2009

New Year's Eve 2008- One of the worst nights ever. Our sweet Dog Coletrane was hit by a car and passed away soon after we found him. Our hearts were crushed and we spent the next couple of weeks mourning his death. He was so special to us and touched our family so much. I know...he was a dog....he didn't think so, and he made us really understand what it meant to love an animal. This is the way that our 2009 began, but thankfully it went much better as the year progressed.

This New Years Eve of 2009 I sat and began to reorganize pictures. Nothing like starting the year off with a little organizing project, right? As I sat there I realized how different our lives have become in just one year and how my baby boy seems a whole foot taller, and our little baby girl is so much bigger with so much more hair! These are just some of the physical changes of our year.

Shortly into the New Year we realized that our kids were only getting bigger and the drive from Monticello to Tallahassee was only getting longer. Things were different after Coletrane was gone and it felt like a majority of our time was spent in the car. We took the plunge and finally put our house on the market.

In April Taylor had her first birthday. Our little girl celebrated in style with her friends and family and the wonderful people that support us on a daily basis.

After a few short months our house sold late in the spring. We packed our home that we brought our babies home from the hospital to and moved to a two bedroom apartment and continued to look for our new home. It was such an emotional time. We were so excited about the next step of our lives, but as we cleaned our home that one last time, tears poured from our eyes as we walked and reminisced about everything that had taken place there. Our Monticello house was one that we put everything we had into. It was full of love and happy memories.

The summer brought a time of looking at houses, swimming in the pool at the apartment, teaching a spunky little three year old to jump off the side of the pool without fear, easing his fears of the people upstairs at bedtime, watching Taylor take her first steps at the end of May, buying a new house, a stomach bug that traveled through our entire family, renovating our new home, vacationing with family in Sarasota, moving into our new home, and finally starting a new school year.

We are into our routine now and have enjoyed the first round of holidays in our new home. We have had family stay with us through Thanksgiving and Christmas and have really enjoyed our new lives. Our friends live within 5-10 minutes of us. We do not require an entire day to do one activity anymore, and have come to realize what wonderful neighbors we have. Bedsides the few minor illness that we have had our family has been healthy. We are happy. 2009 started out poorly, but overall we have had a blessed year. 2010 here we come!