Audrey Makes Two

One of the most important nights of my life

Tonight, more that six years since I visited Epcot when I was in chemo and watched the fireworks, and promised myself that I would make it through cancer to return, I stood once again and watched the fireworks with you, Audrey. I’ve been back to Epcot many times in those six years, and listened to the song “We Go On” and wondered if I would ever have the chance to hear it with my child. And tonight I did, and it made me the happiest mother in the whole world.

Here are the lyrics of the song, which always makes me cry:

With The Stillness Of The Night
there Comes A Time To Understand
to Reach Out And Touch Tomorrow
take The Future In Our Hand.

We Can See A New Horizon
built On All That We Have Done
and Our Dreams Begin
another Thousand Circles ’round The Sun.

We Go On
to The Joy And Through The Tears
we Go On
to Discover New Frontiers
moving On
with The Current Of The Years.

We Go On
moving Forward, Now As One
moving On
with A Spirit Born To Run
ever On
with Each Rising Sun.

To A New Day
we Go On

we Go On.

Indeed we do, baby Audrey! I am so happy to have you in my life. Here’s to discovering new frontiers together!

The hardest thing so far

People often ask me how I can manage with you as a single woman.

Sometimes they’re wondering about the logistics of shopping, cleaning, etc. without an extra pair of helping hands.  Our neighbors Heidi and Nick told me just yesterday that sometimes it’s all they can do to keep up with Dylan (who is just 5 weeks older than you) for just one evening when one of them is sick or out of town. While I admit that it’s been a challenge to come up with a routine and stay organized (just ask Grandma and Grandpa about all of the different things I’ve tried!), you’re a very forgiving baby and I just keep trying new ways of getting things done.  The Moby wrap and a lightweight stroller have been helpful for shopping, and I tackle things in the house one step at a time… and often just leave them dirty!

Sometimes the people who ask are wondering about how I manage financially.  more…

You became a person for me today

I haven’t been blogging much since you were born, but that doesn’t mean things have been boring– far from it!  In the past four and a half months I’ve been busy learning how to take care of you, both physically and emotionally.  It’s amazing how much can happen in such a short period of time, and my head spins a bit thinking back on it all.  Fortunately I took lots of photos and shot lots of video to help remember everything, and of course I’ve been keeping track of all of your milestones from the very beginning, so you’ll always have a rich record of what happened when.  But what I want to write about tonight is something that isn’t on paper or in a computer file… it’s about how you’ve become a real person to me.

That might sound funny or strange, but you have to understand that a newborn is hard to think of as a person, at least for me.  more…

The history of our family motto: “We don’t give up!”

Now that Audrey is here, I’ve decided to address this blog to her.  Everyone is welcome to read and comment– in fact, I hope you will so that this is as rich a record of her life as possible!  I just want her to know how special she is to me, and I think that the best way to do that is to write everything from now on for her directly.  Think of it as a public electronic baby book!  Here goes…

You were born at 11:51 a.m. on Friday, August 27, 2010… and I’m writing this on Tuesday, December 7.  Good that you weren’t as tardy in arriving as I am with updating this blog!  more…