Christmas Letter 2009

I am posting this here, and have yet to mail my Christmas card, so if you should be lucky enough to read it twice I apologize now.


Dear family and Friends,
Another year has flown by, and here we sit looking at Christmas and the New Year of 2010. We hope that 2009 was good to all of you.
The year started with a birthday for us. Alexandra turned ONE. I have no idea how that happened, but it was a great day in which she proved that she is my daughter by having her first real swimming pool experience at a hotel. And, had to be removed by force. We are water babies! She has spent much of the year earning her nickname "Godzilla" by proving that what goes up will for sure come down, especially if she is around. In June after her 7th set of ear infections in a year, she got tubes in her ears. Her speech has improved a lot, and we are hoping the minor hearing loss she was suffering from will take care of itself. We also spent a good 6 months with no chairs in the kitchen since she would push them over to climb on any and everything in sight. The girl will do anything once and will probably be the death of me! I am so happy to have a daughter!
Nathan spent his year doing a lot of things he loved, among them, the zoo, dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point and pre-school. The one thing that none of us planned on was having his tonsils and adenoids out, which we did in May. Nathan has never slept well. After nearly a year of a child who was up anywhere from 4-10 times a night, Greg and I finally hauled him to his doctor, who sent us to a sleep specialist, who ran a sleep study and found out that Nathan was suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. It was a rough recovery, but it is a beautiful thing to sleep all night long and to have a much happier kid. All in all, we made it through and now we are able to focus on that he loves being a big brother and is everything I ever dreamed a son could be.
This year brought 2 more little people into our lives. My amazing sister-in-law Keanne gave us a run for our money on May 5th, when she gave birth to TWO beautiful boys. They were 6 weeks early (anyone heard this story before?) but healthy and strong. They spent 3 weeks in the NICU, and are growing like weeds. Andrew Peter Hadden and Cooper Nicholl Hadden are a wonderful addition to our family. And that is especially true since the boys spend some of their days with us while my brother and sister-in-law work to buy everything 2 at a time! I can only imagine! Greg and I love to be the Uncle and Auntie, and are so lucky to spend so much time with our nephews! And the kids adore their cousin’s.
Greg is still working at the Dan’s in Olympus Cove, and loves it. He is also proving he is quite the handyman, helping his brother and parents out with some small household projects. He went to Alaska with his dad and brother in July. But, mostly, he spends his days being a Daddy, which he loves. How many games of Candyland can one man play before he goes nuts? We shall one day know the answer. It was also discovered this year, that though a self professed DOG person, he is in fact a CAT guy. In June, our family was adopted by a cat, (he came wandering into our garage in the rain and has never left) we call him Smokey and he sleeps on the pillows above our heads. Smokey watches over the kids in the backyard as they play and likes to eat birds.
I get to spend everyday with my favorite people. Being a Mom is a wonderful job, and once in a while if I am really good they let me escape for a few hours to the Sandy Clinic to be a pharmacy tech. I have spent the past year learning from my children what life is truly about. And maybe, panicking just a little when the twins were born. My biggest of 2009 was buying a new car. I loved my Saturn, but with 4 car seats, when we have the twins, there was NO way! So now we zoomzoomzoom in our Mazda CX-9. I am currently looking forward to May 2010 when Greg and I will celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary. We are talking about maybe going on a cruise and I am ready to go now!
Greg and I count our blessing everyday. We have jobs, our health and most of all each other. We hope and pray that you have a beautiful Christmas. That the New Year brings you peace and happiness and that you are safe and warm.
All Our Love.
The White’s
Greg, Joey, Nathan and Alexandra