Who We Are- WDSD 2013

When we started this journey 2 and 1/2 years ago, we had no idea what to expect. Our firsthand knowledge about Down syndrome was limited at best and everywhere we turned, we heard more negatives than positives. We didn't reach out to the Ds community (in fact, I'm pretty sure that we had little idea that such a large community even existed!). We moved through the days remaining before Liddy's birth in a fog, never knowing that love and support was as close as reaching out through our computer screens.
2 years ago, on March 21st, 2011, everything changed for us. As I haltingly, hesitantly made my way through what seemed like thousands of posts, I cried a whole lot. And something more...those posts celebrating kids and adults who shared an extra chromosome with my Liddy showed me a whole new world existed that I never dreamed of. I opened my heart, my mind and my arms to a whole new family.
Over the last two years, I have grown to dearly love this worldwide family. There have been so many times that I don't know how I would have made it through that first year without them.We HAVE a support system, a loving family and truly amazing friends, yet somehow having friends who have walked in your shoes and have paved the way for you gives you courage and strength that you didn't know you had. The difference between those first bumbling steps into the Ds world to the confident strides we now walk with are in part largely due to these amazing ladies and gents who have shown us the way......

So who are we today? We are an average family who has faced what to some seem like extraordinary challenges. We are battle scarred, yet those scars add to our beauty, not detract away from it. We are stronger than we could have ever imagined we could be. We have faced the darkest days we could have dreamed of two and a half years ago and emerged into the light again, more confident, more faithful, more dedicated, more amazing than ever before. We have realized that the dreams we had for Liddy are still achievable, still within our grasp, and that she is perfectly capable of becoming whoever she sets her mind to be. We are more in love with our daughter, our sister, our grandchild, our niece, and our cousin than we could have ever believed was possible. We are inspired by her determination, her grace, and her inner beauty on a daily basis. This girl SHINES.

Who is Liddy? Well, that answer is a little more complicated. ;) She is a fanny shaking, finger snapping, car dancing angel. She is a sassy and sweet princess who never lets you forget for a single moment that SHE rules this household and has all of its occupants wrapped around her tiny crooked pinky. She is a little sister totally enraptured with her big brothers (and totally captivating to them as well). She is bubbly, and spunky, and stubborn. She is the very sunshine on a cloudy day. She is giggles and grins, pouty lips and crocodile tears. She is belly laughs and silliness. She is typical two year old attitude coupled with sweet baby loving. In essence, the light of our lives. :)
Happy World Down syndrome Day! Looking forward to a lifetime of celebrating the tiny package of dynamite we named Lydia Anne.