2013: a year in review

This was my worst year blogging.

Like ever.

I was so inconsistent and unmotivated.

Since this is the only real journal we keep as a family {minus the photobook we print at the end of every year}, I need to do better.

I feel like there is a lot that I dropped the ball on in 2013.

So here is to 2014!

May we all go to the gym more, not eat that entire box of Oreos that were purchased that morning, pay more attention to our kids, let our houses get a little messier without care, chill out about unimportant things, shower daily {oops...}, treat each other better, and give ourselves a little love, too.

{And by we, I mean myself ;) }

But, we still have one whole day of 2013 left.

Let's have a look at our year in our annual review post.

January

We started off the New Year by flying to Idaho for a late Christmas with Tyrel's family. While there, we got to meet our cute nephews Wyatt and Deklyn for the first time, and Kemry's love for Disney princesses was born.

Later in the month, Kemry turned TWO {!} and got to say sayonara to her crib as she moved to a toddler bed.

 The remainder of the month was spent huddling inside from the cold and recovering from killer morning sickness.

February

 February brought the most torturous experience of my life: Kemry's trip to the ER where I had to hold her down so they could take blood and run tests {all the while she keps wailing, "Mama! Help me!!"}. Luckily, she bounced back quickly!

Kemry also got cheeky and gave you all some virtual kisses.

March

The end of February/beginning of March took us to Arizona for Tyrel's brother's wedding. We finally got to meet his sweet lady {we LOVE LOVE LOVE you, Devin!!!} and enjoyed some time in the sun on the side. While there, we also had our first experience with Kermy barfing all night long.

We also got to reveal to you that we had a bun in the oven, Kemry went poop in the potty for the first time {you are welcome}, and we found out that the bun was a boy!

We also found out that month that Tate might have some organ defects, cue worry and stress here.

April

We had our first glimpse of spring in April, followed by a big dump of snow, just making us mad.

It finally warmed up enough for us to make our first venture to the park, Tyrel turned 28, and we celebrated Easter with some of Ty's family in town.

May

Tyrel finished his semester at school, we we made him play with us as much as possible. He didn't mind. He even made a shot at entering the Olympics with swing jumping.

We also began lots of work on our backyard, putting in our garden beds, raspberry bed, strawberry bed, blueberry bed, and asparagus bed. We also planted lots of flowers, dug up lots of rogue ferns, and tilled/seeded about half the lawn. 

We also went to some specialists concerning the baby and ate creme brulee donuts.

June

Tyrel's sister and her family came out to visit again, so we all hit up Valleyfair together.

Tyrel also got to celebrate his only Father's Day in which he has 1 1/2 kids.

Kemry went back to South Dakota with me and hit up Czech Days with my family.

She also fell in love with the bunnies in our backyard, and I went to a Barry Manilow concert with some of my best friends in the world :)

July

July was filled with baby prep, so there isn't too much to report. 

We had a laid-back 4th of July with some friends, celebrated our 4 year anniversary, and finally got to hold my sweet friend's new baby after her INSANE labor and delivery.

August

August was perfect. We finally got to meet our little Tatem Redge. They sang him Happy Birthday after he passed his APGAR tests, and I cried like a baby myself.

We headed back to my parents for Riverboat Days, got to see some old friends, and did as much as we could to make-up for not enjoying our summer earlier.

Also, Tate got to meet his future wife just before our best friends moved away. Kemry still asks when Harlow can come over to play :)

September

Tyrel's parents flew out from Idaho to meet our sweet baby boy and play with our crazy toddler girl. 

After they left, my brother and his wife flew out from Washington to do the same thing {which I never blogged about?!?!?!?!?!}. 

We just ate up having all our family here!

Tyrel's paternity leave ended at work, and school started back up for him, officially ending our summer.

October

 I made Kemry a sweet cardboard guitar, documented what I have learned thus far having two kids instead of just one, waited impatiently for our leaves to fall, and channeled our inner J.M. Barrie for Halloween.

November

 Fall finally came! Kemry started swimming lessons, ate lots of Oreos, and discovered lipstick.

Tate stopped sleeping through the night {and is still only doing 3 hours at a time...........}, and we hosted our first Thanksgiving with family and friends.

December

I turned 26, Tate started eating rice cereal {the chubber}, Kemry caught the stomach flu, Christmas rang throughout our house, and we all reeled the next day with stomach flus of our own.

And that, my friends, was our year.

It was quite an awesome year, especially since our family grew from three to four.

I was pregnant with Kemry in both 2010 and 2011, pregnant with our miscarried baby in 2012, and pregnant with Tate throughout 2013.

I sure love babies, but maybe 2014 will be a good year for my body to take a break ;)

I hope you can take a minute to reflect upon your 2013 and find the hidden gems that you forgot about.

Happy New Years Eve!

Be safe, and see you next year!

