A look back

My last post made me think a little about what's been going on in our lives this past year. We never got around to a Christmas letter this year - I was hoping to get a good picture of the three (+ 1/2) of us, or at least a cute one of Elijah sitting still and smiling, but neither was possible. So, we do love all of you who sent cards, letters and pictures to us, we're (in other words, I am) just not that with it right now. I'm sorry, because I know many of you like getting those things from us as much as I like getting them from you. We love having good, recent pictures of friends and family, and Elijah just adores the refrigerator photo montage. He's really learning a lot of names!

I'm sorry that I still don't have a good picture to send out, but here's a quick summery of our year and random facts:

Elijah grew up a lot! (For those of you who have been reading this blog, you already knew that.)
At 6 months old, Elijah was fun and laughed a lot, but pretty much stayed in one place all the time. This year he learned to eat food, roll, crawl, stand, walk and talk. What a big change! He's very busy and talkative now and tries new things all the time. Right now he's working on stairs and climbing up on things taller than the couch. He likes hats and boots and putting on what ever strikes his fancy over his regular clothes.

Patrick and I were ... just normal this year. We lived in our house and did the same jobs and ... whatever. Pretty exciting, huh? I had surgery in January for a ruptured tubal pregnancy, but got (safely) pregnant with the little bean at the end of the year. I also got to ride in an ambulance for the first time in my life, but it was just dehydration and endless puking - no big deal. Patrick's parents visited and we had fun in the mountains and at home with them. I got to go to Pittsburgh for a week on my own and visit friends and family. Patrick traveled a couple of times for work/conferences in Maryland and Arizona.

This was the first time that we have had only one W2 for our taxes.

Patrick and I went camping by ourselves for the first time.

Elijah is totally obsessed with elephants.

I made two baby quilts and started three, wait, four more.

Elijah already wears an XL size diaper cover at night, so I guess he's not allowed to grow any bigger until he learns to use the potty.

We have four bookcases in the living room and still can't find enough space for all the books. Between the books, toys, and and giant bins of baby clothes, I don't know how we have any space for us!