Eco Fabulous Family

Here is Froggie’s birth announcement.

This will be boring to most but it will answer many of the questions we are getting!

Since I am not a doctor I may not explain these things perfectly so feel free to use the links if you are so inclined.

When you have a child with Down syndrome the first thing other parents with kids with Down syndrome say is “How is his heart”. The reason for this is because almost half of all children born with Ds have a congenital heart defect.

Patrick’s heart is doing great! Patrick was born with a hole in the upper chamber of the heart called Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), a hole in the part of the heart called Patent Ductus Arteriosis (PDA) and a leaky aortic valve. At our last appointment with the cardiologist these all closed and he has a slight amount of Peripheral Pulmonary Stenosis (PPS). You can read more about it HERE if you are interested but his cardiologist thinks he will outgrow it by 6 months old.

The second question is often about hypotonia or low muscle tone.  More HERE. About 90% of children with Ds are born with low muscle tone and usually start therapy right away to help them work on this.  Patrick started OT 1 hour a week at 6 weeks old.  On April 1 we are going to 2 hours a week.  One hour to work on his tone and the other hour to start working on cognitive skills or infant stimulation.

The rest of these are not necessarily because of the Ds.  They could be and they could not be.  Clear as mud, right?

He has something with eyes called Fovea Hypoplasia.  You can read more HERE.  It is basically part of the eye that is under developed and he may not have perfect vision.  This can not be corrected by glasses.  This is a wait and see type of problem.

He has Laryngomalacia. This is when a part of the larynx is soft.  It causes him to sound congested and squeak at times. More HERE. Since he also has a tiny bit of GERD  he is on medication to prevent stomach acid from further aggravating the larynx.  Hopefully he will outgrow it.

He also has a variant of hypospadias. It is a birth defect of the urethra and will have to be operated on when he is about 6 months old.  It makes diapering a challenge   More HERE. Additionally there is a small amount of hydronephrosis. More HERE. Hydronephrosis is reflux in the tube between the bladder and kidney.  We will watch and see if he outgrows this.  Peanut also had hydronephrosis and outgrew it at about a 1 year old.

Finally when he was 6 weeks old he was hospitalized for 2 days.  He caught RSV.  It was very scary and can effect his lungs in the future. More on RSV HERE 

That is it for now.  Hopefully nothing else will pop up but we are confident we will be able to deal with whatever comes our way.

I was lucky enough to attend The ABC Show and the RDIA Conference this past week.  The ABC Show is an expo for those in the children products industry.  Manufacturers and distributors have booths and retail buyers get to see all the neat new stuff coming out!  I can tell you I spent way too much money.  The Real Diaper Industry Association is a trade association for those in the cloth diaper industry.  It was very educational and great to see old friends and meet new ones.

Here is the shocker!  I left my boys and husband home alone for 6 days and was anticipating a disaster of a house.  I was certain it would be a mess.  Well, it seems my husband is in the running for hubby of the year.  The house was spotless!  Clean kitchen and dishes, toys put away and the laundry was washed AND put away!

They also hung a sweet sign to welcome me back home.

After I got home I collapsed into bed with arms and legs all over me.  There was no way Peanut and Bug were going to sleep in their own beds last night!

I still can’t believe it!  Peanut has started Kindergarten.  His first day was Monday!  He looked adorable of course!

Peanut's First Day of School

We made sure to send him with a waste free lunch and a reusable water bottle.  Both of which he loved and was very proud of!

His first homework assignment was a poster called “All About Me”.  He had to answer questions about himself and we added pictures.  Here are some of the questions:

Favorite Place: Hawaii (Thanks Auntie Erin)

If I could have any wish I would wish for……CHOCOLATE!

Favorite Color: Black

Bug goes to school in about a week!

I am so excited to finally have a blog!  I am very passionate about living green and raising eco friendly children.  Teaching them to make choices that are gentle to earth is a top priority for me.  Bug is 8 and Peanut is 4 ½ and have an unbelievable amount of energy.

I own and operate three stores all focused on eco-friendly products and operate a showroom in the Los Angeles area.

I hope to use this blog to show off my Eco Fabulous Family and share tips for living green!

Here is a picture of Bug and Peanut!