I wanted to write this on Sunday, but not much ever gets done on the weekends.  So here goes.

My 2011 wrap-up of major events:

• Ronan played with Fox in the snow.
• I fell down the stairs.
• Ruby Kate was born.
• Ronan turned 2 years old.
• Ronan was evaluated and found to have a severe speech delay.
• Our family became gluten, dairy and soy free.
• Ronan began speech therapy.
• Ruby and I, experiencing breastfeeding troubles, traveled to Albany, NY to see Dr. Kotlow.
• Brock, Ruby, Ronan and I moved in with Grandmom and Granddad.
• Beautiful summer days were spent swimming out in the lake.
• I learned to crochet.
• Ronans speech ability and vocabulary began to grow by leaps and bounds!
• Ruby began doing the ‘inchworm’ crawl.
• I took an IBCLC course to become a Lactation Consultant.
• Brock and I, after a rough patch, saw a marriage counselor and found it to improve our relationship immediately.
• Brock interviewed for a job at Lowe’s Corporate – and got the job!
• Ronan had a dental check-up that found 3 cavities.  BOO.
• Everyone went up to the cabin for Thanksgiving.
• Our whole family enjoyed a wonderful, loving Christmas and look forward to a promising new year!

No car wrecks… no major health crises… no disasters.  Even though we feel like this has been the worst year of our lives, we may look back only to find it has been one of the best.

2011 was rough, but I have the feeling 2012 is going to contain great things.  I can’t wait to see what they are.  I hope you stick around to see them with me.

<3.

So, the year is winding down.  Sweet Sarah over at naptimemomtog.com is part of a giveaway – link up with your top 11 pictures of 2011 and you have a chance to win!  It’s not a photography contest, so anyone can win regardless of their skill level.

I’d like to believe that I’ve made some huge photographic strides in the last year, and I’ve enjoyed going through my pictures to pick my top 11.  Without further ado, and in chronological order, here they are.

Jan 8, 2011 – 34 weeks pregnant with Ruby.  This counts as a favorite picture of my kids… because I say so.

Jan 10, 2011 – Ronan’s first snow.

Feb 27, 2011 – Three week old Ruby Kate.

April 8, 2011 – This boy has fun!  I love the action, the grin, and the bokeh!

June 10, 2011 – I finally started playing around with backdrops!

July 7, 2011 – Ronan playing in my blankets… the light was perfect!

July 25, 2011 – Beautiful Ruby Kate!  I love her eyes.

August 26, 2011- This shot was an accident, I framed, looked away and then shot.  But I LOVE it.

August 29, 2011 – ROLLS.

Oct 18, 2011 – Family portraits at Carrigan farms.  This is possibly my favorite picture of all time.

Nov 16, 2011 – Sweet Ruby, 9 months old.  And lovely.

Check out some of the other submissions at naptimemomtog.com – and wish me luck!  I’ve had so much fun taking pictures of these kids this year.  I can’t wait to see the collection for next year.

Christmas was noisy, and sweet, and full of smiles and more joy than I could have imagined.

Our Christmas Tree!

Ronan’s first view of the Christmas booty!

Ronan and Ed playing with a Santa gift – Cars race track.

Opening presents requires serious concentration.

Serious concentration requires a tongue.

Baby chub and sparkling eyes.

This is a hug… I swear it.

Merry Christmas friends.

So, things are pretty good.

Not much change.  I’ve noticed that change is sort of like a growth spurt… you go a very long time with not much change, and then all of a sudden a bunch of things happen all at once.  Lately, we’ve been experiencing the ‘not much change’.

I’m still working midnight weekends and Wednesdays days.

Brock is still looking for work.

Ronan is still amazingly sweet, smart and funny.

Ruby is still wonderful.  (Let those things never change!)

About a month ago, I started a course to become an IBCLC – a lactation consultant.  The class is going excellent, although 5 hours is a long time to sit in a classroom.  I’ve met some really great ladies in the class, and am getting to work with some very well known and highly recognized members of the profession.  My instructor, Gretta Blythe, has been a lactation consultant for over 20 years.  She is incredible!  She wants to help Ruby and I.  More on that in the future.

