A little reflection...

It is hard to find time during the holidays to really sit down and get much of anything done, but I am taking just a few quick moments today during (what I hope will turn into...) nap time to reflect on everything my family has experienced this past year. Okay, well maybe not everything, but the big things at least.

On December 16th Laurelei stormed into our lives in a big way! Two weeks early and with a big scare we welcomed the arrival of our little drama queen. It is hard to think back to those first few days of fear and uncertainty and not thank God for the beautiful little girl we have today. Even in her first year of life she has beaten all of the odds to become a happy and healthy little girl. It is absolutely impossible to think about life would be like without her, and such a blessing to know that God protected our little girl so that we wouldn't have to.

As the year went on we celebrated out first family christmas together. It seemed surreal, which is either completely related to the excitement over our week old baby, or our complete lack of sleep... Next came many tears as I went back to work, jubilation as summer came and I could be home again, complete fun as we ventured out on our first family vacation and many, many months of watching Laurelei grow with such joy in her big blue eyes!

She has been so much fun to watch grow. She stomped through every big baby landmark (except teeth?) like it was nothing! Crawling at 5 months, walking at 10. She never ceased to amaze us with her determination. NOW, she is feeding herself with a spoon. At 12 months! What an amazing little bugger. I have a feeling she is going to be a genius...

What a year it has been! Through job loss and job gain, rounds of sickness and health, excitement and sadness we have loved every second of our blessed lives. I feel so lucky to have Matt and Laurelei to make me smile everyday! And now with our new puppy Ruby thrown in the mix I can trully say my life is FULL, and I am loving it!