In January we had a few weeks of super cold weather and actually a couple days of snow accumulation. I just loved getting out and enjoying it with Little Love. I believe it was at this same time that the stomach bug hit our home and thankfully, Clay and I were the only one's to suffer. I was so glad that Little Love never got infected and was able to stay well thanks to lots of Clorox wipes and Lysol!
Since Little Love was fully potty trained by December of 2009, towards the end of January, we decided to move her to a big girl bed and redecorate her room. She loved the freedom that she gained from her new toddler bed and thought she was just so big that she could now climb in and out of her bed by herself. I made her curtains and Nana bought her a super cute quilt for her new bed from Pottery barn Kids. She loved having all her stuffed animals in the bed with her and I loved how much easier it was to put her to bed!!
In February, we celebrated Valentine's day with a basketful of goodies from Mom and dad along with a play date at Davis Kidd where we enjoyed a parade and Fancy Nancy tea party. It was so much fun and such a great girly activity to enjoy with my Little Love. Although I was exhausted from working the night before, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
It was also during this time, actually on February 13th that Clay and I found out another little one was on the way. We were super surprised but ecstatic at the same time. I blogged shortly after finding out and saved entries to post much later once everyone was aware. You can see some of them here.
In March, we took a much needed family vacation to Chattanooga. We visited the Children's Discovery Museum, the TN Aquarium, The Chattanooga Choo Choo and much more. We had such a great trip and even talked about possibly moving there one day. We really enjoyed the area and all the scenery there was to take in. We also went to Lookout Mountain before heading home and ate at some great places while we were there. It was such a great time for our little family of 3 and would be the last trip for just us.
In April, we celebrated Easter with all our family and also let them in on our good news. I bought Little Love a shirt on Etsy that said Big Sis and we had her walk out to everyone after Easter lunch. We enjoyed seeing the smiles on everyones faces and things really started to feel real.
Little Love enjoyed multiple Easter Egg hunts with friends and family leading up to the big day and had such a great time. The weather was gorgeous and there wasn't a cloud in the sky that Sunday which made for another great day of egg hunting in our own backyard.
Just after Easter, I decided that Little Love's hair was long enough to do up in foam rollers so when I found some at my Grandmother's, probably the same ones I used when I was little, I decided to give it a try. Little Love was such a trooper and even kept them in all night. Oh and what a great amount of curls came from our little adventure!! Too bad I didn't try it before Easter Sunday.
In May, Little Love and I traveled to Birmingham to meet up with my friends from nursing school and finally meet Baby James. We stayed at Melissa's house and had a great weekend of catching up. We threw an impromptu baby shower for Jenn in honor of Baby Gray and enjoyed some yummy dinner together. I just love these girls so much and I am so glad we are all having children that will hopefully one day grow-up together.
For Mother's Day, Clay and I went to church and then enjoyed a yummy lunch at Abuelo's . We met up with our Mom's the follwing Monday to celebrate since I had to work on Sunday night. It was nice to have a low key holiday just spent with the 3 of us. We tried getting a few pictures after church but Little Love wasn't too cooperative. It's so hard for a 2 year old to sit still these days!!
Little Love also started ballet at the end of the month with Miss Alyssa at ballet Children. She took to it beautifully and just loved going each Saturday morning. In the beginning, I would take her but as the summer progressed, I let Clay do the honors as it got more and more difficult to stay up on Saturdays after working all night.
We also took swimming lessons for the 2nd year in a row with Mrs. Brittany. Little Love did great and seems to really love the water. She was still a bit dramatic and had one day where she just wasn't having it and didn't want to cooperate, but overall, I felt she learned a lot and was more confident by the end.
During the summer, we took many trips to the spray park in Collierville and splashed in the water with friends. I really think all her swimming lessons helped in this area because she seemed to enjoy the spray park even more this summer than the last.
In June, we went to LeBonheur's grand opening celebration and enjoyed watching the parade. It was super hot but the marketing staff was ready for the insane temps. They had waters, cool towels, fans and much more available for the public. I was so glad to be able to experience this event with my family and I know Little Love really enjoyed the parade.
We made many trips to the Levitt Shell here in Midtown to enjoy some of the kids concerts they had on Saturday evenings. We enjoyed picking up either a picnic dinner from a local sandwich shop or ordering pizza to go from Memphis Pizza Cafe and just enjoying the evening. Although it was a crazy hot summer, we really enjoyed ourselves as did Little Love. It was so fun to watch her run and dance all over the place and sing to the tunes she was familiar with.
