I suppose the bigger surprise here was actually that Ellie was born with such dark features. Today, as she was drawing in the car, she asked us how she looked as a baby. “Kind of like an eskimo,” we told her.
If you didn’t know me as a child, you would never know that I was quite blond as a baby. As I have gotten older, my hair has darkened considerably… and with each pregnancy, even more so. John, too, while not particularly blond, doesn’t have the dark head of hair that Ellie came into the world with. But, now that Ellie’s has lightened up, we all kind of have the same hue.
(Our last family-of-three picture. Tessa was born 4 days later.)
This is why, for most people, Tessa’s super-light hair color catches them off-guard.
No, it’s not like that because she has Down syndrome.
Yes, some people have thought that.
When she was very little, I had her at the eye doctor because of a clogged tear duct that would not clear. As she examined her eyes, she told me that the back part of her eye (?) is quite pale, and that given her super-fair skin and light blond hair, she would not be surprised if Tessa has ocular albinism. I just laughed because her hair color is actually much like mine used to be! Over time, the back part of her eye has “normalized” and we know now that her hair is blond because, well, that’s just how she is! Super fair, super blond, and super cute!
Yo soy La Lay 
You have a BEAUTIFUL family, so happy to see you all today!