BBC News Article - Many keeping babies with Down's

There was an article on the BBC website yesterday that more people are keeping babies that have down's syndrome, despite the introduction of pre-natal testing. Take a look HERE. I think this is because down's syndrome is accepted more in society now than it ever has been.

There is another article about a lady her baby was diagnosed with having down's syndrome.
I have previously written about our own experience of been given a high risk of down's syndrome, take a look.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy 3rd Birthday Noah

I cant believe my little munchkin is growing up so fast. 3 years ago today we met you for the first time and this is an experience we will not forget. You are so very special to us and everyday you make us smile for one reason or another, whether it is your cheeky grin, the love you have for your brother, when you are trying to help us up making a straining noise but not putting any effort into helping us up or just being there.

How much you have grown in this last year. By this I don't mean up in fact you have only grown 5 cms over this period however small is beautiful after all. So you now weigh 26lb 8 oz and you are 83cm in height.

During your 3rd year you started at Green Lane nursery, we had a few weeks of tears from both mummy and Noah as we had not been separated for any long period of time before. However after two weeks you were travelling to nursery on the bus and you couldn't wait to get on and waive good bye to us in fact some days you didn't bother waiving at all you just wanted to go. And I couldn't wait for you to be dropped off by the bus as I missed you so much. You loved all of the kind ladies there that played with you. You loved playing with the farm, singing songs and swimming.

You continued to practise your walking which you had accomplished in your second year and this then turned into running and then we couldn't stop you.

Dec 07 You were in the Birmingham Mail for the first time, but not the last.

Feb 08 You breastfed for the last time, which you decided you didn't need it anymore from your mummy you had become independent.

March 08 We all went to Devon on holiday, mummy, daddy, noah, nanny, Uncle John and Matt and Aunty Jo and Cate.

April 08 You moved into your own bed

Between this time you had your first ever stop over at Nanny's house all on your own while mummy and daddy went off to London for the weekend.

June 08 You participated in a Sponsored Walk in Down Syndrome Awareness Week.

July 08 You celebrated mummy's 30th Birthday. We went to see Mary Poppins. You left nursery.

August 08 You missed going to nursery, you played a lot and wore mummy out.

Sept 08 Was hectic, you made friends with your new baby brother Finley, you started pre-school. We were awarded local hero through the Birmingham Mail and appeared in the Birmingham Mail again.
You had a hearing aid fitted.


Oct 08 You met Jason Donovan at the Botanical Garden and was in the paper again.
You continued to do really well at pre-school and made lots of friends. You learned to be very gentle with Finley. You developed a love for Big Cook, Little Cook and In the Night Garden after mummy started to let you watch Cbeebies.

I have started Noah's montage for his 3rd Year but I haven't managed to finish it yet. I will post it as soon as I can.

We would just like to say a big thank you to family, friends, all of Noah's teachers and everyone at pre-school for your help with Noah throughout the year. He is doing well and this is all thanks to everyone of you.

Also if you are reading this blog then thank you for supporting me, I hope that you all enjoy it and please post comments if you wish as it would be nice to hear from anyone that reads Noah's Smile.

Aims for Noah's 4th year well I hope that you become potty trained and are out of nappy's. Although you use the potty and have done since you were 6 month old you haven't managed to tell me you need the potty.
You manage to start using a knife and fork and feed yourself.
The most important aim I wish for you Noah is that you continue being happy.

BonFire Night, Pedro Boots

Noah with his new pedro boots

Noah had his new Pedro Boots delivered and they are great, although very difficult to get on as they are so stiff. We went for black ones this time and they are more supportive which helps him walk a lot better.

Noah is just facinated with playing with the remote here he is turning the television on, one morning before pre-school.

We had our own fireworks display at mums on Friday, although Noah was really tired he stayed up to watch them. His little face was a picture and everytime one went off he would should wow, or scream in delight.
Finley even stopped up to watch them although he was indoors wrapped up at the door. I think he was a bit shocked in this picture.

Finley - 2 Months Old

Finley 8 weeks old

How time flys, I cant believe that Finley is now 2 months old, the time has flown by. On Wednesday he weighed 13lbs 6 oz, he remains on the 91st centile for weight, height and his head measurement. Noah was around 4 months before he got to this weight.

Finley has become a lot more content, he will sit in his bouncer watching his brother or he will look at the large pictures we have of Noah around the house. He will put his hand into his mouth and suck on it until the little hunger pains come and then he will cry for his milk.

