I started this blog ten years ago because I was tired of emailing pictures of our brand new first born baby to the grandparents everyday (and other family members with same request). I'm not lying. They wanted new pictures all the time and I had hard time saying no because my kid was/is freaking adorable, so I understood their need for more. Seeing how Facebook wasn't invented yet, the only option was to find an outlet to post pictures where they all could see it at once without having to rely on a email. Because of that, this blog was born.
Like us, I don't think this blog knew just how crazy, weird, and bumpy this roller coaster was going to get. Our blog has documented the last ten years of highs and lows of our growing family. Ranging from miscarriage to new military assignments, tough hospital visits to memorable family vacations. It's covered our take your breath away moments, good and bad. The crazy thing about our blog is that it has never bothered me to write so openly about our lives. I still love reading through it and remembering the cute kid phrases or crazy toddler quirks. I know our extended family has appreciated watching our children grow and being included in all of the things that may get left out over the phone or email. My favorite part of the blog is that our children will be able to look back throughout their childhood and see so many cool memories. Hopefully they will see how hard we've worked on making sure they were well loved and cared for and how much we cherished and adored them. Even when we were positive that we were screwing it up, their little hearts were our top priorities. We will be forever grateful that we get to call ourselves parents.
One thing that I never expected to come out of this blog was the email and comments that I would receive from other parents of special needs children. I have saved many of them and whenever I start to feel discouraged, I will read through them and my heart instantly smiles. Hearing how our story has helped other families get through some of their toughest moments really reminds me that we all need encouragement to find the strength and courage to fully live this life. Having a special needs child really pushes the idea that it takes a village to raise a child. While we really don't rely on each other physically, it's the mental and emotional support that helps immensely. I've been very lucky to have surrounded myself with a wonderful tribe full of supportive and loving women. Some are mothers and some aren't, but I've learned that encouragement and comfort coming from a positive source can make all the difference.
While I'm not perfect at keeping this blog up to date or I may forgot to document some family events, I still enjoy writing about our babies and I'm happy that our families and friends can check in and see what's going on in our lives. Eric has asked me at what point will I stop writing the blog and I've always assumed it would be when the kids were old enough to start journaling about their own lives. But seeing how Lexie and Eli will be our babies forever, I honestly have no idea. I'm just going to keep posting about the highs, the lows, and all the in betweens until then.
