Goodbye, 2013.

It was a really good year.

It was a life-changing year.

Life-changing because we started off 2013 going from one child to two. And that was a game changer for sure!

We didn't go on any big vacations. Hubs and I didn't find ourselves in new jobs or advancing our careers... yet. We pretty much hunkered down and parented the crap out of 2013! (Is parented even a word?) We balanced two babies and two full-time jobs and that was enough for us to take on at the time. I've said it before and I'll say it again... this two kids stuff is no joke!

When Miss D-Nut arrived Little C was only 21 months old. I think back on the first two weeks of life with a newborn and toddler and I can't believe we made it. It is all a haze now and thinking back on that time is crazy! It was pure survival mode and I'm proud to report that we made it out the other side.

The exhaustion in 2013 was like nothing I've ever experienced. The stress, the worry, the decisions, the balancing, the arguments. All of it was intense, yet manageable.

2013 once again strengthened our marriage and solidified even more that I'm one lucky lady to have the love of my husband. We make a good team and in 2013 we celebrated 7 years of marriage and 15 years of being together! That's practically half my life! Oofta. I love that man of mine!

Little C turned 2 on Easter and continues to bring our family so much joy and laughter. The things he says are too much and (like all parents) we beam with pride at how smart he is. He is a leader and a calculated risk taker. He tackled potty training like a boss and he welcomed his new role of big bro with enthusiasm and wears the title proudly.

Baby D-Nut entered our family at the beginning of 2013 and we can't imagine our lives without her! She is our blonde-haired, blue-eyed little ray of light. She is a silent observer compared to her boisterous big brother but she speaks up when necessary. And unlike her calculating and cautious big brother, Baby Sis is all out adventurous. We have our hands full with her for sure! Having a baby girl has been such a blessing and I can't wait to celebrate her birthday in a couple of weeks.

My reflection of 2013 is a positive one. Nothing too over-the-top and nothing too dramatic or tragic. Just life. Simple and pure. And having said that...

I hope 2014 is the opposite!!! K & K are ready to shake things up and make some new life changes. Now that we've settled into our parenting gig pretty comfortably it is time for us to turn our focus on our careers and to make some advancements. Look out 2014, we're out to get you!

Dream job, are you there? It's me... Kendra!

We are going to be moving and I can't wait to see where our new home will be. We've never owned our own place either so that is going to be a HUGE deal for 2014. It's like we'll be grown-ups or something. Weird.

So goodbye, 2013. You've blessed our little family and you've been mighty kind to us. I am beyond grateful for having a quiet and happy year and now I'm ready to get out of some comfort zones and push some limits. 2014 will be all about taking chances, putting myself out there and living big! I can't wait!

Lastly, I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to stop by here and share in My Full-Thyme Life. I've received so many thoughtful and kind comments this year and your support, solidarity and humor has been such a comfort.

Happy New Year! Here's to an exciting 2014. Let's live BIG!

Up next...

Hello! How was your Christmas? Ours was great! Exhausting, but great. I think the kids even felt the same way because for the past two days they slept in till nearly 8am!!! That's unheard of!

Perhaps you've seen or at least heard of the movie Four Christmases? Well that is us. I have a large family so we do our best to make the rounds. It is a lot of fun but leaves us drained once it's all over. Our kids get a bit overwhelmed as well.

Little C probably feels it the worst. When he doesn't have structure and there is a ton of sensory overload for him he lets it show in the way of temper tantrums and grumpy behavior. He did his very best and truly did a great job but we had some moments and I think getting him back to daycare on Thursday to resume his standard routine was welcome for all of us. Is your toddler the same way?

Baby D-Nut's first Christmas was great and as always she just rolled with the punches and held up well. Of course she received some fun and age-appropriate toys but wanted nothing to do with them after seeing big brother's loot. Whatever he had, she wanted. Such is the life of siblings, yes?

All-in-all Christmas 2013 was a success. C was at a fun age and having a baby girl meant ALL THE PUFFY DRESSES!!

Now that Christmas is behind us, we're gearing up for Baby D-Nut's 1st birthday. I didn't get my act together to print off fancy schmancy etsy invites for my girl's party. So Evites were recently sent out and that will just have to do.

I saw this post on Mommy Shorts recently and it gave us the brilliant idea for a breakfast/pajama party. We did a Cookie Monster 1st birthday for Little C because leading up to his big day he was a huge Cookie Monster fan and it was a no-brainer. But Baby D-Nut honestly doesn't have anything she is specifically drawn to or that we notice as her most favorite thing so for a while we were struggling with what to do for her.

I know a "theme" isn't necessary but Hubs and I do enjoy having one for the kids. And when I say "Hubs and I" that is just what I mean. He plans these shindigs right along with me and enjoys the details as much as I do.

So when I showed him the post about the pajama party he was sold and I told him the best part would be because her nickname is Baby Donut and because we'd be serving breakfast there would most definitely have to be miniature donuts on the menu. I mean... come on! How cute is that?!?!

So that's what's up next for us. I'm so excited for our girl's celebration! I still can't believe we are closing in on her first year. It was a good one for sure. And just like I did leading up to Little C's first birthday, I do plan to do some reflecting. That is, if I can stop myself from welling up every time I sit down to type! Good thing I recently stocked up on tissues. ;)

Warriors

Arapahoe High School is my alma mater. It is my brother's and it is even my dad's. We grew up in the Littleton community. I was a senior in 1999 when the tragedy unfolded at Columbine High School. I had peers that were affected.

