another update about my papa

So I've been staying in San Diego at my parents house for about 3 weeks. We've gotten into a bit of a routine. In the mornings I love to make my father his breakfast. Eggs with anything delicious and healthy scrambled with them. His favorite additions are artichokes, green onion, avocado, black olives, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms...any or all of these with sliced tomatoes on the side. In the afternoons we go out for a walk up the street. It's a pretty good walk - I mean it's uphill the entire way. It's no joke. My dad is getting so fast that I am usually breaking a sweat to keep up while pushing Max in the stroller. I would consider letting Max walk with us - but that would mean taking an extra hour to watch him follow his own shadow, usually in the opposite direction of the walk we are wanting to go on, and waiting while he bends down to feel every pebble, leaf and piece of bark along his journey. It would be great fun but we have goals to get my dad healing his body up so off Max goes in that stroller as we huff and puff up the block.
Here is the first time we made it to the top of the "summit"! I was so impressed with my dad. He was only going on 7 minute walks in the beginning and now is passing the 30 minute mark and continues to go further on his walks every day.
This photo was taken at the bottom of the street when we completed the walk.
One day we went to Kit Carson park... Max loved holding my keys and walking along with papa
( who am I kidding - the little guy is not interested in walking WITH anyone really - he just happens to be near grandpa at this moment! )
Here they are again at Kit Carson Park - just before we headed home.
During this walk my dad decided to see if he could not only make it to the top of the "summit" but go even further and walk to the next street. And here is the evidence that he made it. With Max by his side.

And this is what Max looks like after a big day in San Diego
Me and my dad at the park
Max reading up on something pretty interesting it seems.


So the update is that my dad is doing really great. He's still sleeping in the recliner because it hurts to lay down flat in the bed but he doesn't seem to mind. He's been reading in the backyard soaking up the sun, having fun with Max, watching Law and Order ( his favorite show ), and at night we rent movies or I make him watch the reunion show of the Housewives of Beverly Hills! ( I'm obsessed! )

On Friday Jerry flew back into town from Salt Lake City and we drove up to Los Angeles for the weekend. I SO love it when Jerry is in town. It's VERY challenging for me to take care of Max day and night and never get a break. Night time is really difficult because Max doesn't sleep through the night and he cries and cries and needs a lot of soothing. It keeps my dad up which isn't helping his recovery. We head back down next week and at the end of the week we will celebrate Max turning TWO and the next day my dad has his birthday! ( should I tell you how old he is? I guess that's not for me to say now is it? )

I had plans to make a slideshow like I did last year of Max's year in review. I have no clue how on earth I would ever get something like that done without Jerry being home to watch him. So....we shall see if I can pull that off. Max is LOVING spending time with his Grandparents and I'm so glad we have been able to stay there and help out right before we move to Salt Lake City. I think I mentioned that in my last post but it's going to be hard to live so far away from them. Makes me sad thinking about it. I bet most of you who've known me for years and years are stunned to read that right? But hey - people change! Last time I moved away I was 18 and going to Minneapolis and couldn't wait to be as far away as possible. I also smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day and was trying to kick a bad drug habit.....Times have changed that's for sure. Most people that know me now couldn't imagine me doing either of those things...Now my favorite moments are making eggs for my dad and taking walks with him up the street with my amazing son Max and waiting for my husband to visit us on the weekends. oh and of course watching the housewives of Beverly Hills with my mom! I'm looking forward to writing the blog about Max on his birthday and how much he has grown just in the past few months. He is so incredible. I am in AWE of him.

I cannot believe we are moving to Salt Lake City at the end of February - but more recently I've been feeling VERY ready to see my husband every day and night and stop this crazy schedule of only seeing him on weekends. OVER IT.

Max in San Diego

Max's favorite thing every morning is to walk from our room over to visit Grandpa and say hello. Here they are again hanging out in the back yard together.
Grandma and Max hugging in the front yard.
Max runs to Grandma when she got home from an errand.
Me and Max

Max investigating a pinecone
Max and Papa
Sunshine
He is having a great time here at Grandma and Grandpas house. Hope to take more photos. We are all a bit sad that We will be moving far away from them soon. Soaking up the sun, and loving the Grandparents.

