Wow, what a week! Here’s a quick timeline:
This past Monday at 4:30 in the afternoon I published a post about a Target ad that featured a model who was born with Down Syndrome. Within thirty minutes I noticed an extremely high level of traffic on our blog and started looking into it. Within an hour it was clear the post has gone viral. The post quickly received coverage on several major sites including The Daily Beast, Reddit, AdWeek, The Daily What, Jezebel, MSNBC, and many others; it received over 16 21 thousand Facebook likes, and has been tweeted almost 3,000 times! And the rest, as the say…is internet history.
A Thank You
To everyone who has read, shared, commented, liked, tweeted, emailed, and stumbled our site in the last few days I want to say thank you. I’ll be sharing more details later, but I want each of you to know how much you have helped us get this important message out to the world.
The message that all people are due dignity, love, and a right to personhood.
From the bottom of my heart thank you for taking the time to tell someone about our site, and in turn helping to move this message of personhood forward.
An Introduction
"Hi, I'm Noah. Welcome to my story."
Our goal is to post a one minute video each day. During this video posts we share whatever happens to be going on in Noah’s life that day…and sprinkle in lots of tips and advice that other parents may find helpful as well. We’re telling his story in chronological order and you may notice we’re a little behind on our daily videos, but don’t worry. We’re getting caught up, and I think you’ll enjoy the story we’re telling just the same. We invite you to be a part of this real time narrative we are sharing with the world.
10 Of Our Favorite Blog Posts To Get You Started
Here's a few of our yummiest posts! Hope you enjoy.
For those of you new here I wanted to give you a few of our favorite and most helpful posts to get you started. At the bottom of every post you’ll find additional posts that you may be interested in. We encourage you to click around, share, explore. If you have any questions about anything you read or see here, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
1. Noah’s Birth Story: How Down Syndrome Changed Our Life….For The Better
2. New Parent Guide To Down Syndrome
3. 3 Characteristics To Look For In Your Child’s Physical Therapist
4. Best Resources For New And Expecting Parents Of Children Born With Down Syndrome
5. Celebrating Wins (Both Big and Small)
6. 1 Year Ago Today: Reflections On The Scariest Week Of My Life
7. How My 9 Month Old (And My iMac) Taught Me That All Kids With Down Syndrome Aren’t “Angels”
8. 1 Major Goal Of Physical Therapy For Children Born With Down Syndrome
9. 3 Free Gifts Your Child Will Like Better Than An iPad
10. Four Cheap (But Effective) Child Developmental Tools
Bouns: Be sure to check out Noah’s Milestone page to see (and stay updated) on some of his life highlights!
These posts will give you idea of what we are all about. We encourage comments and give you full permission to ask anything you’d like.
We are thankful that you took the time to visit our site, and are honored to have you on this journey with us. Please take a second to subscribe to our RSS feed, sign up to receive our daily videos by email, and join our growing Facebook community. Please be sure to post a picture of your family on our Facebook page; we enjoy being able to learn about your story as well
How did you find out about our website? Please leave a comment below and let us know. Thanks! 🙂
About Rick Smith
A little thanks back to you for being a voice for celebrating dignity and love for all. Our children are defined by their humanity and spirit, not by their chromosomes – all they need is love, like all of us. From one Dad to another, thank you for standing for our children.
Thank you very much. I really appreciate the kind words. I’m also thankful to see so many dads step up and become a voice for those who have none.
We love you guys. Praising God for the way He’s using your blog.
Thanks Joel. Same here. 🙂
New member, thanks to your Target blog …. loved it. 🙂 Inspired me to thank the lady at the service desk in Target yesterday when I stopped to make a return. I asked her to let her management team know, for those of us with children that have disabilities, it means a lot to us to see that kind of unspoken, natural inclusion. To you, Noah’s Dad, thanks for shedding the light on it! Looking forward to continue reading and getting to know your son through your words.
Wow, very cool. Go you! 🙂
Thanks for following our son’s story. 🙂
I found your blog by the “post that went viral” and I decided to stick around.
My blog reading queue is quite strange, if you stop and think about it. Most of the blogs I read are knitting or fiber-related. I have a couple from friends from high school and college and then there are a couple of blogs that I read that deal with education and/or special education. Yours falls into that category.
My BA is in elementary education and psychology. I’ve been working on another BA in special education. My focus would be on learning disabilities but I have found that it does me no harm in knowing other things.
I am also a parent. My son does not have a disability in the true sense of the word but he does have a metabolic disorder that does have an impact on his daily life and we do need to be aware of it. I want my son to grow up in a world where it doesn’t matter if someone is black, white, purple, in a wheelchair, religious, gay, tall, fat, etc. I know it’s kind of a pipe dream but I’d like him to know that it’s perfectly okay to be different because we’re all unique and that’s just how it is.
So, the blog post that went viral…yeah, I found you. Thank you Facebook. I hate it but it does some good once in awhile…
So good to meet you. Thanks for “sticking around.”
I saw your blog by the way…I actually think that knitting is cool! I look browsing Esty for fun hats for Noah. Maybe one day I can learn how to make him some myself. 🙂
Rick,
So happy your blog went viral.
Here is an article about my inspiring brother, which will give you a little glimpse of what kids with Downs Syndrome are capable of and the love and inspiration they bring to their communities.
http://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/JJ-Goldstein-on-his-mark-set-and-ready-to-go,2950?page=1&content_source=
As you can see, I am am jewish. My brother is very active in an organization called Yachad (hebrew for “together”) which my family has been involved with even before my brother was born. Is there any such organization for the Christian community?
