Party, Job, School = Anxiety

A few short updates for now. I'll try to expand more later ...

The party was phenomenal!!! We had easily over 100 people attend! The morning of I had 110 RSVP's and I was a little panicked, but we worked it out. THANK YOU to everyone who attended. It felt wonderful to be surrounded by so many people who love and support our little girl and our family. Truly humbling to think about. I'd say she is definitely one popular little three year old! A special thanks to all of the people who traveled from out of town to come! It meant so much to see all of you (some for the first time EVER!!) A friend of mine took pictures and I'll post some as soon as they're ready! I tried to upload the slideshow I made but I think it was too big. If you have any tips on this, please fill me in! (And don't tell me to upload it to youtube b/c they will silence the music - which really - makes the whole montage so great!)

Monday I got a call to interview for a job that I saw online and was interested in. The interview was fantastic. Really, a perfect job for me. They called the next day to see if I was interested in the job, but I'm not sure this is the right time in my life. I think it would be a big challenge and figure out if I'm up for it right now. Which brings me to ...

We're having a hard time finding a childcare/daycare that is suitable to miss Chelsea. As much as we'd like to tell ourselves she's perfectly capable of attending typical schools/summer camps, this is proving to be more difficult than I imagined. She pulled out all her tricks on her first day of camp - stripped, played in the sink, and escaped the classroom! The good news? They didn't tell me she couldn't come back. The bad news? She snuck into the public bathroom, played with the soap, water and paper towels, then walked out into the office before anyone noticed she was gone!!! Kind of scary for a non-verbal three year old with Down syndrome don't you think?

Amongst all this we are busting our butts trying to figure out how on EARTH we can make our lives work for just one more chaotic year. We've got to get Ryan through nursing school while I work, and find Chelsea a SAFE place to be during the day (preferably a safe and intellectually stimulating place) ... I'm not coming up with much help either. Seems that Ryan going to school full time is being counted against us as we search for assistance with childcare and special needs services. If anyone can find a grant, scholarship or ANYTHING specifically for parents who have children with special needs ... or parents of children who have had cancer ... that would be perfect. Seems like there used to be all kinds of random scholarships out there, but now that we need them we can't find them. I remember once upon a time hearing of a scholarship for red-heads!

I'll leave you with this:

Chelsea came home one day from school with this. Coincidence? or do you think Chelsea was the only one who brought her grass home in piggy tails?
That's it for now kids. I'll tell you more about this job opportunity once I've made a decision. Night!