The Phamily Blog

So...Monica and David?

Pretty much EVERYONE in the Down syndrome community knows what I'm talking about but for those of you who don't, HBO did a documentary titled "Monica and David" and it premiered tonight. I've had my DVR set for a good two weeks and I couldn't wait to see this short film. I was so excited. The previews had me giddy at the thought of Gabby walking down the aisle one day and living a "typical" life despite the extra 21.
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So I sat down tonight with my Littles' in my arms and we watched...
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Within the first thirty seconds I was feeling sad. You know how documentaries start of with the black screen with white words talking about "Down syndrome affects 1 in 800, blah blah blah." Well then it goes on to say "The average life expectancy of a person with Down syndrome is 50 years." Ouch. It stung...BAD. And to think- this is SO MUCH BETTER than what it used to be- a mere 35 years. So yeah, I guess I should be grateful but that right there set me off on the wrong foot. I don't know what I expected really. It's not like they were lying or that they should hide the truth, but I dunno...it was a somber tone-setting if you ask me.
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So on to the actual film. Monica and David are adorable and incredibly intelligent. Their love is undeniable although at times I felt like Monica was a little irritated with her Hubs (but who doesn't get irritated with their hubs from time to time, right?) They desperately longed for an independent life together but were sheltered by the mama's bears which I totally get 100%. And while I totally "get it" I also recognize that I cannot be like that with Gabby. We have to let go and let our kids out in the world. Nothing will ever change if we're not willing to be vulnerable at times, however hard that may be.
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There was a clip of Monica's mom (behind closed doors) expressing her dismay at how Monica and David were not keeping up with cleaning their bathroom (which honestly, I'm still baffled at considering Monica's OCD tendencies) and Monica stood outside of the door just listening to her mom. This was probably something that most people wouldn't have batted an eye at but for whatever reason, it made me sad to sit there and watch her listen to her mom be so irritated with her. It's something that any parent goes through, but I have seen it in abundance when I watch these documentaries about people with intellectual disabilities and it scares me. I don't ever want to come across that I am being put out by caring for my child. Monica felt her mother's irritation- you could see it in her eyes. And it hurt her. I know it's bound to happen...Heck, it happens NOW but for Gabby to see it...to hear it...to feel it? Ugh. I hate that. I doubt that paragraph made much sense but oh well.
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I really don't have a whole lot to say about the film. It makes me scared but it makes me hopeful as well. Monica is 35 years old so it's easy to say that things will be different when Gabby is 35 because THEY WILL. I think Monica and David's parents have done a fabulous job and they have most certainly allowed for incredible opportunities for their children. I mean, can you imagine the thoughts that were going through their heads when their babies were born 35 years ago? We are lucky and things are only going to get better, I know it.
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If you have HBO, be sure to set your DVR's for this Sunday at 12:45pm PT on HBO East.

She's Sugar and Spice

7:00 AM 8 Comments »

and EVERYTHING nice.

Introducing Miss October herself, GABALICIOUS!

In her spare time she enjoys playing in dirt, eating an unbelievable amount of crackers in a 12 hour timespan, destroying "just-cleaned" rooms within seconds of their completion, slapping her brother in the face and then following it up with the sweetest kiss to the forehead that you ever did see, and... sesame street.
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Licious' plans on changing the world for the better, one day at a time by using her undeniable charm and charisma. I'd say she's got that one in the bag for sure.
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She aspires to be an author, singer, actress, comedian, and ballroom dancer.

When asked what item she NEVER leaves the house without, she responded with

"style and class."

I don't know how Miss November will top her.

A HUGE thank you!

7:00 AM 0 Comments »

I just wanted to do a quick post to thank all of you who have donated and/or joined our team for the "Step Up for Down Syndrome" event this year or in years past. I am so grateful to all of you for making it such a great success! This year we have already recruited 21 team members and $790!! And we're not done yet!

Anyway...this was just a quick little something to let you know that you are greatly appreciated!

Cameron Pham: Student of the Month!!

9:37 AM 6 Comments »

A few weeks ago we received a note in Cameron's folder informing us that he had been chosen to be Student of the Month and that our presence was requested at an awards ceremony the following week. We were asked to keep the news on the hush because it was a secret.

