2014 was a good year, and while I would like to slow the passing of time (and the growing up of my boys), I can say I am happy to see 2014 behind us in hopes of a great 2015. But before I go and make lots of resolutions/goals I know I may not accomplish (although I am thinking of some simpler ones these days) I do want to take a post or two to reflect on the last year.
January
We started 2014 off in Massachusetts for the holidays. New Years brought a hawk in the yard and the first snow storm of the year. It was an incredibly cold New Years, and the day we drove back to Maryland it was -18, the coldest I had ever experienced in Massachusetts. We also had our last holiday season of loving on our sweet Kiki girl as she left us later in 2014.
When we returned to Maryland we hunkered down for the cold winter. The winter of 2014 was our coldest couple of months we have experienced in Maryland, and it will hopefully be the coldest one we have for a while. Lots of time spent indoors playing cars, having dance parties, and being silly.
Over the long weekend we decided to tackle potty training with Rowen. We generally used the three day method, leaving him in underwear the whole time and not leaving the house. Thankfully he was ready and we haven't looked back since then.
February
February was definitely the month of snow, it seemed like we couldn't make it a full week without more snow falling. Rowen loved the snow, Finnegan was not a fan, and we started Row's shoveling career a little early!
The Brown family came to town and we got to meet our 'fur-niece' Charlotte, who may or may not be just as tall as me!
March
While we had hoped for the snow to be gone, we were surprised to find our last snow day came on St. Patrick's Day. Winter simply wouldn't end in 2014, but we passed the last of our cold months having fun. Finnegan and I travelled to the Air and Space Museum at Dulles to meet up with our friends Laura Beth, Tara, and Tara's little boy Chandler who is a few months older than Finn. It is great that there are some central areas where we can meet up as our boys grow!! The same day Rudy took Rowen to the National Aquarium up in Baltimore. The aquarium while not the best we have seen has a wonderful selection of fish, and sharks, and we purchased an annual pass in hopes of going a few times this year!
Haircuts!
Rudy's new chair!
April
With winter behind us we had a beautiful month in April. We started the month off celebrating Rowen's third birthday! We spent his actual birthday out at air and space at Dulles given his love of planes! We had planned to have friends over for dinner and cake to celebrate but unfortunately Rowen was running a fever so we celebrated as a family of four with a Nemo cake and some new pajamas!
We made a trip up to the Maryland Zoo which we love because of some of the unique experiences there, including the polar bears! Rowen also had a close encounter with one of the lion cubs who was stalking him through the window. The zoo had adopted three lion cubs this past spring so it was quite busy in the lion exhibit!
'Polar bear, polar bear what do you see? I see Rowen looking at me!'
We also brought one of the zoo animals, a wild Finnegan, home with us!
This month Rudy started participating in a Tuesday night golf league, which meant Tuesday date nights with my other two main men! We almost always had a long bath and spent many hours playing in the playroom!
Nana sent Rowen a picnic table for his birthday and with some new patio furniture we spent many gorgeous afternoons out on back porch waiting and watching for everything to turn green again!
Our little golfer Finnegan James!
we had to go to bed as Jake, silly pirate!
May
May brought the beginning of our journey to solving Rowen's speech problems. At this point we thought only that he needed a little help, little did we know this would be quite the process, including surgery, but it would all be worth it as we finished the year with Rowen being a little motor mouth!
Finny thinks Rudy's chair was bought for him!
May brought our trip to Disney, and Rudy and I agree that it was hands down our favorite trip yet! The boys were great, we got plenty of time to relax and just enjoy our little family, and the trip in general was just what we needed! We love Disney and while it may not be everyone's cup of tea, we hope the boys grow to love it just as much as we do!
on our way!
Uncle Joe sent us some new shades for Memorial Day!
June
June brought a lot of news and a few big changes for our family! This month we solved the mystery of Rowen's speech in that we learned he had permanent fluid in his ears which was likely caused by his enlarged tonsils and adenoids. We never knew about the fluid because he never had an ear infection to indicate a problem, and we figured he might need his tonsils looked at as he had developed severe snoring in the last couple of months. Surgery was scheduled for the second week of July and we spent most of June hoping this would be a good starting point to help Rowen find his voice!
In June I also officially transitioned out of active duty service in the Coast Guard and became a civilian employee for the same office. It had been a long process and a grueling decision for our family to make, but it was likely the best decision for our family as it is today so we are happy with the decision. My last week of work wearing a uniform ended up being the last week of June!
These two pictures were from an event I wasn't laughing about then but can laugh about now. Rudy had gone golfing on a Sunday afternoon and I decided to brave Costco alone with the boys. They were angels while I shopped around, we headed out to the car and I filled the back of the van with all of our goods. As I closed the van door I realized I had put the keys down in the back, thus locking us out of the car. As it was about 4pm at this point, and Costco closed at six, I called Rudy who was about an hour away from the house, and my spare keys, and he set out to rescue us. We ended up strolling around Costco, eating a Costco dinner before they kicked us out at closing time, and sharing fruit snacks in the grassy knoll of the parking lot. Not my most glamorous mom moment, but a funny one for sure!!
Day trip to Rehoboth Beach, the water was a little too cold for Rowen still!
Father's Day breakfast at Ihop!
Pirates!
Pool Time at Bruce and Gails!
At the end of the month I flew with the boys up to Boston so they could spend a few days at Nana's house while I flew to Texas to drive to Maryland with our friend Kelley. This was the first time Finnegan had been on a plane and I was a little nervous, but aside from a few outbursts he did great!!
On the train to Nana's!
I flew up and back from Boston on the same day, finished my last military day the next day, and then flew to Texas that afternoon. Spending a few days in the car chatting with a dear friend was great for the soul and I enjoyed seeing east Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee (with an evening in Nashville), North Carolina, and Virginia. We even found a self serve Dunkin Donuts where we were so amazed we made the manager take a picture of us!
Nashville!
Well this ended up being quite the lengthy post, but I guess that is what happens when you stop blogging for a bit. Part two will wait for tomorrow!
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