Car Seat Emergency Card

Good Afternoon Moms, hope you are already for the weekend.

I just wanted to take this time to share with all of you something that was brought to my attention by a nurse when my little guy was born, and that is a "car seat emergency card". If you visit this website: http://www.mypreciouskid.com you can find all different kinds of safety items to keep your child safe. You will find a child car seat id safety card and pouch that can be taped to your child's car seat, in the event you are unable to speak for your child the EMT's will know how to take care of them. For instance, I have my son's blood type, medical condition, medicines with dosage amounts and time of day he gets them and pediatrician information on mine.

Also I'm sure all of you do this already, but keep an index card in your wallet of your child's medical conditions, medicines with dosage amounts, surgeries and any other ER visits. If you have to go to the ER, all you have to do is hand that card to the nurse instead of trying to remember everything.

I was also told my last visit to the ER, that if my child is on any medication, to just bring that to the hospital, so you don't have to wait for the pharmacy to fill it.

I brought this information to my Down Syndrom Support Group, and every one of the parents thought it was a fanstatic idea, and admitted they never really thought about doing that before.

Hope this information was helpful. Would love to hear any of your suggestions of things you do.

How To Teach our Young Children to Be Financially Responsible

I am currently a Project Manager for a Financial Stability Committee through our local United Way, and I have done alot of research on financial literacy. One of the topics that keeps coming up is being able to teach our children at an early age to be financially stable or financially smart with their money.


In doing the research it was staggering to see how much debt our children are in before they even own a car. In the Midwest alone, 82% of the undergraduate students have credit cards, and on average they have about 4 credit cards and the average credit card debt is about $2,500.


What was more alarming was the report card that came from the National Jump$tart Coalition that showed Indiana high school students are not passing the financial literacy test being given. Six in ten failed (Networks Financial Institute. 2005 Jump$tart report card quantitive research. Data provided by NFI).


What do we need to do as parents especially in such a time of economic "crisis" to be able to help our children understand how to manage their money.


Well start young. As you can see by this video teach them at a young age about saving, and giving back to the community. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctHsdu40JKM

Go to your local bank and help your children open up a Junior Savings account. Alot of banks are sponsoring classes or programs teaching financial literacy to our youth.

Help them to understand their "wants" and "needs". When they really want that cd they can use their own money, but then show them now that they withdrew that money they have less money. So ask them was the cd really worth it? Engage them and help them to understand the value of money and what happens when you use your credit card too much.

Don't be afraid to use the current economic situation to teach your kids about savings. They don't have to know all the financial details of your families economic status, but let them know why you are telling them no to a puppy or the Abercombie jeans.

There are alot of useful websites to go to help you with this task.

Safety Swimming for Toddlers

I know the groundhog saw his shadow, so we are in for 6 more weeks of winter, however, some park and rec facilities are already advertising for swimming classes. I think every child should have some sort of swimming lessons or survival swimming. Even though you may not have a swimming pool in your backyard, you just never know. Spring break is right around the corner and some parents may take their children to a warm destination or it may even be a day or weekend trip to the water park. But preparing your child for that one moment you may not be watching is like a security blanket then not having one at all.



We have a swimming pool in our backyard and I wanted to start my little guy early with swimming lessons, because he is just fearless when it comes to the water. So, when our support group was advertising swim lessons with the coach from the girls Notre Dame swim team who also was teaching blind swimmers to swim that were on the team, I figured that was my opportunity to sign him up. Having someone who already is teaching a person with some sort of a special need, and the fact that it was going through our support group we were able to apply for a grant to cover the cost it was perfect timing.



Here is a video of my little guy learning "survival swimming", meaning he is being taught without swimmies, or a life vest how to turn him self over and float.













Here is a website talking about survival swimming for infants, that you need to check out: http://www.infantswim.com/home.html

First time Author and Mom, publishes book about her son with special needs

Good Morning Moms, I wanted to share with all of you an exciting event that took place. Yes it took place last year, but since my blog is so new I figured I would share it with all of you now.

I became a first time author. I published my first book (not sure when there will be a second), but anyway. My book is entitled: "Jacob's Journal - My Journey Home" http://jacobsbirthjournalbook.com/.

I'll tell you alittle about the reasoning behind the book. When I got married (I got married alittle later in life), so when we decided to get pregnant I was about 38. Of course, we had our problems getting pregnant, which I'm sure alot had to do with my age. So I went down the infertility treatment road. Well after a year of shots, pokes for blood, unsuccessful IVF, I told my husband I needed a break. It took it's toll on me emotionally and physically. I figured I would take a break and regroup before we started again. Well don't you know it a month after I went off all the medicine. I got pregnant.


Wow, how exciting. Well while I was in my 4 month I found out that my child had a congenital heart defect (Tetralogy of Fallot and AV Canal). It's amazing how advanced technology is nowadays. Well of course with that diagnosis came the possibility that my child will have Down Syndrome. How much scary and disappointing news can a family get? Of course the doctors offered me the amniocentsis test to confirm the DS, but by then who cared. Yes it would be difficult to deal with at first if my child would be born with Down Syndrome, but with all I have been through to get pregnant, I viewed this miracle as a sign from God. And he truly is that a fantastic and wonderful miracle that we have been blessed with.



So as a normal first time mom, I brought the journal to jot down my feelings and experiences as a first time mom, and after Jacob's birth there was alot of emotions flying around. We determined he did have DS and he was having some difficulty, so we were in the NICU for about 16 days before he got transferred to have surgery. Well by then alot was being told to us by doctors and nurses, so I started writing things down to keep things straight and told my husband I need to write a book about all of this. He chuckled of course, but I was serious. I wanted to share with others that may be in a similar situation, our experiences, emotions, medical information, but also to celebrate my son's life and how happy we were that he was ours.



So here it is "Jacob's Journal - My Journey Home". For all of those moms and dads, who may get the scary news that your child may have special needs, read my book and know that all will be okay in the end. Have faith! In each other and your child. They really are blessings from God.