Christmas is always a time of year that has been dedicated to family and togetherness. Last year, it was the same…. but different. We had just gotten home from the hospital on December 9th to start our new journey as parents of a special needs child… and were terrified. We had great support from our families; one or more family members was with us for nearly 2 months. It was great to have company, but the company was out of necessity as our physical and emotional state was shaken. We weren’t truly enjoying the company we had.
Fast forward to Christmas 2022. We are a year into this journey and starting to hit our stride. We decided that we would take a trip between Christmas and New Years to visit family in the DC area. We packed up all 4 kids and Julia (the au pair) and headed up for a fun couple of days with family. We stayed at my sister’s house and planned a bunch of activities as the extended Blickley family (19 in total with 2 au pairs). After a long day, all of the adults were sitting in my sister’s living room as all the kids (except Hayden) were playing in the basement. Hayden was on the floor in the middle of the room with all of the adults around her.
At this point, we are a year into this. A year into physical therapy. A year into working with Hayden on her development. For those that haven’t experienced a child with developmental delays, the time between milestones can seem like forever. Instead of focusing on milestones, we choose to focus on “inch stones”, the little things that happen on the say to milestones. However, in the back of your mind, you can’t get rid of the big milestones, things like sitting up the first time, the first smile, or the first word. At this point, we have been working with our physical therapist to get Hayden to roll over on her own. Up until this point, she has been so close, but have never fully done it on her own.
So here we are, all sitting around the living room with Hayden laying on her belly in the middle. In between sips of our favorite holiday beverage, Hayden begins to make a move. She gets up on knees and begins to throw her hips to the side. The next couple seconds seemed to stand still. Everyone’s eyes are focused on Hayden… and she does it! She rolls over! Nobody can hold their excitement in and cheers can be heard blocks away. The noise was so loud that the kids from downstairs came up to see what the commotion was all about.
It’s moments like this that keep us going. It’s moments like this when you know God is present. It’s the greatest Christmas present we could have asked for.
With love,
Matt and Courtney
