It seems crazy to say that it is now 2012, but it is here! 2011 was a wild ride, lots of good times and lots of tough times for our family, all of which we are grateful for because they have led us to where we are today. Let's take a look back, shall we?
January- I don't remember much very significant about this month other that Michael's big soccer game that changed out lives. When he hurt his ankle in the game, that is what brought on his chronic gout, which is still a daily battle. We originally thought that he had broken or tore something, because the thing just would NOT heal! I also got to celebrate my brother's 40th birthday with him, which was the first birthday I was able to celebrate with him in 10 years! So glad to have him back home!
February- A crazy
snow/ice storm hit Abilene and we were snowed in for nearly a week! This may seem like a bad thing but we loved every minute of it because Michael was home on vacation, which made it perfect (minus his injury and being on crutches, kind of hard to play in the snow on crutches.) We also celebrated my
Mom's birthday, Abigail lost her both her
front teeth AND learned to
ride her bike without training wheels, and
Jaxon ate a gel cling off of a valentine card that resulted in a panicked call to poison control (we have to keep them on speed dial for this kid...) and a trip to the E.R. Never a dull moment.
March- After a nasty flu virus took over our house for nearly a week, we had spring break which was so great! We made up for all the hours of sickness by
playing non-stop, and even taking a trip to the
Dallas World Aquarium.
April- I turned the big two-five back in April (car insurance decrease...whoop whoop!) Michael and I took a trip out of town, just the two of us, for a
wedding. Loved every minute of our little get away. WE celebrated
Easter, which is tied as my favorite holiday with Christmas, of course. And let's not forget the
royal wedding , which may or may not have been the highlight of the month for everyone. Looking back, I wish I would have gotten up at 5am to watch it, but I suppose my memories of all the details from Good Morning America will have to suffice.
May- We celebrated
Abigail's half birthday which we make a bigger deal of than I would like to admit. I just like to find excuses to buy the ice cream cupcakes from Cold Stone. She also
finished her first year of school, which happened faster than I could have imagined (and how is it possible that she is half way through with the 1st grade already?? I need a life pause button, or a slow mode.)
June- June is always one of our craziest months. We celebrated 1,825 days of marriage together (or 5 years if you are as bad at math as I am) celebrated Michael's Mom's birthday, had a crazy life changing event happen (that I would rather not get into, but believe me it was CRAZY) celebrated father's day, hosted a
baby shower for my sweet friend
Megan, celebrated Michael's 29th birthday, I discovered Pinterest which we can all agree is a huge life milestone, took a
family vacation, AND found out that we would be moving here to Dallas in a just few short weeks. Whew, busy month!
July- July was a giant blur of house hunting and closing issues. Michael left to come start work sometime in the middle of the month leaving us
Daddy-less for two weeks, which equals torture. I became best friends with Matilda (our mortgage broker whom I talked to more than my own husband and mother combined) and we had our closing date pushed back 3 times. If we never move again, I will be just fine with that. Most stressful thing I have ever done. It was a totally consuming process, but thankfully we finally closed on the last day of the month!
August- We lived at the pool all month long, and who wouldn't with 110 degree days? It was the only way to keep cool and we loved it. I'm already getting excited for pool season this year! Abigail also started the
1st grade which was exciting and sad all at the same time. She is pretty much starting college next week.
September- I don't really recall anything of note for September. We were just getting used to our new school schedule and enjoying the nice drop to the double digit temps. I remember being so excited when I got to wear jeans outside and didn't feel like I was going to die. Pretty significant.
October- Was amazing because fall really started taking over, I love that time of year! I also took 3 trips back to Abilene in that one short month which was so exhausting that I haven't been back since! Hoping to change that soon. One of the trips was to celebrate
baby Hollyn and her mama, one of the funnest and most laid back showers that we've done, I loved it! Also, Jaxon became fully potty-trained, which may have been the best thing that happened all year. He's so big!
November- November was a good month. Our big girl turned 7, and had her first sleepover with 7 girls, yikes! (we will be downscaling for sure on her 8th) We also announced to facebook and friends (because it's not official till it's facebook official...duh) that we were expecting our 3rd baby. That made Thanksgiving even more exciting because this girl likes to eat, especially when pregnant.
December- Baby boy turned 3, and I just realized I didn't give him a birthday blog, oops. It was a crazy month with lots of morning sickness and first trimester exhaustion. We were almost in the clear, 1 week away from 2nd trimester, when we found out we lost our baby at 11 weeks. Very sad and we are still dealing with it, but also very anxious to be pregnant again and have a healthy happy baby! Also there was Christmas, which pretty much takes up the entire month of December! It was our first Christmas in our new home and we stayed here, just the 4 of us, instead of going back home. It was perfect. 24 hours in our PJ's and 24 hours of A Christmas Story equals perfection in my book.
Are you as exhausted as I am after that? 2011 was a pretty big year, but I have to say I'm glad to see it go. I know 2012 will be a good year, I can just feel it. His mercies are new every morning, and I know they will be new for us in this new year!
Happy NewYear!!
