2013 in Review
Monday, January 20, 2014
2013 was [mostly] a fabulous year for our little fam.
Many great things [and a few very sad things] happened and it's a year we will never forget.
This was our life in 2013:
We started 2013 still living with my parents while we hunted for a house.
In late January, Jack & I took a trip to Texas where we spent time with my uncles & their families and also my sister, Laurin, and her kidlets who came from Kansas. We went to the alligator park, the Houston temple, the children's museum, the playground, rode horses and spent lots of time with family.
Right when we got home from Texas, Jack & I flew to Chicago to join Daddy who was there on business. We spent almost a week in The Windy City. We swam in the [indoor] hotel pool, attempted to brave the cold, went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, went to the famous Portillos where we met up with my cousin Alyssa, saw the Chicago LDS temple, and had true Chicago deep-dish pizza at Giordano's.
Jack celebrated his first Valentine's Day.
In late February, Jack turned 6 months old and was still in the 90th percentile for height and weight!
Talk about a little chunker!
In March, we took Jack on his very first picnic and had our first experience of losing Mr. Bunny. It has happened several times since. Luckily, he has always been found and is still with us today!
We took family pictures with our favorite photographer who I'm pretty sure will be taking our pictures for the rest of our lives ha!
We signed papers and went under contract on our very first house!
We took Jack Jack to his first Kings game.
On May 1st, we got the keys to our house!
I celebrated my very first Mother's Day!
My little sister & I participated in the Nor Cal 5K mud run. It was SO fun!
In June, Jack & I took a vacation with my little sister, Jamie, to UTAH. We went to visit with my sister, brother & their spouses.
We did so many fun things like visiting BYU campus and the Provo LDS temple, playing sports with my siblings, hiking the Y, meeting up with my soccer girls, throwing a baby shower for my BFF Chelsy, eating breakfast at Kneaders, and touring the Utah Valley Parade of Homes.
We spent a lot of time in the summer swimming to get relief from the Sacramento heat.
Jack celebrated his first ever 4th of July! We went to our church pancake breakfast (where Jack Jack got to sit in Grandpa Wallace's 1930 Model A Ford), attended the Rancho Cordova parade, had a BBQ with the Wallace fam, and enjoyed street fireworks at night. Jack was a trooper and [mostly] didn't mind the loud fireworks!
The week after the 4th of July, we went to Yosemite for the Wallace Family Reunion. We did so many fun things like hiking, playing games late at night, swimming in the water hole, eating delicious food, roasting marshmallows, and spending lots of quality time with family.
This is Tom's immediate family!
In mid-July we announced that we were expecting baby #2 - due January 19, 2014.
On July 19, Tom & I celebrated our 5th anniversary with a weekend getaway.
On July 25, Jack turned ONE YEAR OLD! Where did the time go?
As Jack's birthday present, we turned a [large] empty room in our house into a playroom. It's definitely the best use of space in our entire house!
A few weeks after his first birthday and just two weeks after he started walking, Jack Jack broke his leg!
You can read about his broken leg follow-up visit here.
In September, we had a gender reveal party and found out we were expecting another BOY!
In October, T turned 28!
Jack was Peter Pan for his second Halloween and went out trick-or-treating for the first time! He got ridiculous amounts of attention and also a ridiculous amount of candy. He had fun visiting Great Grandma & Grandpa Davis during the day (in costume) and trick-or-treating to Grandma & Grandpa Davis then Grandma & Grandpa Wallace after all the strangers' houses.
On November 6, Tom's dad suffered a massive heart attack We were heart-broken when he passed away just three days later on November 9 without ever having a chance to say a true good-bye. We still struggle with this loss on a daily basis but we are grateful for our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and look forward to the day when we can see Dad again.
A week before Thanksgiving, we went to LA for my cousin's wedding. It was beautiful and so fun!
My brother & his wife came to Sacramento for Thanksgiving. T had the week off and we had so much fun spending time with family!
In December, Jack Jack got to see Santa Claus (twice!) and sort of liked him haha.
On December 7th, my grandpa had a massive heart attack [the situation was all too familiar from Dad Wallace's heart attack just one month previous] and he returned home to Heavenly Father on December 20. I miss him dearly.
We celebrated Christmas here in Sacramento with family. T didn't get much time off work but I got to spend quality time with my two sisters who came from Utah.
On December 31 we celebrated my 25th birthday (what?!) and then rang in the new year with family and friends!
Here's to a happy 2014!
What's in Baby's Hospital Bag?
Sunday, January 19, 2014
I already showed you what I packed in my hospital bag.
Now I'll share with you what I've packed for the babe!
