Rock Chalk Babyhawk

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Five years later...

My five year law school reunion was a blast! So good to see everyone again. Has it really been five years?!?

... and a cute video of Dink riding a unicorn:

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Saturday, September 24, 2011

A visit with friends...

We decorated the house for Halloween and had a great visit with Jay and Beth this weekend. All in all a very happy Hawk family:

We have another Elmo fan in the house:

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Sleeping, walking and sliding into fall...

I don't know how this is comfortable:

We now have a toddler! She is making her way around on her feet more and more:

Babyhawk's school fall festival was a "scream!":

Monday, September 12, 2011

Green Stripe Belt Test

Babyhawk tested for her Green Stripe Belt and the whole family went to watch:

Babyhawk got a special award for her hard work and achievement. In this video, she is explaining that she wants to be a Master and a black belt. (She was nervous):

Receiving her belt at the next class. Master Kim is telling her how proud he is of her:

Taekwondo has been amazing for her balance and abilities with her weak side but it also has been such a confidence booster. We plan to keep her in it for a long time!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Fall is nearly here...

I've been doing some crocheting:

Babyhawk went to a football game with Papahawk and had a blast:

Especially in the park after the game:

Saturday, August 20, 2011

My divas...

Sometimes Tinyhawk is a little "crabby":

The shoes make the outfit:

A future in theater for Babyhawk?:

Welcome to Holland

by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland??I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills...and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things... about Holland.