Grateful...

I have recently been following a blog of a little girl named Avery, which, if any of you watch the news, you have probably heard of and are following the same blog. This little girl was diagnosed with SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) and was not expected to live past 18 months old. When I came across this blog, I realized how many of us take for granted our healthy babies and don't take the time to realize how TRULY blessed we are to not have to visit a doctor every other day, to not have to keep a list of specialists in our address book, to not always have one eye open for this moment truly could be their last breath, but instead to watch our babies accomplish their developmental milestones with flying colors and to experience ALL of the joys a baby can bring to our lives without those added stresses. It amazed me how these parents reacted to the news and the positive way they carried out their baby's life.

Not knowing when her time will come exactly, they created a bucket list of things for her to do before she passes. They embraced their circumstance and made the best of it, not only for themselves, but for their sweet Avery. In all of the pictures and videos posted, Avery is as happy a baby as you will ever see and the love that streams through these parents and their family and friends is undeniably visible in every word, every picture, and every smile Avery gives. There is much to be learned from this family and this beautiful little angel. The strength to overcome such devastating news and accomplish what these parents accomplished in just a short month is amazing. You can view the blog at averycan.blogspot.com

This hits me hard this morning as I see a headline that baby Avery died at 5 1/2 months old of cardiac arrest due to complications of SMA. I woke up this morning excited and eager about the new nursery theme that I have created in my head for our soon to arrive baby girl. Thinking of the "perfect" nursery and all that I am going to put in to it and looking so forward to our second baby girl to arrive, I had this overwhelming feeling when I kissed Emma goodbye as I left for work, and she was sleeping, that I wanted to fast forward to August and have her little sister here too. Naturally, we are excited for her to come, but this headline made me realize that the "perfect nursery" isn't what matters, and that this moment, today, right now, needs to be appreciated in all of its blessing. All the clothes, the toys, the gadgets and extras that we get wrapped up in when expecting shouldn't be the focus... I should be anxiously anticipating a HEALTHY baby girl and all that needs to be done after that is to shower her with LOVE and HAPPINESS and JOY. Not to say I don't do that now with Emma, and that it wasn't in the cards for our soon to be arrival, but sometimes it takes a reality check to refocus you and to tell yourself "don't put so much pressure on the material things". If the nursery is decorated or not, as long as she is healthy and has the essentials and we love her beyond the moon and back, that is all that truly matters.

While this doesn't prevent me from striving for a nursery decor session or two, and it won't keep me from buying some of the extras, it was a reality check that to stress over getting those things isn't worth the energy. It will happen or it won't, and either way, we just need to keep our focus on the love of our beautiful little girls and keeping them happy and joyful.

As much as I have learned from Avery, her parents and her story, and I wanted to share that with you, I also wanted to help raise awareness of SMA, which is why I opted to post this on our blog, as well as attach the link at the bottom of the blog. Avery's parents have done a really good job of posting the information on their blog, the statistics and really anything you want to know about SMA.

RIP sweet Avery. Your accomplishments do not end here, and your goals will be carried out by your family, friends, and supporters. In your short 5 months, your purpose was to raise awareness of SMA, and you have gone far beyond that and my hope is that the growth of supporters continues and a cure will be found so that no other babies, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, etc have to go through the pain of losing a beautiful angel such as yourself.