Hudson's Journey
Hudson’s Journey: Celebrating the Journey – The Power of Hudson’s “EXTRA”
My Final Article This morning, as I watched Frozen 2 with Hudson, a line from Olaf stood out to me: “One born with ‘powers’ and one born ‘powerless.’” Anna’s reaction, a scowl on her face after hearing this, caught my attention. Despite lacking magical powers, Anna’s strength, courage, and perseverance were undeniable. This moment in the film…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Planning
Planning for the future is filled with both excitement and uncertainty. The future holds many variables that complicate the planning process, some within our control and others completely out of it. Hindsight ma y be 20/20, but when trying to predict the future, you’ll likely encounter numerous forks in the road. Depending on the…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Joyful Noises
Christmas is here and we are counting our blessings. When I was a little girl, I started collecting Precious Moments figures. My Granny Joy and I shared love for these collectibles and they almost became an obsession. My favorite ones were the Christmas ones and the “Make a Joyful Noise” figurine. Loving the cheekiness in…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Wonderfully Weird
November is here! Thank you to everyone who celebrated Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October; we have so much to be thankful for. It’s okay to keep the celebrations going every day. I do. My chosen title may have you wondering why I used the dreaded “weird” word; because, I see how sensitive we’ve…
Read MoreNational Disability Employment Awareness Month: Past Time for Needed Change
By: Mika Hartman October is here. As we commemorate both Down Syndrome Awareness Month and National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), I can reflect on what I have learned on this journey, share some of the hard truths and hope for a better tomorrow for my son. Hudson is only 6; however, the dreams I…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Family
Each year , National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC) host a conference. If you are lucky, you don’t miss it; you can’t miss it, so much happens in a year of research and technology. I attended my first one in 2022 in New Orleans and was immediately filled with hope, inspired by everyone there and…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Obvious
If given the opportunity to take away my son’s extra chromosome, I would not. If given the opportunity to remove some of his ailments due to his extra chromosome, I absolutely would. To make his life easier and healthier, that’s our daily goal, our “everyday” mission. I keep Hudson in a bubble, outside of therapy…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Rare
Recently, CJ took us on a beautiful vacation. We love cruising for many reasons, so we boarded the newest ship The Icon of the Seas. Traveling with Hudson presents many challenges, but we know his life needs to be more than doctors appointments and therapy. Huddy is six and he’s been on six cruises. This…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: “EXTRA Empathy”
By Mika Hartman Hudson is my hero; however, you don’t need superpowers to sense other people’s emotions or need a power to tell you what someone else might be thinking or feeling. It’s called “empathy”. Some have these senses more than others. It took me being a momma to a child with special needs…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Audibles
The word “audible” automatically makes us think American football; I can hear Peyton Manning yelling “Omaha” as I am typing. Actually, calling an “audible” can be applied to most everything we do. Some people are great with the quick pivoting and some have difficulty in change(s) to routine. In my world, “audibles” are a must.…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Wonderfully Made
It has been in the news a lot about promoting abortion for disabled babies, even in the State of the Union Address. A lady in Texas crossed the border to secure her abortion of her disabled daughter, a daughter she would have kept had no diagnosis been present. Disabled lives matter. We removed God…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Acts of Kindness
March is here and the old saying, “out like a lion, in like a lamb” may be true about the weather; but it’s also about everything that was cold finding a new warmth. Blooming, coming out of hibernation, cheerful colors and more kindness, well. seems to follow. This month holds one of…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Alert – PURPLE!
As a parent, we fear so many things while raising our children. We understand the underlying risks in most of our daily adventures, but we always think “not us” and we choose to live. We all do our best to teach our children to be safe in a world where bad and dangerous exsists; it…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Kisses at Midnight
Happy 2024! As we all plan for the coming year, the possible and impossible resolutions made, the highest hope for a better tomorrow, I know whose hands our future falls in: Our children. Linda Creed wrote the lyrics for the mega hit that originally was recorded by George Benson and later by the…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Silent Nights
During this Christmas season, we all get overwhelmed with all the “things to do” to have the most “perfect” Christmas. “Perfect” is subjective, isn’t it? My perfect is likely both similar and different to yours. One of the biggest differences is that my little guy won’t be sharing his biggest desires for the holidays. Nonverbal…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Charming
When you try something new, there can be hesitation. Like riding a bike. It’s exciting, but when your dad lets go and you likely will fall. You get up and try again. The reward of independently riding is worth the risk. Some days give me that feeling of riding a bike, like, I got this.…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Hope, EXTRA Healing
Happy October! To all our extra amazing friends, Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month! This month has all the feels to mommas like me. We celebrate this month with hope, we take this time to teach others who are not on this journey, we count our blessings and we pray that this month opens…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Steps
October is quickly approaching, and for moms like me, that means it’s almost “Buddy Walk’ season. The National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) kicks off every year with a walk in New York City; this is the original location of NDSS’s Buddy Walk and it began in 1995. The Buddy Walk program was established to promote…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Big Dreams
This morning, I am writing this from the seventh floor of the Marriott in Orlando, in the quiet of my room; however, this weekend has been anything but quiet. The theme surrounding this years National Down Syndrome Congress Conference was “Dreams do come true…”. At each and every turn we were all witnesses to this…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRAordinary
In 1959, the iconic Barbie doll went on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City. Since this time, over a billion Barbies have been sold. I grew up with Barbies and even had a nice collection, in my early 20’s, of collector Barbie dolls. When Mattel started creating Barbie dolls that…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Perfect Day
After sailing on the 2022 Buddy Cruise, I knew it was not only something that every family on this journey deserves, but I also recognize that this journey has more expenses for some and vacations this big can be hard to go on. So I thought outside the box; if I could raise awareness, raise…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Bold, EXTRA Loud, EXTRA Worthy
“Our children are worthy of EQUITABLE SPACE in this world. This is non-negotiable.” -Heather Avis of The Lucky Few Podcast This week my family had the honor of using our voices for needed change. We traveled to Washington D.C.; alongside National Down Syndrome Society, National Down Syndrome Congress, GLOBAL Down Syndrome Foundation and…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Good
Life is life. Some seem to walk around on “easy street”, while others struggle with everything. Some people celebrate 75 years of marriage, while others remarry more than once. Some of us are given a life we didn’t know we wanted, until it is ours. And many will never understand how lucky the ones selected…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Chairs
Last month, I mentioned that we all deserve to have a “seat at the table”; Hudson shouldn’t need his own table because he was born with an extra chromosome. I think I can make this make a whole lot more sense: When Goldie Locks was testing chairs, beds and porridge, she found 2…
Read MoreHudson’s Journey: EXTRA Valuable
What makes a person valuable? It is not about money, that would make you wealthy. It’s about being helpful and useful. A valuable person will have a positive energy and they will be someone who attracts others by being trustworthy and dependable. Having a positive look on life and circumstance will always have a warmth…
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