Remembering 2013, Looking forward to 2014

It's hard to believe that 2013 has come to an end. 2013 has brought so much joy as well as sadness into our lives. My favorite moment of 2013 came on May 17 when our sweet baby Colton entered the world and helped to complete our family. He has brought so much happiness to our lives and I love that he and his big brother are the best of friends. I really can't describe how thankful I am for my family and my two happy and healthy boys.

Grant continues to grow and learn and amazes us with the things he says and does. He played on his first sports team this year and really enjoyed soccer. He has done a great job in his new role as a big brother and is still full of more energy that I can ever imagine having!

I have also had a lot of positive changes for myself. I have lost 43 1/2 lbs since July doing Weight Watchers and feel so much healthier. I plan to keep up my healthier eating habits in 2014 and would love to find more time to exercise as well. I also got promoted to Occupational Therapy Clinical Coordinator at work in December. It has been my goal to move to a coordinator position for a while now and I am excited about the new opportunities I will now have. I plan to do my very best to help manage all of the changes to come this year at work because of healthcare reform and will continue to do everything I can for my teammates and patients. Brandon also moved to a new position at work this year and he has really been enjoying the new opportunities with that. I have to say that I am proud that we have been successful with finding a work-life balance with having 2 children and 2 full time working parents. We certainly couldn't do it without all of the wonderful support we have from our families and the amazing teachers at their daycare.

Although 2013 has been filled with so many wonderful experiences, we have also dealt with so much sadness with the loss of Daddy in January and the loss of my cousin, Beth and Granny Harris both in December. It is hard to believe that Daddy has been gone almost a year now. I miss him every single day and keep hoping that things will get easier. I would give anything for him to be here to meet Colton and to make new memories with Colton, Grant and Hannah. We definitely do everything we can to keep his memory alive and lean on each other for support and my mom has handled everything amazingly well. I continue to try to take comfort in knowing he is our guardian angel now.

On a happier note, I am really looking forward to all 2014 has to bring. 2014 will be the year that Colton learns to walk and talk. He will continue to develop his sweet little personality and will have so much fun playing with his big brother. I know Grant will continue to keep us on our toes. He will move into the 4 year old class this summer and will get to start taking field trips with his class. I can't believe we will even have to start thinking about where he will be going to big school. We will most likely take a family vacation to the beach and will have tons of fun family and friend time throughout the year. I couldn't be more excited about beginning a new year!

This baby has grown so much!

If you look closely, you can see his first tooth:)

He loves playing with all of these toys

He is officially crawling now and starting to get in to everything! He especially likes all of his big brother's toys!

Grant is definitely still our wild child and is a great big brother!

Love him so much!

Happy New Year and welcome 2014!! I am looking forward to the fun times we will have as a family, the memories that will be made and all of the happiness that Grant and Colton will continue to bring to our lives.