2013 has been full of cozy corners, therapy sessions, books, worrying, doctors visits, test, two surgeries, finally deep cleaning parts of the house, nightly romps with the kids and nearly nightly story hours, a renewed commitment to my own health, and lots of healing. (Oh, about those nightly romps? One of JAM's first dozen words is "gick-gle." It means "tickle" and he scrunches up his shoulders and starts laughing even before I've started the tickles. He says it to signal that he recognizes he's on his changing table for the last change of the night, and that it's time for my hair to fall in his face or my lips to blow on his neck to start the nightly tickle fest. Usually then I hand him off to Steve who has a much-too-rowdy for my taste romp with the girls and JAM -- usually involving horse rides where JAM is the jockey and one of the girls is a very unsteady horse. It is a sight not to be missed if you're ever at our house around bed time.) This year has been somewhat of a steady plow through life, much less of the amazingly good and horridly bad of 2012, but that's just what we needed. Everyone has healed.
A half a dozen of the most popular posts of 2013:
1. The birth story of my son
2. By way of introduction
3. Viability and Recussitation - the difficult case of the 23 weeker
4. Choice
5. 1st birthday pictures
6. Of spiritual support on the cusp between new life and death
Posts that are worth a look:
These posts were not extremely popular. They aren't sensational like the ones that made the top six, but I liked them nonetheless. (Listed in chronological order.)
- Of Apple Trees and Surgeries -- about growing deep roots and yet looking fruitless.
- When Night Fell -- Of crying out to God and the answer that was given.
- Surrounded. A bit of grace in difficult times. -- About the strange form of redemption that came in spite of the terrible situation surrounding JAM's birth.
- Knowing how to care -- Recounting the day that a friend gave me no options but to accept help.
- The philosophy of trees: retinopathy of prematurity and perception -- How your vision changes when you think your son might be going blind.
- An unusually sunny day -- Over 90 days in and we finally got some REALLY good news. This one isn't profound, the pictures just make me smile. Kind of like the first birthday pictures.
- PTSD/PPA -- an ode to medievalists -- About images that describe dealing with long term parental stress.
Support Posts:
Bedrest support
What to buy for a micro-preemie
Good books for siblings of preemies
What I want my Early Childhood teacher to know about my former preemie
There you have it, 17 posts, mostly about my son, born on the 17th and 17 weeks early.
Happy New Year.
Oh, and I guess a bunch of friends really like this post too:
ReplyDeletehttp://momofa23weeker.blogspot.com/2013/12/of-labeling-child-because-words-matter.html
Of choosing where to put the sticker the doctors give you, the sticker of "special needs"