2015 has been the hardest, most rewarding, happiest, joy-filled, and saddest year of my life. The year began with tears as we lost our sweet nephew, Lucas, early on in January. We then welcomed our beautiful daughter, Amelia, into the world less than a month later in February and spent the next 6 weeks in the NICU. Amelia was born with hemifacial microsomia, something we were unaware of before her birth, and it caused her to have both breathing and feeding difficulties almost immediately after she was born. As we learned how to navigate life with a newborn, albeit a little differently than we expected (we came home from the NICU with an apnea monitor- monitors heart rate and breathing- and a CPAP, in home nursing care once a week, and multiple doctors appointments and follow ups- we also added on physical therapy twice a week), however hard it was, we never took a second with our baby girl for granted. I was lucky enough to be able to leave my job early in the summer to be with her 24/7 and it was the best decision I could have made. Though this year has seen great changes and upheaval, we’ve also had some of the happiest moments in our lives from getting to hold our baby girl for the first time and seeing her grow from a 5 pound peanut to an 18 pound moose, to watching her first glimpse of the ocean and experience her first taste of food. We spent time at the beach and watched Amelia play in the waves, took a trip to gorgeous Lake Oconee in Georgia, celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary with a weekend away to a resort in the mountains in upstate New Jersey, spent as much time as possible with family and friends, and, to round out the year, we took a trip to Mexico with Joe’s work where we saw Flo Rida and Girl Talk perform and came home just in time to celebrate Amelia’s first Christmas. 2016, we’re ready for you!

❤Britt