Recap of 2009

So we're almost to the end of this holiday season and the current year and I can honestly say that 2009 was the best year ever!! It started off with Oscar and I getting engaged in Paris--what a surprise trip that was!!
Then in March we moved into a bigger apartment here in Brooklyn which was super lucky since we found out a week later that I was expecting our first little one. I then had to make a lot of quick changes to our wedding plans since our original wedding date was November 7. I luckily got to keep all my original plans and just moved them to June 7. So on that beautiful Sunday in June, surrounded by our closest family and friends, Oscar and I tied the knot in Charleston, SC.
Our honeymoon was put on hold and we took a quick trip to Bermuda over the 4th of July holiday. Maybe we'll do a big anniversary trip one of these years.

Now we're up to Labor Day weekend which was when we went down to Chapel Hill to start house hunting. That was Oscar's first trip there and thankfully he fell in love with the area. We bought a lot and I met with the builders to start the whole house building process. It's a process that we're still dealing with on a daily basis. Hopefully it will be completed this March.
We spent our fall getting ready for the arrival of little Savannah Grace. Actually, I think we were totally ready by the end of summer. Oscar and I are known for being overly prepared. We even had our bags for the hospital packed 2 months early just in case she came early. My mother flew up on Halloween and stayed with us for 3 weeks to help us welcome the baby and get settled into parenthood. After her first week here, I finally went into labor on Sunday morning November 8 (the day after the original wedding date--good thing we changed it :) After 12 1/2 hours of labor, baby Savannah made her debut weighing 7 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long--much bigger than any of us ever expected. We have been so blessed to have such a healthy baby girl.

After Grams (my mother's new name) left in mid November, Mr and Mrs Alvarez came to visit for a week followed by my best friend, Lauren (aka Aunt Lauren) for another week.

So by the second week of December we had been hosting visitors for 5 weeks. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be alone. I have really come to love those quiet days when it's just me and Savannah doing our own thing. She is such a pleasant baby despite her newfound clinginess to me.
On December 21 I turned 29 and I'm really looking forward to this last year in my twenties. The next day we took our first family trip down to Houston to spend Christmas with my family. It was actually quite an easy trip considering we were traveling with 2 dogs and a 6 week old baby. Thankfully they all slept on the plane. Christmas was wonderful! It's so much fun celebrating with a little one even if she's not quite old enough to know what's going on. This was also the first time most of my family had gotten to see her so that was very special for us all. My little brothers are now uncles so it was fun to see them around Savannah. They're such proud uncles :)




So after all the festivities we're now back at home getting ready to welcome in 2010. It will be another year of changes for our new little family. We'll be experiencing lots of firsts through little Savannah. I can't wait to hear her first word, to see her learn to crawl, and to see those first steps. I am so lucky to be able to stay at home with her full-time so I won't miss a thing.
I have so much to be thankful for this year! I have been welcomed into the wonderful Alvarez family, I am loved and supported by my own Johnson family, and I am the core of my own small family of three. Life is good and I can't wait to see where it takes me moving forward.