Wordless Wednesday

Because He's the 2nd Child...

Poor little guy doesn't even know that Princesses and pink fuzzy blankets aren't just a way of life...

Looking Backward/ Looking Forward

Since the new year is a time to reflect on what has happened and what you would like to happen in the coming year-- here you go!

Cody Family Year 2010 in Review:

January marked the end of the first trimester of my pregnancy with our second child, and the first big snow of the winter. Leah enjoyed preschool while I was working part-time as an admin. assistant at our church.

In February, we found out we were having a little boy and thus began all the excitement of preparing for a new baby! Brett quit his job as worship pastor at Creedmoor Road Church, witout knowing whether or not he'd have some other place to serve.

In March, Leah was 18 months old, and finally gave up her bottle. We took a weekend trip to visit my parents in the Outer Banks. I went on an Emmaus Walk through a friend's Methodist church. Brett began serving as interim worship pastor at our current church, 45 minutes from our home.

April brought Easter weekend and warmer weather. We did an egg hunt at our former church, where I attend MOPS. We spent lots of time outdoors, and even more time preparing for baby brother.

In May, Brett and I celebrated 4 years of marriage, and I celebrated my 29th birthday. We took our annual family photos at the Seminary. Leah finished her last day of preschool, knowingly the last one forever, because after July, I would no longer be working at the church part-time. We spent Memorial Day weekend, again, in the Outer Banks with my parents.

In June, I took Leah, along with another friend, to visit my best friend Elizabeth 9 hours away in Tennessee for several days. Leah spent most of her summer days with my friend Sarah, since I was still working at the church. We finished making most of the purchases for baby boy, and were given so many clothes, bedding, and other gifts in preparation for his arrival! Brett was accepted as permanent part-time worship pastor at our current church, where he had just been serving as interim.


July was the birth of our perfect little baby boy, Andrew John, all 7 lbs. 2 oz. of him. Of course, he brought the usual adjustments a newborn required, but it didn't take long for him to fit in so perfectly with our family. At the end of the month, Leah gave up her pacifier at long last, and also transitioned to her toddler bed, as we finally finished up Andrew's nursery and moved her crib over there. Brett transfered to a different position with the Credit Union, working for Support Services, rather than as a teller.






In August, amidst all the adjusting to a new little brother, Leah turned 2. She had an incredible Elmo extravaganza birthday party, and Brett's parents were even able to make it for a week-long visit. My friend Elizabeth visited, as well.



In September, Andrew turned two months old and started to sleep in his own crib, rather than the bassinet in our room. He gained weight at an amazing pace, almost twice his birth weight within two months! He started smiling, too, while Leah began talking in entire sentences, carrying on conversations!

In October, we started a usual fall routine, with library story time, trips to the mall play area or the park, AWANAs for Leah on Wednesdays, and me serving on the leadership team for our local MOPS on Fridays. We spent a day at the State Fair, took some family photos in the leaves in our yard, and made a trip to the pumpkin patch to get our jack-o-lantern!

November Andrew turned four months old, and finally took a bottle. Leah started to show signs of being a great big sister as she always loved on him and helped take care of him. We spent Thanksgiving at my parents house-- Andrew's first long trip, and first trip to the beach, as well as his first solid foods.

Of course December brought all the busy-ness of the holidays-- finding & decorating our Christmas tree, celebrating first with my parents, and then as a family. Leah had a scary bout with MRSA in which we realized how short our time is with our children. She really seemed to get Christmas, and we loved seeing her reactions to all the celebrations. Andrew enjoyed his first snow.

We have set up a few goals for each member of the family to accomplish in the year 2011. Hopefully I can look back at this at this time next year and say we have done well.

Leah:

- Be completely potty-trained

- Learn to dress herself

- Learn to clean up her own toys & room

- Recognize all upper and lower-case letters and the sounds they make

- Recognize numbers 1-10 and say them in order

- Learn to cut and paste basic shapes

- Trace shapes and letters

- Recognize & spell her own name

- Recite 2 or 3 Bible verses from memory

Andrew:

- Maintain a regular daily schedule, sleeping at least 10 hours at night, with at least an hour and a half nap.

