Click on the word giggles…it is the sound of Carly laughing. It will need to down load and play in your media player.
The sweet sound of Miss Carly playing with her brother, Brady.
Mary Jane sent this to me while I was out of town on business last week. Made me smile from ear to ear.
Today was a tough day as we dropped Miss Emma (my daughter) off at the airport. She spent part of her summer break with us before for heading back to be with her mom for the school year. Miss Emma and Miss Carly get along so well and Miss Emma is doing a great job at being an awesome big sister.
This year, the two started sharing a bedroom and Miss Emma would check on Miss Carly while Miss Carly was sleeping.
Miss Emma, Miss Carly, and Down Syndrome Daddy at the airport.
Miss Emma will be missed be all and we can not wait to see her again.
The other day, I mentioned that Confessions would soon have a major announcement and I am happy to say that we are hitting the road.
Carly, and the rest of the crew: Jason (me), Mary Jane, and Brady are headed off to a new adventure in Peabody, MA. Emma will be our West Coast anchor as she will stay in Sacramento with her mom.
We are excited and a bit nervous at the same time. I have lived in California for 20 years while MJ has been here 14 years, so it will be a climate change for all of us. Looking forward to the four seasons and experiencing US history close up.
Next step is getting everything in order for Miss Carly, so the transition into a new educational and support network is easy for her.
Now it is back to the packing and getting ready for a coast to coast move.
Reading time is the best with Emma and Brady!
When something horrific, such as the shooting in Arizona, happens, the question of how do you tell your kids or answer your kids questions about what happened is brought up. How can they not ask or have questions when the news covers the story 24/7? The pundits and parents have their own opinions and all seem to ignore the obvious. Why are the parents exposing their kids to such negative crap as the nightly or daily news? And how do the networks get away with calling this garbage news in the first place?
The news business, both print and television, have a saying “If it bleeds, it leads” meaning that the more horrific or tragic an incident is the greater the likelihood it will be featured on the front page or have a newscast dedicated to it. Our “news” is no longer covering news, rather it is focusing on the negativity of the world. We are obsessed with tragedy, celebrities falling from grace, and a natural disaster every now and again. With all this negative information being pumped into our heads I am surprised that our world has not curled up into the fetal position.
So how do we, the Fitch Family, answer the questions that our kids have about the tragedy or tragedies? How do we explain about Lindsey Lohan and her stint in rehab? How do we let our kids know that our political views are far more superior to those who disagree with us? The answer….
We don’t.
We don’t watch the news, we don’t listen to the news on the radio (except for sports and even that is slowly being reduced), and we sure as heck don’t believe that one political party is far more superior to another.
What do we do? We listen to books on CD, usually those about goal setting and believing in yourself. We ask each other, at night when we sit down for dinner, how our day was, what did we learn that day, and what our favorite part of the day was. We read to the kids before they go to bed each night. Most importantly we talk to each other and believe in each other.
Why do we do this? Because life is too short to focus on the negative. How can you live, laugh, and love if you let the constant drum beat of negativity invade your house? Heck, even if we wanted to watch the news, Phineas and Ferb is generally being TiVo’d at the same time. 
At our house, we have learned that “No News is Good News.”
When I first started writing this blog, it was a way for me to write down my thoughts, concerns, and joys of being Carly’s dad. I did not know if anybody, besides immediate family, would read it. My writing was hit and miss with topics and ideas that would come a week or month apart. I wanted a place where my daughter Emma and son Brady could learn about Downs and how important they, Emma, Brady and Carly, are to the family and how lucky I am to have them as my kids.
Shortly after I started writing, I noticed that it was not just family members who were reading my blog but friends and strangers as well. I was pleasantly surprised and still writing hit or miss. It was not until my best friend, how are you doing Dave, let me know that he was reading and that I needed to post more. It was then that I realized that my blog was reaching others as well.
Fast forward to today and this blog has been viewed by people from all over the world, from the US to New Zealand and I am completely blown away by the support I have gotten and the comments on line and off line as well.
