2013 In Review

Some of my favorite posts to look back on are my year-in-review posts (see 2012 here and 2011 here.)  They take so much time to make but turn out so great and are always fun to read.  Here's what we were up to in 2013.

January- Carter turned 7 months old, bought a new car, Graeme had surgery, hosted a baby shower for Missy, had a late Christmas with Matt's family, threw a bridal shower for Sara, had a late Christmas with my family, Carter got really good at sitting unassisted, made all of his baby food, and Carter did some hunting with Daddy.

February- this is the month we lost Daddy.  It was by far the worst time of my life, but Laura and I both look back and are thankful his death happened the way it did.  We're thankful he wasn't driving or alone with Brooks, that we had time to say goodbye but nothing was drawn out.  And the science precluded us from having to make any "choices" about ongoing care.  We miss him everyday but it's also nice to know he is in Heaven reunited with so many of his loved ones.  

The rest of February was filled with Carter turning 8 months old, Graeme came home from the hospital, worked on eating with our hands, spent lots of time at the park with Brooks, Mama and Daddy spent our first night away from Carter, celebrated our state championship with a steak dinner at Pappas Bros Steakhouse, met baby Nate, sat in a shopping cart for the first time, Carter had RSV, celebrated Go Texan Day, and started crawling! 

March- Carter turned 9 months, we celebrated Mason's 2nd birthday, visited Uncle Jeff in College Station, went to New Orleans for Sara's bachelorette party, I turned 29, Carter moved up to his big boy carseat, Carter got another haircut, Matt and I celebrated our 5-year anniversary at Taste of Texas, wore green for St Patrick's Day, received our state rings, Sara and Randy got married and we celebrated Easter.

April- Carter turned 10 months, started getting into a little trouble, fell asleep in some high chairs, Carter got baptized, play dates with friends, celebrated Mothers Day, Nana and PawPaw went to South Africa, and our friends Matt & Michelle got married. 

May- we started counting down the days to Carter's first birthday when he turned 11 months at the beginning of May, spent a lot of time outside, Matt had spring football, took our first dip in the pool, posed for pictures, went to the Children's Museum, and I took way too many pictures of Carter in his jammers.

June- Carter turned one and we celebrated with a sock monkey birthday party, we went to the zoo, we spent lots of time in our new car, had our first trip to the ER, loved sitting in our new chair, went to Pine Prairie, celebrated Father's Day, took a couple steps, stopped nursing and went to College Station.

July- Carter turned 13 months old, we survived our first flight with Carter to Florida, we lived at the beach for a week with torrential downpours, beat the Houston heat with our backyard pool, went to Galveston to see Emily and her family, I left the boys for a weekend to fly to Roanoke for Todd and Grace's wedding, and officially started walking!

August- started the month thinking we weren't pregnant only to find out soon thereafter that we were, then we found out it was TWINS, Daddy went back to work for football season, we told our families Carter was going to be a big brother, went to our first football game of the season, Carter turned 14 months, Brooks turned 3, I found out about my hematoma. 

September- Carter turned 15 months, the morning sickness hit HARD, Carter started preschool 2 day a week, we won some football games and cheered on the Aggies, we spent a lot of time at home because of my hematoma, and we announced that we would soon be a party of FIVE! 

October- Carter turned 16 months, I continued to throw up everyday, we found out we were expecting TWO GIRLS, we hosted a Halloween party, Carter got another haircut, went to more football games, Fall Festival at church, took swim lessons, went to the pumpkin patch, dressed up as a Tiger for Halloween.

November- football season continued and we won our way through the playoffs, Carter turned 17 months and became very "spirited", my morning sickness subsided, went to the high school to see Daddy when we could, Matt and I went to an A&M football game, started our Christmas shopping and decorating, celebrated Thanksgiving 3 times over. 

December- Carter turned 18 months and ran this pregnant mama ragged, we continued our march through the playoffs all the way to a state championship weekend in Dallas, got to see Emily and her girls, attended several Christmas parties, looked at Christmas lights, Matt & I attended the Touchdown Club Dinner, visited Santa Claus, celebrated Graeme and Daddy's birthdays, had 3 family Christmas celebrations, and enjoyed our time at home with Daddy over Christmas break.