All those things I wanted to say but didn't...

For the past week I had an idea of saying a few things at Arlo's birthday party. But as usual the time came and things got crazy and I found myself running around and by the time it came to my mind the time to speak had past.

So here is what I wanted to say, to all of you who are such a huge part of our little boy's life, and ours as well.

I wanted to say "Thank You", thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to make it to our boy's party.

We are so happy to be celebrating our son's almost 1st birthday. As many of you know Arlo's first year was not the smoothest. It was filled with some very scary times for our little one. From the beginning our boy has battled with colic and reflux and right when he was coming out of that and making his little personality known he got very sick and landed us in the PICU. After on and off battles with rattle breathing and some good stretches of health he was struck with RSV and back to the hospital we went. And after that the next few months were battling surgeons and doctors to push back a surgery that I wanted to hold off until he was little older and of course our fair share of ear infections and teething.

Most of you like I said know all about that, simply because you are amazing friends and family. This year has been hard and scary, and in the end we made it through for several reasons. First we believe we have a wonderful pediatrician who loves our little boy and fought for him often. Second Arlo is absolutely resilient to all the things that have faced him the past year.Third, we have by far the best and most supportive friends and family.

We can't thank you all enough for the texts, emails, phone calls and those special trips to the hospital to visit our boy when he was sick. We were bombarded with offers for food, to help watch Cecelia and nice conversations to vent our worries. All those things and much more kept our spirits high and hopeful that he would eventually be back to his normal self, what ever normal would be for him.

So please know that all of that did not go unnoticed and that we are greatly appreciative of every thought and prayer you all said for him.

Our little celebration was for you all as well and we will never forget the thoughtfulness of our friends and family.

And that we will always be there for you in return, because that is just was Nate and I have come to realize is what our circle of friends and family do for one another and we are beyond blessed.

So thank you, thank you from bottom of hearts.