Grandpa's surgery and Max naps and naps and naps

I took this photo of Max napping a few weeks ago when he was recovering from an ear infection, eye infection, rash and a cold. He's all better now but the cuteness never ends!

On Friday Jan 7th my father went in for double bypass surgery and a valve replacement. Jerry, Max and I went down to San Diego and stayed at my parents house so we could help out. Here is a photo of my dad just before going in to surgery with my brother Jeremy ( who I haven't seen in over 3 years ) my mom and myself. My uncle Bix and Aunt Christine joined us about 5 minutes after this photo was taken and spent the weekend at the hospital with us. Thank goodness they were there! We so enjoy them and their company was refreshing. This surgery was surreal. My father has NEVER had surgery for anything in his life. Plus this type of surgery could possibly be life threatening - more so than other surgery....although we all know that any surgery could potentially be life threatening. So in the back of my mind I knew this and it wasn't really registering until my father wrote me a letter before the surgery. You know - the kind you write in case you don't make it. I've been carrying that letter with me everywhere I go. I wrote him one back. Not that he could take it with him if he didn't make it - but it was for me a way to share with him how I felt and know that I had said everything I hadn't already said to him in person. Such a crazy experience to go through with my dad....who I love calling "papa". Luckily the letters will just be momentos of a time we went through because here he is............
What seemed like a thousand hours later my dad comes out of surgery. Of course he didn't look like this right away - he was drugged up for many hours and didn't open his eyes for a long time. But when he did he was happy to have it be over...although the pain was clearly intense...and look at all of those tubes he is hooked up to.

This is what Max looked like during my father's surgery......

A day or two later - My father is walking around the hospital floor. Smiling to be up and about. The doctors are so impressed with how quickly he is healing and want to send him home early!

And yes here is yet another napping photo! Papa and Max both sleeping with their mouths open and snoring. Lovely. But so cute of course.
Here's my amazing father - looking handsome as ever - getting ready to leave the hospital.

Now he is home - doing great. I'm staying with them to help my mom out. Max is here for the healing effects of his smile, and Jerry visits on weekends.

Every day my father gets stronger and looks better and feels better. I'm so glad we were able to come down and help him out. It's nice to spend time with him and help out. Max LOVES his Grandma and Grandpa and it's fun to watch him grin from ear to ear when he sees them.

Now that our house is in Escrow (!) our days are numbered here in Southern California. So this extended time with my parents is really nice for us even though it was brought on by this intense surgery.

ok...must go check on my father and see if he needs anything.....
xo
*c

Happy Holidays!

Yep... we are heading to Salt Lake City!

A few weeks ago we took a road trip to Salt Lake City so we could check out houses and find out what my potential "bunny trail" would look like. It was a rough trip for me in many ways emotionally but there were some great finds that excited me as well.

We met with other mom's who have boys around the same age as Max who also have Down syndrome. They all got together to meet us. I was so moved by this and by who they all are and their adorable boys! I'm excited to get to know them better. I found their blogs on the Down Syndrome Association of Utah website and reached out to a few of them and they were generous with their time and gathered together to answer any questions we have about the community there. Although we are still figuring a lot of it out it was refreshing to meet other mom's there and to have people to reach out to who are on the same journey. Here are their blogs:

Kristin - http://www.twodogsandafish.blogspot.com/

Emily - http://gigglesandscribbles.blogspot.com/

Tausha - http://dingman2.blogspot.com/

Kenzee - http://derekandkenzee.blogspot.com/


I found a few amazing places to eat Like Oasis which is right next door to a spiritual book store called Golden Braid Books. SO Super cool.

I LOVE the Downtown library and found that their check out is much longer than in LA. I was able to check out a DVD for Max for an entire MONTH and in LA it's a week or two.

We went to a Jewish Temple called Kol Ami and I must tell you I felt more at home and more interested in it than I do the Temple we've been going to here in LA. It has 350 families that are members there. The Rabbi is female ( hooray! ) and I hear she is super cool and we already know a few people that go there. Crazy small city that it is.


Oh and there is an Anthropologie there so phew - my love for the clothing ( and everything else ) at the store can go on and on!

I'm a member of Mom's club here in LA and I contacted the Salt Lake City group and got on their list so I know what events and playgroups are happening there. I wasn't able to attend this trip but plan to sign up as soon as I move there.

