Our Littlest Journey Begins
My name is Lisa. I live in a small town right outside of Washington D.C. I’m married to my wonderful, funny, handsome husband, Alan. We married in 2013 and have been blessed with three beautiful children on earth (and one in Heaven): Benito aka Ben who is almost 4, Aurora aka Rori who just turned 2, and Paloma aka TBD who is just 1 month (Alan and I cannot agree on her nickname). I stay at home with my kids and work my LuLaRoe business at my leisure.
I decided to start this blog for various reasons: motivation to document my family’s life, personal therapy, and ambition in proving to Alan I could uphold this blog while running my business, maintaining our household and Mama’ing to 3 kiddos.
My main reason is this: Paloma Lucía. As our third child, we thought the only thing we needed to worry about was adjusting to a family of five. Let me tell you, we were wrong. God threw us a curveball, a curveball I wholeheartedly embrace.
Paloma had a rough first week, albeit an uplifting one beginning with the feast days of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Lucy. After 11 days in the NICU, Paloma spent only nine days at home before she was readmitted with a respiratory infection. On week three of her life, we received THE CURVEBALL. It was the first sunny day after a week of bitter overcast when we were told that Paloma has an extremely rare genetic disorder called Pallister-Killian Syndrome (PKS). PKS is so rare that there are less than 200 documented cases worldwide. I’m gonna repeat that: THERE ARE LESS THAN 200 REPORTED CASES WORLDWIDE. Earth shattering news like this should breed a million questions. Every "Do you understand?" and "Do you have any questions?" was met with silent nods. In this moment, I had to start letting go of the expectations I had for Paloma and start embracing EXACTLY how God intended for her to be.
This was a crystal clear “A-ha!” moment, a Holy Spirit moment, the moment I realized my life had come full circle. Six years ago I went to graduate school for Early Childhood Special Education with a focus on Infants and Toddlers. I worked in the field for a few years when discernment led me to stay at home when Ben was six months old. They meant well, but family and friends started to say, “Why did you even go to grad school?” or “After Ben is older, you can go back to work.” I didn't know and I didn’t go back. I just didn’t feel called to work outside of our home. Three and a half years later, I know why.
Paloma is the reason I moved to D.C. for grad school. She is the reason I married Alan. She is the reason I decided to quit my job. She is the reason we moved to a random small town with the office of Early Intervention inside of our neighborhood. God was preparing me for the EXACT moment when a doctor would tell us our daughter may not ever walk or talk. But as hard as the past few weeks have been, events have only affirmed my faith in the Lord. I am in absolute awe of how you can receive such heartbreaking news, but then He gives you the peace in your heart that you need to get through it. With the intercession of our Blessed Mother, God was and continues to hold us through it all.
A diagnosis is just that - a diagnosis. It will not define Paloma or her life. She will have an amazing, love-filled life. A few days post diagnosis I was hit with a plethora of emotions. I imagined the future; our joys and our struggles. I wept and Alan confidently turned to me and said, “We were built for this, love.” And so we were.
I hope you join me on Our Littlest Journey. Laugh with me. Pray with me. Cry with me.
Our first photo as a family of 🖐🏼
Thoughts I'm thinking:
Our experience in NICUs
Reasons why it takes a village to raise a family