Happy 6 Months Connor Artorius Cancino

I just reread Connor's birth story I posted in early October. There's details I would add or verbiage I would change. I would have probably been a little more honest with some of the dark feelings and thoughts I had. And I will probably go back and make all those changes. But you know what's cool? Even though we are only 6 months in to a life with DS, it's not the end of the world sentence I thought I'd received on September 16, 2013. I think I thought it was only because it was all so unknown. I still don't know what it means to have a DS child. It's all foreign. I wish I could really describe how amazing Connor is. People ask how it is? You know,  Having a baby with DS or as some call it, UPS. My response, he's a baby. Just like any other  baby. Except he's more snugly. One thing that I find myself getting sad about is When I see my friends with babies Connors age and they are sitting up or rolling from back to front and then I realize it's that nasty nasty Satan trying to take my joy away. Believe me friends, I'm excited for y'all. 

Oh Village. (That's you, because it takes a village to raise a child) The way Connor looks at me and the smile I get when someone else is holding him and I start talking to him. It's priceless, it melts my heart to the core.  We were at church one day and I was putting him in his car seat and telling him how cute he was and one of the ladies in the nursery said, Mandy, look at the way he looks at you. Awe. If only she knew how encouraging those words are to me and how close I keep them to my heart. I can't imagine life without my little dude. What if we would have chosen to do testing? And just what if we would have aborted? We would have missed out on this amazing little boy. (Btw 92 percent abort when they find out they are carrying a child with DS. But I'll save that for another post.) 

I want to thank all our friends for being there for us especially the first month. I think that first week I was pretty out of it. I know there were people I wanted to tell personally but didn't want to break down in tears. So they heard via text or through someone else. Or maybe by reading it through his birth story on the big. Because what was I going to do? Have my status say My baby has Down syndrome? Awkward. Anyway, I remember rejecting one of my best friends phone calls the night the doctor told us he wanted to have a karyotype. Only later to text her and tell her I didn't want to talk because I was so tired of crying. But I know she was there for me. And I hope she realizes how important that call was to me. There were actually several of you! There were people that reached out via Facebook with such kind words and stories of other families that had taken this road before us. 

I know our lives are moving at mock speed (or maybe it's just me and having 2 kids) but if you have time, I'd love to hear how you found out about Connor, your reaction, you know, your side of our story. It doesn't have to be anything big. You could write a few lines here, message me on Facebook or shoot me an email. Might turn out to be a pretty cool project. 

Connor started sitting up using his hands yesterday! So proud of him. Connors started eating bone broth and prunes. Such a big boy. Oh and Hunters pretty awesome too. He's consistently telling us when he poops. Way to go boys. 

Feeling blessed