A Wonderful 2021 Christmas

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A Wonderful 2021 Christmas

The Christmas songs are playing, the movies are being watched, we are snuggled with books before bedtime…Christmas has arrived here at the Brown family home. While this year (and even more so, last year) has been a bit masked of normalcy (see what I did there), we still have had a most wonderful year. A year full of growth, love, learning, goofy dancing, and ninja moves. 

We are still loving our home in Tacoma with our two boys and crazy dog. We've lived in Tacoma for five years now, and there is no doubt it's home sweet home to us now. We have built some strong friendships that we know will last a lifetime. We are truly happy here! 

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Merry Christmas: A Magical 2019

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It's the Christmas season again, which is the perfect time to remember all that we're thankful for and look back at what a magical year it has been.

HOME SWEET HOME

We've now lived in Tacoma, WA, for three and a half years. In that time, Tacoma has embraced us and won our hearts. It truly is our home, and we've developed some great friendships along the way. 

Tacoma is a fast-growing city that has kept much of its small-town charm. When we go to the market, it's not unusual for us to run into a friend, or three, from different neighborhoods. And yet, a walk downtown is punctuated by new restaurants, shops, and neighborhood events. Its been really fun to be part of this growing community.

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Wesley's 10 and 11 Months

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We’re almost there, almost to the big ONE year birthday! This year went by so fast (and yet each day seemed so slow, funny how that works). The little guy just melts my heart. He’s got big smiles and belly laughs and it’s the best thing ever. I’m not going to get any more mushy…I’ll save that for my one year post.

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A Look Back: Wesley's 9 Months

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Have you seen the meme (this one) where the photo of the first child is all done up with cute props and then the second child just has a post-it note? LOL. I’m not quite at that level, but I didn’t get to post monthly for Wesley as I did for Caleb. I did get monthly photos, though. I also took my monthly notes on development and other things I wanted to remember. All that said, now I’m going to play a bit of catch-up and share some photos and notes of Wesley over the past nine months. Better late than never!

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Christmas 2018 Snapshots

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Wow, what a Christmas! It’s been a whirlwind for sure with a newborn and toddler, but it’s been a most wonderful holiday season. My parents came into town for Christmas and we’ve been spending some quality time with them. They are soaking in all the baby cuddles from Wesley and getting to play trains with Caleb = happy grandparents.

We’re behind on getting our Christmas card out this year, so we’re aiming for a New Year’s card. Thanks to technology, though, you can read our Christmas letter right now (<—just click!).

Wesley is getting hungry, so this post is going to be mostly just photos. Here’s a slideshow of our Christmas holiday this year! (To see the slideshow you’ll need to click into the post directly. I don’t think you can view it from the main blog page!)

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Welcome Little Wesley

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Josh, Caleb, and I are proud to introduce you to our newest addition to the family, Wesley Jackson Brown. Wesley was born on Friday, December 7th, 2018 at 3:31pm. He came into the world weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces and at 19 inches tall. We couldn’t be happier to have this new, sweet bundle of joy.

Wesley is already showing his individuality from his brother by arriving past his due date as opposed to over two weeks early like his big brother. In fact, I had to be induced! I’m going to write the whole story sometime soon, but for now I wanted to share some the moments we’ve had so far with Wesley.

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Look Back: Visiting O'Neill Grandparents in August

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So Caleb and I went down to San Diego to visit the O’Neill Grandparents way back in August. We had a great week full of fun with Mimi Jan and Papa John. We even got to see Aunt Lindsay. This mom (me) caught a few breaks, too. I’m pretty sure these photos can tell the whole story of the trip: yummy food, wedding dress try-ons with Lindsay, beach shenanigans, wandering Encinitas & Carlsbad, and Caleb’s first visit to the San Diego Zoo. Now, photos take it away…(click on the photo to enlarge)

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Look Back: Kauai in September with the Browns

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Holy smokes am I behind on posts here. I went to work on our Christmas post only to realize I haven’t even shared anything about our Kauai trip. In fact, it’s been quiet on this blog for five months with nothing, zilch, absolute no posts. How dare I? But maybe you follow me on my other blog, Raising Tacoma. Hopefully some of those posts tied you over for the time being (like the Visiting Kauai with a Toddler post). Well, here I am now! Let’s share Kauai times…

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Chicago Trip Snapshots

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Last week we got the chance to go to Chicago for my cousin's wedding and to visit family. We also snuck in some time exploring downtown Chicago. We had a great trip and I was wonderful to introduce Caleb to my family and to a very cool city. Here's a few snapshots (okay, a lot of snapshots) from the visit. I'll let the photos do most of the talking.

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Caleb Update: 25 to 28 Months

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Have you missed the monthly Caleb updates? I have, but I'm his mom and I love anything that involves Caleb. It's a mom thing. May I also say, how has it been four and half months since I wrote one of these posts? I totally intended to do it quarterly, but somehow that slipped. But, have you been to my lastly blog adventure, Raising Tacoma? I'm trying hard to post weekly there. Plus, if it's Caleb photos you're looking for, he's the star of that blog basically. 

Caleb has grown and developed a bunch since my last post. Doesn't he look like a little man now? To keep up with his constant growing, I do two things: (1) I write little notes throughout the month on my "notes" app about things he is doing hence the bullets you see here. Then (2) I got thorugh periodically and pick my favorite photos and save them to a "CAB Favs" album in my Photos. Hopefully I appreciate all this effort sometime. Actually, I already am in a way! 

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Snapshot of our 2017 Christmas

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Well, gosh, this is embarrassing. I'm only just now posting about our Christmas. It was super busy, but it was wonderful. We watched Christmas movies, listened to Christmas music, ate cookies, and most importantly, cherished our time together as a family. We loved that we were able to celebrate Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Brown. Having family at Christmas is so special.

Caleb was pretty stoked about Christmas. I think every third picture has him throwing his arms up in excitement. He wanted to help everyone unwrap their gifts and was thrilled with each gift he received. He was at the cutest age for Christmas. We loved watching him!

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Caleb's 24 Month Update

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Here we are at two years old. He's such little toddler and it warms my heart. Yesterday, he actually started to participate in the Wee Ones class at the Children's Museum. He's growing up right before our eyes. I would say these two years went by fast, but time with a baby/toddler is a a weird thing. It seems fast if I just quickly think about it. However, with further thought of all the days, all changes, the struggles, and all the joys, it also seems incredibly long. Life before Caleb seems like a different reality, a different life. Does that even make sense? I guess that's why everyone says. "the days are long but the years are short." I totally get that now. Eh, I'm getting way to deep here, I'll stop.

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