Happy Halloween: The Final Cut

Before our Trick or Treating outing
At a church in our neighborhood. They had a Trunk or Treat, pretty neat :) The church where Jayden's goes to preschool had one too and we hit that one up also.

It was a little chilly outside!

Sophia, Jayden and IndiAnn

Walking up to our next victim :)

She was so excited after getting candy. All she could say was "YES, YES,YES!"

We didn't even get around to half our neighborhood, we were all getting cold, but we still made out with a nice size loot!

Halloween was a success this year! Jayden wore her full costume for the first time since she was 1! She had a blast passing out candy and going trick or treating herself. She's already decided that next year she wants to be SpongeBob SquarePants, we'll see :)

Well this is last day of October, which means that Down syndrome awareness month is over. Which really only means that I won't be blogging EVERY DAY! I have really enjoyed writing about Down syndrome and just about Sophia in general. I think that knowledge is the key to everything. The more you know, about anything, the more comfortable you are and that's all I wanted to do this month was provide anyone who reads my blog with some facts about Down syndrome and hope that you could walk away with more knowledge about Sophia, as a person, and about Down syndrome. The most important thing that I hope everyone realizes is that Sophia, and other individuals just like her, are truly more ALIKE than different. Sophia's diagnosis was never a deal breaker for us, and we never thought twice about wanting her. She was our baby from the moment we found out about her and she will always be that way, forever! She is a person just like you and me. She has wants, needs and most importantly feelings. She is a human being first and deserves just as much RESPECT as anyone else. All we want from our family, our friends and the people that surround us, is ACCEPTANCE of our daughter, FOR WHO SHE IS! Sophia is still a baby, and even though I'm sure people can see a "difference" in Sophia's beauty, I've never had a negative experience with people yet. Hopefully I never will, but I'm sure that won't be the case. My wish is that people, like you, who love Sophia and our family, will help us to bring awareness to people who just don't understand Down syndrome, which in turn makes them think that it's a bad thing. Do I expect people to go out and preach about Down syndrome to everyone they meet? No. I don't even expect myself to do that. But in the right moment, when you hear someone say something, or you encounter a grieving mother with a possible diagnosis, you will have more knowledge about Down syndrome and hopefully you will feel, just like we do, that having a child with Down syndrome isn't a "curse" but it's a beautiful thing that will open your eyes up to a whole new world of new experiences, new people and most importantly a whole new love.