Maybe it is the fact that Logan and I are coming up on our 5 year anniversary (a month away), maybe the fact that Daven is already almost 17 months old; not sure exactly what it is…but I have been reminiscing in my head a lot this week.

So, I thought I would relive the past 5 years of my life with you. Only the cliff notes of course! So here we go from the start…

Once upon a time back in November of 1979 I decided to make my GRAND arrival. Okay wait, I just said the past 5 years not the past 26 years. HA! Got you going there for a minute.

Logan and I were an instant match, it was love from the start. As Autumn will tell you, she knew he was the one for me on our first date. We immediately started planning the wedding of the century! Other than the occasional mishaps, the day was perfect! (And by mishap I mean no air conditioning for a June wedding, but eh…who needed to breath? I wasn’t!)

Once Logan was done with school and we had gotten settled in at Clovis, we thought it was time to think about starting a family. WHOA, that happened fast. Within one month, we found out that I was pregnant. Our precious baby was on the way! We eventually found out that IT’S A BOY! Daven Tate was going to be here around Christmas time. Knowing that he would never forgive me for giving him a Christmas birthday, I was hoping for any day…but Christmas day.

He finally came! December 28, 2004 our precious baby boy was finally here. So itty bitty was he. Tall and skinny like his daddy. (5 lbs 14 oz and 20 in long) Here we are about 20 minutes after he arrived.

Our life as knew it was completely different. We found out very soon that babies are a lot of work. And Daven seemed to be a little more work than other babies. He wasn’t happy and had colic so terribly bad. Here he is at 3 months.

The time seemed to creep by. Daven was already 6 months old, but not holding his head up. I started to get very concerned. We signed him up for some Physical Therapy to help him get stronger. Meanwhile, Daven did start smiling finally!

After we went for his 9 month check up, the doctor knew by his weight and developmental delay that something was wrong. We began testing immediately. Blood work, MRI, ultrasound, so many tests. Daven was such a trooper through it all. The doctor ended up calling a Genetic Specialist and he said it sounded like Williams Syndrome. We both shook our heads and said Williams Syndrome? What in the world is that? So many questions, so many concerns, and so much that we didn’t know. Once we got to see the pictures and do the research, we knew instantly our precious boy had WS. After we took the blood test to confirm it, we got the call on November 16...it was official Daven Tate Marshall was diagnosed with WS.

It was a few months of roller coaster emotions. Our life was never going to be what we had envisioned it. The days seemed to be so dark and lonely. It was so hard to wrap your mind around the situation and carry on with life at the same time.

BUT, here we are almost 7 months after the diagnosis and the world continues to turn, the sun still comes up every morning, and my family is still the most important thing in my life. Days when I see that precious boy smile and hear him giggle…make everything all worth it!

How sweet it is to reminisce and consider how far we have come and how far we still have to go. Who knows what the future has in store for this family. Only time will tell.

We couldn’t have survived the past few months and years without out all the love and support from family, friends and great doctors. Sorry this post has been so long, I did say cliff notes right? Thanks for reading and sharing the past few years with me.

LOVE LOVE LOVE