2014: A Year in Review (Part 1)

Since I haven't bothered to blog in about eight months I figure the first of a new year is a great place to start. I often lament that 2014 was 'the worst year ever' because of many challenges and changes that came our way but as I sat going through the pictures of the year I realized such a statement didn't do the year justice.  While there were trying times, there was plenty of laughter, lots of fun, and more magical moments that I could capture on camera.

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! 

While we had our fair share of snow there were also a few warm days in February.  A coworker had mentioned Gravelly Point Park as a great place to take airplane loving boys, so we headed over one Saturday and caught some great planes coming over head.  While we haven't been back in a while it will definitely be somewhere we take the boys for years to come!

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! 

~The Weekend and St Patty's~

This weekend was extended when we woke up this morning and found out that work had been cancelled, so cheers to the three day weekend!  We kicked the weekend off with the arrival of Rudy's new chair!  We have been on the hunt for a chair for the family room since we bought this house, and we finally bit the bullet a few weeks ago, and we are so happy we did.  Clearly he is very happy with his chair!

On Saturday we had a beautiful taste of spring and spent much of the day outside with the boys, but without my camera.  After dinner I made the decision that it was time to cut Finnegan's hair again.  Finny is the messiest child I have ever met, and when his hair is shaggy and looks like a member of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team and or the biebs, that means it is time for a snip. Finny before…

And Finny after…

While this little haircut aged my baby about ten years, it is such a cute little cut for his face and I'm happy we found someone local who can give a decent little boy's hair cut.  And notice the bib of drool he is wearing, we are in week three of nonstop drooling for Finny, so hopefully those two eye teeth that are trying to break through come in soon! 

Finny is trying to win his way into the hearts of Jack and Lola with snacks, the most pure and simple route to victory! 

Today as I mentioned we woke up to snow! And lots of it. Never in my life did I think we would have a snow day on St Patrick's day, but it was a nice day spent watching the snow fall and catching up on laundry.  I heard on the news that we have gotten 80% of our snow this season in February and March and I can't believe that the start of spring is this Thursday.  This winter has been CRAZY! 

Rudy and I spent nap time watching Catching Fire, and while it was long, it made me excited for Mockingjay! After the boys woke up, Rudy took Rowen out to shovel snow, starting to earn his keep early! 

Poor Finny and a certain boy dog were a little sad to be left inside…

It wasn't long before the Rs came back in the house, and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing, getting our runs in, and resting up for the rest of the work week.  Heres to another great weekend, and hopefully a nice start to spring later this week! 

~Capturing the Magic~

I've discovered that each night around this time I have just a little space of time to myself.  The kitchen is clean, the soft humming of the dishwasher usually providing a pleasant rhythm in the background.  Both boys are in bed, although the oldest may not yet be asleep as I sometimes hear shouts and giggles echoing through the foyer. Rudy is out practicing his golf swing, longing for the warm days when he can go put his practice into play.  Jack and Lola are faithfully laying at my feet, trying to soak up some of the heat from the gas fireplace I'm just not ready to give up yet (maybe the only thing about winter I'm not ready to give up).

I could be using this time to run, but I find running at night daunting, especially after a day that started over 14 hours ago, and my goal is to now tackle that first thing in the morning, we will see how pleasantly I greet 4 am. I could be using the time to decorate our new house, but I must recognize this is a process, one that took me almost three years to complete in our house a third the size of this one.  Hopefully that does not mean it will take nine years for me to love this house like I did our little house.  One thing I was decent at in the little house was carving out time to record our memories over here in our blog, something I just haven't done so well since we have relocated.

That being said, I'm going to try again.  Something I have said several times, but keep contemplating. Yesterday I came back to my blog, and I loved reading the little things about my boys, particularly Rowen, that I had remembered to capture here. Because more often than not, these fleeting moments in their lives escape my day to day memories, and I want to hold onto these little pieces of magic forever.  And for now, this is the place I choose to hold them.

