A Year in Review

As we say goodbye to 2012 I can't help but look back at the events of the year, some better than others, but all which have gotten us here to today, for this I am grateful.  For our family, this year has been one about visible forward motion, healing, growth and new experiences.
Georgia's health has continued to improve over the last 12 months, she successfully tapered off of Prednisone and Sirolimus, both on the first attempt which feels miraculous.  She is free from all antibiotics and our only "ah's" as we call them, are supplements.
Yesterday we measured Georgia, our uber accurate stand-against-the-wall-and-mark-it-with-pencil-method is flawless, I'm sure.  Absolute accuracy aside there was no denying she'd grown.  As she stepped away from the wall I marked the line and put the date, then I looked down... we started marking her height on 7/13/11, one year later she had certainly made a jump in height, but looking at it just five months after that, she's almost done the same amount of growing - she's gaining speed. 
Along with height, Georgia, at last check was in the 50th percentile for weight, I can't quite describe how incredible this feels, I remember when I would syringe olive oil into her mouth just to try to put an ounce or two on her.  These days, Georgia likes to talk about what she'll have for breakfast the night before!
With increased health came increased ability to play with friends and neighbors, play dates may be a dime a dozen for some, but they are still an event that bring squeals and jumping up and down with joy at our house.  We attended birthday parties, took a trip to Montana and even participated in two group activities, Lil Kickers and a dance class.
This year has also brought on the ability to look a little further into the future, in just eleven weeks baby Handsaker #2 is due, Georgia can't wait to be a big sister.  Although we don't know the sex of the baby, Georgia is adamant it's a girl.  I go back and fourth, so we spend most of the time talking about how if it isn't a girl it would still be really fun to have a baby brother.
Georgia will hit two years post transplant on January 19th and will be back at the SCCA the following week for several days of tests.  All of this weighs heavy on my heart but for now I'll put it aside.  Tonight as I put Georgia to bed she said, "you're my favorite person, and I'm you're little girl." and with that my year is complete.

Happy New Year, we look forward to 2013 and all that it has to offer.

Here is a look back at some of my favorite photos of 2012....

 

 

Snow Bunny

On Friday we decided to take Georgia up to Alpental to try skiing for the first time.  Our goal, make it fun, no pressure, just fun.  If memory serves, the last time all three of us were up at Alpental was just before transplant, we'd gone up to get away from it all before we headed back into the hospital. 
Georgia was excited to see the snow and was quick to get her gear on, happy to be running around and watching the other kids on the slopes.  We started with playing, then watching daddy on his snowboard, then she was ready to give it a try.  She ended up doing two short stints on the skis, smiling the whole time, there were also several snow angels, and a few trips on daddy's snowboard - the day was a big success.
When it was time to warm up, we headed to the lodge for lunch and daddy took a few runs while we stayed warm.  Before heading home we made a sort of snow slide which was good for a bunch of laughs and Georgia tried her skis one more time.
My favorite scene of the whole day, and the only one I didn't get a picture of, was walking down the long covered bridge to our car, it was getting dark and we were the only ones on the bridge.  I was a few steps behind Brian and Georgia, here they were, all bundled, walking hand in hand across this same bridge that almost exactly two years ago we'd taken pictures on.  The pictures we took back then were of a baby, she was bald under her snow hat and had a horrible rash all over her face, we held her because she couldn't walk yet.  On this day, Georgia is so much bigger, her hair surrounded her face, her skin looks beautiful and she'd tried skiing for the first time - it all felt so huge.

 All geared up!

The smile was all that mattered

 

  Trying her hand at "snowboarding"

I don't think Brian could be any happier!

Georgia & Mama warm in the lodge

December 25th

Georgia and I had a pretty low key morning on December 25th, we made a big breakfast and lounged around until heading out to my sisters house for a little cousin time and dinner.  Leslie had a full house, her in-laws, as well as Chad's brother, Todd, his wife Lisa and their boys, Gage and Jake.  I knew Georgia would be so excited to play with Blake and Lauren, what I hadn't anticipated was witnessing her first crush.
For the record, we were invited to celebrate Christmas morning at the Pittmans, but we decided that might be a little confusing since we'd already celebrated our Christmas a couple of days earlier.
We had a great afternoon and evening!

 

This is Jake, he is Lauren and Blake's cousin and apparently Georgia's first crush.  We'd been at Leslie's house for about five minutes when I couldn't find Georgia, she had gone into the family room and crawled up next to nine year old Jake who was watching a movie.  Georgia has met Jake a couple of times but for some reason she couldn't get enough of him on this day.... he would get up to get a snack, she would follow... if the poor kid made a move she was with him, hugging his leg if he stood, not bashful at all about gazing at him and smiling.  Come to find out Blake really looks up to his cousin Jake, so there were a few time where people needed to move so Georgia could sit on one side of Jake and Blake could sit on the other.  Jake was such a good sport, if he only knew there were tears shed on the way home about leaving him.  This I fear, is the first in a long line of crushes - maybe it was a good thing daddy was flying!

December 24th

Since we celebrated Christmas early and Brian had left on his trip the 23rd we had a pretty quiet day planned for the 24th.  Plans changed when we were invited to check out the carousel downtown with our good friends the Deckons.  Georgia and Nevaeh are about 10 weeks apart, it is so fun to finally be able to have the girls play together, the smiles and squeals make Julie and I very happy! 
The girls wanted to keep playing after our trip downtown so we headed to their house where the fun continued.

 Two little beauties

 Ryker & Julie

 Alex & Nevaeh

 This pretty much sums up how Georgia felt about the carousel ride

 goofy girls

 

A big trip downtown called for a nice soak in the tub!

Christmas

We'd like to send a special thanks to Santa, he knew we needed to celebrate early so he made a special stop by our house - I guess he's willing to do that when you're little one is as good as Georgia.  Before going to bed we set out milk and cookies for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer as well as a note.  The note wished him a merry Christmas and told him again what Georgia would like for Christmas, this is a direct quote from my three year old, "I want a princess bike, clothes, shoes, and a couple toys."  It cracks me up that toys was last on her request. 
We went to bed and when she woke up in the morning, I went into her room and asked, "do you think Santa came?"  She said, with a puzzled look on her face, "I not hear him..."  We decided we should go check it out, she walked into the living room and there in front of it all was a shiny new, pink and purple princess bike.  After checking out her bike for a bit she was ready to move onto opening presents, and open presents she did - all of them, even the ones for Brian and myself.
A few hours later Nana and Bawdy came to celebrate, there was more paper flying and smiling faces.  Christmas 2012 was a big success!

 Thank you Santa!

 Getting started

 Quick break for a bite of food...

 then back to work!