Merry Musings: You are Invited - Vivien's 2 Year Birthday Bash

Friday, August 12, 2016

You are Invited - Vivien's 2 Year Birthday Bash

You are invited! - Party Details at the end:

Life certainly has a way of turning out differently than you expect. Two years ago I was large and uncomfortable, and nervous and afraid and had no idea what to expect. The months that followed Vivien's birth were so intense. We had no idea what the future would hold. But God did.

Now Vivien has settled so beautifully into our family. We love watching how our kids interact with her and she with them. She still requires a lot of care and definitely has special needs. But we feel like we have reached a new normal and life is crazy and busy and beautiful with her coming along for the ride and delighting all of us and vice versa. Going places and planning for things looks a lot different, and takes a lot more time, yet we have figured out how to make things work.

Viv has become quite the little world traveler. Earlier this year Todd and I got to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary on Maui. My my wonderful cousin and aunt came along to help care for her and she loved Hawaii. Maybe it was the heat, but she was a Happy, Healthy, Hawaiian Honey. We decided that we needed to call Hawaii a "medical necessity" and go back more often just for her health, right?

We also recently got to attend the Support Organization For Trisomy conference. The SOFT conference is held all over the US and this year it was in Tacoma so it was a huge blessing to just drive back and forth. We were able to bring the kids and Grandparents to some of it and it was wonderful to meet friends in real life that we'd only met through Facebook groups or on the phone.

Todd's Mighty Merry T-Shirts

We went to some great workshops and sessions and learned so much. Todd also won a Bob jogging stroller at the conference and he was more than thrilled. For the last couple of years he has wanted to run with Vivien and raise awareness for Trisomy 18. We don't have a good jogging stroller and when he heard they were having a drawing he was so hoping that we could win it and we did, along with strollers for 3 other families. We know it will be put to good use.

Todd made T-Shirts with all the kids hand prints on the back

There was a balloon release for children in heaven.
We released balloons for Karis Carlton and
Noah Armstrong.

Robin, Lilliana and Rhonda

We had the privilege of having Lilliana and her mom Rhonda stay with us for a few of the days. Rhonda spent time talking with me on the phone before Vivien was born, encouraging me and giving me ideas and it was so great to meet them in person. Lilliana is 5 and her mom is great at doing therapy with her. She can stand against a wall and has learned a lot of great skills. We loved getting to know them both.