We visited the Jewish Community Center and let me tell you, I almost started to cry with delight when I spoke with the director of the preschool. It's so AMAZING there I cannot WAIT to sign Max up! They really WANT kids with different disabilities there - they actually seek them out because they know how much it enriches everyone's life to meet so many different people who have different ways of learning and growing in the world. They are into Learning by doing. And they ONLY observe and celebrate Jewish Holidays there. So every Friday they do Shabbat candles and the prayer, etc.
SO refreshing!

We met with a Pediatrician, Dr. Durham who has a daughter with Down Syndrome and he runs a Down syndrome clinic in Salt Lake City! CRAZY! He is going into Semi retirement and was still interested in taking us on as a client. I was so excited! He is a really great guy.

I also re-connected with two old friends of mine from very different chapters in my life. One I went to high school with and was wandering down the dark side with her ( ok it was during my goth, rebellious, sneaky, drinking and drugging days ok? )

And the other was from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival-where we both were assistant Stage Managers
(during my early sober, but still chain smoking cigarettes and working in theatre days )

Went to both of their houses and met their mates and their children and ate great food and told stories of old times. It was so amazing to sit there across from friends who knew me at such a different time in my life - both have different memories of me and both know things about me that I had forgotten!

My friend Greg who worked at the Theatre with me - is helping raise a 25 year old (also named Greg! ) who has Down syndrome. We met him and were FLOORED by him . SO smart, talented, well spoken, he plays 4 instruments and is a certified teachers assistant at the University of Utah Preschool. Unbelievable! I am so excited to know him and to have him hopefully be a part of Max's community. He could teach Max so many things.

We looked at a lot of houses and still trying to figure out what part of town to live in. The big question is because the kids 0-3 with Disabilities don't go to a regional center for services like we do here in LA - it's all done through the school district so it matters a LOT more which area we choose to live in. For me - I'm all for finding the BEST therapists and not worrying as much about schools districts yet because they are always changing. However - it would be great to figure it out and live in a great place with great services right from the get go. Not really living there at all makes it hard to navigate and I'm so glad I met the mom's I did who can give me some advice.

Laurel from the Down syndrome Association of Utah was a GREAT help and I cannot say enough about her. I cannot wait to meet her in person. She actually called me back with lists of school districts that mom's had suggested and which ones to avoid. Such valuable info. I want to volunteer there when I move there and work with her in any way I can to help other families and kids with Ds.

I wasn't able to get to any 12 step meetings because of the family gatherings that occurred unexpectedly on many of the nights we were there...but I plan on going and I have a friend who was very involved in the program there and has given me a list of friends to connect with and I look forward to that!



photo I took after we made our way back to LA after a 15 hour road trip!

Photo I took of me and Max to send to Jerry when he was in Salt Lake City working and we were home missing him.


Sunset in Los Angeles the day after we got home.

Our house in LA is on the market officially TODAY! Our first open house is this THURSDAY for Real Estate Agents and then another one this Saturday for the general population. Come on BY!
or better yet - BUY THIS HOUSE! ( I'll post our listing as soon as I have the link! )

It's a time full of change.... and acceptance is the key. So much is happening at one time that it could make my head spin and often does. When our house was being painted we had to pick up and head to a hotel on 4 different occasions because the painters neglected to put plastic up on the windows and there was paint dust covering ever inch of our house and ruining hundreds of dollars of Max's toys. The positive side was that after the discomfort of that - we have a beautiful house and Max was kept away from the potential troubles from the paint dust. It was an inconvenience but life is like that isn't it? It's all about how we deal with these little bumps in the road right? Some times I do it gracefully and some times I want to have a tantrum. I learn over and over that the tantrum just wastes time and takes away time from being fully present looking for the positive. The first day we stayed at a hotel and Jerry was in Utah I decided to take note of all the times things happened out of the blue that were amazing little "god shots". The gal who let me check in early ( 7:30am without charging me ), The gal who walked by me at the meter to let me know that I don't have to pay anything until 11am. The guy who happened to see me struggle with a baby and my bag and came over and put my bag in the car for me. The beautiful weather - etc.... It's really helped in this time of transition to practice being mindful and focusing on the positive. I am sad to be leaving LA and all of my friends and Max's services and community. And I'm excited for all the amazing things I'm finding out about Salt Lake City.

