Walk for Down syndrome 2012 (aka Buddy Walk)

This post is so very long overdue. I wanted to have the time to really sit down and write about this because it was such a great day. Being nauseous and then being in Utah for a month really threw me off my game plan. So here it goes, the long awaited documentation of our first Buddy Walk. (Side note: I don't understand if 'buddy walk' is no longer the name of choice or what... but it's sure easier to say than 'Walk for Down syndrome.')

Shortly after Clara was born and we were introduced to the Down syndrome community we started hearing about "buddy walks." Almost every family we met who had a child with Down syndrome attended the yearly walk and loved it. I looked up the date and discovered it would be on the weekend in between Troy's audition rotations in San Antonio and Salt Lake City. That meant we'd likely be traveling that day. I was so disappointed. After pondering it more though, I decided we could make it work. When Troy saw how important it was to me, he agreed. 

So I went about making plans. We invited some friends to join us and created a team for the event. "Clara's Crew." The walk is also a fundraiser for the organization 'Sharing Down syndrome Arizona.' The team that raises the most money leads the walk, so the fundraising becomes a competition. The founder of this organization, Gina Johnson, visits every baby born with Down syndrome in the Phoenix area. She's incredible. She brought us a bag full of books on Down syndrome, took pictures of Clara in the NICU and sent them to us, and bought a toy for Jackson indicating it should be 'from Clara' when we brought her home from the hospital. This organization offered us so much support in the beginning. And now, I still use their Facebook page to ask questions and learn from other parents.

After creating "Clara's Crew," we sent out notifications to family and friends about Clara's team and set a goal to raise $250. I thought that was lofty. Like I never thought we'd make it, but Troy convinced me to give it a try. I got an email every time someone donated to Clara's team. And every time I opened those emails I was amazed at how generous people were. People were so kind to give what they could and to support us because they knew how important the cause is to us. I cried almost every time I opened a donation email. When all was said and done and donations were complete. We'd raised $650, more than double our original goal! I was overwhelmed by the generosity of our family and friends, and was so grateful we were able to give back to the organization that has helped us so much.

Also in preparation for the walk, Kindi and Amanda helped me make T-shirts. We made 22 of them. Insane! We bleach dyed them and they turned out really cute. It took us 3 hours and there were lots of screaming children during that time... so basically Kindi and Amanda deserve awards for their service. :)

On the morning of September 22nd, we got ready and drove to Tempe. I was a little nervous because I didn't know what to expect, but mostly really excited that our big day was finally here. I was nauseous too, which made it that much more exciting :) When we arrived at Tempe Diablo Stadium we saw this: (only with more people present, we weren't the first ones to arrive, thank goodness.)

We were greeted by lots of happy volunteers, booths of food and specialized Down syndrome gear, and lots of kids and adults with Down syndrome. I found myself scanning the crowds looking for kids like Clara, and paying close attention to the children just older than her. I saw lots of toddlers running away from their parents with wide grins on their faces and it made me want to cry.  I was overwhelmed with a feeling of hope that day. Hope for the future and for Clara and all she'll set out to do in life.

It was a good thing I was wearing sunglasses because I was choking back tears a lot of the time.
 Maybe it was pregnancy hormones or maybe it was just gratitude for how far we've come in the last year. After Clara was born I felt overwhelmed and confused by my new responsibilities. Ten months later I found myself embraced by an entire community of people I'd never have met otherwise who all considered my daughter a celebrity. Seriously, Clara got SO much attention that day. Strangers were stopping to talk to her and take her picture, and gush over how cute she is. It was fabulous.

And here is the star of the show, sitting in her preferred position while riding in the stroller. :)

While we waited for the walk to start we grabbed some breakfast and got to visit with all those great friends who came to support us. Troy, Matt Serafine, and Jonny Tefteller caught up after all their busy audition rotations (pictured below.) Jackson was so excited to see some buddies he hadn't seen in a while, like Connor Tefteller and Graham Serafine (also pictured below.) He was on cloud 9 having so many of his friends in one place at the same time.

Gina Johnson, founder of Sharing Down syndrome Arizona, and her son David. Gina is incredible.

And here are all great supporters:

Kindi Wahlstrom, Jill and Hudson Neeley.

