Holdiays 2020

We’ve been in Utah now for 10 weeks! It’s been such a blessing the have spent so much time with family this year, particularly because the 18 months before Covid we weren’t able to travel because of Charlie’s immunosuppression.

We arrived a few days before Halloween. I was so excited to dress Charlie up this year and use his walker as a prop. He loves cars and trucks so we turned his walker into a fire truck and he had a cute little fireman’s outfit. We took him trick or treating around Mary and Steve’s neighborhood and Charlie even said “trick or treat” at each house.

I also signed Charlie up for some Santa Photos at Thanksgiving Point and they ended up being so much better than I expected! I used one with Charlie in his walker as a Christmas card and sent it to some family members and Charlie’s doctors. One of his doctors loved the photo so much he emailed us and asked if they could use it on the Children’s Hospital of New Orleans website. I also published an article on The Mighty and Paint Her in Color. I’ve been trying to create more social proof of myself as a professional so any agencies that look into my manuscript can see I’m a real person. I spoke to the publishing director of Shadow Mountain publishing for about 45 minutes on the phone. He loved my writing but suggested I wasn’t famous enough to publish with them. So I’ve been scratching my head trying to figure out what in the world I can do about that... I’m still workshopping my manuscript with my editor most days and enjoying it a lot.

https://themighty.com/2020/12/infantile-cancer-christmas-story-prnt/

https://www.paintherincolor.com/blog/grieving-my-childs-disability

Charlie has grown a ton while we’ve been here. He is just my favorite child I’ve ever met. I know I’m biased but I feel like even if I weren’t his mom I’d feel that way. He probably knows over 1,000 words now. He knows all his letters, can count to ten (although he skips seven), and loves singing songs! He learned a lot of the Christmas carols. Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Jingle Bells were his favorites. He also loves Once There Was a Snowman and every time he sees a snowman he says “tall, tall, tall!”

We’ve been doing at home church because of Covid and Charlie has gotten very interested in the sacrament. Each time we set it up he crawls over to the table and kneels and folds his arms and starts praying. We caught one of his prayers on video, it was so sweet. He said: “Heavenly Father, thank you day, bless Tommy, bless sacrament, amen.” Every night he blesses Tommy, his cousin, because he has been going through a flare up with an autoimmune disorder.

He also blessed my dad every night because my dad had to travel to Thailand for work and it’s been a wild ride. He had Covid about a month before flying to Thailand but tested negative before leaving the USA. When he arrived at Thailand they tested him again and he was positive! Pretty sure he had some of the virus leftover in his system even though he was no longer contagious. Well, Thailand freaked out a bit and called an ambulance and took him to a hospital. They put him on a stretcher and then put a plastic bubble around him to isolate him, then ran him through the streets for about twenty minutes to get into his hospital room. He had to quarantine there for two weeks with no shower, Thai hospital food, and a hospital robe that was switched out for him every few days. He’s been there a while now doing work stuff but I can’t believe what a starve experience he has been having! We hope he gets to come home soon.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my moms house which was nice. It was soon after my grandpa died from Covid so it was sad to celebrate without him. As a family, we went to luminaria at Thanksgiving Point. Charlie loved using his walker on the paths to look at all the lights.

With the Brimley’s we had a gingerbread house competition and our annual Brimley Bake Off. I was extremely proud of my contributions this year. A winter cabin, and a classic fruit tart.

We celebrated Charlie’s birthday with a vintage race car theme. I made him a car cake and used fondant for the first time. During the day he played on the playground with his cousins and in the evening adults came over to eat cake and watch his two-year-old birthday video I made. He loved singing “Happy Cake to You” over and over for everyone. His birthday video was so inspiring. I can’t believe that last year he was so bald and sick and just a little baby. This year he looks healthy and strong and is using his walker so well and talking. I’ve been very overwhelmed lately with how blessed we’ve been.

One of the highlights of Christmas break was taking Charlie sledding. He had such pure joy in his face and giggled the whole way down. We went five times in two weeks! I hope wherever we move for residency has snow so we can take him sledding again next year.

Christmas was magical! Scott finished 14 of his 15 interviews before the break and it was so lovely to just have a few weeks to rest and celebrate Christ’s birth. I spent a lot of time on Charlie’s gifts and was so excited to see him open them Christmas morning. He loved opening gifts and asked for Santa Claus for about a week after Christmas was over. He participated in the nativity as the inn keeper and was well trained to say “no room.”

For New Years we played Deal or No Deal with my family and then board games with Scott’s family. The best thing about 2021 so far is that Charlie has made a breakthrough in walking! Something just clicked for him and he’s started taking steps all by himself! I have been shocked and crying basically every day because I can’t believe it. He’s going to be independent so much sooner than I ever expected. When Charlie was first diagnosed Scott gave him a baby blessing and said Charlie would recover from cancer and that he would walk one day. I hoped that those words were true but it was hard to imagine at the time when Charlie couldn’t move his legs at all. Now I feel like those words are slowly coming true and I feel so many miracles in our life. I feel so lucky to be Charlie’s mom. He is an absolute gift to me.

Nate and Ali got married the day before we flew back to New Orleans! They weren’t engaged when we arrived but they had a short engagement so we got to be there. The Brimley siblings did a parody of I Won't Say I'm In Love music video teasing Nate and Ali about meeting on their mission.

The day we got home we found out our car got broken into, which left a light on and shot our battery. So we had to replace that. We also lost a laptop at the airport...it was a bit of a mess. But it is nice to be home.

Thursday was Charlie's 1 year post-treatment MRI. It was clear! I had no reason to believe otherwise, but I was still very nervous. He also had an echo cardiogram and a covid test. Long morning at the hospital. We feel so blessed. Charlie is getting more independent with his eating and with his potty training. He is communicating so well and is so sweet. He always wants me to hold him and asks me by saying "Mama, Hold you." It's my favorite.

I feel so grateful to have spent so much time with family in Utah and I'm way excited for Match Day on February 1st. We are looking forward to knowing where the next five years of our life will be! 2020 has been an incredible year for our family.