Grace is dancing

One of the biggest fears that I had when I received the diagnosis that our baby has Down syndrome, was that he wouldn't have a good quality of life.  I worried about his heart, because 50% of babies born with Down syndrome have heart defects.  I worried about his digestion, his growth, his physical capabilities...because all of these things can be affected.  And because we don't know what he's truly capable of yet, we marvel at each and every accomplishment.  The feeling of tears still spring up at the back of my eyes when Elijah breaks out into that smile-that-lights-up-his-face.  And we hear a little laugh now and again, and the tears threaten my eyes there too...his little laugh that's preceded by a simple "Heh".  Now, we're getting to some of our bigger milestones, not completely there yet, mind you...but getting there.  The first being that he is starting to lift his head and support himself on his arms. 





It is heaven to see him responding with a little smile, like he loves the encouragement and is just a little proud of himself too.  Throughout my pregnancy and now that we get to experience him everyday, I can tell that his spirit is strong.  He's a little fighter.  He's gonna fight for it, and that teaches me everyday to not overlook the little things that make up the big picture.  We can choose to spend our days worrying and stressing about our careers, our homes, our relationships or we can choose to just put one foot in front of the other and do the work.  I'm tired of negativity.  It's not that I don't go there occasionally, because I do. But, I'm tired of it.  Because it does NOTHING except rob you of potentially beautiful experiences and reminders that life is short, sweet, and precious.  We take it for granted most of the time.  I went to a 2 year old's birthday party today with both of the boys.  We had a great time, hung out with some cool people and had a few more out-in-the-world experiences.  A friend I saw at the party, turned me onto this singer named Tyrone Wells.  He told me that Tyrone Wells had written a song about a little girl born extremely premature and with Down syndrome, who had the worst possible prognosis.  The doctors believed she would never walk, talk or play.  Her parents named her Grace with hopes that she would survive.  Survive and one day dance.  Two years later when Tyrone Wells contacted the family, they said, "Grace is dancing."  He named his song, "Grace is Dancing" and although I couldn't find it to upload to my music player, I did find a You Tube clip.  The song is phenomenal, but what you'll see in this clip is even better than that...so, grab your tissues...(You will want to pause the music player found at the very bottom of my blog, so you don't have overlapping sound.)



One day, I will say the same of my little Elijah.  I full intend to teach Elijah to dance...to REALLY dance.  He may not love it, or even like it and that would be okay.  But if there is any spark, any little inkling of interest, then I will teach him everything I know.  Whoever said you had to only teach a girl about the love of dance? With that said, I am attempting to put Christian in a boys hip hop class in September.  It could be a complete failure, with the teacher shooting me darts through her eyes at enrolling him, or it could be the cutest thing in the world.  I'm gonna put him in some low rider jeans with his "Cars" underwear sticking out and a backwards hat...just to see... :)

It was a good, good weekend.  Got a little girl time for myself (complete with lunches, yoga, massages, brunch and cocktails- Happy Birthday Kristi and KB!) and got some cherished quality time with my boys.  Here is one of my favorite moments:



Elijah busts out the big-gun smiles, as Christian peeks through the hole and declares, "TA-DA!!!!!"