Goodbye 2011

2011 was a very eventful year in our household. We were the proud parent of a 5 month old when the year began and were feeling pretty good about things. Before having a baby we were world travelers, after the baby the traveling slowed down but definitely did not stop. We now just take the baby along for the ride.

Here are some of the fun things that we did in 2011 in pictures.

In February, T-man attended his first birthday party at pump it up.

In April we checked out the cherry blossoms in DC

Then we celebrated my birthday, my first one as a mom

In May, we went to Niagara Falls on our way to visit a friend in Toronto

T-man also got to ride on the DC metro for the first time on our way to the zoo

 

 T-man also had his first swim lesson

In June we went to Philadelphia to visit some awesome friends

 

 I just love this TMZ style shot of us walking the streets of Philadelphia :)

 In July we celebrated T-man's birthday with a prince theme

 

Then we jetted off to Cancun to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary, the baby came with and we had a blast

 

 

 

In August T-man was baptized, we waited a whole year because we wanted the English family to be there, it was a great success

 

In September we attended a soccer themed first birthday party, T-man had a great time

  

Then we went to Calgary in Canada to visit hubby's cousin, great scenery for sure

 

In October we went to a football game with hubby's parents

Then we took T-man to a pumpkin patch

We also celebrated Halloween, T-man was a little vampire

In November, we visited a good friend's baby (maybe T-man's future wife :))

Then we celebrated thanksgiving (no pics :( unfortunately)

In December we went to NYC for the day and enjoyed a day as a couple

Then we celebrated Christmas

It's been such a great year. Having a baby really does change your life for the better. We look forward to 2012, we know it will be an even better year.

Christmas was awesome

Christmas was truly awesome this year. Ok, Christmas is my favorite time of the year so I always think it's great but being able to spend it with family is just the best. My mother in law is in town from England. She has spent every Christmas with us since T-man was born (ok only just 2 Christmas but how awesome is that).

We woke up, got ready (I could have skipped this step and gone straight for the presents), had breakfast and finally started opening presents. It was a lot of fun, T-man really enjoyed himself. After that we put him down for a nap and went straight to getting dinner ready. The rest of the family came over around 4pm and we were eating dinner by 5pm. It was great fun for sure. We then opened more presents. T-man lucked out, he got the most presents for sure. Now onto the pictures


Lots of presents under the Christmas tree, the beauty of having a big family :)

 

Starting to open presents, T-man seems shy but we know it won't be for long

 

I got a lot of awesome gifts but this was definitely the cherry on the cake. My hubby thought about it all on his own and surprised me with this beautiful blanket covered with 8 of our favorite family pictures. I am sure I'll share all those pictures with you guys at some point. This was really great and knowing how much I love pictures it was surely fitting. 

Aren't my boys so handsome in their matching outfit ;)

Big boy, if only that vacuum actually worked I would be getting my carpet cleaned while he has fun

I just love how happy T-man looks in this pic

Four generations with my mom, grandma, T-man and me

I just love how happy they all look in this picture

Our annual family Christmas picture, gotta love self timer and tripod

 

Christmas was great around here, I hope you also had a great time celebrating with your family this holiday season.

Merry Christmas

We wish you and your family a very merry Christmas

Christmas party time

My mother in law is in town for Xmas, YAY. We now have free built in babysitter...score. Hubby and I decided that we can now attend some Xmas parties without any guilt. So on Saturday we got dressed up, I even did my hair, and went to a superb Xmas party. We had loads of fun and some drinks. It was great, we felt like grown ups again.

Before we left for the party, I made my mother in law take some pictures of us. I always have to take any opportunity for a good picture particularly if we are all dressed up :).

 Me and my baby who is smiling away

 I love this family shot, why wasn't T-man smiling like this for our Xmas cards

And because we almost never have any pictures of just the two of us anymore, I had to add this pic :)

I always want to remember

Our angel baby that went to heaven way too soon in November.

We found out in September that we were having another baby. We were thrilled and beyond excited. As soon as T-man turned one we decided to start trying for another baby. I knew that I wanted my children close in age and let's face it you never know how long it will take to get pregnant. We were beyond blessed to find out we were pregnant after only trying for a month. I was pleased to see that we were just as excited about this blessing as we were when we found out about T-man.

My hubby holding the pee-stick :)

Our first appointment went so well, we saw our little bean with a strong heartbeat at 6 weeks and 5 days. The excitement really started to build. This was for real, we were having another baby. We very much wanted this baby and having had one successful pregnancy under our belts, we felt invincible. We started telling family members, bought Tyler a shirt that said "I am going to be a big brother" for the big announcement, and started taking our weekly pictures.

I wasn't having any symptoms whatsoever (except that my boobs grew a whole cup size) but that was pretty much the same way it was with T-man. I was still really nervous for some reason so we decided to wait until our next appointment before shouting the news to everyone who wanted to hear. My hubby couldn't come with me to the second U/S so I asked my mom to go with me (I just wasn't feeling right going by myself).

November 2nd, the day of the appointment, finally arrived. When the picture came on the screen I was excited because it looked that the baby did grow since the last visit but the baby wasn't moving at all compared to T-man at this stage who was moving around like a lunatic. I thought maybe this is just a lazy baby and hoped to have confirmation of that. I looked in the technician's eyes to find a glimmer of hope, nothing. My heart just sank, I just knew. The technician looked and looked and looked but she couldn't find a heartbeat. I was devastated. Not only did my body fail to keep my baby alive, it failed to recognize that the baby was gone.

I was supposed to be 10 weeks and 5 days, due 26 May 2012. T-man and his sibling were going to be 22 months apart. I was crushed to find out the baby was gone, but I am thankful to have had the privilege to carry this angel.

Here is a pic of our sweet angel

We know God has a plan for us and we look forward to finding out what that plan is. As we pick up the pieces of our broken hearts, we are thankful for our healthy beautiful T-man here on earth with us and our sweet angel watching over us from heaven.

To remember our sweet angel forever and ever, I got this beautiful tattoo. It represents our angel's footsteps, an angel that definitely left a big imprint on our hearts. Though we only knew about her for 6 weeks, she filled our hearts with so much joy and happiness.

Every time I look at this tattoo, I will remember this sweet angel. I will never forget but I will heal in due time. A miscarriage is part of my story but I won't let it define me.

Tattoos

Do you guys have any tattoos? Do you want any?

I am getting a tattoo tomorrow and I am really excited about it. This one is going to hold a very special place in my heart.

I already have a tattoo and my hubby has way more than We both got matching meaning tattoos on our honeymoon in Hawaii. I know we are so cheesy. We talked about getting them for over a year and finalized the details of what we wanted before we got married. So when we got to Hawaii and found the perfect tattoo parlor, it was hard not to get one.

We got our wedding date tattooed, mine is on my back and my hubby's is on his arms. The funniest thing is that my hubby's is really visible so he always gets the "is that your birthday" question. He does not like that one bit.

Here are some pics of us getting inked

It was definitely painful, I might have cried a little bit. I do love my tattoo and I am looking forward to seeing what this new one is going to look like.