We survived 2009.
While the world felt strain from economical struggles and America looked on with constant wonder at the changes in Office, we’ve been blessed with so many firsts that it’s only right that we take some time to reflect on how grateful we are today.
The Wang family began in January with family reunions during Chinese New Year, Noah’s first trip to Disneyland on Janelle’s Birthday and Noah’s first steps! How long ago that now seems, now that he is running and rampaging down our halls, screaming with laughter and sometimes, tears. Shortly after January passed, we continued our fervent search of new living quarters, which landed us in a promising new neighborhood that we only could have dreamed of when we first started house-searching two years ago. Now, our first real house, our modest little mid-century is now keeping us toasty through the chilly winter.
In March, we attended the Chiempornsakul’s wedding in Hawaii, which was another first for Jonathan and Noah, but unfortunately this landed Noah in the emergency room with low-grade pneumonia, which was enough to scare us to pieces. He recovered, eventually, the tough kid he is, but we weren’t without our share of illnesses this year, as you will come to find out. Jello also survived a weekend trip to Vegas with 12 stunning lady friends, henceforth named the Glitter Factory, or Sparkle City…a definite trip worth remembering.
In April, Noah turned 18 months, and was beginning to babble up a storm. English, Chinese and Incomprehensible. We were very proud of our multilinguist.
The Summer of 2009 followed, with first camping trips for Noah on the beach, weekend getaway trips to Seattle (yay, little brother, Prestin, graduated and is off to college!), San Francisco and San Diego, while Noah often had sleepovers with his Grandparents, Janelle took surfing trips with her girls and was back to teaching at S Factor, and Jon went on rock climbing and fishing trips with the dads…No complaints, it truly was a great summer full of friends, family and reconnections.
As summer winded down, Janelle experienced her first miscarriage, which was a sad day, that eventually passed, making us realize that how Noah came into our lives was nothing short of miraculous and perfect. So much to be thankful for (and we remind ourselves of this often, as he deliberately spills his milk and throws his food and slaps us in the face and bites us on the nose). October continued to be busy, with more family reunions with overseas cousins, an all-girls Paddle Boarding surf lesson and the sorriest Halloween Vegas trip ever, as Jon spent his Birthday confined to the hotel room, suffering through Swine Flu! Needless to say, Janelle was ill the day we came home, confined to the couch for a week, and we were so thankful that Noah was immune to the notorious virus and he was still able to don his Wild Things Max costume that mommy made.
November was full of celebration as Noah turned two (though we celebrated it in October so we could carve pumpkins before Halloween) and more family reunions with cousins for Thanksgiving, realizing that everyone’s family is growing each year with new additions to the family that can’t even be counted on one set of fingers, there are so many. So, we keep trying and pray that 2010 will be the year when Noah will welcome a sibling in. Someone to keep him company and to teach him how to share and care and love for one another (it is becoming wildly apparent what single child syndrome does to one, even at this early age).
So, here we are, sitting around our first real Christmas Tree, recovered and settled after returning from a week long cruise to Mexico last week, with a tinge of guilt that many of our friends perhaps were unaware of our going ons this year. So let’s make 2010 be the year for better connections, memorable stories, meaningful conversations and better yet, some long overdue face time!
Friends and Family, We love you!
Jonathan, Janelle and Noah