The past three years have been big for our little family. First, we birthed a Maddie Bear, then we bought a house, and in true modern-era-family tradition, finally got married this past summer. Eric and I joke that 2013 is going to seem pretty boring in comparison...
Just like
last year, I though I'd bid adieu to 2012 in style...and so I transport your back in time.....
January
In January, I
re-watched Season One of Felicity enough to make me realize that I'm old. I vowed to get
organized, (spoiler alert: still hasn't happened) and we
showed off M's new vocabulary! We made a leap into the work of grownups by buying
our first dining room table. Then we took an even larger leap when Eric decided he liked it enough to
put a ring on it. Toward the end of the month, M got to
play in the snow for the first, and only, time that winter. Meanwhile, Madeline amazed me with her incredible
juice-box-drinking skills, and her incessant desire to
knock over every block tower bigger than hers.
February
I
failed at taking a self portrait before spending a night at Mohegan Sun to
celebrate Amy's 30th. I marveled for the 100th time at
Eric's rad parenting skills. Madeline got to
play in a giant pit of plastic balls for the first time, and she
quit the bottle for good. Meanwhile, I shared
plans for M's room, and we
painted the dining room. Madeline's room has not had any significant improvements since then...the dining room is coming along slowly.
March
In March, I shared embarrassing pictures of my youth to prove
being a redhead isn't always easy. I tried easing the boredom of playing indoors with some
cloud dough and a bowl full of
Pom-poms for M to play with. We braved the cold wind with a
day at the beach. I laughed at the
five-second rule due to M's constant practice of eating day-old Cheerios off the floor. We took advantage of some early warm weather by eating Popsicles on the porch, and we tried to get a
1-year-six-month bunny picture update. I shared the story of
naming Ellis Jane, and the less endearing story of
teaching Madeline to swear.
April
Eric and I found our wedding location, and I debated holding the ceremony at
an amazing Vermont rest area. Meanwhile, Madeline enjoyed
her second Easter with her cousin, Katie Belle. We found the
mysterious drawer from the basement, and M had a brief stint as
the playground bully...a phase that thankfully did not last. As the weather warmed, we cleaned up the yard and
installed a raised vegetable garden. We had a fantastic spring break sitting porch side and
traveling to Montauk to visit with Nana and Pop.
May
In May, Madeline learned to
climb on everything. We
visited playgrounds,
picked dandelions, enjoyed a
local farm, and ran around the yard in
squeaky shoes. I shared some fears
about raising a confident daughter. We ended the month looking forward to summer vacation while
lounging by the beach.
June
We celebrated the life of
Madeline's great grandfather. M and I took the
train to New York, which had me nervous, but turned out fine. We ate breakfast on the porch and
watched our garden grow. We celebrated
father's day, and the
last day of school. Madeline learned how to avoid bedtime by crying
pooh-pooh. Wedding planning got serious with
a trip to Vermont and an epic
invitation-making marathon...complete with Dawson's Creek.
July
We rang in Madeline's
second Fourth of July with a parade (which she slept through again), a messy red, white, and blue
arts and crafts, and some sangria...for me, not her. We listened to Dada's
concerts on the common with Mimi and Bob. We
visited Montauk where we cruised around on Pop's boat. We enjoyed the
fruits of our garden, and tasted
some cupcakes in Vermont. Meanwhile, in the midst of all this madness, I decided to
stencil ALL the walls of our office, and I roped Eric into hacking an old set of bookshelves into a
dollhouse for Madeline. Best of all, at the end of the month I was surprised twice in the same weekend with a
bachelorette party and bridal shower! Phew...July was bus-
say!
August
In August we finished up with
baby gymnastics, but more importantly, we got
MARRIED!!! After the celebration, I shared some DIY projects...
invitations,
ribbon wands,
pinwheels...oh my! After the wedding madness, we relaxed by
baking zucchini muffins. Then I forever traumatized my daughter with her
first haircut.
September
Back to reality! I bemoaned
going back to work and missing out on such precious moments as Madeline
singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. We celebrated
Madeline's second birthday with visits by both grandparent sets. I even created a
cheesy video montage... A few weeks later, we commemorated
Ellis Jane's fourth birthday. Finally, we welcomed fall by
apple picking...it's the American way!
October
In October Madeline welcomed us to the wonderful world of
temper tantrums. We ran through some
hay mazes, watched
football, and Maddie Bear gave her poor Mumma a heart attack by
eating a poisonous red berry from the front yard. We updated the
bunny pictures, made some
artwork for the office, and I carved Madeline's first
jack-o-lantern for her since she was not at all interested in the pumpkins. We braved
Hurricane Sandy, and put Madeline's homemade Halloween costume on hold for the second year in a row due to unnatural weather.
November
Madeline FINALLY got to go trick-or-treating for the first time. She was the
cutest lawn gnome I've ever seen. We visited Connecticut with Eric's family where we had to fish a googly eye out of
Maddie Bear's ear. We enjoyed some beautiful fall days by
jumping in leaf piles before celebrating
Thanksgiving with Mimi and Bob. And we enjoyed one more
crisp day at the beach before the cold really set in.
December
I got my act together and finished M's
advent calendar after two years of procrastination. We went to the premiere of
Curious George where we got to meet the
man monkey himself. We got in the Christmas spirit by
visiting Santa, attending the
tree-lighting ceremony, and
Christmas-fying Eric one strand of lights at a time. Finally, our hearts were crushed along with the nation's after learning of the
tragedy in Connecticut. After that, I took a break from the blog to enjoy Christmas with my family....which I did...and will tell you more about soon.
And so, 2013?
