From our family to yours - we hope you have a wonderful New Year filled with joy and prosperity.

To ring in the New Year here is a short video that we love about remembering to move forward and not dwell on the past. Enjoy!

Focus.

That's my word for 2013. My theme, if you will. I feel it accurately distills all of my goals, visions and roles for the coming year into an easy, memorable word to keep me on track. To bring me back into the present moment, to absorb and contribute as much as I can, and keep moving forward towards my vision for myself and the vision that we have created for our family.

Our personal and family outlooks for the next year are well underway (we will sit down this weekend to finish them) and I am really excited about the next year. Now it's time to sit down, pray about which ones to whittle away (and to pray about if there is something we missed) and to create strategies for how to obtain that vision/goal. Oh, I am so excited! I love goal making (and goal achieving).

We've been home from the hospital with Milayla for a few weeks now. It has been an eventful and busy couple of weeks. We knew it would be busy (as appointments would continue right up until Christmas and then continue afterwards), but I don't think we quite anticipated the turn of events that took place. We have a very determined, independent, and focused little girl, who is moving forward at an incredible pace. We had only been home for a few hours after being discharged when Milayla pulled out her feeding tube. Yes, pulled it right out in a split second. Since we were discharged from the hospital, they couldn't put it back in for us without first getting a reference from our doctor. The doctor was closed. We called the afterhours number. Our doctor chuckled (good to know someone still had a sense of humor in the heat of the moment) and told us to head into the office in the morning to see his colleague (as he would not be in until the afternoon) and that perhaps this was Milayla's way of saying she would figure out this feeding thing on her own.

Photo credit of Keely Hochstein

Well, that night was one of very little sleep. Milayla was hungry but wouldn't eat much, and when you are used to hundreds of extra calories via a tube, mother milk and her small amounts she was eating just don't quite cut it anymore. We headed in to the doctor Tuesday morning, very tired and fully prepared to head to the hospital afterward and have the tube reinserted. They weighed her. She had lost weight. They tried to call the hospital, but the doctor that we had been seeing was busy so the pediatrician sent us home and said we could expect a call later to let us know when we would be heading in.

Photo credit of Keely Hochstein

That call came in the late afternoon and it was from our usual pediatrician (not the one we had seen in the morning). He asked how things were going. That's when we got to tell him what happened at lunch time.

Photo credit of Keely Hochstein

See, at lunch time, Milayla decided to eat more than the nibbles she had been eating. She devoured her lunch and then some (apparently she loves Palak Paneer.). The doctor said that sounded promising and that he would just see us at our appointment the following day instead of going to the hospital and we could see how things were progressing.

Photo credit of Keely Hochstein

And, my, how things were progressing! Milayla was eating like a machine but still not drinking enough to account for her fluids. So, we all started drinking through straws to try to encourage Milayla to drink through one as well. And sure enough, while her and Keely were sitting at the table, with Keely dramatically drinking through her own straw, Milayla did it! It was a HUGE breakthrough. It was the missing piece to her truly being able to go without the tube and she did it. We were all so impressed and  incredibly relieved.

Photo credit of Keely Hochstein

There are still appointments and life is still pretty out of schedule, but Milayla is progressing at an incredible pace and we are so happy to see her enjoying it so much. Now, with the eating and drinking coming along so wonderfully, it is time to try and get her sleeping habits under control (which are nearly nonexistent since being in the hospital).


All this has made for quite an interesting month, and I don't know how we would have done it with the incredible support and prayers of family and friends. The meals, the calls, the well wishes, the visits and the extra child care (THANKS KEELY!); they have all made a huge difference and have allowed us the ability to really focus in on seeing Milayla get better - and get better she has! Still quite a bit of road for us to travel in front of us, but we are on our way. And with Milayla's determination we'll be there in no time.


And through it all, that always smiling, happy face of hers has kept us all in optimistic spirits. She's awesome and all this eating has certainly given her even more energy for dancing, conducting, playing peek a boo, building duplo and cuddling up on the couch for books. How fortunate and blessed we are to be her parents and have her incredible personality to add to our family dynamic.

Atticus is your usual, curious, 3.5 year old. He continuously amazes us with how good his memory is, his jokes, and his patient, loving nature. With the recent events that have been happening with Milayla, Atticus has been a great little helper and has loved helping out at the table with feeding time, singing songs and playing with his sister to help distract her from tests. This past year he has been learning a lot; he knows all of his letters and their sounds (and how to write them - still with a few mistakes here and there but getting better every day!), he can count to 11 (yes, 11, we're working on getting to 12) and has been learning all about how the body works in Joy School. He is so fascinated with the body that we joke around and call him Doctor Atticus to which he responds "Nooooooo, I'm just a boy.". Okay 'Boy Atticus', keep building those incredible train tracks, drawing beautiful pictures, dancing and singing so lovely, reading books with us snuggled up on the couch and being your incredible, wonderful self.


Milayla is making leaps and bounds in her development, especially in the last month when it comes down to eating. She is a happy, sweet and outgoing little girl. She loves music. In fact, love just doesn't seem to quite explain it. She enjoys "playing" the piano, conducting music and reading sheet music and hymn books. Her favorite book is the personal size german hymnbook and her favorite toy is duplo building blocks. She has an infectious smile and loves chatting with new people. And we certainly cannot forget her determination and independence. She has a knack for enjoying the present moment but always pushing herself to learn more. We love her joyful spirit and sweet cuddles and kisses.


