2020 was certainly a different and hard year. There was a pandemic that forced us to stay home, have therapy over telehealth, and school came to a complete halt. It was definitely a hard transition. However, there were many positives that came out of it. Things we rediscovered about ourselves and our family unit.

We bought our first house. This was our biggest accomplishment this year. I’m not sure Steve and I ever thought we’d get to this point. We struggled a lot financially in the beginning of our marriage. And then there were a lot of medical bills (still are) with three kids that have disabilities. I didn’t work for about a year in that time, because I couldn’t keep up since my boys had so many appointments, therapies, etc. I’m so grateful that now I can be a parent CNA for two of my kids. It helped our income so much that we were able to make this big leap almost one year ago!

Nicholas and Grace started walking. Within a month of each other, Nicholas and Grace were walking on their own. Nicholas had been walking with support holding our hand for about a year and half. In May, just after his 5th birthday, he finally let go of us and hasn’t stopped since. Grace started walking independently a month before in April. This really helped our family, and allowed us to not need the support of a stroller. We could walk to the park without all the extra things. It was an awesome feeling not needing the stroller for the first time.

Grace and Daniel’s Autism Diagnoses. While both of these diagnoses have been hard for us, it helped us understand our children better and will give them the extra support they need. Grace’s level 3 diagnosis in August left us stunned and confused. It did explain why she does certain things and why she has a lot of trouble with speech. Daniel’s diagnosis a few weeks ago gave us a lot of answers that we’ve been wondering for a really long time. Having these diagnoses are really going to help them in school, therapy, and our approach to parenting.

We became closer as a family. This was the year of family. Not being able to go anywhere made us focus on just us. We didn’t throw big parties for birthday’s, or spend holidays with a ton of people. Instead, we had drive-by parties, and created our own holiday traditions. We connected with extended family through Zoom weekly. When we did visit people, we’d stay within the family, just seeing grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles. It’s also really great having Steve work from home. It’s been nice having that extra help, plus I can plan appointments around him being home.

We are healthier. The kids and I started going on walks at the beginning of the pandemic. We couldn’t go anywhere else, including the playground so walks were all we had that kept us sane. Getting out of the house really helped, plus it gave us great exercise. We haven’t been going out to eat as much either. I have lost nearly 50 pounds since January. Also, we’ve only been sick once since the pandemic started and that was just a few weeks ago at the beginning of December. We used to be a family that got sick all the time, but wearing masks and not going out as much has helped.

I found self care. This past year has been a year of reflection for me. I’ve reconnected with things and hobbies that I have time for again. I started this blog two years ago and have found great joy in writing again. I contribute monthly to another blog called Accepting the Gift. I’m part of a writer’s group called Writer’s Bloc. I started two special needs support groups at two different churches. I’m involved in a number of support groups online. I really enjoy helping other parents and being that support for special needs families.

2020 was a refresh year. A year of rediscovery within the family. It was also a year of encouragement. While the world was turned upside down, we found our kids were still able to thrive as best as they could considering all that was happening. Although this would have been a year where we could have gone to more places, we still grew closer as a family.

We slowed down. We weren’t over-busy trying to do all the things. We learned how to be a family again. We were renewed. We were able to start over and realized the importance of family. We can see things clearly again. I guess that’s why they call it 20/20 vision.