13/31 Book give-away – Incorporate

In honor of Down syndrome awareness month I will be publishing excerpts from “From Grief to Celebration, How One Family Learned to Embrace the Gift of Down Syndrome” for 12 days. Each day features a different verb/chapter and at the end of the month we will give-away three copies of the book, signed by Alex. Priceless! 

I wrote, "From Grief to Celebration, How One Family Learned to Embrace the Gift of Down Syndrome"  to share this story of love, life, magic and down syndrome. Our critically acclaimed book details our journey through ten verbs beginning with grief, ending with plan and incorporating one bonus verb, celebrate. I hope this can be a resource to help others embrace, understand and learn. The book is available through this blog ($12.50) on-line booksellers ($13.99) and kindle (reduced to $3.99 during October).

Verb 3 – Incorporate

We realized very early on that Alex and Down syndrome would be in our lives forever, so we unconsciously began to incorporate Down syndrome into our lives. After saying, “Alex has Down syndrome,” a few times it became easier and less scary and was fully integrated into conversations with and about our family.

We told everyone we knew that Alex had Down syndrome, and we didn’t make it a big deal. We reconciled that this was a normal event in our family’s life about which we were neither sad nor upset. It was almost like we were saying Alex had green eyes and brown hair; to us, Down syndrome became a part of who she was, and who we were. We were armed with research whenever friends or family requested additional information, but as people got to know Alex, it became a non-event.

If I called a babysitter, I would mention Alex had Down syndrome. If I enrolled in a Mommy and Me class, I also brought it to their attention. I made sure any new healthcare providers we ever saw knew Alex had Down syndrome before we walked into their office. I never had any pushback or hesitation from anyone who cared for our kids. It was an easy transition and we embraced these two new words in our language. Today I shout it from the rooftops: DOWN SYNDROME!

To read more please enter our give-away:

These are only two requirements to be entered in the drawing - and Alex will pick the winner!

1. Please like "The Ordinary Life of an Extraordinary Girl" on facebook (link on the sidebar), or
2. Follow this blog, on networked blogs (also on sidebar)

Of course, you will need to tell me you did this, either as a comment or by e-mail theextraordinarygirlllc@gmail.com .

Stay tuned

14/31 Book give-away: Promote

15/31 Book give-away: Include