This week I got red devil #2.
Then we celebrated Big Baby Beau’s first birthday!
My gosh, time flies… especially when you’re having fun.
I posted on Facebook my yearly slideshows I do for the kid’s birthdays and said that despite all the bad, this year has been ONE of the best years of my life.
I have learned a lot. My faith and relationship with god has done nothing but grow stronger, our family and my marriage has grown closer and stronger, and I have enjoyed every single moment of Beau’s first year. (Seriously, you know you’ve found your match when you’re sitting in an exam room staring at each other and you tell you husband he has 4 gray eyebrow hairs and he returns with “yeah, well you have only 4 eyebrow hairs.”)
This time, with baby #2, I really knew everything we were experiencing in the tough newborn stage was only temporary and I tried with all my might to enjoy every phase because it really is the last time I will get to experience it. I soaked in maternity leave. I soaked in the time we spent nursing and getting up together in the middle of the night. I soaked in snuggling him in his little wrap carrier and made it my mission to make sure he said mama first! (I succeeded).
Having cancer, I thought maybe took some of that away because I found myself wishing for time to go by faster, but JR reminded me that if anything, it taught me to slow down and enjoy the now.
I have enjoyed the now. I’ve looked at those little baby fingers and toes longer than I had before and somehow my patience has grown despite being crabbier in my older age. 🤣
I’ve learned to try and live in the moment. I’ve learned a new set of priorities… and to be honest, I like this priority list much better than what it used to look like. I’ve learned to reduce my stress over things I cannot control and have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what God’s plan is for me. For Beau. For us as a family.
When Beau got diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis our hearts were shattered. We learned to pick up the pieces and move forward. We did it again when I got diagnosed with cancer. Both diagnosises were earth shattering and downright hard but we got through with the prayers to god and hugs from our family and friends.
I have been praying, trying to figure out the lesson that god is trying to teach us. Praying to figure out what we can do with all of these “challenges” and how we can turn our stories and our experiences into something good.
Something has really been weighing on my mind and I’m working to figure out the logistics. My goal for 2022 is to launch a scholarship fund targeted for youths with NF seeking higher education/trade schools. Many don’t know that NF can cause a broad range of learning disabilities and I want to support the goals and dreams of these youths as they navigate into adulthood.
I’m pretty excited to hit the ground running in 2022, forming this charity and helping others in the process!
A friend of mine, and her daughter, helped me come up the with the name!
No Beau-ndries
NFund
This is definitely giving me something big to look forward to and something to put my mind into planning and list making! Wahoo my favorite!
In other news, I have been going stir crazy. Legit losing my mind in my house. Tinleigh and JR pushed me to get outside today and we went ice skating followed by the making of our traditional sugar cookies… which always ends with Tinleigh eating them and me finishing the icing by myself.
I gave up after burning the last dozen. (It wouldn’t be Nichole cooking without something being burnt.) JR says he will finish the icing. What a man! 🤩
Keep My Eyes Above the Waves 
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