2001: Matt and I began the year young and engaged. I had a milestone birthday, turning 21 in April. We spent most of the beginning of the year saving for and planning our wedding on August 4. Our honeymoon was in the beautiful Dominican Republic. Within a few days of being home from our honeymoon, Matt's Grandfather passed away. We knew he hadn't been doing well and we praised God that he didn't pass while we were away. A few weeks later, terrorists hijacked airplanes and drove them into the Twin towers, the Pentagon and a third airplane went down before reaching its target in the September 11 attacks. In November, I became pregnant with our first child. That December marked our first official Christmas together, as husband and wife.
2002: Matt and I started the year by quitting smoking! We spent the first half of the year planning and preparing for our baby, who was due on August 22. In early summer, we decided that we wanted to have our baby in a house and spent many weeks looking until we found our first home. We moved into our new home 3 days before our first anniversary and what should have been 3 weeks before our baby was born. August 22 came and went...2 weeks later I gave birth to a surprise baby boy. We had been told that we were having a girl! I went into labor on September 4 at 5am and RJ was born on September 5 at 12:24am, at 9 lbs 10.5 oz, 21.5" long. We wrapped up the year with celebrating our first Christmas together as a family.
2003: Was an uneventful year for the most part. Matt and I were both working opposite shifts, so that we didn't have to pay for childcare for RJ so we didn't see much of each other that year. We actually did that for nearly 3 years, until right after our 2nd child was born. We definitely needed an uneventful year after the busy first 2 years of our marriage and family beginning. We were learning a new way of life - as husband and wife, as parents, and as homeowners.
2004: I found out that I was pregnant on Mother's Day of this year, for our second child. Oh boy did we know she was a girl right away - she made me so sick that I could barely function for the first 3 months! Most of this year was spent with us working opposite shifts and in preparation for our new baby to come.
2005: In January, Emily was born! She was due on the 16th and graced us with her presence 3 days later. I actually had been having active contractions starting at about 10am on the 18th. Nesting kicked in and I cleaned and did laundry all day and went to work all night. I drove home in a blizzard, having contractions every 7 minutes, at 2am. I woke up at 4am, when my water broke and Emily was born at 9:24 am, at 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 21" long. The stress of going back to work, and sleep deprivation of working opposite shifts for the first 6 months of her life gave me chronic headaches - all day every day for over a year straight. I also did one of the stupidest things I've ever done - I signed up to sell Mary Kay cosmetics, believing all the hype that they fed me that if I worked hard at it, I could make money and be a stay-at-home-mom.
2006: In the course of trying to diagnose my chronic headaches, an MRI found a fibrous tumor in my left inner ear canal. In a somewhat hasty decision, I followed the doctor's advice to have surgery to remove it. Fortunately, when the doctor got my head opened up, he realized that the tumor was on my facial nerve and had he removed it, my face would have been paralyzed. RJ turned 4 this year and started preschool! Toward the end of the year, I decided to quit actively selling Mary Kay. I had worked my business for 18 months and I had worked hard. Because of their predatory, manipulative practices, we made some financially stupid decisions, and began to realize that the time away from my family and the money I was putting into pedaling lipsticks with little to no return was not worth it.
2007: I found out I was pregnant around Easter this year, and sadly that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at 7 weeks. Matt and I worked through the grief and found out on Father's Day that I was pregnant again for our third child. We were overjoyed, but cautious and kept the news quiet until September. We also took a trip to NYC that summer for our 6th anniversary (we didn't do anything big for our 5th) and had an absolutely wonderful time! By the end of the year, we had decided that I needed to be a stay-at-home-mom so we started taking steps toward achieving that goal by the time our third child would be born. It was in this year that Matt and I both really started listening to Dave Ramsey and his wisdom helped us achieve our goals.
2008: Matt had a milestone birthday this January, turning 30 years old. We celebrated by having a huge party with our families, a few weeks after his birthday. Megan was due on April 8 and was kind enough to show up the very next day. Active contractions started at 7:30pm on the 8th and my water broke at 4am the next morning. She was born at 11:27 am at 7 lbs. 10 oz., and 20" long! Megan was a colicky baby and this year was a rough year - she was colicky starting at 4 weeks old 5-10 hours a night until she was 9 months old. In July of this year, I was able to resign from my job and finally achieve my goal of being able to stay home with the kids. I also began watching my nephew, which was a real treat to be able to help my brother and sister-in-law out by providing a loving family atmosphere for him while they worked.
2009: This turned out to be another very busy and emotional year. In the end of January, we stupidly financed a vehicle. In February, Matt's job was downsized and after submitting hundreds of resumes, he got enrolled in the No Worker Left Behind program and started going to college for 2 IT degrees. In April, Megan had tubes put in her ears, after suffering through the winter and spring with chronic ear infections. In July, we found out that we had to move out of our house by the end of that month. Because of the abruptness of that deadline, we ended up moving in with Matt's Mom on July 28th and we started looking for a new house. We also decided to home school RJ (2nd grade) and Emily (preschool) because we knew we would be moving twice and didn't want to traumatize them with two new schools in less than a year. It was a rocky start, with lots of questions and criticism from our family and friends, lessons on patience and compassion for me and a new routine for RJ; but we made it work for us! That October, we found a house in Rockford that was bigger than our previous house but needed quite a bit of work. Also, during that time, the Swine Flu (H1N1) was going around and we all ended up getting it to a very minor degree - except for Megan, who ended up in the hospital for a day for dehydration. She was released from the hospital on October 30th, the same day we closed on our house. I found out I was pregnant the next day. We gained possession of the house in November and spent 8 weeks cleaning, painting and updating the house to more livable conditions so we could move in. Cautious again about our pregnancy, we announced it on Christmas Day, when I was nearly 3 months pregnant. That was such a fun announcement to make!
2010: We moved into our house on January 16th, just 3 days before Emily's 5th birthday! In April, I had another milestone birthday, 30 years old! We celebrated with a chilly barbecue with several of our friends and family members present. We finished our first year of homeschooling up in the end of May and decided that it worked so well for us that we would continue doing it until it doesn't work anymore. Around Easter this year, my Grandfather had gotten sick and was hospitalized while he and Grandma were in Florida. He got well enough (barely) to get home in Michigan and then was hospitalized for nearly a month. He passed away in the end of May. I'm so thankful that they were able to make it home so we could say our goodbyes and so that my Grandma didn't have to cope alone. In June, we had a combined birthday party for our 3 kids. We had several friends and family over to celebrate and it was a huge hit! Audrey was born on July 1st. Active contractions started around 7pm on the 31st, my water broke at 3am and she was born at 12:34pm at 8 lbs and 20" even! Adjusting to having 4 kids, one of which is newborn and homeschooling has been a challenge and I'm finally getting a routine down. RJ and Emily were involved in Cub Scouts and soccer, Girl Scouts and gymnastics, respectively and they both take piano lessons. Megan goes to BSF with my Mom. In October, Matt's long period of unemployment ended when he was contracted to work at Spectrum hospital doing IT. We're hoping that this position will evolve into a full-time employment opportunity by the time that the contract is up in the spring. We also sold our car in October - the one that we financed in 2009 - and we're a huge step closer to being debt free! We just celebrated our first Christmas in our new home and will be ringing in the new year and decade this week!
I'm so thankful for all the ways that God has blessed our family. The good times have been so fun to experience with Matt and the kids; and the tough times have brought us all closer together. It's a little bittersweet closing this chapter of our lives. This decade represents one third of my life and nearly that of Matt's. So much has happened in the last ten years, I can't wait to see what new and exciting things happen in the next ten years as our family grows older and more dynamic in our relationships.
Happy New Year and Decade!!!
