A Christmas of Lasts

Wow! So has it really been since June when I posted last? SO much has happened since then. Let's see, I am officially on a track this year. YAY! Basically that means that every 9 weeks I get a 3 week break. Charlie is immensely jealous of this luxury. Trust me, it's one of the few perks of being a teacher. Over our first track out we took a cruise! It was amazing! I had every intention of doing a post or seven about our trip and never got around to it. Oh well. Maybe one day. In October, Charlie got a raise only to get a promotion to Marketing Manager a few weeks ago! I am so proud of him! He has really moved up the corporate ladder since starting at the AICPA just 3 years ago. In October, we spent a few days in October when my wonderful MawMaw passed away. I should do a whole post on her as well. She is missed so much. In November, we took an awesome camping trip with friends and we spent Thanksgiving in Charlotte with PawPaw. Okay, so enough of an update, time for the real reason of this post...



A Christmas of Lasts.



It dawned on me as I was writing in Charlie's Christmas card that this will be a "last" Christmas for us in so many ways.



First, and most importantly, it will be our last Christmas alone. We are thrilled to announce that in August we will become a family of three! After many months of trying, lots of tears and prayers, and help from the Dr. we are finally expecting our first child. We couldn't be more excited about the news. We have had the luxury of seeing our baby twice via ultrasound and look forward to watching him or her grow in my belly over the next few months.



This of course leads to the last Christmas in our apartment. One bedroom isn't going to be big enough for all of us! Our lease isn't up until November of next year. We'll be sticking out the first few months of our new family in tight quarters. We aren't really concerned about this. Our biggest worry is where we will store all the baby stuff until we move somewhere bigger! There's been some discussion of turning the dining room into a semi-nursery for the first few months. We'll see. We have lots of time to figure it out. We love this apartment. We truly feel that it was a blessing from God to get this apartment and will be sad to move away. We used to joke that we could live here forever. I'm sure under the right set of circumstances we could.



And our last Christmas last...Scooter. This will be our last Christmas with Scooter, our dog. This is more of a sadder part of the post. Charlie will be very disheartened to say goodbye. Over the last few months Scooter has continued to show that he can't be trusted. He bit me one night which led to much pain! We realize that as parents we could never put our child in that danger. We would only blame ourselves if he ever bit the baby. So included in our preparations for baby will be looking for a new home for Scooter. If you know of anyone that could give him a home, please let us know.



It really is a bittersweet Christmas. We are more than ecstatic about what the future holds for us. The last year and a half of marriage has been incredible. As much as I look forward to our growing family, I will miss all of the the alone time we have. It's such a sweet time in our lives. We had a great day staying warm inside. It's nice not to have to be anywhere or attend to anyone's needs. I realize that our life together is about to change greatly. We will spending the next 7 months enjoying every second of each other, our pregnancy, and the blessings that God has given us.



So much is in store for 2011. We'll keep you posted!