After every Christmas is over and the new year begins, I inevitably start thinking of what has changed in the past year, how are lives are different than they were the year before, and how Aiden has grown and changed. Often we only remember the "big" changes that happen in life and it is easy to forget the progress that has been made over time and the small changes that were meaningful - especially when it seems like progress is slow going. Really, to think that last Christmas Aiden wasn't walking or talking yet, it amazes me how far he has come in the past year and when I think back to the beginning, it amazes me how far he has come year after year.
I thought I would put together this little list of holiday memories and end of year re-cap that I can look back on each year, not only to remember all the good times we had, but to see all the ways our family has changed and grown. My goal is to answer this little set of questions every year, I think it will be a fun way to keep our holiday memories fresh!
Christmas 2007
What we did that year: Worked - a lot, treated Sophie like a real baby, a lot of shopping and hanging out with Chris and Lisa until 3am.
Fun things that happened that year: A new nephew (Chase) arrived in October, we had just gotten back from a cruise to Mexico with friends to celebrate some 30th birthdays.
How we spent Christmas: We had 2 great celebrations that year in the weeks before Christmas with the Nicolls and Duggan sides of the family, Christmas eve we spent the night at my my parents house and spend Christmas day with my mom and dad, my sis and her fam, my brother and my grandparents.
Favorite Christmastime memory: Christmas shopping in San Francisco with my mom and Grandma, I have never spent so much money in so little time or walked so long with heavy bags of loot in my hands - we had a blast - particularly with the pot smoking pimp hanging at the top of Macy's/Cheesecake Factory that wanted my mom, grandma and me to go to some club with him to go dancing that night..."Grandma ok if I smoke dis joint here? Aw...Grandma cool".
Aiden's Stats: Still just a dream of his momma & daddy's!
Christmas 2008
What we did that year: Spent the first few months of the year going through our 3rd IVF cycle, the summer months were spent hanging out with family and being excited to become parents, the fall months were spent on bed rest and housebound/hospitalbound, and the winter months were spent in the NICU with Aiden.
Fun things that happened that year: We were pregnant! I'm not sure if I would call Aiden's birth "fun", but it was a very important part of the year!
How we spent Christmas: At the hospital with Aiden most of the day, we opened up his presents and showed them to him, but we couldn't even hold him because he had an infection and was on the big ventilator - so no family picture this year. In the evening we went home and had a really bad turkey dinner (see below) and watched a movie.
Favorite Christmastime memory: Hitting up the Safeway by the hospital on Christmas Eve, looking for something quick, but "special" to make for dinner the next day, since we didn't want to go up to my parents and be that far away from the hospital. We ended up scrounging for one of the last Jennie-O frozen turkey "kits" and stove top. I made real mashed potatoes though!
Aiden Stats: weighed in at 2lbs. 5oz. and was still way to small for even preemie clothes, He was still on a ventilator and fighting off infections, he was tolerating a few milliliters of milk every few hours, he had a hairy little body and no cartilage in his ears, and he slept most of the time but could open his eyes and interact a bit occasionally.
Christmas 2009
What we did that year: Aiden came home from the hospital in the spring and we spent a lot of the year adjusting to life with a new baby, oxygen tubes running through our house and medicine schedules and charts. We stayed at home a lot to keep Aiden from exposure to germs and getting sick - a lot of doctors appointments that year though!
Fun things that happened that year: A lot of "firsts" for Aiden - including his first trip up to Tahoe. We spent a week in Mendocino with the family in October and of course celebrated Aiden first birthday in November!
How we spent Christmas: We spent Christmas Eve at my parents - Aiden's first overnight trip at Nana and Papa John's house! Christmas day was spent with my whole family and we celebrated with the Nicolls family the Sunday before Christmas.
Favorite Christmastime memory: Aiden's first Christmas tree hunt, which also turned into his first snowstorm! He was bundled up in like 4 layers and squeezed like a little sausage into the baby carrier and then covered up with a blanket - he was so little, looked so cute all bundled up and just looked around the whole time - no complaints! It started snowing while we were picking out a tree and by the time we drove home there was 6 inches on the ground! Lots of good memories this year - the boys under the tree in matching jammies, stuffing Aiden's stocking while he rolled around on the floor in his first christmas jammies, Aunt Lisa finding out she was pregnant while we were cooking for the Nicolls christmas gathering and Aiden & Sydney riding around (and falling off of) their little winnie the pooh airplanes.
