Everyone has been reflecting on their past ten years so I also decided to take a look down memory lane.

2010 – Josh spent six weeks in Vietnam as a work-abroad as the last part of his MBA degree. He graduated at the top of his MBA class, which is no surprise to anyone who knows him. My family (the Italians) cried like babies during the graduation ceremony when they announced that Josh got top honors. I went to Italy with my parents in August and saw my grandma for the last time. Josh and I both started new jobs.

2011 – Jackson was born on October 1 via emergency c-section due to cord prolapse. We adjusted to being a family of three.

This was Jackson coming home from the hospital.

2012 – This was a rough year. Jackson was not meeting any developmental milestones and started having infantile spasms. He was diagnosed with Lissencephaly on April 11, 2012.

2013 – Because Jackson’s diagnosis was a “random event” and we were not carriers, we decided to have another child and got pregnant in the second half of the year.

2014 – Luca was born on June 18. He spent the first five months of his life crying while Jackson had seizures. Luca started accompanying his older brother to Children’s Hospital when he was only a few weeks old. We adjusted to life as a family of four.

This was my first day alone with both boys while I was on maternity leave.

My aunt bought me my first ukulele at City Flea in the summer of 2014, which is when I started playing.

2015 & 2016 – Looking back on all the photos from 2015 and 2016, these were good, fun years.

2017 – Jackson was hospitalized three times in two months due to illness. We got our handicap accessible van. Josh and I took a short trip to Arizona. Jackson was congested when we left and we contemplated not going. We went and Jackson developed pneumonia while we were gone. When we came back, we landed at CVG and drove straight to Children’s Hospital.

2018 – This was a rough year. Jackson had four surgeries, the first of which was to get his g tube. He stopped swallowing, started being monitored on a pulse ox every night and began needing oxygen while asleep. However, two of the four surgeries helped improve his respiratory health.

2019 – This was a better year than last year although Jackson had his longest hospital stay to date (12 days in July). We also adopted a great puppy who loves to cuddle with Jackson and play with Luca.

The past decade was not at all what I expected. It feels like Josh and I unintentionally went to medical school, nursing school, got trained in respiratory therapy and became spokespeople for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. I have no idea what the right saying is but maybe: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade; or, We are getting through this because we don’t have a choice.

I have no idea what to expect during the next ten years. I can only hope the years bring a little more sleep and slightly less stress.