And now for the yearly wrap up…
January: Oh my goodness, so that is what it feels like to get punched in the gut. Figuratively, to be clear, not literally, but oh holy mother, the effect is the same. This was one year ago? That cannot be right! There are diapers in these pictures… we are now in a diaper-free zone, with no new diapers on the horizon (SOB!). Ok. Phew. Now that we got that out of the way. We started out the year rocking in adorable (some-times naked) style. We got to see (from the room outside of the church) Aubrey get baptized, and I can still remember literally chasing a quick crawling Daphne around and around while trying to look composed in a skirt. I failed. Both at containing her (for very long, at least) and at looking even minimally composed. But it was a happy occasion and a happy month. Somewhere in between our “grand” dinner parties and dance parties and tip-toeing across bedrooms, this was the month where things got set in motion, because this was the month when, in all sorts of New-Year’s-Resolution-Glory I decided that I was going to find a new job and we were going to buy a house! Sometimes being deluded about your own abilities to just *poof* change the status quo is what you need to actually, you know, change the status quo.
February: And then there was SNOW! Sometimes I wonder if the kids will ever see it again. While we plan on making many return trips to Chicago, I am not sure if ANY of those will be in the winter. The ladies in our house continued our tradition of random photo ops together, and separately the kids practically competed in an “I’m cuter and more photogenic” face off (a draw). While Daphne hit a milestone of months, Cooper hit a much more substantial milestone in years… turning 4… This still hardly seems right, as it would mean that in less than 2 months he will be 5, which is INSANE because you know what 5 year olds do??? THEY GO TO KINDERGARTEN! Gulp. Ok, let’s package that little package of ohhellno up and put it away for another day. Four year olds, in my limited experience, are fricking awesome, and looking back at when you were first embarking on this year Cooper, just makes me think “wow” – yep, you are pretty amazing. Coop got a bike for his birthday, and I can happily report that after some initial excitement and trips around the block, followed by about 4 months of staunch refusal to get on the thing AT ALL, he is back in the saddle, so to speak, and a real bike expert. Next stop (for 2014? 2015?)… No training wheels.
March: Daphne finally got properly accessorized, Cooper went to a ball game. Oh, and Cooper still knows all the words to “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. All of this is trivial though compared to what happened this month. March is when Beka died. A lot of other great and wonderful things happened, and I tried to make note of them, but the reality is, this was a huge loss for our family and one we are still feeling. If losing my Granny is any indication, we will be feeling the loss for a long long time – forever?
April: Posting was scarce this month (ok, most of this whole last year), but in fairness, we were very busy. Somewhere in between enjoying the weather, hunting for eggs, defiling the walls of our house, FINALLY achieving high pig tails and some *slight* over-dramatization, I quit my job and we bought a house. A house I had never seen in person (or Steve for that matter, but he did actually see it during our “option” period, so we had a little wiggle room). There was a lot of activity and excitement and sadness, too. Preparing to start something new, no matter how great, or “right”, also meant starting to say goodbye, too. And while there were many things I was happy to leave, there is a lot I still miss.
May: Fade Chicago and lights up on Houston. Hello! We are in a house! An actual house! With a master bedroom and for the first time in a long time, we are settled. Though, whoa, at first we feel the farthest thing from settled. With flying into Houston on the 6am flight with 2 kids (since Steve moved the minivan, cats and fish a few days earlier), which was an experience like no other, to closing on the same day (with hiring of a cleaning crew and awkward encounters all around with the prior owners somewhere in there) to NEEDING new carpet instantly to having our belonging arrive 4 days later, with starting a new job a day before that… It was a crazy first half of the month. Nonetheless, we/Daphne are/is still quite photogenic in her new digs. Cooper, too. They both kept growing up and expanding their vocabulary. And, perhaps most pivotal in Cooper’s life, this was when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became a part of our life.
June: I encouraged Daphne to throw herself headfirst into every child’s (just mine?) dream activity – sweeping/mopping. Ninja power continued to dominate, and we just generally settled into the house that it now feels like has always been ours. We celebrated all the dads, and we embraced Texas culture, buying our own set of (water) hand guns. We continued to document how Daphne gets more beautiful, while I continue to … age.
July: Hello? Where were we in July? Oh, that’s right, STUDYING FOR THE (another) BAR! That explains a lot. Despite not documenting it well, I actually managed to balance a full time gig (billing part time hours), study for the bar (spoiler: I passed!) and remind my children and husband, periodically, what I looked like. SUCCESS! But enough about me, this was actually a pretty big month of turning points! Cooper and Daphne started to actually like each other and see (some) (at least minor) value in each other! Daphne became slightly interested in a potty, and with early success, she plotted quietly how to put it on hold for a few months and then totally rock the potty training before the end of the year. While I know I totally cannot pull this off, I will do it: YOU GO, GIRL!!!
