Apraxia Awareness Day 2015

Today's the day. It comes around every year.

May 14.

Apraxia Awareness Day. 

It's not the day that defines our daughter. It could. We could let Apraxia define her. But we won't let it define who she is or what she will do with her life.

Today we celebrate Addie for the accomplishments she has made while fighting such a tough fight. We celebrate her for the little girl that she is.

She is a little girl, that before anything else, loves Jesus, her sisters, her daddy and her mommy fiercely. 

She is a little girl that when her daddy tucks her in at night, she will ask him to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and the Bible song every. single. night. 

She is a little girl that reminds mommy to pray on the way to school every morning and she will clasp those hands together and thank Jesus for lunch, play time, Anna, Dalton and her teachers. 

She is a little girl that loves Frozen and sings her heart out to the best of her ability. 

She is a little girl that loves going to church and ask to go just about every night of the week. 

She is a little girl that loves to listen to music, read, swim and jump on her trampoline. 

She is the little girl that will ask every singe day after school for her best friends to come play. Or every single morning before school to FaceTime her daddy since he leaves for work before she is awake. 

She is the little girl that at almost 8 years old will still say "I'm mommy's baby" if I ask her if she's my big girl or still my baby. 

That is my Addie. My sweet first born baby that made me a mommy for the first time. 

Apraxia is her diagnosis. It's not who she is. It tries to define her but we won't let it. It weaves it's way through every part of her life. 

For those that don't know, here is the definition of Apraxia: 

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is an uncommon speech disorder in which a child has difficulty making accurate movements when speaking. It's important to know that CAS is just a label for a speech disorder.

To speak correctly, your child's brain has to learn how to make plans that tell his or her speech muscles how to move the lips, jaw and tongue in ways that result in accurate sounds and words. Your child's brain also plans these movements so that he or she speaks with normal speed and rhythm.

In childhood apraxia of speech, the brain struggles to develop plans for speech movement. As a result, children with CAS don't learn accurate movements for speech with normal ease. In CAS, the speech muscles aren't weak, but they don't perform normally because the brain has difficulty directing or coordinating the movements.

In everything she does, in every part of her life, she needs speech. So many people take speech for granted, that a baby will talk and develop and learn from just listening to their mommy and daddy (I was one of them) but that is not the case for some of us. Apraxia is there in the way she says "I love you", it's there when she sings a song, it's there when she says her prayers, it's there when she does her school work. 

But we refuse to let it define the little girl she is. We want people to know Addie. The real Addie. To understand what makes her unique and special. To celebrate the little things to most but they are BIG things for her! 

She is such a blessing to our lives. God has a BIG plan for my little girl. I am so thankful that I get to be her mommy.

Today, find out more about Apraxia. Today, wear blue for Addie and all kids with Apraxia. Be their voice until they find theirs! If you wear blue we would love to see it so use the hashtag #Voice4Addie on Facebook or Instagram so we can show her how loved she is!