Christmas letter

Today we dropped of the gifts at the NICU. It was great. Thanks to all who contributed! We'll have a full report with photos soon.

You may received this by mail, or email, or on Facebook. But here it is! This letter can be viewed as a printable PDF here.

Dear Friends and Family,

What a difference a year makes!

On October 18th, 2008, Loki was born at 24 weeks 3 days gestation. As you know, we spent last holiday season at the Alta Bates NICU. Although we were very grateful for being surrounded by the best nurses and doctors, we would have preferred to be at home, celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s with our handsome boy.

At this holiday season, one year later, life looks very different, better and filled with hope. A year ago we feared for Loki’s life. This year, we are watching him crawl around, laugh, and get into trouble. We are confronting how to childproof our house from this trickster.

Loki has had a rough year with several hospital stays, six surgeries, dozens of doctors’ visits, early intervention, feeding therapy and a feeding tube. However, if we would have known last year that he would become this sweet, energetic, smart and generally healthy, we would have taken a much greater number of deep breaths and slept through the night so much better.

Regardless of the disparity and all the worries of this past year+, we have learned a great deal about Loki and ourselves. We have learned who we are as parents, and are slowly figuring out how to find time for ourselves, to be just ourselves, and husband and wife, again. We have learned that small gestures can go a long way, and thus are very excited about the overwhelming support of Loki Sky’s Holiday Gift Drive for the Alta Bates NICU. We know we have a family who is ready to step in when and where we need help. And finally, we learned what it feels like to be carried by the love of a community of old friends, new friends, unexpected friends, and friends unknown to us (e.g., Loki blog followers), who have all sent support in ways of which we never would have thought before.

Below: Same Christmas hat, but what a difference a year makes!





Our gratitude stretches beyond what words can describe!
With Love, Mom, Dad, and Loki Sky
December 2009