Year In Review

 Wow, what a year we have had!  I thought a fitting way to show our wonderful year was to put pictures up from each month.  Hope everyone enjoys and thanks for everything all of y'all have done for us over the past year from positive thoughts to prayers.  We have had a crazy year and we are so blessed by each one of y'all.  We cannot wait to start next year with a bang and Emma Claire's first birthday.

January 17th, 2010 - Emma Claire was born 16 weeks early

 February - After 5 weeks on the ventilator, we moved to Vapotherm

 March - Family picture time, we finally get to hold Emma Claire for the first time since she was born for more than a few minutes and how wonderful that was and still is!

 April 26th, 2010 - After 100 days in the NICU at Big B we are leaving to come home.  This picture was our day of exit.  What a bittersweet day that was.

 April- Emma Claire is now HOME!!!!  PRAISE God!

 

May - Memaw (Matt's Grandmother) holding Emma Claire for the first time

 

 Mother's Day 2010 - So blessed to be a mother this year and have Emma Claire home too!

 

June - One of our first dinner outings with the Bryants.  Look how small the babes are

 July - Grandma Barnicoat comes to visit Emma Claire for the first time

 August - Emma Claire's baby dedication at Church with my parents, Nana and Papa

 September - Grandma Allen with Emma Claire.  We made a trip back to OKC show EC could meet all of her family and it was wonderful!

 October - Matt's parents (Nana and Pa) with Emma Claire in her Halloween costume

 October - Special friends from Spokane, WA (Judith and Michael) come for a wonderful visit.  They get to meet Emma Claire for the first time

November - Emma Claire with Poppy (he watches her during the day).  Emma Claire loves her Poppy and we are so thankful for him

 

December - What a wonderful Christmas we had.  I know I say this a million, but we are so thankful for everyone in our lives.  Our year started out a little nutty and it seems like we have not stopped.  Hopefully this next year will bring a slightly slower pace for us, but we shall see!  

Happy New Year Everyone!

White Christmas

 When we woke up on Christmas morning, this is what our house looked like!  I could not believe we actually had a White Christmas on Emma Claire's 1st one!  How cool is that ?!!?!?

My parents came up in the morning and Pa (Matt's Dad) stopped by the house to see what Santa had brought to Emma Claire.  She must have been a really good girl, she got one big toy and a few small things and she was thrilled as you can see in the picture below!  She was so funny, her eyes just got huge and then again, started to laugh when you would put the balls into the dinosaur...I love the small things in live that make her happy!

We then went over to Nana and Pa's house (Matt's parents) for breakfast and more Christmas Cheer!

 

Nana and Emma Claire

 Emma Claire unwrapping her present's from Nana and Pa!  More clothes and shoes and some money!  I'm telling you, this little thing is going to be decked out and I cannot wait!

After resting for a bit, Mom and Dad headed back home and then we went down to see Matt's Dad's side of the family, the Suttles. 

Kathy, Emma Claire and Tammy

 Pa (Matt's Grandfather) and Emma Claire

 Pa (Matt's Dad) and Emma Claire

We spent a few hours down there and then headed back to Matt's parents house which is within walking distance...probably less than 100 yards away to pick up Boomer, drop him off at our house and then head up to Memaw Thornton's house for Christmas Day dinner.  We had a wonderful time enjoying our time with family.  Emma Claire of course received more clothes and a Santa which laughs which she thought was hilarious!

 Emma Claire and Nana opening up more clothes!

Emma Claire and the laughing Santa

It again, was another wonderful day and we were so blessed.  It was a nice time to reflect on what we are thankful for each and every day.  I was thinking back to last Christmas when I was pregnant with Emma Claire and how we had just found out we were going to be having a little girl.  Little did I know how everything was about to change.  I thought about how Mary must have felt before giving birth to Jesus in the smelly manager inhabited by animals.  In no way am I comparing myself to Mary, but it is incredible to me to think she had no idea, only she was young, un-married and had an angel appear to her telling her what was going to be happening.  How we never know what our future holds, but God does and that is all that matters.  He will never leave us or forsake us...PRAISE God!!!!!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house as we do every year and it's just so nice to only have to go to one place.  We typically get down there around 11 AM to Noon and snack and eat a light lunch, have dinner around 5:30 and then we headed off to Christmas Eve service at their church.  Since it was starting to snow and the temperature was dropping, the service was a little shorter than usual and we were back to their house by 8 PM.  

