My babiest one

This is Amelia. She's 2.5 years old and is a giant mess. I only have a handful of pictures where she has clothes on because she prefers to be naked. 

Amelia has kept us on our toes since the moment we realized she existed, 18 months after I had the Essure sterilization procedure. Yup. Surprise! And the surprises keep on coming.

After two kids, you think you know how to do this parenting thing. I know we thought we did. We were right and wrong. We knew how to parent a neurotypical child, we just didn't know how to parent Amelia. 

I knew that she was different from my other two kids by about 9 months old, but I honestly just thought I was failing her somehow. Oh the guilt and self-doubt. It wasn't until right before she turned 2 that we found out about Sensory Processing Disorder and it wasn't until she was 2.5, just a month ago, that we found out that she also has Autism Spectrum Disorder. It's been a wild ride and will continue to be as we navigate the special needs waters.

When I think of her the Henry Longfellow poem comes to my mind.

There was a little girl

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There was a little girl,

          Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

          When she was good, 

          She was very good indeed,

But when she was bad she was horrid.

When she's happy, her smiles and laughs will light up the world. And those dimples....

But when she's not happy? Just call her Bruce Banner, because you don't want to see her angry! The reason it has been a couple of days since I wrote last was because she's been in "Hulk smash!" mode. Thankfully, I have a reprieve today because she's napping. 

No matter what gets thrown our way, I will always be blessed with my little surprise. She's definitely the best thing I never knew I always wanted.