Mandy Lou

As I was driving to my parents for the weekend, I started thinking about all of the things that I wanted to do, while I was down. A thought crossed my mind to go do a photo shoot of Mandy sometime during the weekend. I couldn’t get it off my mind and was so excited to do this.

Mandy Lou is my cousin. She and I were both born on April 16th, just a few years apart, OK maybe quite a few years apart!

Mandy has Rett Syndrome. Rett Syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder. It is exclusively found in girls. One very common trait is distinctive hand movements. Lou is always moving and watching her hands.

She has never spoken a word, but can say sooo much with her eyes and expressions. She can lead you around to what she needs. After I took the last picture, she led me right to the back door so that she could go inside.

But those eyes, I just love when she gets tickled about something. You can see it in those eyes and hear it in her cackle. She always makes me smile when she is cackling about something. I often wonder what she has found so funny.

Lou has always loved water. She also loves sun spots. Aunt Kathy has this bright yellow blanket that Lou loves to lay on in the afternoon because it glows in the bright sun. As you can see in the picture above and below it does indeed glow! All of these pictures look like they have a table flash going off.

Lou is lucky to have such a sweet mom and dad to care for her every need. And WE are so lucky to have Lou in OUR lives!