365 Days...

Millville, New Jersey has been my home for 365 days. It's hard to believe that a whole entire year has gone by since Karl, Magoo, Trigger, and myself made the trek to our new life.

I can still vividly remember how emotional that morning was a year ago today. We had Paco (Carl E.), Dave, Papa Jim, and Nana over helping us load the last little bit of stuff into our rented truck and the mini-van. Dave was going to be riding with Karl in the big truck and my mom was riding with me and the animals in the van. It was so hard to see our beautiful home all empty, it almost felt like we were abandoning it. I was a wreck that morning, I am sure that it didn't help that I 5 months pregnant. LOL!

Anyway, after a long 14 hour drive we pulled into a hotel to rest for the night and the next morning we arrived to our new home. I do believe that was more traumatic for me than leaving our old house. If you have read any of my previous posts about the state the house was in when we got here you can understand my stress. While Karl, Dave, and some Hopewell workers helped unload the truck Nana and I made a trip into town to get a few things that we needed. Needless to say I was not feeling any better about the move and my tears were getting the best of me. My mother bless her heart was trying her hardest to make me feel better about the situation, she kept telling me that the place had potential. I just wasn't buying it. But on with the story....

The 1st few months were rough. Partly because some of our stuff was still in Michigan, and the simple fact that this house although sq. feet was similar it seemed smaller because of the floor plan. So finding spots for all of our stuff we somewhat of a task. I truly feel at that point I was already slightly depressed, I didn't want to go anywhere, do anything, make new friends, nothing. Looking back I wish that I could have kicked myself in the but to get moving but hindsight is 20/20. Very quickly July was looming and Karl and I were blessed to witness the miracle of birth. July 13, 2007 was an amazing day. Little Max Rudolph arrived and we couldn't have been happier. We did go through a few bumps because of his jaundice but Max finally came home after a couple of days and then the real show started.

365 days later I am in a better place, mentally. Even though it was a bumpy ride in the beginning it's really starting to smooth out and I am starting to enjoy the ride. Max is doing great, I am blessed with a fantastic husband, adorable animals, a roof over my head, food in my belly, my health, and a loving set of family & friends. I am excited and somewhat anxious to see what the next year brings.....here is a little compilation My Year In Pictures!

Here is little Max. I think that I had just a few weeks till my due date when this was taken. My doctor wanted to make sure he was head down....he was.

Here are just a few pics of my belly progression....

Looking back it's hard to believe that my belly was that big....crazy!

Here is our 1st family portrait. This was taken maybe 5 hours after Max's birth....

Here is Max and Daddy snoozing away!

Here is Max at about 1 month old. He just looks like a little sleeping doll...

Here is Daddy & Max after Daddy's major haircut...we joked that Max had more hair than Karl did....

Here is Max & Momma after one of his baths...he just loves the water. Both of these pics were taken mid September.

In October we had Max's baptism in the same church that Karl and Opa (Karl's dad) were baptized in....Teresa is Max's God Mother and Danny is Max's God Father.

Then came Max's 1st Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas...he took them all in stride!

Max, Karl, and I were lucky enough to celebrate the new year with our bestest friends....The Erznoznik Family! We had such a good time and we didn't even do anything but hang out. It was phenomneal!

February rolled into town along with Max. This past month he has been nonstop in his new tricks....rolling, sitting up by himself, crawling or the Army Crawl, holding his own bottle, and the biggest of all sleeping through the night!!!!!

What an amazing year....I can't wait to see all the changes The Rudolph Family goes through in 2008!!!!!