2011 Wrap Up... Finally

So this post is long over due, as our family and ADHD friends from Connecticut have clearly pointed out (see comments from last post). Better late than never, right...

We'll start with Christmas.

Getting ready for the big day.








This year's Christmas was a blast, as this was the first year that Lilly knew what was up. It only took a few gifts to figure out that underneath the paper lies great treasures. She wasn't the rip open kinda kid, rather she turned out to be the tear and peak type. Very cute. She got a ton of gifts not only from Santa but from grandparents too! Talk about spoiled. Two of her coolest steals were her radioflyer wagon and her cozy coupe. She can just ride in these forever, its awesome. She loves to go on a wagon ride through the woods all the time. For now since she can't "drive" her cozy coupe yet she is pretty content to be pushed around in the garage and yard. And she will let you know when and IF she is ready to get out of her car!
She got a lot of light up and noisy toys too. Kind of a headache to hear them over and over and over, but she loves them.

Christmas day was rainy and drizzly, but that didn't stop Lilly from trying out the radioflyer wagon. I literally pulled her around for about half an hour through the house. And then Daddy let her have lunch in it!







She eventually got to go outside in it.





As for the rest of Christmas it was pretty quiet and nice. We visited grandparents and brothers and sisters. Had a good time overall, just like Christmas should be. We can't wait for this next Christmas- Lilly should be running around by then and the new baby will be around 9 months!











And that brings us to the next bit of news. As everyone knows we are expecting a baby boy at the end of March! We finally decided on a name! It took a lot of deliberating but when we found it we knew that was it! So, ahem, his name is:

Forrest Scott Jones

We are super excited! Everything has been going just fine with him. He's taking a toll on me, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. I just can't wait for him to be born, as I can't say that I love pregnancy by any means... Oh but it's worth it, right Lilly!




And back to Lilly, I'm sure everyone is wondering what Lilly is up to these days. She is still hopping around on her bottom like always, but will crawl probably half the time now (or do a hybrid crawl/hop). Really depends on her mood. She is finally pulling up to a stand on couches and stuff. We're working on trying to get her to "cruise" the furniture. She just looks at us like, um, 'why don't I just sit down, hop, and stand back up- much simpler'. She's so much smarter than us...






As for speech she's really opened up. She signs for milk, all done, more, eat, dog (all the time), music, and she loves to point at everything (especially people at Walmart!). She's also saying a few things too- bye bye, cat, dog, good job, dada, she said all done twice, and book (which she says in her French accent- boooooook). So, does anybody notice what's missing in her list of vocabulary????? Hello she still won't say MAMA!!!!! I've been put in her generic category of 'dat'. Dat is her word she uses for everything else. Oh well, I've resigned to it at this point! Off of that sore subject (ok not really!).
She is doing great with her OT! She had her quarterly evaluation and tested at or above her age on everything! Super proud of her :) She can do a shape sorter like no other and can stick a bean in a soda bottle like child's play! OT is definitely where she shines.

OT zipper skills



Lilly is doing awesome. We really couldn't ask for more. She's such a fun (and funny) little kid to be around and has such a personality! We love her to death.

Other less exciting ongoings 2011

Eric finished his fall semester at USC with really good grades. He's pushing through it and can now see the light! We expect he'll graduate spring of 2013! This summmer he'll probably take a break from school and look for an internship or something, which will help him land a job later on.

Eric also has a new "baby". We built a garage a few months ago. Now he has a place to do all his projects and man stuff. He's been a little kid ever since. And we now have our laundry room back! It's no longer filled with tools and other non laundry room things. And hopefully the ugly shack of a shed will come down and a picnic table and play set will replace it at some point!








As for me, besides Forrest, I found my other new "baby" back in September. I had sold Belmont (my supposed to be show horse) last July. Which he is doing great in his new home with his new job. So I was in search of finding a new show horse since then. I found her just a couple hours from us. She is an almost 3 yr old (her birthday is in April) Hanoverian cross filly, which I named Didi. Sooooo pretty and even more important sooooo sweet. She was a little wild child when we first got her. She had literally been pulled out of the same field she was born in and had no idea the rest of the world existed! She has settled in nicely and is such a good girl. She's finished most of her ground work and will be ready to start her undersaddle training in a few months! Yeah, I know this is boring for most of you, but I'm excited about her :) even Eric likes her, so that is a plus.








One other thing to note for the last year was that I made a huge job change last spring. I can definitely say now that it was the best decision ever. I have been able to work part time, spend time with my family, and just be happier! Good change for everyone!

I think that about wraps up everything worth noting that wasn't previously blogged about. 2011 ended up not being too shabby. No complaints here. My new year's resolution will definitely be to update this blog more often!

I know 2012 will be even better and definitely more hectic! Especially come March!

I'll leave you with this:
I'm a model, you know what I mean....