We are 20 MONTHS into this girl’s adventures & she continues to do the impossible – get cuter & have more fun. There is never a “routine” day with her, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Kara is 19.5 lbs, 29 ins & has 10 teeth
Right when I think things will slow down a bit, they not only speed up, they veer off and leave me in the dust.
Lately, I look at my daughter and see her baby traits fading away. She’s taller and thinner. She’s sharp as a tack and she’s brighter than the sunshine. {She even has enough hair for pigtails!} My child might develop a bit slower than you’d typically expect, but that doesn’t take away the sting of my baby growing into a little kid.
I feel so many emotions watching her mature. Among them is pride, sadness, excitement, & disbelief.
When you become a parent you hear the phrase “The days are long, but the years are short.” I am finding that this could not be more true.
For example, I’m pretty convinced that this was the longest month of Kara’s short life. Not kidding, I sat down to write this and thought I might have skipped a month. Yet she’s close to turning TWO & I feel like I’ve just gotten use to loving on a one year old. Time is skating right by me (no thanks to growing little sister).
Speaking of which – Kara is going to be the BEST big sister.
The other night we were hanging out on the living room floor watching our rambunctious pups roll around. I was on my back when Kara climbed up and rested her hands & chin on my belly. She then peered over at me and signed what could only be “baby” though it was hard to tell because of her position. I thought “there’s no way…” But sure enough, she sat up, patted her tiny little hand on my bump and signed baby one more time. Not only that, she then laid her cheek against my belly & of course, my eyes filled with tears.
It was the sweetest moment.
We’ve done SO MUCH in the last 30 days. There have been so many sweet things to celebrate this month.
We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with loads of green, World Down Syndrome Day with random acts of kindness, & Easter with treats and family.
We celebrated the sun by wandering out to the sidewalks.
& as usual, we celebrated Kara and all the ways she enhances our lives.
We celebrated with dance parties, puckered up smooches & excessive snuggles (is there such a thing as too much snuggling?!)
We celebrated her independence.
She’s interested in washing her hair, brushing her teeth, putting on her shoes, and fastening her seat belts. She’s been practicing using utensils during mealtime. She’s even climbing down from the furniture now & getting so strong while she weight bears for longer periods of time.
We celebrated her personality.
Going hand-in-hand with her independence, her character is developing by leaps and bounds! Kara loves to find & wave at her reflection and will do so in the most unexpected places – the bathtub drain, the glasses on your face, the dishwasher door, the plastic menu at a restaurant.
She has also started to make very specific requests – when the TV flips on she looks at us very intently while giving us her sign for “Moana” (pictured above). Or if she doesn’t like her snack, she’ll whine and sign “banana” with heart-melting puppy dog eyes. OR if she isn’t ready to get out of the bathtub, she will park her heinie in the cold, empty tub until all the water drains and the all the toys are put up.
We celebrated her social attitude.
Kara has been stuck in the “stranger danger” phase since the day she was born, which isn’t a bad thing until we, as parents, get sick of coming to her rescue every time someone like her Grandpa wants to hold her. We’ve tried every technique in the book, but it turns out that Kara just needed time. Now she’s having FANTASTIC social interactions with anyone that she sees on a regular basis. Phew!
We celebrated her confidence.
If you follow us on or , you might have seen this video of Kara admiring herself in her Easter dress. As soon as she was sat in front of the mirror she started using the sign for “beautiful”. I had tears in my eyes as I was capturing this moment. She is truly beautiful inside & out.
We celebrated her toughness.
Kids are very resilient, but we’ve been lucky enough to avoid putting it to the test. We made it 18-months before her first serious illness and 20-months before her first big tumble. As strong as I wanted to stay, she was the only tough one in those situations. On the morning of World Down Syndrome Day, girlfriend nosedived out of her high chair, landing on the backside of the tray (that wasn’t fastened correctly all thanks to me being in a hurry, #worstmomever). She needed a tiny bit of glue to patch her up and her perfect face was all sorts of banged up. However, she stopped crying long before I did and is healing quickly & beautifully.
In just four short months my baby will be TWO years old. My life is so drastically different than what it has ever been. It is crazy, chaotic, beautiful & full of more love than I ever thought existed. For now, I will continue to let Kara lead the way and we’ll just figure it out as we go – that is, until Little Sister gets here & has her own two cents to put in. Only four short months until she joins us, too!
Send up a prayer for me!
Who cares? Every child is a miracle. Your is not any more special than anyone else’s.
You’re very right! This is just a small piece of our journey & our experiences, but you’re exactly right – every single child is a miracle. Thanks for reaching out!