What I did last year

Despite some craziness over this past year, I have to say that overall I really enjoyed 2012. That may be because I spent most of it on maternity leave with a baby that slept, but either way I'm going to take it.

In January I discovered the pleasure of parenting the second time around, with the help of some great advice from a wonderful friend.

In February my stepfather had a massive heart attack, followed by a miraculous heart transplant. It was scary and overwhelming and we were so blessed by the amazing care he received at the Ottawa Heart Institute. He's doing just fine these days, much to our relief!  Jake lost his first tooth and Noah got his first tooth, all on the same day. And I celebrated 5 years of blogging.

In March Jake and I had a blast during his week long break from school and I came to terms with having another baby on a hypoallergenic formula, rather than breast feeding.

April was light on the blogging front, but I did enjoy a heart felt conversation with the Little Man regarding his preference for sleeping on a specific side of the bed. I celebrated by 30th birthday . . . for the eight time and I rearranged the furniture on the main floor of the house. Ah, bliss!

In May I experienced my worst parenting fail to date, impacting both children within minutes of one another. Thankfully, it all ended well. But I'm still not ready to talk about it. Jake and I took a solo trip to Toronto where he played an altar boy in Alan Doyle's (of Great Big Sea fame) music video for the first single off his first solo album. The song is called "I've Seen a Little" and the video can be seen here.

Because Jake's birthday falls over the summer months, we celebrated with his school friends at the end of June. I whipped up a Mario Kart cake for him, one of the easiest and best I've made so far! Noah started eating solids, got more teeth and started sitting up.

In July we went out west to see Mr. Tree's family. It was so great to see everyone and have them meet Noah. Jake got to cross a lot of things off his summer Wish List. Toward the end of our visit, Jeff had a heart attack. In the moment, I could hardly believe it was happening, especially after my stepfather's experience earlier in the year. Thankfully it was very mild and easily treatable, though it did delay our trip home and cause all of us a fair bit of stress.

August brought about the Little Man's 6th birthday, we said goodbye to our longtime caregiver and I braced myself for another season of mornings as Jake got ready to start Grade One.

In September, Jake started Grade One. He was anxious about all the changes, but eager to see his friends and eat lunch at school. We fell in love with his teachers and rather than brace myself for another year of mornings, I came up with some strategies for our family so we could start our days with smiles instead of tears. Namely, mine. I took Jake to his first Great Big Sea concert, which he absolutely loved. Oh, and Noah invented a rowing machine for babies. We're expecting the patent to come through any day now.

In October I invented some new words in an effort to be more efficient, Jake embraced Halloween without fear, I allowed myself to get in front of the camera and I made some pretty cupcakes! Oh, and Noah finally started picking up his food with his own fingers and putting it in his own mouth. Woohoo!

I went back to work in November, Noah turned one (holy crap!), I dreamt about taking a lot of naps, and Jake had the stomach flu (which apparently is not even a little bit funny).

Finally, in December I made the most kick-arse snowman ever, I took 12 (well actually 13) photos on 12-12-12 and determined that you can have a child that doesn't sleep but also doesn't get into anything, or a child that does sleep and also gets in to everything. But not both. And we celebrated Christmas! And our 8th anniversary!

Here's to 2013!