Down Syndrome Awareness Month!

HEY, FRIENDS! Guess what? It is October and you know what that means?!?
It is officially Down Syndrome Awareness Month!!! Woo hoooo!!!! Get excited. You know I am.

I haven’t written in a while because more often than not, this life feels so normal. Crazy and hectic and loud and normal.
Disability is not a word I think of often.

Our family feels so right. It feels like it is so exactly how it is supposed to be that sometimes I forget Jade is different at all. She’s not different to us… she’s just the way she was meant to be and she’s perfect.
But then I read a comment or I hear an offhand comment that someone says and I remember. I remember that some people feel the need to pity us. That some don’t know what to say. That some feel uncomfortable around Jade. These realizations are a bit of a punch in the gut, but more than anything I feel bad– not for us, but for them. I feel bad that they are so set in their way of thinking that they cannot accept how wonderful this life truly is for us. That they think the only explanation is that we’re putting up a front. That there can simply not be so much joy in raising a child with Down syndrome.

Let me assure you that this is not a front. This joy is pure and genuine.

Jade is an absolute gift to our family. I cannot imagine life without her. She has changed me in so many ways… so many wonderful ways. I am unbelievably grateful to be her mom.

You should see the way she giggles when I agree to put her favorite show on. You should see the way her smile lights up her whole face and body when she sees her baby brother. You should hear the pride in her voice when she talks about him and her sisters. You should feel the incredible hugs she gives me when I come downstairs in the morning, or get back from the grocery store, or just snuggle with her on the couch in the middle of the day. You should watch the way she plays with her sisters. You should hear the way she tells them that they are “so kind” or that’s she’s “so proud” of them.
She is pure joy.

I think about the future and I have no idea what it looks like. But I am excited for it. Maybe Jade will live in our house forever. Maybe she will live in a cute little she-shed on our property. Maybe she’ll have her own apartment in a city.
Maybe she’ll fall in love, get married, and start a family.
I have no idea what the future holds but I am excited for it, whatever it may be. I just want her to be happy because she makes me happier and more proud than I ever knew was possible.

Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month!

As always, I am here to answer any questions you have about Jade, our family, or Down syndrome in general– this month and for the rest of forever. 😊

💛💙