Happy New Year!*!*!*

We have BIG hopes, dreams and expectations for the new year mostly as a result of what 2013 has “PROMISED” us! It’s THE year we have been waiting for our entire life! The other night Alex reminded me of a conversation we had at 16 about having babies together one day and here we are now in a waiting game to meet a little girl I feel like I have not just wished for but KNOWN for years!

We can’t wait to meet you in 2014 Lola but here’s what Life looked like in 2013 before you!!!

Here’s you have it, our annual 2013 favorite memories!

Enjoy!!

*January*

  We started the year off celebrating with some of the best people we know!

I remember when we took this picture last year, all we wished for and wanted 2013 to bring us was a baby of our own…. and soon we would find out it would! 

Then we celebrated Lou turning 28 with cake and a night out at mexican with family and friends!

Mom celebrated her 60th birthday at red Sky piano bar in Atlanta! Yes, we made her get On the bar!

February:

Super bowl party at our house!

Valentines day this year was probably our best yet! It was the first year we stayed in and Alex prepared a huge feast for us…. we shared a bottle of champagne and with the best company ever, each other, we literally had a blast!  March:

Road trip to chilly Ohio after receiving the bad news that Mr. Mike had passed…

We took mom to her first St. Patricks day in River Street!

We welcomed cousin Samantha to Atlanta and celebrated Amara’s 38th birthday!

April:

We celebrated the last of Rachels 20’s at Turner Field!

Andy quickly followed turning the BIG 30 in Dahlonega for a weekend of wine hopping!

Lou and i had our first beach trip of the year to Hilton Head and with perfect timing my lovies had the same idea in mind!

We celebrated Lou getting a dream job as an electronics engineer for avionics a week after being laid off from exide…..

But the dream job with a long commute didn’t last long… 2 weeks later we celebrated him accepting an offer from GE  as a firmware engineer!

We had a mini college reunion with my favorite girls!

   May:

We hosted a “goodbye, we hate you Chicago” party for stealing Nic and Lia’s hearts away from Georgia!

Celebrated our 4 year Wedding anniversary  at a fancy smancy restaurant in Atlanta!

May 22nd our lives changed in a way we had always dreamed they would, we saw the most amazing thing in the world… 2 lines!

We had to wait 3 weeks before we could go to the doctor to find out… it’s for real!!

Shock, bliss, butterflies and sheer excitement!    Mommy and Daddy in the making!

We helped Tara celebrate the last of her twenties (not knowing she was an aunt in the making) along side Stephanie at Hilton Head!

We had booked a trip to the Virgin islands the night we found out I was pregnant and we were off to enjoy just the two of us one last time!

We came home to share the news for the first time with mom and dad with a bottle of “Old Grand Dad”.. June: 

Tara and I became addicted to thrifting and redoing furniture!

Grams came to visit us!

Alex’s mom came for her first visit!

We celebrated Fathers day and Daddy’s birthday!

We had barely made it to 8 weeks when we begged our doctor to let us hear our baby’s heart beat and get our first ultra sound so we could share the news while going home for the fourth!

We have a heartbeat, a baby PEANUT and a smile to last a life time!!

July:

Happy Fourth of July time to share the news with family and friends!!!

We told Billy over skype and the next day he had booked his ticket to partake in the celebrations with us in Georgia!!

We got some beach time in with this little cutie!

My baby girl turned 10 years old!!!

JJ and I bought Lola her first onesie… gender neutral for now!

August:

Celebrated Lou’s 10 year reunion in Savannah!

Celebrated Stephanie and Joe’s first Couples shower!

Had our last “baby free” beach trip!

  Most exciting news ever, we found out Baby Minnicks’ is a GIRL!

   Lou and I bought Lola her first “girly outfit” before sharing the news with anyone! Andy and Rachel hosted a gender reveal party for us to announce “It’s a girl”!!   Mom and I went on our first girly, girl shopping spree!!

We celebrated our 14 year anniversary with “sparkling cider” and a movie date in our pajamas!

Lola and I went on our first Sober bachelorette party to celebrate one last time with Stephanie in Nashville before she tied the knot!

September:

At 20 weeks I was so happy we were halfway to meeting our little girl and I swore my bump was TOTALLY noticable!

Got new pictures of Lola and an “all is good” report for her 20 week check up!

We “rednecked” it up at Alex’s moms’ annual pig roast!

I pulled a “Lou” myself and accepted a new position through Cobb County that allowed me to work in the school system as a Child and Adolescent Therapist!

Wished Coco a Happy birthday!

Learned how clueless we were by trying to register at Babies R Us!

Gave Lola a sugar high at the state Carnival!

Michael and Blaine tied the knot! 

Lou made one of the hardest decisions ever to leave GE and accept yet another offer from a start up company; Innovolt!

These lovely ladies hosted Lola and I’s first baby shower!!

Stephanie and Joe tied the knot and I got to be a VERY pregnant bridesmaid!

We stayed at home for quite possibly our last Halloween night ever!!

November:

We excitedly hit our 3rd trimester with Lola!

Alex’s mom and Amara hosted A Couples shower for us in Atlanta

We attempted to get Lola’s picture taken in 3D but Lola refused and wants to stay a surprise!

We had the best Thanksgiving with my family at a cabin in North GA mountains!

December:

We partied it up like any 8 month Prego lady would do on her birthday (right!?!?!)!

Surprised Jeff with a party for his 30th!! Little miss Kayla turned 25!! 

Had the biggest scare of our life after I was hit in a car accident but relieved to find out our baby girl is just fine!

Headed home one last time for Christmas with our family without an extra passenger in the back seat!

Spent some quality time with my siblings after Christmas on a dolphin cruise!

Got to have a late Christmas celebration with my FAVORITE nieces!   Mama kissed her granddaughter goodbye for what we expect to be the last time she will ever have to talk to Lola through my belly!

Celebrated New years in quite a different way this year, putting Lola’ s crib together and toasting to sparking grape juice!

Wow! It’s safe to say 2013 did not disappoint, with 3 new jobs in one year for Lou and a dream job for me, a baby girl on the way, celebrations of weddings, birthdays and sharing  the excitement of baby Lola with family and friends has been pure bliss!

So 2014 it appears we have nothing left to ask of you, it’s just a waiting game now!! Keep the goodness coming!!

There is no doubt 2014 will be the best year of all!!

After all it’s the year of Lola- she sounds like a legend already!

Oh yes and in honor of her expected arrival my new years resolution is to write “a line a day” in a journal i got on Steph’s bachelorette trip in Nashville titled “A Line a Day” and post one pic a day for a whollllllle year!

We hope everyone had an amazing new years!

Happy 2014!!