Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2012 Lookback

2012 wasn't the worst year for us. There were so many joys, especially watching each second of Henry's life unfold over the past 12 months.  But 2012 was definitely full of challenges -  learning how to be parents (and feeling like you're failing at every moment, especially those first few months), balancing parenthood with our jobs, leaving our friends and colleagues behind and moving home, trying to re-assimilate ourselves in Tulsa - all while constantly battling some illness that Henry has managed to pass on to us from day care!  We've made a lot of great memories in 2012, some of which I've attempted to capture via photos in this post.  Excited to see what 2013 has in store for us!

Henry and me on New Year's Day last year.  Happy to say that we've both changed quite a bit since then!
This photo pretty much sums up Henry's attitude during his first month of life. It was challenging spending my days with such a fuss budget.  If it wasn't so darn cute!

Henry and I went on lots of arctic adventures in Chicago during my maternity leave.  Despite being snowed on, blindfolded by his hat, and propelled down the aisle of the el because I didn't put the breaks on his stroller, he was always a good little traveling buddy.

We tried just about every contraption on the market in hopes of getting Henry to sleep, including this nifty baby straightjacket.  Alas, all items were unsuccessful.  Though I'm happy to say that at 13 months old, the kiddo is FINALLY sleeping through the night. Whew!

Henry helped Daddy cheer on the Jayhawks.  Unfortunately Henry's unwavering support could not win them a national championship.

Henry and I traveled to Tulsa for a round of job interviews all by ourselves! All I have to say is thank goodness for the sweet TSA employees (shouldn't that be an oxymoron?) at O'Hare airport for helping us get through security pretty much unscathed.

We celebrated Easter in Chicago, and I got my job offer from Doerner, Saunders, Daniel, and Anderson the next day, making our move to Tulsa official!

Just a few days after Easter, we put in an offer on a fabulous house (without ever having seen it in person).  Good news is that we absolutely love it!

We spent an awesome weekend in Michigan with John's family, and learned that Lisa was having a BOY.

One day Henry morphed into a miniature John.

We said a very tearful (at least on my part) goodbye to Henry's sweet teachers at his daycare in Chicago, Little Green Tree House. While we just love the sweet teachers at his current daycare, we still miss LGTH.

Henry eats food! Although he refuses to eat most table foods, and he is even more opposed to feeding himself.

Henry's first horse ride!

Henry learned to swim (sort of) at Miller Swim School over the summer. He loves the water so much that we are considering putting him in more swimming lessons this spring.

We celebrated Henry's first 4th of July at John's favorite place - the lake! Henry loved  the fireworks and watching all his older cousins run around and celebrate!

Uncle Jim came for a visit! Henry was baptized over the summer, and there can't be a baptism without a godfather! Miss this guy so much!

We finally moved into our house in late July after having the bottom floor painted and other touches to make it our own. We just love having a "real" house as opposed to a condo, and Henry is a definite fan of all the extra space to crawl around and wreak havoc!

I'm so thankful for all the extra time we've been able to spend with our families. Henry is benefiting so much from all the love he's getting from his grandparents (including my mom, shown here).

Henry started rolling around sometime in July and hasn't stopped moving since. We realized instantly that we were in big trouble!

Theo joined us on September 1st! We went to meet him mid-September, and Henry could not have been more excited about meeting his new little cousin! I know these guys are going to be the best of friends! (P.S. Don't be creeped out by Theo's lack of a face in the pic - it's my latest attempt at disguising him on the internets, per his parents' request.)

We braved the hordes of hillbillies and took Henry to the Tulsa State Fair where he rode his first carousel. He was less than impressed.

Henry's first trip to the pumpkin patch!

Henry the Hedgehog dominates Halloween!

A fall photo-op

Henry has loved getting to know and spend time with his cousins!

Turkey Day with our little turkey!

First Santa experience, and it was downright perfect.

Henry's first birthday party! He definitely did not inherit my love of cake!

Henry turned 1 on December 5th!

My stepdad, Kirby, retired from OSU medical school and was honored at a reception with some Superman underoos.

Henry was our little Christmas angel.