Our Family

Since it's been a couple years since this blog has really been active, I thought it would be good to give a short introduction about our family for those of you who don't know us in real life.

This is us! My most favorite family in the world…although I admit I am completely biased.

We're currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada, but we have a pattern of moving every couple years. We've lived in Utah, spent a couple years in London when the girls were really little, and who knows where the wind will blow us next.

Antalya will be turning 8 next week. She's in 2nd grade and in a typical classroom. She gets pulled out during the day for extra help in math, writing, and speech therapy. She loves to sing, dance, and make other people laugh. She loves school, or at least most of the time. She is a bookworm - she takes books with her everywhere she goes.

I remember going to a doctor's appointment when she was just a few months old and meeting another mother who had a child several years older who also had Down syndrome. She said the best advice she could give me was to encourage books. So I tried to surround Antalya with books. I let her chew on them when she was an infant, and color in them when she was a toddler, and dump out dozens and dozens of books onto the floor everyday. I don't know if any of that helped, but I do know the girl loves books, more so than any of my other kids.

My advice to any mother who is new on a journey with Down syndrome would be the same, but I would also add to start teaching your little one sight words when she is three. Learning to read makes all the difference!

Victoria is 5 and loves kindergarten. She is a ballerina at heart, and is in constant motion nearly every second of the day. Recently she decided when she grows up she want to be a singer part of the time, and a pop-star the rest of the time. Then when she didn't want to just be a singer, she could be a singer and dancer at the same time. She is my extra hands and eyes making sure her sister and brother stay safe.

Hinckley is the babe of the group at 18 months. He loves strawberry jam, popcorn, dogs, creating messes, climbing countertops, and being outside. At any given moment he is sure to have either a fat lip, or a bruise on his forehead. He keeps me on my toes.

Jason is my most favorite person in the whole world. We've been married ten years, and I couldn't imagine making my way through life without him by my side.

And then there's me. When I'm not chasing kids, on a date with my hubby, cleaning the kitchen, or painting furniture, it's schoolwork for me. I'm almost through a degree in Communication Disorders that I started two years ago.

And that's us…in a nut shell.