Chicago, Halloween and Salt lake City

ok so sorry for the delay in posting. SO much is going on and so much has gone on - that I will attempt at filling you in as I get a chance to....

First off - We went to Chicago. Max got to meet his Great grandmother Evelyn and the rest of his extended family from my father's side. We flew out to celebrate my Grandma's 90th birthday. It was amazing to see everyone again - and to introduce them to Max. There was a hired photographer at the event - and I was going to wait for those photos - but instead I will post this Video I made for the party. It's a video of my grandma's life and all the family in it. It's amazing to see those photos from her early days. And to see all of our hairstyles change through the ages!

Evelyn's 90th Birthday - Take 2 from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

It was incredible to connect again with family I hadn't seen in years. But even more incredible was the interactions with Max and his cousins. I am so happy that they got to meet. Seeing how excited they were to be with Max just made my heart sing! Bret and Marcy have the sweetest kids. Just Darling. They were all over Max - in a good way !

And that Ben is so dang cute I cannot stand it!! I'll post more photos of them as they come in.

The next day was a Hebrew Baby Naming ceremony for Max and his cousin Stella. Oh goodness is she adorable. It was a touching event. I think hearing a Rabbi read Hebrew and all of us saying Hebrew prayers we've said through our childhood makes me feel so nostalgic. Having a shared baby naming with Sloan and Robert's baby just felt so meaningful for me. And having the entire family there with us meant so much it brings tears to my eyes remembering the day. Thank you to my Aunt Lois who put the event together - made personalized napkins, lollipops, had an amazing spread of food, huge balloons everywhere, and that cupcake tower. Her home was filled with warmth and love from all the guests and Max got to spend time with his extended family. THANK YOU AUNT LOIS! and of course to Uncle Mark too!! And SLOAN!!!






After the Baby naming we went to Aunt Kitty's house to visit a little more with some of our cousins and to give Max a moment with his cousin Ben. Look how cute they are! Wish I had taken more photos!!





Halloween....
This year Max was a Cheeseburger for Halloween. Unfortunately he wasn't feeling so great so we didn't get to go meet up with his friends this year for trick or treating. I was so bummed. But we put him in the outfit and took this photo. We ran a few errands and let him walk down the aisles at Target for a moment or two. Not much of a memory making event - but at least we took this photo!




and in case you have forgotten what Max looked like last year for Halloween - I thought I'd share some photos! yep - we are representing all major foods that Jerry eats. And at the same time showing you the foods that I never eat. All in Max's costumes. Next year?? Pizza!




There is much more to tell you - shall I post it here??
ok then
when we got back from Chicago Jerry flew out the very next morning to Salt Lake City.
The company he has worked for - for the last 10 years - closed at the beginning of October and he was looking for a new job....One potentially has become available for him but it means MOVING to SALT LAKE CITY!
He is still in talks with them so I won't go into details yet - until it's a sure thing. But we both feel relieved that something has shown up so quickly, and that it interests Jerry enough for us to seriously consider leaving Southern California.

I've been busy looking up all things for Max, early intervention, pediatricians, Down syndrome community, playgroups, music classes, etc. And re-connecting with old friends how have relocated to Salt Lake City.

Jerry comes home today from another trip out there and we plan to go out there together soon so I can check it out in person.

I've been there several times during the holidays because Jerry's family is there.
Having his family there - right down the street - is something that will be so great for us and especially for Max. But I will miss my parents terribly,,,,although we've already discussed the possibility of having them visit every month - so if that's the case - it does feel much better.

And I will miss all of my friends here and the Down syndrome community etc etc....
Can't even really talk about that! Makes me sad. But we are both feeling very positive about the move and will keep you posted as we know more.....

