Well since we didn't get a Christmas letter out this year, I will take advantage of technology and do our annual letter via this post!
What a year we have had. Last year at this time, Dean had just come home from spending 7 months away in Pennsylvania working for a windmill company, helping erect a 67 turbine windmill farm. Jax was a year and 3 months - and we were waiting on the next windmill job to roll around. I had just recently quit my job working at Unum, and started the most amazing job of being a Stay at Home Mom! After a few weeks of Dean being home, and th
e next windmill job being pushed back, and back... and BACK again, we had to reevaluate our employment situation. Thankfully we had been smart while Dean was working the windmills, and had a small nest egg to fall back on for our bills, but nonetheless, we were in a very stressful situation. Then, at the end of January we were blessed with a new job opportunity for Dean, where he would be working for a consultant firm. Dean interviewed and ended up taking the job working for his current company, F.J. Flynn and Associates, LLC in Greeneville, TN. Dean and I made the decision that until we could get our house either rented or sold, that Jax and I would stay back in Nashville... so we spent the next 6 months living solo again with Dean coming home for weekend visits. We made it work, and Dean really enjoyed working at his new job and being so close to family in Greeneville.
In March, we were able to thankfully have a tenant lined up to rent our house. So Jax and I started the process of packing and getting ready to move to east TN. Over the next two months, it was total chaos trying to be a "single parent", raise a baby, AND pack all at the same time.
Thank GOD for my in-laws knowing a thing or two about packing and moving, and they were all VERY willing to help us out. It's all still a blur to me, but somehow we were able to keep our moving dates, and move into our new home in Greeneville all in the same two weeks. We found a home to rent by chance, and were extremely grateful for being able to take our time to get moved in and adjusted. We are now only a few minutes away from Dean's parents and sister, Rachel, and a short trip away from his other sister, Sara and brother in law Al, in Knoxville. It has definitely been an adjustment, moving from the "Big City", Nashville, to the hills of Greene County - but surprisingly we all really LOVE it! I was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle country life and living, but it's soooo nice. It's quiet, peaceful, safe and very welcoming. Our biggest store here is Wal-Mart, followed up closely by K-Mart. Ha! I've been able to save money though with Target being in another county, and 45 minutes away!
Along with the simplicity of our new town - there are a lot of family things to do. There is a park that is perfect for Jax just around the corner, lots of places to go hiking, and exploring with the dogs. The lakes are just a short drive away, and again - we have family also right around the corner! There is also so much history in this town! At one time Greeneville was the capital to the State of Franklin, President Andrew Johnson started his political career and lived most of his life here. There are lots of museums to document Andrew Johnson, Davy Crockett, battles from the Revolutionary War, and not to mention just the beautiful scenery we have of the Appalachian Mountains in our backyard. Plus, we are only a 45 minute drive to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area (although we have yet to visit since moving here)!
Sadly with our new house came loss. Over Mother's Day weekend, we lost our beloved dog Cho
pper. It was an extremely tough loss for all of us, but mostly for Nash and Jax. We will never know exactly what kind of fun and trouble those two got into over the 3 days they were out and missing, but we are still so extremely thankful we still have Nash. Chopper was an amazing dog and friend and not a day goes by that we don't miss him. RIP buddy! In May we also "acquired" Lily the Cat. I know I know... those who know me, know I insisted I would never own a cat... We "acquired" her from our dear friends Michael and Annette, who were moving to a new home, and about to welcome their 4th baby, and decide
d she wasn't the best fit for them. So we took her in - and put a roof over her head... Jax adores her, and truthfully she is a saint. She lets Jax knock her around, jump on her, poke and prod, etc. Long story short... we are still giving her a shot...
