Reflections on 2016

Today is January 1, 2017.  Last night we bid farewell to 2016 with all its ups and down.  Last year we ended it with bringing our son into this world, I had just started working a new job toward the end of 2015 and we were excited to see what 2016 had in store for our little family that was rapidly growing.

In February we had to say goodbye to my parents who had decided to move to Florida in search of warmer climate.  This was definitely a hard thing for me since I have lived close to my parents my entire life.  With much sadness, we saw them go.  The next few months passed on without much event, and we got to see Gigi and Bop a ton this year, which we loved! Come June, Aly and I boarded our first Papi and Aly trip to see my parents in Orlando. This was the first time that I would be flying with Aly alone, I was excited and a bit scared, but everything went great!  Aly and I had a blast and we got to surprise my mom by showing up unexpectedly.  We spent the weekend there but we sure did miss Mami.  Aly and Fynn also got to see fireworks for the first time, Aly loved it, Fynn was still pretty young, so he just slept most of the time.  In August my brother in law got married, we drove down to Scranton PA area and Aly and Fynn got to join in the festivities, Aly was a flower girl for the second time, and Fynn was a co-ring bearer! 

We've still been dealing with some of Aly's health issues, nothing major.  Though we've not been able to pinpoint what causes her low blood sugar levels, we have been able to spot signs of when she may have low blood sugar and can confirm it by checking it at home.  If that happens we can quickly act and give her some food and within 15-20 minutes she's back to being herself.  I'm grateful that the doctors haven't found anything serious and all signs point to it being something that she will eventually grow out of. Each and every day I am grateful that God made me a father to one of the sweetest, brightest, joyful little girls.  I love being her dad, and teaching her about the world around her.  Her curiosity is so big, she's always asking what something is or what it means.  Her latest thing to know is what time it is, and what the time means. For example, if I say, it's 8:00 pm, she'll ask what does that mean, to which I respond, "It means it's time for bed". I'm looking forward to her growing older so we can do fun stuff like explore and go camping and teaching her to ride a bike, or how to code! 

Fynn learned to walk before he was a year old!  That was exciting to see! I love my little boy, he's my main buddy, and I can't wait for him to grow older so we can do all the things that I did with my dad and more!  I haven't gotten to spend as much time with Fynn as I did with Aly (I worked from home for basically her entire first 2 years of life), but the time I do get to spend with him has been precious to me.  We have definitely started to form a bond as Father and Son that I hope to cultivate into a great friendship. 

Brooke and I had one busy November, I had to do some travel for work and was able to visit Argentina for the first time, it was a blast, I loved the food and the people were amazing!  While I was in Argentina, Brooke took her and the kids to Oklahoma, right after that trip, we were home for about 4 days before we hopped on a plane to visit my folks in Florida for Thanksgiving.  We were there for a week and in the middle of that Brooke and I snuck away to Jamaica to get some much needed time to be with each other sans children.  I am grateful that my parents were able to watch the kids for a few days while we got away to rest and recharge. Overall 2016 was a great year for our family.  We thank God that we are all in good shape physically and emotionally.  

Lord your goodness has been with us through another year. We were able to see the light at the end of the tunnel that was 2015. We thank you for your grace and mercy and pray that your goodness will lead us in 2017. 

Happy New Year,

The Arevalos