Chili Peppers

Diego

Mateo

Joaquin

Mexican Seer

Jen asked me awhile ago to write about an experience we had in Mexico City this summer when we celebrated my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. It was Joaquin's first visit to Mexico and we introduced him to my whole family. I think Jen would agree with me that every time we go to Mexico there is always the next new "miracle" something...the new miracle cream that will shorten or prevent a cold, the greatest new vitamins, a new meditation technique, etc, etc...

This time around it was this new wonderful therapist/psychic/healer/seer. I don't even know what the official title would be for Alejandra. My sister Adriana told me all about the sister of a friend of hers, Alejandra, who has a special gift and devotes her life to helping people. I am not a skeptic by any means, quite the contrary, I am open to all new things. But I am cautious because I tend to be quite gullible. Since it was difficult to get an appointment to see Alejandra and my sister was happy to give us her own appointment so that we could bring Joaquin, I happily agreed to meet with her. To tell you the truth, I was very curious to see what she would "see" in baby Joaquin.

Jen, Joaquin, Diego and I went to see her and she talked entirely in Spanish. She spoke about so many things and it was hard for me to store all of the information so that I could interpret it for Jen later. It was so difficult to remember every detail. It has been more than 5 months since that day and I've never written down anything she said to us until now. These are a few of the things she said to us.

She said that babies with Down syndrome are new souls, and that they come for a reason. Joaquin has a specific purpose in life, and we should never question any of his actions...if he moves a toy to the right, don't move it back to the left, he has a reason for everything he does. I thought that was very interesting, how specific she was about the idea of what his legacy will be.

As far as his health, she told us that he didn't have any heart defects. This was later confirmed by our cardiologist. She said that she saw some congestion in his ears. This too was confirmed by our audiologist. Joaquin has mild to moderate hearing loss due to what we believe is fluid and he will get tubes implanted in November to help resolve this issue. She didn't see any other physical abnormalities in him. We forgot to ask her about his vision and back then his strabismus was not as prominent.

The most amazing thing she said was that Joaquin's soul was so pure that it was overwhelming to her. She said that usually babies with Down syndrome have huge chakras, bigger than normal, but that they are usually disconnected. She said that Joaquin's were big as expected, but they were connected like in a "typical" baby. His flow of energy was pristine and there was no interruption from his brain all the way down his spine. At the time I thought that sounded cool but now it explains why he is extra special, at least to us. He has such a way of drawing people into him.

My sister Adriana later told me that several days after we met with Alejandra, she (Alejandra) was at a weekend retreat and she couldn't stop thinking about Joaquin. She was very affected by him and felt lucky to have been in the same presence as him, someone with the purest of souls.

I believe that all babies are special and that each child comes to us for a reason. I know that Joaquin is no exception to the rule. He will change lives and he will do great things, at least that is what my heart tells me. I know he has already changed Jen and mine and our families and our friends. His story is also touching people around the world who are reading our blog. Diego and Mateo's childhood is also enriched without limits by having Joaquin in their lives. Sometimes I am still afraid of him growing older, I love him as a baby, but I can't wait to watch him grow and become a toddler and to translate to us all those things he already says in his own language. So much to look forward to and we'll take it one step at a time and savor every moment of it.

Our Little Star

Our little baby is a star! Here he is featured on the Parenting.com website. They are featuring pictures of babies and children with Down syndrome all month long in honor of Down Syndrome Awareness Month. Check it out!

A-Special-Joy-17-Babies-With-Down-Syndrome

Down Syndrome Awareness Month

I have tears in my eyes. My faith in humanity is renewed after reading this story. What better way to celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month!

Senior With Down Syndrome Crowned High School Queen

Time for Tubes

Joaquin is scheduled to have ear tubes placed the middle of November. It is an outpatient surgical procedure and he will be under anesthesia for about 20 minutes. None of our boys have ever had surgery, been hospitalized, casted or even stitched until now. It's a quick procedure and fairly simple but to think of my little baby boy in these circumstances breaks my heart. We won't be able to be in the room during the surgery but we will be allowed in immediately after in case he is disoriented. Even though I'm nervous as can be, it is good news and something we were hoping for as a solution for the fluid in his middle ear.

So....we no longer need to proceed with hearing aids. Good news since we learned recently that the little tiny hearing aids cost $2400 and insurance doesn't cover them. We saw the ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat doctor) today and she confirmed that Joaquin's ear canals are big enough for her to place the tiniest of tubes. During the procedure she will make a small incision in his ear drum which will allow her to clear his ears of any existing fluid. Then she will place the tubes which will allow any further fluid build up to drain properly. We are hoping this will eliminate any hearing loss Joaquin may have had since birth.

I will try and forget about the details of the procedure until it gets closer to the time. I function better that way. I know this is the best thing for him and that he'll be just fine. I thank God every day that this might be the only major health problem that Joaquin needs to face. I know we are so very lucky that way.

He's crawling!

We are so excited!

Joaquin has been "moving" since a few days old on his belly. It started with him in the co-sleeper. We would put him to sleep on his belly at one end of the bed and by the time he would wake up to eat, he would be at the other end of the bed. We've known for awhile now that when he sleeps he is able to propel himself forward. But we've never seen him move forward when he is awake. He was famous for his "superman" flying pose with arms and legs outstretched as if he would be able to magically move to where he wanted to go. Then we started the "inclined floor" or "crawling track" and he was able to push off the sides down the ramp to move himself forward. For a couple weeks now, he has gained some speed and has started to use both sides of his body. Whenever we let him hang out at the bottom of the crawling track, he plays with his toys and moves in circles or backwards...just never forward.

On Monday after we hosted a music class at our house, a friend of mine Liz from the Sacramento Parent's Group was playing with Joaquin at the base of the track and she said she saw him move forward to get to his toys. Later that day, I put him on the track and sure enough when he reached the bottom I put a toy just out of his reach, he consciously and very deliberately placed both hands on the floor and thrust himself forward to grab the toy. It was the most adorable thing and the determination on his face was priceless. YAHOO!!!!

So, we are hoping it's just a matter of time before he is crawling all over the place. And by crawling we mean "army" crawling with his belly still on the floor but moving his arms and legs to get where he wants to go. Crawling and then eventually creeping on hands and knees as he gets stronger.

We celebrated all these milestones with Diego and Mateo and it was always such an exciting process. But it's different with Joaquin. Because we know that these "baby steps" are more difficult for Joaquin, we are just in awe and there is such pure, simple delight in his accomplishments.

We are so proud of him.

Our Little Pumpkins

We took our first trip to the Pumpkin Patch with Joaquin on Sunday. We met up with some other parents who have children with Down syndrome. It was a great afternoon complete with a petting zoo, haunted barn, tree slides, corn maze and pumpkin patch. All of the boys had a good time. In fact, we made two trips to the haunted barn and we have three pumpkins (one big one, one medium one and one small one) sitting on our porch bench.

Our three sons

Giving a kiss to the pumpkin

Little man