Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Bloggy Valentine


In honor of Valentine's Day RK over at Just RK has started a Bloggy Valentine. She wrote a great post about what the Down syndrome blogger community means to her and has asked all of us parents of kid's with Ds to do the same. Here are the questions we are to answer..............
~What has the DS blog community meant to you?

~What lessons have you learned?
~How did they encourage you?
~What are some of your favorite stories?

Five years ago when Rylie was born I didn't have a computer. The following year we did get one, so right away I started researching Down syndrome. As far as I know there where no Down syndrome blogs. There were probably different Ds forums, but unfortunately I never came across them. Mostly when I googled Down syndrome I found websites that listed all the health problems associated with Down syndrome. I also found information about vitamins for children with Down syndrome. So I convinced myself Rylie had or will one day have all the health issues I was reading about and that I needed to get my hands on these vitamins right away. I started to get alittle obsessed about Down syndrome. I was spending too much time reading negative things, so I took a break and never googled Down syndrome again until three years later. This time I found blogs written by parents of kiddos with Down syndrome. And their blogs linked to more blogs written by parents of kiddos with Ds. I couldn't believe all the great stories I was reading and all the cute kids I was getting to see pictures of. All of the sudden I realized their were so many families out there like my own. I realized I too need to start a blog and share Rylie's stories.

The biggest lesson I have learned is that I'm not alone like I thought I was!

I get so encouraged when I read blogs with the older kids. It helps reading about the way their kids are included with their peers and in the classroom. I love to hear stories about when a parent had to advocate for their childs education and was very sucessful. It gives me such hope. I also marvel at the new parents, who even though they are so new to Down syndrome, they do such a great job at spreading awareness. They let the world know how great babies with Down syndrome are and even though it was not their life long dream to raise a child with Down syndrome, they know they could never imagine their lives without their child. And they realize they are blessed even though there are bad days and health concerns.

I have also joined the Downsyn forum. I love it. If you have a question, you can just post it on Downsyn and many other parents will be happy to answer you or just offer a prayer if your having a hard time with something. I am so thrilled I found this forum.

Happy Valentine's Day to my On-line Down syndrome Blogger Community! You all encourage me and make me laugh everyday!

2 comments:

RK said...

Thanks so much! And what a great testimony to how important the forums can be too. I really enjoy the iVillage DS forum, and it's been great to get to know some of them.

Debbie @ Three Weddings said...

I was so lucky to have a great community where I live that I didn't feel a need to find others in other cities when Peanut was born, but I'm glad I have started my blog and started making cyberfriends. I've learned a lot from them as well. I checked out the DS forum once. I need to check it out again.


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