January 2012

 Ty and his fingers...what can I say?  He went through a phase where he posed for every picture like this - and he still whips out those pointer fingers when he busts a move.  Classic.  This picture was taken New Years Day!  Brooke was ready for her first day as a Sunbeam, though I'm positive they were not ready for her!  We had our first broken window from a golf ball on New Year's day this year.  Luckily it was a smaller window in the master bathroom, and only the outer pane was damaged.  But wow, I didn't know windows were so expensive to replace.  I guess we are lucky we haven't had a broken window sooner since we live on the golf course.

Brooke had an impromptu tea party with Liberty and Bekah.  Brooke loves any chance to play with "her girls."  I love that there are so many girls around her age in our neighborhood.

Brody at 3 months old working on his tan.  Like his father, he can tolerate direct sunlight for about 5-7 minutes.  Part Irish, part vampire?

Ty went from hating anything to do with art and drawing, to loving crayons, paints and especially sidewalk chalk.  Any given afternoon he will create a masterpiece with a very extensive story behind his artwork.

Brooke started her very first dance class at Twinkle Toes dance studio this month.  After watching her cousin Aubree dance in a recital in December, she really wanted to dance too.  I realized the teacher was a friend from high school and was excited to enroll her.  She loves to dance!

Sweet Brody had a rough winter.  He came down with Bronchitis and it turned into another respiratory virus which lingered for a good 6 weeks.  He had just started sleeping through the night when he got sick, but we couldn't keep enough calories in him (and he had a hard time breathing) so it was a long spell of sleepless nights.  After visiting a pulmonologist, we also discovered he has silent acid reflux - poor kid!  Once we got him the medicine he needed, we were able to ease some of his discomfort.  However, for having such a hard time staying healthy, he remained incredibly pleasant and mild.  He is such a sweet and easy going baby and I'm so grateful for his affectionate little personality. 

January was a challenging month in other ways.  Trent had a slow winter season at work, slower than we anticipated, and January was ridiculously slow.  His former office invited him to come back to work for them again because they couldn't keep up with their busy schedule.  It was a difficult position and we had to remember why he switched jobs and remind ourselves that the extra money he made at the previous office came at the cost of time away from our family.  After you grow accustomed to a certain income, it's always hard to adjust to a lower income, but you can't buy back the time you miss with your kids.  In the end he chose to remain at his current office, where he is slowly but surely building up a client base.  I know it was the right choice and I am happy to have him home for dinner nearly every night.  Since this is a catch up post, I'm happy to report that shortly after we made this decision, business did start to pick up and we feel really blessed to be at this office.  We have had to be a little less gazelle intense about paying off our student loan but we are hoping that in another year or two his business will be completely flourishing.