We made it. We survived 2020. It was the hardest year of my life by far and I am not sad to see it go. Some other time, I need to reflect on this past year. But I don't have the energy for that right now!
We've been in Maine for almost a month now. Joe's new job is going well. He is a project manager now, but he's also doing some general mechanic work as he waits for his project to be in the hangar. The company gave him a warm welcome and we are excited for his future there.
The girls and I are settling into a daily routine when Joe's at work. The days can still be chaotic when all 3 girls want my attention at the same time, but having routine helps. Thankfully, they usually all take an afternoon nap at about the same time, so that's my sanity saver. I'm slowly working on deep cleaning the house, room by room because it was pretty filthy. Not sure when the last owner cleaned 😐
We are going to hire painters to paint the entire interior. I can't wait. I think it will be really beautiful when the walls are clean and fresh. After that, we can start hanging pictures and decorations and then I think it will really start to feel like home.
Lily is doing well. I called Boston Children's Hospital and the EA team wants to do a dilation the first week of February. That will be 2 months after her last one. We recently compressed her feeding tube feeds a bit more (which means less time connected to the pump) and she's starting to eat more and more by mouth. We haven't decreased her g tube volume yet, but I think we're close to that. She will see her new pediatrician here next week and then she should have referrals to PT and OT again. OT will help us continue to work on oral intake. We can take her helmet off on her birthday. I can't wait! The only thing she's struggling with right now is sleeping through the night. Not sure what's going on because she used to sleep through the night, at the hospital and at home. Could be any number of things I guess, but we are a bit sleep deprived over here because she's waking up a few times per night.
Cora is doing well. She's still army crawling all over the place, and now she's starting to pull herself up on things. She loves to watch and play with Rose. She's got several teeth and she loves to eat anything we give her. Rose is doing well too. We are going through some typical toddler stuff, like learning to share and being a good listener. She cracks us up with her 2 year old logic and funny sayings.
We had a quiet Christmas and New Years just as a family of 5, but we were able to video call our families on Christmas which was really nice. I know I kind of enjoyed the slower pace and quiet even though I missed seeing everyone too. On Christmas Eve, we drove around Bangor to see some Christmas lights. The highlight was the big tree downtown and seeing Rose's wonder and excitement. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and pray your new year is full of love, joy and peace.
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| Oh Christmas tree |
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| View from our living room |
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| We had some snow! |
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| Tired out after playing in the snow |
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| Downtown lights |
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| Christmas cuties |
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| Checking out the park right next to our house |
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| New Years Eve meal |
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| Lily sitting up on her own! |
You guys sounds like you are settling in so nicely! Your house looks gorgeous :-) so glad Rose Cora and Lily are getting into a routine :-) Sending daily continued prayers for the transition!!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about your sentence about how this was the hardest year of your life since I first read the update. As an empathetic person, I usually put myself into the person's shoes if I can when I'm reading a story or whatever, but my feeling when I was reading this was wow, there is nothing that has happened in my life even closely that could allow me to really empathize with you and everything that you went through in 2020. It also made me feel a little sad that I didn't live near you so I couldn't be a part of your tribe caring for you and bringing you food and helping you sleep. But I'm so glad that you did have those people like Margeaux, and such a great staff of nurses who loved Cora and Lily so deeply. I really hope that 2021 will start giving you guys a bit of a break, I know you're still pretty tired with three little ones under two (!) But I hope that that will also start to improve and that Lily will start sleeping more through the night again. That little girl is such an inspiration to us... To be so happy and smiley even though the entirety of her life has been a fight to live and to reach normalcy. Well of course not just Lily, but you too. We love you guys so much I only wish I could give you a really big hug in person. But I'll just have to look forward to when that day comes. Until then I love that weekend chat on Facebook or whatever. :-) (as an aside, I recognize that tree in the first picture with Rose, I got the same one from Mom one year!)
ReplyDeleteSame
DeleteSame sentiments, Christine!
Delete😭 wow, thanks Christine. Love you so much 😭❤ We really do appreciate all the support, even just the calls, texts, blog comments, etc. Can't wait to see you all again in person ❤❤
DeleteMy post didn’t work! I agreed with everything Christine said and I was excited (still am) that Lily is sitting by herself! Yay! Another milestone for her!
ReplyDeleteLove you all,
Oma
Thinking of you, Heidi. Glad to hear you are settling in to your new home. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the Cottons! Love, Megan Parker
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