Looking back on 2009

Well it's New Year's Eve...this year has just flown by. It's been quite a year for the Owen family. We experienced many struggles and hardships this year but through it all, it has made us and our family stronger. The biggest and best thing that happened to us this year was Caroline being born. We have enjoyed having her in our lives and I don't know what life would be like without her. She is such a blessing to us and we cherish each moment God allows us with her.

Some of the hardships that we faced this year are: my Grandmother passing away, me losing my job (with a 3month old at home to raise), Blake having a bicycle accident and having to have emergency surgery, Caroline being sick for 4 months straight (hands, foot, mouth; 7 double ear infections; stomach virus, you name it she has had it!), then mommy and daddy being sick from taking care of Caroline.

Some of the good things that happened to us this year are: of course having Caroline, being able to have wonderful friends and family members that supported me through the good and bad times, Blake got new glasses due to his accident, I got a new job with Sibley Heart Center, we had wonderful family members support us financially and emotionally through all of the hard times, Blake and I started going to Browns Bridge Church, I still have a car to drive and a roof over my head...I learned that the other materialistic things just DON'T matter. I am happy with what God has provided for me and couldn't ask for more!

We are so extremely blessed to have such wonderful family members who eagerly have helped us with finances, babysitting, getting us through all of our "sick" moments, etc. I truly don't know what our lives would be like without ya'll. And we also have wonderful friends who have prayed and helped us out throughout this year and we are so thankful for all they have done.

Here are some pics to look back on our year...












We hope you all have a Happy New Year and that 2010 brings you everything you are looking for and more!!!

More Christmas Pictures

Here are some of the pictures that my father-in-law took of Caroline on Christmas Eve. He does such a good job putting all of the pictures together and capturing her cute expressions!


We've taken down all of our Christmas decorations and I'm back at work this week. So sad that it's all over but it's time to get back in a routine!

Caroline seems to be doing well so far with her ear tubes. She's talking a lot more and seems happier! She's got a ton of toys to keep her busy too!

Happy Monday!

Caroline's 1st Christmas

Caroline had a wonderful 1st Christmas. We enjoyed being with family and eating a ton of yummy food! Caroline was spoiled by both sets of her grandparents and got a lot of toys and clothes. Santa thought she had been good this year too and left her some cool new toys. We took a lot of pictures but I don't want to overload the blog page so I picked a few of my favorites.

All dressed up to go to Blake's parents house on Christmas Eve

Ripping into her gifts...

Playing with her cool new walking/riding toy.

This is what Santa left for her.

She was so happy with what Santa brought her.

Christmas day at my brothers house

Sitting in a box...she thought she was a present!

Playing with the riding/walking toy that my parents got her!

Merry Christmas!

This is my most favorite time of the year! When I was a little girl my family would always visit my granny and papa on Christmas Eve and have dinner with them and open presents. Then we would head down to my grandmothers house in Conyers to spend the night and have Christmas with her on Christmas day. Through out the past few years, our traditions have changed since our families are changing. This morning I realized that we are doing the same Christmas tradition with Caroline that I had. Tonight we are going to Blake's parents house to eat dinner and open gifts and then we are heading up to spend the night with my parents and spend Christmas day in Cleveland. I'm so thrilled that Caroline will get to share some of the same memories that I had growing up. I LOVED visiting both sets of my grandparents and spending the night with my grandmother. Santa always managed to find me there and then on Christmas day we had about 15 other family members come over to spend Christmas with us.

We hope your family has a wonderful Christmas and that we all remember what the season is about!!

Ear tubes are in

We left bright and early this morning around 6:00 to head down to Scottish Rite. Caroline slept the entire way and was in a pretty decent mood all morning considering she didn't get to have her bottle when she got up. The staff at SR were wonderful and we didn't have to wait at all. They kept us moving from one room to the next. I went back with Caroline while she got her anesthesia...wow that was so hard for me to do. I hated seeing my poor baby girl lay there screaming while having a mask on her face and then slowly see her eyes roll back to sleep. Then I met up with Blake and we went to the post op room to wait on Caroline. It only took about 10 min at the most before they wheeled Caroline into the room. The nurse warned us that there was a 50/50 chance that Caroline could come back to the room screaming and pitching a fit like we've never seen before or she could come back calm and quiet. Well...we got the screaming kid that was mad. We spent about 20 min trying to calm her down and nothing worked so finally the nurse said to just get her dressed and go home and that should help her. She cried most of the way home but by the time we entered the driveway she was sound to sleep. She's been more like herself since we've been home. The dr told us that her ears were AWLFUL and that she had so much fluid, swelling, and that her ear drums were bleeding. He said that 110% she needed this surgery and that she will be a new kid now with the tubes. All in all this was a good experience and the nurses and dr's were wonderful! Here's some pics of our morning at the hospital.

Preparing for a special birthday party!

Since Caroline's 1st birthday is about 4 weeks away, I've been in planning mode. I've ordered her a special outfit for the day...a pink tutu, a onesie with a 1 and her name monogrammed and a special birthday bib. I've decided what kind of food we would have, what kind of cake I would get her and that we would just do a small party with immediate family members at our house. (she seems to get way too overwhelmed with an audience!) So, today I picked out her party invitations but needed a picture to go on them. Wow...I did NOT realize how hard it is to get just one decent picture of a busy toddler. I think I ended up with a good one but it took us about an hour! She was laughing her head off the entire time and thought it was funny that mommy was struggling to get a decent picture! I think I'm going to use the picture above but here are some of our out-takes.







Caroline goes tomorrow for her ear tube surgery. Please say a special prayer for her tonight that everything goes well. I know everything will be fine and that she will be so much better with the tubes but it still makes any parent nervous to put their child through surgery. Her surgery is at 7:40am so we should be back home fairly early. I'll update everyone once we get home!

Christmas with the Yarbrough's

Tonight we had Christmas with my mom's side of the family. For the last 3 or 4 years we have all met the Sunday before Christmas at Hard Labor Creek State Park and rent a cabin and spend the entire day together. We had a ton of yummy food, presents, and a wonderful time with family. Here are some photos of our day!







Caroline is such a little lady...she LOVES the tea set that my aunt Lisa gave her.


And just for fun...here's what I looked like last year at the cabin.