Photo Gallery of Hope

I got off to a bit of shaky start...

When Natty was born we experienced the darkest, most  terrifying times of uncertainty.  We had not signed up for this!  We knew next to nothing about Down's Syndrome.  What would she become?  Were our lives to change forever?

I recall thinking that we would never again be able to go for a walk on a beach as a family...holidays and travel would be impossible...her sister would be affected by her limitations....everyone would stare at us everywhere we went and say cruel things...our daughter would not be beautiful...

But a kind, knowing neo-natal nurse, who had a daughter with Down's Syndrome, leant us a small family photo album.  
We pored over page after page of simple snapshots; kids hugging on a sofa watching TV, kids opening presents and blowing out birthday cake candles, kids in the bath, kids playing instruments... and kids making sandcastles on the beach!

A perfect bridesmaid (twice so far in fact).

This was a turning point for all of us.  Those photos gave us more hope than I can describe, at a time when we could find very little that was personal and encouraging online.  We determined there and then to expose Natty to every opportunity and experience that her sister had had and was going to have in the future.  5 years on and we are reaping the rewards as we see them both florish.  

So here are a few photos from that journey so far, a journey that has had its many ups and downs along the way.  We hope, via these images, to spread encouragement and positive thinking for other parents.  It's hard work, it takes love and patience, but the sky really is the limit.

I love exploring smells...

...and texture.

I am a little comedian

I love my sister

I sometimes stray...so watch out!

I party hard...zzzz

Sometimes Mummy has to force me to enjoy new experiences.  I'm always glad she does.  I moaned for 20 minutes before I let the dolphin kiss me  :)

I make new friends wherever I go
Photograph by Traci Giles Photography

Pretty aren't I?
Photograph by Traci Giles

I won several rosettes, including this SPECIAL, in the gymkhana, riding Jessie x

Check out my dance moves!

I worked hard at kindergarten

I love doing art at home

The moment I graduated from kindergarten...PRIDE is written all over everyone's faces, tears abound!
I love Daddy too!

I took my first minutes of (mainstream) school very seriously, and got stuck straight in

I loving trying new experiences...I am FEARLESS!

and I am very proud of myself :)

To conclude, yes, our lives have changed forever.  We have learnt to see life through the eyes of one who views and experiences it differently.  We now live life on the 'other side'.  Believe me, it's a lot better.


Oh, and yes...we go to the beach often. 
We travel far and wide, making friends wherever we go.  
Natty is a great ice breaker, and her sister is the wisest most sensitive 7 year old I have ever met.  


And not one single person has ever said anything cruel about her...lingering looks and insensitive questions perhaps, but never anything intentionally cruel.  An ambassador she is... and VERY BEAUTIFUL :)




And special thanks to photographer Traci Giles, more used to taking pictures of Hollywood stars, who took such beautiful shots of Natty on holiday after she stole her heart xxx

An Unexceptionally Exceptional Birthday

Stevie Wonder – Happy Birthday
(The soundtrack to the day)


7.47pm  

One very happy 5 year old and her equally content 7 year old sister are sleeping soundly. 
Umpteen fabulous presents from dear friends and family have been ripped open.  Large badges with '5' were worn.
The sideboard is adorned with pretty cards. 
Many long distance phone calls have been received. Her Ladyship chatted to each and every one.


Mummy put the secret ingredient (l-o-v-e) into all the food.
We discovered that Taramasalata is not popular with little folk, even though it's pink.

Tails were pinned (well, Blu-taced) by little scarf-peeping cheats onto a donkey's bottom.  The parcel was passed, forfeits done, prizes excitedly received.  Parents were given a mid-party reprieve by some sleeping lions.
One nasty bump to the head was sustained and shrugged off.
A bit of a scramble ensued during the party bag distribution stage.


The kitchen is being tidied up by an exhausted Mummy with a smile on her face.
Precious memories have been made.


So, a beautiful birthday, a day like one you may have had yourself, not dissimilar to many that happen every day, all over the world.   It was unexceptional for all of that. 


Exceptional because it was our family, our friends, my strange choice in dips and my slightly ropey fairy toadstool cake. 

And truly wonderful because one little lady with Down's Syndrome celebrated her 5th birthday with her best friends from her mainstream class, all of them 'typically developing', and none of them giving her an ounce of special dispensation.

MUSICAL and LOVING aren't they?

The Wise and Respected Fairy Godmother told me today that that was quite enough introspection for one blog, certainly for the time being.  
She suggested a more diary-like format, one that told of our every day ups and downs (or should that be ups and Down's?).  


Well, I guess I can dispel myth and challenge stereotype just as efficiently through anecdote, so let's take a light-hearted look at one of the first things most people say when they meet someone who has a family member with Down's Syndrome, "Oh, I hear they are so loving, and very musical too." 


Firstly I have to say that I never roll my eyes, or even inwardly tut, when people say things that bely their limited knowledge of Down's Syndrome.  That was probably me once.  
If their intentions are kind and they have taken time to come and talk to us, then we shall be ambassadors and leave them with a positive image of the people they met.  


Show me any child in the land, and I will show you a child who loves music.  And I bet that same child will like hugs and cuddles too... You see, children with Down's Syndrome are like any other, they love music, they love to be loved, but they also experience emotions of furious feistiness, independence, sadness, worry, happiness, excitement, fear, fun and enormous frustration.  
Just like...you guessed it...the rest of us. 


What I will say about our youngest daughter though, is that she has the amazing ability to live instinctively and exactly in the moment.  If she has upset you, she will be filled with sorrow. If you have annoyed her, she will hate you.  If she feels your pain, she will comfort you.  If she instinctively meets a good person, even for the first time, she will ask for a hug.  


And if she feels like a darn good singsong, she will have one, wherever and whenever that may be.  
Even if, as it was this very night, at 2am.  Those wee small hours when singing is generally the last thing on ones mind (well, not since my dim and distant youth when I may have still been in some club or other...).   
I awoke abruptly to the sound of slamming wardrobe doors.  What on earth?  I stumbled, bleary-eyed into her room where I found her sitting bolt upright in the lotus position she favours so much, on her bedroom floor.  She had got herself fully dressed in a party frock.  Or was it her sister's full length night gown? I was too tired to notice.   
All the bedroom lights were blazing, her spotlights presumably, and the little darling was singing Christmas carols at the very top of her voice, lapping up the adulation of various teddies!  


At that precise pitch black deep sleep moment in time none of us were really in the mood for a rendition of Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly...and 2 minutes later, she was tucked up in bed in her pjs, kissed and left snoring soundly.  


That moment had passed, and she was living another.