Year in Review.

So many of my friends on Facebook have these collages of their status updates for the past year.  I guess it's a way to reflect on all that has happened and see how far (or how not so far) we've all travelled in 2010.  I thought I'd do a year in review here!

So...in 2010...I:

Came out of the closet about baby #2.  Dealt with terrible, horrible teething pain in my baby girl...My goodness...Just let them break through already!!  Missed out on a lot of sleep worrying about handling two babies so close together in age.  Watched Amelia start to crawl on her own!!  At 9 months!!  (Late bloomer, no?)  Flew to Indiana with Amelia to tend to my mom after her foot reconstruction surgery.  Flew to Virginia with Amelia to spend a couple of weeks with Paul while the ship was stateside.  Flew back to Indiana (again, with Amelia...where I go, she goes!) to spend the next 7 months there while Paul's ship was in and out (really, just out) to sea.  Introduced Amelia to Imagination Movers (why, oh why did I think that was a good idea?!)  Lost 10 pounds (yes, while pregnant.  I had no crazy cravings and I think stress -- did I mention I was worried about 2 babies? -- did that for me.)  Watched A LOT of television (not really so proud of that).  Went to several OB appointments.  Oh yah, GREW A BABY!  Found out we were expecting a baby boy.  Named our baby boy!!  Weaned Amelia from nursing.  Celebrated her first birthday.  Celebrated Mother's Day.  Celebrated Paul's birthday.  Had my heart broken into a million tiny pieces (ouch, still rips me apart inside to think about it).  Drove to Virginia with my mom and dad and Amelia (woot woot!  Kia Van saved our lives during that 13 hour drive!)  Sent Amelia back to Indiana with my parents and worked on the nursery for William.  Reignited a relationship with God -- it was seriously lacking and I felt like something was missing.  Turns out, it was Him!!  Enjoyed a couple of date nights with the hubster.  Started to gain weight...probably a good thing, since I was still GROWING A BABY!!  Celebrated 4th of July.  Did I see fireworks?  Nope.  Amelia started walking!!  Two weeks before the deadline I gave her of August 16th...which just so happened to be William's due date.  Drove back to Indiana with Paul while he had some leave.  Sent him back out to sea.  Started having Braxton Hicks contractions and labor pains, told Paul to get his booty to Indiana STAT because this baby was coming TONIGHT!!  ...  Baby didn't come that night.  Gained 25 pounds.   Went to an OB appointment and was told I needed to be induced because of dangerously low fluid.  Commence panic attack and freak out!!  Kissed Amelia a million times.  Induced.  OUCH!!  Delivered a baby without a single doctor in the room.  He was ready!!  He was beautiful!!  Started nursing a baby.  Sent Paul back out to sea.  Developed a new normal for our new family.  Lost a lot of sleep because of worrying about the new normal.  Lost a lot of sleep because of a hungry baby.  Lost a lot of sleep because I just couldn't sleep.  Fed William his first bottle -- victory!!  Moved back to Virginia.  Lost 45 pounds -- thank you, nursing, my inquenchable thirst for water and let's be honest, hard work, diet and exercise.  Celebrated Thanksgiving with some dear family we haven't seen in several months.  Handled TWO babies under two for almost THREE weeks...BY MYSELF.  (Not to toot my own horn, but...um...TOOOOOOT!!!)  Drove to Indiana for Christmas holiday.  Celebrated.  Enjoyed myself.  Realized life is the most perfect it's been in my entire life.  Realized I am SO MUCH happier this New Year's Eve than I was last NYE.  Realized that no matter what happens, I can handle it.  If I could get through 2010, I can pretty much get through anything.

Am totally looking forward to 2011.  Bring it on, baby!!!

Four months. One third of a year!

Cute pics of our cute boy.  He's growing so quickly!!  And found his feet earlier this week, so they're his new favorite toy!

Merriment.

We had a fabulous Christmas in snowy Indiana!  And a fabulous drive back to SUPER snowy Virginia.  Which is not so fabulous, because no one here (err...well...maybe one or two Virginians) knows how to drive in snow!!  I guess that should include my husband, transplant-Virginian, who has apparently been living in the south far too long.  You see, my sweet husband got approximately three hours of sleep two nights ago, then woke up to drive the 12 long hours (which turned into 14+ long hours, because of one silly, tiny, pesky little mistake...involving taking the wrong interstate...) decided to brave the 12 inches of snow laying on the entrance to our neighborhood.  We have a 4Runner!  It has big tires!  We're so close to home!  MAN NO NEED SNOW PLOWED ROADS!!!  OOOOPS.  Yes.  We made it 814.8 of the 815 miles from Indiana to Virginia, only to get stuck about 500 feet from our house.  (I can laugh about it now.  Last night?  No.)

So anyway, the babes loved Christmas, Amelia had a great time visiting with family, William loved the attention lavished on him, and Paul and I enjoyed a cute anniversary dinner out.  Six years?  Whoa...where did the time go?  Are we the old married couple now?

Cute pics from the holiday:

What is that face?

William's first Christmas gift: a Pillow Pet!

Ah, Mickey.  First you invade my mornings on the TV.  Now you invade my house in plush form.  Lovely.

I love how William is the only one really looking at the camera here!

Her favorite gift -- the ice cream shop from Uncle Jordy!  Thanks Uncle Jordy!!

Taking a breather from gift-opening.

This sweet, innocent little baby boy decided to get double ear infections while we were on holiday (sidenote: don't you just love to say "on holiday"?  Makes everything seem so dream-like and perfect and candy-canes and ribbon candy and ooey gooey gumdrops.)  He has been such a trooper while working through his first round of antibiotics.  We are praying his recovery is quick!!

