In honor of New Year’s Eve today, I thought that I’d do a decade in review. I can honestly say that this has been the most influential and landmark decade of my life, but of course I’ve only got three to compare… The 80’s were fairly important to me, as I was born in 81 and don’t remember much of the rest of it but I obviously learned a lot in those years. The 90’s were fairly difficult as I started it as an 8 year old and ended it as an 18 year old. I got through those years as an awkward teenager and successfully graduated high school without a second glance. And then I moved to Utah in the summer of 99, starting the 00’s in the midst of total motherboard meltdown paranoia. But here we are ending the 00’s with many mixed emotions.
According to the Time magazine article, The '00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade from Hell, “the first 10 years of this century will very likely go down as the most dispiriting and disillusioning decade Americans have lived through in the post–World War II era.” I’m feeling like that may not be exactly true for my life. I look back to the start of the 00’s as myself being a very different person than I am now. I was a naïve 18 year old, living the first 6 months on my own in Utah. I wasn’t exactly buying into Y2K as the end of the world, and ready to start my life as my own. Of course, as the clock struck midnight, nothing really happened and I started on my path to how I am now ending 09. Though the country and world as a whole may view the first tenth of the 00’s as the worst decade ever, I see some pretty significant personal achievements occurring. “Call it the Decade from Hell, or the Reckoning, or the Decade of Broken Dreams, or the Lost Decade. Call it whatever you want — just give thanks that it is nearly over.” I’ll agree that I’m more than ready for 2010 to be a much better year than 2009, I’ve got some good things that have happened too.
We were expecting the 00’s to be more than it was, “Instead, it was the American Dream that was about to dim. Bookended by 9/11 at the start and a financial wipeout at the end,”. True, the US as we knew it was about to change. We started and ended the 00’s in a bad place. We also had many other tragedies along the way – Hurricane Katrina, war in the Middle East, a Tsunami in Asia, shootings at Virginia Tech and Fort Hood most recently, economic and financial downfall, terrorist attacks and the like. Personally, I saw some heartbreaking things – the passing of an Aunt and an Uncle, lost jobs, financial insecurity and family dividedness.
On the other hand, some pretty landmark things have happened in my life. At the beginning of 2000 I became a Christian. What an important and amazing thing in my life. Through church, I have met the bestest friends I could have ever asked for. I also met my hubby, which of course, I didn’t marry until 2004, which is again, one the best things in my life. I graduated college in 03 and started my career path. I’m thankful for my job, that I’ve now been at since 06. We’ve bought two houses, sold one. And most recently, ranking up there with my fortune of meeting and marrying my husband, is having my first child, a son. What a complete joy in my life.
Though there have been deaths and births, marriages and divorces, new friends and old friends, heartbreak and joy, I am overall fortunate for my life and many, many blessings. I’m open to new things and ready for change and growth in my life. 2009 has been tough, probably the hardest that I can remember. Yet, it has also been the source of my greatest joys, therefore I’m conflicted about the ending of this year. I go forth in the next year hoping to be a more candid, respectful, thoughtful and gracious person. I hope I can reflect the joy of Christ through the living of my life and exemplify what it means to live a worthwhile and outwardly joyful life. I hope to be nicer and more giving to those in my life that I love, are angry with, don’t really know well or haven’t met yet. I’m learning to adjust my expectations of others and of situations, while at the same time elevating the expectations that I have on myself. I want my husband to be proud to have me as his wife, I want my son to reap the benefits of his mother, I want my family to be happy that I’m in their lives, and I want my friends to be lucky to have me as their friend.
In December 2009 alone, Reed has learned to crawl, gotten two teeth and has started to pull up on things. It won't be long now before he is standing and walking on his own. Hopefully it will be followed by words.
I’m excited to see what the 10’s bring, hopefully less tragedies and crime throughout the world, peace among nations, financial restoration, good deeds and much growth. I hope that during the next 10 years I can accomplish something worthwhile. I’m hoping for one more child in our life. I hope that Reed sees these next 10 years as the best of his life. I look forward to celebrating 10 years of marriage with my husband in 2014. I hope to travel to some places I’ve always wanted to go.
So for now, I wrap up my review of the 00’s. May everyone’s next 10 years be filled with joy, health, happiness and love.