Previous Year-in-Review posts found:

{2012} Here

{2011} Here

let's play catch-up, shall we?

It has been an embarrassingly long time since I posted last.

Shame on me.

In all reality, it has been CRAZY CRAZY over here.

From hosting our very first Thanksgiving, broken appliances, family visiting, starting a playschool group, a pretty awesome 26th birthday, helping with a couple holiday parties, toddler swimming lessons, baby doctor appointments, Ty wrapping up his semester at school AND working a retail job, Christmas preparation, the T-man still getting up every 3 hours at night, and a vomiting 2-year-old, I have been swamped.

And I just can't seem to recover.

Boy am I tired.

BUT, celebrations and parties went well, the kiddos are healthy, the appliances are fixed {or replaced...thanks, Dishwasher, for breaking on Thanksgiving day...}, activities are finished, and CHRISTMAS is NEXT WEEK!

I have survived {thus far}!

So, let's fill you in surrounding the last month of our lives, starting with this guy:

Four months old, folks.

I can't even wrap my head around it.

We just love him so much and can't imagine a life without him.

We started him on cereal, which went way better than expected.

He is SERIOUSLY the happiest little thing.

He loves attention and demands to be held quite a bit of the time, but once he is your only focus, he gets his ham on :)

He is also HUGE, right?

He is filling out his 6-9 month clothing already. Yikes.

I think his stats were 16.5 pounds (85%), 90% in length, and 70% in head circumference. 

Compare that with Kemry, who has been in the 3%-5% from the time she was born.

He is just lovely.

And he also loves being smothered by his sister.

As for her...

She just finished her first swim class.

She was the only one who ever showed up, but we didn't mind ;)

She was really remarkable, and we couldn't be more proud of her!

She also stepped on a metal cookie cutter last month and sliced open her foot.

It scared me half to death because the cut was super deep, but it healed up just fine.

And she told EVERYONE about it.

Here she is telling Tate about it right after it happened.

She also had the stomach flu earlier this week. 

The only other time she has suffered through it was last March when we were in Arizona.

It was much nicer to have her throwing up at home instead of someone else's things :)

AND this time she knew how to aim for the bowl, so bonus points to her!

  

She sure keeps us busy.

She is always demanding to wear all pink, wanting her friends to come play, and insists that every day is her birthday {which is one month from today, actually!}.

As for Thanksgiving, Tyrel's sister and her family came up again to spend the holiday.

Kemry and Mady would wake up in the morning and get to playing right away, not even telling us they were awake.

Kemry was so so so disappointed they had to leave!

While they were here, we hopped on the train to downtown Minneapolis and hit up Santaland in Macys.

I think those little girls had a lovely time :)

Thanksgiving came, and I didn't burn the turkey, so all was well.

We did discover a broken dishwasher after dinner, however.

It has since gone to dishwasher heaven as we now have a nice, FUNCTIONING one.

Can I get a hallelujah?

Now we are cooling our jets down and getting ready for Santa to come spoil Kemry out of her mind.

 Christmas has snuck up so quickly this year, but we are so excited to spend it together!

It is such a lovely time to reflect on Christ and envelop yourself with love from your family.

I hope all your shopping is done, your homes are warm, and your soul is cheery :)

kemlady

There has been a lot of posting about little Tate lately on this here blog and not so much about Kemry.

Don't start thinking that she has quieted down.

Just the opposite, actually.

I think getting a brother has magnified her personality about 150%.

That girl sure keeps me on my toes!

For example:

...wearing my shoes all the time...

...becoming a tattoo artist...

She drew a picture of me and a little heart to go with it. I think she really captured my beauty.

She is also in love with my lipstick. All tubes have now been hidden for the sake of our clothing and walls :)

Her {French} snowman. Its my favorite.

We needed Kemry to eat a bazillion oreos for one of Tyrel's homework assignments.

She happily obliged.

As for her updates:

-She is fully potty trained with the occasional bed-wetting at night.

-She is the only kid in her swim class, but she is already a little tadpole. She even swims about 10 feet all by herself.

-She is super sassy and extremely smart.

-She is also so very caring. The minute Tate starts crying she is by his side to calm him down.

-She is a little too friendly with strangers. Anytime someone comes to the door {the UPS man, for example}, she begs them to come inside and play.

-Her bangs are aaaaaaaalmost long enough to stay behind her ears. This has taken FOREVER, folks. I refuse to trim them because we are soooooo clooooose.

-She is still obsessed with Halloween and won't stop talking about it. I think we will end up having Christmas for about 6 months at this rate.

-AND SHE TURNS THREE IN TWO MONTHS! Whaaaaat?

three months.

Mr. Tate turned three months old last Friday.

And let me tell you, he is just the sweetest thing.

All his does is coo, squeak, and sigh.

{And poop, but, hey.}

He is so squishy and soft and adorable and ohmygoodnesswelovehim!