The Decade in Review

My sweet blogging buddy, Shannon,  inspired me with her adorable Decade in Review post, and I got straight to work on mine... It was so fun to read hers, and I enjoyed leafing through my scrapbooks and old pics and reflecting on the past ten years.

In February 2000, we welcomed our little Bryce Tyler. Born with a a full head of hair and olive skin, he looked just like his daddy. My world changed forever.  For me, nothing is better than being a wife and mommy.

Uncle Mark came to visit and did the Heisman pose with his first nephew. Only Mark would think of this, and that’s why we miss him so much. Who would have ever known that we only had roughly 9 more years left to enjoy Mark.

In 2000, we said goodbye to Grandma Smith. Dorothy Lucker Smith went to be with the Lord she taught us to love.  She did meet Bryce first, and we have a special quilt she made him. It is the softest thing, and all her Baird great-grandsons loved it as newborns.

In 2001, we bought our first house in McKinney, Texas.  We loved life as a family of three, well, four, because back then Mocha, our first “baby” was loyally with us almost everywhere we went.
 
Oh, Bryce! What a fun first child… he was and still is a “ham” enjoying every minute of eyes all on him. For three and a half years, that’s pretty much the way it was, too….

And, then in August 2003, the day of the big black out in the Midwest and East coast, we welcomed our second son, Jayden.  This was my most “exciting” birth… I worked all day, ate Chinese for lunch, went and got a pedicure, and then thought I had a tummy ache from the Chinese.   Well, it wasn’t a belly ache, it was Jayden, who came in a flash… no time for meds, almost no time to even make it to the hospital. And, Jayden is just that way… when he’s ready for something, he’s ready. There’s no rushing him, and then there’s no stopping him once he’s made up his mind about something.  By, the way, to our surprise, this time we got a blond-haired, blue-eyed baby… looks just like his “Marks”, my dad and brother.

Dan turned 30 in 2003

And, then things became a whirlwind… I continued to teach 5th grade, Dan was going to school part-time, working full time, and coaching AAU basketball teams, and I decided to try teaching in McKinney at a school closer to home. In August 2004, SURPRISE, I was already 11 weeks pregnant with Rylan when I realized it!  And, God knew I must slow down…. It was a rocky pregnancy during a stressful new job, and a layoff for Dan, and it was just too much for my body to handle. On Valentines’ Day 2005 (I remember it like it was yesterday), I was put on bedrest. I was only 26 weeks pregnant – I had a 4 year old, an 18 month old, and now I had to be flat on my back for at least 10 weeks.  Well, with much help from family and friends, we made it, and in April 2005, Rylan was born!  (This time with an epidural, thank God!)  If only I could have had drugs to take home with me as I went home to a young 5 year old, a 20 month old, and a newborn, and a husband who was never home because of school and work!   I’ve always been a generally happy person, but I was just not sure I could handle it all, and I remember crying a lot in the hospital (I’m sure it had a lot to do with hormones, too!), and the nurse kept asking me if I was okay… I think she considered calling the Psych ward….

Well, we made it and a month later, Dan graduated from the University of North Texas. This was the bachelor’s degree that he had started working on when he was 18.  He could only go part-time since we had married young, etc. etc… needless to say I was the proudest person at graduation!  And, yes, I was there with my three babies, but I did bring my mom along, too… Thank goodness…she is always with me when I need her. What a lifesaver.

Shortly after that, I turned 30, we sold our house in McKinney, Dan got his first teaching and coaching job in Aubrey, then his second one in Sherman, and then his third in Hooks. And, yes, since we were leasing homes until we knew where we for sure wanted to buy next (hasn’t happened yet, by the way), we moved three times… first from McKinney to Aubrey, then from Aubrey back to McKinney, and then from McKinney to our current location, Hooks, (practically Arkansas), Texas.  I celebrated my 10th year of teaching, and now am in my 13th year.  And, yes, I just went through about 5 years in one paragraph, but sadly, it has almost happened that fast.

I celebrated my 30th birthday. It kinda’ freaked me out, since I was the first daughter of young parents, I remembered clearly my own parents turning thirty. Oh, well, time marches on.

I have a better pic from this night at the Tigers’ game in Detroit, but this is more what it was like… Dan looking one way, me looking the other, and in 2006, we realized we were at a crossroads in our marriage. Some things needed to change, it was painful for both of us, but after several months and much, much prayer, we came to peace with some things in the past, and we decided it was worth working on, and we’ve made it another 4 years, and things seem better than ever.


Some other favorites from this decade -I went tent-camping for a whole week in New York!  This was the first “real” camping experience for me. And, to everyone’s surprise, I loved it!  (you know, for a once every five years kind of thing) 

We were able to go back to the Smith family reunion (Thank you Texas Legislation on later start dates for Back to School.) This is Dan and Mark as 2007 Champions of the Annual Smith Family Reunion Egg Toss.
 

In 2008, we did something we had never even thought of before, but when the opportunity presented itself we went for it and added an exchange student to our family for a year, and it was such a special time. Now we have an Italian daughter, Marianna. One of the best memories from that time was a fun trip to Branson with Mary and Mark. So many goofy, funny memories from that trip and the other two weeks Mark was here with us in 2008.
And, on May 16, the worst phone call I’ve ever had.  We miss you, Mark and I will never forget the three decades I had with you as my brother. I only wish we had longer…



Since Dan was to be all consumed with grad school and coaching adventures, I spent six important weeks in Michigan this past summer (2009) as we all leaned on each other, taking things one day at at time.  Such precious times. My grandmother, pictured below, who lost her husband when he was only 55 and I were talking about how I wasn't sure if we should go to the upcoming family reunion because it would be so hard without Mark. And, she said, "But, you go anyway. You do the things you've always done. That's how you get through." That may not work for everyone... grief is so personal, but at the time it made so much sense and was so helpful. I just love her straightforward, practical ways.

This year, my husband, has supported me emotionally in a way no one else could. His "story" includes a lot of loss and God knew when we met that he would be able to help me like no other in these days.   He has helped me so much.

And, now the memories we are making in this chapter, in Hooks… small town life… what will the next decade bring? 


I do know that I will do my very best to enjoy every moment with my babies, because it is going by so very fast.