Before tonight's meal, we each took a moment to share what we are thankful for from the past year. We were all thankful for Jack.
Thea (age 6): I am thankful for Jack. And I'm thankful that he won't always have to have clubbed feet.
Me too baby, me too.
(oh, how I love her big heart).
Happy new year, friends!
It's been so long since I've devoted time to this space, yet in recent weeks, I've been feeling the pull to begin again. The past two years of our life have brought so many changes, and I feel as if I'm in the process of finding myself again. It feels important to be intentional about documenting this chapter we're in - this messy, beautiful, exhausting, sweet space where we currently dwell.
By far the biggest change has been the (surprise!) addition of our son Jack into our family of three. We welcomed him on September 3, and the he turned three months old yesterday. I can hardly believe it! I'm so grateful to be experiecing mothering a wee one for the second time - it has been such a different experience for me. If you know our daughter, you would expect that she'd be a wonderful big sister, and indeed she has been.
About midway through my pregnancy, we learned that Jack would be born with bilateral clubfoot (talipes equinovarus), which is a treatable birth defect where the feet are turned inward and down. Left untreated, walking will be difficult and painful for a child, if it is possible at all. When he was three days old, Jack started treatment using the Ponseti method for correcting clubfoot, which uses a series of casts to correct the position of the foot, a tenotomy to allow for prooper range of motion, and bracing to maintain the correction of the feet. We have made it through 5 castings, and Jack transitioned to his "boots and bar" last week. Between his treatment and trying to figure out his food allergies, it has been a busy 13 weeks! I'm hoping to write more about his treatment, including what we've learned, what has been helpful, and what we've struggled with - in preparting for Jack's birth, I was very grateful to others who shared their stories.
But for now, hello - again. It is good to be back.