Kelle Hampton is a married mom of two. Her daughters are seriously the cutest little girls ever (with the obvious exception of my niece, Marley) and the younger one, Nella, has Down Syndrome. This book is the account of the first year of Nella's life. Initially, Kelle is heartbroken but it doesn't take long before she rallies and falls completely in love with Nella.

Because Nella is only two now (and the book covers her first year), the book and blog (link above on author's name) aren't really about what it's like to raise a child with Down Syndrome but more about how she adapted to be able to parent a kid with Down Syndrome (and, even more specifically, a freaking gorgeous girl named Nella).

I completely adored this book (which, incidentally, is filled with really gorgeous pictures). It's one of the great contradictions of my life that I don't particularly like children but if you give me a story about children or pictures of children, I am a happy Kelly. This book had both (and again, GORGEOUS pictures).

I tend to like stories that aren't all sunshine and rainbows and this memoir certainly isn't. While Kelle Hampton obviously loves both her daughters, she also struggles to get to a place where she's okay with Nella's diagnosis. (She always is okay with Nella herself, however.) She's worried about what Nella's life will be like and what her older daughter, Lainey's, life will be like. For example, they probably won't have the relationship that Kelle had with her older sister.

This is a wonderful book, one that will appeal to people regardless of whether they have a child with Down Syndrome or whether they have children at all. Obviously, it'll speak to different people on different levels, but good writing is good writing, and this book is well-written.

Highly recommended.