Happy New Years!

Happy, Happy 2011 to everyone! Cheers to a fantastic 2011!

It's no secret that in this past year we have had incredible tragedy. We lost two special people this year, Grandma Nelson and my Dad. My mom and I both lost a parent this year. While we will continue to miss them terribly, my mom said it perfectly-- "let's be thankful for what we DO have and not for what we don't." So I decided to remind myself of how wonderful 2010 was for us as a family. I was reading back through blogs from this past year and it was, indeed, an overall great year.

I am really thankful for so much. My family and our health for one. If one thing has inspired my own mother, it was the loss of my dad. Realizing life is too short, she actually scheduled herself a doctor's appointment (if you know my mom, that is something she scarcely does because it's very time consuming!). Thank goodness she is healthy and let's pray she continues to put herself first sometimes. In addition, John and I are very lucky that despite this economy, we have both managed to stay employed. John even switched jobs midway through the year and we both are making more money.

Looking back, we had some really wonderful times. To start the year off, my best friend gave birth to a beautiful little girl, McKenna. My nephew turned 1 a few weeks later. We were lucky to be surrounded by family and friends to celebrate.

February brought on a much needed vacation to the warm country of Jamaica, after one of the biggest blizzards of our lifetime. That was a very memorable family vacation and AJ discovered his love for Sesame Street.

March came and it was soon my birthday, where I was able to celebrate with my husband and baby boy. John had surgery, but he came out healthy! Late in the month, my best friend Clare gave birth to a beautiful little boy, Daniel.

April came and brought on spring, it's always nice to ditch the coat.

April and May were hard months with my grandmother's stroke. AJ turned 2 on May 30th and we celebrated with a fantastic birthday party.

June was another tough month, as we lost my fabulous Grandmother. We had a wonderful celebration of life and I know that she is finally with her soul mate in Heaven. John and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and we were lucky enough to eat at DC's #1 restaurant, Komi.

July brought on the best weather yet--HOT! We celebrated 4th of July in PA. Little did we know that we would be either parents of 2 or very close to it the next time this holiday rolled around!

August was exciting with a Pocono trip the first week and Daddy's birthday later on in the month along with a day trip to the beach.

September brought on my 9/11, apple picking, apply cooking, and lots of apple eating! Daddy and Mommy took their first vacation away from AJ when we visited my best friend Maggie in LA.

October was a very exciting month with a trip to PA to celebrate Leah's 2nd birthday, visit to the Renn fest, picnics with Grandma, and Pumpkin Picking! We concluded the month with a very successful Halloween and finding out we were expecting an addition to our family!

November was a great month--with AJ meeting Santa once again (and loving it this time!) and a very Thankful Thanksgiving in Philly. We announced we were expecting to our family and I was given a promotion.

December was one of the hardest months of my entire life...but there was a lot of good. Christmas brought on so much happiness to our family. It was nice to celebrate Jesus's birth with the ones we love. Then last night we rung in the New Year together as a family with our friends Clare, Josh, Kevin, and Suzanne. We had a really great time playing taboo and watching the ball drop. They say how you ring in the new year has a lot to do with how your year will pan out. I must say, if that is true, we will have a very wonderful year in 2011.

I have learned so much this year. I grew up a lot. Life is always going to give us curve balls and every year, no matter how hard we try, something is going to try to bring you down. It seems as though you learn the most when life throws you curve balls. It's not what you did or what happened, it's how you come out of it that makes you successful in life. It's hard to focus only on what is going on at that very moment. It's hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel when you are going through a hard time. But, what is important is to reflect on what you have and to focus on the positive. That is my New Years resolution every year from here on out. FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS. As the great personal trainer and former Redskin Eddie Mason says, "GET YO MIND RIGHT!", which is actually adapted from the greatest book ever written, the Bible, into his own words of course

Now on to looking ahead to this year. I'm sure this year is going to give us it's share of challenges. Some are unknown, but some are very well known. I have a lot to sort through still with my dad. I know that it will challenge me as a person in ways I can't even know. I'm fully expecting to not sleep the last half of the year, which I'm sure is going to be very trying on all of us. I also know that I'm going to struggle going back to work after maternity leave. When I had AJ, I didn't have to go back into the office full time and now I do this time! Not only trying to get out of the house with two children, but also leaving my precious little fragile new baby to another is going to be really hard. BUT--challenges are created to overcome. WE ARE ADDING TO OUR FAMILY! We are going to have a beautiful new baby in our life. AJ is going to become a brother for the first time! I will have three whole months without work to spend entirely with my two beautiful children. I'm really looking forward to that precious time and I am going to soak in every single moment this year has to offer--be it good or bad.

In conclusion, I hope everyone had a wonderful 2010 and an even better 2011! Thank you to everyone in our family's life--we appreciate and love you all.