2012 in Review...

Just finished my yearly review of all my posts for the last year, so fun to remember things and with details that I would of forgot otherwise. As I reviewed my goals I set for last year I accomplished all but one which feels pretty successful, excited to iron out my goals for 2013! But first a recap of the the big events for our little family for 2012.

The big 12 in 2012:

1. A major goal accomplished, completed my first 10K and then my first Half Marathon! It felt so big and daunting that goal at this point last year. But it feels so satisfying now to know it was accomplished and the journey it was to get there.
2. AM and I survived two toddlers in the big city of Chicago when I went to a training there in the spring. We have some awesome memories of our times together, be they the best of times or the worst, we wouldn't trade any of it.
3. Ava turned 2. We celebrated with an elephant themed family party at our house.
4. We went on the best vacation to date! Stayed in a beach house at Rosemary beach for an entire week. Ava experienced her first boat ride and we all had our first wild dolphin encounter.
5. We celebrated the birth of a new niece/cousin, Adley Lynn. We traveled to Texas to meet her, Ava's been quite taken with her from day one.
6. Ava stayed up for her first firework fourth. We went downtown and had lots of fun.
7. Aunt Amy, Ava and I went on our annual visit to Houston! We had fun as usual despite the crazy heat.
8. Ryan turned 30!
9. Ryan was promoted at work. I still think "controller" is a pretty funny name for a work position. I am thankful 2012 was another year we both are doing the kind of work we want to be doing and work with great people and continue with company's that have been very good to us.
10. This fall Ava tackled some big girl milestones, she said goodbye to the Paci and became potty trained!
11. We said goodbye to Mema and laid her to rest. December was a hard month in many ways, I found myself deeply saddened by the national events of the school shooting in Connecticut both as a mother of a young child and as a trauma therapist that works with kids and schools. It was a very tearful month. Goodbyes can be good and they can be so very hard. It was a month that brough me back to center... "this world is not our home, we are just a passing through". Time here is precious and limited, be it 90 years or 6 years may we love fiercely and live our purpose fully.
12.  The circle continues, We found out we are pregnant and expecting a baby boy!

When I see the year as a whole I am so thankful for all the blessings of this past year. It was a good year around here, Goodbye 2012! While you are done the best of you will not be forgotten.

Christmas 2012!

Daicia took our Christmas pics for us when she was here recently. This one is my fav of all of us!

I've been terrible about taking photos lately and blogging. We had a challenging end of December but it was also good. We did Christmas two different weekends in B.A. with each of our families. I rather enjoyed just focusing our attention and being settled those weekends with each side of the family. In between those weekends my Mema passed away. With all those events, we made 8 trips down the turnpike between OKC and T-Town. Then Ava and I got some pretty yucky colds during Christmas. So all that took a little rest and recovery time so I spent the weekend partly relaxing and getting the house organized. I am enjoying some end of year reflection time that I always do and think I have picked out some goals for the new year that I am excited about and hope to share soon. I  know many experience the post holiday blues but I always love this time of slowing back down and re-centering for coming year. Hope your enjoying your post holiday time too.

Its a boy!

Its a boy!!

 

Once upon a time I bought this outfit on a great clearance sale. You don't see that many adorable boy clothes compared to girls so I snatched this great deal up thinking I would give it away at the next baby boy shower I went to. Well lots of baby boy showers came and went but for some reason I just could never part with it. So I thought of it pretty quickly this week when I found out we would be having a little baby boy of our own. To be honest part of me hoped that this baby would be a girl for Ava to have a sister close in age, because we have girl things already and because I had a name I was leaning toward but the minute we heard it was a boy it felt somehow very right. While we don't have any boy clothes besides this, no name yet and so many other unknowns as we begin this adventure, I can't help but feel excited and ready for this next chapter!

First Dance Class

 

While we enjoy lots of free style dance parties around this house, at last week's play group at church Ava got to do her first dance class with actual instruction. It was a fun time by all, especially watching her buddy Izzy do her own thing. (Thanks AM for this great video of our girls) It was a fun day!

Hello again!

 

Well as most of you know by now, we are expecting baby #2 this spring! If you missed our announcement video you can find it here: https://vimeo.com/52978836

 



Ava's been getting use to the idea of a new baby.



Which didn't take her long to get excited about the idea of being a big sister!

I am finally starting to come out of the sick/tired phase. Thus my lack of blogging the past few months. Glad to be getting back in the swing of things. So here's the highlights so far:

• I'm due May 2nd, So today I'm 16 weeks
• Ava keeps telling me she wants "a girl or a sister"
• Showing sooner this time, already had to breakout some materinty pants
• Dec 4th is hopefully when we find out if its a boy or a girl
• I have a girl name I love but no ideas for a boy's name (notice I said I, I haven't gained Ryan's consenus on that just yet but hey thats how things went down last time too).
• We've heard the hearbeat several times and got to see the little one on screen a few times.
• My doctor was running behind the other day, I felt like to make up for it (we weren't upset or anything) but she offered us a quick ultra-sound peek again, we could see little arms and legs moving about. I like my doctor, mainly because the reason she was running late she said was that she had a new patient that had lots of questions. My doctor never leaves the room without checking in to see if you have any questions and actually waits patiently for the response.

Expect some catch up posts to follow. We are preparing for a fun weekend of out of town friends comming to stay, Aunt Amy's birthday, Christmas pictures and lots more. Hope your weekend if great too! 

Last of summer...

Today feels like winter but just a few weeks ago it was pretty hot when we went to the state fair. Its fun to go to these annual events and see the new ways she can enjoy them and take them in now that she's another year older.

 

Petting a baby chick



Shopping at the farmers market

pig races

Not a fan of the noise at the pig races.

Pretty safe to say that was the last summer weather we will have for the season. Although living in Oklahoma maybe thats not that safe to say. Either way we are enjoying the change of season around here with warm layers, candles, hot soup and snuggle time on the couch today. I love summer but I love fall too!

House updates!

Slowly but surely, we are making more progress on settling into this house and making it a home. Here's a few pictures of summer updates: 

After about 5 months of actively searching on Craigslist for a dinning room table, we found a good one for our family right now, not too formal and just the right size. So this is a pretty cool deal, we bought this table and a buffet table that went with it for $450 from sweet old man named Larry who was down sizing. The buffet was beautiful but too big for the dinning area and I couldn't find anywhere else it looked right due to its large scale. So back on Craigslist it went and Ryan sold it for $375. So this table with six chairs and a leaf cost us only $75 when it was all said and done. Ryan will be telling this story for generations to come. This is a picture of our first meal at it when grandma came to town last week to watch Ava while Ms. Laura was on vacation.

Daicia this picture is for you! Daicia asked for a playroom update picture over a month ago with the new rug we added.  I am in love with the fun ikea rug that gives some much needed pop of colors to the play room. Our big picture window here is on our second floor and great for watching Oklahoma rain and thunder storms roll in. (Don't worry moms we don't watch Tornadoes roll through, we go to our safe place when they are in the area).

It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do on the mantel. With some inspiration from pinterest and help from a friend I finally put together a display that I'm really liking.

Also finished my plate wall in the kitchen, I found these beauties on clearance at Target this summer. Wish you could see the dainty pretty details around the edge of the places. Nice to have something dimensional on the wall.