Jerry turns 40 and Max turns 20 months

Jerry's 40th Birthday from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

Jerry turned 40 on September 28th and he thought we were going up to Monterey for one of my photography workshops - but we decided to cancel the workshop due to low numbers of people signing up. I took advantage of it and created a surprise trip for him. We went to Disneyland for 2 nights and we spent his birthday showing Max Disneyland for the first time. I thought that it would be memorable. Jerry LOVES Disneyland - and I HATE it.
h.a.t.e.....But - I wanted to give it another try - as a mom - and as a wife to someone who really loves it.
Max only went on 2 rides. The first was "it's a small world" and he would look out and then turn and kiss me - back and forth - look and kiss - look and kiss - he LOVED the ride so much. It was the highlight of Disneyland for sure!
After our 2 day adventure there ( which was REALLY fun! ) We went into Phase 2 of the surprise and we drove up to San Francisco and stayed in a rental house for 4 nights.
We took a walking tour, visiting my cousin Andy and his girlfriend Brienne, Went to the Ferry Building Farmers Market, tried the sandwiches at Tom Colicchio's restaurant, Tried a Mexican restaurant my friends in LA raved about called Gracias Madre, walked in different neighborhoods, took my cousins advice to try Anthony's cookies - and YES I ate a cookie...And YES they are to DIE FOR and went to Golden Gate Park and introduced Max and Jerry to Redwood Trees. The weather was perfect - sunny and need a sweater weather - and it was nice to explore the city from a neighborhood we'd never seen before. Jerry asked me to marry him when we visited San Francisco years ago - and we stayed in North beach. This time we stayed in Noe Valley. Much more baby friendly area - parks, lots of strollers, cute walking neighborhood etc.

I took some photos and made the video above to remember the trip. I also took some video of Max at Disneyland and on the road in the car seat rocking out to music from the movie the Breakfast Club. I'll post those later this week.

It's good to be back - and I'm grateful we were able to take this time and get out of town. October is our favorite month in general - and to travel - and to get married
( our 3 year anniversary is this Wednesday! )

I have much to report about how Max is doing - all the sign language he is doing now he is doing now and I'll get that up on another post this week as well. He was a dream to have on this vacation with us. He does so great in the car for many hours, he's not a fussy guy - no tantrums, dealt well with new surroundings, weather, different people, and different schedules. Seeing San Francisco with a baby is so great as we experience it from a new point of view and with new goals. No longer rushing around trying to see and do a zillion things - it was more about being a family and remembering who we are and what each of us needs or wants. I feel we all learned more about each other on this trip and got even closer as a family - if that is even possible??

next stop....CHICAGO!!!!

Pretty Girl

This is a very hard post for me to write.
17 years ago I found this cute little 5 weeks old kitten at the pound when I lived in Minneapolis.

She was the one who was sitting still in the back of a full cage of kittens, shaking a bit from fright. I felt an instant knowing that she was mine and I was hers.
She fit in my hand.
She lived with me in Minneapolis, Ashland, Portland, Corbet in cabin in the woods, San Diego and Los Angeles and for part of her life she shared me with this fine fellow of a cat Salvador ( aka cute boy )And at the end shared me with my love Jerry whom she didn't warm up to for about 4 years. She would lay on my pregnant belly and purr, sending the "little tomato" some love and warmth...and then came Max who just adored her and chased her around the house. She never got aggressive with him, she let him "pet" her even though he was rough and not able to be careful.
She loved to hop up onto my shoulder and sleep on me at night with her little wet nose touching my ear and I could hear her purring through the night.
She was my first child, my companion, and the one being who knew more about me than any other. She's been there through so much and loved me unconditionally.
I loved how she wrapped her paw over my arm when she slept in my arms.
I loved that face.
I loved that she wore an invisible tiara and at times she was literally pushed around the house on a chair that had wheels, because of course - she was royalty.
This was the last photo I took of her. September 15th 2010 on the front porch where she loved to soak up the sun. We had a vet that makes house calls some over at 8am because it was time to "put her down" as they say. She was suffering and her quality of life was diminishing. We just let her go where she wanted to and that ended up being under the tree in the front yard. I held her in my arms there as the vet gave her the drugs. Jerry and Max sat on the steps near by. It was a calm and peaceful event. She didn't struggle or have any reaction. She just went to sleep and then she passed away. She died in my arms.

The first day without her I think I was pretty numb. The second day - yesterday - was much harder and today - again I am feeling more feelings and grief and loss and remembering all the years we had together. I loved that Pretty Girl. Her absence and the silence without her is very loud.

I love you Pretty Girl.

Max - you are 19 months old today!

