I'm not that Fire Fighter's Wife

I'm not your typical wife. I don't put limits on David. He wants to go hunting....go and bring us back a bird. He wants to go fishing...please bring me back a Mako shark. He wants to take overtime...please take the night shift so I can work and also have the remote control at night.

Boston Children's Hospital

It's quite simple. We owe Boo's life to Boston Children's Hospital. Those first scary days in the NICU? It was the nurses who saved my sanity. I will never forget the panic on the doctors face when he gave Boo oxygen and said she needs to be transferred. NOW.

Baboom

You know that favorite song on the radio or one that wasn't quite your favorite but then you hear it live and think....THIS IS IT. This is what the songwriter had in mind when they wrote this song. This song now means something to me. 

My friend Jen Kehl took my idea this week and is making all her DJ's come up with mix-tapes of five songs you loved but blew you away when you saw them live. I think she did it so I wouldn't mess up the topic this week.

Sometimes

Sometimes I get done. Just done. I'm not a hero. I am not a saint. I am just a mom. Sometimes just being mom seems to be too much to ask. I lose my temper. I lose my cool. I lose where I put my keys. 

I am never prepared for what will take the floor from beneath my legs. I think I have it handled and then BOOM. I am back in warrior mom mode.

Thanks...

It is that time of the week to look back and give thanks. I haven't done so in quite some time. Not that I haven't been thankful but just that I have been to overwhelmed to sit back and say,

Thanks for not kicking my ass this week.

3/21 World Down Syndrome Day

Today is World Down Syndrome Day, celebrated by showing the ability. Although Bridget doesn't have Down Syndrome one of her best buddies does. Honestly a part of me feels silly writing today, like I am jumping on the advocacy wagon for a syndrome my own child doesn't even have.

But today is important. Today you must see the ability. You must acknowledge that all children make an impact, those with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, multiple sclerosis and those children who are sadly typical without that something extra (pun intended). 

Who invented the weekend?

Sunday cannot come quick enough. I know you are thinking Friday. Friday night is the time we wait to arrive. Some time ago, when we were once again late for school Abby had this idea about the weekend. That they just were not long enough. After spending most of my weekend cleaning, shopping, cooking and doing laundry I have a different opinion.

I'm a having an epic fail

I am having a fail of epic proportions. Okay....that's an exaggeration. But it's bad enough I have completely thrown whatever New Year resolution I had thought of out the window. Holy crap, I threw the reservation out the window faster than Boo throws a shoe.

In a blink of an eye

Just yesterday I gave birth. Just a night ago I rocked a baby to sleep. At midnight I dealt with my baby's first fever. At breakfast I watched my baby take her first step. At lunch I heard her say her first sentence. At twilight I watched her ride a bike for the first time. At dinner we spoke about fractions. At bedtime she brushed her teeth without prompting.

Stop staring. I think to myself. Stop whispering. I think to myself. I know my child isn't behaving. I know she is disturbing Mass. I know she just pushed your son. I'm sorry. I really am. But stop.

3.5 I took the pledge. Will you?

Is she going to be retarded? I asked the neurologist. Boo was 11 months old. She had two EEG's and an MRI of her brain. They told us she had a "slow" brain pattern. That her development was delayed. That Boo would possibly need care for the rest of her life. That they don't use the word retarded any more. They use intellectually delayed.

I had moved from wondering if Boo would live past her first week of life to would she be retarded in 11 short months. It took another year for me to evolve from retarded to delayed. To understand and feel that a word is not just a word. That it matters what you call people. Here is why that revolution matters.

Dear Abby