Counting Down to 2012...

2011. What will I remember as I look back upon this year? No doubt whatsoever - this will go down as the year of change.

There have been so many changes in so many places of our lives - jobs, day cares, cities, homes, climates, friends - but that aside, our little baby has become a girl.

Georgia astounds and amazes us every day. I can't believe this is what all parents see happen and change in their child's life, and I never knew how truly amazing it was until now. She makes me smile so many times every day... and there's some pulling out of my hair mixed in between some of those smiles, she is two after all. She loves laughing and smiling, she loves reading books, she loves singing songs, she loves her ABC's, she loves learning, she loves her "phone" (which is really her LeapFrog Pad), she loves Christmas and the lights and Santa, she loves "puppy" (her stuffed dog), she loves arts and crafts, she loves being outside, she loves Elmo and Sesame Street, she loves trying to do everything we do, she loves taking walks, and most of all - she just loves life. It's beautiful, it's really, really beautiful.

At the start of this year, I was laid off at work and that prompted so many of the other big changes in our lives. I got a new job as a main anchor and we moved from Omaha, Nebraska, to New Bern, North Carolina. We moved from a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house to a small rental where we are crammed in for the time being. My hubby went from well-employed to unemployed by choice, to allow me to take the job in NC. Georgia went from going to daycare to having a stay-at-home mommy to then having a stay-at-home daddy. But my hubby will be starting the new year with a new job, so it's back to daycare three hours a day for Georgia. We also went from being far away from family to within driving distance to mine, meaning we spent the week after Thanksgiving there. Family time is good time.

It has been the year of change - some of it not-so-great and some of it very good - but all of it change, which always seems hard and I'm a slow one to adjust. Here's to a much calmer new year, maybe 2012 will be the year of calm.

I'll leave you with a look back at some of my favorite pictures from 2011:

January:




February:


March:


April:




May:



June:

A visit to my childhood home in the Florida Keys.



July:

Our first trip to the beach at our new home.

August:


September:



October:





November:




December:



May you all be happy and blessed in 2012!