Woah, 2021 FLEW by. It was a great year, but it definitely had it's unexpected challenges! I was very happy to see my little world in Kingwood, TX mostly return to normal! We got back to our pre-covid park day numbers! Our group that comes every week is almost completely different than 2 years ago but it's just as wonderful! Everything is open and back to regular capacity. The only places I know of that still require masks in our area are medical offices and the Library. Covid is still around of course. It seems like everyone is getting the Omicron variant and although it's not fun, thankfully they seem to be able to get over it relatively easily. I'm super glad Covid is not halting life from happening anymore. I even see more people being more understanding and loving now than I did a year ago which is so good to see. Of course it's not perfect and we're still a long way off from being as kind and thoughtful of others as we should be but it's so encouraging to see improvement for sure! Let's keep working on spreading the love of God and being more like Jesus!! We don't have to change the world by ourselves but we can do our part by doing small acts of kindness or a little bigger when possible and loving others as best as we can with God's help.
Ok! In keeping with last year's post I will be treating this kind of like a Christmas Card letter that has updates on each member of our family going oldest to youngest.
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| Gotta represent Naruto and my Astros |
Me first! This month I celebrated my 1 year work anniversary with Sequitur Energy! Still so grateful to be working for a wonderful boss and I am loving the settled feeling of being a year in. Like I really know what I'm doing now! haha! For those of you who don't know, I work remotely a couple hours a day doing accounting/banking for an oil and gas company. I got way back into Anime with Sam this year. We have anime nights on Saturdays. I am not ashamed! I love it. I'm such a nerd. It's perfect though because I got really consistent at working out at night because I would put on an anime to watch while I worked out. I did give myself a break through the holidays though. We started reading Manga together too. So much fun. OH! I picked up a new hobby. I achieved a childhood dream and learned to draw. I mostly draw anime characters, but I have dabbled in other things for Birthday cards. Here's a couple of my most recent drawings. As a result my blog has taken a big hit! I choose to draw or watch anime with my time a lot more than blog lately. I'm really hoping to get back to it though! I still love taking pictures and playing video games too. Still trying to find the elusive balance between home schooling 2 different grades, leading park day, keeping up with friends, working, cooking, cleaning and having time for myself and my hobbies. I'll keep doing my best!!
Sam has been in the middle of our unexpected challenges this year. Near the end of July Sam started having extreme leg pain. Bad enough that it kept him from work for a few days. So he got an appointment with a PCP dr as fast as he could. That doctor sent him straight to the ER to check for blood clots. His ultrasounds came back clear and the ER found no other problems with him. That sent him back to the doctor who then sent him to an orthopaedic surgeon. The pain just continued to get worse that he could only move to get from the bed to the recliner with crutches. The OS doctor ordered an MRI of Sam's back. After reviewing it he didn't have any direct answers either. So he sent us to a Spine and neuropathy specialist. Now it's been a month with no answers. Finally the Spine doctor knew exactly what the problem was and how to fix it! The fluid around a couple of Sam's disks had drained and it pushed a disk out on to a nerve that was sending inflammation and pain signals all the way down his leg. So the doctor scheduled two injections to help fix the issue. Finally in the middle of September Sam found relief! The picture above is from when those injections were working well. After a few weeks the injections were starting to wear off. That sent us back to the spine doctor. Now he wants to try a implant that sends pain canceling signals to control the pain and inflammation. We were supposed to get that done in December since we met our deductible but the insurance dragged their feet in approving so it was all moved to January. Thankfully the injections are still working to manage most of the pain but his mobility is still somewhat limited. Because of all of that he was out of work on disability for 2 months. But he has been back to work since the end of September thankfully! The shop really missed him! (he's the shop manager at Xerox) It's good to feel needed! He's kept his mind off the pain and swelling by keeping up with his hobbies, anime, manga, video games, music and movies. The kids have definitely missed getting to play with dad, instead of getting on the floor and wrestling they watch music videos together. I'm sure they will love when Sam can play again like he used to but music videos are a fun way to still connect.
Jane is 7 1/2 and in 2nd grade. She still does not enjoy school. Her favorite subjects are still History and Science. She also loves our Bible stories. Handwriting is a struggle, we may try cursive this year to see if she likes that better because she loves fancy things. Reading is better but still hard for her. Math is not hard for her but she still says she doesn't like it. She has a more creative brain so she loves imagining and creating stories. She still loves everything girly the best and fancy dresses are her favorite. We finally let gymnastics class go. Jane didn't want to do harder skills but then when we put her in a more relaxed class she got bored. We still go to open gym from time to time. But she started Super Friday!! She loves it! Last year she did Rhythm class, Greek Mythology and Tap Dance. Her rhythm class was part of the end of the year showcase and they did bucket drumming and body jam. Jane LOVED being on stage. No surprise. So this year she will be doing theater class with Super Friday to have more stage time. She also chose Perler Beads and Duct Tape Warfare. She continues to make friends easily and has a never ending amount of curiosity and questions for how the world works.
