New Year's Eve

I can't believe 2010 will be starting tomorrow. It sounds like science fiction, doesn't it? It causes me to reflect on one of my childhood goals, which was to give birth to a child in the year 2000. I thought that it would be so easy to remember my child's age if that happened. I came up with this plan after meeting someone who was born in 1900. Often children are not very good judges of ages. I was told I was an "old fogie" by one of my students when I was only 20 years old as one example. One of the nurses in the NICU (who I would guess to be in her 20's) said that one of her nephews recently guessed she was in her 60's. She didn't feel too badly though because this child guessed that his grandfather (her dad) was 60 million years old. LOL! Anyhow I was 28 years old for most of 2000, and that's certainly a reasonable age to give birth to a baby. However, I actually didn't get married until 2001. Even though I gave birth in 2008 and 2009, I don't think it will be too hard for me to remember how old my children are, at least for another twenty years or so anyhow.

I haven't given much thought yet to my goals for 2010 aside from getting back to the weight I was prior to ivf #1 and also taking at least one photo a day for the Project Life scrapbook that I should be receiving next week. I probably will wait a few weeks before I come up with any other goals for 2010 as the main goal that comes to mind right now is to get more sleep, LOL. Instead I'd like to take the time to reflect on a few of the many blessings in my life.

1. Paul - he loves me, Nadia, and Ian very much. What a blessing to be loved by one's hubby and know that he loves your kids very, very, very much.

2. Nadia - my life has been completely different since June 24, 2008. It has been SUCH a delight to be her mom the past 18 months. I love watching her learn and grow. This week she learned her first shape. If you show her a picture of an oval, she will point to it and say "oval." This morning we were greeted with a fresh layer of snow on the ground. I opened the curtain on the sliding glass door and asked her what was outside, and she said "snow" without anyone having said the word first.

3. Ian - although he came a few weeks earlier than I would have preferred, it is amazing to me that I am entering 2010 with TWO children. I remember in the summer of 2007 really starting to believe I would never give birth to or adopt any children despite all of our efforts to conceive and adopt. Normally, when he finishes nursing I put him back in the crib as soon as possible (during the night) so I can get back to bed. Last night on more than one occasion I found myself cradling him in my arms and telling him how much I loved him before I put him back to bed. Considering how much I am NOT a night owl, this shows how much I treasure this little guy!! Speaking of which, I actually might be awake this year around midnight. I usually am in bed before 10pm on New Year's Eve. Lately I've been going to bed around 7pm, but depending on when I am nursing Ian, I might actually be awake at midnight for once!

4. Paul's parents - the list of how they've helped us the past 2.5 weeks is quite lengthy. I am not sure what we would have done without them. They took wonderful care of Nadia on many occasions, brought me food when most of the cafeterias in the hospital were closed over the weekend, bought Ian many preemie and newborn clothes since the 0-3 month size clothing was way too big, picked up Ian's crib mattress, bought both kiddos tons of wonderful Christmas presents (Ian is in the swing right now), prepared Christmas dinner, washed all the dishes by hand after the Christmas dinner, etc. It is SUCH a blessing to know that my kids are very, very loved by their grandparents and that they live close enough to see them fairly often.

5. My mom - my mom drove up from MD and helped us out for 3 days while Ian and I were in the hospital. She also was a big help! I am also grateful she was able to deliver most of the presents I purchased to MD so that I didn't have to pay postage to ship too many of them.

6. Neighbors - I am very grateful that the neighbor girls watched Nadia during our two trips to the hospital (until Paul's parents got here). It was nice that she didn't have to be awakened either time.

7. Donna - it was such a blessing to be able to take a nap at her house on the 21st, a shower there on the 22nd, that they watched Nadia on the 22nd, that she took some great pictures of the four of us, etc. I am very grateful for all the ways she and her husband helped us out!

8. That Ian was discharged on the 22nd. It's hard for me to include anything related to the NICU on my list of blessings, but evidently 2 weeks is the norm for babies born at 34 weeks with RDS. I am grateful that by that standard he came home four days "early."

9. That I'll be able to work part-time the whole next year. I enjoy my job, but I love being with my kids even more!

10. That Paul recently finished his Master's degree as well as the coursework for his PhD.