- Wean to a cup and table food

- Hopefully be able to walk and speak at least 5 or 6 words-- but that's not really a goal that we have a lot of control over

As a family:

- Have regular family devotions each night

- Memorize Scripture on a regular basis

- Read more books

- Eat breakfast together as a family more often

- Eat healthier dinners

- Make a trip to Texas to visit Brett's family

3 Years Ago...

3 years ago today, our lives changed forever. We found out we were pregnant with our first child. Things haven't been the same since!

White [Day After] Christmas

We may not have had a white Christmas, but boy did the snow really come down hard the day after!! We must have had 6 or 7 inches! It was snowing when we woke up & kept coming down most of the morning. Church was cancelled so we got to go out and play. Andrew seemed to enjoy his first snow, as long as he didn't have to sit in it! Leah absolutely loved it!! She is really into Frosty the Snowman this year, and kept talking about making Frosty the whole time. She had no problems walking right into it, picking it up & helping build the snowman!

Here's a fun video of the day:

Christmas, Round 2

Christmas Day was just the four of us this year, quiet and calm. Andrew was so excited about Christmas he woke me up at midnight to welcome the day! He was up for good about 6:45. Leah got up about an hour later and was so excited to see the presents. We didn't really put any presents under the tree until the day before Christmas, and then we didn't put many, so when the gifts from Santa were under there, she was amazed. She seemed to really get it this year-- we kept telling her all week how Santa would come and bring her presents under the tree and she kept talking about "presents for Leah!" (In fact, for the past week she has been telling everyone "I have a tree in my house!")

Her favorite part was the actual opening of the gifts, rather than the gifts themselves. She would rip into one, exclaim over it for a minute, toss it aside, and move on to the next one, even starting into some of Andrews' and our gifts. We let her do her thing, and then Andrew opened his afterward. Actually, he seemed to almost get it, too! "Santa" got him several different types of trucks & toys with buttons & knobs at a consignment sale a month or two ago. He may not be able to really enjoy them until he can sit up, but he did seem to enjoy the steering wheel! He also got a couple outfits from Nana & Papaw and Uncle Brian, and Baylor jammies from Uncle Johnny & Aunt Karen.

We were pretty excited about what Santa got Leah this year. I think she will be, too, once she has time to play with them and process all that went on! Among the favorites this year: a set of Disney Princess figurines, and a set of Princess books, a "laptop" computer with several games, and a few coloring books. She also got two pairs of jammies, some big girl panties, and two new sippy cups. From Nana & Papaw, she got a piggy bank and some other clothes. Uncle Brian got her the Snow White DVD, which she immediately wanted to watch!

Brett and I decided not to spend any money on each other this year, but we did get some nice clothes from Karen & Johnny (and of course the other gifts from Mom & Dad), and thanks to a generous donation from a church member, we went out on a date Thursday night-- dinner & Starbucks, and we bought ourselves a few things we were wanting. I really can't think of a lot of things I actually wanted. It was so much more fun for me this year to buy things for the kids, especially since Leah understands so much more this time around. I had to restrain myself from buying too much, because I kept seeing more I thought they'd like.

It was such a fun year, seeing the reactions of the kids and enjoying time as a family! We are so blessed to have all that we have.

Things we did this year that I would like to continue doing:

- "Christmas Decorating Day," complete with the hunt for our tree, Pizza Dip & a Christmas cartoon while putting up decorations

- making sugar cookies

- "What God Wants for Christmas" nativity set (one piece of the nativity is placed each of the 7 days before Christmas)

- family photos by the Christmas tree

- Watch the mandatory Christmas movies: The Grinch, Rudolph, Elf, White Christmas, and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation

Things we didn't get to do that I would like to do next year:

- Go to Christmas parade (it was rainy & freezing on the day we were going to go this year)

- Pictures with Santa (we were going to do that at the Christmas parade)

- read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve & open one gift, like pj's (Brett had to preach at the Christmas Eve service & I didn't want to venture there with 2 little ones)

- advent calendar (probably the kind you can make with activities to do as a family each day leading up to Christmas)

- See some sort of Christmas play, concert, or light show (although we did see a small light display at my parents' over Thanksgiving)

- Make gingerbread houses and some other Christmas tree ornament crafts

Christmas Photos 2010

I found adorable matchy-match outfits for Leah & Andrew at Dillards when I was out looking for a Christmas dress for Leah. Since I had a gift card, I couldn't resist! And we couldn't resist the photo opportunity! Thanks, Dad, for taking all the family ones-- what great memories! (Leah really WAS having fun, even if she doesn't ever smile in a picture!)