2007 in Review!

Well, I'm a day late (due to Round Two of the Stomach Flu and working New Year's Day), and a few pictures over the limit of "one per month," but here it is (drumroll please)...

2007 In Review!

January:
Newsflash! Carolyn has achieved the motor skills necessary to retrieve her own pacifier- consequently, we begin sleeping through the night!! Major life upgrade! :) Of course, a year later, we are now faced with the problem of Pacifier Elimination... but I wouldn't give up this year of sleep for anything! :)

Adventures in Eating: Carolyn begins her journey into a wider world of edible wonder and discovery... making lots of messes (and cute baby pictures: don't you just love those round cheekies! :))

February:
Snowstorm 07: our town in Michigan is no stranger to snow, but this blizzard shut everything down for a couple of days! We were stuck in the house and took the opportunity to do our taxes (and pick out a flat screen tv to buy with the refund!) and to take this now-famous picture of Carolyn (it has been called Yoda Picture by some) :)

Scooting Around: At about 8 months, after extensive field research, Carolyn has developed her own unique ways to move around the house- scooting on her back like this, and rolling her way across a room!

March
Happy Birthday Daddy: all our friends come over to celebrate Daddy's 30th Birthday!
Bluebonnet Baby: We took a trip to Austin, Texas, to meet the extended family (timing chosen especially to catch the famous Texas Bluebonnets, Carolyn's mother having had many a picture taken in the blue fields as a child!)

April
Crawling, Crawling, Crawling! At first Carolyn would only crawl on the hard floor- she preferred to scoot along the carpet... but it wasn't long before she honed in on the fact that crawling was faster- and she became a master speed crawler!

May
Warming Up! The warmer weather means we are free to get out with friends! This picture was actually taken the 1st of June, but it's my blog and I can cheat a little. :) We spent lots of time with friends, enjoying the sunshine and all the color of Spring!

June
Five Years Together! June 15 we had our 5th anniversary- we had a "mini" celebration at a nice restaurant in town, looking forward to the big celebration that will be in just 10 days now! We are taking a 7-night Caribbean cruise January 12-19! Pictures will be posted as the ship does have internet access! :)

Happy Birthday Carolyn! Our little girl turned ONE June 30!

July
Toes in the Sand: We visited Lake Michigan one beautiful summer evening and loved sharing this place we visited many times in our college days with our sweet little girl.

Carolyn and Emma: We visited our friends the Rohrers in Pennsylvania: their daughter Emma is 11 months older than Carolyn and really loved having Little Carolyn around. Sadly, the two did share the same stomach virus that put them (and us!) out of commission for awhile after we got home! :)

August
Seattle! We visited my college roommate Chandra and her husband Andrew and they showed us all the sights of their awesome town!

Look Out World! Here comes Carolyn! She's waaalking! I loved seeing the world just open up before Carolyn's very eyes as she started seeing everything from an upright perspective! This is about when her vocabulary began to take off, too, and she started being able to TELL us more about what she could see.

September:
Emily Comes to Town: Emily and Carolyn meet for the first time as Toddlers! We had such fun watching them play. I love this picture of them together!

Playing Around: Life is made up of the little things, like trips to the park! We enjoyed an extra-long summer (hopefully not to make up for an extra-long Winter to come!), with playground weather all the way through September and most of October too!

October
Marathon 07: We traveled to Chicago to watch my dad and Bryan run the Chicago Marathon in record-heat conditions! Carolyn loves to show only her bottom teeth when asked to identify them. :)

Appo! One of my favorite pictures of the year! We visited an apple orchard to pick apples with friends! :) Weather-wise, not the best day, but we were so glad we did it when we had a chance because we all had fun.

November
Beaching! We went to South Carolina to visit Nana and Papa's new home near Hilton Head and enjoyed some time on the beach- in November!

December
Merry Christmas! Next year, maybe we will have someone come over to help us take our family picture! It was harder than anticipated to get a shot we liked... and this wasn't perfect, but it does say something about "where we are" this year. :)

So, Happy New Year (one day late!) Hope you enjoyed our little Year in Review! We are looking forward to sharing our fun and our not-so-fun with all our friends in the blogosphere in 2008!