Trisomy 13 Awareness Day

March 13th is Trisomy Awareness Day.

I just have to add this picture on this blog, because it is Avery's all-time favorite picture of her baby sister Lucy, and I can see why. I mean, look at it!

It was taken a little while after Lucy was born when they finally weighed her (they let me snuggle her LOTS before they got to that thankfully). I share Avery's love for this picture. Lucy is pink and looks as healthy as can be... a beautiful 5 lbs 10 oz blondie. She even shows a bit of her sassiness here - she was so strong and opinionated. For a while Avery thought she was laughing. (Now she says, " Mommy, I think she is cold and she needs a blanket.") She ALWAYS flips to this picture in the little Lucy photo album we have in our family room.

I want to point out that Avery asks a lot of questions about Lucy and the hospital. I have to say it's been tough answering questions from a curious two-year old, and at times I'm dumb-founded. J & I just roll with it as it comes. I don't remember if I've mentioned it before or not, but she seems to think that Jesus and Lucy kind of live at the hospital. It's confusing.

Avery sometimes will randomly ask things like "can Lucy come to dinner with us tonight?" or "how do I get to heaven?" It's really hard to know the "right" things to say at times.

One day when we drove near the hospital, she said (out-of-the-blue) "Mommy, you looked like a princess at the hospital." A princess? That was the furthest thing from what I felt, but I feel honored that that is how she saw me.

Avery still says "I miss Lucy" fairly often. I started being skeptical that she even really remembered anything. One day in the car she started telling me she was sad and that she missed Lucy I asked her, "Do you really remember Lucy?" I'll never forget her answer. She said back to me matter-of-factly, "I played music for Lucy at the hospital." I don't remember talking about that a lot - but she sure did have a stuffed lamb that played music for Lucy in the hospital. Another day she started talking about the hospital and told me "I ate snacks in the chair with the lady." She was remembering the nurse who gave her snacks, and sure enough she had climbed up into this big ol' chair and entertained one of the nurses. I was shocked... it was such a minor detail of that day we all four spent at the hospital, something you would never think she'd remember. But she does.

I just have to keep documenting all of this, because I don't know if her little brain has the capacity to keep these memories! Wow... this kid never ceases to amaze me! :)

I know much of this doesn't relate to Trisomy, but I guess it shows that even the littlest of lives can make a big impact.