Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Dakin's Year in Review

ThenNow
Boy, what a year it has been! So much has happened for Dakin: friends made, interests discovered, milestones achieved and disease defied. I thought it might be fun to recap:

January: Dakin's feeding tube was pulled. YAY! It has stayed out the entire year. Dakin continues to eat more and more, and gain weight. We have fought the feeding battle now for nearly two years with him, and I finally feel that we have been successful. It has been worth every single minute. We also had fun exploring the neighborhood in his wagon!

February: Dakin got a custom stroller to try out, which pretty much equaled freedom. This is when he really started blossoming--the exposure to a world outside of our living room has made a huge difference in his life, and continues to.

March: We had the wonderful experience of participating in the Littlest Heroes project. Brandi, our photographer, came to our home and took beautiful pictures of Dakin. Thanks again, Brandi!!

April: April was kind of a difficult month. With the emergence of the Swine Flu, what should have been a month of more relaxed germ protocols became a month of fear for me. Not a good month. We did, however, celebrate one whole year out of the hospital!

May: In May we gardened and got a stander. We also, in an attempt to help Dakin eat, listened to the FreeCreditReport.com commercials eight. hundred. thousand. times. That was a long month...but we also got to go outside!!

June: June was a busy month! We launched our East Texas signature drive for the Petition to Cure SMA. Dakin was featured in a newspaper story and on the local news. And it was hot. Really really hot.

July: Still hot. We met with our Congressman at the beginning of the month to discuss the SMA Treatment Acceleration Act. We also had the pleasure of meeting Gwendolyn's family in person as they rolled through East Texas on their Sponsor-a-Mile to End SMA. We saw Dr. Iannaccone (neurologist) and Dakin got to eat at a restaurant for the third time in his life. Did I mention it was hot?
August: SMA Awareness Month found us very busy. Upon us contacting him, Governor Rick Perry declared August 09 as SMA Awareness Month in Texas. (It was a little late, but better late than never...) We joined up with Unite for the Cure, and Dakin got to go to the swings and the zoo for the first time. At this point the heat had reached biblical proportions.

September: We launched PoundOut SMA/SMARD to help fundraise for Unite for the Cure. We also went on lockdown for flu season (early, boo). We also helped with an attempt to get Oprah to do a show on SMA. Busy month, that one.
October: October was amazing. Dakin got to make cookies, go to the pumpkin patch, and take his first step. He also celebrated his second birthday. I am full of gratitude for that month...it was a blessing.

November: Pretty slow. We had a wonderful month searching for the perfect autumn leaves and enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving.

December: Busy! We got to see Santa and participate in our Nativity play. We had a joyful Christmas as well.

2009 was a pretty great year. We are hoping and praying for a good 2010, for us and all of you!! Happy New Year!

10 comments:

Tara Bennett said...

I am so happy you had such a lovely year! Cheers to an even better 2010. xo

Christie Y Brown said...

Did I tell you how much I LOVE that first picture? lol

I have a certain purple monster pillow on my minds to-do list. As well as... Would Dakin like to try out a small snugglie that he can use in his chair? I am making some for A and Z for them to use in the car seats and thought "would this work for Dakin too?"

Junior said...

Happy New Year, hope your 2010 is amazing

Mandy said...

Oh Devon his pictures are so cute!! I got caught up on the last little bit and it was so fun!! Love the writing on the legs!! what a fun year and glad that he did so well!! Heres to a great year!!!!!

Lisa @ The Plain-Spoken Pen said...

Devon, thank you for stopping by my journal and for your kind words. Dakin is quite a handsome young man! I saw that you mentioned east Texas - I'm in the D/FW area, we may be nearly neighbors in the grand scheme of things! :)

Wishing you and your family a happy and blessed New Year!

Unknown said...

What a wonderful year in review. He is so cute.
--Mari

Sapna said...

Happy New Year! We both must have been recapping our years at the same time! I'm glad you did - its always nice to look back on all you have been through. Dakin will probably appreciate it too one day. He is such a little cutie! Gotta get together one day...

k and j said...

It is amazing to see all of his accomplishments!! GO Dakin!!

Anonymous said...

Reading a review like this makes me think last year went by FAST!

Major congrats on the major accomplishment of no-feeding-tube! That one was worth it!

Barbara

Valerie said...

Wow! Your little guy has really grown this year. And I had to laugh about how much he loves the FreeCreditReport.com commercials. Aren't kids funny?