Eleven.

Somehow it has been nearly four years since I visited this little corner of the interweb. That alone overwhelms me, because that is nearly four years of our life that I have not documented.. and the thought of somehow trying to catch up is impossible. Maybe it seems silly, but I love having this space to look back on with my kids.

Today is Payton's 11th birthday. Her birthday is always an emotional day for me.. wanting to go the extra mile to celebrate her life, while thoughts of her birth continuously linger in my head. I don't remember much in this life, but I remember every single detail of her birth day. I remember when they laid her on my tummy in her seriously dusky state.. it seemed that I was the only one concerned.



I remember asking the doctor why she was purple, only to see a team of doctors and nurses rush into the delivery room. I remember them taking Payton off to the side of the room, rubbing her and blowing air over her face.. trying to get her to cry and breathe. I remember them telling me they would have to take her to the NICU for observation, while I was left without my baby. I remember them wheeling me through the NICU so that I could take a peek at my baby girl.. and all I saw was Down syndrome. I knew.. her eyes, it was all in her eyes. I remember sitting there silent, with tears running down my cheeks.. I didn't say anything to anyone. I remember the doctors coming to my room and telling us that there were a few things they were watching.. and I remember saying to them, "You think she has Down syndrome."



Our world was turned upside down and I'm not sure we even realized what was happening. I was discharged after two days.. leaving our baby girl behind while she was being cared for in the NICU.

Payton was born on the seventh of January and her big brother's birthday was on the thirteenth. That was the day we were to bring her home from the hospital, but first we had a small party for her brother at Chuck-E-Cheese. He was turning two years old.. we were trying to make life as normal as possible for him, even though we felt like our life was being blown up in our face. I remember so vividly just sitting in the booth during his party and crying. I couldn't stop the tears.. all I could think about was how she would never fit in at a place like Chuck-E-Cheese.. other kids would look at her funny, they would tease her. My heart was breaking at the thought of how this tiny human would be treated by society. I was so scared.. I loved her so much, but felt like my fears for the future were going to break me.

Fast forward 11 years.. although we have definitely experienced everything I feared in those early days and more, the joy this chick brings to our life by far outweighs the hard times. She makes us laugh like nobody else can. Her joy in the simplest things in this life is seriously addicting. She has not a care in the world.. well, other than maybe just wanting to be included in everything. She tries her hardest in everything she does and while it may take her longer to do many things, she always brings her own version of success.



Happy birthday, my chick. You are so beautiful.. I live this life for you. I will always be your number one advocate, your number one fan. I will fight for you until the day I die. Here you are.. doing it.. living this life and spreading your love all around us.

Raising Awareness {Buddy Walk style}

As you may have heard, this month is Down syndrome awareness month. In honor of that, approximately 270 cities across the nation host a Buddy Walk, a huge advocacy event for individuals with Down syndrome.

Our local Buddy Walk is this coming Saturday. We are participating in the walk, although we have not done much fund raising since we have been working so hard to fund raise for our adoption of Ms. Addison.

This will be our last year as Payton's Posse ... next year we need to incorporate Addison into our team name. Any suggestions? My favorite so far is The Balsis Brigade ... thanks Shay! :)

If you care to check out our team page or if you would like more information about the walk, click here. We'd love to have you join us if you are able ... there is lots of fun stuff for the kids!

Show Respect

Remember the public service announcement (PSA) that Payton is in? The one promoting RESPECT for individual's with disabilities? Well, the National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC) just put out their national newsletter featuring the PSA. Here is a scanned copy of it bearing my baby's picture!

My baby will soon be even more famous!

Remember that Public Service Announcement that I posted about a few weeks ago that had Payton's picture in it ... the one where her picture was the first picture shown? The PSA that was created in response to the movie Tropic Thunder to promote awareness for individuals with Down syndrome. Well, I found out a couple days ago that Paramount has licensed the PSA and it will soon be in in the following places:

The PSA will be on all of the Tropic Thunder DVDs.

The PSA will be shown in Walmart stores nationwide during the month of October, to help promote Down syndrome awareness month.

The PSA will be shown on the jumbotron during football games at a big name college.

The PSA is being shown at disability workshops.

The PSA is being shown in schools.

The PSA is being shown at lots of other events around the United States.

Isn't that awesome?! That means my baby's face is going to be seen by millions of people, and the words that appear on the video when they see her face ... "When you call me beautiful" ... I love it!

Here is the PSA again, in case you missed it the first time ...

I think she was talking to me ...

And children with special needs inspire a very, very special love. To the families of special needs children all across this country, I have a message for you. For years you have sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters and I pledge to you that if we’re elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.

~Sarah Palin, Vice-Presidential Candidate, 2008

Spreading Awareness {Down syndrome style}

Watch CBS Videos Online

Check out my girl!

Parenting magazine is honoring children with Down syndrome since October is Down syndrome awareness month. They are also putting together photo galleries and releasing them one at a time. My little princess made the front page {so to speak} of photo gallery #3 ... click here to check it out!

I'm so proud of them

I'm so proud of my friend McKenna, mom to Darah, who has Down syndrome. She is awesome, they both are awesome. McKenna has had such a good voice about this whole Tropic Thunder controversy ... and tonight she made the news {click to see the video}! Good job McKenna ... I'm honored to call you my friend. :)

Also ...

My friend Diane, mom to MaryEllen, who also has Down syndrome, was also on the news {click to see the video} tonight! Diane is also an awesome voice for our kids and she has to be the sweetest person ever. Good job Di ... I'm honored to call you my friend as well! :)

She's Famous!

My friend McKenna just called me to tell me that Payton's picture is in a video on The Arc's website! The video was produced by Will Schermerhorn from Blueberry Shoes and is being promoted by The Arc in response to the objections to the new movie, Tropic Thunder. The original tagline of the movie was, "Once upon a time ... there was a retard." I'm sure you can imagine I'm less than thrilled about this movie.

Will Schermerhorn happens to live locally and also took that picture of Payton that is in the video. Here is the video ... Payton is right at the beginning where it says, "When you call me beautiful ..."