Family Bed 19 months old today! from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

Decided to do another family bed video this morning.
I do love this morning time together.
The latest things Max is loving are:
1. playing pat a cake - he will do that over and over and over and over and over with us and he signs for it all the time. "more pat a cake" " more pat a cake"!! He will grab my hands and start to do it if I don't act quick enough!
2. Peek-a boo or "where's Max" you see it at the very end of the video when Max puts the blanket over his head and hides. he doesn't need any prompting for it - he just does it - and then I say " where's Max?" and hten he pulls the blanket down and claps while I scream " there's Max - yay!!! " He does that over and over and over too. So cute! I hide too and he comes over and pulls the blanket off. The speech therapist encouraged this so that we are doing back and forth activities together - and he picked up on it right away.

In other news:
Did I tell you that we had a door put into our bedroom that goes out to our backyard?
It was Jerry's birthday present this year as that is all he has been asking for - for about 5 years.
Now that we have that installed - we just LOVE the light it lets in and that - when we lay in bed - we can see the eucalyptus tree, pomegranate tree and plum tree waving their leaves at us as if to say "hello!" Now we have an easy way to get Max outside to enjoy our yard. It's been a long time coming and I'm so glad we finally did it! We plan to build a deck where the temporary step is - but for now - the step works nicely...



Now we need to figure out how to get the backyard baby proofed as we are finding more and more ways that Max can hurt himself as we explore out there.....so the process of creating a safe environment continues!

We are going to celebrate Max's 19th month on the planet by staying in and enjoying our central air! ( It's currently 100 degrees outside - not kidding! )
And then tonight we are heading to Cru restaurant ( yes I'm still vegan if you didn't already know - it's been about 5 weeks now and loving it ) and then to the photobooth across the street from there. Looking forward to that.

In other news - we've signed up for another season of Music Together which will be on Friday's at 8:45 - which means that right after class we will head to Club 21 for his playgroup. ( if you click on that you will see Max and myself at playgroup on their website - so cute in those red shoes of his )

And...I've started taking Guitar lessons! my friend Krista bought me a guitar for my birthday many years ago and I've never learned to play it. Max loves music so much I cannot wait to learn a few songs to play for him. I'm practicing 3 times per day for 5 minutes each ( as the guitar instructor told me to ) so that I can get over the pain and suffering that my finger tips are going through....I cannot describe how painful it is right now...and I am looking forward to the callouses forming - I hear in 3 more months or so....not sure I can wait that long but I am going to try it out.

what else?
Another playgroup is forming for some friends of mine that have kids. I'm SO SO SO excited about that. And I'm looking forward to Max having a even larger tribe around him and with him.

Max is learning more and more sign language and understands even more of what we are saying to and with him. It's amazing to watch him grow and I am so looking forward to seeing how all of the therapies, music classes and playgroups contribute to Max having a rich, joyful and amazing life...although I must tell you - he seems to be having a pretty good time right now!



oh - and on a side note - last week was my 42nd birthday and we explored Sunset Boulevard over in Silverlake. We found a real old fashion black and white photobooth and of course it made my day! I've decided that my 40's can't be anything other than the best years - because I've got two of the best fella's by my side! So much fun!

It's really really official! Max is WALKING!!!

Max is Walking! It's Official!! from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

So I've heard from other folks around town - that once kids have the eyes surgery they just get up and start to walk! Seriously. I thought this was amazing but I didn't really know what to expect with Max....and guess what? He had the surgery on july 28th and on August 17th ( just 20 days later ) he just kept on walking without falling! I noticed right away that his center of gravity had changed and he was a lot more stable in his standing and his attempts at walking ( he has been taking up to 8-9 and sometimes 12 steps since around his first birthday ). Seeing it all come together is pretty amazing...and clearly Max gets a kick out of it as well. I'm jumping for joy for the little guy and I just love watching him be able to keep up with his friends at playgroup after months and months of him being left in the dust by all his cute girlfriends and guy pals. And - with walking also comes the amazing POWER NAP from about noon until 3 or 3:30. Oh man is this an incredible thing! I can stop eating lunch in 5-10 minute slurps while fearing he will wake up ( which is usually did )
AND I can make dinner - check e-mail - read - watch tv - call a friend - update my blog (!) and possibly do a little cleaning up ( but who wants to do that? Not me )

These days his schedule is

Monday - Occupational therapy 8-9am

Tuesday - Physical Therapy 9-10am about 30 minutes from home

Wednesday - Playgroup 9:30-11:30 which he just started to go back to because he isn't napping in the morning anymore. YAY for playgroup with his pals!

