This was a big year for us. Here's a recap of some of the happenings of 2013.
January:
We had been living in San Diego for about a year and a half.
This was happening....
And I was about 7 months along with baby Titus.
February:
I continued to go to work each day with awesome people who did things like downward dogs in their office...
...and who also threw me a wonderful baby shower.
Chris also worked hard each day at his day job...
....and cooked dinner regularly for his tired wife.
March:
March was mostly spent waiting for baby Titus to come.
Chris and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on March 28. To be honest, I can't remember what we did to celebrate, as it was also my due date. Guess we were a little preoccupied with things. :)
April:
On April 2, Titus Christopher Brooks entered the world.
  
A couple of days later, we were home from the hospital and starting our "new normal".
Lexi and Titus began their friendship....
 
T slept a whole lot....
About a week later, Chris went back to work. This is what our evenings looked like:
On April 29, Chris decided Titus was ready for his first haircut. I have blogged about this before but I just feel like it needs to be re-said since all of the pictures from here on look like a different baby.
May:
During the month of May, I enjoyed my maternity leave to the fullest.
... and decided it would be a smart idea to make homemade Mother's Day gifts for my mom and Chris' mom with Titus' handprints/footprints.
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| I seriously overestimated my crafting abilities. Here's what T looked like after our little "art project." |
Also, in May, Titus started REEEALLY looking like his Daddy...
...and we went on walks and spent time outside regularly.
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| sleepy baby |
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| hangin' out on the back patio |
I took A LOT of pictures.
While Chris continued to work, work, work.
At the end of May, we traveled to Illinois for this girl's high school graduation.
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| Titus with Auntie Jasmine |
While we were there, we got to see some of our favorite people. We have great families and friends!!
AND my friend Molly took some cute pictures for us...
June:
At the beginning of June, Jasmine spent about 10 days with us in San Diego.
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| We went shopping... |
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| ...and relaxed at home. |
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| We also did some sight-seeing!!! |
Titus and Lexi's friendship continued to develop....
On June 17, I headed back to work.
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Luckily, my mom came to stay with us for a few weeks. This made the transition for me from maternity leave to working mom so much easier! We are thankful for her!!!
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| Grandma & Titus in California |
July:
The beginning of July was pretty uneventful... I settled into my work routine and we spent lots of time together as a family.
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| we hung out at Barnes & Noble... |
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| and celebrated the 4th of July with my mom, dad, and Uncle Tom.
Titus liked to "help" his dad get ready for work in the morning...
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| This is helpful, yes? |
And Lexi was never far from her boy....
At the very end of July, we learned that Chris had been offered a promotion with his company and that we would be moving from San Diego to the Dallas, TX area.
August:
August was a crazy month. We knew that we would be moving but didn't know a lot of details. While some days felt normal, others were crazy and stressful.
Titus was definitely not aware of the craziness going on around him...
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| he hung out with me in the kitchen... |
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| ...and started sleeping on his stomach. |
We continued with our normal day-to-day routine, just with a lot of uncertainty added.
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| I continued to work with my students on things like this... |
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| ...and made many trips to Target with my little buddy. |
On the weekends, we all caught up on some much needed rest!
In the middle of August, my mom went back to Illinois and Chris' mom and dad came to visit for a week. Remember how I said we have great families??? :)
At the end of August, Titus started going to a babysitter's house while Chris and I were at work. I cannot express how thankful I am for this wonderful family that cared for him.
Here they are with baby Titus. Angie was the main caregiver but as you can tell, the whole family loves our little guy!!
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September:
If August was a crazy month, September was a blur. In September, we did a whole lot to get ready for our transition from California to Texas. We sold our house (Praise God!) and bought a new one. We left our jobs, and (Praise God x2!) had new ones lined up. We organized a move which is a huge task in itself and took care of our baby and dog. When I look back at September, I am so so thankful to be on this side of it and that things worked out the way they did.
I must not have had a whole lot of free time, as I don't have a lot of pictures for September.
I do know that Titus had his first mow-hawk...
And that we spent some time soaking up our last days in Southern California.
We played at the park at our house for the last time...
And said good-bye to the wonderful people that we met in San Diego. At the end of September, we closed our California chapter.
October:
On October 1, we (Chris, Lexi, and I) left San Diego and started driving towards our new home in Texas.
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| driving into Dallas, TX |
Meanwhile, Titus was in good hands. He spent a week in Illinois with his grandparents (on both sides!) and extended family while his mama and daddy were getting their new home ready.
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| our new home!! |
A few days later, Titus joined us (thanks grandparents for taking such good care of him!) and we officially started our new Texas life.
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| first family picture at our new house |
Chris and I started our new jobs and Titus started going to his new daycare. Here's a picture of him wearing his first daycare craft:
We attended our first Texas high school football game. What an experience!!!
We also celebrated T's first Halloween.
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| our little dragon |
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| trick-or-treat!! |
November:
November was spent settling into our new routine. During the day, Chris and I went to work, Titus went to daycare, and Lexi stayed home.
The evenings and weekends looked like this:
Titus got his first second haircut in November. He didn't cry at all. Such a big boy!
One weekend, we went to Wal-Mart for some routine grocery shopping and ended up locking our keys in the car. While we were waiting for AAA to come save us, T napped in the cart! :)
At the end of November, we traveled to Illinois to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families.
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| on the road |
December:
The last month of 2013 was a good one.
It was filled with sweet moments like this:
During the first week of December, there was an ice storm in Texas. As a result, Chris and I both got an extra day off of work.
Throughout December, Lexi continued to supervise the house while we were at home or at work...
We started getting in the Christmas spirit...
T made these for his grandparents:
Here's what the bathtub looked like when we were done:
For Christmas, we made the trip to Illinois to spend 10 days with our families. To read more about that click here.
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All in all, 2013 was a great year. It was an exciting, stressful, blessed year filled with changes and many "firsts". Looking back, we are so so thankful for what 2013 brought and look forward to 2014!
Wishing everyone a wonderful year filled with blessings!!
-Alison
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