5 Reasons I Smile

The ultimate goal of this blog is to spread awareness and show how beautiful life can be. We have four amazing daughters. Our youngest was born with Down syndrome. If just one person stops here and leaves with a different, better perspective about Down syndrome, then it is worth it. Regardless, I have 5 Reasons to Smile!



Monday, April 25, 2011

"I wish that I could have

this moment for life, for life, cause in this moment I just feel so alive"...I love that chorus in the song by Nicki Minaj. If I knew how to play music on my blog you would have heard that song as soon as you opened this up.

One day, when I have time (ha ha), I'll figure out how to play music on my blog. If I was playing music tonight, here is a sample of my play list (just to name a few):

Katy Perry-Fireworks
Kanye West-All of the Lights
Mary J Blige-Just Fine
U2-It's a Beautiful Day
Cold Play-Viva La Vida
Beyonce-Halo
The Temper Trap-Sweet Disposition

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Moments in Life.

I wrote this in a blog post from APRIL 3, 2010 (If I could link to that post I would, but I haven't learned how to link to posts yet)...I promised myself if I was going to blog, I was going to be honest and real. We had a great day yesterday afternoon. The girls made cut-out sugar cookies and dyed Easter eggs. Then my mom came up to stay with them while Diondray and I went Easter shopping and out for a late dinner. It was a great day. As Diondray and I were getting into bed I began to cry. It was a soft cry and he only heard because my nose started to run and I began to sniff. He asked me what was wrong and I said "at this moment I feel sad." Then he asked me what I was thinking about and I said "don't say she will walk and next year she will be walking....because I know that. I just never thought that I would be taking our 20-month old to an Easter egg hunt tomorrow and she wouldn't be walking or running to collect eggs."

It's a moment that comes from out of the blue. I feel this sadness that I don't want to feel. But it is real. I haven't had a moment like that in awhile, a moment when I actually cried. He put his hand on mine and said, "it's OK to be sad." I laid there for awhile before falling a sleep.

I titled that post: a moment of sadness

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Moments in life, some are tiny and affect us for a few seconds. Some are enormous and can alter the way we think, feel and live. I had a life altering moment when I received Kamryn's diagnosis. It was a moment, that change my life forever. It changed my life. Who I was. What I believed. It was an up close and personal realization that life is uncontrollable, unpredictable and all about choice.

This year, Kamryn was walking and hop-skipping (she has made that move up) as she collected eggs. (Which, honestly she collected about two eggs and was happy and done.) As I watched the girls collect eggs, smiling and running with that carefree child-like bounce to them--I paused and took in the moment, which is something I try to do often. I think we get so caught up in life, we forget to enjoy, soak-up and feel the moments that exist through out the day, some so tiny you could miss. I felt the happiness and I remembered the moment I had last year, the moment of sadness. And because of what I experienced last year, this moment was twice as sweet.

Moments make up our lives. The tiny moments, BIG MOMENTS, happy, sad, exciting, horrible, wonderful, amazing moments add up to the life we are living. My life is full of wonderful moments. I have also experienced a few not so wonderful moments, and I soak them up too...because all moments can lead to something beautiful.



Easter Egg Hunt 2011










Easter 2011



Friday, April 1, 2011

What a Day! And a year of Blogging!

The girls began Spring break today and the weather has decided to co-operate with their time off. It was 85 degrees...off to the beach we went! I don't have great pictures, but we had a great day, with great friends!







Just last week we had rain for several days in a row and then...


As soon as the rain stopped, we headed out. As busy as we are, we hadn't been on a bike ride in some time. There is nothing like a good old-fashioned bike ride.






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5 Reasons I Smile....I started my blog in March of last year. I wish I new how to put the link here for my first post. I titled it Starting Somewhere. (you can go back to it at the side bar)

Wow, I am somewhere.

My children have given me so many amazing, precious gifts. I continue to grow, discover and transform because of them. I feel like I am the luckiest mom in the world to be blessed with my four girls.

One of the gifts Kamryn has given me is the gift of clarity. It is so clear to me that I need to focus and put my energy into today. Before I had her, I thought I was doing that. I was, however not in the more simplistic sense that I do now.

I used to assume that all my children would go to college, find an amazing man to spend and enjoy their life with, discover a career they are passionate about, have children and live happily ever after.

Now, I hope all my children will live happily ever after.

I don't know or assume what that will be. I just put my energy into raising strong, polite, compassionate, confident women. With humbled hearts that are full of love and joy.

And I enjoy every day. Rain or shine, because I want them to.

I blog because of Kamryn. I wasn't blogging before her. I am not a writer. I don't have extra time. It is not a hobby and even though it still scares me to share my life, our life with whoever wants to read it, I have a reason. She is it and she is pretty amazing.

A Kamryn update.

She loves Yogurt Creations!




She is great at independent play. She took that toy from the play room and set it up right there to play!



She had the stomach flu :(
Gosh, she is so cute!


She is determined!




She can do this in 2.2 seconds.


It was a great day and it has been a beautiful year.