The day of the ceremony, Nguyen and I got dressed to the nines and headed over to room K1 to watch our Bubs receive his award. All of the kids were a little confused as to why there were several sets of parents gathered in the room, but they were all excited because they knew it must be for a good reason.

The school Principal came into the classroom and gave a brief speech on the reasons behind each student being chosen as student of the month. Cameron was chosen because he is always listening and following direction and because he is a GREAT team player!

Do you think he was excited at all?

Cameron's cousin, An was also chosen as Student of the Month this year. She is in a different kindergarten class but they combined the ceremony for all three classes. How cute that they both got picked in the same month! An was chosen for outstanding academics!
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We celebrated by taking our super-special boy out to lunch after school. It was a real treat since Dad doesn't usually have Friday's off. He was so proud of himself and says he is going to be a "great team player for FOREVER!"

God made dirt and dirt don't hurt!

9:17 PM 4 Comments »

Don't call C.P.S. on me please. There is a huge dirt pile in my front yard and for whatever reason, it's a magnet and my children are steel. If I look away for a half of a second, it's over. The clothes are going straight to the washer and the babies are heading straight for the tub. But apparently getting dirty is LOADS of fun!!
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Apparently dirt tastes pretty yummy too!

And it's hilarious to boot!

For the record...I am rarely able to snap a photo of Cameron where he is actually looking at the camera or not sticking his finger up his nose. But when I do, you can ALWAYS rest assured that there will be drool on his chin. Every. Single. Time.

In fact, we just had picture "make-ups" because his adorable photos came back with the glistening chin I have come to adore. I was sure to put a nice note for the teacher to make sure that chin was dry this time!

This looks like a clip out of a scene from Joe Dirt.

My sweet little ragamuffin babies :)

You should have seen the water afterwards!

Backpedaling.

11:35 AM 4 Comments »

I'm pretty sure I've never been M.I.A. for this long. But I promise I have good excuses!! You all can thank my dad for getting on my case about not updating the blog. I guess there are some people out there that care about our daily shenanigans ;)
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Anyway, we've been busy, and not busy yet still tied down, and sick, and tired and all of that good stuff. And during this time I've realized that I have not taken a whole lot of pictures (pretty much none in September) so I'll have to share what I have left from August.

All of these photos were from a quick overnight trip we took to Monterey. My kids were looking especially adorable if I do say so myself!

And while I share their extreme cuteness with you all, I'll give you a little run-down on the happenings in the Pham house.

Gabby has been doing well for the most part despite a quick bout with Pneumonia. I've heard horror stories regarding kiddos with Ds developing Pneumonia and I am so grateful that it was as short-lived as it was. She spiked a nasty fever that recorded up to 105.3 (Holy crap!) and we high-tailed it over to Nguyen's brother-in-laws house to avoid an E.R. visit. While he didn't hear anything weird going on in those lungs of hers, he still advised us to go to the doctor in the morning so that we did!

Gabby's primary pediatrician also didn't really hear anything in her lungs but since the fever was so high and nothing else was obvious, she sent her in for a chest x-ray. By the time we made our way back up to the third floor after leaving radiology, her doctor was all "Yeah, so she has pneumonia." Ugh. Immediately I thought this was going to turn into a hospital stay but lucky for us, we caught it early and were sent home with some strong antibiotics and that was that!

She is feeling much better and I am so happy to see my happy-go-lucky baby back in action. It really wiped her out and broke my heart in the process.

Cam-man has been doing great as well! He is still loving school and was even chosen as student of the month last week! I'll post more on that this week, I promise! He's really come out of his shell socially which makes me so, so happy. He has many friends and has already been to a birthday party! He's got two field trips coming up- one to the firestation and one to the pumpkin patch. He is ecstatic at the thought of riding the bus. I'm sure that will be the higlight of the field trip!

Nguyen and I are staying busy. I enrolled in two online courses for this semester but ended up dropping one because once Gabby got sick and was literally attached to me 24/7 for a good 2 weeks, I fell behind and couldn't catch up with both. So I dropped the easier class and focused what little time and energy I had on MATH. I am still catching up and you can pretty much guarantee that around midnight, I'm sitting in front of my computer factoring and graphing polynomials. Good stuff.

