"Finding your people when you’re in the special needs community, it’s pretty much golden." —Amanda Booth

Meet Amanda Booth and her sweet little guy, Micah! As part of our Bubbles Are for Everyone campaign we are dedicated to sharing the stories of all kinds of different mamas and families throughout our Tubby Todd community. We wanted to kick off our first feature with Amanda because she's an incredible advocate and activist within the special needs and Down Syndrome communities and she has so much heartfelt wisdom to share. Read (and watch!) a little about Amanda's mamahood journey below—we have loved getting this little peek into her family and the amazing insights she has picked up over the past 6 years since becoming a mama. Our favorite bit of advice? Find your people! Also a good cup of coffee helps too. ;)

1. How do you feel supported as a mom?

Well it just so happens that I belong to the most incredible superpower-filled group in the entire world: the down syndrome community. It’s an incredible and irreplaceable, incomparable group that I get to belong to. The amount of parents that I’ve connected with, in different countries, in different states and cities—it’s just the most vast web of community and support. Being able to connect with different families who have walked this life before us has been the most powerful and eye-opening and supportive experience I think I could ever ask for. One of my favorite quotes is by the gals over at wolfandfriends and they say to “surround yourself with people who get it." When your situation is a little bit unique and the path that you’re walking may look and feel different than so many other families, that’s something that can feel pretty isolating and finding your people where you don’t have to say sorry or explain anything when you’re in the special needs community it’s pretty much golden. I mean I also love a good cup of coffee and my husband is just so very good at making sure—forcing me even—into taking time for myself and I think that allows us to come together and be on the same page more and there’s nothing quite like working as a team to get through and be a part of this beautiful journey that we call life.

2. Why are you the perfect mom for Micah? A: I’m the perfect mom for Micah because it is apparent every single day that he chose me and there is nothing more perfect than knowing he was in the driver’s seat of that. I am patient. I apparently have the most incredible hair that fits so perfectly in his tiny little hands to pull on a daily basis. I just honestly feel so connected to Micah and I think it’s one of the beautiful things that comes along with having a non-verbal child is that we have to be so aware and so cognizant of their body language and movements and eye contact and trying to get inside each other’s heads and figure out what’s going on in this world and I love that and it fills me with purpose and a driving force to create a better world and being his mom ignites me and you know I fair pretty well on minimal sleep at this point too so obviously we were meant to be. 3. How have you expanded in your experience of motherhood? A: How have I expanded in motherhood—aside from the literal expansion of my hips which no longer fit into any of my old pants I have expanded in literally every measurable way. My heart has grown, you know, triple size, I have so much compassion for the world and I was always a very empathetic person but my empathy is just unrivaled at this point. I am capable of seeing the world through a totally different view, something that I’ve never experienced in my entire life and that is solely because of my motherhood journey. I couldn’t be more grateful for all of the learning that I’ve been able to do so far in our six years together and I’m so excited and off to the future and I’m looking forward to seeing just how much more enriched my life can become simply by mothering Micah.

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https://youtu.be/EN81bWPj0h0