What a year we have had. Last year at this time, Dean had just come home from spending 7 months away in Pennsylvania working for a windmill company, helping erect a 67 turbine windmill farm. Jax was a year and 3 months - and we were waiting on the next windmill job to roll around. I had just recently quit my job working at Unum, and started the most amazing job of being a Stay at Home Mom! After a few weeks of Dean being home, and th
e next windmill job being pushed back, and back... and BACK again, we had to reevaluate our employment situation. Thankfully we had been smart while Dean was working the windmills, and had a small nest egg to fall back on for our bills, but nonetheless, we were in a very stressful situation. Then, at the end of January we were blessed with a new job opportunity for Dean, where he would be working for a consultant firm. Dean interviewed and ended up taking the job working for his current company, F.J. Flynn and Associates, LLC in Greeneville, TN. Dean and I made the decision that until we could get our house either rented or sold, that Jax and I would stay back in Nashville... so we spent the next 6 months living solo again with Dean coming home for weekend visits. We made it work, and Dean really enjoyed working at his new job and being so close to family in Greeneville.In March, we were able to thankfully have a tenant lined up to rent our house. So Jax and I started the process of packing and getting ready to move to east TN. Over the next two months, it was total chaos trying to be a "single parent", raise a baby, AND pack all at the same time.
Thank GOD for my in-laws knowing a thing or two about packing and moving, and they were all VERY willing to help us out. It's all still a blur to me, but somehow we were able to keep our moving dates, and move into our new home in Greeneville all in the same two weeks. We found a home to rent by chance, and were extremely grateful for being able to take our time to get moved in and adjusted. We are now only a few minutes away from Dean's parents and sister, Rachel, and a short trip away from his other sister, Sara and brother in law Al, in Knoxville. It has definitely been an adjustment, moving from the "Big City", Nashville, to the hills of Greene County - but surprisingly we all really LOVE it! I was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle country life and living, but it's soooo nice. It's quiet, peaceful, safe and very welcoming. Our biggest store here is Wal-Mart, followed up closely by K-Mart. Ha! I've been able to save money though with Target being in another county, and 45 minutes away!
Along with the simplicity of our new town - there are a lot of family things to do. There is a park that is perfect for Jax just around the corner, lots of places to go hiking, and exploring with the dogs. The lakes are just a short drive away, and again - we have family also right around the corner! There is also so much history in this town! At one time Greeneville was the capital to the State of Franklin, President Andrew Johnson started his political career and lived most of his life here. There are lots of museums to document Andrew Johnson, Davy Crockett, battles from the Revolutionary War, and not to mention just the beautiful scenery we have of the Appalachian Mountains in our backyard. Plus, we are only a 45 minute drive to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area (although we have yet to visit since moving here)!
Sadly with our new house came loss. Over Mother's Day weekend, we lost our beloved dog Cho
pper. It was an extremely tough loss for all of us, but mostly for Nash and Jax. We will never know exactly what kind of fun and trouble those two got into over the 3 days they were out and missing, but we are still so extremely thankful we still have Nash. Chopper was an amazing dog and friend and not a day goes by that we don't miss him. RIP buddy! In May we also "acquired" Lily the Cat. I know I know... those who know me, know I insisted I would never own a cat... We "acquired" her from our dear friends Michael and Annette, who were moving to a new home, and about to welcome their 4th baby, and decide
d she wasn't the best fit for them. So we took her in - and put a roof over her head... Jax adores her, and truthfully she is a saint. She lets Jax knock her around, jump on her, poke and prod, etc. Long story short... we are still giving her a shot...With loss, comes happiness. At the beginning of July - we learned that we were expecting baby #2!!! We had been planning, but were pleasantly surprised with our timing, and are so excited that our kids will only be 2 1/2 years apart. We found out in the middle of October that we would be having another little boy, Liam David Ward! He will be making his debut hopefully in LATE 
Feb, or early March. Since we had previous complications with Jax, and he came 5 weeks early - we can't really go off of our due date of March 17th with Liam. We are so excited and can't wait for Jax to be a big brother! Not to mention we have pretty much everything we need, and we can keep our nursery and playroom colors all in BOY themes! My pregnancy hasn't been nearly as nice as it was with Jax, but I've been told that is to be expected. I've had a lot more pain and discomfort with Liam. Heartburn, backache, headaches, nausea - you name it. Plus he has been measuring big so far at every appointment, and so I've shown faster, grown faster, and felt his massive kicks, jabs and head butts faster... 2 - 2 1/2 more months... here we go!
