Reflections on 2017

Last year was definitely the most jam-packed one we’ve had as a family so far. It was a rollercoaster year—full of ups and downs.

In January, Travis worked a lot of extra hours in the first half of the month as his project neared a big deadline. We also made a chocolate birthday cake for Rae Rae’s birthday!

In February, I had my last day of work in pre-op before becoming a full-time stay-at-home mom,

Brooklyn turned 4 years old, and we celebrated with a couple of family parties,

we had a blast at the McWane Center with Paw and Rae Rae,

…and we announced that a new family member was due in October!

In March, we made a lot of trips to Home Depot and Lowe’s,

and started getting our house ready to sell!

In April, we went to Build-A-Bear to celebrate Nathan’s 4th birthday,

hosted our first yard sale ever,

had family pictures made in the tiny town of Mooresville,

got all dressed up for Easter,

and celebrated Savannah turning TWO!

In May, we had a family birthday party for Savannah and also…

announced that baby Grant was another GIRL!

We also went to Navarre Beach with my family,

celebrated Jenn’s graduation from medical school,

cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned some more before a bunch of showings, 

celebrated getting an offer on our house,

and made a quick trip to Smith Lake!

In June, we went to Joe Wheeler State Park for the annual Dvorak family reunion,

had pictures made with Travis’s side of the family,

packed and got ready to move out of our house,

survived two full weeks of swim lessons,

and officially said goodbye to Brooklyn and Savannah’s first home.

In July, we went to a 4th of July party at the Hesters’ house,

started to get settled into apartment living,

had fun at the Athens Kiddie Carnival,

and had a 4D ultrasound of baby girl #3!

In August, we made a quick trip to Atlanta to buy a minivan,

and enjoyed about two weeks of “normal” life…

…before Abigail made her surprise debut at 33 weeks and a whopping 3 lbs 4 oz!

The rest of August was a blur of medical complications and anxiety…

and visiting Abigail in the NICU.

In September, we brought Abigail home after 27 days in NICU,

we had her “newborn” pictures made (a month and a half late!),

…and we spent the rest of the month trying to get our feet under us with 3 kids at home.

In October, we celebrated my 31st birthday with Paw and Rae Rae…

…and went trick-or-treating in their neighborhood!

We also put a contract on a new house, Travis had a colonoscopy (exciting times!), and he finished up another really busy season at work.

In November, we visited the Tennessee Aquarium,

walked the Galaxy of Lights at the Botanical Gardens,

and enjoyed a quick visit from Uncle Bill and Aunt Gale.

And, in December, Paw had surgery to remove a mass on one of his kidneys,

Abigail had RSV and felt terrible for a week,

we closed on our house and moved AGAIN,

…and we celebrated our first Christmas as a family of 5!

Whew. I’ll just be honest—I was pretty happy to see 2017 go. We had some great times as a family, went on some fun trips together, welcomed Abigail into the world, and found our (hopefully) forever home. But, it was also an extremely stressful year—Travis’s workload at his job was tough for all of us, we packed up and moved twice, and the circumstances surrounding Abigail’s birth were traumatic to say the least. I haven’t spoken too much about the anxiety I had after Abigail was born, but I’d say the mental aspect of recovering from her birth was even harder than the physical. Honestly, It has only been just recently that I’ve started to feel a little more like myself again.

In a lot of ways, the year 2017 was very similar to 2011 for us. We bought our first house in 2011, and we bought our second one in 2017. We bought Travis’s Altima in 2011, and we bought our minivan in 2017. 2011 was a year where we were busy with wedding-related activities for friends and family getting married. 2017 was a year where we were busy with a new pregnancy and taking care of kids. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, and my dad was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2017. We suffered through the April 27th tornadoes in 2011, and we suffered through the aftermath of Abigail’s birth in 2017. Overall, I would say 2011 and 2017 were both tough years for our family, but I feel like we learned a lot from the trials they brought. If it weren’t for the difficult years, I know we wouldn’t appreciate the easier ones nearly as much. Still, I’m relieved that we’ve turned the page, and 2018 is here now. I’m hoping this year will hold good memories for our family, less stress and chaos, and hopefully NO MORE MOVES :)

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    His mercies never come to an end;
 they are new every morning;
    great is Your faithfulness.” 

Lamentations 3:22-23