Four years....wow!

Can you believe it?  Can you believe that it has been FOUR years since I received that amazing phone call that changed my world!  (Okay...it will be four years tomorrow but I know that I have a busy day ahead of me so I won't have a chance to write.)  If you want to hear more about that day, you can go back and check out this post.  Little did I know what life was about to bring me.  Joy!  Pure joy! Little did I know that it would come in the form of this beautiful little soul!

Now that our family is complete and we have been blessed to become parents to two beautiful babies, it is funny to look at how our family came to be.  I am such a planner and nothing about our story was planned by me.  I have no doubt that God had planned this and I believe that the way He brought Gus into our life was absolutely perfect!  I had  about four months to prepare for his arrival.  I had a chance to wrap my head around it.  I had a chance to create a beautiful nursery and to fill it with everything baby!  I had a chance to fill the dressers and closet with an excessive amount of clothing.  I had a chance to rearrange it and reorganized it a plethora of times.  I had a chance to go to the remainder of the doctors appointments with J.  I had the chance to be in the delivery room when Gus took his first breath!  I had a chance to be ready!

I had no idea that I would never be ready enough!  How do you get ready for a pair of beautiful eyes to stare back at you with all of the trust in the world?  How do you get ready to discover that this beautiful little one has a nose just like yours and their is no scientific reason as to why?  How do you get ready for your heartstrings to be yanked so hard that you can barely breathe?  How do you possibly get ready for the best adventure in the world?  I thought I was ready.  Ready or not....this little man captured my heart instantly and continues to do so over and over again every day of his little life!

I had no idea on that snowy day in January of 2009, that my whole world would be changed with a simple phone call....but I am so happy that it did!

One Week Old

5 months old

20 months old

2 years old

3 years old

SIMPLIFY

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Clearly I am spending my NYE in the comfort of my own home.  Nice and cozy on the couch with my hubby.  My little man is exhausted and passed out in his bed after an evening of fun with friends.  My little lady is fast asleep in her swing next to me.  2013 is starting out great!!

I have decided that I am not declaring a new year's resolution that will be broken before school is back in session.  Nope.  Instead, I have chosen a word to drive what I do this year.

SIMPLIFY.

(Please stop laughing, mom!)  Anybody who knows me, knows that I tend to over-do things a little bit.  I have an office and a basement and a closet and a computer hard drive that all boarder on hoarding.  I simply can't make one hair piece for Penny...I have to make 15.  I have a lot of stuff in my house for the "what if's" and the "just in cases".  I save multiple drafts of documents I create on my computer.  I have enough linens to outfit a large bed and breakfast. (I really love sheets and pillows and towels!)

In an effort to regain some sanity and to focus on what is really important in life, I have decided that I need to simplify some things in my day to day life.  This will start on the morning of January 1st!  As I do every year, I will watch the Rose Parade (...if the kids allow it.  I am hoping to start instilling the love of this parade in Gus this year) and then during the Rose Bowl, while the kiddos nap, I will pull EVERYTHING out of every cupboard and drawer in the kitchen.  I will purge items that we no longer need and I will re-organize the kitchen to see if we find a better configuration.  I have done this every year since I moved to the east side of Michigan.  I look forward to it!  And even more so not this year because I plan to SIMPLIFY what we have going on in the kitchen this year.

I have heard this before..."Keep It Simple, Stupid" or "K.I.S.S".  I have my own version of that to help keep me focused this year since we don't say "stupid" in this household.  I printed it out to post on my mirror so I see it every day.  Hopefully at some point in 2013 I will be able to report back on how the simplified life is going!