2011: A Year Like No Other

Sometimes New Year’s Eve sneaks up on me. I’m so busy wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas that December 31 seems secondary and is overlooked. By this time in the holiday season, I’m ready to embrace new beginnings and skip ahead to the quiet calm that January will bring. But this New Year’s Eve, I’m pausing to reflect on what has been one of the most unique years of my life. 2011 has been a year like no other for our family. Our sweet baby girl was born only 4 days into this year, and I have a feeling of panic when I think about the fact that she will turn 1 in five short days. I feel as though Leah’s first year went by in a blur. Did I have time to blink? Was I able to savor those precious baby days as much as I intended? This was the last year of having an infant of our own fall asleep on our chests, snuggled close to our heartbeats. 2011 was our last year of swaddling, tiny fingers and toes, baby onesies and rattles, and inhaling that sweet newborn scent. It was the final year of baby “firsts” for our family, which are second to none in terms of life highs and moments to be treasured forever.

There are very poignant moments this year that I know I will carry with me for the rest of my life, like the beautiful day this spring that we managed our first outing as a family of 4. Walking through the park, pushing Leah’s stroller, I looked at my husband and son ahead of us, and was overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of euphoria and bliss. They are my entire world, I thought, and felt balanced and full. I felt complete as a family, so incredibly blessed with my best friend as my husband, our two children and the pet that we love, and knew that I had reached a life pinnacle that I had always dreamed of achieving.

2011 contained moments of amazing joy and love. At Leah’s baptism, surrounded by family and friends, we were reminded of how much we have been given, and how thankful we are to have such wonderful support systems and people in our lives. The Saturday mornings where Luke crawled into Mommy and Daddy’s bed, and Leah joined us shortly after she woke meant that we had a special snuggle time as a whole family, warm and cozy, limbs intertwined… and I wanted to remain in those cuddly moments forever. Our family celebrated milestones together, big and small: birthdays, first smiles, first days of school, crawling… with memories constantly recorded in our hearts, minds, photos, and video.

But 2011 was also very, very long. Leah’s refusal to take a bottle means that I have been with her literally at all times since her birth, unable to be away for more than 2-3 hours… and these outings were few and far between, carefully planned and scheduled around her feeding sessions. The constancy of parenting an infant is very difficult, and it’s easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees when you’re breastfeeding for the hundredth time that day, and it’s 3 a.m. with no respite for you, the only food source/pacifier.

I felt on multiple occasions that we were barely treading water this year. Keeping up with the mundane tasks required running a family and household seemed impossible to me. How in the world did people manage laundry, prepare meals, do dishes, and shower all in one day, with an infant in their arms and a toddler clinging onto their knees? Many days I looked in the mirror to see black circles under my eyes, greasy hair, and a wrinkled spit up stained shirt… and that was the best I could do. I stared at the clock on many long afternoons, willing the hands to move forward and closer to the hour that Mark came home from work and I had a teammate to help me with the children. Mark’s mom once told me: “The years with young children go by in an instant, but the afternoons are endless.” Yes, indeed they are…

The adjustment of having a new little sister caused Luke to act out and have behavior issues that resulted in a very long spring and summer. Luckily, preschool started this fall and saved us all, but there were times that Mark and I felt very defeated as parents. We were out of strategies that worked, and were not successful at controlling the tantrums, jealousy, and difficulty that Luke had sharing his parents’ attention with a new little being. There is nothing like children to keep you humble, and all of the things that I said I’d never do (bribery, raising my voice, etc.) went right out the window this year as we tried to survive the “threes” with a very strong-willed little man who tested every boundary and limit that we imposed.

And the sleep, oh precious, valuable sleep! Leah is still waking up every 2-3 hours at night, at 11 ½ months old, which makes for very, very long nights, and constantly exhausted parents. The marathon of this prolonged sleep deprivation made accomplishing anything a little bit harder than usual this year. There were times that the simple act of going to the grocery store seemed overwhelming. I vividly remember sitting in my car in the store parking lot one morning, after a night of very little sleep. I literally had to give myself a pep talk, digging deep to find the energy and strength to get out of my car, and walk into the store to buy food for my family. All I wanted to do was lean my head back and succumb to the exhaustion, and just close my eyes for a minute or two…

But these are the things that will fade from my memory, and so I am writing these memories to reflect on how it is possible that a year can flash before my eyes so quickly, and seem incredibly lengthy all at once. We celebrate this year, and the fact that we made it through those endless afternoons, the sleepless nights, the toddler time-outs, and the daunting chores. We marvel at how one year can contain so many of the memories that make up the moments of a life, those to remember with rose-colored glasses and think, “Those were the best of times.” And we look back at 2011, the year that has passed in the blink of an eye and lasted forever all at once. We thank God for all of the gifts that He has given us this year. We have been richly blessed with a healthy baby and a family so full of love, and for that we toast 2011 and all that it has contained.

Christmas in Williamsburg

It's impossible for me to put into words how wonderful Christmas at Bean and Poppy's house was this year, so I'm posting my top 10 favorite pictures, along with a slide show, so that you can get a taste of our fun.

1. Cousins:



2. Bear Hugs:



3. Playing with new toys under the tree on Christmas morning:



4. Blue skies, beautiful weather, and fun at the playground:



5. Christmas-clad pajama bottoms:



6. Hair bows and helpers for Baby's First Christmas:



7. Poppy with his special boy:



8. Smiling buddies, checking out their new gadgets. Gabe is grinning here because he knows how to use his IPhone better than Uncle Honey (Mark):



9. Presents and adoration for our furry girl from all of her fans:



10. Sweet, sweet snuggles filled with lots and lots of love:

Merry Christmas!

