2010 Reflections & 2011 News

2010 was a very interesting year in our house, and I would be remiss if I didn't recap it in some way shape or form (not to mention its a little therapeutic and puts things in perspective for me as we embrace a big move and more change in 2011).

January & February 2010

I decide (after much prayer, consult, and personal struggle) to quit my full time job with Girl Scouts. God provides and I am able to bridge the gap between the working world and the mommy world by working part time political fundraising with BJ's old firm through the June primary.

May & June 2010

The gubernatorial primary heats up, Sarah Palin arrives, a scandal emerges, and the entire campaign momentum shifts. Our candidate loses and we are left without a job, a few enemies, a few less friends (or better said as the revelation of true friends vs. political friends), and a lot of time to reevaluate life. It was probably one of the most trying and blessed times in our family's life. It brought the need for big change to light. I believe God was trying to tell us to get out of politics for a long time, but a gentle push wasn't going to cut it to make us see his plan, we needed a big smack in the face and a child to make us listen.

Summer 2010

We are unemployed, one by chance and the other by choice, but we make the most of it and continue our summer plans. We spend two weeks at the beach, one week in Louisiana, one week in Pennsylvania and a few days in New Hampshire. Prior to our first week at the beach BJ learns that he did not get the job he really wanted in Greenville, but not to worry, they loved him and know of another great opportunity in Greenville of which he'd be perfect for and they refer him. While at the beach he gets a phone interview, drives to Greenville for an in-person interview, and gets a job! We made a point of embracing the time we had over the summer to reconnect as a family, and be patient with God's plan for us. God provides again!

Fall 2010

Gus cuts teeth and goes mobile - crawling all over the place. Papa O'Dell passes away, and we lose our last grandfather and say goodbye to a generation of great men. Gus turns one in November and we celebrate with a sock monkey themed birthday party. JLC Holiday Market consumed my life, but turns out to be an incredibly rewarding experience for me. BJ continues to commute to Greenville 2 to 3 days a week and we get closer to his contract going permanent and a permanent move to Greenville.

Biggest Lessons from 2010

Patience
Figuring out whats really important
Money doesn't make you happy, being kinda poor makes you stronger
Change is a good thing and can really be great if you embrace it

2011 Begins...

Gus has two more teeth and is now walking.

I am seriously contemplating going back to school in the fall to pursue my passion for nutrition.

And as of today, BJ has accepted a permanent position with his company and we are officially moving to Greenville (well once the house sells :)

We are so excited to see what God's plan for us is in 2011 - we can't wait!

All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth

We did in fact celebrate Christmas this year and have pictures to prove it, but post holiday illness and accompanying short naps delayed blog updates. We spent the few days leading up to and also Christmas in Greenville, catching up with friends and family and enjoying time together as a family.

Christmas Eve at Aunt CheChe's

One of Gus's first words was Papa - and he sure does love his Papa as you can see here :)

Gus cut his two front teeth the week of Christmas and also developed a cold, which turned into a deep chest cough (his first), a single ear infection (his first), and wheezing (hopefully not a sign of asthma to come) by New Year's Day. We started off 2011 at the pediatrician, and three antibiotics and 10 days later the little man is back to himself again.

Santa used his coupons wisely this year and brought Gus a Step 2 push car - he loves it! We cruised the neighborhood several times in the past week before it got too cold, but we aren't afraid to bring our Nascar rally indoors in the coming weeks.

Taking a milk break

Grandma and Papa brought Gus the cadillac of wagons, fit for him and a friend to ride around with cold drinks and an umbrella for those sunny days of summer. It also makes a great snow transport, as we learned yesterday.

He liked the wagon, but didn't want to be confined - let me out!

It was the first white Christmas on record in South Carolina since 1963 and we enjoyed every minute of watching the snow fall. It was too wet to play in, but we snapped a few pictures of course.



And what Christmas wouldn't be complete without a shoot using Uncle Brent's new 22

BJ apparently was the best shot - guess we know what he'll be getting from Santa next year

Grammy and Papou came to visit the week after Christmas and brought Gus a ride on fire truck - he loves the song it plays and its quickly becoming his theme song.



Gus keeps us in stitches with his comical faces. For a 13 month old he sure does command his humor well - its hard not to laugh with him most days. Here are a few shots of classic Gus expressions from the holidays.


I love how little boys just innately know how to push cars around the room - it made me smile :)

Not so sure about this whole opening presents thing

We had a wonderful holiday, reminding us of how truly blessed we are.

PJ's with Santa

One of the events associated with JLC's Holiday Market is PJ's with Santa. Its a great family event complete with a Little Gym crawl area, cookies and milk, Christmas movies playing, a reading corner, and lots of arts and crafts for the kids. But the big draw was the awesome Santa (special hair do and all). Last year we decided not to get Gus's picture taken with Santa because he was only a few weeks old, so I was nothing but curious to see his reaction this year. We stood in line for nearly 30 minutes with our friends Amy and Benjamin and watched many toddlers freak out in front of us. My biggest fear was that Gus would pull Santa's beard - well he didn't cry or pull Santa's beard. He gave Santa a few weary glances, but then true to form Gus's smiles came out and it was a great photo op. It was a great way to really get in the Christmas spirit!