Again, that you so much for giving us this glimpse into your life, faith and mind. You and your wife are a very inspiring couple and I am sure Noah has an amazing future in front of him.
Thanks for saying hi, and for leaving a link. I can’t wait to check it out.
We look forward to learning more about you guys as well.
Found you when your post went viral and I’ll be sticking around.
Reading over your blog the past day or so, I just want to say that you all seem like awesome people (and parents) and that your son is really, really frickin’ melt-your-heart, I want to hug him adorable. 🙂
Thank you for writing and having this blog. You are doing something good.
Akire
Thank you very much for your kind words. I’m just doing what any did who loves his son would do. 🙂
Glad you decided to stick around, and I hope you enjoy our son’s story that we are telling.
Hopefully we helped it go viral too as we featured it on the PediaStaff blog (http://ht.ly/8kp1T), newsletter and on our Pinterest page (http://pinterest.com/pediastaff/)which has almost 7000 followers.
I was planning on emailing you actually to let you know about that site. We have collected over 7000 resources for special needs – mostly therapy and activity ideas – Even though we created it for therapists, feel free to let your readers know about it. We are finding that hundreds of special parents are really enjoying the site as well.
Keep up the awesome work. Let me know if you ever want/need a guest blog from a pediatric therapist. We have great contacts! You can reach me at heidi@pediastaff.com
That’s a very cool web site.
@Mike,
yes it yes. PediaStaff rocks!
Awesome, feel free to email me anytime. And your site is great, we are fans. I want to talk to you about doing some guests posts for us also. Let’s be sure to stay in touch. 🙂
Thank you very much for all of your encouragement and support. We are PediaStaff’s friends! 🙂
I just found your blog while reading through The Daily What. While I don’t have any kids and do not personally know anyone with DS, I do love your blog. Thank you for sharing your story and journey through this blog. Noah is beautiful, and is his dad.
Thank you very much. So cool you came and checked out our site. I hope you’ll follow along as we tell Noah’s story.
The Target post was best post I ever had the pleasure of sharing. However, it’s you and your wife (and of course, Noah, too) who deserve all the thanks. I couldn’t be more grateful for you all sharing the very many ups to Downs and that kids with different abilities aren’t really that different than any other kid! I first started following Noah several months ago while doing research for a friend, who, found out her daughter had T21 while pregnant. She was scared about what to expect, so, I did some digging and here I am, several months later, still following Noah’s growth and development. I absolutely adore Noah and every night, my husband and I pray that the world will change it’s ways and make putting limitations on differently abled kids a thing of the past! Keep up the great work breaking down the barriers and erasing the stigma associated with DS! I promise to do my part by teaching my son (w/out DS) that even though people are different, we are all still very much the same, and should be treated as such.
Kim thank you!! You and your husband seem like great parents…and great friends to your friends!
Thank you for the very kind words….we really appreciate them. Look forward to ‘seeing’ you around. 🙂
Thank you for this site and your love and appreciation for your son. I too have a grandson who has many challenges and I am 73 years old. He brightens every day of our lives and is treated with respect and not unlike any other child. He is the love of our lives and we (my husband and myself) love the fact that those of us who are raising children with challenges love the whole person. Thanks for your input and we understand you completely.
Thank you for commenting. You sounds like AWESOME grandparents. 🙂
I bet your grandson LOVESSSS you guys! 🙂
I found your blog from the Target post as well. Although I don’t have a child with Down Syndrome, I am a former Special Education teacher and have three sons with mild disabilities. They are undiagnosed, but have hypotonia and Sensory Processing Disorder, so I can completely relate to all the therapies that your cute little Noah has.
I commend you both for this blog. You’ve definitely got a new reader here, and I’ll be passing on the link to all the great therapists and teachers I know!
Thank you very much Shannon. We also have a great Facebook community also if you haven’t already seen it. Tons of great families. We invite you to be a part of our page if you haven’t already —> http://facebook.com/noahsdad.com
We look forward to getting to know you more as well.
Hello, I just found your blog while I as googeling for blogs about DS. Your son is soooo cute! I live in Sweden and have a daughter that also has DS. She’ll soon be 10 months old. Now I’m off to read a little more on your blog.
Wow…so cool to connect with someone from Sweden…! (Will you send us chocolate!) 🙂
I saw your blog…it looks like you guys have ALL kinds of fun at your house. So neat.
I’m not sure if you have seen our Facebook page…but we’d love for you to post a picture of your daughter….we all enjoy pictures . Look forward to learning more about your story.
http://facebook.com/noahsdad.com
I have thoroughly enjoyed going through some of your older posts and getting to know you and your family. Noah is a little doll-baby (I can say that about a boy, right?!) and is as precious as he can be! I don’t have a child with DS, but my son is on the Autism Spectrum and so much of what you say, resonates with ANY special needs child, no matter the disability. I want people to see my son for who he is (sweet, funny, smart as can be and handsome as a devil!) and not for what he has (Autism/ADHD).
thank you for sharing your thoughts – I LOVE the videos!! What an ingenious idea!
Jenn,
Thank you very much for the kind words. We really appreciate you stopping by our blog and saying hi.
Hope we get to see you around more. 🙂
I just found your blog while I as googeling for blogs about DS. Your son is soooo cute! I live in Sweden and have a daughter that also has DS. She’ll soon be 10 months old. Now I’m off to read a little more on your blog.
I think you are all amazing and I have been touched by so many people with disabilities! I love your blogs and look forward to them daily!