Trolls

I knew having a blog meant that whatever pictures I posted could be seen by everyone and anyone.  I knew, in the back of my mind, that someone could even take my pictures and use them as their own, or take them and use them in a degrading, hurtful, hateful, ignorant way.  But I guess I never really thought anyone would be reading my blog, except those who know and love me and my family.

I was wrong.

Almost every day I check my blog and I check to see the "traffic" that is going to the blog.  Twice I have seen a "red flag", an out of place website.

cartoonmeme.com

A place where people can go and make a cartoon meme of themselves or use one of the memes that this website has made.  It is obvious that a lot of these photos have been stolen.  There is one in particular that is very disturbing.  A school photo of a young man that has been turned into about six memes, all degrading.

The person running this website has visited my blog, twice! I have looked on their website and haven't seen any pictures of Stella on there.  Perhaps no pictures of her were worthy of degradation.

But now I am on HIGH ALERT.

As much as I want to share our family's journey with others who are curious or who face a similar situation, I do not want Stella's face to be taken and degraded.

Belittled for looking "different", for having an extra chromosome.

I contacted a fellow blogger to get her advice. She gave me some good tips.  I will use these tips and hopefully that will help to protect my pictures.

It makes my heart hurt and my blood boil all at once knowing that there are these "trolls" out there.  Looking for someone to make fun of, to make themselves feel better about whatever is missing in their own lives.

No one deserves to be treated with such ignorance, hate and degradation.

All life is precious.  All life is worthy.

I will continue to show whoever reads my blog that our life ROCKS and that Stella is perfection just as she is.

And Now It's All Done

December 26th. Boxing Day here in Canada.  A day to go shopping for all the deals.  A day to begin to clean up from the Christmas craziness and mess.

Speaking of Christmas craziness:

On Christmas Eve Day Sophie and Stella began sneezing.

Uh Oh.

I told myself that it was just dust.

Then their noses started running.. a lot. A lot of snot was beginning to ooze out from their little nostrils.

I told myself it was just from the dust. Yes, my house was dusty (I dislike dusting, hence all the dust).

But as the day progressed, I knew in my heart of hearts that they were both getting colds.  I was crossing my fingers and hoping they would be mild colds.

Sadly I was wrong.

Sniff.

So Christmas Eve night there was VERY little sleep for Mickey and I.  Stella was affected the worst.  Her little nose was soooo plugged no amount of saline, and suction seemed to help clear her little nose so she could breath.

We were up with her hourly.

Then little miss 7 year old Olivia, was up at least 3 times due to the excitement of Christmas morning.

And last, but most certainly not least Sophie was up a few times due to a stuffy nose.

Christmas morning began with two exhausted parents, two very excited older kids and one sleeping (finally) 2 year old.

Olivia and Sophie got spoiled. They were so excited and Sophie kept hugging me and telling me "I love you mommy." So cute.

Once Stella woke up, and got adjusted to all the chaos, she enjoyed ripping open a few of her presents. However, the big hit with her was this blue plastic tube that I had put in her stocking.  She pretty much chewed on that thing all day.  If Sophie or Olivia tried to play with it, she would cry in protest.

Christmas Dinner was at the in laws house.  It was delicious!! Sophie watched TV, refused to eat and wiped her nose with her tongue or her hand throughout the evening.  Poor lil girl.  Olivia brought her Word Girl Doll, snacked on chips and ate almost all of her dinner.  Stella chewed on her new blue tube, walked around more then she crawled and ate/threw a little bit of food.  Not a bad dinner considering just how sick those two girls seemed to be.

Sadly last night was no better for sleep for lil miss Stella.  Her nose is just so plugged! She just couldn't catch a break and we couldn't seem to help her.

So today, Boxing Day was spent watching LOTS of TV for the kid-lets and drinking LOTS of coffee for me.

We did partake in some of those Boxing Day deals though. Well Mickey did.  Got us a new TV.

So, here we are, Boxing Day. I am sad Christmas is over, but like most, I am looking forward to getting back to a bit of normalcy again.

Olivia got a Word Girl Doll from Santa, the one main thing she REALLY wanted!

Sophie and her Horse from Santa.

Chewing on her blue tube at Grandma's house.

Not a happy camper, even after her nap.

Hey maybe tonight Stella will get a good night's sleep....so that I can get a good night's sleep....

