Diamonds in your eyes

There is an immense list of things associated with Down Syndrome- both physical traits and common medical conditions. The one physical trait that has kind of fascinated me is called Brushfield spots. They are little white speckles around the outer edge of the irises of the eyes. Now, that I'm 7 weeks in with my little Elijah, and the memorizing of every inch of his face and body is well under way, I've noticed that I think he does have Brushfield spots in his eyes- and I think they are beautiful. They look like little sparkling diamonds in his eyes. I've been a little disappointed because Elijah hardly looks me in the eyes- unlike when Christian was a baby and was almost freakishly focused, Elijah has been much harder to get a focused stare out of. Now, I realize that it is early to expect this, but I'm just so ready to stare into those deep blue eyes for hours on end. However, I woke up today and suddenly I got a lot of stares out of Eli! We had some good eye lock time, mostly while he was nursing. It's almost like he knew I was wanting this, and woke up today and said, "Don't worry Mom, I'm gonna memorize your face too." So, I got to memorize the inside of his eyes a little today. They are deep cobalt blue with sparkling diamonds, and are just a little almond shaped. I think I might be just a little bit envious...I was so worried about what Elijah would look like once I knew that he had Down syndrome, but now I can't imagine anything more beautiful. My sister came over last week and proclaimed, "Babies don't come any cuter than him!" Plus, today I got a handful of smiles. The smiles still aren't fully intended for me, but they are adorable smiles none the less. He smiles when he nurses. He drinks and then stops for a smile. I couldn't help but laugh and yell out, "Elijah's smiling!" Christian dropped everything he was doing and would run over saying, "I wanna see Elijah smile!" Sadly, the smiles were fleeting and Christian missed seeing them, but I have a feeling he might be the one in the family to get that first, full-out grin. My money's on Christian. You should see the subtle ways that Elijah responds to him. This baby already loves his big brother!

Elijah had his final follow up with the Pediatric Cardiologist this morning. I love that I get to say final follow up. We already had great news about Elijah's heart, but the cardiologist wanted one last follow up just in case. His heart was pumping a little bit stronger on the left side of his body, although it was almost in normal range. (The doctor said something about 15 (something) being normal and his was 16 (something), so it was almost normal at our last appointment. I know....I astound on the medical jargon.) Today, the doctor said the left side was even more normal sounding than during his last visit. He said "normal" and "perfect" a lot today. I floated off the ground just a little each time he did. So, unless something happens down the line, we won't have to be going back to see a pediatric cardiologist. Woo hoo! Plus he's gained a little more than a pound and a half and grown almost an additional 3 inches in a month!!

Oh my little Peanut, I couldn't be more in love with you!