Our sweet angels wish you a very merry Christmas!

Wake Forest Family

We took a day trip to Winston-Salem, NC, this weekend to go to a Wake Forest basketball game. It was Leah's first visit to WFU, and we were very excited to introduce her to her future alma mater. Luke was thrilled to see the Demon Deacon again, I was ecstatic to get pictures of both children with our beloved mascot, and Mark was happy that the Deacs didn't look too pitiful on the basketball court! Luke and I sat right behind the marching band for part of the game, and he was a little chatterbox, describing each instrument to me and singing along with the fight song. Luke also gave a running commentary of the game, telling me which player had the ball, and repeatedly announcing the score: "Mommy, #11 has the ball... Now #10 has it, he's going to shoot... DOUBLE DUNK!! (Don't know what that means)... and we have 24 points now!!!!" His exuberant joy really was adorable.






















After the game and lunch at our favorite restaurant, we visited our campus, where Leah crawled around on the quad, Luke ran through the grass, and of course I took lots of pictures of my sweet babies in front of Wait Chapel. We love being a Wake Forest Family, and spent a wonderful day at this special place that is so dear to us.

New Neighbors!

We interrupt this month of regularly scheduled Christmas-themed blog posts to bring you breaking news! The new phase of construction in our neighborhood is beginning, which means we have a brand new next door neighbor:



Luke practically gasped with excitement when he realized that the steamroller's new home is the field next to our house. This is only topped by the front loader that now serves as our alarm clock early every morning, as it moves dirt in the adjacent lots under construction. And the icing on the cake: The street sweeper that cleans and sprays water on the road at the end of the day, removing the layer of red Carolina clay that has been deposited by the other 'struction vehicles. This is today's view from our porch:



We literally didn't get out of our pajamas all day, as the day's entertainment was provided for us. One 3 year-old boy is on Cloud Nine, and will be having very sweet dreams tonight!!

Reindeer Games

My favorite Christmas attire for L&L this year is their coordinating reindeer footed pajamas. It's hard to capture how cute the little reindeer feet are, and how adorable it is to listen to Luke belt out "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" at top of his lungs. We're certainly having fun this week with lots of reindeer games and Christmas festivities. Yesterday, we went to the Greenville Parks and Rec Christmas party, which was held at the same facility where we recently went ice skating. There were snacks, crafts, and inflatable bounce houses, but the neatest feature of the party was the snow that they made for the children in the skating rink. There was a giant "snowball fight", which was Luke's favorite part of the entire morning:





Petey the Penguin is the official mascot of the Pavilion. Both kids were happy to greet this friendly guy:





Poor Leah bumped her chin last week (one of the hazards of being mobile!) and has a big bruise on her jawline now. Hopefully her sweet smile, cute Santa shirt, and matching socks distract from her boo-boo:



Luke has been looking forward to his preschool Christmas party all week. Yesterday, he helped me fill the treat bags for all of his friends:


This morning when Luke woke up, he knew that it was Christmas Party Day. He excitedly proclaimed: "Baby Jesus will be at my party. We will see him in the manger!" Not wanting my son to be disappointed, I tried to use this as a learning opportunity about how Jesus is with us all the time, and we may not "see" him at the party. Luke impatiently waved me away and began playing with his trucks. The party was a great success, and the children's joy and enthusiasm were contagious.


Luke's preschool class singing "Happy Birthday" to Baby Jesus.



Santa left a box of presents in Luke's classroom for the children to open. This picture is of the teacher announcing Luke's gift...



Santa's preschool present to Luke: A Lightning McQueen car!



Comparing loot with his friend, Billy.


Tonight, we went to see Santa Claus. I had very high hopes for our annual Santa visit, and adore this particular St. Nick, but our picture didn't turn out so well. I guess every family needs a "screaming baby with Santa" picture, but Leah is usually so happy, and I'm sad that Santa didn't see her true, sweet personality. No worries, though: Leah is still on the "Nice List", and I'm sure that her first Christmas will be full of presents from the jolly old fellow!

Hollywild Christmas Lights

We returned to see the Christmas Lights at Hollywild Animal Park this year, and loved it again. There really is no place quite as "authentic" as this hidden Southern treasure, and we had a ball driving haphazardly through the giant field with our windows down, feeding the animals as they approached our car. It was a very warm evening, as as you can see, Luke was sweating and wearing a short-sleeved shirt for our annual visit to the Christmas lights. Gotta love winter in South Carolina! Despite the warm temperatures, we got into the holiday spirit by roasting smores by the fire pit, sipping on hot cocoa, and wandering through the adorable Santa's Village. We love this new family tradition and are still talking about what fun we had with the Christmas "amidals"!


Luke was positive that this was one of Santa's reindeer.



Nothing says, "Merry Christmas" like a wet zebra snout in your face.



Leah was mesmerized by the animals (and even more thrilled to be out of her car seat)!



Horsing around.



Mark's startled reaction here (when he turned around to see a MASSIVE cow poking its head in the window) was priceless. It still makes me laugh to think about how he jumped!



This is a terrible picture, but gives you an idea as to how enormous the cows are, as they tower over all of the other animals (and cars!).



The goat was one of Luke's favorite animals to feed.



Luke bottle-feeding the baby animals in the Christmas Village.



Leah: Take notes. Some babies DO drink out of bottles! (But I guess maybe she would, too, if I gave her red juice like this).