2008 in review

2008 has truly been a good year. A forever life changing year. As I reflect on this year it is full of joy and beauty and love and excitement. A new chapter in our lives as we become parents and a new chapter of our marriage together. There is so much to be thankful for and to celebrate. And 2008 for us was a year that we will always look back on as a year of celebration! Thank you for sharing in this beautiful chapter of our lives!

So this posting is just a bit of recap of our happenings in 2008.

Jen turns the big 3-0.....a fun surprise party organized by Randy and I was so surprised....I had no clue! A night of fun and lots of dancin' on the limo bus that we had for the evening!!

Randy turns the big 3-0! Of course we had to have a theme party for his birthday celebration....which was not a surprise since I was 9 months preggo at the time! The theme was late 70's/early 80's....Randy for sure won this one with his crazy goodwill attire and mustache! Always fun to have a dress up evening! Then we did a little kayaking in the afternoon of his b-day.....must have helped things progress a bit since we had Norah just 4 days later! I'll have to remember that for next time!!!!

2008 got off to a great start with a fun last minute trip to Aruba! Ahhh....sand, ocean, sun..what more needs to be said! We LOVE warm weather....oh and palm trees! Great little anniversary trip to celebrate our 3rd anniversary.

Our hearts totally melt as we get our first glimpses of our little girl!

Summer time is the absolute best! This is why I love Michigan! And this summer was so fun hangin' out on our new deck that Randy built, doing some gardening, relaxing in the hammock, reading, grilling out, picnics, laid back time with friends and still having some time to take a long weekend to do some backpacking and camping (our midwife wasn't overly excited about this last trip since I was like 34 weeks or something....but hey in the end it all worked and Randy didn't have to deliver the baby!)

Our friend Jason was so gracious to take lots and lots of preggo pics for us.....I LOVED my baby bump! I had such a smooth pregnancy and loved it so much! I look forward to it again someday!!!

And I really believe the reason I had such a smooth pregnancy is that I did lots and lots of yoga! I've loved yoga for a really long time but being pregnant has only made me love it that much more! So great for pregnancy and the birthing process!!!!! (these shots were about 3 weeks before I had her! ) Crazy I know!

And so thankful for girlfriends! They certainly add so much to my life! My lovely friend Laura and her fab. hubby got married this summer! So this was us on a nice relaxing spa day. I also learned a little belly dancing this summer! We hired an instructor to come in and give us a belly dancing lesson for Laura's bachlorette party! Fun, Fun, Fun!!

And then enters our sweet Norah Grace! Our lives will never be the same!

We even had our first family dress up theme for Halloween! We were beach bums but only Norah had the grass skirt to sport! Hopefully she will continue to love to play dress up as much as her parents! We've got our own costume bin now so we'll have to work on hers as she gets older!!

So really this sums it up....this is the most beautiful and precious gift we could ever dream of!


Now our days are a bit different but they usually involve lots of snuggles!

So we enter 2009 full of gratitude and joy and excitment to what this year might hold!

3 Months......

A few of our 3 month pics......

"I'm up for my modeling gig today!"


Oops.....sorry mama but I had to go!!

"This photo gig is making me grumpy...."

What an Angel!!

We love our little girl!!

This one sums up our little one....very happy baby!

I cannot believe our little peanut is 3 months already! She has changed soooo much already and it is amazing to watch her start to take in more and more of the world around her. She actually laughed for the first time on her 3 month b-day! It was the most precious thing! I laughed too and then cried ...it's amazing how she reminds me of the most simple and wonderful things in life and how truly precious life is!

What's happening at 3 months:

~Laughs.....that sums it up! ....what a beautiful, happy baby we have.


~Loves her hands.....oh my are they the best toys she has! Holds her hands together often like little prayer hands and when she isn't holding them together she's sucking on them.


~sucks her thumb...for some reason only her left thumb...it must taste better for some reason I've decided


~So alert! She watches everything and pays such close attention to what is happening around her...she's been an alert baby right from the beginning but she continues to be so alert and aware of her surroundings and people....especially mama and daddy!

~She is still blessing us with sleeping through the night. She sleeps on average about 8-9 hours a night!!! YEAH!! Makes for well rested parents too. She loves to snuggle with us and will often easily fall asleep in our arms but as soon as we lay her down those eyes pop open. So we are working on this...naps aren't her strong suit. Especially because she sleeps so well at night but hey I'll take the night time sleeping any day and get over the sporadic napping. And I love to snuggle with her just as much so I really don't mind to terribly!!

