Nella's Onederland Bday Wish

One of the reason's I started this blog was because a friend of mine started one and I thought it was a neat way to chronicle our lives for Olivia and any future children (no I AM NOT pregnant) we may have. I could say blogs are addicting and I find myself just reading blogs, getting involved in peoples lives (no I am not a stalker!!) There are some really neat people, doing really great things. I found this blog by a girl named Kellie Hampton. I was drawn to it by two things 1.) the awesome pictures she has. I really like photography and am wanting to find more time to be creative with my pictures. 2.) she has two little girls, one that is 3 and one turning one. The one year old, Nella, has down syndrome. This blog for her was a way to show how much Nella has added to their already rich life.

For those of you who don't know, in my past life I went to ISU and got a degree in early childhood education. Part of my student teaching I did home intervention. I would work along with speech pathologists, physical therapist, etc to help families with children under the age of 3 with any disability they may have. We would show the family what activities they could do at home with their children to help with their progress. I absolutely LOVED this. Once I was on my own and coming up with my activies for the kids, one of my FAVORITE kids was a 2 year old with down syndrome. I loved him. I would work with him on signing and talking, schedules, etc. We were preparing him to enter preschool the next year. He would sign for things, he did not speak that many words. One of the words we were working on was "help". Over the course of my 8 weeks working with him, he did learn to sign help and many other words, but the day that stuck out the most was the day we were playing with blocks. He would build them up and knock them down. We were building the block tower to see how high we could go and he couldn't reach. He was getting upset and and frustrated. I asked him what he needed to say to me for me to help him. He looked at me and SAID, "Help." It was the most amazing thing!! He was talking and using the words in the right context. I have always held a place in my heart for children with disablities.

That is why I instantly was attracted to Kellie's blog. She is so inspired and does amazing things to help people become aware of down syndrome. She has started a fundraising link where 100% of the donations go to the National Down Syndrome Association. She has set a goal to reach $63,000 by her daughter Nella's 1st Birthday which is Jan. 22nd. You can view her awesome blog here. There are links for Nella's ONEdeland and what the NDSA does for people with down's syndrome.

One of my resolutions (i hate that word) this year was to help as many people as I can, whatever that may be.

Thanks for your support~~~from Nella. She is the cutest little girl ever!!!