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All Done!
Posted on | December 30, 2012 | 3 Comments
I cannot believe this year is over as of 11:59 p.m. tomorrow night.
(Source)
I know it’s incredibly cliché but really where does the time go? I feel like it was just a few months ago I was still enjoying afternoon naps with my infant and now I have a toddler who only naps once a day. When I initially sat down to go through this year’s posts to write this post I immediately started saying things like “Oh yeah!” and “I forgot all about that.”
This year started off with Tim and I sending Sophia to daycare for the first time ever and me not having a complete mental breakdown over it and Sophia not getting kidnapped like I had not so secretly feared. In February, it took every ounce of will power I had but I registered and paid for my first ever blogging conference, BlogHer’12. In March, I started a blog series (that I’ve kind of let slide to the side) called “My 5 Faves on Friday”. That same month, Tim took me to a gun range and I shot a gun for the very first time. I loved every second of it. I also wrote a post admitting I judge other parents and that I’m not ashamed. It was featured on BlogHer.com and received a lot of responses on both sides of the fence. I learned I had thicker skin than I thought I did when it came to this blogging thing. At the end of the month, we kicked off the “Year of the Wedding” and attended Tim’s sister’s wedding and had our first full night without Sophia.
In April, we cut cable out of our budget and frankly haven’t missed it since. We also spent a long weekend in Portland, Maine sans Sophia where we ate and drank our way through the town. In May, I opened up my blog to several military spouses and asked them to share how being married to a service member affected their marriages. I finally shared my frustrations with my job, the insecurities I was facing as an employee, and the stress that was sitting on my shoulders like two tons of bricks. I also wrote a post in response to the Time cover story “Are You Mom Enough?” in which I asked where all the dads were in the magazine’s discussion on attachment parenting; it was my second feature on BlogHer.com. In June, our baby turned one year old and we celebrated with friends and family. Sophia and I also closed the door on breastfeeding without much fan fare. I also read Fifty Shades of Grey and I’m still embarrassed.
Things started to be all BlogHer’12 talk, all the time in July. I was getting so excited for my trip and the chance to meet my online friends in person and get a little fan girl over my blogging favorites. I also opened up to you and the universe about my anxiety and how it was starting to cripple me, how I worked up the nerve to ask my doctor for help, and the steps I was taking to get it under control. I was relieved to hear that I wasn’t the only one and that opening up about my own struggles actually helped others do the same. The last day of July, I boarded a train bound for New York City and after going to the wrong hotel with Vicki, another attendee I met on the train through Twitter (true story), I had arrived at BlogHer’12!! It was an amazing way to start off August. I’m still processing everything that I learned and experienced there but I’m so glad I forced myself out of my comfort zone enough to attend and really make the most of it. While at BlogHer, I got a call for a new job and I readily accepted after we were on the same page for salary. I gave my notice to my employer as soon as I got back from BlogHer’12 and enjoyed two weeks of not-giving-a-fuck and another week of unabashedly selfish time off where I did nothing but watch The Tudors, shop, enjoy a spa day, and find out I was surprise pregnant.
September wasn’t too exciting as I was settling into my new job and still coming to grips with the fact that we are going to have another kid running around. I vented about Sophia’s excessive use of the word “please” or in her case “peas” and was reassured that too would pass. In October, we drove from New Jersey to Jacksonville, FL (and back) for my cousin’s wedding and some much needed family time with my cousins. When we came back I had some (temporary) changes at the new job and a few weeks later we survived Hurricane Sandy with the least amount of damage possible. In November, Tim and I celebrated four years of marriage and welcomed our first nephew to the family. Finally in December, Sophia met Santa Claus; we baked Christmas cookies and did crafts. We found out baby 2.0 is a boy and Sophia took one more step away from babyhood by kicking the pacifier habit. I talked about how we as a community need to start respecting one another more in light of the awful events at Newtown. We spent Christmas at home and tried to keep it as low key as possible and finally Sophia turned a year and a half old.
Looking back that is a packed year no wonder it felt like months instead of an entire year. I also started taking on more with the blog and became a contributor for Manilla.com, saw a substantial increase in my Facebook fans because I started interacting over there, and was voted one of the top ten military family bloggers for SheKnows.com. Not too shabby!
This coming year I want to get more organized with the content I present to you. I want to schedule time to write posts, maybe a minimum of three a week. I also want to be more open about what I talk about and how I talk about things. I know I hold back and I know it’s more detrimental to me than it would be to share what I’m truly thinking. I’m also looking to freshen up the way things look around here. In my personal life I don’t have too many goals. I just want to have a healthy baby through a safe delivery and find our groove as a family of four as quickly as possible.
Thank you to everyone who reads what I share and takes the time to comment or reaches out to me via Twitter, Facebook, or email. I don’t think I would keep this thing going if I didn’t know people were reading it. I wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!
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3 Responses to “All Done!”
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January 1st, 2013 @ 7:27 am
That is my downfall. I want to write in my blog. I have no clue WHAT to write about other than my life and family but then I don’t feel ANYONE is reading it, so I stopped writing. It stinks, but I think I may have to try a little harder this year.
Stevie recently posted..True Love
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January 1st, 2013 @ 9:10 pm
So glad to have met you in 2012. Happy New Year!
Faith recently posted..Big Changes in 2013
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Jennifer Reply:
January 5th, 2013 at 2:45 pm
I’m so glad we met too! And I think we have the best meet up story…who else starts a conversation about penis cookies and cupcakes in a sex toy shop?!
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