Summer update

Wow has this summer been going by quickly, and it is not going to slow down until sometime in October!

We have been busy trying to fit in all the activities we want to do over the summer, all the while trying to stay cool. It has been very hot up here, sometimes hitting record breaking temperatures.

Taylor has been very busy as well. She is making great strides in her physical therapy, it seems like every day she makes a noticeable advancement. She is so very close to crawling it is both exciting and terrifying (this weekend we will be buying more baby gates!). She is also making strides towards walking (pun intended) by standing with very little assistance. She is slowly getting over her previous aversion to having weight on her feet; because of this she has “rediscovered” her jumper!

She has also officially cut her first tooth, with a second one close behind it. She continues to discover new foods through us feeding her off our plates. There seems to be very few foods she doesn’t like, I think she gets this from her father.

Taylor has also been in swimming classes every Saturday for the last 6 weeks. She is a natural in the water! I truly believe that this is one of the reasons we have been seeing such advances in her gross motor skills this last month or so. The other reason she has been advancing is due to doubling up her therapy sessions; we have one every other week now!

Taylor has also discovered a new talent. This one she most definitely gets from her mother. Taylor loves to sing! She started out by copying a song that Kelly has been singing to her since she was born. Now she will start singing this song (the words are all various forms of “da”) on her own and starting to come up with her own. This is a huge deal because it further confirms what we have known all along, Taylor will be verbal. With this in mind we are getting more into learning and teaching her baby sign language. We know she is already trying to communicate with us, she just can’t use words yet. She is already full of gestures and different sounds when she wants something. We have been doing our best to decipher these while encouraging her to learn the signs for common messages. The goal is to increase the level of 2-way communication between us. As she starts to communicate more consistently she will start dropping the signs and using more and more words.

 All of this has kept us plenty busy with much more to do!

We hope you all are enjoying your summer as much as we are.

Back to School

Last night I came home from work and on the kitchen table was an envelope from the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater. In June I had sent in my application to go back to school and finally finish my Bachelors Degree 11 years after I left Whitewater.

I left Whitewater right after my junior year to pursue a Meeting and Event Management Associates Degree at MATC and loved every second of it. I always knew that I would want to finish my Bachelor's Degree since I was so close to it that I could pretty much reach out and grab it.

On the application it said that I had to write a statement of how my presence will enrich the school's community. I spent a lunch hour thinking about what I could write.

Here is what I sent in:

"I am thirty years old and am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend. I am defined by all of these titles but most importantly by one.

I am a mother to a one year old girl named Taylor. Taylor has strawberry blond hair, striking blue eyes, a light twinkling laugh and Down Syndrome. She has defined who I am more than any other aspect of my life. My husband, Brian, and I did not know that Taylor had Down Syndrome until she was born and the nurse told us what they suspected. We both went through the shock, grief and the pain, but out of all of that came something wonderful.

Taylor has made me both grow up and learn to live life fully. I have had to learn about Down Syndrome and the devastating statistics that come along with that knowledge. I now have to worry about life expectancy, developmental delays, inclusion and so much more. I am a mini expert in the field of Down Syndrome and am learning more all the time. I have joined support groups that help get out frustrations and more importantly celebrate milestones.

Taylor has taught me to live a life full of celebrations and encouragement and excitement. You have never seen a happier mother until you saw me celebrate when my daughter sat up on her own.  Sure it might take her longer to learn to crawl, walk and talk, but she will do it. She will crawl, she will walk and if she is anything like me, she will talk. And we will celebrate loudly.

I will bring a presence of knowledge, compassion and celebration of life to UW-Whitewater because that is what my one year old daughter taught me."

So last night I opened the letter and it started with "Congratulations and welcome to UW- Whitewater!" I am pretty sure my statement is what got me in!

Papa Rich

Silly grandpa! You can't eat my foot! I need it to grab my toys with instead of my hands!

Walk For Taylor!

Did you know that the Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin (DSAW) hosts an awareness walk every fall at the Milwaukee Zoo?

In April of last year my daughter, Taylor, was born with an extra 21st chromosome that causes Down Syndrome. After receiving the diagnosis one of the first things we did was reach out and try to connect with other people that could understand what we were going through and teach us what we needed to know. It was through this search we found DSAW.

The Awareness Walk is designed to help raise funds, AND to help raise awareness and promote inclusion, diversity and acceptance of Down Syndrome, as well as strive to guarantee access to a full life for all individuals with Down syndrome, their families and friends.

DSAW has been, and will continue to be, an unbelievable resource for us. This walk is their major fundraiser for the year. Please help us show our appreciation by joining us!

We are putting together a team called Taylor’s Wild Ones in honor of my daughter. If you are unable to join us for the walk, donations are also greatly appreciated.

