Another year is coming to a close, and as I looked back I realized I didn’t *do* as much as in past years, but this year definitely was the most rewarding.

January
The museum where Joe works opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony, and we embarked on our first and only IVF cycle.

February
I started my meds for my IVF cycle.

We spent Valentine’s night at a gala at the Calhoun County Museum in St. Matthews, South Carolina, where we saw displays that included several of Joe’s relatives. It was fun learning more about his family.

March
We had our egg retrieval and embryo transfer, and settled in for the horrendous two week wait.

We found out we were PREGNANT! We got our positive HPT the day before my birthday and the blood test confirmation on my birthday. It was the best birthday present ever.

April
We saw our baby for the first time.

May
Joe ran his first marathon!

June
I was put on bed rest. Boo!

We found out that we were having a little GIRL!

We saw our little Smudge in 3D for the first time.

July
My family took our first full family vacation. It was so much fun to have all my siblings, niece and nephews together.

I felt Lucy kick for the first time!

August
We had our first trip to L&D when we noticed a decrease in Lucy’s movement. Luckily, everything turned out to be fine.

My sister-in-law had her baby shower.

We went to an Atlanta Braves game in style with tickets for the Sun Trust section. We’ll never be able to enjoy regular seats again!

September
I had my first baby shower, which was thrown by our Kiwanis Club.

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary.

I threw Joe a surprise birthday party for his upcoming 30th birthday!

We had our 3D ultrasound and really got a good look at what our little girl looked like.

Deadly floods hit the metro Atlanta area. My county was one of the few that was spared most of the damage and devastation.

Joe and Randy ran a 10k in which Joe won 2nd place for his age group and Randy won 1st for his…first out of one, that is!

Rachel had her baby girl, Rivka Rose, who ended up coming on her due date.

October
Joe turned 30!

Our coworkers threw our second baby shower.

I had my third baby shower, which was thrown by my mom in Chattanooga.

November
I had my fourth and fifth baby showers with my friends in Cartersville and my church family respectively.

Our baby girl, Lucy Jane, was born on Nov. 21.

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving as a family of three.

We had a couple of false alarms leading up to the time I finally went into labor.

December
Lucy turned one month old and had her first visit with Santa!

We celebrated our first Hanukkah and Christmas with Lucy.

2009 was definitely the best year yet, and I’m sure 2010 will be even better. Happy New Year, everyone!