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I did it!  

I've reached a blogging milestone!  

I'm glad I waited to post today because today is also World Down Syndrome Day.  World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated on March 21...can you guess why?  Because Trisomy 21..."the extra copy of chromosome 21 which causes Down Syndrome".

Because I started my blog in light of my daughter Lillian, I thought it would only be appropriate to celebrate a big milestone on such a fantastic Day!

So, to my non Designer Gene friends, please take a minute to read a blog from a fellow Designer!  

I want to thank everyone who takes their time to read what  I have to write, to those who share their wonderful comments, and to those who share a common bond with me and Lillian!

Thank You!!!

Now, to answer some great questions!

Sandy from The Adams Family asked, "I know that you are a Navy family.  Have you ever had to move around  a lot and if so,  how do you prepare your family for such a change?"

Great question!  Yes, we've moved a lot!  Since 2004, our lives took us from Florida, to Hawaii, to Italy(him)/Temecula, CA (us), to Washington, and to Northern California!   

It takes a few months to prepare the kids for a big move.  Bobby and I really try to make each move like a great adventure.  For instance, the final month we were in Hawaii, we rented a Condo in Waikiki!  We were two blocks away from the beach and in the center of all the activity! 

It helps to let the kids have their own input and their own wish list of sorts during the move. The wish list includes:  choice of hotel, on the road activities, sites to visit, and input on where we will live.  My kiddos know that we will be leaving friends, but know that they will always make new ones.

Also, one of the biggest things is to make sure our rituals and routines don't change!  Yeah, there may be some leniency, but I try to stick to what we know and do.

Chrystal from One More, More than One, asked, "How'd you meet your husband?"

So, 10 years ago, the internet of choice was through  America Online.  Also, during that time, I was a junior at Jacksonville University and Bobby had just transferred to Sub base Kingsbay, GA (just north of Jacksonville).  

One night, I was online doing some research on children's books and authors, I was an education major, and Bobby was online searching for some girls :)  He found my profile, among others, and instant messaged me.  I replied to his answers between reading information, and we ended up chatting for hours.  A few weeks later, online chatting moved to telephone calls, and a few weeks after that we went out on our first date.  We've been together ever since!

I found Love online!

Tara from KIDZ asked, "What do you do to maintain a healthy relationship with your husband with everything else that is going on in your life? I've just been thinking about this a lot lately not because I'm having problems in my marriage, but because I read some discouraging statistics about marriages and kids with SN"

Hmmm...this one got me thinking a bit.

I realized that Bobby has this "so what" type of attitude and I have the "what if" type of attitude. So, we kind of equal out.  Because we know this about each other, he listens to all my "what if's" and I don't get disgruntled when he answers with a "so what".

But the most important thing that keeps us going strong is paying attention to each other, even in the littlest way!  Here are some great examples:  

~ He knows I'm dieting and trying to loose weight, so when he brings home lunch he brings me a shrimp burrito with all the veggies and no sauce.   

~ I make sure he has a cup of coffee ready to go every morning.  

~ He doesn't grumble at me when I go out once a month with the ladies and I don't grumble at him when I come home to a disaster area!

We do these things for each other and neither one of us expects it.  However, every small loving gesture never goes unnoticed!

We always make sure we have time for just us!  Even, if it's once every two months or so, we go out to a dinner and a movie.  That time is so precious.  It brings life back into our relationship!

I guess we understand that the minute one person becomes selfish and or ungrateful, things can go south.  It's been a long road for us, but we have learned to stop our selfishness and learned to be grateful to each other.

Well, that's it!

Again, many Thanks to you all!