January
After a big Christmas, we settled into the new year with lots of new toys and a little more sleep (Maggie finally slept through the night consistently with cereal feedings.) The fort building intensified when G gave Will an indoor tent with tunnel and the whole room became a fort! We also enjoyed snow and ice a couple times...Maggie's first, I believe...but still played on the new swing set a couple times. My parents visited and I started teaching Will the letters in his name.
was unusually warm, we spent many days playing outside- much more enjoyable swing set time than January. I made my first attempt at decorating sugar cookies, but with store-bought dough and cookie icing, nothing like September (but I'm getting ahead of myself). My sister, along with her kids, visited, we went to TN for a wedding, Maggie was pushing up and Daniel gave his first public devotional.
March
brought Maggie starting sitting up-- though at that time we didn't know how long that road would be-- I got a new camera (lots of practice shots this month) and Maggie went to the Birmingham Zoo and to St. Louis for the first time. My mom and I drove together (with my kids in tow) to celebrate a baby shower for my cousin, Rachel, helped decorate her nursery and visited my cousin, Kevin, who was injured on the job and lost vision in his left eye. We also had visitors of our own- my brother and SIL first then my MIL, SIL and her kids- Will loves his cousins!
We did some work helping repair houses and spreading the Word in Sayre, AL. This was a great way to start the month. I took Maggie to the state's rehabilitation services and learned that she qualified for Early Intervention. We went to the zoo's grand opening for Trails of Africa and traveled to TN twice-- once for our nephew, Samuel's birthday and again for Easter. The Wednesday after Easter we woke up to violent straight-line winds that did some damage to our town and took a few lives. We only lost some yard furniture and had no idea what that evening would bring: hours of F5 tornados racing through the state in one of the deadliest tornados since 1925. This was a big month!
May
brought weeks of helping tornado victims in any way possible, Mother's Day (got my Cricut), our 6th anniversary, swimming, lots of trips to the park, water balloons, still more forts, Maggie's first EI therapy session and Daniel's 30th birthday! Whew, we were bu-say!! Crazy to look back on, I can't believe we fit all that into one month. I'm also seeing a pattern here- I blog alot. Where do I find the time? I believe blogging must be where my late nights began. What can I say, I love to write. And what better to write about that faith, family and fun?!
June
was busy as well with Daniel's LAN party, my birthday, a trip to the beach with my mom, brother and nephew, plus swimming, park visits, therapy and daily life in between. I also took one of my favorite photos of Maggie this month-- on the collage below it's 4th down, 1st from the left. I just think she looks so sweet here, plus I know something most people don't when looking at this photo: she's actually working. She'll have to work many years or possibly her whole life to do even the simplest things we take for granted. Yet, she still looks so precious doing it. My sweet baby girl.
July
meant Independence Day and a trip to TN. My cousin, Rachel was on maternity leave and wanted to bring her family down and introduce to her new bundle of joy. She asked if I could make a trip up and I am now particularly grateful we took time to travel and meet that sweet baby boy. The 4th also brings fireworks and barbecues-- fun and yum! We had visitors of our own again and both kids had their first dentist visit. This was also a big month for Maggie in therapy-- started feeding herself (large finger foods, not puffs or using utensils), able to sit and play for short periods, arms getting stronger-- the list was abundant. July was good and will forever be the month our little girl started making strides toward independence. A perfect month for that, I think.
August
Hot as always, but filled with fun, playdates, progress in therapy, Will's first haircut and pre-school orientation. Can you believe how quickly this year is going by? Daniel also went to Houston this month plus my parents and nephew, Kyle, visited for a few days. Maggie finally visited the neurologist who diagnosed her with watershed injury. We would not have been surprised with a CP diagnosis so this helped seal the peace God had been trying to give me over the previous 11 months that I struggled to accept.
September
This was a big month- Maggie turned one and Will started pre-school all in the same week. Talk about emotional overload. I made it through, though. Maggie's party was super fun (here, here & here) and I spent months leading up the event crafting all sorts of things. My SIL (brother's wife) and fellow crafter extraordinaire turned 30 this same week! I wanted to be part of planning a 30th for her but for many reasons, mostly involving bad timing, we weren't able to pull it off. This same thing happened for my SIL (Daniel's sister) for her 30th! I digress. My brother and nephew visited, Daniel flew back to Houston again and I made a trip to TN to visit my neice, Olivia, in the hospital.
October
Ah, the month of beautiful weather. We settled into the little school routine and new therapists and some additional therapy with Maggie. We now generally have 8 therapy sessions a month. We had more visitors, my MIL, SIL + kids over fall break and my mom for Halloween. Will had orientation at pre-school and we met our newest neice, Isla, in TN (Maggie's closest girl cousin in age). We went to Trunk or Treat at church, Boo at the Zoo and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. So candy overload. I think I finally threw the remaining away a few weeks ago. Plus we had plenty of fun times in between.
November
started dim, to be honest. We traveled to St. Louis to attend a family member's funeral. One good thing about funerals is seeing family you rarely have the opportunity to see otherwise. In this case, there is the hope of seeing him again, when this world fades away and the perfect one is formed. I was also able to take my family to the STL Zoo on this trip, something I've wanted to do for awhile. Then more therapy, decorating for Christmas and celebrating Thanksgiving. Daniel and I swap years and as much as I love his family and spending the holidays with them, I am grateful this was my family's year. Because it was my last visit with my cousin's little baby boy. Something I'll always remember. The highpoint was that Daniel and I were able to get a couple nights away, as a couple, and was very refreshing.
December
How quickly a year goes by, especially when you're hitting the highlights! Maggie and Will enjoyed the new kitchen my cousin brought down at Thanksgiving, we jumped in some leaves, attended several Christmas events, made many, many, many crafts, celebrated Jesus' birthday, Will's birthday and then ended the year on a tragic note. A few hours after returning home from our last holiday celebration, we received a call that my cousin's baby passed away. We drove to St. Louis on the last day of 2011 to attend the funeral. Here's the good news: we have hope in Jesus Christ and I pray this family who has lost so much, is abundantly blessed in this new year. Well, that's our 2011 wrapped up, thanks for coming on the journey!
One of the first and last pictures of the kids together in 2011
You guys had a busy year! I love reading about everying. What a good idea putting a photo of the kids at the beginning of the year and the end!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!Crazy how they change in a year, isn't it?
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