Blueberries and Strawberries and Raspberries... OH MY! Oh yeah... Sleep Apnea too.

Jamison is obsessed with fruit. I swear he would eat that and only that if I actually let him.. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a little strawberry plant growing inside him right now! Check out my little man picking his own raspberries, but no.. he doesn't save them for later haha

Also, I did want to inform you all that Jamison was just diagnosed with sleep apnea today. The doctors are recommending him to have his tonsils and adenoids removed to help with this. It is something I am not taking lightly, I am having a consultation with an ENT doctor here soon to go over the possible benefits of this and getting several opinions before moving forward. From what I have gathered from other parents who have done this as well as his speech therapist, he could benefit greatly by having them removed not only to help his sleep apnea but also to possibly help his speech. I will keep you all updated on what happens!

Jamison's Words...

Jamison has been doing so well with his signing... I just captured a video of some of the signs that he does.. we were just getting ready for bed and I thought it would be cute to post a video of him signing, too bad I couldn't even think of all of the words that he knows how to sign! That's a good thing though :) Please enjoy the video of J-Man signing. There is a word in there, his only word.. I'm sure you all remember what that is! It's a pretty big file so it may take a moment to play...

"Wait, he has special needs too?!" -Samantha Mears

We are so lucky to have had the opportunity to have met another PTLS Family! 

The Mears Family. 

Alex, Ryan, Samantha, Debbie, Shelly, Jamison & Justin

 We met up for lunch and had so much to talk about. I was so happy to meet her daughter Samantha (16 years old) and get a feel for what she is like. I loved hearing from her mom Debbie, but especially loved when she chimed in and laughed and told us about herself, it's always amazing to me... I mean I know that she talked but when you hear it, it just seems so much different, I guess because Jamison is still non verbal I just can't comprehend it all yet, that soon he too will be talking to me and reading a menu at a restaurant... it is a really weird feeling :)


I was happy to hear that Samantha had a lot of similarities to Jamison, and the most shocking one was when I asked if Samantha ever laughed at people fighting in movies (like kicking and punching) and it was a simultaneous "YEAH" from her whole family, it was pretty funny, because I thought Jamison was the only one...guess not!

Also, the most interesting thing to me personally was talking to her two wonderful brothers (Ryan 23 and Alex 12) about how they felt about having a sibling with special needs. You could tell just how much they cared for her and adored her, they talked about how they would tease her playfully when they were younger and you could just see her light up when they talked about it. Her oldest brother Ryan even commented on how when he meets a girl he will only date them if Samantha likes them and they get along well together. It made me feel so comforted that one day, when we do have another child that everything will be fine. That has been weighing very heavily on me lately and I was worried about how another child would feel growing up, so I was SO happy to see how much love and compassion her brothers had for her.

It was so cute, but about half way through lunch I had made some comment about Jamison having "special needs" and Samantha chimed in and said "wait, he has special needs too?!" It was the cutest thing ever watching her put it all together and her mom told her "yes, he's just like you" and Samantha just smiled and lit up and was so happy, in that moment I just felt so wonderful... she is such a special girl.  She also said that "Jamison is so cute..." that was pretty adorable also.

Here is a cute picture of Samantha & Jamison together...

Samantha & Jamison (08/28/2010)

Interview with Christian Centeno:

Thanks Julie for sending this link for all to enjoy! You don't know how much I wish I could get into Jamison's head when he's humming and running around in circles for an hour!


A talk with Christian (Potocki-Lupski Syndrome) from Julie Smith-Centeno- Potocki-Lup on Vimeo.

PTLS Gathering Atlanta 2010

A big thanks to Julie Smith-Centeno, who put this beautiful collection of photos from the Atlanta gathering this year for Christian's 23rd birthday together into a wonderful video! Hope you enjoy it...

Potocki-Lupski Syndrome (duplication 17p11.2) from Julie Smith-Centeno on Vimeo.

Jamison loving life, as always...

Things around here have been pretty amazing. Jamison has had so much fun learning to talk... unfortunately it has already gotten me into trouble as his favorite and only word to say is "gay" or at least it sounds like gay. He especially loves to yell it out when we're shopping, oh joy! A woman even came up to us when we were at Ace Hardware recently and told me that it was very offensive to her...  hopefully he starts learning some more words quick! Regardless, he's having a blast saying his only word over and over again, and I'm loving every minute of it.

Here's a video of him loving life:

Jamison is also doing great in physical therapy, he's learning to do a little slide shuffle that is super cute! Hopefully I'll catch a video of him doing that really soon.  He's jumping really well and also he's hitting a ball off a baseball tee with little assistance!

I'll post more about his IBI therapy soon...

Camping - July 2010

We finally got to take our first camping trip a couple of weekends ago. Jamison loves camping, being able to run free in the outdoors! We had a great time... the best part was Jamison eating  S'Mores for the first time! I do have to say he prefers the graham crackers with chocolate only!

I love being able to take Jamison out to do these types of things... YES, it is stressful, there are a lot more things that could happen as opposed to just lounging in your living room, but he deserves to get out there and have fun, even if I become "paranoid crazy mom" for a little bit! It's nice to have friends/family out there with us to get a little break from puppy guarding the lil man also!

I think my favorite part of the camping trip was meeting these young boys skateboarding right in front of our camp. They were having a blast and Jamison seemed really interested so we walked over and they even tried to teach him how to skateboard. He did stand on it for a bit, and they even tried to pull him around. It was hilarious, and Jamison will never be a skater, he prefers watching them, believe me!!