2010 - A year in review

This post was literally a year in the making...and I still never finished it. Since I now have to get to work on the 2011 summary, I figured I would post this one first. As you can see, the end is a little "point-form" :)

This is only a little later than I meant for it to be...like a month.  But what can you do, right?

Trying to remember all the things that happened over the last year will be a challenge - all I know is that is was one of the fastest years of my life. Probably the fastest actually.

The biggest event was of course, the birth of our second daughter Micaela in January.  It was all very exciting to finally give birth and have the newest member of our family at home, but I'm not going to lie, the first few months were very challenging.  She turned out to be a little colicky, particularly around bedtime, which coincided nicely with our challenges getting Avery to bed at a reasonable time. While that particular phase seemed like it was never going to end while we were in it, now I look back and can't remember when it did actually finish. But I suppose it did at some point.

Anyway, moving on...we had some nice visits from family just after Micaela was born, including my parents and my brother and Andrea.  In April we headed to Toronto for the long Easter weekend - which was nice, though we quickly realized how much more challenging road trips and being away from home would be with two little kids. In May the girls and I went back to Toronto for a longer trip and Greg joined us for the last weekend.  I had been toying with the idea of driving alone with the girls...I figured it wouldn't be that bad since I had done it with Avery once at 5 months and she slept for the whole drive. However, my dad offered to take the train to Ottawa and then drive to TO with me, so I took him up on the offer. And thank goodness...everything was going fine until we were detoured off the 401 near Kingston and Micaela started to cry.  And basically didn't stop until we got to TO 3 or 4 hours later. Man, was she ever pissed off! And then she fell asleep when we got off the 401 in TO - you know, about 5mins from my mother's house. Still slightly scarred from that trip! :)

Summer in 2010 seemed like it would never end, what with the great weather we had in April.  So what did we do?  A bunch of fun things, but the main highlights were our trips to Kincardine and Calgary, a few pool parties, visits from a couple of Toronto aunties, as well as Grossmueti and Aunt Barbara, and other assorted adventures.

Starting at the beginning of July, my aunt Barbara from Switzerland and my mother came for a visit.  In Barbara's honour, we decided to brave the masses on the Hill on Canada Day with the girls.  Don't get me wrong, I love the atmosphere on the Hill on Canada Day and it would be great to go every year.  However, having done it once now with a single stroller and once with a double stroller, I am not so sure we will be heading there next year.  I could be wrong, but probably only if the Queen doesn't decide to pop over this time. :)

At the end of July we took two weeks off to go to TO again, and then to a cottage on the beach at Kincardine with Uncle Ted and Auntie Jamie. It was a really nice week. Avery had a great time playing on the beach and collecting rocks, having fun with her aunt and uncle and getting ice cream after dinner. Micaela didn't love the beach so much this year (apparently, babies and sand aren't a great combo!), but will surely enjoy it more if we decide to go again in 2011. Greg was able to golf and I managed to play tennis with Ted. Which actually made me remember how much I enjoy it and would like to get back into playing...another thing to add to the list! :)

In August the girls and I had a major adventure - the 3 of us flew to Calgary to visit Uncle Dan and Auntie A! I really wasn't sure what I was getting myself into flying with the two kids by myself, but other than a couple of "pull my hair out" moments, it actually went pretty well.  And the pulling-out of my hair was mostly induced by encounters with obnoxious people and/or Air Canada employees, rather than by either of my children. They were real troopers and I was very impressed with how well they coped with all of it.  Before I tar all AC employees with the same negative brush, I should say that most of the in-flight crew on the way there were very helpful and courteous...it was the ones on the way back who seemed annoyed at me for taking so long to get us all off the plane when we landed in Ottawa, while they watched me struggle with all of our stuff from the back of the plane rather than actually help me!  We did a bunch of fun things in Calgary, including hanging out with Andrea's family, and it was nice to finally see where D&A live. I think the trip also really helped Avery understand where they live and how far away it is that we needed to go there in an airplane. In all, it was definitely worth to effort to make the trip...especially since Grampa Kelly picked up the tab for the tickets! :)

Fall - mostly defined by weight watchers for me, but will do another post about that. Avery doing sportball, tried to get her into a dance class, which she would have loved, but couldn't so did Gymboree. Micaela coming into her own, settling down in temperament, starting to eat, move, crawl, get more chatty - started slowly at daycare...Avery at Halloween with the Cinderella costume - her love of all things princess, shoes, dresses all the time, not wanting to dress warmly.

October - Baby Jacob being born. Very exciting for the girls to have a new little baby cousin, and a first nephew or niece for both Greg and I.  Congratulations to Jamie and Ted!!

November - another trip to TO

December - open house, Christmas season


Wrapping up the year - return to work, Micaela turning one, Avery soon to turn three, the girls starting to play together more, weathering the sick storm, figuring out the rest of our lives. looking forward to Shelly's wedding, maybe more nieces/nephews/cousins