Faith, Hope, Love: Nine.

I promise, I really don't intend to go so long between updates! I do have a few things to share:

1) On October 8th, we will have a team walking in the local Step Up for Down Syndrome walk to raise money for the local Down syndrome association. Our goal is to raise $1,000, please consider donating to "Octavia's Arsenal" to sponsor us! The link can be found here.

2) A few months ago, I became a rep for The Gourmet Cupboard. The reason I joined TGC (aside from the fact that I love their products!) is to help families in the process of adopting. TGC has a fundraising opportunity and I would like to extend this opportunity to as many families in the process of adopting as possible! I am also willing to do fundraisers for school clubs, churches, or anyone else in need of a fundraiser. For fundraisers, you earn $1.50 for each individual mix sold and 50% on fundraising packages. There is potential to earn a LOT of money from these fundraisers!

A little bit about TGC: The Gourmet Cupboard makes cooking simple. Their gourmet mixes are handmade using only the finest gourmet ingredients at just the right proportions. Each mix includes all the dry ingredients, all you need are the sour cream, water, cream cheese, meat, etc. All products are individually made at the time of your order and most contain no MSG or preservatives.

The product line includes soups, meals, side dishes, sweet and savory dips, teas, coffees, muffins & breads, desserts, diabetic friendly & sugar free, cookies, seasonings, salads & dressings, and SO much more!

Besides making cooking easier on you, TGC mixes make great gifts!

The fundraiser I have going on right now is for a family in the process of adopting "Laura", a little girl I had the pleasure of meeting while I was adopting Octavia. The link for their fundraiser can be found here.

3) You probably want to know how the little one is doing, right? I saved the best for last! Octavia is thriving and learning new things every day! She started Early On in July and has had a handful of visits with her therapist. She will be working with her therapist once a week now that school is in session. What is Early On? Early On serves infants and toddlers from birth to 36 months with developmental delay or conditions that could lead to such delay. It has been well established that early intervention is an effective way to prevent or reduce problems for children at a later age.

Octavia's accomplishments:
- Walking, she's walking approximately 50% of the time
- Self feeding, she can feed herself with a spoon
- First haircut
- Stacks blocks, the blocks she has are similar to these Squeeze Blocks
- Drink out of a straw, Munchkin 7oz Weighted Straw Sippy Cup is the first straw sippy she's been able to use.
- First camping trip
- Words, Octavia says at least 10 words, including bye, hi, dog, bubbles, thank you, sit, out, ball, mom, oh, and uh oh
- Gestures, she can wave, give kisses, clap, and raise her arms when you say "so big!"

Last week, Octavia had an appointment with an eye doctor, who referred us to a specialist. The first ophthalmologist she saw suspects that Octavia has blocked tear ducts and the specialist we see on next week should give us more definitive answers. I initially scheduled the eye appointment because I was concerned she was getting strabismus in one eye. However, that is not the case. Children with DS sometimes have small folds of skin at the inner corners of their eyes, called Epicanthal folds.

And now... OCTAVIA SPAM!!!!! I adore this girl so much! She brightens my day, every day and can always make me laugh!