Year in Review: 2011

This was a good year for our family. We didn't have anything too "big" happen (other than finding out we're adding another precious baby to our family!) but we had many, many good times and made wonderful memories!

New Year's Eve was quite eventful last year, and we spent a good chunk of it in the bathroom praying that a tornado didn't blow us away! Thankfully, we were all fine, but it was definitely a scare.

Thankfully, January wasn't quite as "exciting" as we thought it might be after such an entrance! ;) It did start off a little rocky with a stomach bug for Aubrey, but that was short-lived. We continued to adjust to life with two children, and I blogged about the joys and challenges six months in. I could definitely say then and I still say that the joys outweigh the challenges by a long shot! :)Jude continued to have trouble sleeping and napping, and that was wearing me down. We finally had to do some sleep training with him to help him sleep better, and I blogged about my thoughts on that. We did begin to see some improvement on the sleep front, which was a huge blessing. Jude also started solids that month!Aubrey was as cute as always, and we had some sweet conversations with her.

In late January, Sarah Denley and I (and Jude!) made a trip to Missouri to visit Ashley. We had a WONDERFUL visit and it was so great to catch up!Sadly, I returned home to a sick little girl, so February started off with breathing treatments. Being under the weather didn't stop Aubrey from talking and saying hilarious things, as usual! Jude was developing like crazy, but still having some sleep issues. I contemplated becoming an early riser, but I ended up deciding against it. Haha! My kids are still my alarm clock, but Jude is a bit of an early riser, so I'm not sleeping too late.

I celebrated Valentine's Day with my loves :)And I talked about Aubrey and Jude's sweet little relationship and how happy it made (and continues to make!) me.We got sick again, and this time it was David and me as well as Aubrey. We had the flu, and Aubrey had RSV on top of the flu! Oh my! Thankfully, the Lord protected Jude from that awful stuff.

In March, we finally moved Jude upstairs to his own room, and I blogged about our sleep situation. Aubrey turned two and a half, and David and I both recorded some things about our sweet girl :)We had some family fun outside jumping in puddles. That was such a fun afternoon/evening, and it's little times like that that often create the best memories, in my opinion.We did some home improvements, Aubrey made us laugh and smile, and she started to get the hang of potty training!We also had some unwelcome visitors in the form of snakes in our backyard! Eeek!!We had done some little projects, and I showed them off in early April. I also asked for some opinions and decided to paint the sideboard in my dining room. (That's STILL on my to-do list if you're wondering!) We got new curtains in our living room/kitchen, and I asked for advice from y'all once again :)Aubrey started to develop strong opinions on what she wanted to wear. Boy, that sure hasn't changed!

I did a little comparison with pictures of Aubrey and Jude, and the general consensus seemed to be that they do, in fact, look alike. I need to do that again!We had a wonderful Easter weekend, and we enjoyed celebrating Christ's resurrection.We took a wonderful trip to Rosemary Beach in late April/early May with our sweet friends, the Arants, and I blogged about our adventures day by day :)We celebrated Mother's Day, I reflected on our first family vacation, and Jude reached a big milestone: mobility!! Aubrey fully entered the "why?" stage, and answering all of her questions was/is a full time job! ;)I did another little update on our potty training adventures, and I'm still so amazed and thankful that Aubrey potty trained so easily! I know that probably won't be the case with all of my children!

Not every aspect of parenting her is easy, though, and I blogged about her strong-will the beginning of June. We are just praying that the Lord uses her strong personality mightily for His kingdom!

We did more projects around the house, and I finally posted pictures of Aubrey's dresser. I'm not kidding when I say there's always a project brewing in this house!Jude's birthday was coming up, so I took some pictures for his invitation. I got some cute outtakes, so of course I had to share some of them!I got a pretty drastic haircut, we had a VERY busy VBS week at church, and the kids and I took another trip to the beach. We had a wonderful week, but we missed David!That month, I also gave cloth diapers a try and decided that, as cool as they are, they just aren't for us. I'm totally at peace with that decision. Ha!

In early July, Sarah Denley (and Graves!) and I met Ashley in Memphis for some girl time! We had an excellent time talking half the night ;) While we were in Memphis, I also found and bought a big girl bed for Aubrey, and we prepared to make that transition with her.As we geared up for Jude's first birthday, we also got a big surprise in the form of two lines on a pregnancy test. It was a wonderful, welcome surprise! We kept it our little secret for a while, so there's no link for that one :)

I looked back at Jude's growth over the months, and we had a fun, sweet little party for him in celebration of his first birthday!After a fantastic year of nursing, I weaned Jude (my pregnancy had a lot to do with the timing -- I wasn't up for breastfeeding while pregnant). I also shared about our experiences transitioning Aubrey to her big girl bed, and showed some pictures of her room.I kicked the August blogging off with a post about how much Aubrey and Jude love and enjoy each other. Makes me so happy! Over a year after we started it, I finally shared pictures of Jude's nursery.David and I took Aubrey on a little date to the circus, and she loved it. In honor of Jude's 13 month "birthday" I did a post with 13 little things about him. We also started thinking about school options for Aubrey and ultimately decided to keep her home another year. I definitely think that was the right decision! David's sisters came for a visit, and Aubrey enjoyed her time with her cousins :) Jude suddenly became very picky, and I was at a loss as to what to feed him.We finished the month off with a crazy, not-so-great week. First, Jude attempted to eat a millipede which resulted in a call to poison control. Next, Aubrey fell off a chair and broke her collar bone. Finally, she came down with a terrible case of croup in the middle of the night, and we ended up in the ER. In the midst of all that craziness, we told our families that we were expecting baby #3!! Whew, what a week!

September was a little more calm, thankfully :) I shared the details of my pregnancy, and it was so nice to finally spill the beans.Our precious Aubrey turned three years old, and I wrote a letter to her for her birthday. We celebrated with a pink lemonade themed party and had so much fun! Aubrey reached a big milestone that month too, when she dropped her nap. We still love "rest time" though! That month, Aubrey talked and talked.... and talked! ;)

In October, Aubrey developed some strong preferences on whether she wanted the baby in my tummy to be a boy or a girl. David and I just prayed for a healthy baby! I did some fall decorating around our house, took Aubrey to another circus, and we celebrated David's birthday. We took the kids to the fair and enjoyed a fun family day.The big exciting event that month was finding out that baby #3 is healthy and that she's a girl!! Praise the Lord!!

Late in the month, we took a trip to St. Louis with the Herringtons to welcome the Lancasters home from Korea and meet Liam! :) We were able to fit in lots of fun while we were there, too!Halloween came at the end of the month, and we spent a fun night at church for our Fall Festival. In November, we announced our baby's name: Alaina Ruth!

We had a big vote in our state that month, and I blogged a little bit about that and about Spiritual Warfare. Jude turned 16 months on the 16th, and I blogged about his milestones. We also celebrated my birthday and Thanksgiving all in one week! On Thanksgiving Day, we attempted to get some family pictures for our Christmas card, and it was kind of a fail.December started off fairly low-key but quickly picked up when David and I had our five year anniversary and took a wonderful trip to Chattanooga to celebrate.We had a sweet, fun Christmas with our families, and we finished off the year feeling incredibly blessed and thankful!As we enter this new year, we can't wait to see what God has planned for us. We know that through it all, He will be with us, and we pray that He uses us to bring glory to Himself!