Laughter is the best medicine

Today was just one of those days.  We all have them, and I sometimes have to remind myself that it's okay to have a bad day now and then.  So I just felt in a funk today for no reason in particular.  Actually, I think it's partly the pit in my stomach that exists right now because of  some blood work that Luke has to have.  We've been so lucky that he's been healthy for quite some time now (knock on serious wood!), and we haven't had to torture him with the weekly blood draws that he was getting over the summer for his seizures.  I'm hoping now that he's well past the puffiness and swelling from the steroids, it won't be as difficult to find the vein and get the stick.  The blood work was requested by our geneticist as just part of the typical every 6-12 months workup that children with Down syndrome are supposed to have (CBC, thyroid, etc.).  I was recently reading Kelle Hampton's blog, which I've mentioned here before (love it!), and she discussed almost verbatim, though more eloquently than I could, my biggest fear with Luke's diagnosis:  "And, in the land of D.S. what-ifs, whenever a doctor orders a CBC, for one tiny second, it grips you--that cancer fear. Because there are a lot of increased likelihoods in this world, and leukemia is one of them."  I don't know why this is one of my biggest fears, but it gives me odd chills each time I hear that word...leukemia.  Perhaps it is because Luke has been so unfortunate with some quite rare diagnoses already or perhaps because the only other person I know with twins where one has Down syndrome, went through the horrific experience of watching her daughter fight leukemia.  Either way, I know I can't hold my breath waiting for his test results, and I can't assume the worst when there's no reason to do so for now.

So, in an attempt to get my mind off of the looming blood work and my irrational fears, I took out my camera and made an attempt to get some pictures for our holiday card.  After several failed attempts on Thanksgiving of getting all three kids to look at the camera at once, let alone smile all at once, I decided to take the easy route and do individual pictures on the card this year.  Pick your battles, right?  Well, my attempts to get Luke and Olivia to smile turned into an hour-filled laughter fest.  Aside from Olivia constantly taking her bow out or trying to crawl off the bed, the two of them were having so much fun together that I just had to share some of the pics.  For anyone who is having a bad day, I'd bet my life that these pictures will turn it around.  After all, laughter is the best medicine.  Enjoy!

blowing kisses

 And Jackson joined in on the fun as well...