January
Late in January we went to Levi's birth city and finalized his adoption! During this trip, we stayed with Elaine's parents. Their home has become a comfy place for our family and a second home of our own. Elaine and her family also stayed there while we were in town, and we had a blast!
February
Mid-month
I flew to Seattle to visit my sweet friend Jessica just weeks before she would give birth to her baby boy. We hadn't seen each other since her wedding
nearly five years ago. It was a great trip! Micah turned the big 4 on Feb
27, and Levi started baby food and cut his first tooth that same weekend.
March
Most of March was pretty uneventful. Early in the month is when Levi's hair went from having body to being curly which just thrilled me to death! Late in March, I took the boys up to Northern VA to visit my sister and her family for a few days. On the 31st, my sister and I ventured into DC with all five kids to enjoy the Cherry Blossom Festival kite flying day. It was a bit chilly and very cloudy, and we weren't great at kite flying, but we had such a great time! We went over to the Museum of Natural History after 'flying' kites, and we all enjoyed that, too. While there we also visited my sweet college friend, who I hadn't seen in nearly 10 years, and her kids. So fun to have friends all over the country and world!
April
While still in Northern VA, we had an Easter Egg Hunt with the four bigger kids and then celebrated Easter a week or so after we got home.
May
In May the boys and I headed back to Levi's birth city to visit with Elaine and her family and also to see some of Levi's birth family. We are thankful to have such a great relationship with them and are grateful they want a relationship with Levi and all of us! We also went to the SC shore with Uncle Tony & Aunt Tammi (Luke's brother and his wife). We stayed in a 'conto' there with a fantastic setup, two great pools and very close to the beach. This was a big milestone trip for Micah. He ventured out in the pool with his swimmies/arm bands for the first time and loved it! He also braved the ocean (which he'd hated the 2-3 previous times he'd been) and loved jumping the waves and playing in the water. His other big moment was writing his name and writing in general. He just decided one day while there he wanted to write, and he did. We even ran over to CVS to grab a notebook, and by the time we got home, the whole thing was nearly full of his little writing.. mostly his name and simple words/phrases.
June
Luke had a work conference in Orlando in June. We left Levi with my parents for the week and took Micah with us. The day before Luke's conference began, we spent a day at Disney with Micah! He was not a fan of the big characters when we got there even though he loves Mickey Mouse. By the parade at 3:00 he was becoming more at east with them. We had a fantastic day there. Truly a trip to remember. It was also Luke's first time to Disney World, so it was fun to watch him, too. While Luke was in the conference all week, Micah and I hung out at one of the two hotel pools, went to Downtown Disney a few times, saw Madagascar 3 and just whatever we pleased for four days. It was so great and special to have that time with our oldest boy while my parents got some good Levi time. Elaine and her family were at their cabin in the NC mountains for a week in mid-June, and one day the boys and I drove over and spent a few hours with them. Always good to see them! Late in the month, Micah participated in our church's free soccer camp. It was one of the hottest weeks of the year with temps over 100 even in the evening, but he loved it.
July
Things slowed down a bit in July but not by too much. The boys and I spent a week in TN with my parents, and Micah attended their church's VBS that week. I was able to meet up with my childhood best friend and her children at a park
for a couple of hours one day. It'd been quite some time since we'd seen each
other though we keep up well on FB. Levi turned one on the 18th, and we had his party on the 21st at my parents' house. My sister and her family surprised us by coming in from VA for the party when we'd thought they wouldn't be there. It was great! It was quite special to have his party on the 21st because that was a year to the day we actually met him. What a fantastic day celebrating our baby boy with family!!
August
August was probably the least eventful month of the year as far as traveling and fun things with the boys. It was on Aug 23rd that I discovered I was pregnant which was the shock of a lifetime. Unfortunately, we lost that baby just a few weeks later in early Sept. This was definitely the lowest time for us all year, and I had some very dark, hard days. Having my boys kept me going on my hardest days, and while we may never know why that happened, we know that God is always good and has a perfect plan for our family! I started homeschooling Micah the last week of the month.
September
The first part of September was simultaneously one of the worst and best times of the year. The very hour I began bleeding (sorry if TMI!), I was leaving for the airport to pick up my dear friend Bec and her husband Luke (yes another Luke & Rebecca!) and their kids Mason & Lucy. They're from Australia, and we'd be friends for over seven years but had never met face to face. It was incredible hanging out with them, and the timing was great, too. Everyone got along beautifully, and we had a blast! Hope it won't be another seven years before we see them again! Later in the month we spent a weekend in Atlanta with my sister and her husband and spent a couple of hours with some of Levi's birth family who were in town that weekend as well.
October
October was another full and incredible month. It started off with my doing the Komen 5k with my parents and sister Kimberly and celebrating my birthday. Mid-month I headed to RI to visit Jessica (who'd moved from Seattle in the summer) and to meet her baby boy and my godson Nicholas and witness his baptism. It was a great trip and so nice to see her and her family and her parents. It was nice to escape without my boys for four days, too! Later in the month we went to a hotair balloon festival and had Levi's first haircut on the same day, went to the pumpkin patch and went trick-or-treating.
November
The first week of November, Elaine and her girls came to visit us for a long weekend! We went to the children's museum one day and another day we met up with another friend of hers at a local park. Micah and Little Bug had some learning time together, and everyone had a great time. On the 16th we left for our annual 10 day trip to Omaha and back. That first weekend we spend in Gatlinburg, TN with my dad's side of the family before heading to Nebraska to spend Thanksgiving with Luke's family. In Omaha we met our new niece and nephew who will be officially adopted by Luke's brother Tony and his wife Tammi very soon!
December
December consisted of all things Christmas. We decorated for Christmas and drove through the McAdenville lights. McAdenville is known as Christmastown USA and has been featured on the Travel Channel, and the Travel Channel was actually back this year to do a feature that will run next year! Very cool to only live about 3 miles from there. We saw Santa and Mrs. Claus at Chick-fil-A, had our Bible study group here for a Christmas party, and started the Elf on the Shelf tradition (though Micah quickly figured out that Mommy & Daddy must help him, so it was just a game of wake up and find the elf and see what silly thing Mommy & Daddy helped him do - still so much fun!). We spent Christmas in VA with my whole family, and the day before we came home Luke, the kids and I went to DC and spent most of the day at the Air and Space Museum. We spent NYE at home and actually made it up to midnight. :-)
Can't wait to see what awaits in 2013!!
What a fun year!!
ReplyDelete