2012 Review

I’ve spent the past few days jotting down notes of things I remember from this past year. 2012 was a beautiful one for our family; one filled with blessing upon blessing. Here is a month by month review:

JANUARY
:: We moved into our new house the week before Christmas so we spent this month getting adjusted. We kept our backdoors open most days and enjoyed the expanse of our yard and the golf course

{view of our yard from the porch}

{Miles flying a kite in our back yard}

FEBRUARY
:: I turned 29!
:: Joe got me horse back riding lessons for my birthday and I also had my favorite annual birthday shopping trip w my MIL – she’s the best shopper.
:: Joe and I celebrated Valentine’s Day with a steak dinner on our back porch. I hung Christmas lights for the occasion. (They are still there.)
:: My long time friend & mentor, Cyndi, visited and spoke at Discovery Church MOPS

{a birthday pic I snapped with my phone}

{at my riding lesson}

MARCH
:: We found out we were pregnant!! The line on the pregnancy test was so faint I almost discarded it, thinking it was negative.
:: Both our parents were out of town & we were bursting to tell them the news so we made a video of Miles saying, “Baby in mommy tummy!”
:: We started potty training with Miles.

{texting the video of our wonderful news}

{bought toys at the dollar store for incentive}

APRIL
:: We celebrated Easter! Miles looked for eggs in our back yard and loved his Easter basket.
:: We moved Miles to a big boy bed.

MAY
:: Joe celebrated his 28th birthday! His parents and I were going to surprise him with a trip to NYC but my friend Lindsey spilled the beans over dinner a week early. (She was devestated – Joe was elated & especially glad he wasn’t surprised since he likes to plan and prep. It’s in his nature.)

{a more recent pic of my handsome hubby}

JUNE
:: Joe and I went to NYC for the first time ever!! Joe’s parents joined the adventure and graciously gifted us the trip, including tickets to Newsies! Other high lights from the trip included the double decker bus ride, visiting with our friend Jon Tyson, and a carriage ride through Central Park.
:: At the end of the month, we took our annual Loveless family vacation to Blue Ridge, GA for the 3rd straight year. Highlights from this year included catching lightning bugs, eating delicious Thai chicken curry soup from a restaurant in downtown Blue Ridge and taking turns on GDaddys kyacks. Also, Joe, Jon & David each ate a worm. Yuck.

{ready to see Newsies on Broadway!}

{fun on Lake Blue Ridge}

{JD & Miles – buds on vacay}

JULY
:: We found out we were having a boy! To make a memory of it & tell our parents, we filled a box with blue balloons and took pics as we released them in our back yard.

{blue for baby boy}

AUGUST
:: We celebrated Miles 3rd birthday with a Toy Story themed party at our house! My brother Sean & his family were in town, making it a momentous occasion.
:: We spent a week in St. Petersburg with my family, including my brothers – Mike & his fiance, Amy, and Sean, his wife, Sarah and their 1 yr old, Eli. Highlights from the trip include swimming in the pool everyday and grilling on the charcoal grill (the smell of childhood), hanging on a sandbar at the beach, and getting a kid free dinner with my siblings at a fantastic restaurant.
:: We decided the baby’s name would be Owen Chandler. I blogged about it here.

{mommy and the 3 year old birthday boy}

{Crabby Joe’s for dinner in St. Pete}

{Miles and Uncle Mike on vacation}

SEPTEMBER
:: My mom threw me a baby shower for Owen:)
:: My blood work came back with super low iron and B12 levels, making this month a rough one for being pregnant. I was very tired of pregnancy at this point but it’s all worth it.

{celebrating Owen’s soon to be arrival}

OCTOBER
:: We welcomed Owen Chandler on October 30, 2012 weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs 8oz!! I cried the second I saw him, overwhelmed with thankfulness for his little life.
:: We celebrated Halloween while in the hospital. Miles was a rocket ship for Halloween & we passed out spider suckers to all our nurses.
:: Joe made our hospital stay memorable by renting old movies on the iPad while we cuddled our new boy.

