Wow. What a year. In some ways, it went by fast - in other ways, it went by very slowly. It was the best year of our lives and the hardest year of our lives. There were very happy moments, full of celebration and there were very sad moments, full of heartache. I think when the clock strikes midnight, we will take a deep, deep, deeeeep breath and think, "What. A. Year."

We got a video camera at the end of 2016 to document our memories, mostly because Hattie was on her way. Our iPhones were surely going to run out of memory, and we didn't mind being those dorky parents with the video camera. It ended up being a GREAT decision. We captured some incredible memories on that video camera over the past 12 months and we put some of our favorites together in the below video. I hope you all will enjoy it as much as we have!

BONUS video: As soon as Hattie was born, we found out something pretty unique and funny about her... she is quite the sneezer. Besides inheriting my (David) nose and smelly feet, Hattie also apparently inherited my sneeze. We were lucky enough to catch some of these sneezes and I put them all into a compilation video. Enjoy:

Hattie turned 7 months on December 24th and we celebrated a smooth six months along with her first Christmas. There's something special about Christmas time when you have a child... even if they have no idea what's going on. We went down to Austin to spend the Christmas week with Abby's family and had an incredible time!

Screen Shot 2017-12-30 at 7.10.19 PM.png

Screen Shot 2017-12-31 at 1.23.24 PM.png

Hattie's deletion has become something that we don't even think about. It's something that makes Hattie who she is, but it doesn't 'define' who she is... if that makes any sense. To us, Hattie is Hattie... our beautiful little girl who likes to listen to music, play with her light up toys and stick her little legs straight up the air during bath time. We know the symptoms of her chromosomal deletion may come into effect from time to time, so while we aren't constantly thinking or worried about it, we are prepared in case something ever happens - which brings us to the other night, December 29th.

Abby and I had just knocked out a pizza (no shame), put Hattie to bed, and started watching the award-winning, classic and timeless film... Finding Dory (also no shame). Around 8:00p, Hattie's Owlet pulse-oximeter alarm went off, saying that there was a bad connection. Abby went up to re-adjust, as the Owlet will sometimes give off this alarm. Hattie wasn't squirming or kicking like she usually does when we adjust the Owlet in her crib, and when Abby turned on the lights, it was clear that something wasn't right. She called me to come upstairs and Hattie began to turn a dusky-gray color and her lips turned blue. It looked like the same apneic episode she had in June. When it was clear that this was an apneic episode or possible seizure, we called 911 and EMS was there in minutes. This seizure was a little longer than the last, and we felt confident it was, indeed, a seizure this time. She was ambulanced to the ER where they took urine and blood samples, and a nasal swab. Fortunately, during this time Hattie didn't have any further seizures. Now, for those who have never had a nasal swab (like us), it isn't a nice little swab of the nose with a Q-Tip. They shoved this Q-Tip so far up Hattie's nasal cavity that she screamed like we've never heard her scream before. It was awful.

Screen Shot 2017-12-30 at 7.12.01 PM.png

Screen Shot 2017-12-30 at 7.11.50 PM.png

Long story short, they transported her again to Children's Hospital in Aurora where we found out her swab had come back positive for Influenza A (the flu). Abby and I both looked at each other and gave a sigh of relief. It may seem weird to give a sigh of relief that your 7 month old baby has the flu, but we were happy to have a definitive answer. Hattie began running a fever and it was soon evident that she was sick and the fever/flu had triggered the seizure.

Screen Shot 2017-12-30 at 7.11.34 PM.png

Once again, the attending doctors, residents and nurses at Children's were incredible and we were fortunately out of there in under 24 hours - flu medicine in hand and once again on our toes.

We won't let this ruin our "end of 2017" and we're so excited about going into a New Year together, as a family. As of New Year's Eve morning, Hattie's doing better and we're managing her fever. It's looking more and more like we may be in bed by 10:00 tonight - MAYBE we can keep our eyes open long enough to see midnight. We shall see.

Happy New Year everyone! Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement this year. God is good all the time - we have so much to be thankful for.

- David & Abby