Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back*

When we returned home yesterday, I found 2 things waiting for me.

1.  A big leak in the kitchen ceiling, with an artsy speckling of mold.  Nice.

This pic is from this morning, after the super made a big investigatory hole. 

2.  My book!  I recently had poked around online, looking for a way to make my blog into a book (not a bookstore book, a scrapbook-y book).  I kept stressing that one day I would make a stupid blogging mistake and inadvertently erase my family's history.  I found a simple site and ordered my blog, from 2007-2009. 

Cover.  (That's Maya back when she was just a gummi bear, in my first blog post ever.)

Table of Contents

OMG.  She was just always super cute, huh?  That's from back in the day.

Back Cover

It was fun, despite some glitches on their site that made me nuts for a day or two.  I can't wait to order 2010.  From here on out I'll order one book for each year.

Speaking of books and writing, I'm enjoying learning how to write through blogging . . . but some bloggers start out as writers, and wow---there's a big difference.  I've mentioned him before on the FB page (and maybe here too?)----but he has a new post today and it's worth reading and sharing.  Go check it out:  Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords by Rob Rummel-Hudson.

I'm no writer, but this guy is

I've tried three times to start this post.  The first time I even typed out something that was a few paragraphs long, then I deleted it.  Ironically, I'm trying to write about how I'm not a writer. 

This blog was started to fill friends and family in on my pregnancy, then to share pictures of Maya, then to also share medical stuff as it unfolded, and then I added some of my thoughts to it.  The things you read here sound like my thoughts . . . I'm informal, I don't follow grammar rules (due to a combination of simple ignorance and willful ignoring), and I have a tendency to-do-this-thing-with-the-dashes when I don't know how to make a rambly thought not turn into a run-on sentence that leaves a reader lost in the middle, thinking "huh?". 

I'm unpolished.  And often I look back on posts and think "Argh!  Why didn't I use a different adjective there?  Or add in a few sentences about xyz?"

Every so often I come across a blog post that inspires me with it's ability to get things out in a simple, clear, vivid and compelling way.  And so it was when a friend (Thanks, Kris!) sent this my way last week.

This post, along the lines of "spread the word to end the word", is fantastic.   (It also makes my humble post on STWTETW day look, well, mightily inferior, but que sera sera.) 

Please take the time to read it.  The author puts into (beautifully crafted) words the exact sentiments that I, and many others, feel.

If you have a family member with special needs (or work with people with special needs) and hate the word "retarded", this post will have you nodding and saying "Yes! That is how I feel.  Thank you for putting it in better words that I can."

If you're of the I-hear-what-you're-saying-and-I'm-sorry-it-hurts-you-but-really-it's-just-a-word mindset, I really and truly believe that this post will give you a type of insight and perspective that will be eye opening.  


(Just in case you can't see the hyperlink on your screen, here's the direct link to the post, on Robert Rummel-Hudson's blog, Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords:  http://www.schuylersmonsterblog.com/2011/05/just-word.html)

No dark sarcasm in the classroom*

(Well, maybe a bit of sarcasm.  But nothing really dark.)

Earlier this month I was invited to go and speak at a local college, which was really flattering.   I spoke to an Early Childhood class about our story---what it was like to realize we were in the special needs world, what day to day life is like, what it's like to become an advocate, and what my concerns/hopes are about entering preschool. 

Dave helped me prepare by surprising me with these (the night before):

*If you don't know what sitcom this is a shout-out to, shame on you the answer is at the bottom of the post*

The craziest part to me was seeing my blog up on the big screen in a classroom:

I sent this pic to Dave via text and he responded "Wow, you got 1 person to come?  Good job!".  (Eyeroll)  That's the professor . . . we were chatting and I said "Sorry---keep talking---I just have to take a picture of this because it's so cool!"

I had a great time talking and answering questions.   I talked about way back in the beginning, showed pictures, played video clips, and marveled in my head about how the blog is kind of our virtual baby book.  (That makes up for the fact that I never filled in the actual baby book, right?  Right?!)

Today,  Maya got a package in the mail from the class that I spoke with, along with a sweet little card thanking her for letting me come to visit. 

Is that what I think it is?!

I asked her, "Maya, where's the cow?", so she picked this book out of the bin that was next to her and held it up.  Clever little thing :)

He's so fun to roll around with.  Thanks for thinking of me, Early Childhood folks!

*The candy bars were an Office reference, from when Michael goes to speak at Ryan's business school.  Have a look for yourself: