The Best of 2010

I don't even know how to wrap up 2010. It has included some of the highest and lowest points in my entire life. I have grown, oh lord, I have grown. I am stronger now than I thought possible, but happier too. This first full year with Henry has just been amazing. He has filled this void in my heart, and I am just so content as his mother and Nick's wife. Sometimes life is just so so good. Still, we had hard times this year. Sometimes trial by fire is a good thing, other times it just feels cruel. This year it was a little of both.

It's kind of funny to look back and think of things that would feel huge in other years, things like my new job are easily forgettable in a year full of family triumphs and heart aches. It feels like in a large part this year belongs to my sisters. That as thrilled as we were this past year with Henry and our little family of three, that the two most defining moments of the year come with Cici's birth and Missy's Cancer. The pure joy of Boo and Chris finally having one of their daughters home, and the pure heart ache of watching my little sister in the fight of her life.

I guess that's why I always do this year in review. There was a lot more to 2010 than those two events. Lots of great things with our family and friends. Lots of laughs, lots of tears, but lots and lots of laughs. And I want to remember the laughs. I want to remember Henry learning to walk and our first beach trip. I want to remember 2010 as an awesome year with a few rough patches, and this list helps me to remember that that is exactly what it was. So here it is, for the 4th year in a row (here are 2007, 2008 & 2009 if you really want do do a Bio Girl marathon), The Best of Bio Girl, 2010!

• Remember when I realized I may not, in fact, be as awesome as I thought at video games
• There was that time Henry found a *shudder* healthy snack...
• A post about what breastfeeding meant to me.
• Me and Henry talking about the meaning of St. Patrick's Day (I LOVE his dancing picture)
• My epic dinner fail
• One about me being an idiot at my new job orientation.
• Henry's 1st birthday party was a huge hit! and here is his slideshow. I still watch this on a regular basis, just to make me smile.
• My last day of Breastfeeding. I am so glad I wrote about this day.
• Henry went to the beach for the first time!
• Henry learns to smile for the camera...sort of.
• I love this post. It is simple, but it speaks to me. We tried so hard to have our sweet Henry, that even the long difficult nights are still sorta wonderful, just because he is here. I think it is one of my best of the year (and it will be featured in the 2010 Creme De La Creme)
• Some Life lessons I learned at the Laundromat.
• Henry finds the King Bee *shudder again*
• The Chaise finally finds it's place in our home.
• I fight with the Pregnancy Mask (aka, I am the Last Air Bender)
• Henry finds his favorite thing (although now it is in a tough race with his Woody doll)
• I am an idiot in the Chicago Airport.
• We got all athletic and did a 5K for Brain Tumor research
• I look like Big Foot caught on tape while playing Flag Football.
• We have too much fun at Arielle's bachelorette party, which of course leads up to the big wedding of the year!
• Kentucky gets a lot of snow, and Henry and Ellie think it's awesome.
• Henry helps to put up the tree for Christmas!
• Henry decides Christmas is awesome, as does his Papa.

Wow. That's a long list this year. And I was so tempted to link to a million more because in all honesty, 2010 has been awesome. Reading over the posts has reminded me. We are so blessed to have our sweet Henry and our amazing friends and family. We are so very thankful for this amazing life we get to lead.

I posted about 13,245,361 pictures this year, and I was sorta depressed about it a few days ago and sorta thought, "Man, I need to get away from all these pictures and really get back to writing" but after looking at all my old posts, I have changed my mind. I love the pictures. And since I couldn't link to each picture post, her is a link for the Picture category, just in case you want to scroll over all the pictures I have posted here at Bio Girl. You can also see all the videos here, if you are curious :)

Happy New Year everyone! I will see you in 2011!

What Every 30 year old Man wants for Xmas

Nick got this for Christmas from his loving wife. It has a tripod, and extra clips. Oh, and it is automatic. It is the king of Nerf guns.

And then his wonderful father got him a sniper riffle

And of course his brother got one too... (the serious faces... they are cracking me up!) Needless to say mayhem ensued. Wonderful Christmas shoot-out mayhem.

Nick attacking from the kitchen (the red eye sorta makes him look like the Terminator)

Chris Making his stand in the living room

And Little Sister Candice trying to avoid getting shot this year. (which is somehow a yearly tradition.) Alas, after she took off the armor, Chris got her right in the face. Never let your guard down.

Don't think just the boys had fun though. Meagan was right there in the thick of it.

We are going to have to teach Henry young if he is going to hold his own in the Nerf Wars.

Best. Morning. Ever.

Merry Christmas everyone! We had such an amazing last couple of days, and we still have one more to go next weekend! I have so many pictures. So so many. And I plan on doing a slide show like I did last year. But I can't really do that until the holiday is complete. So... expect an awesome Christmas slide show sometime in early January. Right around the time everyone will be so sick of Christmas pictures you wont even want to watch it. But I don't care. I wont remember that little detail in ten years!

So anyway, slide show to come with ALL the pictures, but between now and then I can post some of the best ones. We will start with our actual Christmas morning here with Henry. He loved it! I know it will get more fun over the years as he gets it more, but for now this was so perfect.

Getting ready to start opening!

Introducing Woody to Mr. Potato Head. You should have seen how excited he was to have Woody and Buzz together. He was so thrilled to REUNITE them!

See Charing, I get my own kids drums too :)

Henry says "YESSSSSS"
Mama says, "That's for Papa!"

Howdy Partner

"Lets go sledding NOW!"

With Mama, looking a little tired after all the fun

Welcome home fellas. You are going to love it here.

Merry Christmas!

Lights..

Tree...

Snow...

Santa...

CHRISTMAS!

Today starts our Christmas, so I just wanted to take a quick minute to say Happy Holidays to all of you. Thank you for reading and always being so supportive. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. You and your families are all in my heart this weekend. Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Poor Writing, Cute Pictures

Well, I was going to blog about how Henry is refusing to eat dinner lately and how it is STRESSING US OUT. But then tonight he INHALED this sweet and spicy pulled pork and rice, and I was left with nothing. How DARE he eat when I was planning on complaining about it! (THANK GOD HE ATE SOMETHING BESIDES AIR.)

Besides that, life is good. Nick and I are both on our two week break from work. Good Lord, I love working for a university. We are only on the third day off work and I am just so happy! We finished Christmas shopping today, which is exciting. We have been NEARLY done for weeks but we just kept needing "one more little thing...". The last little thing has been bought, so that's it!

What else. My shingles are much better! Thanks for the well wishes and concern. I am so glad that I have an eagle eye for shingles and got on the anti-viral medication so quickly!

I am floundering around for topics here... lets see... I listed some stuff on ebay today. That's cool I guess. Or maybe it's not cool. I am not sure. But it happened.

What else... *crickets*

Since I have nothing else to share, I will just post a few pictures of Henry. That makes this post worth reading, right?

Our little family at my Grandparents Christmas this past weekend

Someone got some rad new house shoes

Also, he looks cute in his coat and hat (this post is really lacking in...what do you call it...flow. Or quality writing. I am just giving up)

Annnnd...he likes guitar.

Fin.

ICLW

Well, it's that time again! Man, ICLW seems to roll around fast. When I signed up this month I didn't realize I would already be off work for the holidays, but I am going to do my best to get to as many blogs as I can on this months list!

If you just stopping by Bio Girl for the first time, Hellllllo there! you can see our TTC history here. The short version is that I have stage four endometriosis. After three failed medicated IUI's we were blessed with our sweet Henry from our first IVF. We are now gearing up for baby number two, hoping to do an FET in March!

Speaking of the FET in March, I called Doc's office today to let them know I finally started my period (only a 54 day cycle) and to see what they wanted us to do next, now that we were waiting until March rather than February (due to lack of funds before tax returns). They said we could take one more month to try on our own, then to start back on birth control on January 24th. Assuming I am not pregnant. ha....ha. (Christmas miracle, maybe?). It would be nice if I could at least ovulate this month. It might make me feel a little more fertile rolling into the FET!

So that's it. We are infertile, but one of the lucky ones that have a sweet baby. We want another. My husband and I are huge nerds. Henry is awesome. That's us in a nutshell.

Shingles

Welp... I have shingles. Huge holiday bummer. I have actually had them once before. When I was planning my wedding my grandfather was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The stress built and one day I broke out in this odd rash. Amazingly, I recognized it fast and got on the anti-viral medication quickly and it wasn't that bad.

This time around I once again have a tad bit of stress (ahhh hahaha) between Missy's treatments, baby #2 stress, money stress, my masters class ( I got an A!), and the holidays. I got what I thought was some sort of odd bug bite or spider bite on my chest several days ago. It itched like there was no tomorrow. And it ached, oh how it ached. But... it was just a bite of some sort. A bite that hurt to touch, and yet that I scratched so much in my sleep that it would bleed (lovely, I know). Then, yesterday two more popped up right in line with it, and they had the distinct blister look to them. And then today, three more are brewing. I went to the doctor, she took one look and announced "Shingles!"

So back on anti-viral meds I go. Here's hoping I caught it early enough again to where it won't be a huge deal. My holiday break starts at 5pm today, and I wont be back at work until the first week of January. That will definitely help too.

Ice Storm 2010

Kentucky seems to get more than it's fair share of ice storms. This one, as far as ice storms go, has been rather enjoyable. It is beautiful outside, but the city is still up and running. Work was on a two hour delay, but once I got out on the roads I realized it wasn't that bad. Thank god we kept power, by far the most important thing during these storms. It flickered on and off several times this morning, but as far as I know it is holding strong (knock on wood). Here are a couple of pictures.

Some red berries

Pine Needles

Ice

And one more of the needles. Just because they are pretty.

Finally

Well, it took 54 days and some medication from doc, but I have finally started. Which means, of course, that my endo is rearing it's ugly head. My back is killing me and I am cramping like crazy. No matter how I sit or lay I can't seem to get comfortable. Pile that on the fact that I was up with Henry from 4:15-6:30, that I am of course working today, that I have my final exam for my class tonight, and the fact that we also have the Christmas Chorus Sing-a-long tonight, and you have an annoyed blog writer. I mean, my period is 26 days late, and it chooses today to wreck havoc. Just perfect timing. At least I am off work tomorrow, which is classically the worst day of the cycle for me. That's something.

Also, we are thinking about pushing the FET back to March. Just worried about not having our tax money figured out by the beginning of February. Nick wants to wait, and I see the logic. I am just so ready. But... I don't want to start medicine and then have to postpone the cycle because the money isn't here yet, OR because we didn't get enough to cover it. I can't even think about that. Because if we don't get enough from our taxes, then the FET is put off for longer than just a month. And that breaks my heart.

Damn Endo.

Santa Baby

Well, we took Henry and Cici to see Santa this weekend! I wasn't sure how Henry would handle it, but I figured we would give it a go. He honestly did way better than I thought, but in no way can I say he enjoyed the jolly old man in red. Here are a couple of the pictures!

He doesn't look thrilled to be dropped in Santa's lap, but he isn't trying to escape... a good sign?

Takes a closer look (like last year)... thinking maybe he is okay after all...

Nope. Not a fan. (Terrified)

Cici, on the other hand, seemed fine with Santa. Not thrilled, but not horrified. We will take what we can get.

Christmas Party!

Well, we had our annual friend Christmas party last night! (see parties from 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009) After linking to that many years of Friend Christmas (and those are only the ones since we have been blogging. Friend Christmas has been happening with this group since... maybe 1999? I remember having it at my apartment in 99, but could have been going even longer.) Anyway, this is a long standing tradition, and now I realize I was too busy having fun and not busy enough taking pictures! What can you do? Still, here are a couple from the awesome evening!

Ryan and Arielle hosted for the first time this year,(I didn't take their picture together, beginning the Christmas photo fail off right) and they did a wonderful job! The food was so great, plenty of alcohol and hot apple cider, the house was decorated adorable... it was wonderful!

Me Boo and Arielle at the start of the party

Boo, Chris and little miss Cici

Candice and Rhi, looking adorable in their red and green!

Annnd that's about it for my picture taking. All of those were taken in the first ten minutes of the party (the other guests who were late... sorry, no photos for you!). We started having a blast and I never picked the camera back up. Except to take this...

Cici enjoying her ribbon from her very first Christmas Present!

But beyond that I will have to use my words to tell you about the night. After I sat my camera down, Don, Andy and Missy all came to the party. We all ate and drank and had such a blast. we played the Christmas present game where everyone seemed really happy with their stuff. I know I was, because I fought like crazy to take home the gift I brought. What? They say bring something you really want... so I did :)

We played Apples to Apples and of COURSE Boo and Chris brought the White Board and we played... Christmas Pictionary! Good Lord, we love that game. I have no idea why we only pull it out once a year when the entire group enjoys it so stinkin' much. The girls team crushed the boys team two games in a row (what can I say, we are awesome. And know how to draw things like "Tron" and "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". Chris said they should have gone with Bogus Journey... would have been harder). Basically we had a truly awesome night. At some point it had me laughing so hard I was actually crying, which is always a good sign that a party is a hit!

So, Happy Friend Christmas! We missed our friends who couldn't make it this year, but we had so much fun at Ryan and Arielle's. Can't wait till next year :)

Big Boy Bed

Someone moved into a big boy bed this week.

A couple people in the house seem really pleased with the change!

I know this is a little earlier than some people do a toddler bed, (online it said kids are ready between 18-36 months, so it isn't unheard of) but Henry seemed ready. He LOVES to do things himself, and the fact that he can now get into his own bed is very exciting for him. I wasn't sure he was ready, but Nick wanted to give it a try. Last night was night two, and for two nights in a row he slept through the night in his own bed. So... so far so good!

**So the bumper pad. Yes, I know they say to take them out. We DID take it out for a long time, but once he was allowed to have soft things in his crib again we put it back. It keeps him from sticking his legs between the slats (A game that can last HOURS) and he loves to talk to the animals.

