Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

I just can't believe how quickly the last two years have flown by. It seems like only yesterday I was in the hospital, presented with this beautiful, mostly healthy, perfect baby girl! We have had a whole new world opened up to us by Samantha, and it's a wonderful place.

We knew nothing about Down syndrome when she was born. My initial thoughts were about how I was going to protect this helpless child for the rest of her life. My next thoughts were that she would never do or enjoy all of the things that daughters normally do with mothers, like travelling, shopping, enjoying museums, borrowing clothes! But we've had a massive educational experience since then, and discovered that life with a newborn is a massive educational experience in itself! We've discovered a whole community of amazing families who love and value their children, and believe in their children's abilities and potential.

We've discovered that this bright, bubbly, beautiful and very, very busy little girl is full of surprises and still has so much more to show us. I still worry about her future, but I know she'll be able to do whatever she sets her mind to, and will have a happy, productive life full of friends and love and options. She'll play soccer, create and discuss art, learn new things at school, even ask to borrow my clothes! She'll date, maybe even get married. She's feisty and determined, and I can't wait to see what she has in store for us!

Happy birthday, baby!