A little update.....

The house is quiet, as everyone else is sleeping.  This mama can't sleep.  My mind is too busy.

Last week I made the appointment for Lila's last IVIG treatment here.  December 28th.  Two days after that, 20 days from today, we will board an airplane and leave our home in Virginia.  The place we have called home for almost 8 years.  Our first house together.  The place where Lila was born and we began  our Down Syndrome journey.  Where Justin found his love Maggie and Tif earned her degree.

Home.

We didn't expect to stay here longer than 3 years but it never worked out for us to leave.  We couldn't figure it out then but now we know.  We weren't supposed to leave.   We would have been missing the newest member of our family.

I will miss this place and the people around here that I have come to love dearly.   I will miss this house and will always treasure the memories we have made here.   I was looking at the listing of our house and it really brought back some of them.

The entryway.

Where Nick carried me

across the threshold

into our first home together.

The family room, where we

got the call from the doctor 

confirming that our baby had Down Syndrome 

at 16 weeks gestation.

Lila's room, which was the office.

The room where I spent hours during my pregnancy

doing research

about Down Syndrome.

Scared at first, 

then hopeful.

The playroom, which was once

the dining room.

Tea parties, play dates with friends

and hours of "reading" happened here.

Lexi's room, which was Justin's room.

I thought he was my last baby.

Think of what we would have missed!

We got home yesterday from our house-hunting trip in Colorado.  Last Sunday we flew into Denver and drove to Colorado Springs after the sun had already set for the day .  It was snowing and cold.  The next day we woke up to this view from our hotel room.

Not bad, huh?  The people are even better.  Thanks to Carmen, Renee and their kids we have a little girl who is very excited about moving to Colorado.  She can't wait for her new "dance cwass" to start!

Here are a few more  I managed to capture  as the other passengers in the car were tortured by this amateur pulling over repeatedly, trying to get the best shot possible of the beauty that surrounded us.

 

 

Garden of the Gods, in the shade

The other side

 We drove to the base of Pike's Peak to visit the North Pole, but this is what we found.

So basically if Nick and I had been just a little older we could have gotten into the North Pole free.  Had we not been there on a Wednesday.  

We tried to make it up to our little Christmas lover by visiting a shop in the quaint little town of Manitou Springs.

She loved it.

This weekend will be spent getting ready for our Playdate of Giving on Monday.  I hosted a Playdate of Giving  a couple of years ago, but this one is different.  Some of the members of our local Down Syndrome group are adopting a Head Start family from the local school district.   I will take the gifts to the Head Start office on Tuesday where they will be distributed to the family on Tuesday afternoon.   Spreading some love  to a family in need is what it's all about for me.  

Happy Weekend.  Make it a great one.