The Spohr Family is Mike, the husband and dad; Heather: the wife, mom, and writer of this here blog; our tiny guard dog Rigby; Madeline Alice, our oldest daughter and our miracle preemie; and Annabel Violet, our youngest daughter and our little spitfire. We have most of our adventures in and around Los Angeles. Mike and I have been together for over ten years, and Mike has been a Spohr for over 37 years.
I’ve been blogging about my life since 2002, but I started this blog when I was pregnant with our daughter, Madeline. It was a rough and rocky pregnancy and I wanted to keep our friends informed. When Madeline was born premature, I posted updates about her rough start in life. In the year-plus following her release from the neonatal intensive care unit, she was hospitalized three times thanks to complications from her premature birth. Through it all, Maddie was seriously the happiest little girl you could ever meet. Our life together was full of adventure. She completed us. I blogged about Maddie’s triumphs, my husband’s propensity to brush his teeth with butt cream, my dog’s stuffed animal fetish, and my knack for revealing private parts of my body in very public places. Among other things.
Then, our world was turned upside down. Maddie came down with a respiratory infection on April 6th, and she very suddenly left the world on April 7th, 2009. She was only a few days shy of 17 months old. We are shocked, reeling, staggering, and gasping. Our lives are shattered, and we are picking up the pieces. We don’t know who we are without her.
On January 22nd, 2010, our second daughter Annabel was born. She gives us the strength to go on, and gives us hope and light.
