2009: The Year in Review

When I was pregnant with Luke, I kept a detailed pregnancy journal - something I have also continued after he was born to document his milestones and day-to-day experiences with him. I have a picture in my head of him being a little boy and wanting to read his journal with me and us sitting on the bed and reading all about when he first smiled. Maybe I'm a sap but that's what I hope for! (The pregnancy journal, however, is just for me - I reaaaally don't think he's gonna want to hear about the first time I got stretch marks or how much water I retained. ;)

However, I don't journal everyday life events for myself or us as a family, so part of the reason for this blog was to capture moments of my family's life. I have drifted away from that a little bit recently, so I will be making more of a weekly effort to do that. For my own records, I just wanted to capture a few brief highlights of 2009 for us so I'll remember them later.

January

Severe morning sickness pretty much dominated my life for a few weeks.

February

Not much happened this month, although I finally was able to stomach ground beef again so we celebrated Valentine's Day by going to Johnny Rockets and it was FAB. :)

This was also the month I started to feel Luke move.

March

Found out we would be having a Luke and not an Olivia. One of the best and most emotional moments of my life.

Traveled to Florida for free thanks to wonderful friends and spent the weekend with them. It was so much fun.

May

First baby shower in Connecticut, thrown by my mom.

Officially decided I'd be leaving my job in the fall to stay home with Luke.

Last time seeing my brother before he left for 6 months in Iraq to work with a Christian non-profit.

June

First yard sale at my house - actually had fun and made some money!

Second baby shower in Pennsylvania, hosted by my mother- and sisters-in-law.

Labor scare with Luke that turned into hospital stay.

July

Luke was born via unexpected c-section after induction on the 8th. We had lots of family and friends come visit. First grandchild for my parents, 8th for my in-laws. Luke was born on our niece's 11th birthday, which thankfully she turned out being thrilled about and not jealous or upset.

Recovery coupled with my attempts at breastfeeding was extremely difficult and painful. Not gonna lie, those were some really, really dark days. I have never been happier to see a month pass.

August

Able to drive, exercise, and be normal again!

Celebrated our 3rd anniversary with dinner at Olive Garden and seeing The Proposal.

Mom and Dad came to visit twice and my sister visited once.

Decided to start blogging again.

September

First road trip with Luke over Labor Day weekend to see all of my extended family and friends in Connecticut.

Started Weight Watchers to lose the last 16 pounds of baby weight that refused to come off on their own.

October

Fall party at our house - definitely going to become a fall tradition!

Mom and Dad came to stay again.

November

We don't celebrate Halloween, so Thanksgiving was Luke's first holiday!

Spent it in Connecticut and saw many family members and friends again.

Saw my brother after 6 long months.

December

My birthday - celebrated again with Olive Garden (definitely a favorite)

and The Blind Side (SO good!)

Officially lost all the baby weight (only to gain back 5 over the holidays - yes, you heard me!).

Got our house reappraised in order to refinance our mortgage, saving us over $150 a month.

Spent Christmas in Connecticut, and had 5 college friends come over/stay over for New Year's Eve. Some of these friends we hadn't seen in two years so this was really wonderful!

It's been quite the ride - I can't wait to see what the 2010 brings! I have lots of blogging and personal goals for this year that I really hope I'll be able to accomplish.

This is the first year in basically my whole life that I haven't lived by a school schedule, so January really does feel like a fresh start for me.

Happy 2010!