Goodbye 2017

To say that 2017 was a year of ups and downs would be a drastic understatement. 2017 was a whirlwind of emotions and at times gave me whiplash. 

  

We started the year off adjusting to life as a family of four. Adeline was cute as can be, and Cordelia loved her with all her heart- but having a baby wake up every hour on the hour to nurse put some strain on me, and our family felt the effects of having a mother with postpartum depression. 

By February things were starting to feel a little more normal. We started figured out how to go out to dinner, have friends over for play dates, and we went on lots of walks. We also celebrated my Grandmother's 90th birthday. My mom and sister executed an amazing party and when instructed that we should wear purple I even managed to dust off the sewing machine and make new dresses for Cordelia, Adeline, and I. 

 

March involved more engagement at school for me. I actually managed to make it to PTA meetings, and finally was able to go back to the library to volunteer. After struggling since the birth of Adeline I finally started feeling like maybe I wasn't drowning anymore. 

 Cordelia solidly became best friends with another girl at school, had a ballet recital, and participated in the school art show. Adeline learned how to roll over! For the first day of spring Sarah was able to visit and we were able to continue our traditional outing. This year we went to the National Arboretum and froze. Two days later we went to the National Gallery of Art and were much warmer. It was truly amazing to introduce our little girls to each other. 

Unfortunately March is also when our peace fell apart. Toward the end of the month we were told that we would have to move out of our little apartment by the first of June. We were shocked and panicked, and in everything that followed we learned that people we thought highly of really didn't deserve any of that respect. I am not sure the feelings of hurt will ever really go away. 

As March turned to April we started packing up our things and looking for a new place to call home. We looked at a lot of duds, a lot of things we couldn't afford, and we filled out paperwork for our current apartment about 900 times. 

In April we threw Cordelia a big 6th birthday party, we wanted her to be able to invite as many friends as possible because we weren't sure if this was really also going to be like a going away party- who knew where life was going at that point. Cordelia was really excited to have a special dessert brought to school for her birthday- she picked dirt cups, and all the kids sang her happy birthday in "squirrel".

May was full of box packing, paperwork filling out, crying, laughing, long walks to school pick up, and Adeline falling off the changing table and hitting her head (she was ok after 6 hours of observation at the Doctors office). Also at the end of the month Cordelia got to feed Adeline her first baby food!

June meant the end of school, and a last minute one month extension of our move out date- thank goodness because we were due out two weeks before school let out! I think I cried a little more about the end of school than I did the start! HES had become a home and the moms and teachers there became our family.

Adeline could sit up, and enjoyed eating "real" food instead of mush, which was a whole new challenge! We finished up the month by taking Adeline on her first veggie picking adventure!

July was hard, we lost my dear Uncle Kevin after a long battle with cancer and we had to move out with no place to go. All of our things went into storage and thankfully for my mom and my family we didn't need to sleep in shelters or hotels. For 25 days we were homeless and I will never be able to express how horrible it is knowing that after ten years of being part of someone's family you can be thrown out with a tiny baby and a six year old with no place to go and no show of concern. I should probably feel guilty about talking about it online and "airing dirty laundry" but since they don't read this and really don't care I'll save the guilty feelings. 

The plus side of the experience is that I learned without a single doubt that  my mother loves us and we will never be without a home as long as she walks the face of this earth. I feel amazed, and grateful that I was so lucky to get her as a mom. 

At the end of July we finally got to move into our new apartment and we spent all of August unpacking, decorating, and exploring! In August we also took a family road trip to South Carolina to see the Eclipse! 

School started September 5th. Cordelia gets to ride the bus, and has transitioned to the new school really well! I miss walking to pick her up, but the bus does make it awfully easy.  On the first day of school Cordelia also lost her first tooth! She really is a big kid now. Adeline was an excellent crawler by now, and even had started to stand and walk while holding on to things! 

October is my favorite month- I dressed the girls in Halloween clothing every chance I got, we went pumpkin picking, attended Halloween parties, I made the girls costumes , sewed up some Halloween commissions, Brendon and I celebrated nine years of marriage, and I mad my first homemade tortillas (not October related, but still life changing). We also had a nice visit from one of our favorite Aunts and her new boyfriend! 

In November we celebrated 31 years of Brendon! We were kept busy with school, lodge, and volunteering with the PTA.

 

December is always insane, we struggled with family colds and stomach bugs. I wrapped up my PTA commitments. We celebrated Adeline's 1st birthday (eventually I will blog about it too).  The girls got to play in the snow together, we decked the halls with all sorts of Christmas decor, and we continued the tradition of going to see the lights at the LDS visitors center. My mom and I got to go on a special date night to see The Piano Guys- which was amazing! I was sick for my 30th birthday- and I was way emotional about turning 30. Christmas day was celebrated and enjoyed with my family and then again with Brendon's mom's side of the family. 

I am happy to see the end of 2017, there were so many hard lessons, and so much growing to be done. But I am happy to say that our love for each other is stronger than ever! Brendon, Cordelia, Adeline, and I are looking forward to a brand new- and hopefully calmer year!  