Poor Baby

Sweet Henry is sick. We went to the doctor today and he officially has his first ear infection and first sinus infection. With a nasty cough to boot. So he is now on antibiotics for the first time in his life. Making it nineteen months before the first antibiotic required sickness is pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

After the doctor we went to Chic-fil-a for breakfast, where he ate three entire ketchup packets, using his hash brown bite as a spoon. Can I count that as a vegetable for the day?

Next we went to pick up his prescription, where he finally was willing to taste a sucker, and not act like I was coming at him with a deadly weapon. It was instant love. Getting him in the car seat without taking it out of his mouth was a challenge, but we got it done.

Henry: "I don't feel good, woman. If I want to eat ketchup packets for lunch and become irrationally attached to a sucker, that's my prerogative."

Mama: "There is a song called My Prerogative! I used to..."

Henry: "Mama, I cannot tell you how much I do not care."

Mama: " Oh, FINE. I will tell you about it when you feel better."

Boots

Yesterday morning I was rushing to get out of the house. I was trying to be quite as a mouse since Henry and Nick were both sleeping. I decided to not turn on the lights in the living room, since I had the light of the Christmas tree to guide me. I grabbed my Ugg like boots (which are actually Emu boots, and a very nice brand in and of themselves, but if I said I grabbed my Emu boots you would be like "???" and if I say Ugg you are like, "Ahhhh!" Ugg really cornered the market on the fur lined boots.) and ran out the door. It was freezing, so I am all bundled up for warmth or what not. So thankful for my boots to keep my little feet warm.

As I dash from my car to work I start to notice that my shoes feel a little funny...like they are rubbing on the outside of my foot. Odd, I think. I remember these things being so comfortable last year. I get into the building and go to unlock my lab. As I pull out my keys I look down, and that's when I see it. My shoes... they are on the wrong feet. THE WRONG FEET. Yes they are. I actually put my shoes on the wrong feet by the light of the Christmas tree, and then went to work with them that way without noticing. Because apparently I am now six years old.

Winter Wonderland

We had snow this weekend. Lots of snow, according to Kentucky standards. So of course we bundled up the boy and went out to play!

Henry and Ellie Playing in the Snow from Sarah on Vimeo.

Here's a video of Henry having the time of his life with Ellie. Be warned before you watch this, it may make your heart explode with love.

First time in the snow!

Millionth time in the snow, but it never gets old. It is her favorite thing

Ready...


She's got her eye on it...

Bam!

I like this stuff

Ellie Catching Snowballs from Sarah on Vimeo.

And here is a video of Ellie with her amazing snowball catching skills! Also, I loaded like ten other videos that I have taken over the last six months. None of he are award winning or anything, but if you can't get enough of Henry videos, click here and you can see them all. Enjoy!

This is so Last Month

So remember Thanksgiving? That big family holiday where you may or may not take like a million pictures? Well, that happened. And I was of the "take millions" variety this year. And I was all like, "Man, these pictures are AWESOME! I can't wait to post them!" Then I walked right out of my in-laws house without my camera. Fast forward a week and I get my camera back. But now it feels awfully late for a big Thanksgiving day picture extravaganza. But whatever. I have the pictures and I am posting them, damn it. (Happy Thanksgiving)

Our First Thanksgiving was on Wednesday at my parents. We had 20 people and it was so great! Just like this picture, which I love.

Nick and Missy. Also love.

Cousins!

Cousins, the next Generation

My Aunt Carole flew in from California. Henry was a fan!

The best of many attempts at a great grandparent shot. These kids make things hard sometimes. By "kids" I mean Henry. Cici, as normal, is an angle.

family. (Henry tries to escape)

On Thursday we were at my Mother in laws, and the South Carolina family came into town. So great!

Aunt Candice brought her new baby. Meet Trigger. Half black lab, half German Shepherd. Sweetest puppy ever.(except for Ellie of course)

Speaking of Ellie, meet the ghost dog. Never left the turkeys side at any of the three Thanksgivings. (This picture makes us laugh so hard)

Kelsey and Henry

On Friday we did our Last Thanksgiving with Nick's Dad's side of the family. I love all of our Thanksgivings!

The siblings

Gram, Meagan and Savanna with Henry (who wants to get back to his computer time)

If someone is begging for a laptop next year we know who to send out on Black Friday!

The new baby

Gram and Jessica

At some point in the day the boys found Chris' old Nintendo Power posters. ALL the boys were impressed. (Me, not so much, seeing as how I now have one framed over my dining room table)

Uncle Chris with his poster collection

And on that awesome note, I will stop with the pictures. I bet you all can't wait to see how many I can take at Christmas...