It’s time to get very personal and talk about the small human in my life. These small humans are everything to me. They are often the cause of stress, both big and little, but they are also the cause of most of the joy in my life too. They give me balance. There is three little humans. I won’t mention them by names and will instead use code names (and baby photos because they were all so adorable!).
My eldest, let’s call her Bubble, is almost 14. I always thought she’d be a mini-me. She is sometimes, most of the time though she’s a mini female version of her father. She’s smart, funny and a little bit weird. She is a full-on extrovert. Oh boy do I mean full-on. She needs other people around her. All. The. Time. Covid-19 restrictions have been super fun with her unable to see her friends as much as she needs to. She is also very much a typical teenager. You know the type. Phone in her hand all the time, moody at times, thinks her room isn’t messy and wonders why I care if it is or not. She is also incredibly responsible and mature for her age. I know I can count on her to do what she is asked to do, most of the time anyways. I think as apart of being an extrovert she makes new friends very easily. Her favourite thing over the last few years has been going on family holiday cruises. There she gets to hang out at teens club with kids her own age and not see her parents and family expect at breakfast and dinner. She is also a very talented artist (my logo for example… all her!). She is going to do amazing things with her life and I’m loving seeing her grow into a confident woman.
Our second born baby is hard for me to write about, especially at this time of the year. His name is Zachary and he came along 18 months after Bubble. A boy and a girl. I thought I was going to be living a dream, but oh how quickly that dream turned into a nightmare. During my routine 20 week ultrasound it was discovered that Zac had a congenial heart defect. Many congenital heart defects aren’t always serious. These kids can live a relatively normal life with little to no medical intervention. Then there are other defects which do require a small degree of medical intervention. The final category, I guess, is those that require medical intervention upon birth. Essentially intervention is required in order for that child to live, and their life may still be shortened and full of medical interventions. This was the category we fell into. Zac required open heart surgery at five days old, further surgery at 14 days old and another open heart surgery at 8 weeks old. We struggled as a family, and as parents. Zac fought hard. So so hard, but his little heart gave out at 4 months old. We faced something that no parent should ever have to face but sadly many do.
My third and final small human came along 18 months after Zac was born (3 years and 8 days after Bubble actually!). Gremlin is our rainbow baby and my mini-me. Most of the time anyways. Sometimes though her father sneaks in there. She is a happy and very bubble nearly 11 year old who loves Calisthenics, Football and her friends. She is far more of an introvert than her sister and is happy to spend time on her own. She loves all things girls. Rainbows, unicorns, glitter and the colour pink. While she may at time trip up the stairs and I spent a decent amount of time in her first year of school getting calls about head injuries; including one where she walked into a pole because she just wasn’t looking where she was going, she is oddly great at kicking a football and a natural on roller blades. I think when she grows up she’s either going to be a vet, which is what she says she wants to be when asked, or a travel agent. She is amazing at researching holidays and activities to on holidays as well as how to get to the destination. It’s a talent I wasn’t sure even really existed naturally until she showed it. She really put the light back into our lives after we lost her brother.
There they are. My three little reasons for doing what I do.