Matt and Nicole Poulton. (Matt is our home teacher and he is awesome.)

Amanda, Colby, Cameron, and Kurt Peterson.

John, Megan, Luke, and Connor Tefteller.

Colt, Jack, Nash, and Kindi Wahlstrom. (Adam had to work that day.)

Graham, Matt, Stacy, and Mason Serafine.

Our entire group. It was hard work getting this photo. :) We were such a good looking bunch we needed a group shot though. Side note: Out of all the children present (including the one in Nicole's belly) Clara was the only girl. Crazy right?

Lining up for the walk.

The actual walk was very low key. We basically just walked around the stadium, but it was a great walk. From the very beginning, volunteers lined the sides of the walk. They cheered on each team and when we passed they screamed "Clara's Crew!" Cue more tears. It was incredible. I looked around and saw older kids just eating up all that encouragement. I was eating it up too. Everyone around us was smiling. It was one of those moments you wish you could bottle up.

Poor little girl didn't feel so hot as the Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease caught up with her that morning. She was a happy girl after she napped during the walk though. Cute Clara.

We met Batman during the walk and Jackson thought that was pretty cool.

Our group after the walk. This shot was lots easier as the event photographer took it. :) (I got a lot of my pictures in this post from their website.) He commented on how many strollers we had. Yep, that's how we roll, yo.

After the walk, the entire stadium turned into one big party. There were blow up toys and carnival games and food, and even a candy canon which Jackson still talks about to this day. It was awesome. Despite the fact that it was 107 degrees that day, we soaked it all up and were there until it was pretty much closed down. It was a great great day.

The crowd waiting for the candy canon.

The candy canon.

Miss Clara so happy to be playing on the grass.

Me, Megan Tefteller, and Stacy Serafine.

We sure love our little princess. I can't imagine our life without her. I'm so glad we were able to celebrate her during this walk. We are so grateful for all the wonderful changes that have happened to our family in the last year. I know I just keep saying it, but it was a great day.

(After we got home from the walk, we packed up the car and headed to Utah for Troy's audition rotation at the U. It was a busy day! More to come on that later.)

It's true.

I have about ten posts to finish. Sounds like an exaggeration I know, but it's true. If you haven't noticed I've taken a blogging hiatus. This was necessary because I've been doing things like laying on the couch, sleeping, eating plates of nachos, and medicating with Zofran. Why? Because...

It's true. Clara is going to be a big sister! Blink and look again if you must.... still true. Baby #3 will make its way to our house May 3, 2013. This makes me 13 weeks. We are all very excited about it.
 
We had a test yesterday called the "Nuchal Translucency" test, which tests for Down syndrome. Because Clara's genetic testing came back clean, we only have a 1% chance of having another child with Down syndrome. However that is about 7 times more likely than the average woman my age. After talking to my O.B. about the accuracy of this test, we decided it would be beneficial for us to know beforehand if our next baby has that extra chromosome that makes Clara so cute. After the traumatic events on Clara's birthday, we'd like the birthday of our next baby to be one that is calm and happy. Knowing beforehand will help us with that, no matter what the outcome of the test is.

The test uses an ultrasound to measure skin thickness around the neck and also a measurement around the nose. These measurements are combined with a blood test and other statistics like my age, etc. All the information is combined into an equation that gives you the likelihood of having a baby with Down syndrome. (FYI- the test you hear has lots of false positives-- and false negatives too-- is the blood test alone. It is very important you have the full Nuchal Translucency (NT) test in order to get an accurate reading.) Troy looked it up, the NT test is over 90% accurate. Dr. Folkestad said he's never had it miss a Trisomy 21 baby.

We are still waiting for official results to come back, but Dr. Folkestad felt confident our measurements looked typical. We know either way we'll be thrilled to have the baby Heavenly Father is sending us. We have a typical child and child with Down syndrome, and they both bring unique beauty to our family. It's pretty exciting to be adding another crazy to the mix! (Know that crazy is good in this usage. :)

Speaking of which, Baby #3 took some coaxing to get into position for the required measurements. While we were waiting around for cooperation the tech asked if we'd like to check in on the gender. We agreed thinking they wouldn't be able to see much. It took about 10 seconds for the tech to say, "Well, I know it's early, but that's pretty clear..."

