Reflection

This little Lambie-Lump-of-Love is turning One in a week.  Can you believe that?  ONE!  I've been catching myself having feelings of nostalgia lately, as I get little memories and feelings that I had this time last year.  I was very pregnant.  Although technically not due for another four weeks.  I was busy thinking about labor plans and childcare and cleaning the house and trying to come up with baby names.

On March 21st, I stumbled upon this blog post.  I had only been to that blog one other time, months before.  Yet somehow I ended up there on World Down Syndrome day....five days before I gave birth to my own precious child with Down syndrome.  It was one of the many little ways God had been preparing my heart all along.

And now, almost a year later, it is amazing how much things have changed.  Things I never, ever, would have imagined.  I am an expert at rattling off a list of diagnosis to various health providers.  I am on first-name basis with many therapists in the valley.  And I now have a degree in medical billing.  But most importantly, I have been opened up to a world of acceptance.  Of love without limits.  And of huge, huge blessing.

Yet at the same time, things are exactly the same.  I am a Mama, and have five wonderful children.  I have a sweet, sweet baby, who nurses and coos and laughs, just as he should.  I see my children for who they are, and not where they were born, what color skin they have, or how many chromosomes they have.  They are all equal, and special, in their own way.

I have learned so much about life through my children this past year.  Like how when I tried to explain to Emma that Braxton will look different as he grows up, and her response was, "Mama, all people look different".  And how, to this day, she still wouldn't be able to single out a person with Down syndrome from a group of people.

Total, blind, acceptance.

I have a lot to learn.  And I am so, so thankful that I am finally learning even just a tiny bit.  My life is so much fuller.  So much richer.  And I can't wait to see where it leads!

This was Braxton at 11 months.

He loves his Daddy.  Forget trying to nurse him when Daddy's in the room - he will crane his head any direction to see what Daddy is doing or has to say.

Braxton has made noticeable strides lately in his development.  He is playing with his mouth more, reaching for things more, and twisting around all over the place.  He had a bit of a rough start, but since his surgery he is making up for it.

Now, excuse me, as I go get my Love Muffin up from his nap.