Aiden's Stats: Wore size 3-6 month tops and 0-3 size bottoms, weighed in at around 15 pounds. He had just gotten off nighttime supplemental oxygen and we were slowly narrowing down our list of doctors we had to see. He was holding his head up, could roll around and would sit propped up on things but, was not able to sit on his own or crawl quite yet. He was eating purees and was still on formula, and while he never ate much at a time, he ate a large variety of pureed foods.
Christmas 2010
What we did that year: Aiden had his hip surgery in February and spent the spring in the spica cast (he learned to crawl in that thing!) once the cast was off Aiden discovered how fun the backyard and baby pool were, we spent a lot of time there in the summer.
Fun things that happened that year: We were able to get out of the house a lot more and took Aiden to some places like the zoo and Folsom lake, and took a couple fun trips up to Tahoe. Aiden got 2 new cousins at once in July, so we spent a lot of time over at Chris and Lisa's playing with them. We celebrated Aiden's 2nd birthday with a circus themed party in November.
How we spent Christmas: We had Christmas with the Nicolls and Duggan families the weekend before and celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas day with the Walshaw side. Seeing a pattern here?!?! We love our tradition of spending the night and having a low stress Christmas day!
Favorite Christmastime memory: We really got to do some fun stuff this year! We were able to go to a tree lighting, Santa visited the neighborhood, we decorate a gingerbread house and of course we went on the annual tree hunt. This was the year of "homemade Christmas" and it was fun to watch everyone open up their very personal gifts (because I made them!). I think my favorite memory this year though was driving up to my parents house on Christmas Eve, I turned on Christmas music and me and Aiden sang until he fell asleep. Since he was out, I drove through Placerville and got a holiday coffee drink - it just felt very Christmasy to me!
Aiden's Stats: After the cast came off Aiden really started to move! He learned to crawl and sit up all by himself pretty soon after the cast was off. By the end of the year he was cruising around furniture. He was weaned off most of his medications this year and we no longer had a ton of "specialist" appointments. He was starting to eat finger foods, but was a very picky eater - he wore size 3-6 month bottoms still.
Christmas 2011
What we did that year: A lot of normal family stuff - thank goodness! This year was great because we got to do a lot of regular kid stuff with Aiden, and he started preschool in December. We had some rough times this year and he did have his foot surgery in September and was in a cast for about a month (oh what a nightmare that was), but now that it is over we are happy to have a surgery-less future (we hope)! Jeremy changed jobs in the fall and is now working a more normal schedule - no more 12 hour shifts and we now have weekends as a family!
Fun things that happened that year: Spent a week in Pismo Beach, more fun Tahoe trips and 2 new cousins to play with!
How we spent Christmas: The usual! Weekend before with Jeremy's family and Christmas eve/day with mine :)
Favorite Christmastime memory: My own favorite memory this year was spa day with my mom, grandma and sister - it was awesome to get pampered for a day and it was full of laughs, nail polish colors and really hideous moo-moos! My favorite memory with Aiden was the Santa parade, his face literally lit up seeing the marching band, the animals and the floats - oh and of course that chocolate bar! We did a lot this year with him at Christmas time and he had a blast looking at lights, christmas trees and Santa :)
Aiden's Stats: Our big boy started walking and talking this year! As soon as he learned to walk the words started coming quickly! He weighs around 25 pounds and has overcome some of his eating issues (although it is still a work in progress!), his favorite foods are pepperoni pizza and chocolate chip animal cookies. He loves trains, cars, books, musical instruments and he is ALWAYS singing. Aiden is an amazing kid, I will tell you that!
What we are looking forward to in the coming year: Spending more time together as a family, another fun trip to Pismo Beach (soon!), Aiden continuing his progress at school and taking him some new fun places! Who knows what will happen this year, but I think it will be good :)
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