Not sure about this whole Santa thing...

Seconds later - loving it!

First Haircut (and the curls remain :)

Being the fairly traditional folks that we are, we wanted to wait until Gus turned one to get his hair cut for the first time. So the day after Thanksgiving we took advantage of being in Greenville and headed to Jellybeans Salon for kids where the first haircut is only a $0.01. Its cheap and a great first haircut experience, complete with a certificate and a balloon. Gus did great and was so happy the whole time - we were so proud of him.

I'm driving this car

This a classic Gus expression - love it!

Don't I look handsome?


This haircut is mommy approved

Gus's 1st Balloon

Thanksgiving and everything in between...

My blogging time was trumped for the past 2 weeks by Junior League of Columbia's Holiday Market. Last year I joined JLC and this year I chaired the Special Entertainment Committee for Holiday Market, which is the League's largest fundraiser and funds our annual community projects. It was a lot of work, but it was a great experience and I met a lot of awesome people in the process - I'm really going to miss being on the Holiday Market next year when we are in Greenville, but hopefully I'll find an equally great placement with JLG.

We spent Thanksgiving in Greenville with BJ's family and kicked off the day with an 8k Turkey Trot benefiting Trees for Greenville. It was a great race course and I finised in 48:35 - a personal best and a big accomplishment for me. I've really gotten into running over the past few months and am determined to complete a 1/2 marathon before I turn 30 (another one for the bucket list!)

Here are a few pictures from the race - don't I look thrilled :)

We've officially entered the toddler years with Gus and the struggle (and sometimes battle) over food is usually won by the little man. Its very difficult for me to accept cheese and crackers as dinner for him because I'm so nutrition conscious, but I'm working on it and I will not cave on feeding him junk - so I like to think that we are in a period of suspended compromise right now, which may include a few peas and carrots, but also a lot of cheese and crackers. Thanksgiving was no exception to this. We thought for sure he would chow down on turkey, cranberry sauce and all the trimmings, but he wanted nothing - so I blended yogurt and cranberry sauce and gave him a dinner roll and he was happy and I was less stressed. He looks like he's happily eating all the food on his tray, but in true Gus form he tried and spit out most of it :(

He was happy because of all of his cousins, not due to the turkey his mommy cooked for 5 hours

Gus's 1st Birthday

We can't believe Gus will be 1 year old tomorrow, it has gone by so fast, but its amazing to watch him grow up and develop his own personality. He is a funny, social, and incredibly sweet and laid back little man and we feel so blessed to call him our son.

Since Gus's birthday is the day before Thanksgiving this year (and on Thanksgiving Day next year) we celebrated a little early with a sock monkey themed party for our little monkey on Saturday. We had a house full of family and friends who all came to celebrate Gus's 1st year. Here are just a few snapshots of the day.

Ready to Roll in his new car from Grammy & Papou

We would have been better off creating a mound of Goldfish crackers shaped like a monkey, but we found out the hard (and labor intensive way) that cake and icing are not on the list of Gus approved textures for pick up

In the midst of all his gifts the $3.00 Kmart ball still wins out

He loved reading his cards and playing with the tags on his toys more then the tissue paper or the wrapping paper - too funny

Its Party Time!

Classic Gus face and his adorable outfit from Aunt Carmen :)

Happy Birthday Gus - We love you so much!

Papa O'Dell

This weekend we also said a sad goodbye to BJ's grandfather, Papa O'Dell, he was 89 years old. He passed away on Thursday, October 28th and the funeral was held on Sunday. He was a sweet man who loved his family and always called it like he saw it. BJ has fond memories and stories about his Papa, and he shared many of them at the funeral.

Its hard to believe that when BJ and I got married 5 years ago that we had 7 of our 8 grandparents still with us, and now we are still blessed to have all 4 of our grandmothers, but sadly our Papa B, Papa O'Dell, and Grandaddy have since passed away. An interesting fact, is that our grandfather's birthdays were three days in a row, my Grandaddy's birthday was December 29th (he passed on his 96th birthday and would be 98 this year), Papa B's birthday was December 30th (he passed at age 88 and would be 90 this year) and Papa O'Dell's birthday was December 31st (he would have been 90 this year). I know this year they will be celebrating in heaven this year, maybe they will all get together and share a piece of cake :)

We will miss Papa O'Dell, but we are so grateful for the time we were able to spend with him and all of the fond memories we have of him. Here are the last two pictures we have of him, he was able to share most of Gus's first year with us, which is so special.

We love you Papa.