Sharp Pointy Sticks

Scones. Tasty, tasty scones.

Unbelievable as it may seem, I had never eaten a scone before this past week.  Nor had I ever made one.

 

I used this recipe.  I made no changes to the scone recipe.  I did change up the glaze.  Instead of using water to make the glaze, I used orange juice.  It gave the glaze just a hint of orange flavor.  I think that grating some orange zest into the batter would make a very tasty vanilla orange scone.  

Both kids very much enjoyed the scones.  Liam added a new word to his ever expanding vocabulary...'cones.

I'm kind of obsessed with scones now.  I have recipes for gingerbread scones, pumpkin scones, and double chocolate scones.  Mmmm, scones.  Insert Homer Simpson-like drooling here.

Tiger Up!

Doug and I both graduated from Wittenberg University.  It's where we met.  How else would a girl from Appalachian Ohio and a boy from upstate New York meet?  We're both avid Wittenberg football fans as well.  He played on the offensive line and I was a cheerleader.

This year, Witt football is awesome.  They're ranked #17 in the Division III poll.  They should be ranked higher, but that's another argument that I'm not that interested in right now.  Anyway, one of Witt's big rivals is the College of Wooster.  The schools are doing this really cool mascot face off.  I laughed out loud when I watched the video. 

Vote for Ezry the Tiger.  Tiger up!

Slack Fest

It's October 28th, and I haven't posted since the 18th, I think.  Cate mentioned it in one of her posts, and I agree.  I don't really have anything more to say about Down syndrome. 

I've said it over and over and over again:  it's really not a big deal. 

Snapshots of Summer

As we move steadily into fall, I thought I would share some pictures from this past summer.  There's nothing exciting here, just scenes from our summertime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like summer but fall, fall is best of all.

What? Seriously, what?

Liam graduated out of his SureSteps a couple of weeks ago.  He dumped a carton of yogurt on one and it was a sticky mess.  His PT and I decided to give him a trial period without the SureSteps to see how he responded.  There has been no difference in his walking when he's wearing them and when he's not.

The SureSteps didn't make much difference in his pronation of his ankles though.  They still pronate pretty badly.  He also curls his toes, like he's trying to grip the ground, when he walks barefoot.  His PT suggested we use a different orthotic called Leap Frogs.  They have a specialized toe pad made just for that toe curling business. 

Last week, the PT quoted the Leap Frogs at $550.  Expensive, but cheaper than the SureSteps.  Our insurance still has not paid for the SureSteps (that's more than a year, but our insurance is a long boring story).  I Googled the Leap Frogs to read a little bit more about them.  I found the webstore for them.  Guess how much they cost?  Take a guess.  Seriously.

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Ready for it?  $75/foot.  So $75 x 2 = $150.  $150 is cheaper than $550.  I asked his PT why the price difference.  It's $550 if we go through insurance, $150 for self-pay.  What?  Seriously, why?  Why a $400 price difference?

If, and it's a big if, our insurance covered them and assuming the co-pay is 10%, our price out of pocket would be $55.

If we use our ARC funding and self-pay, our cost out of pocket is $15.

It's enough to make you crazy.  We're going the self-pay route.

This also doesn't explain the 3-4 week wait to receive them if we use insurance, but only a week or so wait to receive them if we self-pay.

Crazy.  Or as Liam would say, "Silly, nuts, and funny."

T21 Traveling Afghan--Where fiber and Down syndrome meet.

Back in, oh, July, the T21 Traveling Afghan made its visit to our house. 

Here Liam takes a snuggle on our old, craptacular couch with the afghan.

 

Liam and his cousin, Tyler, under the afghan.

 

After its stay with us, I wrote about the afghan's adventures in the accompanying journal (there were no big adventures for the afghan that week) and sent it on its way to the next family.

Check out the T21 Traveling Afghan yourself. 

Backseat Driver

What happens when your kid rides around in a car with someone who may or may not have a little bit of road rage?

This.  Whenever we stop or slow down, we hear "Heeeeyyyyy Go!!!"  Yeah.  Maybe I should just shut my mouth when I'm driving.

Oh Happy Day!

 

A couple of shots from our Buddy Walk yesterday.  I think you get an idea of how the day went from these pictures.

Boooorrrring.

I've got no knitting news, nothing new or exciting is going on with the kids, and I don't have much on my mind.  That makes for a really boring post.

In the spirit of 31 for 21, I'm still posting.

How about I tell you that I got hit on at the grocery store this evening by a really cute guy?  It made my night especially since I haven't brushed my hair and I'm wearing crap clothes.  Did I say he was really cute?  Because he was.

A Day in the Life

I get the impression that there are still a lot of people out there who think that having a child with Down syndrome is extremely hard and something they could never do.  Here's a look at a typical Monday in our house.

• Wake up and feed Juliana.  Liam usually wakes up around this time too.
• Get Liam out of bed, change diapers, and get the kids dressed.
• Take the kids into my room and get dressed myself.
• Downstairs for breakfast.  Cream of Wheat for everyone this morning.
• Shoes on, strap J in the car seat, out the door at 9:35.
• OT and speech therapy at a private facility.
• Back home, it's lunch for me while the kids watch WordWorld on PBS.
• Lunch for Liam today was scrambled eggs, cheese, and toast.
• Liam is down for a nap.
• Feed Juliana.
• Finish reading Atonement while Juliana is asleep in my arms.
• Set up the Pack 'n Play and put J in it to play.
• Take the laundry from the trip and throw it in the washer.
• Change the sheets on our bed.
• Clean the bathroom.
• Feed J lunch.
• Clean out the kitchen junk drawer.
• Liam is awake and back downstairs to play.
• Play with the kids.
• Feed Juliana.
• Unload the dishwasher and start on dinner.  Pancakes for dinner tonight!
• Doug is home now.  The kids and Doug play while I finish dinner.  There's a lot of giggling.
• Eat dinner.
• Play, read books, rough house.  I'm on the computer.  Liam gets a time out for smacking his sister upside the head.
• Bath night tonight.
• When Doug works out, the kids watch Elmo.  I get some time to myself.
• Feed Juliana and put her down for the night (fingers crossed!)
• Liam goes down for the night.

Take away the OT & speech and what do you have?  A pretty normal life, and that's what life with Down syndrome is like.  Normal.  Nothing more, nothing less.