A Special Thanks

So, I am a very inconsistent blogger and when it comes to this blog, it makes me feel like I’m a very inconsistent advocate for Down Syndrome. I really need to work on that.

This past weekend I received an outpouring of love, well wishes, compliments and notes from friends, family and strangers about Jameson. It all started with a picture I posted and it made me realize that I don’t necessarily need to be talking about Down Syndrome to raise awareness-I simply have to let Jameson be Jameson and let his infectious joy do the work. In case you missed it, here’s the picture:

J has been fascinated with my growing stomach and his new favorite game is playing peek a boo with it. I’m not sure he really understands that there is a baby brother or sister in there for him-which by the way I had my very first gender dream EVER last night and it was a girl born January second…and then I ate a bunch of chocolate filled donuts-but he likes to give my stomach kisses.

When I uploaded to Facebook and Instagram I figured my friends would get a few laughs out of the shocked look on Js face (I know I did anyways). The next thing I knew, I was receiving messages about what a wonderful big brother he will be, how his faces make people’s day, how much people adore him and look forward to seeing what I post next.

My mom always tells my brothers and me that the best compliments she ever hears about any of us is that we are nice, good people. Well, my family is pretty competitive whether it’s the different bones we’ve broken or how we did it, sports we’ve played and won, we debate/argue over everything (whose buffalo chicken dip is better, who ate the most crabs 🦀), even over who wasn’t listening and proving we said something first-siblings 🙄am I right? Now, as a mom, I know what my mom has been talking about. It warms my heart knowing Js smiles and goofy faces make people smile! I mean, the kid can’t even talk yet-though we are getting better and better with signing-and he’s bringing joy to so many people.

Yes I’m his mom and maybe a little biased but there is just a warmth about his personality, he has so much love (even entering the terrible twos) to give!

Today, I am 31 weeks pregnant and I have worried about the jealousy Jameson might experience when the new baby comes since he’s such a mommas boy-honestly I worry about my jealousy when Dada has to take over a lot of Jameson’s care while I’m nursing/taking care of the new baby. I’ve found comfort in the words of my friends and the people that have followed Jameson’s journey that he will be a great big brother because of his beautiful heart.

Yesterday we started to clean out our living room to make room to pull out the baby stuff…I’m not sure why cleaning out things is so messy!

So this Thanksgiving I give thanks to all of you for reaching out to me, to my family and friends for their love, for, hopefully, letting Jameson teach you something about Down Syndrome, for taking time to get to know him and love him for who he is. I’m thankful for all of you!

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!