Where has the time gone… it seems like we were just getting used to being parents of an infant, and now we’ve moved to the toddler stage.  Despite how busy we’ve been, this has been a very good year for us, and we hope that it has been for you too.

We started off the year with a visit from Aunt Allison over AJ’s birthday in January.  By then Brooke had already mastered eating pureed food and sitting up, so the next logical step Mom and Dad thought was to hit the pool to learn to swim.  Brooke had fun in her swimming lessons, and as we had suspected she’s definitely a ‘water baby’.  We also got a light dusting of snow and Brooke didn’t really know what to think of it.  Tia Christine came to visit with Brooke in February just in time for Valentine’s day.  Then, in early March, Grammy came to stay and spend some time with Brooke.

When we aren’t having visitors we’ve kept busy enjoying all the fun things to do around here.  April showers brought beautiful blooms at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, and on a warm day Brooke got her first taste of what would be the her summer love – – the fountains.  Shortly after that we took our first plane ride as a family on a trip to Arizona.  We all enjoyed seeing our family.  Brooke got an early birthday present, her bike seat, and needless to say, she loves our family bike rides.

May started off with a visit from Oma and Opa, and the start of our growing season here with picking strawberries.  On May 14 Brooke turned 1-year-old!  She had a wonderful party with all her friends and we got to take some pictures as a family.  Right after her birthday, after months of perfecting ‘finger-walking’, Brooke started crawling.  Then came the full Virginia summer experience in June with lots of outdoor time.  We started it off with Brooke learning to walk right before turning 13 months.  Of course we also spent plenty of time out on the beach, including some time with family, as Grammy and Grandpa visited.

Over the summer we kept our days filled with many fun activities – – neighborhood concerts, a family vacation to Williamsburg, blueberry and blackberry picking, the aquarium, botanical gardens, and even canoeing (although we don’t recommend it with a toddler).  Laura and AJ even got to enjoy some fun date night activities.

In August Laura got a new car.  She traded in her 12-year-old two door coupé with no room for a car seat for a baby compatible 2014 Red Subaru Forester. Also Oma and Opa came to visit us again for lots of quality beach time.

With Labor Day weekend marking the end of summer, we made the most of it and got out to the beach for the last time of the year.  Then the school year started and Brooke began to attend pre-school one day a week for a few hours in the morning.  She has really taken a liking to it, now she doesn’t even hesitate but eagerly goes into her classroom only to leave her Mom and Dad wondering where their little girl went.

As the temperature began to cool off, we started to enjoy the bike nights at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens.  Then in October, AJ and Brooke had a Daddy/Daughter weekend, giving Laura some much deserved self-time.  As the leaves began to change we went to pick pumpkins for Halloween, and Brooke even helped carve them.

At the end of October we traveled to DC for Laura’s first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, where she did an amazing job.  We made it back home for Halloween and dressed up as a family for Brooke first trick-or-treating.

In the beginning of November, Laura and AJ went on their first vacation without Brooke to the Homestead in mountains of Virginia.  We had some nice alone time but missed our wonderful girl.  When we got back we took pictures as a family at the beach for Brooke’s 18 month birthday and their photographer did an amazing job.  AJ had Thanksgiving off and we had a great time and a delicious dinner with our friends Jen, Chris, and Adrianna.  Shortly after Thanksgiving we took another trip to Arizona and had a nice time despite the unusually cold weather for there.  It was amazing to see our family, we especially liked spending time with Teta.

Brooke continued this year as a very happy kid, constantly learning new things, and growing like a weed – – on her 9 month birthday on Valentine’s Day she measured in at 21 lbs, 30.3 inches, then on her 18 month birthday in November she came in at 31 lbs and 35.6 inches.  At nine months she gave up baby food for table food and started ‘walking’ with our help.  Brooke’s first word was ‘mama’, and she has since learned an impressive vocabulary; Laura and AJ now have to watch what they say or they can be sure that it will be repeated back to them.  Now that Brooke is a toddler, she does things like help with the laundry, brush her own teeth, helping us dress her, and has switched to drinking skim milk.  Brooke loves going to the library for story time every week, and is an avid reader with Mom and Dad every night before bed.  She continues to enjoy the outdoors, swinging like a monkey at the park, and has gained some much wanted playground independence.  Her new trick is knowing all of her body parts, and she loves touch her belly button and shown it to anyone who will look.

Laura has kept busy this year.   She started the new year off by creating two personal items for Brooke – – first was a blanket that took several months to hand knit, and the second was a growth board to keep track of how fast Brooke is growing.   She also did a great job and got Brooke to her first birthday with only breast milk and weaned Brooke at 13.5 months.  When Laura wasn’t busy taking care of Brooke or AJ, she usually could be found running around the neighborhood.  She has run in races for several years now and in February she ran the Virginia Is For Lovers 14K and finished with a personal record thanks to all the training hours pushing her running buddy Brooke in the stroller, sometimes even through snow.  Laura also completed her goal race, the Shamrock Half Marathon on St. Patrick’s Day and set another personal record.  She completed both races while nursing Brooke.  The fact that she did so well prompted her to training for her first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon in DC. Even after completing her marathon, she stays very active and continues to workout several times as week.  Somehow she manages to find some relaxing time to and goes to Mother’s Night Out events with her friends and continues with a monthly book club as well.

AJ’s has had a year of transition.  He graduated from his Emergency Medicine residency in June, and as a nice surprise  he got a congratulations breakfast from Laura on his last day of residency.  July was a great month because he took four weeks of it on vacation; he can’t remember the last time he had that kind of time off!   He spent time with his two favorite girls, Laura and Brooke.  He started the vacation off right with a fun time on the  beach 4th of July and lots of pool time.  He also got to go hang out at the park and eat gelato in the middle of the day, that was the life.  After the brief hiatus, he started his new job as an attending physician for Emergency Physicians of Tidewater and is loving his work.  He’s still not sure what to do with all of his free time as he’s only working about 40% of the hours he put in during residency, but he’s found that golf, seeing movies and having some quality family time fills that work void nicely.

We’ve certainly had a fun and exciting year with Brooke.  She continues to amaze us every day, always making life more enjoyable.  We hope that you are enjoying the Holidays with family and friends and wish you the very best in 2014!

Happy Holidays,