Annual Report, 2011

Twenty-eleven was a year of dramatic events and great change for our family. Some good, some awful, and all the while we were extremely busy.  It all ended on a high note with the birth of Sarah who we are all quite head-over-heels in love with.

We continued tracking Ted’s life (although we missed a few months) and started tracking Sarah’s life.

Ted is 34 35 36 | 41 42 43 44 45 months old

Sarah is 1 2 3 4 weeks and 1 month old

Twenty eleven started off well, with Ted doing well with potty training and sleeping in his big boy bed all through the night. He also got to fly up north with Kate and meet his new cousin Ben.

In March we had two visitors, first Gram flew up to spend some quality time and then Auntie Christine arrived the following weekend. Christine hung around for Ted’s awesome 3rd birthday party and for his first baseball game at NC State.

April was fairly average at first, but turned awful at the end of the month when Kate’s mom Cass became ill and passed away on Easter.  None of us were prepared for it, and it’s had a huge impact on our family. Everyone here misses her.

Blogging in May and June took a back seat to a lot of travel, dealing with emotions, and me changing jobs for what I hope is the last time for a while. One high-note of June was getting to meet our new niece Abigail who joined Uncle Josh and Auntie Kristen’s family.  Abigail is funny and super-cute.

In July there was more travel up north, and then my folks motorcycled their way up here to spend some time with us.  In August cousin Cory came by for a visit and got to bond with her NC family a little.  Ted and I also go to have a guys weekend in August while Kate flew up north.

In September our boy started preschool! He looks like he’s ten in his backpack. We also had a visit from our friend Scott, making his first trip to the After Victory homestead.  We also made a trip out to western NC to visit aunts Deirdre and Jackie, which was lots of fun.

October was rough – my grandfather got pretty sick and passed away.  Not only was it super-sad, but I had to leave my very pregnant wife at home to fly up to the funeral, which made me nervous the whole time on top of sad.   (Of course my concerns were pretty unwarranted, as Sarah was born 8 days past her due date!).

In November we did a lot of waiting!  Lucky for us we had a lot of family in town to keep us entertained.  Ted was very busy - taking a sibling how-to class, as well as performing Thanksgiving songs at his preschool.  The most exciting part of November was Sarah’s actual arrival which came on the 30th.

December was filled with some very helpful family visiting, and a lot of us adjusting to having a new member of our family in the house. Auntie Christine set some sort of visiting record by being at our place twice in a 3-week span.  Christmas day was spent with friends, instead of traveling far-far away like we’ve done the past few years. It was great, Ted got a bunch of very cool stuff and it’s hard to not be happy about Christmas with the enthusiasm of a three-year-old boy around.

There’s lots I’m forgetting – we had more family visits than I wrote down, I think.

After a year like this, we are grateful to have friends and family who care about us, support us, and humor us by reading our goofy blog posts.  I hope 2012 is good to us, and good to you.

Previous Years Reports:
2010

2009

2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003

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Sarah’s Fifth Weekiversary

New Years fell during Sarah’s fifth week and we continued our new family tradition of going to the zoo on New Years Day.  Sarah didn’t really see any animals since she slept in the BabyHawk (which is a Mei Tai style baby carrier) most of the time. 

Yesterday I took Sarah to her one month well check.  She is now 10lbs 11.5oz!  She has been able to hold her head up for awhile now, but she has been doing it for longer stretches this week.  Also while we had seen fleeting smiles here and there before, this week she seems to be really smiling in response to things.

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Sarah is loved, branded by bikers

Just like her brother did, Sarah received biker gear almost immediately upon entering existence.

Also, Sarah got to wear the ‘My entire life is being blogged’ shirt we got for Ted (but was too small by time we tried to pull it over his head).  The shirt rings as true for her as it does for Ted, even if the idea of blogging has fallen in popularity.

PS: Thanks Pops and Gram!

PPS: Pics from a few weeks ago, she hasn’t shrunk.

 

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Ted is forty-five months old

He’s officially been a big brother for a month now, and taking most of it in stride. While his life has been turned upside down just like his parent’s, he seems to be dealing with it. He gives Sarah little kisses on the head, and when he calls up Kate to tuck him in at night he reminds her not to forget Sarah.  A good start.

He totally stepped up to the plate on Christmas morning and opened his little sister’s presents for her. Here he is opening one of his:

Also Ted drinks his organic vanilla flavored milk with peppermint lollipop exclusively when his parents feel like busting out of the house and going to Starbucks.  He danced to the Christmas music there, bringing a little holiday joy to the coffee shop.

Here’s Ted pushing the coordination limits of 3-year-old boys when playing our Wii.  He didn’t fall and smack his head or break our TV/Wii, and for that we are grateful.

Ted embraced the arts during his forty-fifth month by doing a bunch of Christmas crafts to get us into the holiday spirit. He also sang in his preschool’s Christmas party, playing bells during the Jingle Bells song, like the Renaissance boy that he is.

He also helped us decorate the Christmas tree (with his Auntie Christine) and put his signature touch on it by putting nearly almost all the ornaments on the same branch.

 

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Sarah is one month old

Sarah’s been with us for a month now, and life couldn’t be more different or awesome. She refreshes my memory on just how challenging it is to be the parent of a baby all over again. She’s also super-cute and makes me feel even more lucky.

Here’s a picture of her in crib, which she’s only spent a few hours. She’s been sleeping in our room at night, which is a different approach than we took with Ted. So far its been working out well. I think both Kate and I have been sleeping much more than we did when Ted first showed up.

Sarah had a quite a few visitors during her first month, including two visits with Auntie Christine! Here’s her and her Gram enjoying some time together.

She does usual baby stuff like eating, sleeping, crying, wiggling and charming those around her.  Here she is napping in her swing, which while not always magic, does occasionally make a cranky baby a happy baby.

Happy one-month birthday baby girl.  We are so thankful you decided to join our family.

PS: Remember when her brother was one month old?

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Christmas 2011 Photos

Ted surprised us with this plate that he made for us at preschool.

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Christmas Eve 2011 Photos

Ted and I made snowman ornaments from clothespins and buttons.  Santa used them to hang mini candy canes from our tree.

Ted finishing up his advent calendars.

Ted and I making cookies for Santa (and Kate and Peter.)

Ted sprinkling magic reindeer food from preschool.

Stockings hung by the chimney with care.  Very exciting that Great Grammie was able to complete our set by making us a Sarah stocking in time for her first Christmas!

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