2014: A Year in Review

January 

This year started out pretty rough. I'm never at my happiest during the winter but this year was even harder because I was doing some major soul searching. Looking back despite the hard times, it wasn't all bad. Cordelia finished up her first ballet class, we got to spend most Sundays with her godparents,and I spent a lot of time hanging out with Cordelia- some days it was really tough but those are days I'll never get back and I'm glad I had that time. We also really enjoyed our snow days! It's fun to have Papa home from work, to have snow ball fights, and to drink lots and lots of hot chocolate. 

February

In February the snow days started to get a little long, We were all soo tired of snow, and soo tired of being cooped up inside but we learned just how awesome having neighbors is. We spent so many fun "happy hours" visiting at different houses- sharing cookies and wine. Brendon and I had made Valentines day plans but our babysitter ended up snowed in so instead we went to dinner as a family. It was really wonderful and I think I might want to spend Valentines day like that every year! Also- I sold my first item on Etsy! 

March

In March we were really, utterly, completely sick of the snow- and man did it keep snowing. Not only had we been snowed in for Valentine's day but we were also snowed in for St. Patrick's Day! Fortunately we had a nice clear, but very windy, first day of spring and Sarah and I were able to go to the Botanical Gardens. We have made a tradition of doing something on the first day of spring each year- hopefully it will be an always and forever thing and that when we are 95 years old we will be forcing our grandchildren to drive us to see each other. Or maybe we will just retire to the same nursing home. 
    

April

In April we watched the Hyattsville parade with our neighbors. It was fun to watch the kids dance with all the step teams and marching bands, and run for the candy thrown from the fancy cars. We even got to wave at Mr. Edward in one of those fancy cars! I participated in my first Kids Clothing Week - and I got nine pieces of clothing sewn for Miss C that week! And we took a trip to the Natural History Museum to say goodbye to the dinosaurs (Cordelia still asks at least once a week if they are open again and if we can visit them- it's going to be a very long five years at this rate). The biggest event in April was Cordelia's 3rd birthday. I cannot believe how fast these last three years have gone, so much happens so fast! On the day of her birth we took her to see her first movie in a movie theater (Rio #2) she loved it and ate more then half the super sized popcorn by herself.  After that we painted pottery (a unicorn), and then got our nails done. Cordelia requested a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday party, and we sure gave her one! Brendon and Cordelia were in heaven, in fact I'm not sure which one enjoyed it more! 

May 

May was another big birthday month as we got to help my mom celebrate her 60th! I have the best mom in the world and it was so nice to be able to put on a great part for her (which one day I might actually manage to blog about). We collected letters and well wishes from all of her friends and nothing was more sweet then reading them and seeing how many people my mom has touched.  May also had it's fair share of adventures including meeting Anna Dewdney and listening to her read her new book "Nelly Gnu and Daddy Too". One of the neatest parts of meeting Ms. Dewdney was that her daughter is also named Cordelia! Brendon ran his first 5K, and one with obstacles none the less. However after running the Warrior Dash I think he never wanted to run again because he ached soo much! Cordelia also gained a new kitten best friend- baby bean. 

June

June was a month of strawberry picking, princess dresses, family walks, summer jam, and glasses. It was such a change for Cordelia and she was soo brave during the doctors appointments, and soo good at learning to wear glasses. It was hard for me because I know just how much it can stink to wear glasses, but man does she look cute in them, and most importantly she sure can see better now! 

July

July was low key for us- because July is hot! I also have no recollection of what we did! I do know we watched fireworks with some great friends and the kids loved them!

August

In August we took our first big family vacation/road trip. We went to New York and Vermont, and it was beautiful. It was also long, and I never knew how cranky kids could be on vacation! I started participating in Sew Geeky, and I am so glad I started because it's my number one reason to fight for sewing time these days! Brendon took me on a date to see Avenue Q- which was great, and I went back to school. 

September

September was a lost month as I struggled to get into the grove of being a part time student, part time sales clerk, and full time wife and mother. School with a three year old at home is 100 times harder then school as a regular student! Sew Geeky, and nature walks saved my sanity. 

October

In October Brendon and I celebrated our six year wedding anniversary at a pipe show. It was such a big step for my hubby and his pipe making that it was worth it. We also really took advantage of Halloween with pumpkin patches, Halloween parties galore and awesome costumes. 

November

November was low key- I struggled more with school and we celebrated Brendon's birthday. We took a zoo trip, I got better at styling my hair, and we took more family walks. The thing that stands out to me the most was I became a lot closer to one of my friends and I am sure happy I did because she really helped talk me down whenever I got way too stressed out. 

  

December

December is always a very busy month. This month I finished my class with a B!!!! Sewed a lot, did Christmas, and finally got to truly relax and reflect. I've been thinking a lot about how fast Cordelia is growing, how tall and smart and pretty. She makes up words to songs and tells me stories- both made up and true. She has endless energy that I will never even hope to match. I've been thinking about how lucky I am to have such great people in my life, and how lucky I am to call Brendon my husband. No one will ever have as much unwavering confidence in my abilities than my husband does. Life is unbelievably hard sometimes but right now I'm really seeing the silver lining. Happy New Year's Eve everyone- see you in 2015!