This year Mom and Dad picked up our desserts from Cheesecake Factory and everyone got to pick what flavor of cheesecake they wanted and it was wonderful!  After eating desserts and a few photos, we got down to business of opening up presents.  Emma Claire just stared at them and loved to chew on what ever was inside whether it was shoes or clothes, did not matter to her.  We had a fun time watching her with the presents and her stocking, she was so funny and would get tickled at herself which turned into endless time of laughter!

 Our Family

Nana, Emma Claire and Papa

1st Present...I secretly think she just liked the pretty bow Mom put on all of them!

 New pair of Black Sparkle Chuck Taylors!!! So Cute!

 Another pair of shoes.....

 Clothes and more clothes....we are ready for the winter/spring/summer time with new shoes and clothes!

 Now onto the stocking which held some money from Great Grandma Barnicoat and a few other little things including a new water toy which she just laughs at in the bath tub

Rockin' the new Chucks with tight and her smocked dress...Only my child!

Thanks Nana and Papa for such a wonderful Christmas!  We are so blessed and thankful for our entire family and our best present, Emma Claire!

Luke 2:9-12  

9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ [a] the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Dinner with Friends

 This year we had another wonderful Christmas spent with friends and family.  I was off work for 6 days and it was so nice to just kick back, relax and do anything I wanted to for a change.  We started off last week with dinner with some great friends of ours whom we have come to know and love over the past year. After dinner on Tuesday night, we headed over the the NICU for a donation drop off from the Bryant's and then visited with Stacy and Dr. H.  We had a blast of course until Emma Claire woke up the entire NICU by screaming her head off....what a night to pick to start teething!

 Emma Claire, Stacy and Cohen

Dr. H and Emma Claire.  You can tell how red faced she was!  After a few minutes in the chapel area of the NICU, Dr. H had her calmed down and laughing...little stinker!

 Cohen and Justin

 Emma Claire and Stacy

Christin, Stacy and me

We had a wonderful Tuesday and Wednesday nights out to dinner.  It was so good to just spend time together and laugh, of course! 

Christmas Card to Share

I would love to send everyone who reads this blog a Christmas Card, but that would probably be a small fortune so I just wanted to share our card with all of our readers and prayer warriors who have prayed for us and still continue to.  We appreciate it all and I cannot begin to thank everyone for their prayers, thoughts and comments.

May God Bless you and your family during this Christmas season! 

What a Week

I have had such a heavy heart this week.  Amongst trying to get Christmas things finished, there has been so much tragedy.   Most have been families I have never met, but have read their stories through blogs and one hit really close to home.  Blogging allows you to be a 'friend' in a different way.  I might never meet the ones that read my blog or the ones whose blogs I read, however, that does not make their lives or families any less important.  Please keep these families in your prayers as well:  Harrison Family and McGregor Family.  Again, I don't personally know these families, but I do know they do covet our prayers and thoughts as they are going through this season in their lives.

On Monday, I received a call late in the day from my mom about the passing of family member which was very unexpected.  I don't know all of the details and it really doesn't matter, just keep the Weder family in your prayers.  Doug's life was cut prematurely short, but we can rejoice in the fact he is celebrating Christmas with his heavenly father.  He left behind a wife, three grown children and two grandchildren.  I just cannot comprehend it all right now and I cannot imagine how his family is handling everything as well as their entire extended family.  My heart is heavy for them...kiss your loved ones, take time for family, never go to bed angry, have a forgiving heart and spirit, love your babes as we never know when God will call us home.  It has definitely been an emotional roller coaster for my family and I wish we could be there with them, but they know we are sending our love and prayers. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 

A Few of My Favorite Things

Here are just a few of my favorite things with ornaments from the tree included.  I love putting new ornaments on the tree.  We typically just have colored ornaments on our tree, but as the years move on, I've been putting others on too which definitely makes the tree so much more special.

 This is an angel I painted in Ellijay, GA during Thanksgiving and we put Emma Claire's foot print on it for her 1st Christmas

 A sweet friend bought this for me and I think it is so precious

 The cross above and below are a couple of ones I picked up in a shop while in Ellijay, GA.  I thought they were really neat and different and added a personal touch to our tree

 

Mom and Dad purchased this for Emma Claire and I thought it was so fitting with the baby cuddled in the angel wings.  I just think the baby needs a huge hair bow and we will be set!

I have other ornaments I love, but just wanted to share a few from our tree.  Below are two more of my favorite things....