Join our team "Taylor's Wild Ones" by clicking the "Join Now" button here

You can also Donate to our team here

The event details are as follows:

Register by Friday, September 7, 2012 to be guaranteed a T-shirt!

Walk Details

Sunday, September 30 at the Milwaukee County Zoo

Registration and Check-In starts at 10:30am at the Maple Grove and Oak Grove picnic areas. Your registration includes zoo admission and parking!

10:30am-12:55pm Registration, Lunch and Pre-Walk Activities

Food, DJ, Crafts, Temporary Tattoos and Face Painting, Raffles and Silent Auctions, Resource Tent, visits from your favorite mascots and much more!

1:00 Pre-Walk Rally and Awards Ceremony

Led by the Down Syndrome Awareness Walk Master of Ceremonies, Vince Vitrano, Today's TMJ4 Morning News Anchor

1:15pm Walk Begins 

Approximately 1.5 mile leisurely stroll through the Milwaukee County Zoo.

Blue eyes

We are enjoying a lazy Saturday outside today!

Buddies

Taylor and Erwin are obviously having a very deep conversation!

Sweet snuggles

Sunny day snuggles! We are excited to go camping this weekend for the first time with Taylor!

Therapy

Who said physical therapy can't be fun!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers day to all of the mothers out there!

Today holds a very special place in my heart. Today we get to celebrate the often thankless, and most taken advantage of, people in our lives. Our Mothers. Far too often we underestimate the importance of what they do for us every day, and how much they sacrifice to care for their children. I know I have done this with my mother, and I never really understood how much until recently. Watching Kelly this past year has taught me more about motherhood than I had ever imagined, and I couldn't be more proud to call her my wife and the mother of my child.

This morning the phrase "you will understand when you have kids if your own" flooded into my head. Parenting, being truly responsible for the future of your children's lives can not be explained, rather it is experienced. This last years worth of experience has truly opened my eyes and has given me a whole new level of respect for parents everywhere, especially my own.

Watching Kelly grow into the best Mother I know over the past year has been one of my favorite pastimes. Seeing how she interacts with not only Taylor, put other children now is amazing! I truly believe that Taylors life os going to be full of excitement, comedy, adventure and joy because of her mother. I couldn't do this without you!

Happy Mothers Day, go hug a Mother!

Hives

Apparently Taylor is allergic to penicillin. It took away her sinus infection but left some really nasty hives.

Swinging!

Yay for sunshine after a rainy day!

Happy 1st Birthday Taylor!

Today is Taylors First Birthday!

Over the past several weeks Kelly and I have been trying to wrap our heads around the fact that it is already been a year since our little one was born. Our minds immediately went to the difficult first several weeks. But that is only a small part of what we have been talking about, sure it is tied to some very strong emotions and something we will remember for a long time, but it has already been overshadowed by the joys we have experienced this year.

We had a birthday party for Taylor last weekend and I decided to make a video and a slideshow so we didn’t have to pass around the hundreds of pictures we have taken. It is amazing how quickly I had forgotten how tiny she was! Going through the videos we have taken and sifting through the hundreds of pictures was outstanding (it was also proof that a year has actually gone by!). Taylor truly has brought unimaginable joy into our home. She can change your attitude with just one little smile, light up your world with her laugh, and send you into a frenzy with her cry!

We have definatly laughed, cried, grown and learned together this past year and there will be plenty more of all of that to come! We have seen many “firsts” and are looking forward to even more. Watching her learn new things and experiment with the world around her is amazing. The sense of pride that I have is just overwhelming at times.

The pride that has been growing this past year is not only for Taylor, but for our friends, family and our new community that we are now part of. Words cannot express what a difference it has made to have the unconditional love and support from everyone this past year. I don’t know what we would have done without it.

During Taylor’s Birthday party, Kelly asked everyone to write down a birthday wish for Taylor, since she couldn’t tell us her own! The true testament of who Taylor is, and how our family and friends see her, came out in those wishes.

You can listen to them yourself at the end of the video, but you will hear the same types of wishes that friends and family would have for any 1 year old.

Not a single one was about Down Syndrome.

We have always said that having Down Syndrome will just be part of her life, not what her life is about. Looks like we are not the only ones with that belief!

Happy Birthday To You!

Today at 2:02am Taylor Lynn Horrell turned one year old! This morning she woke up happy, smiling and ready to celebrate! She must know that she gets to have cake again tonight!

I never knew a year could go by as quickly as this past year did. It was a blink of an eye. A beat of my heart. Almost too fast to comprehend. When did our baby turn into a toddler?

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby! We love you so much!!!

It's Almost Here!

Taylor is getting excited about turning one next week!