How cute is this?!

What else?

We're gearing up for fall around here. Cameron and Nguyen spent a good chunk of time yesterday putting up Halloween decor. They got quite a bit done but the festivities were brought to a sudden halt when I spied a snake slithering around in our grass. That was it for Nguyen. Game over. He went inside and said he'd come out when the weather had changed and those little nasties were good and gone!

I can't believe it's October already which reminds me-

It's DOWN SYNDROME AWARENESS month!

The 2010 "Step Up for Down Syndrome" walk is scheduled for October 17th and we're recruiting team members daily. We had an insanely good time last year and are super stoked about this year. A big thank you to all that have joined our team and/or donated! We couldn't do it without you guys and we love you! It's still not too late to do either of those things and we would love to have your support! Contact me for more info!

I think that's a pretty good update, don't you? I can't make any promises because apparently, I am pretty good at breaking them but- things should be calming down a bit now that I'm catching up with homework. So that means I can be a little better about snapping photos and sharing on the blog!

Next on the agenda is determining what to dress these little people as for Halloween.

Hmm...

Kindergarten Cam!!

8:00 AM 8 Comments »

Sounds like a pretty cool super-hero name, doesn't it?

Well, I can't believe it's really true...that the day has finally come. My baby boy is officially a BIG boy and has left his adoring mom and baby sister to tackle the everyday joys and struggles that come along with being a Kindergartner.

It's now been two full weeks that Cam has been in school but this month has been BONKERS so I'm just now getting around to getting this posted. And, the fact that a lot of my readers have already seen most of these photos on facebook added to my procrastination as well. Enough of the excuses though...look at my handsome guy!

Giving mom the ole' thumbs up in the car on the way to school:

We got there about a half an hour early because we weren't sure how crazy it was going to be with all of the blubbering moms, picture-taking, and room-finding business. Turns out, we didn't need to get there that early, but it was fine because we got to spend time with our little Bubs, roaming around campus with excitement and anticipation!

Nguyen was the camera man...we have LOTS of iPhone videos but I'm too lazy to upload those.

Here's my dude in front of his classroom!

And sitting on the little bench that *I* sit on every afternoon while I wait for him to be released from class. He's such a handsome boy, isn't he?!

While we were sitting on that there bench, his classroom door opened, and his teacher propped it open. He was so excited! It was time to go in!

(I love this picture...you can see the little bit of nervousness he had as he walked in)

We got inside of the classroom and Cam was overwhelmed...but in a good way! The room is decorated so cute. Nguyen and I were even saying we wanted to stay because it looked so pleasant and fun!

He hung up his backpack on the hook and we quickly realized we had no snack to put on the "snack shelf." I was panicked and asked the teacher and she was like "Yeah, didn't you get the postcard I sent?" I did get a postcard but it mentioned nothing in regards to a snack. It was okay though...she had extra snacks for the loser parents like myself.

Awwww!

Eventually, the clock struck 8:00am and all of the children were called to "circle time."

And the teacher said "Okay kids...tell your mommy and daddy you'll see them in a little while." Just then, Cameron blew me a kiss and I shed one tiny tear behind my camera (no one saw)!

And just like that, it was done. Nguyen and I went home and went on with our day. In a way it really wasn't much different than what we're used to because Cam had been going to preschool. The only difference is that he is now gone 5 days a week whereas before, it was only 3.

I thought about Cameron for the entire three hours and twenty minutes that he was away from me. I couldn't wait to hear all about his first day.

Finally it was time to go pick him up and this time I had my trusty sidekick.

And I have to mention...Already (in two weeks) Gabby has made countless new adult friends just by sitting on the blue bench waiting for Bubs to get out of school. I wish I could have some of that charm...She is POPULAR!

Ding! School's out...time to line up!

Cam came running over and was clearly excited and happy about his first day of school. I was so relieved because you just never know what will happen but he seems to have taken well to this new milestone!

And here he is with his two friends, Tessa and Sienna. Tessa is our neighbor and Sienna is a family friend. Cameron was so happy to actually know some friends already!

As we walked to the car, Cameron looked up at me and said

"Mom, I love Kindergarten. I feel so happy when I am there!"

Melt my heart!