Another year

This year has truly been a whirlwind!  It seems impossible that we are once again putting up Christmas decorations and singing carols to celebrate our Savior's birth!  We've had an exciting year in so many ways.

January was essentially uneventful, but full of excitement as we planned for a February trip to California.  Daniel took his first airplane trip and visited with his Abuelita (Eddie's Mom).  He got to meet his cousins and a number of aunts and uncles for the first time.  He also got to see the Pacific Ocean and Disneyland for the first time!

 

  

In March, Daniel got his first tricycle.  It took a few months, but he is finally able to pedal completely on his own!  He also began singing songs and doing hand motions with them after some trips to the library for story time.

In April we celebrated Easter.  Daniel got to dye eggs for the first time.  He was amazed!  Later in the month, we went to the Touch-a-Truck festival in our hometown.  Daniel was thrilled to be able to sit in, walk through, and honk horns on so many cool vehicles!

 

Over Memorial Day weekend, we took Daniel to the Atlanta Zoo.  It was his first time & he really enjoyed it!

June brought some new changes.  First, Daniel turned 3 years old.  We celebrated at a local park with some good friends, balloons, and cake, of course.  He had a wonderful time.  The next event was moving into a big boy bed!  Daniel took to his new bed immediately :)

  

In July we tackled potty training successfully!  Later in the month, Eddie & I celebrated 7 years of marriage. We let Daniel spend time with Grandma & Grandpa (along with his aunts & uncle) while Eddie & I spent the day seeing a movie, shopping, and having a nice meal out.  

In August we all began some new things.  Daniel began going to a Sunday School class, which he still isn't thrilled with because Mom & Dad leave, but he's adjusting.  He also began attending AWANA Cubbies (a bible-based church program for kids), which he really enjoys!  Eddie & I joined a new small group through our church, and we are enjoying growing new friendships.  We spent August and September adjusting to the new schedule changes. 

In September we made our annual apple picking trip.  After picking apples, we decided to take Daniel to Amicalola Falls (It's pronounced, Amee-kuh-lo-luh, in case you're interested).  It was quite a hike, but we made it & Daniel was thrilled to see the "big wafall", as he called it.  On the way home, we passed by a huge pumpkin patch, which we also stopped at.  Daniel has loved pumpkins since he was baby.  We're really not sure what the fascination is, but needless to say, he loved running through the pumpkin patch and seeing the pumpkins of, literally, all shapes and sizes.

   

In October we went to the Cumming Country Fair where Daniel chose to ride on a fair ride all by himself for the first time.  He loved it!  For Halloween, he dressed up as Iron Man.  He went trick-or-treating for the first time and loved it.

  

Daniel has been learning so much this year!  He is counting to 12 on his own, saying his ABC's, memorizing short Bible verses, and he is beginning on handwriting, just to name a few things.  He has taken quite a liking to books and pretends to read by following the words with his finger as he tells a story.  He enjoys Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and all the characters.  His favorite activities include playing pretend sword fights, soccer, going to the park, and listening to music.  He is joy to be around.  While there are tough days, Eddie & I consider ourselves blessed to be his parents.

Eddie is currently taking on Calculus as he pursues an education in computer science.  It's quite an undertaking, but we know he can do it!  

Sarah continues to work at a private practice in Atlanta providing Speech-Language Therapy for infants to young adults.  She enjoys it very much.

Each year, as we look back, we are reminded of God's faithfulness, His Love, and His constant care.  We would truly be hopeless without Him.  We are so grateful for His goodness, and while we don't always understand what He is doing in our lives, we know He sees the bigger picture and knows what we need.  This time of year, especially, we are reminded of the amazing gift He gave us in His Son, Jesus.  We pray that you experience the love, joy, and peace that is found in Him.

'For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.'  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!'

~Luke 2:11-14 (ESV)~

Merry Christmas!

With love,

Sarah, Eddie, and Daniel.

Happy New Year!

