I always like to reflect on the year as we get ready for a new one. Something about starting a new year for some reason feels more momentous than any other second that passes. It really is just another tick of the clock though. To say that our 2010 was eventful would be an understatement. We had a lot of ups and downs and some major life changes. Here's a look back at our eventful 2010...
January found us both working hard and counting down to the arrival of our baby girl. I was teaching full time and 110 hours behind in my internship from the fall semester. This is not because I wasn't spending every day working on the internship hours, but merely a matter of limited hours in the day. I upped my internship hours to 17.5 per week in addition to teaching full time. Oh, while 6 months pregnant. Oh, and I had to finish the internship about 3 weeks before everyone else because my baby was due!
February brought us a TON of snow. Record-breaking amounts in fact. We were pretty much buried. There were about 5 good days that our neighborhood went without seeing a plow. Just before one of these big snow events I convinced my husband to take me to Home Depot to get all the supplies we'd need to do the baby's bedroom. While snowed in we were able to prime, paint, and apply chair rail and picture frame moldings. Literally the Monday after we finished the baby's room, my hubby had knee surgery - ACL replacement. The next weeks and months were spent helping him recover from that.
March started out with two really fun baby showers that our families threw for me. We got completely stocked and I was able to get everything ready for the baby's arrival. The rest of March was pretty much a countdown for me. I was still working like crazy to get my internship hours completed but once March was over I was pretty well done. I also found an excellent substitute to cover my classes for the rest of the year while I was out. She was an intern already working in our department. She spent the week before my leave hanging out in my classroom and bit-teaching, and was ready to roll. I can't even describe the blessing she was. Since she was a student teacher she could write and execute lesson plans without a worry. I left her my lesson book and told her to go to town. She did a lot of her own stuff and took care of all the grading. I'm not sure there's anything I could say or do to adequately thank her for that. Ok, well I did give her my job.... but that's not until July.
April kicked off with spring break! I'm not talking about the Cancun variety, either. I spent it doing homework for grad school and trying to get all the last minute things ready for the baby. I had one more week of work after that before the due date. My last week of work went quickly. All of my internship hours got finished, all of my papers and my portfolio were all completed and handed in. I went to class for the last time that week. The Friday before my due date (April 16) I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible pain. I thought it was certainly labor. I woke my husband up and we went downstairs. There was no way I could sleep. We were up for a while and finally decided we would at least try to lay down. We did end up falling asleep and then I spent the rest of the weekend (and really the whole week following) having some pretty good Braxton-Hicks contractions. Everyone asked me 20 times a day how I was feeling. Finally on Saturday morning (the 24th) I woke up and realized I was in labor. After a pretty calm day, we went to the hospital, got some fluids and an epidural, and our gorgeous girl arrived at 10:54 pm. Best day ever :) I don't even have to tell you about the rest of April.
May was fun. I spent most days staring at, singing to, holding, kissing, snuggling... our sweet tiny girl. We took her to her first baseball game. She attended her first wedding. She also went to two graduations - one at the school where I teach, the other my own! It was a proud day :)
June and July each held another wedding, more baseball games and more snuggling. We went out more, had play dates, and took lots of walks in the park. I also had to let my school district (and principal) know that I was going to take a leave of absence for the 2010-11 school year and be at home with my baby. It was both a tough decision, and an easy one. It was hard from the financial aspect. We knew it would mean a lot of budgeting. But it was easy because we both knew we wanted me to be at home with her. We would have been in the same financial circumstances paying for day care, so it made sense to be the one caring for her and not worrying.
August was a little less eventful. The biggest things we did were a family photo shoot with our favorite photographer, Jamie Roberts of Roberts Photographers, and an autograph signing with Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens. It was actually so nice to wind down summer with some relaxation :) It was only slightly strange feeling when school started and I didn't go back - either to grad classes or to teaching. It took me like 0.2 seconds to get past that though.
In September we got in as much outside time as possible in preparation for the cooler temperatures ahead. We also got to spend a really gorgeous day outside at a picnic with my whole family. We picnic yearly as our "reunion." It's always the weekend closest to my grandfather's birthday and it's always so much fun to visit with everyone.
Colt James
Austin Richard
October gave us not one, but TWO new nephews! They were born just 2 weeks apart. Colt James was born to my husband's brother and his wife on October 11th, and Austin Richard was born to my brother and his wife on October 27th. Talk about an exciting month! They are two of the cutest little dudes you could imagine. And I'm the lucky auntie that gets to babysit Austin when his mommy goes back to work in a couple of weeks! We also attended our 4th and final wedding of 2010 at which my hubby officiated!
November went by in a flash. We spent the earlier part getting ready for a big trip, and then before we knew it, it was the 23rd and we were on a plane! It was our first flight with baby girl in tow and she was an angel. We had a wonderful visit with my husband's family and got to celebrate his grandfather's 75th birthday as well as Thanksgiving with them.
December is always a whirlwind and this year was no exception. We got to visit with my hubby's grandparents again when they came to town to meet Colt. We celebrated our niece Caraline's first birthday. I made Christmas presents for the first time and that went pretty well. I should have given myself a lot more time though. It got a little hectic there at the end! But I learned a lot and had fun. It was our baby girl's first Christmas and she just loved opening presents. She was a little confused as to why we took the paper away no sooner did she get it off the box though :) No one went over board, and we just had a really nice Christmas with her and each of our families. It even snowed!
Tonight we are ringing in the new year at home. My brother and his wife are coming over and we're going to order some Chinese, play games, watch a movie and welcome 2011 with smiles and smooches. I can honestly say 2010 brought more blessings than I could have imagined, and certainly more than we deserved. I can only hope 2011 approaches the same. I hope 2010 has been good to you, and 2011 is even better!
Happy New Year :)
