The Season of Thanksgiving..

November always seems to be the month I spend reflecting on what I have and how blessed I truly am.  I am more passionate about that this year than ever.  The difficult part is putting all my thoughts and emotions into words or to even know where to begin.  I was going to try to blog every day until Thanksgiving and write what I am thankful for.  Well it's the 7th...I guess I haven't done a very good job at that!  I'm going to attempt to catch up.  I'm sure the first few will be the big ones and then they will turn into the little things in life that I am thankful for.

1 - I am thankful for the family God blessed us with.  My wonderful husband who works so hard to support us and makes it possible for me to stay home with our children.  He is a fantastic dad and I hope they always know how lucky they are!  God blessed me with 3 beautiful children....each different and alike in their own ways.

2 - I am thankful for our extended family and friends.  With Hailey's diagnosis, her NICU stay and then her open heart surgery, we have been overwhelmed with the love and support we have received from them.  We are so fortunate!

3 - I am thankful for modern medicine.  Without it, Hailey would not have been diagnosed within an hour of being born with Down syndrome and we would not have been able to start therapy and preventative medicine immediately.

4 - I am thankful for caring, educated medical staff.  Hailey's heart defect was detected early.  We watched and waited to see if it would close on it's own.  When it didn't, they acted quickly to schedule her surgery and we didn't look back from there.  The fantastic surgeon repaired Hailey's heart and we left with an active, starving baby.  I know starving sounds funny to anyone who has not gone through it.  If you have, there is nothing that makes you happier than a baby that wants food and eats it with gusto!

5 - I am thankful to live in a city with such a fabulous children's hospital.  Cincinnati Children's Hospital is fabulous and there are people that drive across the country to see specialists here.  We are so fortunate that it is only a 30 minute (on a good day) drive from home.  God led us to Cincinnati for a reason.

6 - As a result of #5, I have had my eyes open to how thankful I am for our health.  I had someone recently say, "Your daughter just had open heart surgery and had Down syndrome.  How can you be thankful for that?  Most people wouldn't say that, I'm not sure I would".  My response to that comment is simple....her heart defect was fixable.  Her heart is now fixed....she is healthy.  Down syndrome is not life-threatening.  I saw so many children in the hospital when Hailey had her heart surgery, that may never see the outside of that hospital.  Children that fight for their lives every day!  Some children have never left the hospital.  Never felt the sun on their face or had  a playdate at a park.  We are lucky and very fortunate.

7 - I am thankful for our EI therapist.  We have been matched up with a therapist that does not see a limit as to what Hailey can accomplish.  She is enthusiastic and Hailey loves her.  She is open to my suggestions and will work with whatever idea I come up with.  We both have the same goal.  To have Hailey achieve as much as we possibly can within these first 3 years until she transfers out of EI.

I will stop with 7 for today.  I think that is a good start :-)

Please, mom, no more pictures!

Praying in her sleep?

Why didn't you fix my hair this morning?

Feeding myself is hard work!

I took a short video of Hailey yesterday.  We laugh when she gets excited because she looks like she is trying to play superman!  She isn't doing anything spectacular (I never seem to catch the big stuff on video!) but she's just being cute!