A Year to Remember

What a year. Never before in my life can I remember an entire year, every single month, every week, from January 1 to December 31, and know exactly what I was doing and thinking about. This has been the most life-changing year ever; as of 10 a.m. on January 1st, my world was changed forever!

Here we are, exactly one year ago, on our way out to a New Year's Eve party.

10 a.m. the next morning . . . Holy Moly!

January 27th, 2009, Alina had her first picture ever taken (the first of maaaany more to come!).

I had a WONDERFUL pregnancy and can actually say that I LOVED being pregnant!

September 14th--this picture was taken about 3 hours before I went into labor.

September 15th--Happy Birthday, Alina May!!!

Right from the get-go we were absolutely smitten.

In October we started getting the most wonderful thing in the world: smiles!

In November Ali became more of her own little person and had many firsts, including rolling over!

December brought us Ali's first holiday season; we saw the wonder of the season in a whole new way.

She got to meet Santa for the first time.

It also brought us Ali's first snow! It snowed a little bit here in Austin, so we were excited to get out Ali's real winter gear.

But then it snowed a LOT in Dallas on Christmas Eve! Can you believe the luck?? Ali's first Christmas was a white one! Here's Aunt Katie snuggling with Ali in the snow; later that night we snuck out for pics in the white wonderland!

Christmas morning was a blast. Ali loved all the noise of the crumpling paper and the flashes of glittery bows. This is her serious model face.
Hey, where'd my bow go!?!
And that brings us to tonight. New Year's Eve. Again. Last year we were getting snazzed up for a night out with friends. This year we are hanging out at the house in our pj's, hugging each other, and looking at our greatest gift ever as the clock slips from 2009 to 2010. It's been the most incredible year ever . . . 2010 has some big shoes to fill!!

Hope the year brought you all as much joy as it brought us!! Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, yes. A month late. But with all the focus Christmas gets, Thanksgiving kind of gets swept aside every year. I figured we should give Thanksgiving some respect, and what better way to do that than keep the Thanksgiving spirit alive a whole month after it has come and gone? (Believable? No? Y'all think I just haven't had time to post these pics what with having a baby and returning to work and trying to get ready for Christmas? Sheesh.)

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving this year. Alex headed out for his annual Germany trip, so Ali and I packed up the car and headed to Dallas for the week. Though it was a little hard at first being away from home and out of our normal routine, having so many willing, helpful hands around MORE than made up for it! We loved loved loved being home and spending some good quality time with family. I even made it away from the baby for my first post-Ali pedicure, and it was wonderful!

Thanksgiving day was filled with family, including Alex's parents, grandparents, and brother (even though Alex was still in Germany). Ali didn't know what to do with so many people willing and eager to love on her. What a lucky girl!

Here she is with Greats Munna and Poppy.

Getting some love from Great-Grandma Thorn
Four generations of awesome.
Ali looooooves her G-Mommy!
While looking adorable in her special Thanksgiving dress, Ali was not too sure about the whole "gourd" theme.
Lovin' hanging out with her Bubbie.
Ali caught on quickly to the post-Thanksgiving-meal tradition.
We watched the Horns beat up on (er...squeak past) the rival Aggies.
I swear on Bevo this is not a posed shot. It's just in her blood. Hook 'em Horns!

It was a perfect first Thanksgiving with our little Ali cat, surrounded with lots of family and love. We are so incredibly thankful for what this year has brought us and how our lives have changed and become so much more rich. Happy Thanksgiving!

(for those of you on Facebook, you already know there are some great December holiday shots on their way! With any luck, I'll get them posted by Valentines.)

Flash Face

Remember when I said in the smiles post that the flash on the camera startles her?

Well, this is what I meant. For your viewing pleasure, the "flash face."

(I will get Thanksgiving pictures up this weekend . . . these were just too funny not to share!)