By the way, if you didn't know, Santa skis up at Snowbasin until he has his big night on the 24th. In other words, a great ski instructor friend of mine grows his beard out all summer and dyes it white after Thanksgiving to be Santa all of December. He lost a bunch of weight (good for him) so he has to stuff his belly full of jelly, but he's about the best Santa ever - so good at it! When he sees kids in the mall when he is not in his Santa outfit, he hands them a candy cane and winks and seriously, kids think he is the "real" Santa. Pretty cool. Thanks Santa Tim!
Reed officially got his first tooth. Now, I know what people are going to say when they read the following story, "you have the dream child". And I know I do. So anyway, Fogg was just hanging out with Reed on Saturday night and he bit down on Fogg's finger. Fogg said that it was a bit sharp so he felt around and discovered his first tooth. I have heard about horrible fevers, drooling, crying, upset stomachs and the such but my child had none. Not even a tear of pain. It just popped up and there it was. Here are some other funny pictures
Luckily, London has been so good with Reed. He doesn't get jealous of Reed (only when LaLa holds Reed). He follows him around but I'm pretty sure it's to lick up any spit up and now that Reed is in his high chair with food, London lurks under him just waiting for a precious morsel to drop. I have a feeling that will get worse and Reed figures out that he can drop stuff and London will eat it. When Reed is on the floor hanging out, London will come over and lay next to him. And he is very tolerant when Reed grabs him and pulls his hair or ear. It's very sweet. Here are some pictures I took yesterday of the two of them hanging out. Also, they are both hams, so the camera comes out and Reed will smile and London will crawl over to be as close as he can to the lens. Here is Reed with one of his favorite things - his mesh feeder. Here he is with a strawberry - what a mess!
Reed loves his walker (as mentioned in previous posts). We got our Christmas tree up this weekend and have to move a few of the dining room table chairs in front of the tree so that Reed doesn't crash into it. Also, he loves the shiny ornaments and would do what it took to grab one off the tree. Anyway, all of the sudden, I don't hear much other than his walker gently hitting something over and over. I look over and this is what I see:Happy as can be under the table (and dreaming if you are a Dave Matthews fan). He thought it was pretty funny that we were all laughing at him.
London must be ready for Santa to come, he is already sleeping under the tree:
And here is my tree this year. I decided to decorate differently this year. I found a good new spot in the house to put up the tree so I didn't have to move any furniture. I also got a great Black Friday deal on this 6 foot prelite tree at Target - only $25! It's sort of narrow, but it's nice cause it's not all over the place. It's in two pieces and super easy to put up, took me less than 5 minutes! I also decided not to put up all of my mismatched ornaments, I got this nice ribbon to put on it and matching bulbs. I did put a few of my favorite mismatched on it afterall, but it still looks good I think. We had a nice Thanksgiving, went over a good friend's house. We spent the morning working on our basement then Fogg and I got to go for a quick dirt bike ride behind our house. I love that we can just head right our from our house for a hike or bike ride. A few dozen cookies later, we were off to a great Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great time with our friends and got to meet some new people too.
Reed loves LaLa!
Reed also had his 6 month doctor appointment last week. At six months, he weighs 17 pounds, 10 ounces and is 27 inches long. He went from being a solid 95 percentile kid down to 55th percentile. The doctor thinks this is because he is just so active that he can't keep on the same amount of weight as he used to. In fact, he really only has one "fat roll" and that's on his thighs. He is always running in his walker, flapping his arms like a penguin, rolling around and sitting up grabbing things. If he isn't asleep, he is moving (and I guess even in his sleep he is moving around a lot too). He is just very happy and laughing all the time. He has a very sweet disposition and loves people. While at the doctor's office, Reed perfected his "ham smile" which is different from his genuine smile. He will do this fake smile when he thinks he should be smiling, however, it looks more like he has smelled something undesirable. I got some nice shots while we were waiting for the doctor of him practicing his fake smile. When the doctor came in, he kept doing this and the doc thought it was pretty funny. He's growing perfectly and is meeting all of his developmental milestones so far! It won't be long before he is crawling I would guess.
I'll get some pictures posted of our basement project soon. Drywall is going up tomorrow, so I'd like to get some pics of the basement before.
