Happy 2007!

I should title this post "Crappy 2007" because it has been...literally. Not that I think 2007 will be a bad year for us, to the contrary actually. It's just that both girls are sick with a tummy bug and have had diarrhea and vomiting for the past three or four days. It's hasn't been a horrible sickness. Not as bad as the one this time last year. Just a couple bouts of sickness a day. But it has cramped our style just a bit in really enjoying the first few days of the new year.

Holland and Eden spent the night at Nana and Papa's again on New Year's eve, and we had some friends over. We invited lots of people, but it ended up being just our nearest and dearest from good ole Wayne High and that was OK with me! I LOVE you girls (and guys:))

I personally had a super fabulous time. I can't speak for John who ended up sick and asleep by 10:30pm. Was it a touch of the tummy bug? Or just too much of the champagne punch? I guess we'll never know for sure;)

What I do know, is that 2006 wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It beat the hell out of 2004 and 2005.

It isn't that my gloomy predictions for 2006 didn't come true. They mostly did. It's just that what I thought might be the worst that could happen, turned out to not really be the worst.

Eden's CP is still fairly severe. On the surface it doesn't really seem that she has made much progress physically since this time last year, except that she has completely mastered rolling. She still can't sit up, still can't hold her head up for long periods of time, and has gained less than three pounds in a years time. But you know what? It's okay. She's bright, and she's sweet, and she is beautiful. She is spunky, with a lust for life, and the most incredible sense of determination and focus that I have ever seen. She's gonna be okay. You know what? She's gonna be MORE than okay even if she NEVER walks.

Obviously, I have days when I don't feel so optimistic. There are still days I could cry all day long. When things seem gloomy and hopeless and way too hard. But those days are getting fewer and further between. Dare I say that it is getting a little bit easier?

I guess I've come to a point of partial acceptance. Don't get me wrong, I still think it sucks. It sucks to see my daughter struggle to do simple things everyday. But you know what, I know that I'm not going to wake up one day and have two daughters with no disabilities. I'm no longer wishing on a star that Eden will start walking. I'm not praying for a miracle, because guess what? The miracle has already happened.

They are here. They are alive. They are happy. What more can we ask for really? It seems so selfish for me to ask for more when there are so many people out there who are suffering in so many ways that are just so much worse. We are the lucky ones. And I am thankful. 2007...here we come!


O, I believe
Fate smiled and destiny
Laughed as she came to my cradle
Know this child will be able
Laughed as my body she lifted
Know this child will be gifted
With love, with patience and with faith
She'll make her way

Lyrics by Natalie Merchant