I want to remember the way the bond between my little boys is growing, each and every day.  How sometimes they can be fighting over the same toy, hollering at the tops of their lungs, and in the next moment Rowen is placing a kiss on the top of his little brother's head.  Or the way our wild spirited  Finny runs and hides when you say its bedtime, but once caught lays on your chest offering a curled hand wave and nigh-nigh all the way up the stairs as he clutches his many gators to his chest. How they both get way too excited for Pizza.  How we have dance parties to classical renditions of pop songs and Disney music multiple times a day. Or how Rudy and I lament almost daily at how quickly time is passing as we watch more and more of the toddler-ness shed from Rowen, the kindest, sweetest little almost three year old we have ever loved.

These memories are small but precious, and ones like these will hopefully span my lifetime.  I'm planning to come back to my space more often in the quiet time I have found.  Remembering, and recording these memories is more important to me than I realized. And hopefully one day when I look back, I will of captured the magic that is our ordinary wonderful little life.

Blurbs

Well my blogging fell off for the last few months, but on the long list of things we have been up to blogging about it fell pretty low on the priority list.  But one of my goals for this season and the upcoming year is to get back at it since this is the easiest forum for me to document our lives.  

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In late August we moved! We had been talking for over a year about moving and finding a more permanent home in the area, with more space for our growing family.  While we loved our little house, we hadn't planned on two babies in that house, and the time had come to find something for our family as it is now.  So we packed up, said our goodbyes and moved about 25 miles away to what will hopefully be our forever home.  

We have been in our home for almost four months and we are slowly making progress on making it our own.  Our first order of business was extensive painting, and since then we have been piecing it together.  It took us almost three years to really love our other home and make it feel like it reflected our style so we are our taking our time on this house as well, but I know eventually (with a lot of patience) it will be the house of our dreams!

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With our whirlwind move, we have taken the last few months to really relax and just enjoy family time.  The boys are thriving, and playing together, and I hope to do a post on some of the little personality things they have right now that we simply adore.  

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Most nights this is the scene in our house as they crowd around the tree to run the choo-choo.  We are heading north to Nana and Pop-Pop's house in just under two weeks, and these train loving little boys are going to be in train heaven with all of the train's pop-pop is setting up in anticipation of their arrival! 

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Last month we celebrated Finnegan's first birthday. I thought the first year with Rowen went really fast, but I can honestly say that I think this year went faster.  Our days are blessed by this sweet little boy and we can't imagine life without him or his brother.  He is having surgery this weekend, and hopefully it will only be a little blip in his story.

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On four different occasions I have tried unsuccessfully to take a picture of the boys for a Christmas card.  I don't know that I will get an actual picture of them where they don't look like they are being punished (even though they are being bribed with m&m's) or someone is crying, so I may not send out Christmas cards this year, which on initial thought made me a little sad, but I know won't be the end of the world. 

If all else fails, I do have one back-up...

Well I think this was a good little recap, and hopefully my blogging will pick back up! 

Finnegan~One Year

Our dear sweet Finny,

As I rocked you last night, I fought hard to hold back the onslaught of tears over the fact that today is your first birthday.  Happy Birthday our sweet angel boy.  I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday, anxiously awaiting your arrival, the doctor asking us if we wanted to have a baby today, and then seeing the precious sight of your dark head of hair!

And while that day changed the shape of our family forever, today is just as valuable to us because of the joy, laughter, and love you have brought into our family!  I never thought we were missing anything, but your little personality brings so much happiness to our days, and I love the space you have filled in our family and in our hearts.

Here are a few things that we have learned, and loved about you from this past year:

1.  You have always been a sweet easy going baby.  While everyone said how calm your brother was, you are calm in a different way, and tend to just go with the flow.  You are happiest when you are surrounded by people enjoying a snack at the table.

2.  From day 1, you have loved to talk.  You are such a flirt and love to be social with everyone, so it seems only natural that you enjoy trying to talk to people, and your little face lights up when people talk back to you.  You say da-da, ma-ma, and seem to be trying to come up with a word for the dogs.

