Greetings to all of our family and friends! By now you may have seen our Christmas card for 2011 and had a chance to see our little Alexander grow up before your eyes!
2011 brought us many changes, and the biggest, by far, was the birth of our first child, Alexander Christian on January 7th, 2011. He arrived a few days early but was healthy and perfect! He did spend his first couple of months trying to gain some weight, but finally around March he started catching up and hasn't stopped since! He is now 21.5 pounds and 29.5 inches long! He isn't quite walking yet, but has been loving the walker toy that Grandma gave him for Christmas! He now has 8 teeth that have come in and it looks like his 1 year molars are on their way in!
In March, we were saddened by the passing of Aaron's Grandma Olive. She was a wonderful grandma and has been and will be truly missed. Her mind was sharp right up until the end, and we find solace in knowing that someday we will get to see her again in Heaven and she'll be able to finally meet Alexander!
In April, Sheila's good friend Martha came to Chicago to visit us and meet Alex. She and Sheila had fun going out and about with Alex. At the end of April, we went back to South Dakota for a surprise retirement party for Aaron's mom who retired last year after 40+ years of Nursing. She was truly surprised and the party and weekend were a great time.
In May, we celebrated our 5th wedding Anniversary by travelling to Minneapolis and taking in a couple of Twins games. It was our first time to Target Field and the experience was amazing! At the second game we went to, Alexander was given a Jim Thome bat (stadium giveaway), Aaron "caught" his first ever foul ball (tossed to him by the Twins first base coach), and Alexander spent about 20 seconds on the Jumbotron! It was quite a weekend, and to top it off, the main reason for the trip was to buy our new car! No, we haven't graduated to MiniVan status yet, but we are now rolling in a "sport wagon". :)
In June, Sheila's friends Mercedes and George visited us to meet Alexander. Sheila took them downtown to see the sights and take them up to the top of Sears (now Willis) Tower where Sheila took Alexander onto the glass ledge attraction. She did not tell Aaron about this until after the fact and the pictures had been taken!
We were able to see some more friends and family in July - Sheila's niece Wendy's family came to Illinois and met Alexander, and Sheila's good friends Cathy & Kerry's family also came to Illinois and were able to see Alexander. Also in July, Aaron's Mom & Dad and his niece Abbie came to visit for Aaron's birthday. Abbie and Dad then went home and Mom stayed with us for two weeks in order to spend some time with her grandson. We had alot of fun with her staying, and after two weeks, we drove back up to South Dakota to spend a week on the lake and visiting family and friends.
In August, Aaron's group, Canopy Wireless Broadband, was sold out from Motorola to a private equity firm. There had been rumors going on for awhile about the sale, and it was finalized at the end of October. He is excited about the possibilities of the new company operating outside of the confines of a large corporation. For now, he works in the same building but in the next few months, they will be moving to another site in the same area. Also, coinciding with the sale there was a slight reorganization, so in addition to his existing title of Principal Staff Software Engineer, he is now a manager and oversees a team of 5 software engineers.
In September, Sheila's brother Chris had a surprise 50th birthday party. He asked for a big blown up picture of Alexander for this occasion, so Aaron took him up on that and presented him with a 3.5 x 6.5 FOOT photo! He still hasn't found a spot to mount it or a frame big enough!
In October, Aaron's family all met up at Wisconsin Dells for Columbus Day weekend. We had alot of fun at the waterpark that weekend and Alexander crawled for the first time while we were there! Aaron's mom came back to Chicago with us and stayed for a couple of weeks again to spend time with Alexander before flying back home. While she was here, Sheila threw a surprise birthday party for Aaron, which surely caught him by surprise since his actual birthday is in July! He was very appreciative of all of the friends and family that visited and had a great time that night.
For Halloween, Alexander went Trick or Treating dressed up as a Pterodactyl. He liked screeching so much, we nicknamed him Terry the Pterodactyl, so the costume choice was obvious! However, due to his teething runny nose and constant drool, we have now started calling him Slimer, so we may already have next year's costume figured out!
We spent Thanksgiving in Illinois and went to South Dakota for Christmas with Aaron's family. It was fun watching Alexander open up gifts for the first time and he really loves the dragon walker/scooter that Grandma Gloria gave him. We also celebrated his first birthday while we were here (more to come on that later).
As we look back on 2011, we are amazed at how quickly it whizzed by us. Watching Alexander growing and learning new things every day has been a real blessing. Sheila has been fortunate to be able to stay at home and raise him and has enjoyed that (most of the time!). She says the dogs staying in her shadow gets annoying, but otherwise she is loving being able to take care of Alexander every day.
As for Bailey & Mac, they are pretty much the same, except it seems as if Bailey has become something of an old maid. She doesn't have as much patience with Mac anymore, and Mac is as oblivious as ever when it comes to sitting on top of Bailey. They both have really taken to Alexander and have been very good around him and letting him play with them. Alex loves to just look at the dogs and once in a while grab onto some fur and yank. And now that he is crawling and climbing stairs, the dogs are never out of reach!
We hope this letter has found you well, and that you had a great 2011 and are looking forward to an even better 2012. Please remember to take some time to reflect at this time of year as to why we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. May God bless you this year and always!
With Love,
Aaron, Sheila, Alexander, Bailey, & Mac
