Friends, it’s been just over two years since we received Regan’s diagnosis and I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown (minus the three months leading into her heart surgery, which I’d be happy not to relive). Shortly after processing the news, I spent some time focusing on happiness and I listened to the podcase Happier with Gretchen Rubin. She spent years studying the concepts of happiness for her book, The Happiness Project. Each podcast discusses small life changes to make to increase your sense of happiness – I encourage y’all to listen! You won’t regret it. Anyways, certain pieces of each episode have stuck with me since then. In one episode, she discusses about her family’s communication, and how at a certain point in her life she found that she and her family members had nothing to talk about. Since they were living throughout the country in various time zones (I can identify) and busy schedules interfered, they each made a commitment to participate in an email chain where they discussed their daily lives and little family updates. She found that once they started the lines of communication, she started having more frequent conversations with each family member, despite the time difference and busy schedules. It’s this concept that “the more you talk, the more you talk.” That’s a little bit of how I’ve felt the past few weeks with the blog. There is so much going on, and yet I feel there is so little to say. So let’s talk more, shall we?
We’ve been enjoying the summer months with our precious girl, who has turned out to be quite a water baby! She loves splashing in the pool and walking along with her little floatie in the shallow water. Regan is so very close to walking! She’s cruising along the furniture, which means everything is fair game now in our house. Just yesterday I was cleaning coffee from the couch, the walls, the CEILING, and the living room door frame. I was exactly two steps away from her and I couldn’t beat her to my coffee mug (which was thankfully full of room temperature coffee from aforementioned chasing after Regan). Regan still loves playing with Walter, though they have their sibling rough-housing at times. She is just beginning to walk with assistance or a walker; all her therapists are SO pleased with her progress! Through Occupational Therapy (fine motor skills), we are working on self-feeding with a spoon. She’s pretty accurate, but her follow through could use some work (resulting in a lot of spills and more dropped spoons than I can count – we are staunch believers in the five-second rule in this house). Regan is eating just about everything now, which is revolutionary for us! Still no steaks or raw broccoli, but those are overrated anyhow.
And on to the MOST exciting news in our lives – Regan was chosen to be a 2018 Champion for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Buddy Walk! I cannot even begin to say enough good things about this hospital. Walking through the doors feels a bit like going “home.” The CHOP Buddy Walk benefits the Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) Clinic, a beautiful team of medical providers, therapists, social workers and those dedicated to the Down syndrome community. We’ve been on the receiving end of so much love from this team; it’s our honor to help support them! This clinic provides medical care and resources to the Down syndrome community, and they are always on the cutting edge of research. They’ve given me knowledge and empowered me to be an educated advocate for Regan.
How can you help, you ask? If you’re near us, you can join us at the walk on Sunday, October 7! It’s a day of celebration for the Down syndrome community and a way for us to show our love for CHOP and the T21 Clinic. If you’re not able to join us for the walk, you can show your support via donation to this wonderful cause! I’ll include a link below where you can register to join our walking team OR make a donation. Thank y’all for all the love!
(Click above to join our team!)
