It’s 2018 friends!

Yesterday I posted about the best of 2017 weddings (Read here) but today I wanted to do a personal post as well! Some people do Christmas letters but when you have a blog, I realized it’s a lot easier!

A lot happened this past year. Lyla Grace turned one in September, and is in full toddler mode! Unlike her brother, she has been slow to reach every milestone lol. She didn’t get her first tooth until 9 months old, she always crawled with one knee drug behind her, she started walking at 14 months, she just started crawling the stairs three days ago, she does two sign language moves and says Mama, Dada when she wants to, which is rare- the little stinker! At first, I’ll admit, inside I wanted her to reach these milestones faster than she was. BUT I quickly realized she is just a content soul and that’s perfectly OK! She’ll eventually run around talking with a mouth full of teeth… someday 😉

Matthew loves being a big brother. He has doted on her and cooed at her thus far. But now that she is in toddler hood, we have noticed that’s changing a bit! It’s hard when your little sister is getting into all your logos, your computer and such! So we are trying to teach him patience with her. Matthew is also very in tune with his emotions and will just tell us sometimes that he feels like no one is paying attention to him, or that we are spending more time with Lyla. This is a challenge. Ideally we would love to split our time with them equally. But realistically, it just doesn’t happen sometimes. We explain to him that Lyla physically needs us more– she can’t get herself food, she can’t go to the bathroom by herself; there is a lot we have to do for her, unlike him– but that’s still hard for a seven year old to understand. So the challenge is daily, but we are working on it.

Another big change this year was that we bought our first house in October! We have rented for the past seven years, and compiled a quick list of pros and cons to renting and owning. When renting: Pros: you don’t have to pay for anything when it breaks, you send out your rent check and know that is the only thing you have to pay for that month, you can move to another place effortlessly, you don’t have to worry about taxes. Cons: you feel like you’re throwing money away, you can’t make major changes to the house, you can’t say it’s really yours. When owning: Pros: you own your own home! You can make any changes you want (which will cost money), you are putting money toward your house payment, you can sell your house for a profit down the road. Cons: you have to pay for anything that breaks, you might be paying more than you were with rent, you have a big responsibility now.

For the 2018 year, we have a couple goals we set. For Brandon and I: to stay patient and spend more quality time together. For me: budget time better, and create a Youtube Channel. For Matthew: working on his attitude and have patience (was proud of him for saying that on his own!)

Below are some favorite photos of our family from this past year! I didn’t realize how MANY pictures I actually do take of the kids! Ha, good thing my husband expects it!

 

Family photos taken by Madison Photography