3. You are a partially fair-haired blue eyed version of your daddy.

4. You love your big brother, and we see your relationship with him blossoming daily.  As you become more independent, I have a feeling you will spend hours playing together, and hopefully becoming life long best friends.

5. When we pour water on your head in the bathtub you try to stand up, every time.  Not sure why I am including this but it is pretty funny to see.

6.  You will eat almost anything I put in front of you, and love when we put food on your tray to let you feed yourself.  I have definitely let you explore eating with your hands more than I did your brother, and you generally look like pigpen after dinner every night!

7. You have four teeth, are in the 90% for height and weight, and are literally days away from walking. You took four steps the other day so we know full on running will be coming soon.

8.  You love going to school.  When we turn the corner for daycare, you happily start blabbering, and insist on being carried facing outwards so you can flash smiles at everyone you see.  Occasionally if you are really excited you will offer them the raised hand, which you haven't quite figured out how to wave just yet.

9. You have rhythm in your soul!  If you hear music you will start bumping along to it.  In the past week you have started to love dancing to Christmas music too.

10.  You love to crawl around and wrestle with your dad on the floor.  Sometimes you crawl away just so you can get a better angle to tackle him from.  Best of all, you almost always include a little growl in your counter attack!

11.  When I put you to bed, you  let me rock you for a little while.  You never fall asleep for me, but you do lay there just as content as can be snuggling on my shoulder.  I adore it, and I hate when I have to lay you down in your crib.  At night you sleep with your gators, who we often hear you wrestling with in the early mornings before you are ready to get up!

12.  When you smile, it shines all the way up to your crinkly blue eyes.  You are such a happy little boy and we are blessed to call you ours!


Binny, Binnegans, Finny, Bitty, cat, Finn, Finnegan, we sure do love you, and we hope this is the first of many happy birthdays to come!

Finnegan ~ 11 months

My dear sweet Finny, Binny, Bitty,

Tonight as I rocked all twenty something pounds of you before bed, I prayed, as I often do in your case, for time to slow down.  I prayed to let these last few weeks, days, and hours pass slowly because I know too well every time I look into your big blue eyes, babies simply don't keep.  And as you try with all your might in everything you do to gain more independence, I pray that you will stay my bitty baby for just a little bit longer.

Today you are eleven months old, one month away from the big one year old status.  Everyday your personality grows as we see more and more of your loud, wild, courageous, kind, soft hearted spirit.  You wake up everyday with a smile, and usually an 'a-dah', and fight bed time most nights, simply I believe because you don't want to miss out on the action.  This trait carries throughout the day, for when I pick you up and put you on a hip you turn your torso out so you can face forward and greet everyone who makes eye contact with you.  Like your brother, you are a happy baby, and your face lights up even with the smallest hint of acknowledgement.  

You are literally moments away from taking your first steps.  I may be making a bold assumption, and may have to eat my words later, but I think you will be full on walking before your first birthday.  You hold no fear of falling and are quickly letting go trying to take off on the freedom of your two feet.  We bought you a walker to help get you there, and you zoom about the house on that.  Just like days after we brought you home, you talk all. the. time.  You mimic sounds we make and we can get ma-ma  and da-da out of you.  

Right now you are a momma's boy, if I leave the room, or walk off without you, you start hollering because I left you behind.  The only times I can quickly disappear are when you are playing with your dad and brother.  You love that dad doesn't hold you with kid gloves anymore and lets you roll around on the ground with him and your brother.  And you are a little fighter, I think here soon you will be beating your big brother up for which ever toy he doesn't let you have.  He secretly loves that you have begun to play with him.

You now have four teeth!  And are as happy as a clam that I have started giving you table food when we sit down to eat as a family.  You love to be included in meal times, and sit happily picking up whatever I offer you on your tray.  In the last week we have transitioned you to whole milk and you seem to be doing great with the change.  And in a few short weeks we will take your bottle away for good, a move that I know you are ready to make. 