Well, as always Christmas and New Years zoomed by!  I can't believe we've already started 2012.  I pray you and your family are experiencing God's blessings.
Our Christmas was wonderful!  Daniel was up at 5:45AM!  How do kids know at such a young age that it's Christmas morning???  When Daniel first got up, the lights weren't on, so he didn't see what was under the tree.  He checked out his stocking first.  He was soooooo excited to find a plush red bird from the Angry Birds game.  He just kept holding it and patting it.  Every time we'd go to WalMart or Target, he'd manage to find one of the birds from that game and would want to take it home.  I'm not sure what the draw is.  Anyway, Eddie turned on the Christmas tree lights and then Daniel noticed the gifts under the tree.  He instantly ran over and commented on the wrapping paper (Winnie the Pooh).  He tore into each present and took time to enjoy each gift inside.
After the presents were open, we read the Christmas story from Daniel's story Bible, followed by homemade (from scratch) cinnamon rolls and coffee (for Eddie & I).  We had a very relaxed morning.  Daniel even took a short nap :)
After his nap, we headed over to my family's house for more fun.  Daniel was spoiled with lots of presents from his grandma, grandpa, aunts, and uncle.  He loved it.  It was so fun to watch him take time with each new toy before moving to the next present.
We spent time visiting while Daniel played with everyone.  We had a delicious dinner and dessert.  Daniel was so tired out from the whole day that he fell asleep in my arms while we were eating dessert!  We sang & played Christmas carols after dessert & yes, Daniel slept through all of it.  I had the 23-26th off, so we could recover the day after.  It was a very nice and relaxing Christmas weekend.

For New Years eve, we continued our tradition of staying home (yes, it really is our tradition).  We take time to relax, watch a couple fun movies, and have a fun snack or dessert.  This year was no different.  While Daniel didn't stay up late, we almost didn't make it either.  We rallied at 11:30pm and then counted in 2012.

So far, it's been a relatively low-key year.  I don't mind that at all.  So, until next time, I leave you with some photos of our Christmas. 

Merry Christmas!!!

So once again I am updating after a LONG absence.  It has been an eventful past 8 months.

In April, after much debate, I had decided to try and find a job outside the school system.  By end of April, I hadn't found anything that was going to work and I was starting to get ready for another year in the schools.  However, I received a call from a private pediatric speech-language therapy clinic to interview at just the right time. God blessed me with a job there at the end of May.  I have now worked there 7 months.  It is a lot less stress and paperwork.  I truly feel that I am able to help the children I work with.

 

In June, we celebrated Daniel’s 2^nd birthday!  I can’t believe it’s already been that long.  It seems like it was just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital.  He is such a bundle of energy and fun!  Something else that came with June was some speech therapy for Daniel.  I had this nagging feeling that Daniel's speech sounds weren't quite where they needed to be (my specialty has always been with PreK-6th grade).  So, I spoke with my boss at the clinic I have been working at.  She was kind enough to use not only his evaluation, but also his therapy as my training, which meant affordable help for our son!  God not only gave me a great job, but also a way to help Daniel that I would not have had otherwise.  Daniel was able to get through therapy quickly thanks to some great mouth exercises and play techniques that we continued at home.  He is now done with speech therapy!

  

 

In July, Eddie and I celebrated six wonderful years of marriage.  My parents watched Daniel for the whole day while Eddie and I took in a couple movies and went out for a nice dinner.  I realized it was the first time we’ve had that much time alone since Daniel was born. 

In addition, Eddie and I began a consistent exercise routine, as well as making better food choices.  We have been able to stick with this!  We’ve each lost 20 pounds and are looking forward to achieving our ultimate goal of being healthy.

In August, we had the pleasure of having my cousin, Heidi come to visit from Virginia.  Despite the visit being short, we enjoyed seeing her, and hope to again soon! 
Some difficult news reached us before the month was over.  Eddie's aunt Lupe had passed away after a long illness.  While it was not completely unexpected, it was very sad news to hear.

