31 for 21

October is Down syndrome awareness month, and I have committed to blogging at least once each day for the entire month.  All in the name of raising awareness for Down syndrome.  That means 31 posts from me will hopefully help others out there learn a little more about Trisomy 21.  I hope someone will read here and see how incredibly “normal” our life is. 

One year ago, Down syndrome wasn’t even on my radar.  I knew what it was.  I had actually studied about it a fair amount during my schooling for my master’s degree.  {A little-known fact about me…I have a Master’s Degree in speech-language pathology.  Yep.  I worked at two schools for a total of about 12 months after getting my degree.  I “retired” a few months prior to the birth of our second child and have been a stay-at-home mom ever since.  And I have forgotten most of what I learned to get my degree.  It may be time to pull out the old textbooks!}  Back to Down syndrome…a year ago I would have never thought I’d be on this road today.  I remember wondering about the possibility while I was pregnant with our first child, and when we she was born with 46 chromosomes, I never really thought about Down syndrome again.

I think about Down syndrome a lot now.  We’re still pretty new to this adventure, so I’m still trying to get my sea legs.  But aside from the experience of heart surgery and a few extra appointments with specialists, Daniel has been just like any of my other four kids.  He eats, he sleeps, he poops (a lot!), a smiles, he giggles, he' grabs everything he can…you can see where this is going.  And he has us all wrapped oh-so-tightly around his little finger.  He is my adorable and charming gift, and I feel so blessed to get to be a part of his life.

Thanks for coming along on our journey.  Be sure to click on the big yellow button on the right side if you want to check out other bloggers who are part of the “31 for 21” challenge.