We even celebrated her 2 1/2 year birthday on one evening with a cookie cake. We saw some friends we knew while we were there and shared some with them along with some other little kids that were around us. It was so nice because it would always wear out Little Love and she would be ready and willing to get to bed shortly after arriving home.
In July, Nana and I took Little Love to the movie theatre for the first time. We saw "Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel" and Little Love did fabulously. She sat still the entire time besides the time she spent up dancing in the isles to the music. It was so fun and a nice reprieve from the insanely hot weather we were having outside.
We then celebrated the 4th with a parade around our neighborhood and swimming at the Country Club with the Mefford's that evening. Little Love and Wilson really enjoyed the fire works and finally the weather cooled off enough to enjoy some time outside.
In August, we had maternity pictures taken by the fabulous Elizabeth Wiggs, and we were definitely in survival mode as we were nearing the end of my pregnancy and all the changes that would take place when Baby joined our family.
The remainder of the month was spent with a lot of quality time for just the 3 of us. We, made breakfast trips to Blue Plate, enjoyed baseball games at Auto Zone Park, ice cream and snowcones from Jerry's and dates to the park. Although, the weather outside remained almost unbearable, I was feeling fantastic with this pregnancy and wanted to embrace every moment we were given while still a family of 3. I was so worried about how Little Love would take to a new sibling, but now looking back, all that worrying was totally unnecessary. She LOVES being a Big Sister and is so precious at it.
September started out with a wonderful shower thrown by some great friends where I got so many things I needed for Baby B. We met and had dinner at Panera, one of my most favorite places and just enjoyed some great time with friends and family.
Little Love also completed her Big Sister class at our local hospital and we were abel to tour their beautiful new facility that I would soon be giving birth at. Amazingly, I was still on my feet and working and would up until the week I delivered Little Man.
I had prayed and been hoping to make it to 37 weeks which would have been October 1st but I really wanted to at least make it until the 25th of September because we had ticket to Disney on Ice and I really wanted to experience that with my precious fmaily. God granted me that wish and we had a great last night out as a family to the Forum to see the Princesses dance and then to Memphis Pizza Cafe for a late dinner. I really tried to savor every minute of this trip and I am so glad I did because Baby Brother came not long afterwards.
Then, on September 29th, our hearts doubled in size when Little Man joined our family! We were so ecstatic to have a healthy little boy and I enjoyed those 3 precious days spent at the hospital rooming-in with my precious little miracle!! It was one of the most special times I have ever experienced and the nurses and staff made it all the better. Little Love took to her baby brother just beautifully and loves him more everyday. It made the transition just that much easier to see the joy in her eyes when she held her "baby".
Those first few weeks are pretty much a blur due to sleep deprivation and a toddler but they were also such a special time. Just wish I could remember them a little better. :)
Most of October was spent shuttling LIttle Love back and forth to school and ballet, but otherwise we stayed in most of the time was spent at home. We had Little Man's newborn pictures taken, again by Elizabeth Wiggs when he was 9 days old. I absolutely LOVE them and have them hanging all over my house.
At the end of the month, we celebrated Halloween with my precious Snow White and Sleepy, her dwarf. We had a great weekend and I was finally starting to get in the swing of things with 2 kids.
We also took Little Man to meet his Big Brother for the first time on Cooper's 4th birthday and brought him flowers and a pumpkin to leave for him.
November was spent enjoying my 2 Little Loves and with a yummy Thanksgiving with family. We finally made it back to church this month and are later than normal since now there is another one to get ready. Not sure I'm ever going to be on time again!!
We celebrated Uncle Eric's birthday, my birthday and got our first real smile from Little Man this month.
That brings us to December, such a great month with lot's of wonderful memories. We enjoyed many family traditions old and new and just enjoyed spending time just the 4 of us. Little Love turned 3 and celebrated with 2 different parties with friends and family. I went back to work on December 17th and it was just horrible but, its slowly getting better. :(
We enjoyed Christmas morning and there are a lot more blog posts on all our activities this month but overall we had such a fantastic 2010. We have been through a lot this year but the pros far outweigh the cons and I can't imagine what blessing God has in store for us in 2011!!
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