Atlas will be 6 in February and he is in Kindergarten. He excels in school and has no trouble. He's almost finished with his Kinder math book already and he's right on track for reading. He's very motivated by video games so tries to speed through school as fast as he can to get to play. He has no attention for anything extra in school like Jane does. Atlas tried gymnastics class but he wasn't into it. He does enjoy open gym though! He's made a few friends of his own and has quite the group of boys to run around with at park day now. Atlas has grown a lot this year. Things you think he should have been doing on his own for a while he finally picked up. I learned that he needs training sessions for mundane tasks because if it's not related to video games he has no motivation to learn it. He learned to buckle himself in the car, to put on his own socks and shoes, to do the monkey bars and swing himself of the swing set. His video game skills continue to impress me. He completed an entire new game he got for Christmas in 2 days. He's also learned to calm himself down even if the game is hard. (most of the time) I'm proud of the growth he's shown! We're still working on that video game/life balance.
Alexandria is 3 1/2 and not doing any formal school. She always asks to do school! But I'm not ready. I have enough on my plate with Atlas and Jane right now. I usually figure out something that she can easily do on her own to help her feel like she's doing school. She's very good with shapes and colors. She recognizes a lot of letters and sounds even though we've barely worked on it. She can count pretty well too. Her biggest passion is animals! She loves playing with Milo and Cambria. She wishes she could have a real alligator or dragon. ;) She loves everything reptilian and dinosaur related. She makes almost everyone fall in love with her as soon as she meets them and loves to connect with people. She usually finds a mom at the park to chat with half the time. ;) She's my cuddly girl and would still like me to hold her all the time. She has big emotions and will put herself in time out if she feels like she's done something wrong and upset me. She recovers pretty quickly though. I'm still trying to decide if we're going to try gymnastics class with her. Mostly, I have to figure out if we can fit it in our busy schedule! I think she would love it.
Flynn just turned 2! He's not doing any kind of school at all but he wants to be involved. I do my best to keep him entertained with toys while we work but always wants the scissors, glue and markers. Anything that he can make a mess with. He is a ball of energy only stopping for snacks or mac and cheese. My busiest kid by far. Once he could walk, he was off! He is still a super climber and always surprises me what he can get to and do. He's amazing at jumping on the trampoline. He can do a seat jump and land back on his feet already. He's very physically advanced, but his speech is not. I'm not worried, it will come. He's on about the same level as Jane was at his age. He says lots of words but only a few are identifiable. One of his first words was Dinosaur. He's obsessed with them. He's almost always carrying one or two around. He also continues to love playing with any kind of ball.
It's time for the 4 New Year questions I answer every year! It's so interesting to go back and read what I wrote the previous year and see how what I was looking forward to and my goals played out. You can read last year's post here. The 4 questions are near the end of the post. I accomplished 2 out of 4 of my goals. I did not spend 30 min a day reading to my kids other than school or night time books. I'll still work on it! I also did not lose the last of the baby weight from Flynn, but I did get more fit in my muscle tone by working out, so I call that a win! I did spend less time on my phone and I did get better at being on time to things again! It was a pretty great year of not being pregnant or nursing. I enjoyed having my body to myself and I have no idea how I would have kept up with Flynn as a 1 year old or coped with solo parenting while Sam was immobile had I been pregnant! Oh, and things got mostly back to normal as far as Covid restrictions are concerned. Woohoo!!
1. What are you most grateful for in 2021?
It's hard to pick just a couple, but it's no fun to just say everything! One thing that I can think of that's a weight off my shoulders is we were able to save enough funds to replace our very old roof. It's an expensive thing to have done! Replacing the roof also allowed our A/C to work properly during the summer months for the first time since we moved in 7 years ago. This was because our roof had no ventilation, we put in solar fans when it was replaced and it worked wonders!
Honorable mention: Finding a wonderful Spine doctor for Sam that was able to identify his problem and come up with solutions.
2. What was your favorite moment of 2021?
I think my favorite moment of 2021 was my girls weekend with Esther and Kae. I hadn't gotten to do something like that since before my kids were born and it was amazing!! So refreshing and rejuvenating and encouraging. It's something we want to continue each year if possible.
Honorable mentions: Daugherty Beach Trip 2021. Everyone got to go! We narrowly missed being canceled by a hurricane but it ended up being pretty perfect. All 4 kids being able to go outside in the backyard while I keep an eye on them from inside and get work done. It's been amazing! Roller skating with Jane.
3. What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Sam being well again! His implant procedure is this month. We are praying for it to be the answer to him getting back to full mobility and no more problems from this disk/nerve. If this procedure doesn't work then the doctor has other plans. I'm believing in faith we will find the solution this year for Sam to feel normal again and hoping it doesn't cost us all our savings.
Update: Being done with pregnancy! Our surprise baby through me for a loop. Seriously though, I am so looking forward to meeting Piper and kissing her sweet face and soaking up all the cuddles. I also wasn't kidding about looking forward to not being pregnant and not doing again (please God? ;). Come on August!!
Honorable mention: Learning and recording some our family history and ancestry.
4. What goals do you hope to accomplish in 2022?
I'm going to keep being ambitious! Because reading last years goals and realizing I didn't meet all of them didn't bother me. Even though I didn't reach them I can keep pursing them and reaching forward!
1. Create more intentional family time and become more of a family team.
2. Grow my drawing hobby. To make a drawing with more than one character and some architecture.
3. Catch up on my blog! (This one probably won't happen but I want it on here!)
4. Keep being consistent working out and get back to walking regularly.
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| Gotta have a picture of the pets. They're part of the family! |
Goodbye 2021!!!!! Hello 2022! Happy New Year Everybody!
Isaiah 55:6-9
Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
James 1:16-20
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