He loves music if he hears music he will kick his legs in excitement, if he catches me walking around the room he follows me with his eyes. He smiles when I play pat-a-cake and wind the bobbin with him, when I clap his hands he begins to laugh and it has turned into a chuckle on occasions. He likes his face or nose being touched as he smiles. He loved his bath yesterday he kept kicking his legs as if he was swimming and then he would get all excited it was really funny to watch.

He has had his 6 -8 week check in fact he has had two, the first was already scheduled and then the doctors surgery asked whether we minded coming back in for another one as they had students who needed to see a 6 week check and there was no one else around this age at the surgery. Well of course I said yes and Finley was a little star, he has fantastic control of his head for an 8 week old. He is due to have his first lot of injections on Wednesday.

Finley 2 months old

He lies on his front and can hold his head up and look around, if I hold him standing up he will move one foot in front of the other. He can also stand up and hold his own weight although I am not encouraging this at the moment, he sleeps for longer and sometimes only wakes up for one feed in the night although he is still not in any set routine during the day.
It is amazing how he changes in just a few weeks. I still do not know who he looks like as he is very fair well compared to how Noah looked.

Another Comparison

Finley 6 weeks old

Noah 6 weeks old

Proud Mummy

Noah is hard work sometimes

• When he throws his food on the floor
• When he takes an hour to eat a small dinner
  
• When he pulls everything out after I have just put it away
• When he eats books
• When he tips his cup upside down and gets his drink all over the carpet

But these are things that most children do at some stage don't they?

However there are lots of occasions when all of the above just fade into the background because of the little things he does which make me so proud to be his mum.

• When he brings over a toy to show his brother even though Finley is too small to play with it at the moment.
  

• When I go to collect him from pre-school and he is brought out to me, his little face lights up when he sees me and I get down to his level to say hi and he comes really close and gives me a kiss very delicately. He is just so sweet.
  

• I went into pre-school to collect him today and Jo who is his specialist support assistant, she had been there all day with him watching him and working with him, told me he had done really well. He had got 12 out of 15 verbs correct. He had done really well with the Jolly Phonic cards, he had been posting shapes through trial and error and doing puzzles, he did not throw any items and worked really hard for about 40 minutes. Jo told me that Noah was approaching the other children at pre-school to play with them, which is really lovely to hear. I am so proud of him, when I hear things like this it just spurs me on to continue helping Noah learn.

• This evening we went out for a meal and for the first time we left Noah on a big chair, at home we have a booster seat for him or when we go out we get a high chair. But he sat on the big chair and behaved whilst eating, didn't throw any of his food (which he normally does when we go out) he looked so grown up and acted really grown up.
  

I cant believe how fast the last 3 years have gone, Noah surprises me every day with little things he does. These are such small milestones for other children but are extremely big hurdles for Noah but he manages to overcome them every day. My baby is growing up.

Wordless Wednesday

Noah chasing after his cousin

Drayton Manor

Noah and Uncle Matt

Noah, Daddy, Mummy and Uncle Matt

We went to Drayton Manor on Friday and it was lovely, we visited the new Thomas Land which Noah loved, he went on a few rides a couple he was scared of but given this was his first trip to a theme park he did really well. We took Aunty Jo (sis) Aunty Jen (friend) and Uncle Matthew (brother), it was a fantastic day. It was an extremely cold day but we all rapped up warm.


We went on Jeremy Jet first where Noah was able to control how high we went in the planes. He loved this ride. I then took him on Crazy Bertie Bus he hated this I think it was the fact that we had a bar across us and it was quite restricting, he cried throughout the whole ride.


Pete and Matt took Noah on Sodor Classic Cars he was a bit cautious about this ride after being on the Bus, but by the end of it he had got over it.

We then went off round the park and went on a few of the older rides we then came back to Thomas Land after lunch and took a ride on Thomas and we met the fat controller.

Me and Pete went on Troublesome Trucks Coaster, children have to be over 0.9m to ride on here we measured Noah and he was around 0.7m, I think it will take him at least another 4 years to get to this height so he will be 7 by then its a real shame as I am sure he will want to go on this ride before then, I know its due to safety etc but it does seem unfair.

I was really impressed with Thomas Land I would definitely recommend it, its somewhere to take children of all ages.

Noah and Auntie Jo

As it was Halloween I dressed Noah up in a little devils costume, but to be honest he was a little star all day and so was Finley they both behaved themselves and at the end of the day we had two exhausted children. (Well Finley slept most of the day aswell).

Uncle Matt, Aunty Jenny, Noah and Daddy

I would just like to say again a BIG thank you to Michelle and Sunny at Gough Allen Stanley for the complementary tickets.