This Week in Pictures

So this past week and weekend were super busy for our lil McG family. We moved, which I have no pictures of, well except for this one.

My "I greatly dislike moving" face.

Jackson Dodge had the annual kids Christmas party. Again sadly I dropped the ball on this one too. No pictures.

Non kid related; Mickey and I went to a Brett Michael's concert...and had the fantastic experience of going backstage and meeting him. For those of you who don't know who Brett Michaels is, he is the lead singer of Poison. To be honest, Mickey has loved Poison and Brett Michaels for a long time and I only kind of knew of him.  So meeting him was a way bigger experience for Mickey then for me.

Notice just how much bigger Mickey's grin is then mine. Yeah, he's pretty stoked.

On Monday we went to Sophie's preschool Christmas Concert.  They sang four songs and then we had hot chocolate afterwards.  It was so very cute!

Yesterday Stella and I spent a bit of time at the mall while the two older McG girls were in school.

Stella loves the water fountain.

Another week, and more moments to sigh, yell, frown, laugh, kiss and hug my lil McG girls.





Sophie super excited at her Christmas concert.













Thinking of young lives lost.

Yesterday we spent our day moving.  It was a long hard day.  I didn't watch the TV or go on Facebook. It wasn't until I got into bed and checked my phone that I read about the horrific mass murder at  Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton Connecticut

Immediately my mind went to my daughter Olivia.  She is 7.  She is feisty, expressive and can be extremely challenging sometimes.  But I got to hug her and kiss her and say goodnight to her last night, to tell her I love her.

20 parents did not get to do that last night.

20 parents got their kids ready for school, made their lunches, kissed them goodbye...and then never saw them again alive.  Their lives are forever changed because some man was mad and wanted to get "revenge".

So....he killed innocent little children, terrified and probably crying for their mommies.

I am at a loss. I don't understand and I can't fathom the evil in this man's heart.  To be able to do something like that.

Please, pray for these families, entirely and forever devastated, forever heartbroken.

Hug your children.

And if you believe in God, ask him to take care of all those new Angels and give some sort of comfort to the mommies and daddies who now have to figure out how to live without a piece of their heart.

Bouncy Castle Crazy!!!

This past Thursday was Sophie's preschool Christmas party. There were games, food, bouncy castles and even Santa was there!

It was pure and utter mayhem!! There were kids and parents everywhere!

I helped Stella crawl into the little kid bouncy castle and...she loved it with a capital L!! I pretty much spent the entire time there with her. She would crawl into the bouncy castle, throw herself around, bounce on her bum, and laugh. Then she'd crawl out of the bouncy castle and immediately want back in. Whew! Man, I was sweating! She was becoming obsessed. Seriously, every time I attempted to take her somewhere else she would cry, and try and wriggle free, and if I put her down she would beeline for the bouncy castle.

As the evening progressed things started to go downhill. Overstimulation + a tired two year old = a scratchy two year old. Yes, the talons came out. Every poor unsuspecting child that entered the bouncy castle was greeted with a grab or a scratch. That was our cue. So we gathered up our three little McG's and headed home.

A crazy, exhausting evening! But we do it for the McG girls as I know they love it...even if we don't always enjoy every moment.

But then I look at the pictures I took and I smile and all the sweat and exhaustion seems to be worth it.

Slow and Steady

Slow and Steady wins the race.  This is what I think about when I see Stella walking just a tiny bit more every day.  Instead of sitting on her bum to get over to the other chair, I see her let go, rotate her torso, move her legs and decide (all on her own) to walk over to the other chair. 

When she is sitting on the floor a couple of feet away from me and I say "Walk to mama", instead of smiling and crawling, she stands and walks; slowly, precisely, sometimes stopping to put her hands on the floor to regain her balance and then continuing on toddling towards me, arms up, gleeful smile on her face.

Olivia noticed how much she was walking tonight. "Wow Mom, she's walking so much now!"

Stella stands up with an intent look on her face, walks over to Olivia, grabs her hands and starts walking in a circle. You see, this past weekend Livi started playing "Ring around the Rosie" with her. So tonight she decided that she wanted to play that game over and over with her biggest sister.

And so she keeps learning, keeps surprising me, keeps keeping me on my toes. Slow and steady, slow and steady.