{tears of joy}

{first picture with Owen}

{that precious face}

{Halloween!}

{old fashion movies and a newborn}

NOVEMBER
:: We brought Owen home from the hospital on Nov 2nd!
:: We were gifted cooked meals from so many people for almost 3 weeks!! A highlight was my sister-in-law, Rebecca, coming over to prepare 3 gourmet meals from scratch. She even brought champagne!
:: My Grandma Belmonte (who is 84 yrs old!) came to town and we celebrated Thanksgiving with her at my mom’s house.
:: On Thanksgiving day, we continued a 6 year tradition where we go to my in-laws house in the morning, eat McDonald’s biscuit breakfast, drink cups and cups of coffee, cook food, and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
:: The rest of Joe’s family joined us for dinner and the Cowboys game later that evening.
:: The following day, we decked the halls for Christmas!

{brothers}

{Owen with Auntie Chef Rebecca}

{Great Grandmother hands}

{thanksgiving boy}

{deck the halls}

DECEMBER
:: We started a new family tradition and welcomed The Wise Guys to stay with us until Christmas (more on this later).
:: My dad came to stay with us for a week and we were blessed to borrow a raised blowup bed so he’d have a place to sleep! My dad’s visit included a homemade stew by yours truly, introducing him to 4Rivers, breakfast at Winter Garden Farmers Market with my brother & Amy, dinner with Joe’s parents, and a home cooked dinner at Mikey’s new apartment.
:: Joe worked hard putting together the Christmas Eve services for Discovery Church. He wrote and performed a spoken word piece (Rise & Shine, it’s Christmas Morning!) and did a video shot at our house that included a styrofoam snowball fight:)
:: We celebrated Christmas Eve at my mom’s by baking cookies, watching movies, playing cards, and opening presents!
:: Christmas morning was a hit with the 3 yr old! We had a scrumptious breakfast of Apple Fritter French Toast with bacon and then headed over to Joe’s parents for a perfect Christmas Day. Highlights from Christmas Day include: 3 3yr olds who were better behaved than last year, Gavin fainting when he received a Nook from Marmi & GDaddy, and India & Taylor performing using Indi’s new guitar.

{my dad – loved having him here!}

{our boys with both their Gampa’s}

{oh Santa!}

{Christmas Eve with the Nonnos}

{opening presents Christmas morn}

{a little Christmas day football with the cuzzies}

(my dimple baby}

{loveless fam Christmas 2012}

{latest pic of my 2012 baby}

Thankful for all this year held and excited for this coming year! Happy New Year, all!!

Love,
Catie, Joe, Miles, & Owen

Miles-isms Part 2

These are the days when sweet old ladies warn moms like me to write down the things my 3 year old is saying because I WILL forget and these years are over before you know it. This is me heeding their advice. Here’s what Miles has been saying lately:

1. Miles just announced that no girls are allowed in the house. When I asked him “what about me? I’m a girl” – he laughed and “No you’re not, your just a mommy!”

2. Joe was trying to convince Miles to eat more of his dinner, to which Miles replied, “Daddy, I’m not hungry anymore, i promise! Ask my tummy..(He then lowered his voice) I’m Miles tummy and I’m really full!!”

3. I put some glitter pens out of reach and Miles came running yelling, “hey!! My farkalies! My farkalies! (Sparkalies) You moved my farkalies!”

4. Miles was asking questions about the breast pump, so I was trying to explain it to him and used the word “tatas”, which I had never used w him before.
A lightbulb went on and he said, “oh, I know! That’s from a movie!”
I assured him that I was 100% positive it wasn’t in a movie he’s seen.
He said, “yea mommy, it’s from The Lion King! You know, “Hakuna MaTATAS, what a wonderful thing!!”

5. Joe and I told Miles not to touch the bottle of wine we had sitting on the table and his response was (I kid you not),”but it’s Gods plan. He wants me to.” Lord, help us!

6. When watching anything recorded on the tv, Miles always says “mommy I want to watch ‘ammercials’ (commercials)”.

7. One of his go to phrases when he forgets something or does something goofy, he says “silly ole me”

8. While watching the Disney movie Brave, I made the observation that a scene in the movie was sad. Miles responded matter of factly, “Well, sad things happen.”

9. When he’s disappointed about something it’s, “ah, nuts” or more recently, “ah tickle sticks”

10. While driving in the car, Owen started crying and Miles sang him a made up song that went, “goodnight sleep tight baby Owen you silly gilly gumball”