Greetings from Crosby’s Family–Nick, Sara, Ainsley, Crosby, and a still-in-debate-over-the-name little sister. Nick and I met New Years Eve in 2011 when he was a confirmed bachelor and I wasn’t sure I wanted a serious relationship – but often things turn out the way you least expect and better than you ever dreamed. We were married in 2015 surrounded by tons of extended family (he’s one of 7 kids and I’m one of 8) and friends. He was a natural as a step-dad to Ainsley and we quickly settled into being a family of three. When we found out we were pregnant, we were thrilled and he was even more excited to be having a son. Twenty weeks into the pregnancy, everything looked healthy on ultrasound but a screening test-that we were sure was a false positive-sent us to the perinatologist for additional testing. To say the positive test for DS felt like a bomb blowing up our life would be an understatement. What I’ve learned is a common response (fear, grief, anger) were common in the weeks that followed.What I didn’t anticipate would be how close the news would bring our family and friends. While we have both always been close to family and been blessed with amazing friends, this brought the army out in force supporting us in our darkest days. Crosby’s birth was met with nothing but joy–from the moment we saw his blonde hair and blue eyes, we were in love. At three (or three teen as the case may be), Crosby is a force to reckoned with. He is as stubborn as he is loving. He has used his low muscle tone to perfect his ability to throw his leg straight up by his head and use his toes to hook onto objects so he can scale them. While he quickly mastered “dada”, even after weeks of the “MMM” sound games, “mama” still comes out as “mmmm....dad” followed by a belly laugh. He has become a crowd favorite at not just his sister’s school, but also his cousins’ where his babysitter takes him to pick up her afternoon crew–it is not at all uncommon for us to be out and about and have perfect strangers come up and say “Hi Crosby!!”. Whether we are walking into a restaurant, a coffee shop, the grocery store, or onto a plane, he has the habit of looking around for the person most in need of being noticed or loved and makes his way right over to them to spread his joy with a high five or a smile or a hug(fortunately he is learning that licking is not acceptable as a way to show love)–or reaching out to beheld. We’ve heard more times than we can count “wow–that’s exactly what I needed today.” How he knows who to pick is beyond us but we have learned we are just along for the ride. While it would be a lie to say the worry and panic don’t set in about his future–he’s taught us all try to stay in the moment, to look around for the people who need extra love just because you can give it to them, and that a good belly laugh can cure just about anything.