2012's Finest Moments and 2013 Resolutions

With the start of a new year, I always feel anxious to start fresh with everything.  So, it's no surprise that Scott and I spent a portion of this week weeding out things from every room in the basement in an effort to get rid of things we no longer use or wear.  In fact, he's dropping off four garbage bags to Salvation Army right now.  But, as we went room by room, it was a little bittersweet to come across toys Sean hadn't played with in months, clothes I wore during my pregnancy, etc.  It got me thinking that I should post something about all of 2012's top moments in the Ferstle household.  So, without further ado:

January:

January was one of the most emotional months for us by far!  We started off the new year with a positive pregnancy test on January 5th, although I suspected I was earlier and didn't drink on NYE.  I surprised Scott that evening as he came home from work with cinnamon rolls (a bun in the oven, clever, eh?), a six pack of his favorite beer, Guiness, dinner on the table, and Sean wearing a "big brother" shirt.  It was an exciting evening.  We had our first appointment and ultrasound on January 24th, our 3 year wedding anniversary.

Unfortunately, right after our ultrasound on the 24th, Sean spent three days and nights at St. Joe's Hospital for pneumonia.  I knew he was really sick, but thought it was just a virus.  I finally took him to the pediatrician after work one afternoon and we were told that his blood oxygen numbers were way too low.  So, I was sent to the pediatric ER with him while I frantically tried to get a hold of Scott (he was coaching a basketball game).  Seeing Sean connected to all sorts of tubes, including an oxygen mask, was very scary and something I hope we don't see again with either of the boys.

Happy birthday, Bailey!  Bailey celebrated her 5th birthday on January 31st and it was nice to see Sean feeling well enough to eat a cupcake.

February:

Scott and I took a mini-vacation with his parents for Scott's 30th birthday to San Antonio, Texas over our mid-winter break from school.  Sean stayed with my parents and Scott and I enjoyed four days of warmer weather, golf, shopping, and checking out the riverfront.  It was perfect since I was coming out of my first trimester and was craving some authentic tex-mex food!

We figured Valentine's Day was a good and safe time to announce to Facebook and the general public that we were expecting #2.

 

March:

March was a pretty low-key month for us.  Obviously, I had a cute outfit for Sean to wear for St. Patrick's Day, but he also got his first official hair cut at a salon.

We took advantage of the early spring weather we were having and spent some time outdoors with all of my flowers that bloomed at once...I'm still mad about that.

We also did some decorating to the kitchen, dining room, and living room in our house that we moved in the August before.

 

April:

April was another busy month with exciting things happening left and right.  We celebrated Easter with both sides of the family and a visit from the Easter bunny.  Lots of delicious food for brunch and dinner, an Easter egg hunt in our backyard, church, and new toys.

I also reached the halfway point in my pregnancy and had the big 20 week anatomy scan that revealed we were having another boy!  It was such a fun afternoon as we met both of our families at an Italian restaurant after the scan for dinner and dessert...blueberry pie!  I think most were surprised that it was another boy, but all were thrilled!

More updates to the kitchen...

We finished the month off with Sean taking a swim class at a local middle school.  He absolutely loves the water and his favorite part of class were all the fun songs they sang in circles while splashing!

May:

The month started off with a Cinco de Mayo party we hosted at our house with a few close friends.  Delicious Mexican food, beautiful weather to play outside in, and lots of kids running around made for a great day!

We sure kept busy and tried to enjoy the weather by going to some local fairs and taste fests!

We also celebrated Mother's Day!  Scott planned a beautiful brunch at E.G. Nick's downtown for just the three of us.  We came home to digest and relax for a little bit, before heading over to my parent's house to see the rest of my side of the family.  I loved all the thoughtful gifts that were made for me by Sean and bought from Scott.

I started taking a photography class at a local community college that met once a week.  It was quite a time commitment since I worked all day and then had a three hour long class until 9pm.  Not to mention I was well into my second trimester, approaching my third.  I would definitely say it was well worth the time and money, as I learned some really valuable information about using my SLR camera to it's potential.  I can't wait until the kids get a little older so I can go back to school to learn even more.  I love being in a class and going on field trips, so the class setting is perfect for me!

