A Year in Review: Thanks 2008!

So, we are not in Boston today as we had planned. Ade's 18 month checkup was supposed to be Monday morning, but she threw up on the way there. We rescheduled for yesterday afternoon, and sure enough she started getting sick. Dr. Wilson said she has RSV, a common infant virus. I called the airlines, and cancelled our flight, and we are hoping they will waive the cancellation fee. We are disappointed, and Ryan is really heartbroken as we haven't seen his side of the family since May. We plan to head up Jan. 16 instead, so I am leaving everything packed. Our trip will be much more enjoyable without a sick baby! Ade is also confirmed as advanced in speech and petite in size (4% in weight, but 20% in height).

We have 5 days at home with a sick Adelaide instead of a trip to Boston. Hmm. We did join the YMCA, and are really excited to start working out again as part of a join New Year's resolution. Also, we get to bring Ade to the playhouse there for 2 hours a day included in our membership, so that will help a lot on weekends.

I thought I would post a little year in review, looking back on our zany year. First, let me share pics that show exactly how much Ade has changed throughout 2008:




We spent the first few months of the year renovating this house, and then moving on St. Patrick's Day. In Feb. I took Adelaide to Pgh by myself on a plane, in March Ryan headed alone to Boston, and then in April I went to Armonk leaving Ade alone with daddy for the first time. In May we all visited Boston. We went to Disney in June, and had Ade's big first birthday. In the summer, we started seriously sweating the economy as our house sat on the market unsold. We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary in Myrtle Beach as usual in August. In September we moved some renters in to the other house, and really got serious about saving money after our first trip away together to Chicago. We visited Pgh in September, and found out my NCSU classes were being cut. As the economy kept getting worse, we made more and more adjustments. In November we closed on our primary mortgage, and this month we have finally seen things begin to settle down. I picked up some courses to teach at Chatham in the Spring, and think things may have changed for the better. Ade has become a running and talking person, as she changed so much over the course of the year. We have learned so much this year, financially, and as a family.

Our goals for 2009 are simple: keep it simple! No buying or renovating houses, and no more major expenses or time-involved projects. We want to plan travel around visiting family, and make our lives a little easier. We intend to work out, stay healthy, do a little landscaping and gardening, and focus on the things that make us happiest. I think we can really make this an excellent year!

Merry Christmas to all!

What a week of Christmas merriment!

Last weekend we celebrated our own little Christmas before any travel. Friday night Ryan and I exchanged gifts after nugget went to sleep. Among our cool gifts, Ryan got me a massaging bed rest and I got him a custom cookbook from Tasebook.com. Saturday morning, Adelaide was amazed to see Santa had visited.  Among her gifts was a bouncey horse that controls learning games on the TV, and a dollhouse.

Jenna and Jon came over for dinner that night, and Adelaide was gifted with an Elmo chair that talks and spins. She tried her art smock on with Uncle Jon.

Sunday morning we had the Frank family over, and enjoyed a yummy brunch and gift exchange. The kids had a great time opening gifts (their own and each others).

Tuesday night we headed to Pittsburgh, and although Adelaide woke up in Breezewood and stayed awake then until 1:30am (oh, yea, and she also vomited goldfish crackers all over her carseat), she was a very good traveler. We got to see all of the great-grandparents, and Ade enjoyed saying their names: G-G and PapPap, and Nino and Noni. We had such a great time visiting all of our family, and being completely loaded down with gifts!!!
Adelaide, as usual, was completely attached to her grandma and grandpa (the Guhs) and could not get enough of the HopHop. Although we didn't get to see our friends the Malloys, I did get a chance to reconnect with my high school friend Shannon at King's for breakfast (Hi Shanny!). Our trip back included more sleep, but also more crying.

Although we always love seeing friends and family, Ryan and I were very relieved to be back home for a few days before we head to Boston. No matter what, traveling is tiring, and with a little one, it is vastly more exhausting. Nothing compares with the comforts and routines of home, especially for schedule-driven little ones.

Oh, and on the financial front, things are starting to look up as we have now closed on the perm refinance of this mortgage, and consolidated the debt from the remodel. Fingers crossed that the refinance of the "investment property" puts a temporary end to the madness, and our renters hang out on their two-year lease to get us through to more stable economic times.

Horses, horses, horses

Last weekend, Adelaide decided that in honor of the holiday parties we had to attend, she would go on a nap-strike. She was a total pickle, and refused to sleep. But, we made the best of the cranky baby, and went to our parties anyhow. We had a ton of fun playing with the Elmo toys and tear set at the Burckart's.


On Sunday, Adelaide was amazed and thrilled by the horse at the Antley's. She had absolutely no fear, and wanted to pet the horse immediately, and feed her hay.


This weekend we will have our little family gift exchange, before we pack up and head off for Pittsburgh and then Boston. Also, check out the new dotPhoto website that displays all of our full photo albums:
sltrunzo.dotphoto.com

Festive!

Last weekend, we decorated up a storm! I still need to take a pic of the outside of the house, but it looks great if I do say so myself! ;-) (Yes, I get on the ladder to hang lights while Ryan watches the baby. We have no gender stereotypes around here!)

Adelaide loved decorating the tree. She would get out an ornament, hang it, and then go back for another. While she retrieved the next ornament, I would relocate the one she had just placed to a higher branch. It was a nice assembly line effort.


We tried to take Adelaide to see Santa, and she was very excited to see "Claus!"



That is, until we got up close...


Adelaide also helped me bake a blueberry pie and she was so well behaved! She sat on the kitchen counter and only smooshed the pie crust when I told her to, and only used the big spoon to smooth the blueberries when she was a allowed. I was so proud of how well she listened. Some of her recent antics include blowing on her food when it is "hot" (or nowhere near hot most of the time), she blew bubbles from the wand for the first time, she touches her heart and our hearts, she does a dramatic rendering of many meow sounds, she LOVES Lion King, and will sing along to sounds with some interesting sound effects, she yells at us to Sit! when she wants to read books on our laps, she tells the dogs, "Good girl" if they do something she commands them to do, she puts her finger to her lips and says, Shhh!, and she started an interesting habit of tucking her sippy under her arm football-style when she is done eating and wants out of her highchair.

In other happy news, Ryan and I FINALLY closed on the loan to move this house to permanent financing, and I finished my final exams, including wretched finance. We are enjoying having some of the anxiety off our backs so we can try to enjoy the holiday season.