2007 Recap

As I sit here trying to think of a word or words that could describe this year, I am left speechless. It is impossible to describe the loneliness we felt after moving to North Carolina last December and being even further away from family. It is also hard to find the right words to express the joy and overwhelming love we experienced on a beautiful day in March when we welcomed our second child into this world- our beautiful little girl, Whitleigh Jean. Ty and I watched Carter transformed from a toddler to a little boy right before our eyes and then continue to mature into such a smart little man. It’s also hard to express the pride that we have for each other after both of us finished our “training/schooling” for our future careers. We give all the glory to God for how he has blessed each of us individually and also as a family. Here is our recap for 2007.

It’s so amazing how much Carter has matured over this year. He started out the year loving airplanes, puzzles, Little Einsteins and reading books. He was still our little ball of energy that just rolled from one activity to the next. There was never silence when he was awake- just non stop talking. His desire to learn is incredible. In February, he caught onto rhyming and by his third birthday in May he was recognizing words on buildings or signs and spelling them out for us. He settled in well in North Carolina and was able to meet some of his all time greatest friends. Our little cul-de-sac transformed into mayhem after 4pm every night with 7 children running from one house to the next, everyone’s toys strung from one end to the next- it was so fun to watch! Carter showed great maturity when we brought Whitleigh home from the hospital too. We had a few set backs when it came to working on patience and voice levels- but the love and pride he had for his new little sister was amazing. The move in August was a hard adjustment for Carter since he was essentially leaving the first place that he actually had memories and attachments to. However, being able to spend a month with his cousins and extended family helped ease the pain. He is a bright kid, who is very aware of his surroundings making our jobs a little tougher when it comes to explaining things like a move across the US and living in and out of 3 different hotel rooms. He is also a child and therefore very resilient. Currently, he is borderline OCD when it comes to the movie CARS. His Cars character collection grew from 3 to 67 in 5 months and only will continue to expand due to his constant awareness of which ones he has and doesn’t. Airplanes, puzzles and reading are still a few of his passions but most recently he has showed a large interest in spelling words by sounding them out, math and singing. The way his little mind processes things and capacity of his memory just amazes us! One thing is for sure, he may have only physically grown a few inches but his imagination grew 7 feet this year.

Little Whitleigh Jean… what a precious gift! She has been such an amazing addition into our lives- we can’t imagine a minute without her smiling face! She was welcomed into this world on March 7th and weighed in at a very healthy 7lbs 9 oz. She seemed very calm yet very alert for the first few months- almost like she needed to figure out which personality it was that she was going to take on to fit into our family. She knew she had a very busy and loud older brother so would she choose the quiet more reserved type or would she pick the more aggressive type to somehow dethrone the prior prince and show him just who the new princess in the house really was. As of 2 ½ months ago, we both would have agreed that as long as Whitleigh had her main food source around (aka: Mom) she was good as gold and nothing else seemed to ruffle her feathers. It was around the time that she started to crawl (Halloween) when we started seeing some personality shine through with some of her new found freedom. Since then she has blossomed into a very sassy, yet ever so adorable 9 month old drama queen. She lets the entire state of Idaho know with her Pterodactyl-like scream if life isn’t going her way. Carter has learned the cues she gives when she wants to play and then when she doesn’t want to play. She loves to sit on her Mommy’s hip and observe from what we call her “perch.” We have cherished the moments of excitement that she shows each of us when we walk into a room or come home from being gone for only minutes. She has added balance to our small family, drama, more pink than we know what to do with, even more shoes, but most of all- love. Love that Ty and I didn’t think was possible to multiply until the moment we saw and held her for the first time. We have two wonderful children and continue to count our blessings with each milestone that we reach together as a family.

As for Ty and I, we continue doing what we have been doing. Ty loves his job and is constantly learning new material which makes him love it even more. There is always something new for him to study up on and then perform. He graduated from his most recent training the same month that I finished up my Masters program. It is amazing how far we have both come in and out of moving 3 times and having 2 children. Our adjustment from 1 to 2 was a rough time, filled with more disorganization that I have ever felt in all my life. We learned that there was truth behind the saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” We continue working on placing our faith in God and trust that he has a plan laid out for us. We look forward to many more years filled with adventures, laughter and about 23 more moves!