In September, we had more family visit.  This time it was my Uncle Jeff & Aunt Deana from California.  We were excited to have Daniel meet them and it was wonderful to spend time with them.

 

 

In October, we went for our 2^nd annual apple picking trip in Ellijay,Georgia.  My mom and sister, Laura joined us.  They had a petting zoo there, as well, so we took Daniel to see the animals.  He loved it!  It was a beautiful day and we took home over 5 pounds of apples, which turned into tasty snacks, apple butter, and an apple pie!  I had the pleasure of making my grandma’s recipe for apple butter.  It turned out delicious, and brought back many memories of eating apple butter on slices of white toast at my grandma’s house.

One of Daniel's favorite things: 1-2-3 Weeeeee! (getting picked up and swung)

Enjoying some yummy apple slushy!

Picking apples with some help from Daddy

 We also went to the Cumming Country Fair.  First, Daniel got to ride a merry-go-round for the very first time.  At first, he was a little unsure of the whole idea, but soon realized how fun it was.  Next, we took Daniel to the petting zoo.  He absolutely loved seeing all the animals, and would walk right up to them to try and pet them.  We saw goats, sheep, ducks, rabbits, horses, cows, roosters, and even a peacock (no we didn’t pet it).  When we walked up to the rooster, it crowed.  Daniel’s expression was priceless.  It was as if to say, “Did that sound just come out of that animal?!”

November – We went to my family’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.  There was so much delicious food, as always!  Daniel really enjoyed the mashed potatoes and my homemade cranberry sauce.  For desert, he especially liked the pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream.  It’s funny, Daniel didn’t really like the turkey on Thanksgiving Day, but he loved it as leftovers!  Go figure! 
Unfortunately, we had sad news following Thanksgiving.  Eddie's uncle, Rodolfo passed away. This was tough news to hear, especially with Christmas so close.

 

So that catches you up to the present.  Daniel continues to grow into a happy, healthy little boy.  He is constantly exploring in new ways (i.e. CLIMBING EVERYTHING).  He is saying new words all the time, and is making short phrases now, too. 

Some of our favorite pronunciations are:

Grandma: "Guhgah"

Grandpa: "Buhpah"

Abuelita (Spanish for "grandma"): "Buhdeetah"

Orange: "wookie"

Pancake: "pahday"

Winnie-the-Pooh: dah-dah-Pooh

Eeyore: "eeya"

Snowman: "nomae"

Yellow: "yahyo"

His favorite songs to sing are: Wheels on the Bus, Old MacDonald, & the Winnie-the-Pooh theme song.

He LOVES music and has a huge variety that he likes.  He really likes anything with a beat.  You always know if he likes a certain song because he'll starting nodding his head to the beat.  Daniel is beginning use pretend play a lot.  He will pretend to feed his stuffed animals and give them drinks.  He also likes to "cook" food and pretend to ride a "motorcycle".  He also has learned many of his colors and is beginning to learn to count.

Another big step that was taken this year was moving from a highchair to a booster seat at the table.  Daniel just didn't want to sit in his highchair anymore and always would try to sit at the table, so we went ahead with a booster seat.  He really enjoys it and even seems to eat better.  He also attempts to join in our conversation, which we think is great!

Eddie has been perfecting his culinary skills this year and has made some wonderful dinners for our family.  Some of our new favorites include: stir-fry beef with broccoli, mesquite chicken, and meatloaf.  He has also perfected cooking fresh broccoli - he blanches it.  It's delicious!  Even Daniel likes broccoli now.

So that's our year in a nutshell!  As Eddie and I begin looking back over the past year, we are  reminded that of in the midst of challenges, God is always faithful to take care of us.  Sometimes, it seems that He isn't listening, but that is NEVER true!  He is allowing us to learn and gives us what we need at just the right time.  We are so thankful for a God who cares for us so much that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we could have life through Him.  As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, this Christmas, we wish you His peace, His love, and His joy!

Merry Christmas and very blessed New Year to you and your family!

"For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

~Isaiah 9:6 (ESV)~