~Tracking...her eyes are fixed on us...our faces are her favorite thing to look at. She knows when your paying attention to her and when your not. Often when we look right at her she'll "coo" and "talk" and as soon as we look away she'll pause and wait for you to make eye contact again with her and give her your attention. Crazy how much she knows about the fundamentals of communication already!

~cloth diapering is going great! Saving on the budget and the enviroment...yeah!

~She is trying to pull herself up to sitting.....there are times we have her reclined on pillows and we can tell she is trying with all her might to pull herself up. She loves to see what is happening and wants to sit up like everyone else.

~She weighed in at about 12.8 right around her 3 month b-day....she is certainly a good eater!!


~I'm working a little bit and we are both adapting to that. I love teaching and am enjoying it but it's so much work to get up and get both of us ready and out the door to be somewhere on time! I think it takes me 2-3 times as long to get around and out the door in the morning as it used too. Wow I cannot believe how much effort it is to get a little person ready!! And I'm learning it's all about timing!! This is the key to the day- timing of feedings and naps and diapers.


~She certainly does know her mama and daddy....that is very clear already at this age. She can sometimes be a bit of a mama's girl when I hand her off for someone else to hold, which at times does my heart so well to realize how comforted and secure and loved she feels with me but at other times it's nice to have someone else hold her so I can do the little things in life....like eat a warm meal!! But we (me) are getting a little better about leaving her with others and I don't seem to get as anxious about it as I was! Hopefully we will get back to some consistency with our date nights again. We've had a few but they've been sporadic and far and few between. This is something we both want to be really intentional about so I think it's only going to get better now in this department.


Norah hangin' with Ellie. She loves this wild blue elephant and loves the combo of sucking her thumb while starring at Ellie



Sound asleep on our road trip to Indy to visit with family over Thanksgiving. She did great in the car, she mostly slept, and when she was awake she was pretty content to just sit and look around. Although after all the traveling that weekend she did get a bit fussy the next week for several days when I put her back in her car seat. I think she thought she was going to have to be in it all day again! I don't blame her...there is only so much tolerance for road trips before you need a break!




Getting some fresh air.....we had a really nice day to get outside a bit while in Indy for Thanksgiving. We stayed in a really cozy house on a lake tucked back in the woods with a huge warm fireplace. We just lounged all weekend and played games and relaxed. So nice!

A weekend of firsts....

So we had quite a weekend of firsts! First kid party...Norah's first Halloween. Randy and I had our first date without Norah...thanks to grandma Byrne! Norah's first wedding reception. Lots and lots going on that weekend!

And I think it's the first time I remember November being so warm! It's been in the 70's (now of course last night it took a turn for the worse and we actually have snow on the ground!) Only in Michigan can you be out in a tank top one day and then a couple days later be looking for your winter hat! But I was thankful for the all the warm weather. It has allowed Norah and I lots of opportunities to get out of the house and be outside, which she loves!! Norah and I went for lots and lots of walks. Sometimes a couple a day just to enjoy the last bit of nice weather before the winter settles in and to meet up with other friends and hang out outside!

We were chillin' in the hammock one day....I think she likes it as much as I do!!! Ahhh...such amazing November weather....I could handle this all year long.....Norah even having a few moments rocking in the hammock by herself to pose for a few pics!

Taking a few moments to lay in the leaves and pose!

It really was so nice for Randy and I to get a few hours to ourselves. Even though Norah is such a great baby and so mellow that we really can take her with us most places and she's typically so easy going and laid back it was nice to have a few hours for just us again. We hadn't done that in 9 weeks!! We actually had a wedding that afternoon that was at the same church where we had gotten married at 3 1/2 years ago so that was fun. After the wedding we just went for a little walk downtown and stopped and had a glass of wine and just chatted. It really was nice. Even though I was totally having anxiety about leaving her that day and cried a few times! (other moms have told me this is normal...good to know!) And funny enough we were leaving her with quite the veteran....grandma Byrne who had 2 of her own and Norah is her 5th grand-baby so it wasn't that I worried about her it was just the leaving her...she was literally with me for 9 months and then I had only left her for brief periods since she was born to take yoga classes and that was just with Randy! So hopefully I will get better at this! :) And after we were out it was nice to just enjoy each other again!

A few pics from the wedding reception. The reception was for Joe and Anna. Randy and Joe have been best buds since they were born! And Randy was the best man and gave a pretty funny and sincere speech!

Lovin' on our little girl! Proud parents we are!

The groom giving away kisses to another girl!

The crazy guys and the silly bride!