Happy New Year

I am not one to spend a lot of time reflecting, but at this time of year it certainly seems appropriate to remember what things have influenced and affected us in the last 365 days.

Last New Year's Eve was spent in Cleveland, OH. We had 2 wonderful children and were pretty content with them starting to grow up a bit (read no more sleepless nights). We enjoyed the winter with lots of snow, playing outdoors, shoveling, etc. Elijah took swimming lessons. I felt like we kind of found our groove. Brian was finishing school, I was settled at my job, the kids had their routine...enter baby number 3. Thankfully my pregnancy was fairly uneventful and I was rarely sick--in fact I don't think I threw up even once now that I think about it.

I can't think of anything that happened in the spring. Oh, Elijah played soccer. That was fun!!

Summer started (late due to a week's worth of snow days to make up) with me taking a week long kindergarten workshop and Elijah going to zoo camp. Brian was home with us most days as he finished up some class stuff for Purdue and later in June worked for the University part-time at Stone Hall cafeteria/catering. We (he) put a new back porch on our house with the help of several friends and family members. We grew and enjoyed our garden, went on a long weekend just the two of us to northern Michigan, we swam at Aunt Susan's and Tropicanoe Cove, attended the coldest, rainiest Fiddler's Gathering ever, hung out with Foghorn Stringband at Bob-o's retirement party, kept our kids up for 4th of July Fireworks for the first time, listened to SmallTown Heroes play at Wolcott, spent a week in Michigan with our family on vacation...whew, it seems like a lot when you list it out like that!!

Fall was intense. Brian keeps saying to me that he has been seriously stressed out since he got his job the first week of August. Between my growing belly, a couple of head lice infestations, my aching back, his new job and student teaching, Elijah starting preschool (me driving him back and forth during my lunch time), and trying to prepare for whatever our life would look like with the addition of our new baby...we were kind of, okay really, stressed out. Thankfully Brian finished with an A from Purdue, got all of his work done and next semester should be significantly less busy.

Emily has been a wonderful addition to our family. She is the snuggliest baby! I won't lie and say our life has just been rosy since her birth. It has been hard. Harder than I thought. Mary has been tough to deal with, the lack of sleep is difficult when you have other kids to deal with in the morning, and navigating the holidays has proven to be almost impossible for us this year (well, that was because I was throwing up, but nonetheless). I know I am looking forward to getting back into a routine with preschool, getting the kids signed up for an activity. As I was writing on my calendar today I realized just how soon I will be going back to work. I know the days will fly by and then we'll have a whole new set of stresses to deal with: paying for 3 kids in daycare, dropping off at 3 places in the morning before work, pumping for breastmilk during the day, oh, and actually doing my job, writing lesson plans, teaching 23 6 year olds how to read and write. I guess the moral of the story is this: life is always busy, always hard in some way. If you are always looking for the next "resting period" you will miss the good parts along the way.

This next year will bring more firsts to our family: Elijah will start kindergarten in the fall. Mary will start preschool. Our summer will include us both bringing home a paycheck and not working. Emily will have her "first year" and all that comes with it--sitting, crawling, talking, walking. Next Christmas we will have a one year old. As I wrap it up I am both excited and sad as I think of the passing of time. So often I wish for something different and then look back and wish for that time to come back. This year I will try more to enjoy the moments as they come.