Christmas Letter 2012

Dear Friends and Family,

Since we did not get our pictures back before I could get Christmas cards back to everyone in Illinois, I thought I would send a few out with our Christmas letter and Reid’s birth announcement. (It takes a week to receive mail from Illinois)

Well, 2012 has been a pretty busy year for us, as I am sure it was for everyone back home. We started out with Allen getting a job offer from Halliburton, in North Dakota. He left us for 8 weeks to go work, and then come home to relocate us. In the middle of all of the chaos, on April Fool’s Day, we found out we were expecting baby #2. This was a complete surprise; after all of the trips to Evansville, and years it took to get Hayleigh. I said goodbye to UPS, after 5 years in April, and to this day, I still miss working there.

 In May, we made the move to Colorado, in the Grand Junction area. We fell in love with the area here, and plan trips around our area, enjoying the mountain views, and all of the wildlife. Soon after moving to Colorado, we found out we were expecting a boy, and started planning a trip back to Illinois for the fall to visit. We did have a scare while planning our trip- I was grounded and considered “high risk” at 22 weeks, until we could see the specialist at St. Mary’s hospital to do a follow up ultrasound check of Reid’s heart. He had been throwing in an extra heart beat in the doctor’s office, so after a month of waiting for me to reach 26 weeks along. We had the ultrasound performed, the doctor confirmed Reid’s heart beat was normal, and I was taken off of high risk, and was given the okay to travel.

In June, Hayleigh had her first swim lessons, and really loved going to our local community center for swimming during the week. They had both an indoor pool and outdoor pool for her to enjoy, so we found ourselves spending most of our summer days up at the pool. We also got to go to Hayleigh’s first circus, and she enjoyed her first pony ride. At the end of June, we celebrated Hayleigh’s 2^nd Birthday. I still don’t know how she is already 2 years old already!

We finished the summer up with a trip to the local Dinosaur museum here in Fruita, with Papa Jack and Mimi making a short visit. The area around us and the museum has many dig sites and fossils collected from it, and the museum has one of the largest Triceratops skulls ever found. 

In September, we had the opportunity to go see the hot air balloon festival in Snowmass Colorado- right next to Aspen. We got to stay with Aunt Teresa, Uncle Clay, and cousin Ruth, and have a nice visit with the girls getting to play quite a bit. During the end of September, Hayleigh and I got to travel back home to visit everyone. I don’t know who was more excited – Hayleigh to see everyone, or everyone excited to see Hayleigh. We had a great time visiting, going to the Fall Festival, and short trips around. The one thing I can say is that nothing had changed back home- it was kind of like a visit to the twilight zone. After a week and a half, Hayleigh and I returned back to Colorado, and started getting everything ready for Reid’s arrival.

October flew by with Allen elk hunting, and Hayleigh and I getting ready for Halloween, and visiting the doctor once a week. Trick or Treating went well in our neighborhood. Mom got her arrangements made to come out a few weeks later to be there for when Reid was to make his arrival. We got a little worried about Reid wanting to arrive before Mom could get here, and while Allen was up in North Dakota for his last week of work before his time off. So, before we could blink, Nana Rose made it out to help me out, and to be here for us for when Reid decided to make his debut. We welcomed Mom and Rose out here, with Allen returning earlier than expected due to me having contractions. Reid decided to hold off at my 37 ½ week doctor visit Friday afternoon, so we decided to make the best of it. We all went shopping- Mom and Rose making me walk like crazy and taking trips around seeing the sites. Over the weekend, we went to Moab, Utah- a new state to see for both Rose and Mom, the Monument- 2 miles to the South of our house, and had our first Colorado snow.

 On Monday morning, my midwife finally sent me over to St. Mary’s to get Reid on his way. After 15 hours of labor, and six pushes, we finally welcomed Reid into the world at 3:24 am. I was lucky enough to have both Mom and Rose there with me, along with Allen, and Hayleigh slept in the room the whole time on the couch. Allen and I didn’t realize that Reid had such a hard delivery. He ended up fracturing his collar bone after my midwife quickly delivered him. His cord had wrapped around his neck when I was pushing, and snapped when she went to loosen it from around his neck. He was given oxygen for a few minutes, and the NICU checked him out in my room. He was finally in the clear, and we got to enjoy him to ourselves. He ended up weighing 9lbs 8.2 oz. and was 21” long. While I spent my day in the hospital with Reid, Mom stayed home with Hayleigh, putting up our Christmas tree, and decorations, so we could welcome Reid home and not have to worry about getting our stuff put up.

 Allen and I spent that last week with Mom and Rose, celebrating our 9 year wedding anniversary by going out on our first dinner date alone since moving here, and then later celebrated Thanksgiving that fell on our anniversary with Rose, since Mom had already returned back to Illinois. We have been really busy since then, especially me here flying solo with both Hayleigh and Reid. We have good days, and some stressful days when Reid’s colic is horrible, but we are making it just fine. We just found out we will be moving soon- in January, since our house we are renting will be put on the market. We have already found a new house in Rifle- 40 minutes away we will be moving in on January 25^th.

 On the day Reid turned a month old, we got to have a private visit with Santa Claus, and had many pictures taken. Santa even got tuckered out holding Reid, while Hayleigh read them “The Night Before Christmas”. Hayleigh even got a letter from Santa in the mail, letting her know that Santa knew where we lived, and what she wanted for Christmas.  Reid started smiling 2 days before Christmas, and Santa visited us Christmas Eve, leaving lots of goodies for us all. The day after Christmas, we had a nice visit with Papa Jack, and Mimi for a few days, and had two Christmas dinners. We are now recovering from Christmas, and packing, while enjoying Allen’s 2 weeks off with us.

While this year has not been the easiest, it has been filled with the most changes and surprises for our family. What began as a move across the country has now turned into great opportunities for our family, and we were lucky enough to move to an area we really do love and enjoy. Allen enjoys his job with Halliburton, and has had the opportunity to move up with the company through a few promotions. He is now expected to make crew supervisor by summer now.

            We hope that 2012 has been a great year for you and your families, and that 2013 will bring many new beginnings, health, and prosperity. We love and miss everyone back home, and hope to see you in the spring. (Hayleigh is excited to show off her new little brother)

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Love,

Allen, Ashley, Hayleigh, & Reid