2011: A Year of Progress

When I look back at 2011, I would definitely consider it a good one overall. Many great things took place this past year, and I want to recount a few things before I become old and grey and forget it all =)

One of the biggest blessings of our year is, of course, the birth of our baby boy, Jadon Marko Nelson. It seems like it was a different lifetime when he wasn't in our lives, and we couldn't imagine our days without him now. He has brought so much joy to this family, and Justin and I love watching Moriah and Jadon grow up together. Psalm 127:3 says "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him." I couldn't agree more. We feel very blessed to have them both, and we hope and pray we raise them well.

Next up, I want to remember all of Moriah's great accomplishments of the year. When she was discharged from the hospital, her gross motor skills scored at a whopping age of 1 month old. Our sweet girl couldn't do much on her own, and she was 2 1/2 years old.

Over this past year, Moriah's skills have taken off. She can now
*Crawl
*Pull herself from sit to stand
*Sit - all by herself!!!
*Walk with the help of a walker (this is a work in progress)
*Eat her meals by mouth
*Sign "eat" and "all done"
*Perform Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Jingle Bells (the Batman Smells version)
*And attends preschool regularly with her Nurse.
She has blossomed beyond belief here. We are excited to see more smiles, songs, and standing from her in the upcoming year. Sorry. Alliteration overload. =)

Also, with the gift of a wheelchair-accessible van, we have been able to do so many more things together as a family. A few things I want to remember is going to Santa Cruz with M, while Jadon was still in my belly. It was our first big trip, and we were shakin' in our boots. She did just fine, and it finally made me feel a little bit normal being able to go out together as a family. The second biggest outing I want to remember was with Auntie Kaela, and we went to the kids' first theme park called Gilroy Gardens. It was the second farthest place we traveled to, and we had a blast that day. Lastly, our biggest breakthrough was our trip to Los Angeles!!!! The kids withstood a 7 hour drive down, and a 10 hour drive back (remind me to never ever travel the Sunday after Thanksgiving ever again!) After Nurse Shannon's husband, Eric, placed an inverter into our car to power M's water heater and vent, we have not had to worry about traveling long distances with our children. I cannot stress how much of a blessing this has been to us! Our trip to Los Angeles was so much fun, getting to spend time with the families. It was also very sentimental...I hadn't been home in years. It felt really good to experience the warmth and coziness of my mom's home, and have her take care of us. Don't we all need that from time to time? =)

As for Justin and I, our marriage has been put through the ringer and become all the more stronger because of it. We probably hit some of the lowest lows this year after having a second child. With the difficulties that come with having a medically fragile child on top of having a newborn, we quickly headed into a pattern of bickering...and many times I would have to stop in the middle of an argument and ask what it was that we were even arguing about...it was that routine for us. We were so sleep deprived and hardly spending time together, and as a result, our marriage suffered. But over the past few months, we have been able to recuperate, and be with one another again...whether it is for a quick cup of coffee or to eat dinner at the dinner table. We are processing, realizing even more things about ourselves -both likes and dislikes, and continuing to make the decision to love each other as best as we can each and everyday - even when he gets in the zone and tunes me out and when I become impatient with him =)
Maybe this was too much information to share on here, but I think about those of you out there who are living the kind of life that we are, and want you to know that you are not alone... I'm naturally more open about my issues, and it's every bit worth it to me if it helps someone out there feel better that we all have our issues!

And rounding off this year of progress, we have been able to start up an outreach ministry for families of acutely and chronically ill children. Not only are we doing weekly church services at CRC, we have had the opportunity to also serve families at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. We feel so blessed to be able to reach out and support these families either spiritually, financially, or offer advice from our own experiences in the hospital.

And with that, I will end my tangent on 2011.

Hope you all had a good one too! Cheers.

xo,
Victoria