What a Year...

2012 has been a year for the books.  Our family has celebrated many wonderful and amazing things, but we unfortunately have cried and grieved together too.

This year began with us grieving the loss of Carly's GG (Dave's Grandma) and making a return trip to Seabrook to celebrate her amazing life.  Before we were able to come up and breath from this event, my mom was hospitalized due to chest pains and underwent a heart catheterization.  Thankfully these results were positive, just in time for her and my dad to transport Robert up to the Cleveland Clinic for an evaluation due to a new development of seizure activity in him.   Tests up in Cleveland showed that a portion had been left during his original surgery in 1996 and a "clean up" job was needed.  He went into surgery up there.  Once he was cleared to come home my dad made the journey back to Columbia in the middle of the night with both my mom and brother in time for Robert to be admitted to the rehabilitation hospital at 6:00am.  During his evaluation an infection was suspected, so Robert was transported to the nearby ER and was in surgery later that evening.  His recovery has encompassed a lot of my parents time (and his); however, David Jr was not intending on waiting for life to settle down.  On Thursday, April 26th our family celebrated the birth of David Charles Orr, Jr.  (Finally a positive trip to the hospital.)  However his labor and deliver had to follow the course of the year - originally their wasn't enough room at the hospital so my check in was delayed, David Jr was sunny side up - making the delivery a challenge, and we had to move rooms due to overcrowding 5 hours after meeting our son.  Two weeks later I was in intense pain and crying while my OBs tried to figure things out.  Less than 24 hours later I was in a operating room having a prolapsed urethra repaired...  In July we began to learn that David Jr had food challenges (aka allergies) and that he was being affected by my diet.  At the same time my mom fell while out in Texas when she missed a step in an outdoor pool area and spent some time in the ER.  Thankfully, things began to calm down after this little misstep.  My grandmother has been working with her doctors this fall and winter trying to figure out why she isn't 100% and spent a few nights in the hospital looking for answers.

Through all of that craziness Dave also competed in 4 sprint triathlons and committed to compete in 2 half Ironman events in 2013.  In addition to working full time and going to graduate school.  Best of all, he made it out on the boat a handful of times - a few solo trips, some Daddy-Daughter boating trips, and then two trips as a family of four.  Carly began 2012 saying very few words and is now talking about a mile a minute.  She spent the year completing a session of swimming lessons, participating in gymnastics, visiting Seabrook and her GG Papa, and a few weeks after David arrival with her Aunt Boo-Boo and grandparents.  Carly also began preschool this September and is coming out of her shell even more.  She comes home after her mornings in preschool with a craft project she can't wait to tell me about and ready to "play" school when she should be napping.  I began running again in June and immediately ran for 3 miles, starting my training for a 10k in September and finished up the year with a half marathon under my belt and a scheduled marathon in March of 2013.  David Jr entered the world facing up and setting the tone for life to be exciting.  In June and July our family did quite a bit of traveling and celebrated Dave's mom's 60th birthday with a huge surprise party in Atlanta.    In these past 8 months David has gone from a newborn to an almost crawler (he is doing everything but going forward at the moment).

While I pray that 2013 is an overall better year than 2012, I can't say that 2012 was a bad year.  Dave and I welcomed our son into the world and our daughter has continued to grow into a smart and compassionate little girl.  I look forward to Dave competing his 2 half IronMan triathlons, me completing a marathon, Carly continuing to learn new things everyday, and seeing our little David crawl and take his first steps in 2013.

8 Months

It blows me away that our little man can be 8 months old.  There are moments in my life where I feel like he has been apart of our family just as long as Carly or Jake have been, but then more frequently I feel like he just joined our family.  At the moment David Jr is sitting very well and wanting to crawl.  He will go from his sitting onto his belly and will even balance himself to reach as far as he possibly can to grab a toy before rocking back into the sitting position.  He has become the master of butt scooting around the room and is typically more interested in Carly's toys than his own.  (Which is fine, because she seems more interested in his new Christmas presents than her own.)  He loves to grab for books, paper, hair, and especially glasses.  Jake and Carly are his absolute best friends and he continues to Maamaa when he wants me to feed him (and occasionally when he just wants me).  He is eating his baby food like a champ and has a lot of variety in his diet.  He prefers vegetables and fruits over the rice cereal, so we have just resorted in hiding a few teaspoons here and there in the pureed food.  He is typically eating about 7 - 8 ounces of pureed fruits and vegetables for lunch and dinner with about 2 teaspoons of cereal added to the meal.  On extra hungry days he will ask for 3 - 4 ounces of fruit at breakfast.  We are looking forward to these last few months of "babyhood" for our little man and can't believe we are now two-thirds of the way to David's 1st birthday!

Tis the Season...

So the conversation that just took place at our house -

Sharon - "Dave, I figured out what I'm getting you for Christmas.  I'm just not sure I can get it delivered in time." 

Dave - "I told you, I want a Maglight"

Carly - "We got that already, daddy."

MaMaMa

This morning David Jr said his first word!  I had just gotten out of the car and opened his door when he caught my reflection in his mirror and begin saying, "MaMaMa."  It was quite clear and meant just for me.  Best of all was the HUGE grin he had on his face when our eyes met.  Dave claims it doesn't count because no one else was around, but deep down I'll always know that my little man's first word was "MaMaMa!"

Dance Party

Our family had a mini-dance party this evening after dinner.  Carly requested "her jam" while I was cleaning up and Dave was checking some work items.  The playing of "Call Me Maybe" had all four members of our family dancing and singing.  And best of all - one song led to MANY!!

7 Months

Happy 7 Months to our Little Man!  I can't believe 7 months ago today Dave and I were hanging out in the hospital meeting David Jr for the first time!  Thinking back to that first day I am amazed at how much babies change during this first year.  David Jr is now "butt scooting" around the floor to get to toys that he is interested in playing with or investigating in general.  He gets a hoot out of dumping the box of Duplo blocks out all by himself, along with the animals in our Noah's Ark set.  During our nap and bed time story times he loves to "snuggle" with his sister and will roll over to get closer to her in the bed.  He is a very steady sitter, who HATES to fall over.  He has started to push himself backwards slightly when trying to "crawl" and can hold his weight in the crawling position, but can't quite get it altogether on his own.  David Jr is also becoming quite the chow hound at the dinner table.  He typically nurses twice in the morning, then eats 7 oz of baby food for lunch, nurses again before and after his afternoon nap, eats another 7 oz at dinner time, and tops the evening off with another nursing (if not more in the middle of the night).  He currently is enjoying - puréed butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, peas, avocado, apples, pears, bananas, and prunes.  He does not seem to be a fan of baby cereal.

Dentist

Carly went to the dentist this morning and had a fabulous check up.  I know very little about the appointment, except that everything looked GREAT because she went back alone.  When the hygienist called her name she began walking to the door, I remained in my seat looking for cues from her about whether I would be heading back with her or not.  About half way to the door she turned back and told me to come on, her name had been called.  I then asked her if she wanted me to come or if she wanted to go by herself and have me just wait in the waiting room.  She then proceeded to tell me that I could just wait for her.  So, David Jr and I did just that.  We waited.  About thirty minutes later we were asked to come back for the summary report - everything looked great, her 3 year top molars were started to make her gums tender, and she was right on track for a girl who didn't get her first tooth until 17 months old.