And me....well, I'm just trying to keep up with life while focusing on forward movement toward our family vision and goals. We have coined our Family Mission Statement which now hangs in our living room. I've been teaching the Joy School curriculum to the kids and doing my best to bring my focus into making this home a haven with protective walls and lots of love. It is definitely all still a work in progress but at least it is forward progress. On the personal side of things, I have finished another German class and am putting study time in on most days of the week (yet still seem to lack forward momentum on that one), the kids have been my incredible cheer team as I reached my distance (and time!) goal while running with both of them in the stroller, my daily morning gift to myself has been personal scripture study and yoga practice (which has made a huge difference and I rarely miss - though certainly not perfect on that one) and Jason has been patiently letting me practice my singing while he practices his piano skills. Really looking forward to the coming weeks and planning to sit down and focus my vision on where I see myself growing this next year and how I can push myself. Then it's time to focus in on forward movement for our family.


It has been a good year, one of a lot of personal and family growth and even a little bit of travel (check out our road trip posts by going here). There have definitely been hard parts, particularly this last month, but it has helped us to be so much more aware of the goodness and sweetness that exists in our life each and every day. (That being said, you certainly won't find any of us volunteering to head back to the hospital for another stay.) We feel blessed for the experiences and moments of this past year and are so grateful for the kindness and love of our family and friends. We wish we lived much closer to them, particularly to share the joy of the Christmas season. We hope that wherever you are, and whatever your circumstances may be this year that you are blessed with peace and joy that you can carry with out throughout the year.






Merry Christmas!

 We have loved receiving all the lovely Christmas Cards. We felt particularly spoiled when some friends of ours who live in Holland sent some extra special items for us to enjoy - Chocolate Letters! Thanks, Family Prins; they were enjoyed by everyone :). Man, we sure are spoiled with awesome, thoughtful, friends.

We got to sneak away from the hospital a few times and go to the Christmas market with the kids. And, once Keely arrived, we were able to have her along to join us as well. Keely snapped some more photos (and better ones, as they were on a real camera, not just the phone) and I will need to get around to posting those later.


I actually got around to finishing the Christmas Tree Skirt. I think I've had about enough of sewing ruffles for a little while. It took a lot of hours to make all those ruffles and sew them on and when it was all finished I put it around the Christmas tree and hesitated about whether or not I like the finished product. It has taken a few days, but the tree skirt has grown on me.


 Of course, Milayla and I were in the hospital for the first couple weeks of December. Thankfully, she is one positive Little Lady and enjoyed playing in the play room and falling asleep in Mommy's arms. Unfortunately, our time in the hospital has made it very difficult for Milayla to get back on a normal sleep schedule. 230am wake up calls are getting a little too frequent around here...but, she is eating like a pro and steadily gaining weight (officially over the 8kg mark!). We are pretty proud of how determined Milayla is, her ability to be happy in the moment and her consistent push to continually improve. She is incredible.
 We've also been kicking the Christmas activities into full gear around here. Christmas baking (photos coming...), advent calendars, Christmas books, crafts, movies, music, market etc. We've been having a lot of fun. Though, Keely's face in the photos below while we make Popcorn garland for the tree may not be very indicative of all the fun we've been having. She's a little distraught.


It was pure inspiration that we decided to put the Christmas decorations up a few days earlier than we had originally planned as we ended up in the hospital with Milayla on the day that was originally planned to put up them up. It was nice to be able to enjoy that together, and to have the decorations and lights up when we got home from the hospital. The kids loved unpacking all the ornaments and Atticus particularly loved having a chocolate treat after all the work was done.


It has been a difficult push to make time for family Christmas traditions as (even though we are home from the hospital) we have appointments most days of the week. Then, all the adults in the home (myself, Jason and Keely) have all taken our turn being sick. And with Milayla still not into a proper sleeping routine, we all tend to lose sleep. It has been a bit exhausting on all of us. A really big help has been all the help from friends and family (by way of meals, thoughtful calls, babysitting etc); not sure we would have gotten any sleep at all if it had not been for so many awesome people being so willing to help out (yes, we really do have awesome family and friends). Though, even with that, the site below still happened....

That's Jason, passed out on the floor, completely unaware that there is a lion on his face. We really ought to be a little bit kinder to those who are able to get some sleep :).

Things are still a tad stressful around here, which we're pretty certain is primarily due to lack of sleep, but we're trying to make the most of it and we are pretty happy to have Jason home for the holidays. And we are extra happy to have the incredible blessing of Milayla being home from the hospital and doing so well. Keely has taken some really cute photos of her adorable baby cheeks that I will need to post when I get a chance (along with an update on Milayla's progress). For now, it's time to go play some family games.

Hope you all are enjoying your Christmas season!

Then, we went for round two of Freimarkt the following week and headed to a smaller setup downtown. It was the perfect size for an early evening outing with the kids. The antique style carousel and ferris wheel looked so pretty lit up in front of the town hall. I wish I was able to get a better photo, but the iPhone just couldn't cut it.



We enjoyed going on the carousel together and all squishing in to this tiny little tea cup on the second level. It was cozy.


Milayla, as usual, was cool as a cucumber and assessed the world around her unassumingly. I really wish I could hear her thoughts some days.




Then we had fun checking out the artisan stalls and...*big surprise*...the food stalls. Though, the handmade pretzels from Freimarkt are certainly not something to be missed.


In the end, we're glad we went. The weather held up and we were able to enjoy some time out as a family to check out some Bremen Culture. It was fun :).

A model of the castle as part of your journey out

And you can check out a few photos from our afternoon in Fuessen below.

Atticus took a photo in the post office and wanted it preserved :).

These two shots are easily some of my favorite photos from the entire trip. These guys are awesome and so incredibly charming (and handsome, to boot!).

We passed this cute little church at least three times before we finally noticed it when coming up from another street. Just goes to show the importance of a new perspective :)