So to say that I've been busy this year is well and understatement or quite the opposite. I'm not sure. Having been in the Mormon Choir of Washington DC and two little girls and a Dave Ramsey class the last 13 weeks and just life I think I've been pretty busy in general but If you actually look at my days you'd be like, and why are you not getting anything done, like some Christmas cards for your friends and family that you don't see any more since you moved so far away. I'm going to blame it on the cold weather, it has frozen me and I can't move much now that it's 30 degree's and WINDY! I can always blame the weather right?
So here is what I would have said if a letter had I sent a letter.
Dear Family and Friends,
What a year we have had. So many changes have happened in the last year. I'll try to wrap the year in one short paragraph maybe two, to catch up all those who haven't been keeping up with us crazy Weir's otherwise.
December 28th we find out our newest edition will be a Beautiful baby girl with a problem with her back, Spina Bifida, after a long thinking period we decide it will be best to participate in a trial to either close her back inutero or after she's born. We get picked for the first and have surgery January 25 in San Francisco at UCSF. We loved our time in San Francisco and got to see a lot of fun things and meet some really awesome people, though we missed our little Kathryn so much. We got to stay in California for the next 3 months to await Charlotte's arrival on April 19th, we then came home April 26th for a much needed family reunion!
Matthew had taken a job in Virginia in January but they let him telecommute for the time we were there and for a few months after. He then headed out to Virginia again in May to find us a place to live. We signed a year long contract and thought it would be fun to try the east coast and what better place then 30 miles from the Capital! The girls and I along with my parents came out the end of June and made ourselves at home. We've loved our new ward and the beauty of the East. Tree's galore and we live by a nature trail that often has deer and such animals. It has been fun to see the seasons change. I'm most grateful for the summer, humidity to be gone!! I am so a dry heat kind of girl! And not the leaves are gone and we actually had our first snow fall that stuck to the ground for a few hours this morning. We are looking forward to the next year with great anticipation and hoping it will not be so up and down as the last!
So here is what we're up to now,
Matthew- Came out here to work for Intercel in web design/ programming and has since after being in the Dave Ramsey class realized we needed to do a little gazelle intensity at our debt and decided it was best for our family for him to get a second job. He landed a job that contracts with the Military and so had to get a Secret Security Clearance. He's doing programming there too. He's also done his first try at video journalism with a guy he found of Craigslist from India. He's also had a greensuit made and purchased a Green/Blue Screen for making fun videos. When he has some time I"m sure he'll want to play with this more. He is our wards favorite balloon guy and the missionaries best friend. They think he's the most awesome guy and I don't blame the, he is. He's the Elders Quorum Secretary and I'm pretty sure that now that the activities committee has been disbanded he'll get asked to do some activities for all the ideas he keeps throwing at the Elders Quorum. He's working from 7-3:30 and then 6-12 with an hour commute in there so we don't get a lot of Daddy time but he's doing a really good job keeping up with what he has to do! He is our super daddy!
Heather- I guess the biggest thing for me is that I actually tried out, had to audition and made the Mormon Choir of Washington DC. We've had some amazing concerts in the last few weeks. From doing a concert at the Strathmore with the Orchestra of Washington DC with Jenny Oaks Baker as guest violinist, to singing for His Excellency the Ambassador for Vietnam, to a nice fireside in Maryland that had well over 500 people attending. We have some amazing concerts coming up for the next year including one in February for Black History month with a baptist choir. I have so much fun in this choir. There are 6 from my ward in the choir so it's fun to car pool and get to know more of the ladies in the ward.
The girls keep me busy and trying to keep my house in order, going grocery shopping, meals, laundry, doing Visiting Teaching, keeping up with my calling as Relief Society Secretary and trying to remember and keep appointments for Charlotte. I am always going, going, going, but take my occasional break to get a episode of Glee, Psych, or House. I guess I do have my down time too.
Kathryn- Wow my almost 3 year old is the energizer bunny! She loves playing at friends houses and doesn't like coming home when it's time. She hates sleeping but takes the longest naps if I can get her to just fall asleep. I think she thinks she'll miss something if she's sleeping. She's gotten really good at computer games. She especially loves playing all the games on Nick Jr and PBS kids. She can do the mouse and go to different games all by herself. Which is really nice when I need to be working with Charlotte for awhile. We're trying potty training off and on as she'll be doing really good and then gets sick and has a really long set back. She still has her once a month Fever which we still can not figure out. I hope it doesn't last very long. She's getting big and can open the fridge and loves it when she can get the milk out when it's not to heavy. She loves saying she's going to be big like me and that she is a big girl. She doesn't let me call her my baby any more. Oh and she is so smart! we'll be looking for a preschool for her next year for sure!
Charlotte- almost 8 months and going! Charlotte is doing so well. I couldn't have imagined what life would be like with a child with Spina Bifida and if you do imagine that it is was worse then what it actually is. Charlotte is the best baby! Seriously! Only cries when she needs to poop, she's been sleeping through the night since 3 months and takes awesome naps. She's also really good with other people. Only a few times have I noticed a little stranger anxiety but otherwise she is all smiles. She gets handed off to other's in our ward every Sunday.
Medically speaking she's doing really well too, No problems so far. We still have to Cath her every 3-4 hours and watch her closely for Shunt failure. She's in Physical Therapy twice a month and Developmental Therapy once a month. I hope to start Occupational Therapy when she gets a little older. She's doing really well in her therapies, or rather I'm doing well at doing them with her in the in between times. She's rolling over both ways now, can sit up holding herself with her hands and is in the process of learning how to crawl/ army crawl. I think there might be something wrong with her eye's so we see Opthomalogy tomorrow, hope nothing to serious. We've been to the Spina Bifida Clinic at DC Childrens and had a great time there. We'll go back sometime in January for more followups. She's started receiving Respite care from a girl in our ward. I think it will work out well.
Well That was by far the longest Christmas letter and you probably won't get through it all in one sitting but if you did good for you.
An end to all letters, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
