Happy New Year, everyone! I thought I’d kick of 2011 with a recap of some of the best of 2010 (AKA – I didn’t get my stuff together to do this yesterday like everyone else).

January: Interestingly (given where I ended the year), I celebrated finally losing all the baby weight from having the Menininho. I also attended my first play group date, my mother and brother both guest-posted as part of my “Marfan Through the ‘Unaffected’s’ Eyes” series, I wrote a letter to medical professionals everywhere, and I had to give up babywearing the Menininho.

February: I got a super sexy new back brace, which had his own name. Mark guest-posted to finish out the series, I started the Friday Favorites meme, wrote some advice on how to prepare for a child’s visit to the hospital, and bought my own domain name.

March: I wrote tips for both choosing a Marfan cardiologist and a pediatrician, and Kate Gulbranson answered your breastfeeding questions. We met a really bitter salesman, I started acupuncture, and I wrote my most popular blog post: My Beef with the Michael Phelps Marfan Obsession.

April: We announced my pregnancy with Smudge, which led to me explaining why we decided to have another baby. I wasn’t too happy when I found out I wouldn’t be getting an ultrasound for awhile though.

May: This was a month of doctors’ appointments. I had my first prenatal appointment and we took the Menininho in to get his hearing evaluated, where he got referred to a speech therapist. This was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for us.

June: I outlined my personal risks and benefits to having a VBAC, got a new diagnosis, and the Menininho got his first haircut. We also were first introduced to the autism diagnosis and had an uphill battle getting him services.

July: Our family of 3 traveled to Texas for the National Marfan Foundation’s annual conference, where I was surprised with an award. We found out baby Smudge was a boy, and the Menininho had an eventful EEG.

August: New diagnostic criteria for Marfan syndrome were published, so I did a 3 post series about them. I attended my first ICAN meeting, the Menininho signed for the first time, and I ended up in the hospital: twice.

September: Trying to optimize my chances of a successful VBAC, I tried out hypnosis. I showed off Smudge’s MRI pictures, received an email from the CEO of Babble.com, showed off my intense stretch marks, and the Menininho finally started his therapeutic preschool.

October: We made our annual trip to a pumpkin patch and in the midst of some complications and new information from my OB I put together my birth plan.

November: I had a realization about parenting a child with special needs, came too close to having Smudge, and spent Thanksgiving with some other families from our church.

December: I gave birth to Baby J at the beginning of the month, and took a couple weeks “maternity leave” by posting the birth stories of other women with disabilities.

Here’s to a wonderful 2011 for all of us!