Two Troopers II: January 2011

A very late Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!!

My plan was to start my new blog with a Christmas letter to you all. Alas, after now 10 YEARS of being in St. Louis (wow!), I have a clean streak of still never getting a letter out to a single person. I so greatly appreciated the letters and cards and warm wishes this year from everyone; they brought smiles to my face that were much needed.

So, as many of you could guess or know because you are “walking through life with me,” 2010 turned out to be quite a difficult year. I am not one to shy away from being real and talking about the tough things in life. And though 2010 in many ways ended up being a devastating and heartbreaking year for me, I am very proud to say that I made it through. As I looked at December approaching with so many significant dates, holidays, special memories,…my goal was to hold my head up while hunkering down and getting through it all, hopefully with a bit of grace sprinkled in. In the midst of that, I watched and experienced God mightily at work, and oh the ways that He blessed me! New friends welcomed me to their homes, church members (and dear friends) surprised me with a Christmas tree packed with presents for both me and my baby girl, hugs, phone calls and sincere wishes were extended to me, friends helped me with house repairs to make it a safe and warmer winter, girlfriends (new and old!) came in the midst of hectic schedules to just hang out and relax, friends from work rallied to help me have a great Christmas…I could go on and on. For many years, I was discontent being in St. Louis, and now, without an iota (nice word, eh?) of family nearby, so many of you reading this have become my dear and precious family to me here. You have made my devastating and heartbreaking year livable and full of love and compassion.

Of course, a blessing beyond what I ever could have imagined is my sweet little (well, OK, “big”) girl, EJ (we’ll use that for internet safety purposes). My precious bundle so often blessed me with the most sincere, sweetest giggle, or funny face, or great, big, full-body, monkey hug. Sometimes those hugs were so big and so intense from such a little kiddo that I felt as if God was hugging me through her. My whole world would stop for those special moments between us. I have also been so blessed by her name over this year. I fell in love with her name when I learned that it meant, “The Lord has responded,” and her middle name represents “grace.” All along, I intended the meaning behind her name to correspond to all the things collectively until that point that God had graciously responded to or given me/us [up through her birth]. Never could I have imagined that He would show me daily that He CONTINUES to respond through the life of my child; I look at EJ and so often think, “Thank you for that laughter,” or “Thank you for giving me someone who needs me and is blessed and cared for because of what I can do for them,” or “Thank you for showing me how much You love me because You have given me EJ, and You have sustained me and helped me, even though I never imagined I’d be parenting alone.” I just feel like God’s grace has been poured out through her and the blessing of being a parent.

So, to stay on track with the blessings of 2010, I thought I’d recap some of the amazing milestones EJ hit in her first year of life!

At 3 ½ months, her first 2 teeth were already in.

At 6 months, she wasn’t registered on the charts for height – she was in the 55^th percentile for a 9 MONTH OLD! She also fit well in to 12 month clothing (so we blew through all the infant clothes!).

At 6-7 months, she was pulling herself up on furniture and scooting back and forth, and…

At 9 months, EJ was officially walking!

At 8 months (I know, a little out of order), she FINALLY began sleeping through the night, and many of you can likely attest just how close I was to losing it without ANY sleep for so long (throughout pregnancy, too!).

At 12 months, she’s “down” to the 90^th percentile in height and fits perfectly (for the moment) in to 18 month clothes. She also passed the vision exam that I had kept up with, concerned that her right eye was lacking movement/mobility – she got an A-OK diagnosis!

And now since we just passed the 13-month mark, I thought I’d add in that she officially has 11 teeth in (yes, 3 molars) and she has her first 2 official freckles. J

Some other “notables:”

“Someone” has already splashed her hands in the toilet bowl, figured out how fun it is to unroll toilet paper, and the great joy it brings to pull every Kleenex out of the box.

Cat food has already been tasted and eaten (many times), diapers have been outsmarted and pulled off, and remote control buttons can no longer be hidden from a tiny finger that recognizes the “I’m turning on” sound the TV makes when the red button is pushed.

“We” now know what to do when Mommy says to “dance!” and then bopping up and down ensues, she gets great joy out of “sneaking” up on Mommy and (thinking that she’s) tickling me, and after mastering taking off her shoes and socks from both feet for EVERY car ride (grrr…), EJ is now practicing every day to figure out how to put her socks and shoes ON her feet.

I have an active, silly, wonderful bundle of joy, and after all the turmoil and struggles this year, I could not have imagined the “hecticness” any other way. EJ makes me remember that she may be my only chance to mother a child, and so some things aren’t such big deals (like if the kitchen is clean or I can adequately walk through my house)…and other things ARE big deals (finally figuring out how that toy works, or what that button does, or that sometimes it’s just good to stop life and give hugs). I am also constantly reminded that despite my life’s circumstances, EJ is watching, observing, and learning – I am reminded daily that I need to be the kind of mom and woman that EJ can and wants to model.

I will wrap up with some recent pictures. I promise future posts won’t be nearly this long (hey, how do you summarize 1 year in a short post?) and I also DON’T promise to be a regular updater of this post!

Thank you for reading, thank you for being part of this journey with me. To all of those friends who have stuck by me and “trudged in the mud” with me, always offering a hand, an ear, a hug, some tears, smiles, an “I love you,”…I was blessed by each of you in such unique, timely, and wonderful ways. I found this quote with a dear friend of mine, and am always touched to think of the provision you each give to me through your friendship:

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”

Thank you to all who have "sung" to me throughout 2010, each in your own special way!

Cheers and blessings and rich fellowship to us all in 2011!

Becky & “E”