2017: My Year In Review

I think we can all agree that 2017 was a pretty crazy year in our world. No matter what country you live in, there were likely a lot of changes - politically, socially, etc. Some are happy with the changes, others are not. We saw a lot of tragedy happen as well - the Las Vegas shooting being the most well known here in the US. So for a lot of people, 2017 may have not been a great year. But that's not what I'm getting at in today's blog.

For us, 2017 was FULL of amazing events, memories, and activities! I'm trying to focus more on gratitude and "counting my blessings," for lack of a better term, as we roll into 2018, so I really wanted to take a moment today and reflect on all of the awesome things that happened in 2017.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy My Year In Review. Hopefully it inspires you a bit to look back at your own year and think of all the great things that happened!

The beginning of this year was all about crazy milestones for Annabelle! At the end of February, we celebrated her first birthday with a bunch of family and friends. About a week prior to that, she FINALLY had 3 teeth starting to poke through. Our toothless wonder! Then, about a week or 2 after her birthday, she started walking all on her own. She'd been walking with our hands or behind things for several months, but not on her own. She hasn't stopped since!

February also marked a huge change for me. I left my previous job after 6 years and accepted a position at my current employer. I was pretty nervous about this huge change, and the fact that I was starting with a new company at 5 months pregnant, but Dan did a great job of showing me that I could do it, and sent me flowers on my first day! What a guy!

In April, Dan and I went to South Carolina for the wedding of one of his best friends. It was the first time we were away from Annabelle for an extended period of time (a long weekend). She had a ball at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and Mom & Dad survived!

May was pretty much spent enjoying our last few weeks as a family of 3 and me of course freaking out at every little movement or lack of movement in my belly, wondering if and when I was going into labor. When we finally had an induction date set, we had about 3 days to really soak up that time. It was exciting, knowing we'd be welcoming our sweet Eloise in a matter of days, but bittersweet as well, knowing our family unit was forever changing. We really tried to give Annie lots and lots of attention!

June rolled around and our hearts grew exponentially with the arrival of Eloise Mae on June 5. This month was, without a doubt, the most significant month of 2017! Ellie came in to the world in a push and a cough and a pretty quick induced labor and we were (and still are) over the moon in love with our sweet 2nd daughter. The entire month of June was basically spent trying to adjust to a new normal for our family. Annabelle was a bit indifferent about her sister at first - she wasn't really sure what to make of her. But after about a week, we could see the love grow, and now they make each other laugh all the time!

July was a busy month! As we continued adjusting (let's be honest, I'm STILL adjusting) to our new normal, we really wanted to try to make sure that we were still doing the types of things we would normally be doing as a family during the summer. We went out to Grand Haven several times, and even slept over once or twice with both girls. Eloise's first sleepover - and my first overnight trip alone with both girls - was in mid-July when the girls and I went to visit my sister and her family 2+ hours away. We all survived the car ride there and back in one piece, with a few stops along the way. Sleeping wasn't bad there, either! Annie tends to momentarily freak out when going to bed at a new place, but she eventually adjusted and fell asleep - hard. Eloise also slept great for her first sleepover!

July was a very special month for Eloise not only because of her travels, but she was also baptized into the Catholic Church!

The end of July rolled into August and I rolled out of my trusty Honda Pilot and into a Toyota Sienna Minivan! We'd been talking about getting a minivan for some time, and this one was too good of a deal to pass up, so we pulled the trigger on it a bit early. I am SO glad we did. I LOVE this van. It's been so great for us when travelling - it's been on several 2+ hour road trips. With 2 kids both in carseats, it's just been so much more convenient for our family and I am embracing my Minivan Mom status like a boss.

I also went back to work mid-August after a short maternity leave. It broke my heart leaving Eloise, but I knew she was in good hands at daycare and at my parents' (she's at my parents' one day a week).

September was a very typical September - we tried to do lots of activities with the girls, establish a bit of a routine, and just enjoy the last month before things got crazy leading up to the holiday months. I'd say the biggest thing to happen for me in September was starting this blog! What started as a cathartic way for me to get my thoughts out has turned into a creative outlet that reaches more people than I thought it ever would! Thank you to all of you that read it - I hope you find something funny here or there, or something that you can identify with!

October brought Halloween and the start of potty training at our house. It also brought the 4 month sleep regression. In all honesty, I was pretty much a hot mess all October. My awesome Mother-in-law bought Annie's Halloween costume, and I didn't even get around to going out to look for Ellie's until the week before Halloween. Luckily, I found the cutest fleece flower costume. We also started trying to potty train Annie in October. By trying, I mean, if she tells us "Poop Poop" and hasn't gone yet, I take her to her little potty seat and sit there for several minutes waiting for something. We've done that countless times and she's peed on the potty ONCE. Boy, we made a big deal out of that one time though. Most of the time, she's more interested in setting her dolls or toys on the potty and playing with the toilet paper. But we'll get there!

November was slightly less of a hot mess month. Maybe it was because Eloise started sleeping a bit better, or maybe I was just adjusting to the craziness of life, but I feel like I coped with everything so much better! Obviously, the biggest things in our family that month were the Thanksgiving celebrations we had. We celebrated on Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving day at my sister's house, and that was amazing! It is always a riot to watch the little girls play together. On Black Friday, we headed back home and that evening BOTH of our girls got to go to their first tree lighting ceremony with my in-laws. We had a great time, and will definitely be going again next year. Annie knows who Santa is and pretty much lost her mind when she saw him (from afar, of course). She was saying HoHo for daysssssssss.

December, of course, brought all things Christmas. Outside of the craziness of the holidays though, we thought, "Why not throw taking the side off of Annie's crib into the mix?" Maybe it was a good idea, maybe it wasn't. If you've followed the blog, or follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you know those first few days and weeks were, shall we say, rough. Annie's a champion sleeper, so luckily it didn't affect her quality of sleep much, but it took her a while to get used to sleeping in a bed with no crib rails,. Then, once she realized she could get out, it took her a while NOT to sleep on the floor at the door. I am happy to say though, that she's now doing MUCH better at falling asleep in bed and staying in there until at least 6am. The other big thing that happened in December was our big-domed baby girl Eloise FINALLY started sitting! She isn't fully sitting up on her own yet, but she's supporting herself sitting, which is super exciting. Her head is a bit large compared to the rest of her body, so it's just taking her a bit longer to do things like this!

As you can see, despite all of the frustration, tragedy, turmoil and general feeling of unrest in the world this year, when I sit back and reflect, I know that I have SO much to be thankful for. I'd love to hear about what 2017 brought you!

Stay tuned next week for my 2018 Resolutions!

#YearinReview #Grateful #Family