Fun in the sun.....with reflection..........

We just returned home from our annual Spring vacation this week. It's the same trip I've taken every year since I turned 16. Oh how I always look forward to and love these trips. So many amazing memories, that started when I was a teenager spending time with my parents and siblings, to the incredible memories Mark and I have made as a couple (it's where he proposed!) We looked so forward to bringing our children one day and sharing our favorite place with them too.

And then we were told our first baby was going to be born with Down Syndrome. Instantly my heart broke as I realized that our life would never be normal again. We would have to deal with a "handicapped" child, who would consume all our time and we would never be able to enjoy life as we once knew it. Among the many things I mourned that day, I also worried about ever going on vacation again since they came to mean so much to me.

Well folks, here's some more living proof just how wrong I was! I proudly present to you our vacation pictures from this year! (which goes down in the books as one of the best ones yet! - although, they all are usually just as awesome!) It astounds me today when I think back on how scared and worried I was about "that" baby back then!

Here's Ryan, hanging with his buds, being just "one of the boys":


Check out his awesome form! (doesn't look too "handicapped" to me!)

Here he is having fun with his sisters and Grammy in the pool: (same pool his beloved Papa used to love giving him boat rides in when he was an infant)

We were there for Easter, so we decided to get dressed for dinner and take pictures -(I remember worrying back in the day, what "this" baby would look like? - pretty damn handsome if you ask me! ;)...

A few more random family shots:



Back then, I wondered if we would still keep the same old friends we've always had, if "this" baby would fit in with our friends kids.... (Um, damn right he does, why wouldn't he? Silly me! ;)


Having Ryan in our life has also brought us more beauty than we have ever known. Like the mornings he would wake up early, (and inadvertently wake up Mark)who then decided to go out our sliding doors to watch the beautiful sunrise with our precious son:


They spoke alot that day about the beautiful colors they witnessed, so of course, the next morning, Ryan had to share a new sunrise with his sisters:


Of course, it wasn't all just fun and games. Ryan knew that since he was missing school, he would still have to do homework everyday. (Back then, I didn't think he would ever be able to read or write, much less do homework, boy, was I wrong about that too!)

Since Ryan was going to be our first baby, I worried if he would ever be able to interact with siblings, should we have more children. I also wondered if our future children would be deprived of something simply for having Ryan as their brother.
Do they look deprived to you? They are each others best friends AND worst enemies! And interact, man, do they ever! ;)



Back in the beginning of this new life with Ryan, I thought we wouldn't ever get to do the things that "typical" kids do....."this" baby would never be able to hit, kick,or even throw a ball. Wrong again! He sure gave me a run for my money in beach volleyball!

And wore Daddy out during beach baseball:

Have we been able to continue to do the things we always enjoyed before Ryan and his Down Syndrome came along? You bet we have! And we are having even more fun now, sharing it with him and his amazing sisters, knowing how scared we were at the start.
What better way to end each vacation day than with night swimming? Who would have thought that the kid with DS would be the one dragging us out at 10:00 pm each night to have more fun? ;)


And yes, we are still hanging out with the same people we did when we were younger, only it's even cooler now because our kids are all friends too! Down Syndrome doesn't even enter into the equation when true friendships exist.

Of course we've made TONS of NEW friends too thanks to Ryan's extra chromosome, but that's a whole 'nother post! ;)

So, in closing, I want to share that while yes, hearing the words "Trisomy 21" and being told that our child was going to be born with Down Syndrome scared the living $hit out of us at the time, I ask you this? Do we look like we are suffering as a family because of it?



Let me answer that for you - HELL NO! The only thing we suffered from was fear of the unknown at the time. If we only knew then, what we do know now! Life is good, this DS stuff is no big deal! I just wish I would have known that at the start! :)