The End of a Decade.

I sit here on New Years Eve 2009 awaiting 2010. Gwen has just been diagnosed with RSV so our plans have come to a halt. Like last year, I am guessing I will be in bed before the clock strikes midnight. This is a huge change from the beginning of the decade where Carter, Sueanne, Lindsay, and I were partying it up, at a rave, in Montreal. It was an amazing time, but I wouldn't trade my current life for anything. I am too much in love with my daughter and husband!

I thought I would take a moment to look back on this decade and how "The Jurbala Family" came to be.......

2000: I graduated from Hartwick College and moved to Endicott, NY, where I worked for IBM, my first job out of college. I would soon be transferred to the Boulder plant.

2001: I packed up my entire life and moved out to Colorado on June 8th. I had never been west of the Mississippi. The first time I came to Colorado was to find a place to live. I am not one for taking risks, but this one paid off. It led me to Michael, who had moved to Colorado in February. Michael and I started dating in October of this year.

2002: The first time I told Michael that I loved him was in January. We had gone to see an Aves hockey game. We barely watched the game. Instead we talked. It was like we were the only 2 people in the arena. I realized at that moment that he would be the one I would spend my life with.

2003: Michael and I moved into our first apartment together.

2004: On February 15th Michael proposed. We went snow shoeing, for the first time, at El Dora. The day was absolutely beautiful. He got down on 1 knee and asked if I would marry him. My first inclination was to throw up, but of course I said yes!! We also purchased our first house in October. It was small, but perfect for us.

2005: June 4, 2005 was the day I married the love of my life. We followed up an AMAZING wedding with a wonderful honeymoon in St. Lucia.

2006: Not much happened this year as I was in the process of getting my MBA. We did take an amazing Caribbean cruise.

2007: I graduated with my MBA. Mike and I took a hot air balloon ride in Breckenridge and toured the wineries in Sonoma.

2008: On February 6th I found out I was pregnant with my first child. It came as a HUGE surprise as we were planning a trip to Italy for fall 2008. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised since we were playing Russian roulette :-) This positive pregnancy test came 4 days prior to a trip to Mexico for my 30th birthday with another couple. The trip didn't turn out as planned, but neither did 2008. On October 13th I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.........Gwendolyn Maren.

2009: The year started with me being unemployed (I was laid off a week after Gwen was born) and enjoying it with Gwen. I was nervous about finding a new job since the economy was so bad that I started looking earlier than I had wanted. Turns out I found an amazing opportunity with my current company, CaridianBCT. I started part time in February and full time in March. I love my job and am able to work a flex schedule of 4 days, so that I have Fridays with Gwen. Little did we know how much stuff a baby comes with, so we quickly outgrew our old house. In July we moved into a new home, which is significantly larger and very much in suburbia. Suburbia has many opportunities for Gwen and she took swimming lessons and tumbling classes. In October our baby celebrated her first birthday and we took our first family vacation to Mexico. It was a great and very busy year, for us!

2010: Looking forward, I have high hopes for the New Year. Michael and I will be traveling somewhere amazing for our 5 Year Anniversary. The location is pending my bonus and our tax situation. Right now we are praying for Athens and Italy. Grandma J will be babysitting Gwen. There may also be a beach vacation with the extended Jurbala family. We will also be spending the holidays at home. It will be the first year, since I came to Colorado that I will not have to travel for Christmas.

I am off to finish drinking a bottle of Prosecco and Michael made a pizza with prosciutto. Gwen has been asleep for the past 2 hours. Not a bad final night to 2009......................

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

We traveled to NY for the holidays this year.  It was great being able to have Gwen spend so much time with my family.  She got quality time with her grandparents, cousins, aunt/uncle.  She was even fantastic on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, around the extended family, that she doesn't really know. It didn't take her too long to warm up to everyone.

There isn't much to tell since all we did was lay around, eating our weight in food, drinking far too much beer and wine, and watching movies (some bad, some good), for an entire week.  Gwen seriously slept 12-13 hours a night and took 2X 2-3 hour naps.  Even she enjoyed relaxing!!

Here are some pictures.  More can be found in my albums.  Enjoy!!

Christmas Eve (she left the headband on the entire night)

Trying Egg Nog for the first time

Opening gifts from Santa

Excited about the holidays in her cute outfit from Grandma J

3 Little Zombies in front of the TV (Grace, Gwen, and Olivia)

Another Friend Was Born

I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate Colleen & Scott Opalka on the birth of their GORGEOUS daughter Rachel Sophie!  She was born on 12/10/2009 in Athens, Greece. 

I have known Colleen my entire life (seriously, 31 years) and could not be happier for her.  I hope that Rachel and Gwendolyn have the amazing friendship that their moms do.  Miles have always separated us, but that didn't matter.  I am looking forward to snuggling with Rachel when Mike and I are in Athens in May 2010!!

2 Cute Babies!!

First and foremost here is the cutest baby in the world.


Next in line is Madilyn Bray, who was born on Friday December 4th. I got to hold her when she was only 1 day old. I forget how little newborns are since they grow up so fast. Madi is little, and Amanda loves chubby babies, so to get her there we will use Gwen's statistics as a guide :-). Congrats to Amanda & Chris!!!

First Haircut...........FAIL!!

It was finally time to get rid of Gwen's mullet, so today we took her for her first haircut. We took her to LolliPops, which is a kid only hair salon. It's super cute inside and even has a mani/pedi area. We sat her in the chair and she was a bit unsure of her surroundings. Right before the first snip a little boy started crying and it completely set Gwen off. She cried the entire time. The hair dresser said that she did fine, but I disagree. You'd think what we were doing to her!! Here are some pics from the big event.

Unsure of her surroundings (notice the mullet)


Getting ready for the first snip


The pain & agony of it all


Always the supermodel.......post hair cut!