Finally, we went Up North for some unusually warm weather for Memorial Weekend.  It was such a blast!  Cool mornings on the beach with Sean playing in the sand and sand toys and warm afternoons swimming at the sand bar and napping on the couch.  What a great start to the summer!

June:

School's out for summer!  Thank goodness!  We kept busy this month again by taking Sean anywhere and everywhere to play and enjoy time together as a family.  We went to the zoo, the Ann Arbor Botanical Gardens, Splash Park, and bowling just to name to a few.  

It was Father's Day this month too.  Sean and I did something very special for Scott this year.  We bought him a beautiful tree to plant in the front yard, along with The Giving Tree book and a mini watering can so that he can teach Sean how to take care of something.  It will be so meaningful to look out the window and watch the tree grow over the years as Sean grows.  

 

I escaped for a weekend to celebrate Linda's bachelorette party at a lake house on Lake Michigan.  I can't tell you how amazing it was to see some of my girl friends that I traveled to Spain with years ago in college.  I also can't complain about how gorgeous the view from our house was, how warm and relaxing it was to lay out on the beach, and how fun it was to let loose (non-alcoholic style) in Kalamazoo for a night at some of our old stomping grounds!

We did some work on the house for Sean!  He got a big-boy bedroom so that we could have the crib for the baby and Scott finished the play structure in the backyard for Sean!

Lastly, we took another trip up north to the cottage for the annual Karl/Ferstle get together.  It was a very warm weekend spent on the water and by the bonfire!  Games of euchre, frozen drinks for others, ice cream from the lake shop, and plenty of running up and down the hill with Sean.

July:

Happy 4th of July!  We took Sean to the parade in downtown Plymouth in the morning and went across town to see some friends with Sean in the afternoon.  He loved seeing the firetrucks in the parade!

Unfortunately, Sean got extremely sick again.  This time he was diagnosed with hand, foot, and mouth disease.  While I won't go in to much detail here since I already blogged about how devastating of a disease this is, it's safe to say that I don't wish this on anyone!!

The big excitement this month was our vacation to Chicago for 5 days!  We initially planned the trip to go to Linda and Quentin's wedding, but figured it would be a great trial vacation to see how Sean does on an airplane, traveling, staying in a hotel, etc.  And my parents really wanted to join us since my dad was already in the area for work.  It was awesome!  We went to a Cub's game (they won!), went to a hands on museum, Navy Pier, Lincoln Park Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, and the Magnificent Mile for shopping and food.  It was exhausting at times with my back hurting from the pregnancy, but I'm so glad we went!  Sean is meant to be a city boy with all the modes of transportation and sirens we constantly heard and saw.

August:

Our pace in August finally slowed down.  With Evan's due date around the corner, we knew we had some loose ends to finish up at home getting things ready and mostly we just wanted time to rest and enjoy life as a family of three.  Both boys had their rooms ready to go.  We added rubber mulch to Sean's play structure in the backyard.  We installed a storm door to the side door in our kitchen where we let Bailey out through.  We also carpeted our stairs since the wood steps were very slippery and steep.

As time was running out, I made a last minute decision to do some maternity pictures.  Knowing that I didn't want to pay someone else to take them, I gave a quick tutorial to my dad and asked him to take our pictures off Hines Drive.  It was just before a big storm was moving in, but I think we got some great shots.

Lastly, August was spent doing prep work at home, in the kitchen with freezer meals, doing Pinterest art projects with Sean, planning his second birthday party, and getting my classroom in order.  Some major crafts I accomplished this summer included a grand total of 18 freezer meals and this alphabet book for Sean.

September:

While September started off strong with me going into labor on September 1st late in the evening.  After a false run to labor and delivery earlier that afternoon, we were officially admitted by September 2nd at 1:00am.  14 brutal hours of labor with no functioning pain meds, Evan Jameson was born via emergency c-section at 1:17pm.  He has blessed our lives in so many ways and has made our family complete.  Welcome baby Evan!

While we didn't go out too much with a newborn and almost 2 year old, we managed to visit the cider mill and farmer's market.  It felt nice to get out of the house and enjoy the fall with the crisp weather, the beautiful colors of the leaves, and yummy cider and donuts!

