Our Year in Review

WOW, 2010 has come and gone already, my time does fly. Bob and I have had an incredible 2010 filled with changes, miracles and blessings. Sometimes when I think of how blessed we have been I can't even speculate at what the next 12 months will bring. 2011 is sure to bring plenty of fun especially with a little addition to our family. Bob and I were chatting the other day about how much our life has changed since we got married. It seems like every year the Lord takes us to unexpected places. I have been learning that, in life, you can't have expectations. If you do they will most certainly not be met. The best part though is that usually the Lord supercedes those expectations and give us something better.


When 2009 ended Bob and I had thoroughly decided that it was a year of challenges and we weren't sad to see it go. Little did we know that 2010 would bring us the most amazing experiences of all! Here are some of the new things that 2010 brought.

January
Bob ran his first marathon. He dug deep to do it too because he didn't have a lot of training. Not only did he finish strong, but he made a new best friend in Justin.

February
Bob went back to school. He decided that he might want to get his masters at some point and was short a few prerequisites.
I ran my first 7 minute mile. It hurt!

March
WE ARE PREGNANT! Amazing.
I also decided that I wanted to be a real estate broker and headed back to night school. Morning/all day sickness was awesome especially when I was sitting through a lecture at 9pm.

April
Bob and I went to Country Thunder. What an experience, with plenty of honkey tonk and cowboy fun. We had a blast with Traci, Justin, Joan and Loren.

May
Found out that in a few months we will no longer be Arizonans, but North Carolinians. Not only were we going to move, but move 2200 miles away.

June
Bob and I found out that we were having a girl! Bob was also travelling every week for work. He, Matt and their dads also got a real treat by going to the US Open and watching the big wigs play golf.

July
We packed up our house and officially moved to North Carolina. Bye Arizona!

August
Woke up in North Carolina, found ourselves totally out of our league with the road systems, and bought ourselves our first GPS. Thank Heavens!

September
I joined MOPS. I am so glad that I did too because it has been an awesome place to connect with new moms and experienced moms. Mommyhood is much easier with buddies.

October
Went to my first ever State Fair! Bob tried fried oreos for the first time and we saw an 800 pound pumpkin. What a blast and a fascinating experience. Can't wait for next year!

November
Bob and I had a baby! Our miracle Lily came screaming into our lives and made us the happiest people in the world.

December
First Christmas as a family of 3.
Our year has been very blessed and one we will not soon forget. I can only imagine what the next year holds.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

LET IT SNOW! Yes, we had a very beautiful White Christmas out here in North Carolina. Well technically it was the day after Christmas but it still counts for me. I could not believe my eyes when I woke up with Lily at 3AM and saw blizzarding snow outside of our window. I told Lily all about snow and we talked about how beautiful it was. A couple of hours later, this is what we woke up to, a wintery wonderland. After living in Arizona, we have found ourselves sorely underprepared for the winter conditions and discovered that we now have to own one of those car scraper thingys (you know what I am talking about!). Surprisingly, it really wasn't all that cold so the three of us took a walk in the snow and went to Target. Lily is that bump on Bob's chest. She loved her spot and slept the entire time! What a great excursion and we got to put our winter hats, gloves and boots to good use.





Lily has been smiling non stop lately. It is so much fun to try to get her to smile.



For those parents out there, you know the lengths a mommy will go to to encourage a smile. Sometimes I make myself laugh. We are really hoping that one of these times a true giggle pops out. She is more alert every day and it is so neat to watch her take in the world around her. Bob has spent many of those times reading to her. She loves it even if she sleeps through them.





Right now her favorite place is up on mom and dad's shoulder.




She especially loves it when I am in the kitchen doing anything. It is difficult to get things done one handed but I love it when she is happy. The best part is that she is awake so much more these days so her naps and night times are slowly getting better.



Bob and I laughed so hard the other day. Bob set her down on the couch to help me with something and we both came back into the living room to find her desperately trying to suckle on the corner of one of our couch pillows. Sorry babe, that just won't work!


We finally decided that it was time to transition her into her crib. It was harder than I thought it would be to have her out of the room, but so needed.


She makes so much noise while sleeping that my heightened mommy senses inhibit my sleeping. The first night she slept for 3 hours then woke up and wanted to eat every hour and a half.....awesome. Last night I put her in her crib at about 9, let her cry for a few and she fell asleep. I snuggled in on the couch thinking that it wasn't going to last very long. When I finally heard her, I woke up and looked at the clock, it was 4 AM! I was so shocked that I looked at all of the clocks thinking something was amiss. Nope, she really did sleep for 7 hours straight! When she woke up she was mad and starving. Whoa! I would love to believe that 7 hours is now the norm, but I have a feeling it is still the exception instead of the rule. That is okay because I feel somewhat recharged.

Christmas with the Hills

When Bob and I got the news that North Carolina was going to be our new home, the thought of moving farther away from our families really bummed me out. This year Christmas was different because we decided to stay home with our baby instead of travelling. Fortunately, all of our family came down to visit. After my parents left, Jill and Steve came down for the holidays. Jill was here for a week and Steve joined us just in time for Christmas Eve.







Bob had to work for most of the week so Jill and I spent time together with Lily. Grandma Jill just loves Lily and sits and talks to her non stop.


Lily is starting to smile more and more now and she absolutely loves a hanging Santa that I have up on the wall. We laughed because she likes the Santa more than all of us. When we weren't oogling the baby we decided that we needed to make some Christmas cookies. We made sugar cookie trees with homemade frosting. Lily helped by sleeping soundly.



Jill and I were talking about how much different next Christmas will be with a 14 month old. No doubt she will be walking and getting into everything. We might have to invest in a playpen for the Christmas tree.

On Wednesday I decided that it would be so much fun to go and get her picture with Santa.


Two weeks ago the line for the Santa was nice and short, not so this time. The line wrapped around the whole Santa area and zigzagged too. Yeah, I don't care about Santa that much. Instead we took these pictures near the Santa.




On our way back through the crowds we had to stop by the Build-A-Bear workshop and couldn't help but take her picture with all of these teddy bears. Isn't she soooo cute??


Lily has been discovering all sorts of new things lately. It is really cool to watch her see something for the first time. I think that she saw Rocky for the first time this past week and it just about blew her mind. She was laying on her little mat with Rocky snuggled nearby and she just couldn't take her eyes off of him. She is going to love him!



We also took her to the library for the first time and rented her first book.


Grandma Jill told her all about the library and how much fun they were going to have reading all sorts of books. I kept thinking about how long ago it was that I was in a library. They have some great books in there and they are free to read. Who would have thought???

On Christmas Eve we headed to church for the service and then came home to enjoy our dinner of ham and sweet potatoes followed by present opening. I really enjoyed having Christmas dinner because I got to use my wonderful Christmas dishes that have sat untouched for a couple of years.



We really did have a good time and stuffed ourselves thoroughly.

Opening all of the Christmas presents was a blast. Here are some of the highlights.

Lily got clothes and books from Grandma and Grandpa Hill as well as Feddy and Kemo. She also got her first set of overalls. They are pink! So cute Mom! She also spent some time in the laundry basket. Her Daddy is so funny.




I got my first Coach purse from Jill and Steve and my dear hubby got me a digital frame. Perfect for cycling through the thousands of Lily pictures we are accumulating.



Bob got lots of cold weather running clothes. Very needed with the temperatures not much over freezing here.

Lastly, Lily got her first remote control CAT tractor from her Grandma and Grandpa Longmire. I can't wait to see her in her frilly dresses movin' some dirt.


Overall it was a wonderful Christmas with family and our precious little miracle.