The first year of Jace’s life looked a little different for our family than another family with a newborn. We had to be very cautious about his exposure to people and did not want him to get sick (especially in between surgery #1 & 2). We weighed him every night and wrote down his schedule of feeding and sleeping every day for 7 months. I am not a person who loves this type of structure, I’m a lover of spontaneity, so this was a challenge. We received a phone call every Monday from Jace’s team of medical professionals asking how much Jace weighed (it was never enough 😩) and how his oxygen and heart rate were that week.

During Jace’s first year, and especially in the winter, we stayed home a lot. We made crafts, read books, danced, played with toys and built forts. My parents bought the kids an indoor trampoline/ball pit. We had to get creative and create our own fun. One day, I remember Jace was on oxygen because he was getting over an illness but we had a dance party in the hallway and laughed so much!

Now that Jace is 9 months post op and doing so well, we love taking him out and doing fun activities! With every new place we go, it feels like he has conquered something. Jace was about 11 months old before we went out to eat with him at a restaurant. What is usually a mundane/normal thing to someone was a big deal to us.

With this new-found freedom, I also recognize how easy it is to fall into the “busyness trap.” I’ve noticed as a mom there can be a lot of pressure (externally or within) to “do” a lot and keep your kids busy from 8am-8pm. It’s as if we are depriving them if they aren’t learning all the time, having social time, or engaging them in several different sports or learning opportunities.

What I recognized from our year at home was how important it is to just play together and be together. Karalee very rarely asked to go do anything, she was very content with Jace and I, and whatever thing we were doing that particular day. Although it was hard at times to not be busy and “out and about”, I enjoyed our slower pace.

This slower pace also made me see the day more through a child’s lens instead of my own. What may seem like a boring day to me, could be an amazing day for my kids because of how I made them feel, something silly we did, an adventure we had together, etc!

We love being more active and doing fun things with our kids. But whenever I feel the pressure to “fill the day”, I think about our quiet year together and how much fun we had just dancing in the hallway.