I am constantly amazed and extremely thankful for everybody that has stopped by to read a post or two and drop a comment here or there. Please continue to read and pass this on to others as well. If you know of anyone who needs to talk about being a parent, especially Dads, with a child with Downs please let them know about this blog.
Thank you again for stopping by and for coming along for the ride.
I am sitting here watching Brady and Carly play on the floor and listening to the giggles and laughter of both of them. Brady has the ability to make the little one laugh out loud at a moments notice. Whether he is playing hide and seek or blowing a raspberry on her belly, whatever he does, she loves. She loves him so much and he loves her so much as well.
This interaction always brings peace to my heart and mind. When we found out that Carly has Downs, MJ and I adjusted pretty quickly because we knew of the risks during the pregnancy. However, I was worried about how the kids would react. Would they be scared, mad, upset, or love Carly for being Carly? Thankful, they love Carly for being Carly.
I love these monkeys with all my heart and I am glad to see that they love each other the same way.
I know that I often state how lucky and blessed I feel to have such an amazing family and it is this type of interaction and play that serves as a reminder of how lucky I am.
To quote a song by Debbie Boone, These kids of mine “Light up My Life.”
What a fun and wonderful day today! As many of you know, I have been lucky enough to have the kids out of school, for the summer, and able to hang out with them Wed-Friday. It has been a bit bumpy sometimes, with each one of us being in a cranky mood or two, but it has been well worth it.
Today was one of those days that makes me feel so lucky to be a dad and to be blessed with wonderful kids. Emma, Brady, and Carly did a wonderful job today and we had fun pretty much all day long. In the midst of all of it, we coined a new nickname for Carly, her new nickname is Princess Good Good.
So how does one get a name like Princess Good Good? It is not an easy task and most certainly not a common Princess name.
One gets this name by sitting on the floor and using ones tush to move around in a circle. This is not all that needs to be done though, you must also stop at each quarter turn and say “good, good” and then clap and laugh. Do this, and you shall earn the name Princess Good Good.
That is how Carly, err Princess Good Good started off our day today.
Days like this remind me how far along she has come in her development and how much more of the world she understands. I don’t think that this little girl, or any of my kids, will ever stop amazing me with the things they say and do.
Today was a great day to be introduced to Princess Good Good.
Down Syndrome may be your need, but your all I need
This is a picture that Miss Emma made for Carly. It will hang above Carly’s crib.
It happened at work again the other day; a coworker saw a picture of Carly and asked how old Carly is. I said “22 months” and the coworker said “Wow, she is pretty small I thought she was only 8 months.” I replied with “Yep, she is small, I think she gets that from her moms side of the family, plus she has Down Syndrome.”
As soon as I said “Down Syndrome” I knew what was coming next and just had to wait out the 5 seconds of “uncomfortable” silence and then….
“Oh, I am so sorry”
My reply has always been, “No worries, My wife and I, along with her brother and sister feel very lucky to be part of her family.”
The comments that usually follow are along the lines of wow, you are so strong to be able to say that, I don’t know how you do it, and sometimes I can’t believe how open you are about it.
Since day one, I have never felt the need to hide the fact that Carly has Down Syndrome, perhaps it was because her touch and go birth, or the fact that she is alive and healthy, or because I was raised in a home that did not put labels or limits on people. To me, Carly having Down Syndrome is the same as Brady having green eyes, or Emma having straight hair. It is just part of who they are.
So how do I do it? There is no magic secret or some special sort of incredible resolve I have, rather I have an amazing wife who is my partner every step of the way.
We are raising our children much the same way we were raised, no limits or labels on people. We are volunteering at the Special Olympics on Saturday to not only support the event but to also let Emma and Brady see, with their own eyes, that anybody can do amazing feats.
As far as being “strong”, I think that comes with being a parent. I don’t know of a parent who is not strong. You do whatever you can for your kids, love them with out condition, and raise them to live, laugh, and love. I have a friend who has a son with Autism and if you asked my friend if she thought she was stronger then other parents, she would probably give you a similar reply
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I brag about all my kids.
I have a family that believes in no labels or limits.
I am not stronger then anybody else.
Simply, and thankfully, I am a parent.