Thank you Jenny for setting up this group! I'm forwarding the info
on to everyone I know.

Here is my introduction...

My name is Cathleen Sherman, and I have a beautiful daughter, Lilly.
She is 19 months now, and my husband and I frequently say that waking
up to Lilly each morning is like waking up on Christmas. She has so
much passion for everything she does; it's been amazing to watch her
grow and develop. If you are a newer mom, you may recognize my name
from the "new parent packets" that are being handed out at Kluge and
various doctors offices around town. When Lilly was born, there was
no "welcome" information given to us; we were only verbally given
outdated stereotypes and a depressing list of every possible medical
problem that our child could have. It has been my personal goal to
make sure no parent ever feels so isolated again in this journey,
especially because I have found that Lilly is the greatest person
I've had the pleasure to know. There is no sadness surrounding my
girl, and it's important for me to show others how much pride I have
in her. I feel as though I hit the lottery with her.

A few things about our family... I graduated Washington & Lee Law
School 3 years ago, and have been working as a Legal Analyst for
LexisNexis ever since. My husband is a resident at UVA, and is an
amazing father; he and Lilly are so connected. We are originally
from Atlanta. We prayed for the first 2 years of our marriage to
have the "right child at the right time" and were ecstatic when we
got pregnant with Lilly. We found out through an unwanted nuchal
translucency test that our baby had a 1 in 5 chance of having DS,
and, although the lack of information at the time was hard, we knew
that we got what God wanted to give us, and she is definitely the
right child at the right time. The hardest part of the past 3 years
since I first got pregnant were the months before she was born,
because there was so much unknown and so little information about DS;
but she is the best thing that has ever happened to us, and I'm
grateful every day that our journey has turned out this way.

Lilly is the best kiss-blower I know, and already has a "pagent
wave". She is beautiful and curious and can manipulate her way into
getting a cookie or chocolate where ever we go. She is so
charismatic. She takes so much pride in everything she learns, and
makes sure to clap for herself often. She has great communication
skills, and knows both "english" and "sign language." Her passion is
music and dancing, and can't hear a song without showing off her
moves. She's developing a funny sense of humor, and has an adorable
laugh. She's definitely mommy's little girl, and every day with her
is an adventure.