All great changes are preceded by chaos.
~Deepak Chopra
This last year has been such a whirlwind... I am not even sure how to go
about summing it up in one post! 2012 started off on a heartbreaking low with
the loss of what would have been our second child, and 354 days later, we
started 2013 off welcoming our precious son, Matthew, into our little world. Of
course there were plenty of life happenings (highs and lows) that made up the
rest of the year... most of which I wrote about throughout the year. It is
always amazing to reflect back on just how much life and memorable
moments (some cherished, others- lessons learned) can accumulate in the blink
of a year! In preparation for this year-in-review post, I spent time rummaging
through all of our 2012 blog entries… in doing so, I realized I fell short of
documenting a number of “life moments," but here are the highlights-
In January, we were reminded again how precious life is, and how easy it is
to take for granted. It is so easy to get angry or blame God for unfortunate
circumstances and heartbreak, but when we take the time to reflect back, we
realize the bigger picture and we grow from those experiences no matter how
tragic it may seem at the time.
In February, we celebrated the end of my 20’s and I kept busy party planning
(baby showers, birthday parties, and bon voyages filled up half a dozen
Saturdays throughout the year).
March through May was spent enjoying our family time, seeing the last Smith
kid graduate from college (Go Beach!), and several camping trips (note- tent
camping with an almost 2 yr old is an adventure in itself!) and Jayme and I
earned our “badges” overcoming potty-training (seriously- potty-training is no
joke and requires the patience of Job!)
June through August was spent soaking up summer with good friends, family,
the zoo and Jayme beginning to show some “two-ude” (but hey! At least we got
the little bug potty trained in time for swim season!) ANNNND Ryan became an
official Edison employee (kinda major in our
little world!)
September was a sad month as we said “Bon Voage!” to Bebba and she embarked
on her Tour de Suenos. We also went on our own spontaneous adventure with our
little bug up to our favorite road trip spot- Morro Bay.
October was full of pumpkin patch visits, Jayme’s first pony ride, birthday
celebrations (including my Gramp’s 97th birthday!), and back-to-back
weddings.
November was a nail-biter, busy month full of escrow anxiety, preparing
mentally, physically, and emotionally for a major move at 8.5 months pregnant,
and a 4 week house guest (my Nonnie). To take my mind off of the chaos, my
sister and my girlfriends threw me two beautiful baby showers.
December came and went somewhere between sleeping on a couch for the month,
moving, taking time to do Christmas properly for our little girl (complete with
a last minute Charlie Brown tree), celebrating a quiet 34th birthday
for Ryan, and one box at a time- making our new house a home before baby boy
arrived!
Today, while we were sitting on our porch swing, enjoying the beautiful surroundings
of our backyard, and the coos of our sweet 2-week-old baby boy, I was talking
about how I need to finish a couple
critical blog entries this week (this year-in-review and Matthew’s birth
story), when Ryan asked me why I make it sound like it’s a job with a deadline.
He went on about how I need to just enjoy the moments as they happen, and worry
less about having a camera handy or documenting every last thing that happens,
because if that becomes my focus (just for the sake of blogging it for the
world to see), then I am going to miss out on authentic memories being made. As
I became quick to defend my reasons for blogging- I love writing, it’s easier
than scrapbooking, and I can share it with our families, etc… I realized that
maybe I need to just write for the sake of capturing memories after they have
happened and let go of my need for a “publish worthy piece” to be critiqued by
all possible readers (but because I am a major procrastinator, I need to do so
as soon as time allows and not a month later when memories become piled up and
it becomes a chore instead of an enjoyable way of documenting our family’s
memories into a time capsule of sorts). A dear friend worded it (her blogging motivation) best…"documenting with pictures and stories are like little souvenirs of life lived" and I am
going to use this as my motivating force to keep up our family memories, as 2013
is sure to be full of new life happenings that we will forever have to reflect back on in years to come!
Miscarriage
30th Birthday
Potty-Training
the beginning of "Two-ude"
expecting again
baby showers
career prayers answered
camping
bye-bye bebba
skin cancer
weddings
house hunting under pressure
first-time home ownership- dream becoming a reality
No comments:
Post a Comment