Video Montage

Here are three video montages that I found and enjoyed.

I like the words to the song that accompanies this one.
A Life Worth Living

This one shares one father's feelings about having a child with Down Syndrome.
Down with Gabriel

This last one is pretty long. It has lots of pictures of children.
D is for Down Syndrome

Apologies to all of you dial-up folks.

Occupational Therapy

Meet Wade's occupational therapist, April Evans. She came out to the house on Thursday for another session with Wade. She thought he had progressed a lot since the last time she was here. His muscle weakness is mild and she thought he seemed on target with the rest of his development.

Family Photos

"Mother & Child" - Especially for Mary

Wade has found his thumb

Wade & Christopher

Supper time

Christmas with the Strite Family

Wade sleeping with doggie

Wade, Grandpa, Cousin Jenna

Wade's Update

Wade converses with Cecily G.

We have been waiting to hear from Wade's ENT doctor regarding his upcoming hearing test. Dr. Vickery did call recently and told us that he had been in contact with the audiologist at University who will be performing the test, and they were in agreement that Wade would have to be sedated in order to do the test. They generally don't like to give infants anesthesia unless absolutely necessary. Dr. Vickery's advice was to wait until Wade was 5 or 6 months old to lessen the risks of the anesthesia.

The procedure is scheduled to be done soon after Valentine's Day.

Wade also has a problem with silent reflux. Along with that, he makes these funny squeaking noises during and after nursing. When he is sedated for the brainstem hearing test, they will also look down his throat to evaluate what is going on with his esophagus and voice box.

One of his therapists recommended that we have Wade's eyes checked also while he is sedated. She said two of her Down's children had to be sedated in order to have their eyes checked at 6 months of age. I am waiting to hear back from Wade's ophthamologist to see if he wants to do that or not.

New Dogs in Town

In a recent post, No Dogs = Deer, I spoke of the demise of our two dogs.

I thought about getting some puppies from the pound, but after finding out the cost would be $80 - $120 each, I gave up on that idea. I found someone with a litter of mixed Lab pups that we could buy for free. I brought two of them home. Karen doesn't think they are as cute as the others we had, but is willing to adopt them as long as they perform their job of keeping the deer chased away.

Gus & Sam

I named the black one Gus. When we were deciding on a name for Wade, I wanted to call him "Gus". That would be short for "Augustus George". You know, since we live in Augusta, Georgia. Karen didn't think that was nearly as cute as what I did. So now I have a dog named "Gus".

Sam & Gus are also the names of two characters in one of Christopher's favorite books.

Randall's 8th B-Day

We let Randall invite his friend, Randy Heatwole to come home from school and spend the night. Randall is 12 days older than Randy. They are 2 1/2 cousins. We went to Pizza Hut for supper, then came home and had birthday cake.