When I think about this time last year, anxiously awaiting your arrival, I never could of imagined the sheer joy and sunshine you would bring into this family.  Your little big personality makes our days brighter and we are so happy to call you ours.  Happy one last month as a 'baby' sweet Finnegan James!

Beeper, Bitty, and Buzz...

While things have been rather quiet here in our little corner of the internet, it has been anything but quiet outside of the computer.  In the last two months we have made the decision to move, found a home, will be closing mid next month, and will be renting our current home out.  It is a lot, and while there is oodles more I could mention on that topic, today I would like to talk about my three little boys: Beeper, Bitty, and Buzz.  Yes I said three, and no, there isn't a baby, but rather a space ranger.

Dear Beeper,

Our sweet first born.  Gone are most of the traces of the wobbly little baby esk boy you once were as most of your baby fat has gone away on your journey into toddlerhood. Each and everyday you teach your dad and I new things about being parents, especially now as we are traveling through the wild woods of toddlerhood.  Some days things are great, and some days are harder for your little soul, but you are learning and growing, and we constantly see the lightbulb turning on as something new clicks with you.  Your vocabulary has taken off!  I know I wasn't the most patient about this, but as I have learned, you will do things in your own time, and talking was the same.  On the way to school you love to point out the busses, and trucks, and your two favorite words are probably buzz and baby, what you call Finn.  You are also starting to sing, and we catch bits and pieces of the theme song from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, your current favorite. Speaking of Finn, you love him these days, and when he isn't trying to tackle you or steal your favorite toys, you seem pretty happy to have him around. You are such a sweet little boy, and it shines through in your big personality.  You still love to give hugs and kisses, especially when you are the definition of a sweaty and sticky little boy.  We love you so much Beeper!

Dear Bitty,

Sweet, loud, WILD, Bitty.  You are so different from your brother in so many unexpected ways, and parenting you in a lot of ways seems like a wonderfully different experience.  Not to be forgotten, your BIG personality shouts through, and if we aren't paying enough attention to you, you make sure we know your displeasure.  In the last two months you have lost all traces of a little baby, and I often lament to your dad that you are simply growing too fast.  From the minute you wake up in the morning you are moving, always on the go.  This past weekend you figured out how to stand up in your crib, and you were pleased as pie with your new found skill.  Your teachers as school politely describe you as busy, and most days when we pick you up you are climbing up on something, and when you hear us  you turn around with a big gummy grin.  I don't think your grin will remain the same for long, as you have your first tooth, and I'm sure many more will join it soon.   In the meantime, you think you can eat everything we are eating, and start hollering and hooting if we don't give you a taste of what we have.  You are big Bitty, and can be described as solid.  About two weeks ago when you weren't feeling so well you weighed in at almost 21 lbs, and this weekend you started wearing the same clothes that your brother wore last summer when he was around 16 months.  I have a feeling shortly after the new year you two may be in the same size.  Speaking of your brother, you love him, your face lights up when he pays attention to you, and you turn absolutely giddy when we let you down on the floor to play with him, although right now your favorite game is to attempt to climb up on him, which he isn't too fond of.  You have such a happy easy going personality Bitty man, and these almost nine months with you as part of our family have been truly magical!

Dear Buzz,

I didn't think I wanted a third son, but you are around so much these days that you might as well be an official family member.  You are often the source of many tears though sir, so if you could stay in your designated area instead of falling with style during dinner, book time, and bed time we would greatly appreciate it.  Beeper simply doesn't understand that you are not an extension of his arm.  Now I understand that you have information about the evil emperor zurg, but I doubt you are the only one who knows it given how often you mention this information, just saying.  And while I'm happy you are around most days, I know in the future you may become the main source of  sibling fighting, so if you could help keep the peace with your laser beam and karate chop action figure skills that would be greatly appreciated.  I'm sure you are going to be around for years so this is only the beginning of our relationship with you.

We love you Beeper, Bitty, AND Buzz!