What a fun and crazy year! We started the year with a big baby bump and spent the rest of it wrapped up in the crazy love of our new family. Adding Barrett to our family has been such a blessing and we can't imagine life without him here. 2014 is going to be hard to top - start to finish my favorite year ever!
January started with lots of baby showers. 3 to be exact! My friends from work threw a Candyland themed one where a lot of my co-workers came to celebrate (those who weren't stuck in the big snow we had just gotten). Speaking of snow, it seemed to snow a ton right before every one of our baby showers. I don't miss trudging through the snow and freezing cold with sore hips. A couple weekends later, my friend Jamie took maternity pictures for us (in 5 degree weather, freezing cold wind, and inches upon inches of snow...yikes!) and then Matt's mom and cousin and then my Aunt and Grandma threw us a shower the same weekend. I loved getting to see all of our family and my friends. The love and generosity of everyone was so overwhelming. Barrett was so loved already! 
February brought The Bear! We spent the beginning of the month finishing up the nursery and spending lots of time together. We packed our hospital bags and made sure everything was in place for our new arrival. I worked up until the Sunday before we delivered and used those last few days to sleep in a little since I knew that would be the opposite of what our lives would be in a couple days. We drove to the hospital bright and early on that Wednesday full of nerves and excitement knowing we were going to meet our baby boy that day! Barrett Matthew Dunn was born on February 26th at 7:40 am weighing in at 8 lbs 12 oz and 21.5 in long. A head full of dark hair and super kissable cheeks :). The love was immediate and overwhelming, we were on cloud nine with him finally here with us :).
March was all about recovery (dang c-section), napping when the baby napped, feeding baby, changing diapers, and lots of "firsts". Matt was able to take another full week off after we got home from the hospital so we got to experience our first week with our new baby home together. I'll never forget those days. Eating in bed and chatting like it was mid-afternoon at 3 am, staying in bed until we started some of our days at 3 pm (pretty sure one of those first days it was 6 pm before we even went downstairs), Matt changing diapers and bringing Barrett to me to nurse at all times of the night, Jax staying in bed all day with us too :), Matt went back to work and Barrett and I spent our days in the newborn fog-feed, eat, nap, wake up all night long. We got out of the house together on the weekends for Costco a couple times and had a fun evening over at our friend's house (who had their son the day before us). 
In April, we took Barrett's first road trip! We went up to Lafayette for a birthday party for me and my niece and I met up with some friends for a lunch and walk at Happy Hollow Park. We also took a trip up to Matt's aunt's house for Easter Sunday and Barrett got to meet more family. It was such a blast introducing him to everyone and getting to see our families interact with him. We are so lucky! I was so happy that the weather finally started getting nice and we made the most of it by taking lots and lots of walks (Jax on leash and B in the Ergo carrier).
I soaked up my last month of maternity leave in May and spent every moment wrapped up in taking care of and loving on Barrett and being with Matt and Jax. I got to celebrate my very first Mother's Day and what an amazing weekend it was! We had our little family time which included relaxing on the back deck and a walk and then on Sunday both of our moms came down. We had a great lunch and spent all day together. We even planted some daisies which ended up lasting all Summer and even long into the Fall. We traveled up to Michigan City for Memorial Day weekend and took Bear to the beach on Lake Michigan for the first time! It was so neat to have him there, on the beach where I grew up. I am excited to take him again when he's older too because I know he will love digging in the sand and splashing in the water. He loved laying in his little tent and hearing the water.
June brought our very first evening out without Barrett...our annual Dave Matthews Band concert! We had so much fun, but it felt so strange to be out without the babies. We haven't missed a year yet. We made a trip up to visit Matts's family and had fun watching the babies play. We also celebrated Matt's first Father's Day in June! We all snuggled in bed and then Matt smoked some ribs that afternoon. It was so amazing to be able to celebrate those holidays with Bear. 
July brought another fun outing for Barrett and I. We met some friends up in Lafayette for his first Zoo and Igloo experience! It was so fun to be outside and having him with me for these experiences. He just chilled in the stroller (big boy style!) until he eventually fell asleep and then we got some ice cream afterwards. Bear also got his first pool experience in July! Amber and I took the boys and it took forever to just get them ready to go. At least an hour. By the time we left the house to walk them down there, they both fell asleep and then continued to sleep for 45 minutes at the pool. Eventually we got them in and they loved it! 
In August, we made our way to the State Fair! I LOVE going to the fair. I want to go every year and one time Matt made a comment that we weren't going back to the fair until we had kids (kinda like the putting Christmas lights on the outside of the house when we had kids thing :) ) so of course we had to go! It was such a blast. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Barrett loved riding around in his stroller and people watching, looking at the animals, listening to the music and took a little snooze. We got some food and Matt stuck him in the carrier. It was so cute to see them walking around like that. It was such a great night. We also went to a concert with our friends at the casino. We had a great dinner and then had amazing seats (and drink service!) for the outdoor concert. So fun!
In September, we celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary (and 10 years together!) with a great weekend of eating, wine tasting, and being together. Barrett got his first apple orchard experience with some of his little friends and we also went to his first Purdue tailgate! He was such a trooper. It was hot that day but he played on a blanket, strolled around, and got passed around family members. We brought Jax with us too and he was such a good boy. We made such great memories this year!
In October, we took lots of walks and enjoyed the amazing Fall weather. It was just gorgeous this past Fall! We also celebrated Barrett's first Halloween! Even though it was way too cold to take him out (sleet and snow flurries!) we couldn't resist dressing him up as the cutest little bear ever and passing out candy. We also got some visits from Barrett's Papa and Ann and spent time with family and friends too.
November brought our first vacation as a family of three! We flew down to Houston, TX for Matt's cousins' wedding. It was quite an experience traveling with a 9 month old. SO much stuff. And pretty tricky to be traveling and in a hotel room with a crawler who just wants to be on the go and get into everything. Mental note- go on a trip before the baby is mobile ;). We had a couple great Thanksgiving get togethers and got to let Barrett try out some big people food. Barrett also saw his first snow!
In December, we hustled around getting ready for Christmas and tried to stay warm indoors as much as possible. We had a great holiday. I was off all of Christmas and the weekend this year. We spent Christmas Eve together just the three of us with some Chipotle and family time. We did a yummy dinner, opened a couple gifts, and read a book that night. We spent Christmas morning at our house and had our moms and my nephew down for breakfast and to watch Barrett open his gifts from us and Santa :). We went up to my Grandmothers later on that day and then had Matt's family's Christmas that next weekend. This holiday season was so very special to us. It meant so much and was such a magical time together. 
2014 was an incredible year filled with so many "firsts" for us and Bear and so much love and happiness for all of us. We are reminded, once again, how very lucky we are. We loved you, 2014, and are certain that 2015 will be full of love, fun, and adventure as well!