I can’t wait for clinicals to begin.  I know that it’s going to be a lot more time away from my kids, but I’m excited to get out there and start helping women.  I’m excited to put some of my knowledge into practice.  I’m even excited to see how much I DON’T know.  I remember that feeling from Ultrasound clinicals… and I remember how wonderful it is to look back and feel like you actually know what you’re doing.

I really haven’t had the time or energy to take any pictures lately, which kind of breaks my heart.  I hate that, years from now, I will look back and wonder why there aren’t any picture of Ruby at 7 months old, why I don’t have any shots of Ronan or the two of them playing together.  That means it’s time to pick up the camera.

Ruby cut her first tooth on Thursday.  It’s still not sticking out much above the gum line, but the skin is definitely broken!  Not only that, I kind of love this picture to bits.

And there you have it.  A nice, tidy little update.  With not much change.

I have been so preoccupied with Ruby and breastfeeding that I haven’t blogged about Ronan in a while.  So here we go!

Ronan is 2 and a half.  30 months old.  He is such an amazing, vibrant little person.  He has SO much to say.

Only, he can’t say it.

It really has been so long since I wrote about this.  I feel like I should mention it again.  Ronan “has” Childhood Apraxia of Speech.  Has is in quotation marks because this medical diagnosis isn’t given out until a child is 3 years old.  However, he has all of the signs and markers of it, we have been doing his therapy as though he does, and he has been responding beautifully.

Ronan LOVES his speech therapist, Miss Emily.  He’s excited when she gets here, and he is sad when she leaves.  She has been fantastic about knowing what type of activities will get the most ‘work’ out of him, while also letting him have fun.  She spoils him a little too, and I can’t say that we mind!

When we started therapy in June, Ronan had very few words.  Through therapy, we’ve been teaching him sounds; how to make them, where they’re used, where they come in a word.  So instead of just teaching him how to say single words, we have been teaching him the ability to spontaneously say words he couldn’t previously.

This is such a hard subject to write about… I’m having trouble figuring out what I want to say and how to say it.  There are so many leaps and strides Ronan has taken that wont seem like anything to someone that isn’t familiar with apraxia.

Ronan previously said “UH!” when he wanted to be picked up, but has recently started putting the “P” sound at the end.  He says “Yes” and “No” appropriately.  He gets just as excited as we do when he figures out a new word.  He says “cookie” and “keys” and “gokeen” means ‘broken’.  He says “BABY!” and points at Ruby and gives her a kiss.  He says “Nah nah” when we put him in bed now… ‘night night’.  He says “more book” when we wants us to read him a story.  He says so many new things every day that I can’t remember them all.  It is so amazing.

We still have struggles and frustrations.  There are times when he tries so desperately and earnestly to tell us what he wants, and we just can’t figure it out.  It’s a work in progress.  Nothing comes easily or quickly for Ronan, but he keeps trying.  And things will just keep getting better and better.

I know it.

I had a play date with my friend Hayley… our sweet girls were born just 8 days apart.

We hadn’t seen eachother in years, but it was amazing to feel like it had only been days.  And the girls had so much fun together.  It’s really incredible to see how alike two babies the same age can be and yet how different at the same time.

Prepare for the cuteness!

I LOVE how you can see both of them smiling.  McKinleigh on the left, Ruby on the right.

Their heads are the exact same shape!  Ruby on the left, McKinleigh on the right.

They kept trying to hold hands.

McKinleigh has the best “OMG HAPPY!!!!” face I’ve ever seen!

I love Ruby’s tongue in this.  They were both smiling at Brock!  Also , they have the same color eyes.

I couldn’t think of a great caption for this.  Maybe “You stink!”?I love these faces.  McKinleigh on the left, Ruby on the right. (Just in case you didn’t have them figured out yet.)

Aaaaaand…. a gratuitous shot of Ruby with a pink bow on her head.  Because… why not?