A Tribe in Africa

One of my son's friends is from Africa. I never understood why his birth date was so obscure. I'd ask him, "When is your birthday?" He couldn't really answer my question.

I read this article and his lack of knowing his birthday is understandable now. That is if things were the same where he was born.

Source

Some tribes in Africa do not celebrate a child's birthday from the day they were born. They don't even celebrate from the time the child was conceived. Instead they celebrate the child's birthday from the time the child was first thought about in the the Mother's mind.

When a woman decides that she will have a child, she goes off and sits under a tree, by herself, and she listens until she can hear the song of the child that wants to come. And after she’s heard the song of this child, she comes back to the man who will be the child’s father, and teaches it to him. And then, when they make love to physically conceive the child, some of that time they sing the song of the child, as a way to invite it.

When the Mother is pregnant, the Mother teaches that child’s song to the women of the village, so that when the child is born, the women around her sing the child’s song to welcome it. And then, as the child grows up, the other villagers are taught the child’s song. If the child gets hurt someone picks it up and sings its song to him or her.

I find this to be interesting!

It can be argued when a child is a life form. I know when I felt kicks, and heard a heart beating inside me that someone special was inside me. I knew with my oldest that I was pregnant before a stick or doctor could tell me so. My whole body just felt different. Every pregnancy is different. With my second child I didn't feel very different at all. We were trying to conceive, I missed a period and took a test. It came up positive. You'd think by my second child my body would be in tuned with what pregnancy feels like. With my second pregnancy I felt when my baby had hiccups, and when he moved way before I could with my first. Again every pregnancy is different.

When did you know you were pregnant? Did you know before a test, after a test, after a doctor told you, or not until the birth of your baby (That happens to.)?

SOFT

There is a genetic condition that my nephew Emerson has. It's called Trisomy 18. Only 10% go on to make it past their first birthday.

Guess who turned one on the 23rd? My nephew Emerson.

He'll always have problems. He'll always be loved.

I got him a Super Emerson romper.

Some of the things little Emerson has gone through:

• Apnea spells when he was tiny. He would just stop breathing.
• He had an O2 tank for most of his life.
• He had an NG tube for feeding. My sister pumped and has given him her milk this whole time.
• He had jaw surgery. Most babies born with Trisomy 18, also known as Edward Syndrome have too small of the lower jaw. He had to go on a ventilator for this. That was a scariest part! Coming of the vent was super scary! They over extended his jaw. The hardware stayed in for a few months. Taking the hardware out took awhile. Having jaw surgery allowed him to eat and breath much better!
• He had his diaphragmatic hernia fixed.
• He had his adenoids taken out.
• He had tubes put in his ears.
• He was born with a club foot. That has been bent, cast, bent, cast over and over again. Then he wore a brace.
• He now has a G-Button, which sits in his stomach. He gets feed through that. It's more permanent than his G-Tube that he kept pulling out. He does eat, but still gets feed through the G-Button as well.
• He now has to wear a patch on one eye for 3 hours a day. This will help his lazy eye. 

Emerson continues to go to physical therapy. He's learning how to walk on a baby treadmill. His neck has and is weak. That's something they continue to work on in physical therapy.

Happy Birthday Little Emerson!

If you would like to help support the families and kids that have Trisomy 18, you can donate to Soft Organization!

From Their Website:

Support Organization for Trisomy 18, 13, and Related Disorders (SOFT) is a non-profit volunteer organization offering support for parents who have had or are expecting a child with a chromosome disorder (especially Trisomy 18 and Trisomy 13), and education to families and professionals interested in the care of these children.

Little Boys' Birthday Party Ideas

Birthday parties are especially fun to throw for young children.  When they’re really little, it’s just about family getting together, and when they grow up it’s about them hanging out with their friends.  But, the glorious years from about 4-12 is when you get to have a really great time doing a big to-do with a theme and decorations and maybe even costumes.  Here are a few ideas for throwing your next boys’ birthday party.

Super Mario Birthday Party

Find a cool graphic online and generate an e-vite and let everyone know that it’s a Mario Brothers themed party so they can wear red or green long sleeved shirts, overalls and fake mustaches.  You can give away sacks filled with chocolate gold coins for party favors and set up video games for the kids to play after they eat.

Pirate Birthday Party

This party is a lot of fun because the main activity can be a treasure hunt with clues you’ve written and hidden all over the place.  The swashbucklers can team up to solve each clue to the treasure and then once they find it, split up the booty to take home.

Jungle Party

I’ve tried clowns and magicians, but neither can hold a candle to exotic animals.  Check out your local listings and see if you can find someone who comes to kid’s parties with snakes and lizards.  The boys will think this is really neat and you can really go wild with the decorations and jungle themed food.

Water Wars

If you have a summer baby, that gives you the perfect opportunity to get a bunch of water guns, water balloons, a slip and slide and break out the sprinklers because it’s time to cool off.  Grill up some hot dogs and slap on the sunscreen because you’re going to let them run around and attack each other with water until they’re exhausted!

Each one of these parties gives you a chance to be really involved with your kid’s party.  You’re not just a chaperone; you’re the leader of the fun.  Go on an adventure with son and revel in his good times year after year.

Lisa is a guest post blogger who writes about children’s birthday party ideas and themes like Mario birthday party themes for boys and tea party themes for girls. 

My Nephew Turned 5 Weeks Yesterday

My nephew Emerson turned 5 week this week. This is truly a milestone with babies that have Triomy 18. I'm not sure how much we'll be able to keep up the weekly parties once school starts.


Here I am with my nephew Emerson.

My son Isaak loves baby's! He calls Emerson "Baby Ermasen."
 

Emerson is a snorer! My sister thinks he caught his brother's cold. She's been getting a lot of mucus sucked out since his feeding tube was changed. Then they found out that there was something wrong with the O2 tank. They changed something and it wasn't working right. Now it's fixed. He wasn't getting any extra O2. He was snotty and struggling to breathe. They didn't realize. They thought it was just the changing of the feeding tube and maybe his big brother Elijah's cold. It's ok now.