Speech therapy 1-2pm ( changing Sept 9th )

Thursday - Water therapy 4-4:45pm

Friday - Playgroup 9:30-11:30 at Club 21


Speech will change to 9am on Thursdays
and we have a few regularly schedules playdates with some friends and their kids each week as well.

ok - I'm off for a little playdate with a friend Max hasn't really seen in a while and I get to catch up with her mama and I'm looking forward to that and watching him walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk!

Hooray for Max!!!!!!!!!!

I'm gonna get your belly!!

I'm gonna get your belly! from Catherine Just on Vimeo.

My friend Cori up in Sacramento showed a video of this same game with her son Joey and I wanted to try it out and see what happened! ( Joey was born 4 days after Max and he has an extra chromosome too ....and when Cori and I met we found out that we actually grew up a few blocks away from each other and went to the same high school! We met in Sacramento at the National Down syndrome Conference when our babies were about 5 months old. Funny how Down syndrome connected two people who lived so close and never had met until now! )

I LOVE hearing my son laugh. I may have to go in for another laugh fest later today!
hee hee hee!

Teleclass Tonight!!

Heart shaped Leaf I found on my morning walk
I love the light during my morning walks!


Just a quick post that TONIGHT I'm going to be giving a FREE TELECLASS!!

If you want to call in we will be discussing photography, mindful image making, finding inspiration and reconnecting with your authentic self through photography. P.S. there will be photo exercises I'll be sharing with you all and some secret treats just for those who call in....I want to tell you but then it wouldn't be a surprise now would it????

Don't miss this!
Call in time:8:30pm eastern, 5:30 pacific time
Dial in number: 218-862-1300, Conference code: 538349

- I would LOVE to have you join us.

My friend Sheri Rosenthal and I will be doing this teleclass together.

She is an amazing spiritual teacher and I run my retreats with her company Journeys of the Spirit.

Hope to see you on the call tonight!!!!

Max are you REALLY 18 months old today!!??

MAX!!!
week #2 of our photobooth Project - Thank you Claire!


Happy 18 months!
I can hardly believe it's been a year and a half ALREADY!
So much is going on for you that I need to take a moment and write it all down so I don't forget.
Here goes:

you are healing very well from the eye surgery that took place last week. Not sure if your eyes are totally straight - and we have suspicion that they are slightly off so we are taking you to the doctor Friday morning to check....

The day after surgery you got croup! You sounded like a dog barking when you coughed. Luckily it only lasted 2 days. The cough is still around but not at all as bad.

you are using sign language all the time and started weekly speech therapy to help you out.
your signs are:
milk
more
all done
hungry
food
hi
bye
see ya later
ball
book
more book

you understand a LOT more than this and it's so exciting to see you communicate with us and with people around you. You LOVE to wave hello and goodbye to everyone who meets you and you are still just a bright, shining, happy, easy, sweet, loving, smiling, joyful, fun to be with baby.
ok - you are officially NOT a baby - but to me you are still "baby max".

here you are a few days after surgery - clearly having a hard time adjusting!



I made a time lapse movie of our morning time together - taken just 2 days after your eye surgery. I SO love hanging out with you! Your papa and I love you so much and I cannot wait to show this blog to you when you are old enough to read and understand it. I hope some day to figure out how to publish this into a book for you. I tried once but realized I need some help with it.

Max, I cannot imagine my life without you.
I love you
just the way you are.
You are perfection.
You are a ray of sunshine.
You are my pride and Joy.
You make my heart sing out.
And I just love being your mama.

thank you for sharing your life with me. I love to see that sparkle in your eye and that smile on your face....ohh, that face! I want to pinch those cheeks of yours right now just thinking about you. Augh you make me melt.
I hope the surgery gives you what you need to live an even fuller life my darling baby boy. You deserve to have all doors open to you.
( and for you to be able to see them clearly! )
xoxo
your mama
*c

Morning Time from Catherine Just on Vimeo.