Happy Holidays to all...

Dear family and friends,

When we examine our lives as years, the last two have been remarkable for us. We spent Christmas 2008 in the Alta Bates NICU, looking forward to our tiny Loki coming home but not aware that kidney failure and feeding tubes were just around the corner. It was wonderful to spend the following Christmas at home with Loki. However, he needed much special care at that time, and we were exhausted.

Since then, Loki’s health has generally improved as the amount of care needed has decreased. His only surgery this year was to give him a new feeding tube, and when he was twice hospitalized for illness, each time was only for a couple days. Loki has also taken significant developmental steps. He is now a happy toddler, running, talking, playing more intricately, and especially laughing a lot. Despite the fact that we are not quite leading “normal parent” lives, we feel that we are inching towards some sort of normalcy.

Also this year, after talking about it for so long, we finally made the move to the Netherlands. This is obviously a big change in many ways. For example, we live in a small village outside of a medium-sized city instead of a major metropolitan area. Of course, this has been a large undertaking, consuming what little free time we had carved for ourselves. But it was clearly the right step, and it is wonderful living close to family.

As we are settling into our new lives in the Netherlands and as Loki’s care is getting easier, we very much look forward to a peaceful and calm 2011.

We thank you for your continued support and hope the upcoming year will bring you love and happiness.

With love and holiday greetings,

Loki
Mom
Dad