Our Five Ring Circus: Life Lately

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Life Lately

Life Lately...Mom Life with four kids and Down syndrome

I'm back! The past three weeks have been rough. Liam got sick on July 24th, and it took him over a week to bounce back, then I caught his germs. I haven't been that sick in many years. I literally stayed home for almost an entire week, and couldn't leave my bed or the couch. I'm still not 100%, but it's a huge improvement from last week!


Needless to say, I won't be posting a weekly recap this week. If I did, it would look something like this: Monday sick, Tuesday sick but had to run a few errands, Wednesday sick, Thursday sick, Friday sick but starting to feel better, Saturday and Sunday weak and exhausted. I only pulled out my camera once the entire week, and I didn't get anything done! Lily spent this past weekend at my parent's house, Dylan had a friend sleep over on Saturday night and he spent all day Sunday with us, and Lexie went to her friend's house on Sunday. I feel like the past three weeks of Summer passed by in a blur while Liam and I were sick!

We hit the ground running today (Monday)! Liam has his last three days of preschool this week, and we have so much to do to prepare for our upcoming beach vacation. I also have to get back to work, and catch up on some sponsored posts that had to be pushed aside while I was so sick. I have so much unfinished content in my drafts folder, but right now I only have the brainpower to focus on real life posts! I'll get back to focusing on content after I get back from vacation and the kids go back to school. So for now, let's chat...


Before moving on, here's a few pictures of life over the past week. I only made it outside once when I started to feel better, and it was raining, but it felt so good to get out of the house!

Life with Down syndrome

Rainy Days

Down syndrome blogs

Down syndrome

Now for Life Lately...We're heading to the beach soon! We always try to plan our vacation at the end of August, just before school starts. We discovered that beaches tend to be VERY quiet that time of year because most kids are back in school, and it's so much more relaxing!


We decided that we are going to have an unplanned vacation this year, and we're all excited about that! Last year was a lot of fun, but we tried to cram so many activities into one short week, and we were always in a rush to get somewhere in the evening. It wasn't very relaxing at all!

Our resort has an indoor waterpark, and the kids are super excited about that! I'm most excited about the hot tub, the lazy river, sitting on the beach, strolling the boardwalk with my family, and going on our nightly walks on the beach. Other than eating out one or two evenings, getting ice cream a few times, and riding the ferris wheel, we don't have anything else planned! It's going to be WONDERFUL!

The kids go back to school on August 29th. To be honest, I'm not ready to send them back. I enjoy our summers together, and I'm not looking forward to the chaos during the school year. I don't think any of them are ready to go back, either!


This year, Dylan will be in 8th Grade, Lexie will be in 6th Grade, Lily will be in 2nd Grade, and Liam will be in Kindergarten. It's not a big change for Dylan and Lexie, but Lily will be in a new school, and Liam will be partial general ed (as of right now). I am equally terrified and sad to send him to school. And next year, Dylan will be in high school and Lexie will be in middle school. Slow down, time...PLEASE!

Obviously, when we get back from the beach, we're going to be thrown into the back to school chaos. We still have a few things to purchase, and we're going to have to unpack and wash all the beach laundry while preparing for the first day of school. I'm dreading it!

If you follow along on Instagram or Facebook, you know that Liam's transition into Kindergarten has been a huge hassle. And the truth is, it still is. Sadly, he hasn't even been evaluated yet, so there isn't a plan for his Kindergarten transition. I don't even think he will have one in place on the first day of school.


We've met with the school, and spoken with teachers and advocates, but we're still very much in the dark, and that is absolutely terrifying. Sending your child to Kindergarten is a big transition, but when you add in the special needs aspect, it's a whole new ball game. It has consumed my thoughts for the past 6 weeks, and the stress is keeping me awake at night. Even though we know inclusion is best, I have so many fears, and I can't even imagine handing him over and hoping for the best on that first day of school.

I have so many questions and no answers. We were told he will go to a general ed classroom at the start of each day, and go to all specials with his general ed classroom. The level of pull out services he will have will depend on that evaluation...which he hasn't had yet. So we have no idea how much speech, OT, or special ed instruction he will need. Plus, we have no clue which aides, if any, will be available to help him in the general ed classroom.

My insomnia is back, and the questions circulate through my head all night long. Liam doesn't have any significant delays, but he will need extra help, and he does have a speech delay. Who will walk him to his classroom? Who will help him communicate his needs? Who will help him in the bathroom? Who will make sure he makes it to my car at the end of the day? Will the other kids hurt him? My mind just won't shut off.

The easy solution would be to withdraw him from Kindergarten, and send him to another year of preschool, but even that's a process. But like I said while advocating for inclusion, the easy solution isn't always the RIGHT solution. I have to have faith, and believe he can. (And if it's a complete nightmare, there's always the homeschooling option...just saying!)

In other news, running this Summer was a complete failure, and it shows. Just as I got over the 6 weeks off from my broken toe, Liam got sick, then I got sick. I think I ran a total of 10 times this Summer, and my muscle tone is gone. I have so much work to do to get back into shape when the kids go back to school! I did, however manage to read a ton of books, so there's that...


My plan is to run 4-5 days a week after dropping Liam off at school. Once the weather cools down, our now giant puppy (who weighs about 110 lbs) will join me a few days a week. After 10+ years of running with a stroller, it's going to be so weird to run alone!

I took a bit of a blog break over the past few months. I cut down to blogging 2-3 days a week, turned down a lot of sponsored content, and mainly stuck with real life posts over the Summer. I really wanted to take a break to focus on my family for a few months, so I went with "easy" blogging. 

Although I will obviously be taking a break while I'm on vacation, my blog will get back to normal in a few weeks, and I'm looking forward to catching up with some of my favorite blogs again! I have a few sponsored blog posts lined up, and I'll be focusing more on content (recipes, sensory play activities, life with Down syndrome, holidays, etc.), but I still plan to share my life and my family with all of you. That's why I started this blog 10 years ago in the first place!

I'm not sure if I managed to cover all of life lately, but it's a good start! Now tell me...what's new with you?

6 comments:

  1. Wow!! You have been busy. i am sending prayers that everything works out for Liam and school! It is awful that you have to deal with that on top of sending him to school. UGH! Hugs to you all!! Enjoy your vacation!!!

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  2. Sorry to hear you got sick and the kindergarten registration has still been difficult! I hope it will all work out.

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  3. I'm glad that you're finally starting to feel better! Being sick is just the worst. Your upcoming vacation sounds like tons of fun though, and I hope it's really relaxing. Sorry to hear that Liam's kindergarten is still all a bit up in the air. I hope that things work out for the best!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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  4. Wow! You’ve been busy. Prayers for you with Liam’s situation. Hopefully it all works out!

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  5. Good on you for controlling your blogging work load and being sensible - what a time you've had! I would be the same with the not being able to switch off at night. You do have home-schooling as a back up - which is a great option - would your school allow a bit of both? I.e. some days in and some out? Do they offer special needs assistants (I think you've mentioned this in previous posts). I really hope you get the solution you both need - I can imagine you are really stressed! Hope your holiday since has helped - J xx

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