I Never Thought...Day 6

This week for Down syndrome awareness month, I'm sharing some moments that I never thought would happen when I heard my daughter had Down syndrome. The way Down syndrome was presented, I was sure her life (and therefore mine) would be limited. I pictured a million scenarios after her diagnosis, but I never imagined she would have such a full life with amazing experiences.

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After Jaycee's diagnosis of Down syndrome, I never thought our everyday life would be so much fun. First, let me be real. There are some hard times. Behaviors are hard to deal with. Surgeries are no fun for anyone in the family. Illnesses are equally unfun. The lack of verbal speech has not always been easy. But, we have had many, many, many fun and good days!

I didn't know what our future would be like when Jaycee was a baby. I had a thousand questions for which only time would reveal the answers to. But this question was a big one: What would we be able to do as a family when there's a disability to consider?

Well, the answer is...tons of things.

Here are some things we have enjoyed doing the past few years as a family.

Theme parks! We love them! We have to consider how hot the temperatures will be and look at the waiting time to get on a ride, but we can enjoy theme parks together. We have come to love going to one of our nearest parks, Holiday World, which thankfully has a wonderful disability access program.

Jaycee with the important people from Holiday World. She loves characters!

We also do vacations! We generally don't do extravagant vacations. We aren't jetting off to another country or even the other side of our own country. But, we find plenty of things to do when we have the extra money and time to travel. PS- I am THE worst rider in a vehicle not Jaycee...not even close. 

Here's Jaycee rubbing Lincoln's nose this summer on vacation.

Small stuff! I, personally, love to do small things at home! Jaycee has become interested in fishing, which is something we can easily do where we live. She's braver than me, because I do not want to touch a fish or a worm. I prefer other home activities such as making pizzas, sitting on the porch swing, going for golf cart rides, and watching movies together. There are many things that we can do together as a family.

So no, I never thought that our everyday life would encompass so many fun times together. I worried that Down syndrome would prevent us from having some "normal" family experiences, but I should not have been worried. We've done many things together and developed our own family hobbies that make life fun.