All people with Down syndrome experience cognitive delays, but the effect is usually mild to moderate and is not indicative of the many strengths and talents that each individual possesses.

• Quality educational programs, a stimulating home environment, good health care, and positive support from family, friends and the community enable people with Down syndrome to develop their full potential and lead fulfilling lives.

• Researchers are making great strides in identifying the genes on Chromosome 21 that cause the characteristics of Down syndrome. Many feel strongly that it will be possible to improve, correct or prevent many of the problems associated with Down syndrome in the future.

Welcome to Holland

That is the title of a poem about Down syndrome, that often is given to parents who are expecting
 a baby with Down syndrome, or that just found out that their newborn has Down syndrome.

It compares becoming the parent of a child with Down syndrome with a journey.
The traveler in the poem is expecting to go to Italy, and somehow ends up in Holland and has to stay there.
 Holland is completely different than Italy, but after the initial shock,
the traveler is able to see and appreciate the beauty of Holland.

Windmill and tulip fields

If you want to read the poem, click on the following link:

Welcome to Holland

After getting the diagnosis for our little girl, the genetic counselor handed us the poem.
I had already heard about it, so I wasn't too surprised.

I thought it was pretty ironic, since I happen to be from Holland, although I am living in the USA.
Nothing wrong with Holland to me :)

But I do see what the writer of the poem means,
although I would've preferred if she had reversed the roles of the two countries in her poem ;)

Windmills at Kinderdijk

My parents' backyard in bloom

Down syndrome - my story

October is Down syndrome awareness month.
And that gave me the little push I needed to write about it.

I have been thinking for a while if this is a subject I want to write about on a craft blog. But since it's such an important part of my life, I feel like I just want to share this. During the past year I have learned so much, and if this little blog could even help only one person, it would be worth writing about it. I have quite a few new visitors on here every day, so this is a great way to 'reach' a lot of people.

I don't write much about personal stuff, but some of you who have been following this blog for a while, might know that we had our third baby girl last May. One thing I haven't shared here before, is the fact that this beautiful little girl has Down syndrome.

It wasn't a surprise at birth. During a routine ultrasound early in my pregnancy, we learned that there was the possibility that our little baby would have Down syndrome, or possibly another chromosomal abnormality. Since we didn't want to wait more than a half year to find out what was going on, we decided to have an amnio. We learned that we were having our third girl, and that she came with a little extra: an extra copy of the 21st chromosome, also called Trisomy 21 or Down syndrome.

We were pretty nervous at first. You simply want the best for your child and looking at all the possible health issues and other 'limitations' that our baby might have, was pretty overwhelming, to be honest. And looking around the web randomly didn't help a lot, I should say. Reading that about 90% of people in our situation would decide to terminate the pregnancy, added to my anxiety. If all these people didn't think they could handle it, how would we do it?

But there were a lot of things that DID help us during that time.
In the first place, faith that God won't give us anything we can't handle.
We also had a lot of support from family and friends.
We found out about resources in our community, and met with families who had children with Down syndrome, and they showed us that they were basically just like any other family.

During the months that followed, I found some helpful blogs and websites.
Of parents who gave us a peek into their lives with a little one with Down syndrome.

And slowly, the sadness went away, and got replaced by something else:
we actually started to look forward again to meeting our little girl.

Writing this, I feel bad to say that at first I was all worried and sad about our baby, who is just amazing and perfect!  She has some health issues, and she has physical therapy, at this point about every 2 weeks, but in the big picture these things are not that important. We're just so happy to have her in our lives!

As I am taking part in the 31 for 21 challenge, this month you can expect to read more about Down syndrome and a lot of things we learned. Hope you'll come along for the ride!

Grab This Button

(And this is the link to the blog that all started it,

I would really appreciate it if you'd put a button on your blog to get the word out!!)