Little Lucia: Still our little lady Lucia

Here it began, our little lady Lucia's blog. I can't believe it's been 6 1/2 years. Coming back to her blog, brings me back to the early days of Lucia being in the hospital at just a month old. I remember being at the hospital in her room and looking at our little 1 month old hooked up to more wires than I had ever seen, feeding tube, oxygen, alarms and more. I remember looking at myself and seeing how motherhood had filled me with milk and seeing my tired face and crying that I couldn't feed my new little baby and praying that she would make it through all of this. I remember writing on her blog and it sometimes seems like just over a year ago. Lucia's blog, her journal, our way of sharing how she is doing and what we have been up to. Now we have so much social media and now her own little foundation and website and the blog seems a bit like a past time but it's not. It brings me back to the feelings of my first born- my beautiful bird. It brings me back to the joy of writing about our Lu for our Lu. It brings me back to all the love we have received over the years because of this girl named Lu who came into our lives and took our lives in a new direction, in the right direction.

Lucia now has a Foundation, LuBird's Light Foundation and it seems like it was always meant to be. We created the Foundation with a dream of creating a brighter world for exceptional kids by building a magical inclusive playground in our area- something that currently doesn't exist . We started the Foundation last spring because our bird loves to swing. She loves to swing more than any other activity. And now here we are, halfway to our goal. It will happen. We will be able to build a playground and we are over halfway to our $500k goal! LuBird this is all because of you. The inspiration you fill me with is one of the truest and best things I know.

The most amazing hosts

Playground renderings

Here is the video we played at the party-I'm so thankful for our videographers and everyone involved who made it so amazing.

https://youtu.be/pH5ZBQBFimc

Our St. Lucia White Party on September 23rd brought over 400 people- family, friends, and people from the community we didn't even know. People believe in LuBird's Light and they supported our mission in a way I never anticipated. The night could not have been better other than LuBird having a tummy ache during the party. I remember planning for the night and thinking about what I was going to say at the party. I had been to church about a month before and the service was about "God always being with you". I took those words and know that was the case. He was with me and with us that night and it was one of our most treasured nights of my life. So thankful, grateful, fulfilled with love, light and support.

Our Lucia is 6 1/2 and she has developed on her own schedule. Every achievement is something to rejoice and her big smiles and happy days bring the same amount of rejoicing. We pray for her happiness and her health. We don't always get it but often we do!

I love and adore you Lucia, our whole family does and we are so grateful for this path you have taken us on. I know we are going to build you and so many other kids who deserve it a playground, where you can really play! Thank you for giving us this dream. Thank you for being you.