1. Beanies
The hospital will certainly have these and will put one of theirs on your little one right off the bat. Personally, I prefer my baby to dress my baby in things that are a little bit cuter than the traditional hospital stuff. I promise you I'll be switching out that hospital cap for one of these cute ones [or one of the other five I packed ha!] as soon as that babe is in my arms.
Babe will have his own "Mr. Bunny" but it's obviously an elephant and therefore will not be named Mr. Bunny. Any suggestions? I swear I lose sleep over coming up with a name haha! Anyway, he's going to be with the babe since day 1 so he has been packed into baby's bag.
Isn't it adorable? I think I also have two other outfits packed. They grow out of the newborn stuff so fast I don't want to lose a minute of dressing him in these cute little outfits! You might not mind having your babe just wear the hospital onesie during his/her stay but make sure you have at least one outfit for going home. A) it's a lot cuter for going-home pictures and B) if your babe is coming in the winter you might want pants for him/her, which the hospital does not provide.
4. Pacifiers
Jack came out of the womb sucking his fingers and I did not want a finger-sucker (after all, you can't take them away like you can a binkie!). Luckily, I had packed my own preferred brand of pacifiers so he didn't get attached to the hospital ones. I mentioned in my baby registry checklist post that I totally don't buy into the idea that babies come out of the womb with a preference for what brand of pacifier they get. Buy the ones you like and the babe will take it eventually! It took Jack a few days to a week to really warm up to the paci but it's a total life-saver now (and has been since week 2). I have to admit I dread the day we take it away.
My mother-in-law gave us this adorable football blanket at my baby shower last weekend. I'm 100% convinced that if the baby is all wrapped up in a football blanket when Jack meets him, Jack is going to fall in love immediately. If you knew how much Jack loved football, you would totally believe it too! So this blanket went straight from the shower into baby's hospital bag. I also have a lighter receiving blanket packed in case the hospital is a little too warm to be wrapped up in this heavier blanket.
PS YES, the hospital has plenty of receiving blankets (and take them home with you!) that you can use! Again, I just like having my own stuff!
6. Booties
Jack was a summer babe and I'm just dying over all the cute, cuddly winter stuff out there. So I just couldn't resist packing a couple pairs of adorable booties for the babe.
7. SwaddleMe
Best. Thing. Ever.
I'm not kidding you, you should have a couple of these! Make sure you buy the newborn size! I am a HUGE fan of the SwaddleMe blankets. And I totally think it's worth the splurge to get the name brand. Jack slept so great when he was all swaddled up in this. I had brought one with me to the hospital for Jack and he spit up on it so we were swaddling him in the receiving blankets. He kept managing to unravel himself from them (even when the nurses who are PRO SWADDLERS wrapped him up). I had my sister run to Target and get me a second one to bring to the hospital. This time I'm prepared and have two packed into baby's bag. Plus, just believe me that your little newborn will look especially adorable all bundled up like a burrito!
Things I packed with Jack that I'm definitely NOT packing this time?
Diapers. Wipes. Burp cloths.
Do not, I repeat: do NOT, use your own diapers when the hospital provides them for you! And maybe ask for some extras right before you check out...and take them home! Same goes for wipes. And the hospital has the nice big burp cloths that are perfect to use (and to take home!). Packing your own burp cloths is a waste of space, in my opinion. You would need like 50 anyway. They go through them so ridiculously fast.
Let me know if you have any questions! Hope this helped!
xoxo
Baby Shower
Saturday, January 18, 2014
So my sisters-in-law threw me the cutest baby shower in the history of baby showers.
It was a lot of fun and we were seriously spoiled with cute things for babe!
My SIL, Holli, makes the cutest diaper cakes!
...these little tags are more than true!
This little babe got to hang out while the prep was happening but as soon as Daddy got off of work he went to his cousins' house to play (while Daddy played games with his brothers).
Cutest banner hand-made by my SIL's SIL. <---haha
My cute niece, Olivia.
My mother-in-law is the sweetest mother-in-law of all mother-in-laws. Can you say mother-in-law more in a sentence? I think not.
Sisters-in-law.
Thank you SO much to all of them for everything they did to put this together!
The invitation asked guests to bring a book to build baby's library if they wanted to be entered into a drawing for a prize. We got some of the cutest books ever! Jack is especially enjoying all the new books right now. Baby brother is kind enough to share :]
See that "Dear Zoo" book in the back? Jack is OBSESSED with that one. I'd highly recommend it.
The food was seriously delish!
Cutest nieces.
See that hash tag onesie? I got three of them! That's how cute it is haha!
Pretty sure I had like five of these cupcakes in two days.
Thank you so much to my sweet sisters-in-law for putting this together and to all the guests who came and spoiled us with the nicest gifts!
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