My dad has been telling people I've retired from blogging. Don't believe him... I haven't!
It's time that I either give this blog a bit of my time, or truly retire it. In 2017, I've decided I'll give a little heart and attention to this space of mine and see if I can get into a rhythm. I truly started both of the last two years thinking this would be the case, but when real life gets crazy, I just cannot pretend this space is more important than taking care of what's directly in front of me. I'm here and ready now! Hi!
First of all-- a look back. For everyone who has been talking about how terrible 2016 was: be encouraged! Statistically, it actually WASN'T quite so terrible as it felt at times. Perhaps for you, personally, it was, so I will not devalue that, but it is definitely a lot of the media influencing perspectives (and politics. politics were bad this year, but no need to address that here).
Our little (/not that little) family had a really good year, honestly. We were able to travel for the first time in awhile so we took advantage of every single opportunity. We learned to balance three children (it takes a LOT of energy), and our general health was on the upswing for most of the year. We had a couple trips to Urgent Care/ ER because, well... it seems we wouldn't be "us" if we didn't. Our children are not inclined to live those safe, sheltered lives, for better or worse. Adventure and risk seems to run in their blood (like, literally I don't take my girls to playgrounds much anymore because they climb on TOP of structures and outside all the boundaries and cause stress and anxiety for all parents watching).
We had a setback in November with a couple horrid weeks where Maggie's general health was in question-- I've had so many questions about it, so I'll summarize: She is completely cleared for now. She had a bad fever lasting about five days, and a lymph node on her neck that grew to 6cm in diameter, and became infected, so she couldn't move her head, and was in massive pain. She narrowly avoided surgery, and antibiotics and prayers managed to shrink the node to the point where she was totally mobile mid-December, and the swell in her nodes are basically nonexistent at this point. We are so thankful.
We ended our year with a trip to Tahoe, which was PERFECT. Sophie spent a day learning to snowboard, and both girls did some sledding. Tahoe waited until we got home before getting a TON of new fresh snow, but hey- just an excuse to get back over there now that we have all the snow gear in the right sizes!
I'm super excited about this new year. I know it's going to have a ton of ups and downs like any other year, but I'm choosing to be optimistic. I've also already started the most massive spring clean this week, and I'm hopeful that by the end of the year, there will be no more mystery boxes at the top back corners of our closets to clean out. ;)
'Til next time (soon!),
xx