We survived!

I feel like I need one of those cheesy tee shirts you see in touristy areas.  You know the ones?  They say things like "I survived Niagara Falls!" or "I survived the Demon Drop!"  Only mine would read "I survived two weeks of two under two by myself!  And only have four vomit-stained shirts to prove it!"  Not that that's too impressive to many moms, who do it day in and day out.  But the past two weeks?  Longest. Of. My. Life.  There were lots of good things (visits with friends, hugs and kisses from Amelia, William started sleeping better) but the perpetual Negative Nancy in me likes to dwell on the bad (TWO teething babies at the SAME time, that whole quarter-swallowing incident, etc.)  Either way, Paul's ship is set to arrive tomorrow at 12:15.  It's true.  I have an email from the captain to prove it!  :)

Let me just say that I love my children.  I love them more than I ever thought I could love another person.  I ache when they aren't near me (really, truly, I do).  But it will be SO NICE to have some help!!  I've felt a lot of guilt lately because this face?

This one gets upset with me often.  Because I can't smother her with kisses and hugs and lavish 100% of my attention on her.  She is NOT IMPRESSED with my marginal multi-tasking skills.  Because this one?

Wants to be held all the time.  And while I love the baby cuddles, sometimes I need both hands to accomplish silly things, like loading the dishwasher, folding laundry and changing his big sister's diaper.  Oh no, not acceptable in William World.  (I really need to find my Baby Bjorn...anyone seen it?)  He's decided now is a good time to start teething, so it's lots of fun at our house!!  He's in a great mood!! 

I really need to count my blessings though, because both babies have been (for the most part) wonderful while I've been handling them solo.  Of course we have our moments.  Life is never easy.  But when the constant whining, fussing and complaining gets to me, and I find myself counting down the hours until bedtime, I've been trying to remember that I'm going to miss this.  All of this.

I'll miss picking up the MILLION packing peanuts from a Christmas gift that Amelia decided to crunch, scrunch and squash.  I'll miss it because she was happy, healthy, small, and content to play with inexpensive "toys."

I'll miss peeking in on my two sweet boys, only to find that the big boy, who was supposed to be putting the little boy down for a nap, decided to go ahead and join the act after church.  Seriously.  This picture makes me tear up!  I'll miss this because never again will Little be so small that Big can cuddle and hold him while they sleep.  If the past 20 months with Amelia have proven anything, it's that the time passes by all too quickly...hours like minutes.

I'll miss the daily "grocery runs" Amelia takes through the pantry.  Her cart is empty in this picture, but it was soon filled with a cook book, some paprika and two cereal bars.  Hey, she knows the essentials, y'all.  I'll miss this because she giggles, grins, and shakes her head at me, because she knows she's not technically supposed to be playing in the kitchen.  I've been a bit of a softie with her though, because moments like these are worth more to me than a clean, organized pantry.

I'll miss this. 

*Insert witty title here*

I wish I had more energy lately!  Paul is gone for two weeks, so it has been all-mommy-all-day-don't-even-think-of-doing-something-so-small-as-going-to-the-bathroom-without-an-audience since Monday.  William is sleeping horribly, both at naptime and at bedtime, and I'm just drained.

Last night was certainly eventful!  One of Amelia's favorite things to do lately has been to put money in her piggy bank.  She loves it, giggles the entire time, and wants "More?  More money?" every time she puts the last coin in the bank.  Well, sweet William was being not so sweet, and very urgently needed his diaper changed.  I took my eyes away from her for about two seconds (yes, I should know better by now) to change his diaper, and mysteriously one of the quarters she had in her hands was gone. 

Did she swallow it?  Surely I would've heard her swallow it!  But what if she did?  What happens when a baby swallows a quarter?  Is there lead in quarters?  Is she poisoned?  UGH.  I tried to relax, since she didn't cough or choke or really make any signs of swallowing anything.  Day proceeded like normal.  She ate fine, went to sleep just fine. 

Cue 9:00, about an hour after she's in bed, and about 30 minutes after William is in bed.  I'm up to get him back to sleep (remember how I said he's sleeping poorly?  Try 30 minute increments...all.night.long.) and I hear her crying.  She NEVER does this.  EVER.  I try to relax, get back to my bedroom and lay down, trying to unwind from just another hectic day.  Twenty minutes later she's up crying again.  And then twenty minutes after that.

So right about now is when I started to panic.  OH MY GOODNESS my child swallowed a quarter, and I'm going to go in to find her limp, lifeless body in her crib.  (Over-reaction?  Maybe, but still...)  I called my mom, who advised me to call the emergency room.  Wouldn't you know they refuse to diagnose or give advice over the phone?  That makes sense right now, at 2:45 in the afternoon.  At 10:00 at night?  Not so much, especially when I'm choking back tears because of coursethis has to happen while I'm on solo duty. 

I decided to peek into her room (she's a light sleeper, and was quiet at this point, so I was hoping against hope that I wouldn't wake her) and whaddaya know?  Her legs are stuck through the slats of her crib.  Major sigh of relief!!  Now that I look back on yesterday, I really really don't think she swallowed a quarter.  There's just no way, and I honestly thought to try swallowing one myself, just to prove I'm right...but I didn't.  I'm not crazy, y'all.  When I went in to get her this morning, her legs were still hanging out of the crib, but she was just fine.

Moral of the story: MONEY IS FOR SPENDING, NOT PLAYING!! 

I did manage to take some cute pictures of the kiddos yesterday, since the last two posts have really only had pictures of Amelia.  William is here too!! 

She's annoyed with me here.  Can you tell?

Sitting up (sort of!)

Wait for it...

Man down!!  How I love a baby in Osh Kosh overalls!