Jax has had a huge year too! At 16 months he was able to recognize and recite his ABC's and count to 10! He loves Sesame Street and anything to do with learning. We've been so lucky t
hat he loves to learn, and that he takes it so well. Over the summer, Jax enjoyed learning how to swim with floaties, exploring our new back yard, and spending lots of time at the park! In August, we enrolled him in a Mother’s Day out program which he attends once a week. He has made lots of friends, learned to share and his manners are something I am personally so proud of. He says please and thank you for almost everything. He is such a sweet boy, and always knows when someone needs a hug and kiss. He loves being read to, and he even "reads" to us occasionally.
Feb, or early March. Since we had previous complications with Jax, and he came 5 weeks early - we can't really go off of our due date of March 17th with Liam. We are so excited and can't wait for Jax to be a big brother! Not to mention we have pretty much everything we need, and we can keep our nursery and playroom colors all in BOY themes! My pregnancy hasn't been nearly as nice as it was with Jax, but I've been told that is to be expected. I've had a lot more pain and discomfort with Liam. Heartburn, backache, headaches, nausea - you name it. Plus he has been measuring big so far at every appointment, and so I've shown faster, grown faster, and felt his massive kicks, jabs and head butts faster... 2 - 2 1/2 more months... here we go!Jax has had a huge year too! At 16 months he was able to recognize and recite his ABC's and count to 10! He loves Sesame Street and anything to do with learning. We've been so lucky t
hat he loves to learn, and that he takes it so well. Over the summer, Jax enjoyed learning how to swim with floaties, exploring our new back yard, and spending lots of time at the park! In August, we enrolled him in a Mother’s Day out program which he attends once a week. He has made lots of friends, learned to share and his manners are something I am personally so proud of. He says please and thank you for almost everything. He is such a sweet boy, and always knows when someone needs a hug and kiss. He loves being read to, and he even "reads" to us occasionally.
He also loves cars, coloring, doing arts and crafts, helping mommy and daddy out around the house, and playing outside. In November he discovered he could climb out of his pack n play AND his crib, so we converted his crib into a Big Boy Bed!!! He has done so good with going to bed on his own, and does pretty good with sleeping through the night. We are currently in the process of potty training. Not entirely sure he's ready for it, but we encourage him getting comfortable with his potty on a daily basis. We also celebrated his 2nd birthday in November. What a BIG BOY we have! He is such a blessing to our family - and I can't wait for him to have a sibling to share "life" with.At the end of August, we decided to welcome another Furbaby, Argo into our lives. I can’t say that he’s been the easiest dog to work with – and his start to life, sadly was awful. He was so sick and had a bad case of Parvo, but with help from our vet and lots of spoiling and TLC, we got him back to a healthy, playful puppy! He’s been a great companion for Nash, and Jax just loves him. He’s a hound dog, although we don’t know exactly of what breed… He’s quite the handful, but a very loving dog!
In September, Dean and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. We’ve shared so many things in the 3 short years we’ve been married – but definitely look forward to many, many more!
We also did a lot of traveling this year. Not nearly as much as we did in 2009, but we were able to get 3 trips to WA, State in, and 2 trips to Disney World! We went to WA for an early s
pring visit with family, for my Brother Brain's wedding in April, and then we spent Thanksgiving there in the snow! In March for my birthday, we went with Dean's entire family to Disney World. It was a ton of fun, since the last time I was there, I was pregnant with Jax - and didn't get to ride all the rides. Jax was a little too young to understand what all the fuss was about, but in October we went back with the family, and this time we were able to focus on Jax. He thoroughly enjoyed all the things he was able to do that visit! We have also had several road trips to my Dad's house in AL, and got to spend the 4th of July with them!We have been so blessed with all of the changes thrown our way in 2010 - and are looking forward to many more changes in 2011! We are so excited about bringing Liam into the world; starting Jax in Preschool, my brother and sister in law will be welcoming a baby of their own sometime in August. Family and friends coming and going and all the new things we will get to discover having two boys!
We sincerely hope that everyone has a safe and Happy New Year! We wish you all Health, Love, and Happiness for 2011!!!
-The Wards
2 comments:
Very nice blog, Shylah. Wishing you all the best for 2011!
What a great blog, Shylah! Wishing the Wards all the best for 2011!
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