August: PHEW! After a long few months, we finally SLOOOOOWED down. And at the beach no less! Who would have thought that a 3 day weekend in Port A could feel like such a total and complete escape. Both of our commemorative magnets from this trip have been knocked off of the refrigerator and broken, but I don’t think we will need the reminder. This trip is so permanently tucked away. Finally moving and checking off that last box of taking the Bar allowed us to all just STOP and BREATHE. The kids’ reluctant acceptance of each other blossomed into something of a friendship (very early stages) in August, and it was such fun to watch the two together. Daphne’s knack for the dramatic came out and Cooper continued to amaze us. Then BAM! My days of having a stay at home spouse came CRASHING to a halt. A wonderful, terrifying and total change of our household in less than a week. Mad scrambling and many sleepless nights and we somehow managed to find the most wonderful person to help fill the gaps and become, as Cooper would say (and Steve and I completely concur), the fifth member of our family.
September: And because all of the last 3 months wasn’t enough, we thought we would start out this month by throwing Cooper into another new environment with new challenges and faces and started him in Pre-K. And like every other similar occasion, Cooper far exceeded expectations and handled it amazingly. Despite a slightly rocky first day drop off (more for me than him, I suspect), the rest of this year has shown how wonderful this has been for him. He is starting to read and can count over 100. He is confident and has friends. Like every other moment of this story, I struggled with balancing work and life while Daphne schooled me in the art of (dancing backwards in) highheels (in a swimsuit, no less).
October: Much of this month isn’t pictured until November (shame on me), but taking full advantage of the whole “I switched jobs, at least in part, so my kids would remember me as being (at least somewhat closer to) the mom I want to be, I chaperoned Cooper’s first school field trip. And it was awesome. It actually helped solidify that he is, like, my BFF. Which, I guess I will take as an indication that my perceived failings as a mother to date have been more about missing things I didn’t want to miss then missing things that Cooper will never forgive me for missing (let’s hope). The kids were excellent ghosts and despite billing a relatively insane number of hours, I actually was able to be home and THERE (physically and mentally and emotionally PRESENT) so much more than I had been able to even a year before. A wonderful feeling as we head into the Holiday season!
November: November, already? We did a lot of things this month. Most notably, we all celebrated making it to the end of Daphne’s second year. As Steve so accurately puts it “Honestly, I was a little worried we wouldn’t make it.” She is so fearless it is terrifying and inspirational. I cannot believe how much older she looks. The first 2 years kind of blow your mind (or at least they do mine). Cooper also started basketball and we had the (non-pictured for some reason) Kowalski’s in for Thanksgiving. All in all, a very great month!
December: Cooper came into December with more excitement than I thought his little body could contain. This was truly the best year for Christmas with him – he knew what was coming, knew what to expect, and just couldn’t be happier knowing it was all RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!! (even though, according to him, it was taking soooo long to come). Post-Christmas has seen him consumed in play – going from his Ninja Turtle lair to racing airplanes to transformers to reading to doing mazes to digging for fossils to… to… to… He is such an easy going and happy kid. Daphne came into December with … gusto. It was as though she knew what people said about two and felt the need to live up to… no… to EXCEED expectations. Fortunately, we keep a sense of humor in our house and we were able to laugh it off (mostly). Then, just like that, right when she knew she had us where she wanted us (at her MERCY), she just flipped a switch and has returned to a little love of a two year old. She still is FAR more opinionated and demanding then Cooper ever was (or will be, I suspect), but I will be honest, we embrace that. I may even go so far as to say we encourage it (we just try to make sure that it is done in the right way). I want her to be her own person. I want her to know how to express herself. In summary: My wish has been granted. For example: Daphne making a total stop in Ikea and when Steve tells her to come on, she says (rather loudly) "No! Dance!" And rocks out to Katy Perry in the middle of everything.
Closing out the year with more memorable experiences and having accomplished so much, I feel optimistic that 2014 will be a good one. I feel a little overly sentimental looking back, because when Cooper was Daphne’s age, I knew we had another little one on the horizon and this year has been about maximizing what we already have instead of adding to the mix. Sometimes, despite all my best intentions, I have to be a grown up and I have to live in reality. Our reality starting out 2013 was that we had outgrown our home, I had outgrown my job and change wouldn’t just happen by itself. It was growing pains and an emptying of bank accounts, it was completely redefining our family – our roles in it and our limitations. This year has taught me that sometimes it isn’t so bad to be a grown up. Happy New Year!