I'm devastated for many reasons about what happened on December 13th. I'm sad that something so negative and senseless occurred in the the hallways of a place I loved. I'm sad that the Littleton community once again had to endure another tragedy.

I'm beyond devastated for the Davis family. I can't possibly imagine...

The Arapahoe High School shootings did not affect me on a personal level but it sure did hit close to home. As I ran an errand on my lunch break last week I had to go directly into what I consider "Arapahoe territory." All around were signs and messages throughout the community saying, "Pray for Claire." My old middle school had "We love you Arapahoe" on their sign and I know even Columbine High School put "We Are All Warriors" on their letter-board. As I drove through the area the true sense of community was palpable.

I then carried on about my business and my life. I'm pretty sure I complained about ridiculous first world problems. I'm certain I took for granted that at any given moment I could have picked up my phone and called out to any of my loved ones and they would be on the other end to receive my call. Then as I started to wrap gifts for my family on Friday night I tweeted how I had so many presents to wrap and no scotch tape to wrap them with!

As my tweet hit my timeline one hit right above it with details about a vigil being held for Claire Davis. I felt embarrassed to have just complained about something so trivial.

I know it is normal and just a part of human nature for us to carry on after learning of bad news, especially if we were not directly affected by it. So I'm not beating myself up for carrying on with my life but what I am hoping to do as I am surrounded by loved ones during this wonderful time of year, is to cherish it and not take it for granted.

I hope I can keep a clear perspective about what's truly important and when I start to lose that perspective I hope to be humbly reminded.

Arapahoe High School and the Littleton community will rise above this incident. They are Warriors.

My thoughts are with them all and especially with the families of the two lives that were lost.
 

Working Mom Moments

Today I'm at Mile High Mamas sharing a tender moment between Little C and I . It was one of those moments where, for a second,  I did not want to be working mom. I wanted nothing more than to be at home with my little man and have nowhere to go.

Between you and me, I think I'm feeling this way a lot lately because I'm not crazy about my current gig any longer. In turn wearing my "working mom hat" becomes harder when I don't love the time I'm forced to spend away from my kids. I know I have the power to change this and I'm not feeling sorry for myself, it is just a fact.

I love working and my career is something I look forward to building on. But that doesn't mean hard days don't exist where soldiering on to work isn't tough. Thank goodness for the tender moments and the treasured time I do spend with my little loves. They are the moments that as of late get me through the day.

Click here to read the whole post.

Can you relate? Do you find yourself daydreaming in a business meeting about your kids?  

Baby Update - Month 11

Here we are! 11 months old!

I am very much in denial but mostly... I'm just flipping exhausted!! For the last two weeks the sweet, precious little face you see above has made it her new life mission to NOT SLEEP through the night any longer.

I don't know why. I don't know how to fix it. I don't know if it's a growth spurt, teething, ear ache, stomach ache, etc. I have purchased the Wonder Weeks on my Kindle in hopes to shed light on things, but I'm too damn tired to read it.

We've tried crying it out and soothing techniques. We've tried to convince her to use a paci. We've tried white-noise in her room. We've tried everything short of standing on our heads and reciting the Gettysburg Address if we knew it would get her to stop this madness.

We've been giving her bottles in the middle of the night as it is the only thing that will calm her down from the uproarious cries she bellows from her crib at all hours of the night! But it boggles our minds because she guzzles a full 8-9oz bottle before bed every night. Is it not enough?!?!?

Of course, now we think we've created a monster because she is so used to these "after hours feedings" that breaking her of them is going to be all kinds of difficult.

She's exhausted and out of whack. Hubs and I are exhausted and out of whack and I'm really starting to dread the nighttime like a trip to the dentist or something.

She cut a top tooth recently and the second is close behind so I'm hoping that is all this is and it will be over soon. But if it's not... I just.... I don't know what else we will do. It is so hard not knowing how to help her out and not being able to understand if something is troubling her (like pain or an ailment of some sort) or if it is developmental. The guessing game is the hardest thing for me. I want to know what is wrong and I want to fix it.

As for an 11 month update... All I can say is that despite this episode she is doing great. Her eating likes and dislikes are changing by the day. She is so close to saying simple words and I wonder what her first real one will be.

It is clearer to us now than ever before that this girl is a force. She marches to the beat of her own drummer and she will do things on her own terms without any persuasion from anyone. She demonstrates fearlessness at her very young age and it is such a fun sight to see! Give this girl a playground or jungle gym to climb on and watch out!

Still not walking and she doesn't seem too eager to get moving. She uses her Vtech walker like crazy but when we hold her hands to walk around she immediately sits down. We aren't pushing her but we keep at it to hopefully get her more comfortable with being bipedal. ;)

I'm sure there are more poignant things to address and update you on but I can't seem to recall them at the moment because I can barely see straight to type this post out!

The next time you get a "Baby Update" our D-Nut will be ONE YEAR OLD!! Can you believe it? We are so behind on party planning because, you know, the Holidays and such. But we are gearing up to get all the deets squared away. I hope we learn how to juggle the whole Holiday/birthday grind much better as each year passes. Because right now it is a bit overwhelming at times. Fun and exciting, but overwhelming for sure.

So that's my drone update for the day. And if anyone out there has any suggestions or helpful tips for this sleep regression we are experiencing, I'm all ears! 

She may be driving us batty with her maddening middle of the night shenanigans, but we are still having fun with our D-Nut!