December was overall an upbeat month for us! Dax had many days filled with happiness: babbling, bouncing on Dad’s lap, kisses from Ozzie, peaceful naps, and evenings on FaceTime talking to his grandparents. There were even a couple of moments I was just on the phone with some of my best friends and they were able to hear Dax cooing in the background. It was so heartwarming hearing their reaction on the other line – “Oh, he’s talkative today!” “I hear Dax!” “That made my night!”. There’s just something about a happy baby that makes every moment even sweeter.
As our readers know, Dax loves being outside. Surprisingly, it was 70 degrees on Christmas Eve, so we spent the holiday at the park! It was so nice outside that we walked the entire perimeter of the park that day and I think Ozzie squatted to pee at least 25 times. The rule is, he has to go potty before he gets in the car. He wanted to make sure that we saw him following the rules in hopes that we were finished with our walk; his light-footed trot quickly turned to a much slower pace with his paws dragging, he was exhausted. Dax surprised his Indiana family with a FaceTime call on Christmas, he had A LOT to say that day, Dax and his great grandma gossiped about their matching hair-dos. We ended the month with snow, and Ozzie celebrated New Years Day by rolling around in the backyard.
The biggest highlight of December was donating to a wonderful study that Dax is a part of at Children’s Mercy, Genomic Answers for Kids. Every year, the company that Tyson works for chooses a charity/cause to donate to and we were overjoyed when we found out that they wanted to donate to something that hit a little closer to home; they thought of Dax. There are no words to amount to how thankful we are for Tyson’s manager, co-workers, and everyone involved to make this donation possible. When Dax was born, his team reached out right away to offer us support during the most difficult time of our lives. We had meals provided for weeks, co-workers stopped by just to check-in and frequently called to see how we were holding up… Tyson works for a large company (over 600 employees), and he’s most definitely not treated like a number at Wyndham Capital Mortgage – they all care, and that means so much to us.
Wyndham Capital was making their donation at the end of December, so that gave us enough time to open up the door for family and friends to donate too. In one week, friends and family contributed $2,000, which then turned into $4,000! There was an opportunity to make twice the impact when I made our donation from friends and family online; a local Community Champion would match our donation for a limited time. Wyndham Capital donated $10,000! Amazing!
To read more about Genomic Answers for Kids click the button below. If you feel inspired and wish to donate to the study, click the button and scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll find a “Donate now” button.
We will see what 2022 brings, one day at a time. I was sure to tell Dax that we conquered 2021 when I kissed him on the cheek at midnight on New Years Eve.
The Story of Dax Wilder 