It’s the Little Things

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It's 8:30 Saturday morning and we are busy getting Kimani ready for a swim therapy session that starts at 9:30. Everyone else is up and wanting breakfast. It is a bit chaotic, but I have my nice hot vanilla latte already made and so far we are on time. My husband puts three dollars on the counter and asks me to stop by Dunkin Donuts to get him a hazelnut coffee, light and sweet. Just as I Continue Reading

Are You DS-Connect ‘ed?

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In September of 2013, the National Institutes of Health Down Syndrome Consortium released the Down Syndrome Registry called DS-Connect. From the horse's mouth, this project "will allow people with Down syndrome and their family members, researchers, and parent and support groups to share information and health history in a safe, confidential, online database." It is estimated that there are Continue Reading

7 Ways I Stay Sane – Tips On Raising Lots of Kids

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My household used to be chaotic, loud, and messy but now it's just loud (ok, and still a bit messy). None of my five children are old enough be very useful. They can't drive, babysit, do laundry or scrub the toilet. Staying organized (and sane) when you have lots of young kids is hard. People ask me all the time how I manage it. Here are some of the ways I keep it together around here. 1. My Continue Reading

Today’s the Day I Tell the Kids

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It's World Down syndrome day, and today I am visiting Masha's classroom with a bunch of Munchkin donuts and a lesson about Down syndrome. I get to explain to 22 Kindergarten children what Masha has. I've got a plan, and I am pretty good at making stuff up on the fly for little kids, so I think it should go just fine. I was going to start with a story, maybe Meet Annie or My Friend Isabelle, Continue Reading

Who Can End Poverty?

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  For weeks now I've been thinking about poverty, its systemic causes, our lack of solutions, our perceptions of it, the near impossibility of escaping it once you are in it, and the roles we all can and do play in it. A stunning dissertation hasn't jelled yet, and would not be appropriate in a blog post format even if it did. So I will tackle it one thought (and perhaps one post) at a Continue Reading