A Weekend of Shining Starts

I hate to use the word amazing to describe our second AMC convention, because it seems so trite and small compared to the time we had. In the time we spent with other AMC families, we learned that we are on the right track with Jackson's treatment and a couple of areas we need to work on, but all in all, we are doing so well! In just 4 short days, Jackson has learned to drink from a straw and throw a ball. We have also noticed he is straightening his right leg more and more. We met some really awesome families and truly enjoyed our time with a lot of other "family" members. P.J. and Jackson bonded as did Wendy (his mom) and I. Wendy tells me that P.J. looked just like Jackson when he was born and let me tell you watching P.J. "attack" Jonathan made me and Jon feel even better about our long term prognosis. Two high points of the weekend was:

1- our trip to Miracle League Field, it is a baseball field, like no other---just for special needs children, Jon and Jackson played the first round and he ran all the bases in his stroller. The second round, Jackson and I ran the bases together. When we finished, I was a crying mess---I never thought watching my child on a baseball field would bring me such joy, but looking back to the day he was born, I never thought it would happen. And to see the sheer excitement on his face made it one of the best experience thus far!

2- Rick from Positive Exposure---he is a former fashion photographer, who shot the likes of Cindy Crawford, long story short, one of the organizers of this years convention contacted him and asked that he photograph our AMC family--he agreed and I am so glad he did, his work is truly breathtaking and it is hard to be around him and not feel all of his energy---he took some of the most beautiful pictures of our AMC family, you can truly see the life and energy of our remarkable children and Rick's passion for photographing the "genetically different"

Another highlight of our weekend was hearing a geneticist and hand surgeon speak, the geneticist shared some very interesting things (that I will hopefully be able to process and post about later this week) and the hand surgeon said that Jackson's hands look really good and functional! 

We had a great time with our AMC family and can't wait until Philly next year!