A Year in Review-2009 Edition

Avery learned to drink from a straw via Starbucks.

My baby girl still slept in a crib at the beginning of the year.

Avery's hair was much shorter.

We had a mini SMC girls reunion in the Bend:)

Artie turned the big 3-0, ole!

Avery moved to a new room and a big girl bed.

Avery discovered the wonderment of the popcorn/icee combo at Target.

A love of horses was found by Miss Avery.

May 20th, my sweet baby boy was born. He spent many of his first days like this.

...and many weeks like this.

But the day he came home, and we were able to sit in our own living room together, as a family, is one of the happiest moments of the year:)

I got to blow off some steam and rock out at the No Doubt/Paramore concert-Fantastic!!

Spencer had his last visit with his surgeon and was released to his regular pediatrician!

We got to attend our first NICU parties in celebration of Spencer's graduation from the hospital...the kids got to enjoy the zoo as part of the party!

We followed Artie on a business trip to New Hampshire and along the way visited Niagara Falls.

On our way back from New Hampshire, we got to meet this cute little guy, Colten:)

Avery turned 2 and we celebrated with a bounce house in our backyard.

We got to see Imagination Movers LIVE!

Spencer was baptized:)

Jake left for the Army.

The ducky tub was resurrected!

We had a lovely holiday season and got to have the company of family from out of town!

Another year has come and gone. When I look back, I can't really believe all that has happened and changed. Obviously, I'm looking forward to a new year after the rough start Spencer had. It seems that 2009 will always be the year that changed our lives. Not only did we become a conclusive family of four, but we learned a lot about the real challenges of life. I even changed my career plans and started a new graduate program in an effort to heal myself and help others that will go through similar situations. I can't wait to start a new year fresh. 2009 also began my brother's 5 year commitment to the army. I have so enjoyed him being home for his holiday leave and am having a hard time with the fact that he will be going back in two days. I'm not so great with things not being planned and the idea that we don't know where Jake will be or when we will get to see him is going to be something I will have to work on dealing with. Artie and I celebrated our sixth year of marriage and spent our fourteenth Christmas together. I am hoping 2010 brings welcome changes and exciting new adventures.

Happy New Year, Everyone! I hope 2010 brings you all the best that you're hoping for:)

xo, Steph

Christmas 2009

As I am posting this, it is snowing here at our house...however, on Christmas Day, we had rain:( The weather may not have been ideal, but we had a pretty nice Christmas morning. Hope you and your families enjoyed the festivities too!

Pre-Christmas crafts

Jake helped out making little santas out of toilet paper rolls! He's very intent on getting those arms just right!

Artie, Jake, and I all made one...here are the results:) Avery and I (with some help from Artie) also made the snow globe! We really got into crafts this Christmas-a little late, but we still enjoyed it!

Christmas morning
Poor Domer, Avery insists that he is fun to ride!

Our mantle finally got decorated:)

Christmas corner...we eventually did get lights on the tree-and that's about it!

A very excited girl in her Christmas jammies.

Mr. Spencer in his Christmas jammies after his breakfast!

She was generously helping Spencer unwrap his presents-and then helping herself to play with them:)

Very happy to get her kitchen appliances! She loves to pretend to make smoothies and coffee!

My girl got her first tennis racquet and balls this year!! I could not be more excited that she was ready to hit! We've already been working on her money shot, the cross-court inside out:)

Avery is very much into Little Einsteins and we had the hardest time finding anything from that show...but we did find this bath toy!

Spencer got some blocks! These blocks are awesome they're soft plastic so he can safely chew on and squeeze them!

Tired of having Avery get our camera, we got her a kid-friendly one!

My little guy doing what he loves these days, getting his toes:) They're so flexible at this age!

The kids with Aunt Cimmy at her place later on Christmas:)

Spencer sporting his new slippers!

Post Christmas
The day after Christmas we had a great visit from my in-laws. Here's Uncle Chad giving Avery and Garrett a pony ride!

We couldn't have been more excited about Spencer's Christmas gift from Uncle Chad and Aunt Jamie...neither could he, he loves it!! Avery never had one of these and we really wanted one for Spencer and put it on his Christmas list.

Avery typing away on her new Little Einsteins computer! Thanks Uncle Chad and Aunt Jamie-you hit this one out of the park!

Avery playing with Spencer's toy after he went down for a nap...she's making up for lost time since she was deprived of one when she was a baby!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Best in the New Year! And congrats to Adrienne and Domenico's new little addition, Luca! He was born yesterday and what a cutie:)

Jumping Bean

For my 150th post, I wanted to give you all this video of my two-year-old demonstrating just how fearless she is! I know you all know how much we have our hands full here dealing with Avery's strong personality and completely adventurous nature. We have passed this attraction multiple times while at the mall the last few months and today, we finally let Avery try it since she had been very good. This was one happy girl and she surprised the people that run this!! I even had people coming up to me, as she was jumping, asking how old she was-because, you all know how tiny she is!! She has done nothing but talk about jumping again since we left and I really can't wait to take her back!! I love her!!

Just a little prayer request I'd like to throw in (seems like I've been asking for these a lot, I apologize, it has been a busy year!)...A friend of ours (who is an ND grad) just found out she has breast cancer. They found a mass first in her liver before realizing it started in the breast. She just turned 30 years old-that's near the age of most of my readers. Just a few weeks ago we found out a guy Artie graduated high school with has Hodgkin's. We have really been hit with the realization of our own mortality, even at 28 and 30 years old. I know I will really be enjoying my family this year and counting my blessings that the four of us appear to be fairly healthy right now and that, hopefully, the worst is over for my little Spencer. I'm really hoping 2010 brings much more happiness than 2009! Thanks everyone and much love to all of you and your families:)!! xo, Steph

Snow Angel

My little snow angel

We got our first big snow this weekend and Miss Avery has been begging to go out and play in it! I got her to keep her hat and gloves on with the promise of playing in the snow with mommy and daddy and so out we headed:)

What a face, huh?! She really loves the snow:)

Throwing snow at daddy. Yes, Artie has shorts on-he had just worked out before we went outside!

Lovely picture (ahem, note: this is said with much sarcasm)-I'm attempting to show Avery how to make a snow angel!

She's getting the hang of it!

Mommy's snow angel:)

Avery's snow angel:)

A few more of Avery this week...
I have posted this before (not the pic, the info), but Avery is the second biggest choc-a-holic in our house (1st is Artie!). Artie brought me this piece of chocolate cake home from a company Christmas lunch and Avery went right to town. She pretty much ate this whole piece of cake herself-before dinner!!

As a former professional makeup artist, I am proud of this! As I was putting my makeup on, Avery joined me and grabbed one of my shadow sticks and put it on with precision-she actually looked at herself in the mirror while she did it! We have some work to do on application, but I love that she's already into makeup:)!!

Jake's Home!
Just a picture of us at lunch in Indy after getting Jake from the airport! So happy he's home (and feeling a little bit better!)-thanks for all of the thoughts for him:)!!

MeRRy ChRisTmAs!