All in Daily Welles
“Welles is loving, Welles is joyful, Welles is Smart, Welles is funny, Welles is handsome.” That is what’s written on our kitchen letter board right now. There are a million other beautiful words that describe that incredible little boy, but those were the first that came to my mind as I prepared for his birthday party last week.
Never did I think I would be this ready for summer to end… but ready, I am! Let’s trade in sunny days for cooler and crisp ones. Let’s go from days of randomness to days of planned activities and let’s get back to me forgetting parent-teacher meetings and missing papers that need signing from school.
It's been over a month since we moved in to our new home. I feel like we've lived her for years. We've quickly adapted and worn the place in. Scratched up the new floors, put a few dings in the walls and everything... Feels like home
People regularly ask me how often I work with Welles on his therapies. Like sit down, focus in and work on speech, physical and occupational therapy. The answer is... Almost never. Throughout each day we are practicing these little exercises routinely and constantly. Most of the time not even consciously. It's just become part of our day-to-day. Completely our normal.
So much reflection and a whole lotta nostalgia this past month. Amidst the chaos of our move, I've had the opportunity to speak twice at different church functions about our story. Once was to a group of youth (Scott was dragged into that one with me;)), and the other was in front of about 2,000 church members. At both engagements I was asked to focus on how to deal when life doesn't go as planned. Easy topic, right?? When does life ever go the way we plan?! As you must know, Welles' diagnosis was so far from my "life plan" and I love talking about that transition in re-routing our future, goals and dreams. I think so many of us think our dreams aren't coming true when really we're just trading them in for better dreams without even knowing it.
Yes, yes, yes! Praise the heavens above. We are finally in our new home. Seven months of living on top of each other and hauling three kids up two flights of stairs is over and done! We are thrilled to be in our new place and loving just about everything about it.
Life. It's so wonderful, it's so hard. It's so beautiful, it's so bleak. It's so exciting, it's so exhausting. Life has been filling me with many different emotions lately. Through all the recent trials and triumphs the loudest feeling of all is gratitude. Life is precious.
When I'm in sitting in church and my kids are winning for fruit snacks, trying to escape the pew or pulling on my shirt to breast feed, I usually think "why am I here?". There are Sunday's where I don't hear a word of whats being preached and spend most of the time chasing disruptive kids around like a zoo keeper. But then.... the hymns start and we all join in song. We sing as a congregation words that make me feel so close to god. The melody is usually to a beautiful song that takes me to a peaceful place and most times, my kids even stop to listen and feel the music. It's magical.
For a number of reasons, I am sure that Scarlett was made for Welles as much as Welles was made for Scarlett. I know that the teaching and guiding will go both ways. It already does. While she teaches him to try new things, to push himself and be brave, he teaches her to love more deeply, to have compassion and patience (still working hard on that last one;)). They both need each other so much and are a perfect match for the other. I feel so lucky that they have each other and almost wonder if either of them really need me!?It all goes the same for sweet little
As we are nearing the end of Down syndrome awareness month, I've been reflecting on our life before Welles and how humbling it's been to learn from him. I was laying in bed thinking of this post and my eyes literally filled with tears. So many days I wonder why we were chosen to be so abundantly blessed to get to learn from this boy. He is such a beautiful and cherished blessing. Below I've listed the top five things that Down syndrome, and Welles have taught me.
Okay, as promised, here is an update on our fall bucket list. Because I know you're all dying to see what we've checked off (little sarcasm;))! Click HERE to see the full list. With just one week until halloween, I've got to get the pumpkin-patch involved items, done! Thus far we have.....
First off... Holy cow, what a week! I am in complete shock about the attention that last post got with our #StrongLikeYou video from Jane. So very humbled by the amount of comments, likes, shares and views. We are spreading our message so far and wide! I've been responding emails literally from around the world. It brings me to tears thinking about the way people could be changing their option of Down syndrome. I always knew Welles was born with a mission...
This here video made by Jane.com is so very personal to our family. Every time they've sent me the latest edits, my heart re-opens the flood door and all of emotions rush back like a tidal wave. Jane's film crew did such an incredible job of telling our story from Welles birth until this point in his life. All in just 3 minutes and 44 seconds! We were honored to be a part of their #StrongLikeYou series.
This weather, these colors and my peeps... Nothing better! This time of year is hands-down, my favorite. It's weird, but being in the mountains and walking little nature trails with my family gets me all chocked up. There is something so serene and magical about being disconnected from the rest of the world and solely focusing on your surroundings and your family.
For newer readers.... Here is a (condensed) post that I wrote almost two years ago about Welles' birth. I didn't know it was possible, but I think we now love him ten times more than we did back then....