A boy. :)

The scan wasn't as clear as I thought it would be. Clara got a hold of the ultrasound pictures and crinkled them up pretty good so there's a nice crease through the area of interest. If you look closely you can see two little legs with two little feet and between those legs where the arrow is: evidence for a boy. The tech checked for blood flow to make sure what we saw wasn't umbilical cord. And it wasn't. We've got ourselves a mister!

I was shocked. Yes, I know there is a 50% chance with these things, but let me explain. First of all, we weren't expecting to learn a gender that day. Second of all, I have been pretty certain from day one that this baby was a girl. Boy was I wrong. Like literally. I had been so sure that I was pretty floored by the news. I just kept saying, "Troy, we're having a boy!" And he laughed and laughed because he thought it was so funny how shocked I was. Ha. Dr. Folkestad looked at the ultrasound and said he was calling it, it's a boy. I suppose there's still a chance they could be wrong, but you saw the picture, I think blue is in order!

We told Jackson yesterday. Troy explained there was a baby in my tummy. Jackson said, "I know. Then it came out. Now we have Clara." Troy said, "No this is another baby, and this one's a BOY!" Jackson looked surprised, leaned back on the couch, kind of chuckled and said, "Wow, now we'll have two babies! That is so cool." Then he asked when he was coming out. Ha. Could be a long 6 months.

I've been pretty sick this go around, but not as sick as I was with Jackson or Clara. It feels like it's starting to get better now. I'm completely grateful for that. I was sick until 24 weeks with Jackson, and 30 weeks with Clara. Easing up already is a huge improvement! In case you were counting, Clara and baby #3 will be a little over 17 months apart. Yep. Kind of crazy. I know it will be hard and very busy, but we are thrilled. We felt strongly it was time for us to welcome another baby to our family and we are grateful he is on his way.

Hooray for babies!

Now if anyone has any insight into boy names, I'd sure appreciate it. We have the hardest time with boy names.

"There's No Place Like Home," A carnival

A few weeks ago we were invited to a carnival in honor of children with Down syndrome and their families. It was put on by the youth from a few different stakes in Scottsdale. I was really excited to check it out, and since it was kind of on the East side of the valley, I invited the Teftellers to come with us. We miss seeing them since they moved to Gilbert and this was the perfect opportunity to get together.

The carnival was SO cute. The theme was "There's No Place Like Home." They had a bouncy house, a petting zoo, various carnival games, lots of carnival food, and people dressed up as the Wizard of Oz characters. It was so much fun. Jackson loved it, and Clara kicked up her feet and enjoyed her view from the stroller most of the time. Connor and Luke Tefteller seemed like they had a good time too. It was great to have friends with us! Jackson loves Connor. It was too bad Troy was still out of town, he would have loved it.

Clara complete with name tag. :)

Checking out the inside of the fire truck.

The petting zoo was pretty exciting. I was side swiped by a calf TWICE. Like, it nearly knocked me over. That little guy did not like being inside that fence. Ha.

Too bad pictures don't have audio, because this pig, freaked out when Johnny picked it up. It was squealing so loud. It made Connor nervous. So funny.

This picture is so entertaining. Johnny trying to lean out of it, neither Connor nor Jackson looking at the camera, and Megan and Luke with Clara in the background.

Jackson liked the rabbits the best. But, he pet the chickens too. Brave man.

Getting snow cones.

Boat races.

Fishing Pond.

The cake walk.

Jackson refusing to be photographed during the cake walk.

Megan got one that was a little better. :)

Jackson and Connor had a blast with this one. They would get a prize each time they threw a bean bag through one of the holes. The nice girls didn't mind that they stood right in front of the board. Jackson was throwing the bean bags really hard. I was taking a video when I realized he was hitting the girl behind the board with the bean bag and laughing.... whoops.

Me and Gina Johnson (the founder of Sharing Down Syndrome Arizona). She came to visit Clara in the NICU and was so excited to see how well she was doing.

We had a really awesome picture taken in the photo booth right before we left. I'll scan it and add it in later.

What a fun carnival day! Thanks Teftellers for coming with us. We loved seeing all of you!