January: Oh my goodness, so that is what it feels like to get punched in the gut. Figuratively, to be clear, not literally, but oh holy mother, the effect is the same. This was one year ago? That cannot be right! There are diapers in these pictures… we are now in a diaper-free zone, with no new diapers on the horizon (SOB!). Ok. Phew. Now that we got that out of the way. We started out the year rocking in adorable (some-times naked) style. We got to see (from the room outside of the church) Aubrey get baptized, and I can still remember literally chasing a quick crawling Daphne around and around while trying to look composed in a skirt. I failed. Both at containing her (for very long, at least) and at looking even minimally composed. But it was a happy occasion and a happy month. Somewhere in between our “grand” dinner parties and dance parties and tip-toeing across bedrooms, this was the month where things got set in motion, because this was the month when, in all sorts of New-Year’s-Resolution-Glory I decided that I was going to find a new job and we were going to buy a house! Sometimes being deluded about your own abilities to just *poof* change the status quo is what you need to actually, you know, change the status quo.
February: And then there was SNOW! Sometimes I wonder if the kids will ever see it again. While we plan on making many return trips to Chicago, I am not sure if ANY of those will be in the winter. The ladies in our house continued our tradition of random photo ops together, and separately the kids practically competed in an “I’m cuter and more photogenic” face off (a draw). While Daphne hit a milestone of months, Cooper hit a much more substantial milestone in years… turning 4… This still hardly seems right, as it would mean that in less than 2 months he will be 5, which is INSANE because you know what 5 year olds do??? THEY GO TO KINDERGARTEN! Gulp. Ok, let’s package that little package of ohhellno up and put it away for another day. Four year olds, in my limited experience, are fricking awesome, and looking back at when you were first embarking on this year Cooper, just makes me think “wow” – yep, you are pretty amazing. Coop got a bike for his birthday, and I can happily report that after some initial excitement and trips around the block, followed by about 4 months of staunch refusal to get on the thing AT ALL, he is back in the saddle, so to speak, and a real bike expert. Next stop (for 2014? 2015?)… No training wheels.
March: Daphne finally got properly accessorized, Cooper went to a ball game. Oh, and Cooper still knows all the words to “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. All of this is trivial though compared to what happened this month. March is when Beka died. A lot of other great and wonderful things happened, and I tried to make note of them, but the reality is, this was a huge loss for our family and one we are still feeling. If losing my Granny is any indication, we will be feeling the loss for a long long time – forever?
April: Posting was scarce this month (ok, most of this whole last year), but in fairness, we were very busy. Somewhere in between enjoying the weather, hunting for eggs, defiling the walls of our house, FINALLY achieving high pig tails and some *slight* over-dramatization, I quit my job and we bought a house. A house I had never seen in person (or Steve for that matter, but he did actually see it during our “option” period, so we had a little wiggle room). There was a lot of activity and excitement and sadness, too. Preparing to start something new, no matter how great, or “right”, also meant starting to say goodbye, too. And while there were many things I was happy to leave, there is a lot I still miss.
May: Fade Chicago and lights up on Houston. Hello! We are in a house! An actual house! With a master bedroom and for the first time in a long time, we are settled. Though, whoa, at first we feel the farthest thing from settled. With flying into Houston on the 6am flight with 2 kids (since Steve moved the minivan, cats and fish a few days earlier), which was an experience like no other, to closing on the same day (with hiring of a cleaning crew and awkward encounters all around with the prior owners somewhere in there) to NEEDING new carpet instantly to having our belonging arrive 4 days later, with starting a new job a day before that… It was a crazy first half of the month. Nonetheless, we/Daphne are/is still quite photogenic in her new digs. Cooper, too. They both kept growing up and expanding their vocabulary. And, perhaps most pivotal in Cooper’s life, this was when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became a part of our life.
June: I encouraged Daphne to throw herself headfirst into every child’s (just mine?) dream activity – sweeping/mopping. Ninja power continued to dominate, and we just generally settled into the house that it now feels like has always been ours. We celebrated all the dads, and we embraced Texas culture, buying our own set of (water) hand guns. We continued to document how Daphne gets more beautiful, while I continue to … age.
July: Hello? Where were we in July? Oh, that’s right, STUDYING FOR THE (another) BAR! That explains a lot. Despite not documenting it well, I actually managed to balance a full time gig (billing part time hours), study for the bar (spoiler: I passed!) and remind my children and husband, periodically, what I looked like. SUCCESS! But enough about me, this was actually a pretty big month of turning points! Cooper and Daphne started to actually like each other and see (some) (at least minor) value in each other! Daphne became slightly interested in a potty, and with early success, she plotted quietly how to put it on hold for a few months and then totally rock the potty training before the end of the year. While I know I totally cannot pull this off, I will do it: YOU GO, GIRL!!!
