#29DaysofAwareness February 29th

This is my last formal post in this series for the month of February for #29DaysofAwareness.

It hasn’t been easy to keep up with these posts this year. I think the challenge lies in the fact that I have also stepped up as Best Buddies Country Director for the Philippines in November. I devote so much of my time to the Buddies and the activities we host that further inclusion, and I have had a hard time sitting down to write more thoughtful and engaging pieces to share with all of you. 

I have asked some friends to write guest posts, just like I did last year. I have shared their stories alongside mine, knowing that as our stories unfold, they are also intertwined. I have also asked my kids to get involved this year by writing posts for their baby sister to encourage their sharing of what it is like to have a sister with Down Syndrome. Their bonds with each other are just as important as the work we do together as family to make the world a better place for her. I write so much of what I feel and hope as Gelli’s mother, so I thought the shift in perspective by having two of her siblings write something might be a refreshing change.

I tried to mix in my “feel na feel” posts with some informative posts on where to get help or where to get information for new parents here in Manila, so that if the time comes for them to search and look for answers in their own new facet of their parenting that maybe I could be of some help in providing a little direction.

Since December, I am happy to say that I have been contacted by a few parents of brand new babies. They have shared a bit of their beginnings with their new found extra chromosome and I hope that in some small way, I have been able to ease their fears and worries just a bit… #morebabiestolove

I know that’s what I needed in the beginning.

I needed someone to tell me to stop worrying.

To take it day by day…

And to just love on that brand new baby, because most of the time, that’s all we need to give of ourselves in those first few months.

I find it a bit challenging to continuously write about what our lives are like with Gelli in it. NOT because there isn’t enough to write about and share…

Because there is a lot…

But so many times, I start a post and think this will be great for someone to read…and then I stop myself, because I worry about oversharing. I think there is a fine line between sharing and possibly oversharing when we are talking we write for our blogs.

Of course there are many dangers to writing so publicly about our lives…I take this into consideration and weigh the risks and the benefits…for all of my kids.

Ok, so where is this post going? I have a child with special needs. I live in a place where children and adults with special needs are often discriminated against and even shunned. I want to make the world a better place for her. 

I started this blog more than three years ago to do exactly that.

I’m not quite sure where it will be in another three years, but I’m enjoying the process. I feel like I am shifting gears…gears in life, gears in my writing, and even gears in my advocacies. I’m excited to continue sharing all of these things with all of you, and I hope that at the very least, if you are coming back again and again, you are enjoying the process too. 

If you were able to learn something new from these past #29DaysofAwareness, I hope it it is something that you will pass on and share with others as well. There is a beauty in that sharing that doesn’t just benefit you, or the person you are sharing it with. 

It’s also benefitting Gelli.