October:

Whether we were ready or not, October was a jam packed month.  We celebrated my Mom's birthday on September 27th, Sean's on October 1st, and mine on October 2nd.  And in case I didn't have enough on my plate, I managed to pull off a spectacular birthday party at our house for Sean!  It was birthdays galore!  Sean became obsessed with singing Happy Birthday, eating cake, and opening presents.

Once the birthdays were under our belts, then we switched into Halloween mode.  From going to pumpkin patches and cider mills to having 15 activities planned for Halloween, we kept busy!  Sean had a great daycare Halloween party that included a helicopter dropping healthy snacks and toys onto an open field behind the daycare.  The kids got decked out in their costumes and we did arts and crafts at his school.  We also went to the Zoo Boo with the entire family and our good friends.  By then Sean was a pro at trick or treating and was ready for the real deal!  

November:

Even though I was still on maternity leave, I had the pleasure of getting to go on the annual field trip for the Spanish 3 students to Mexican Town for Day of the Dead.  It's the one event that I look forward to every year and I was so excited that Jennifer asked me to accompany her!  The kids did great, as usual, and Mexican Town looked stunning with all the decor.

Evan was baptized into the Catholic church!  We asked our good friends Trisha and Eric to be the Godparents and invited our families and the Godparent's spouses to join us in the ceremony and to a luncheon at our house afterwards.  Evan did great throughout the whole ceremony and was wide awake!  He didn't even make a fuss when the holy water was poured over his head!  What a trooper!

One of the last things I did on maternity leave was take the boys to see Santa at the mall!  I know it was before Thanksgiving by a few days, but I figured it was the best time to go with me on leave and there being little to no wait.  They both did awesome!  Sean loved every minute of it and keep turning around to wave goodbye to Santa as we paid for the pictures.  He asked for a firetruck from Santa this year.

Sadly, my leave was over and I went back to work the last two days before Thanksgiving break.  But, after a short two-day work week, I got to spent the next five with my family for a delicious Thanksgiving feast, Black Friday shopping, and going to see The Nutcracker Ballet with my sister-in-law and my niece.  Not too shabby!

December:

My favorite month of the year!  And probably the craziest month of my life!  I can actually say that I'm "Christmased" out this year!  After the boys saw Santa at the mall in November, they got to see him two other times.  Once at the Cookies and Cocoa event in Plymouth and once at the daycare holiday party.  Both times Sean was a huge fan and the last time Evan just wanted to finish his bottle.  Maybe Evan was "Christmased" out by then too...

There are far too many things to write about for December because we did as many Christmas-y things we could think of: Decorating cookies, Elf on the Shelf, making ornaments, going to see the Wayne County Lightfest, Cookies and Cocoa with Santa, daycare holiday party, Reese's first birthday party, and the list goes on and on.  Plus, it would take at least an hour to pick out pictures from all these events.  You get the point.  We love Christmas in this house.

But, it's mandatory to list Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as part of 2012's finest moments.  Even though Evan was sick with a fever and not full of holiday cheer, we did our best to fulfill all our plans for making it a special year.

Now you can call me a sap, but to me, aside from finding out we were pregnant with Evan and obviously the birth of Evan, one of my favorite moments from 2012 was my brother and sister-in-law coming home from Portland for the first time in two years and getting to share the holidays with them.  Scott was so nice this year to let us all spend the night at my parent's house so that I could have that Christmas morning experience with my family just like we did growing up.  And we were lucky to have several days full of activities spent with my brother and sister-in-law.  I wish they lived here so that we could do these things more often!  But, I'm also looking forward to the boys getting a little older and traveling to Portland to see their aunt and uncle.

Lastly, New Year's Eve this year was extra fun!  Scott and I decided to make it a huge night.  We got my parent's and his parent's to watch the kids, dropped the dog off at Play and Stay for the night, went to dinner at the same restaurant I've been eating at for NYE over the past 20+ years, went to our friend's house for drinks, and got a hotel room for the night.  It was awesome to feel "young" again!  No kids, no dog, no house, no responsibilities for one night.  What a way to ring in the new year!

After spending the past two hours writing this post, I feel a little sappy thinking about how blessed we are to have all these wonderful memories and pictures!  2012 was so good to the Ferstle family!  I'm looking forward to 2013 with the hopes of happiness, health, and good times!  Cheers!