August: PHEW! After a long few months, we finally SLOOOOOWED down. And at the beach no less! Who would have thought that a 3 day weekend in Port A could feel like such a total and complete escape. Both of our commemorative magnets from this trip have been knocked off of the refrigerator and broken, but I don’t think we will need the reminder. This trip is so permanently tucked away. Finally moving and checking off that last box of taking the Bar allowed us to all just STOP and BREATHE. The kids’ reluctant acceptance of each other blossomed into something of a friendship (very early stages) in August, and it was such fun to watch the two together. Daphne’s knack for the dramatic came out and Cooper continued to amaze us. Then BAM! My days of having a stay at home spouse came CRASHING to a halt. A wonderful, terrifying and total change of our household in less than a week. Mad scrambling and many sleepless nights and we somehow managed to find the most wonderful person to help fill the gaps and become, as Cooper would say (and Steve and I completely concur), the fifth member of our family.
September: And because all of the last 3 months wasn’t enough, we thought we would start out this month by throwing Cooper into another new environment with new challenges and faces and started him in Pre-K. And like every other similar occasion, Cooper far exceeded expectations and handled it amazingly. Despite a slightly rocky first day drop off (more for me than him, I suspect), the rest of this year has shown how wonderful this has been for him. He is starting to read and can count over 100. He is confident and has friends. Like every other moment of this story, I struggled with balancing work and life while Daphne schooled me in the art of (dancing backwards in) highheels (in a swimsuit, no less).
October: Much of this month isn’t pictured until November (shame on me), but taking full advantage of the whole “I switched jobs, at least in part, so my kids would remember me as being (at least somewhat closer to) the mom I want to be, I chaperoned Cooper’s first school field trip. And it was awesome. It actually helped solidify that he is, like, my BFF. Which, I guess I will take as an indication that my perceived failings as a mother to date have been more about missing things I didn’t want to miss then missing things that Cooper will never forgive me for missing (let’s hope). The kids were excellent ghosts and despite billing a relatively insane number of hours, I actually was able to be home and THERE (physically and mentally and emotionally PRESENT) so much more than I had been able to even a year before. A wonderful feeling as we head into the Holiday season!
November: November, already? We did a lot of things this month. Most notably, we all celebrated making it to the end of Daphne’s second year. As Steve so accurately puts it “Honestly, I was a little worried we wouldn’t make it.” She is so fearless it is terrifying and inspirational. I cannot believe how much older she looks. The first 2 years kind of blow your mind (or at least they do mine). Cooper also started basketball and we had the (non-pictured for some reason) Kowalski’s in for Thanksgiving. All in all, a very great month!
December: Cooper came into December with more excitement than I thought his little body could contain. This was truly the best year for Christmas with him – he knew what was coming, knew what to expect, and just couldn’t be happier knowing it was all RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!! (even though, according to him, it was taking soooo long to come). Post-Christmas has seen him consumed in play – going from his Ninja Turtle lair to racing airplanes to transformers to reading to doing mazes to digging for fossils to… to… to… He is such an easy going and happy kid. Daphne came into December with … gusto. It was as though she knew what people said about two and felt the need to live up to… no… to EXCEED expectations. Fortunately, we keep a sense of humor in our house and we were able to laugh it off (mostly). Then, just like that, right when she knew she had us where she wanted us (at her MERCY), she just flipped a switch and has returned to a little love of a two year old. She still is FAR more opinionated and demanding then Cooper ever was (or will be, I suspect), but I will be honest, we embrace that. I may even go so far as to say we encourage it (we just try to make sure that it is done in the right way). I want her to be her own person. I want her to know how to express herself. In summary: My wish has been granted. For example: Daphne making a total stop in Ikea and when Steve tells her to come on, she says (rather loudly) "No! Dance!" And rocks out to Katy Perry in the middle of everything.
Closing out the year with more memorable experiences and having accomplished so much, I feel optimistic that 2014 will be a good one. I feel a little overly sentimental looking back, because when Cooper was Daphne’s age, I knew we had another little one on the horizon and this year has been about maximizing what we already have instead of adding to the mix. Sometimes, despite all my best intentions, I have to be a grown up and I have to live in reality. Our reality starting out 2013 was that we had outgrown our home, I had outgrown my job and change wouldn’t just happen by itself. It was growing pains and an emptying of bank accounts, it was completely redefining our family – our roles in it and our limitations. This year has taught me that sometimes it isn’t so bad to be a grown up. Happy New Year!
