New Things 2012: The Final Tally

One of my New Years Goals for 2012 was to do at least twelve new things during the year.  The plan, loosely, was to do something once a month, but I know how to write goals so that I don't fail and give up. ;)   So I left it at twelve, to be distributed as they would be.

Here's what we've done:

1. Hiked up Mount McCoy to take pictures at Sunset after taking a lecture-style photography class (January)

2. Visited Solvang (February)

3. Re-finished a table (February)

4. Ran a 5K (April)

5. Attended the Oxnard Strawberry Festival (May)

6. Visited New York City (June)

7. Took a Behind-the-Scenes tour of the Aquarium of the Pacific (June)

8. ChEARed for a friend at the Disneyland Half Marathon (August)

9. Took a road trip to Texas and the Grand Canyon (September)

10. Saw Book of Mormon (September)

11. Took a photography class where you actually learn how to take pictures (September)

12.Went to the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival (October)

13. Went to a Dinner Detectives show (November)

14. Visited Walt Disney World (December)

Much like New York, Walt Disney World wasn't new for me.  But we did some things I'd never done.  We ate in restaurants I'd never eaten in, stayed at a resort I'd never stayed at, tried rides or attractions I'd never tried.  And I did it pregnant, which was a new twist.  (I didn't get to do many of my old standbys: Rockin' Roller Coaster, I'm looking at you.)  And it was Steve's first time there.

*~*~*

2012 was quite a year.  Steve and I celebrated our first anniversary.  We found out we were pregnant--twice.  We went through the heartbreak of losing our first baby, which is an experience that I think will be with us our whole lives.  But that experience didn't overshadow the whole year.  I'm proud of us that we accomplished our Twelve Fourteen! New Things.  Our first full year as a married couple was truly excellent.

I don't know if--realistically--I can count on doing another Twelve New Things in 2013.  We traveled and took classes this year; next year, we'll have an infant.  Maybe we can do twelve smaller things.  See classic movies we've never seen, cook new dishes, craft new projects.  We'll see!

Good-bye, 2012!  And Happy New Year's Eve!

Catch-up! 23--Christmas!--24

23 Weeks

Oh, Christmas craziness.  We have a love/hate relationship.  My intention, truly, was to make things simpler this year.  I'm not sure if I succeeded in that.

I wasn't going to put up a tree.  We were out of town the weekend I would have ordinarily done it.  Last year, we decorated the house and tree, only to have our cat (Renny, of course) climb up into the tree and systematically toss ornaments onto the floor.  Luckily, I caught his intentions before he got to anything breakable, and undecorated it. 

Steve got the tree down out of the attic (someday, we'll have a real tree again... sigh), and I'm glad he did.  I really do love sitting downstairs with a mug of hot chocolate or tea, with just the lights on the tree on.

I didn't, however, decorate the house.  And all I put in the tree were candy canes, which have miraculously stayed put.  I don't know if Renny doesn't like peppermint, or if he's over his ornament-tossing ways.  I'm hoping for the latter.

We had family mail gifts here (and had gifts to each other mailed here), so that we don't have bring much back with us.  We didn't wrap any of it... but that's okay.  I also mailed everything I could home, as to not have to deal with it on the airplane.  It meant a frenzied wrapping party once we got there, but so worth it.

I really do love Christmas.  I love Christmas movies and Christmas music.  I love seeing family--including cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents--even though it means red-eye overnight flights and only two full days (plus two half days) in Illinois and traveling back to California on Christmas day (with airport delays, delays, delays).  I love Field's specials for dinner and "Silent Night" by candlelight.  I loved squeezing in a dinner with friends and their adorable children, and meeting one friend's brand-new baby.

Half of our crazy family

There are lots of pictures from Christmas, but none of them are on my camera.  (Hint, hint, Mom ;)  We had a wonderful trip home and I'm so, so thankful I was able to get the 24th off so I could actually go.  Fingers crossed for a whole week next year!

24 Weeks - taken using my new tripod!

This week, I'm getting sick.  Blah.  I had an exceptionally healthy 2012... until yesterday.  I suppose I tend to catch a cold around New Year's every year, probably from holiday air travel.  But this year, I'm not sure I can take any medication to help.  So far, a hot shower has lessened the congestion and a steaming cup of orange tea with honey and lemon has soothed my throat a bit.  

My non-pregnancy-related excitement involved getting hit by a tiny rock on the freeway, which I had intended to take care of this weekend... and the chilly temperatures (I imagine) overnight yesterday very quickly turned a smallish crack into one about six inches long.  So I've got an auto glass company meeting me at work today to replace the windshield.  Yay? 

22 Weeks & The Cat Who Pre-Babyproofs

Around 18 weeks, I started to suspect that what I was feeling might be baby movements.  It took another week or two to be certain.  But this week, Steve got to feel it, too!

 

My paparazzi shot

This second picture was Steve trying to encourage me to take my picture for this post... right after  I'd he'd woken up.  (I woke up at 5:00, and by 6:00 it was clear that I wasn't falling back asleep, so I came in to finish ordering those last few Christmas gifts online.  He sleepily stumbled in looking for me sometime after 7.)

I mentioned that last week we'd been on vacation.  (Just for my own accountability: I will do that vacation post.)  While we were gone, prior-roommate Gen came by to check on the cats.

And this is what she came in to:

Our year-old flat screen TV flat on the floor.  Luckily, neither cat was hurt and the TV seems to be fine, once we got it back up on the stand and plugged it in again.  And you know what?  Lesson learned.  TVs are no longer solid, nearly immovable boxes.  Ours is now strapped down to the stand and won't be tipping over again.

I'm glad it happened, and I'm glad it was the cat, who probably pushed it over from on top of it, trying to launch himself up onto the windowsill above the sliding door, instead of a toddler pulling it down onto himself.

We lovingly refer to Renny as the Devil Cat (he's really really bad, when he's not being really, really cute and sweet), but he's our little pre-babyproofer.  All our cabinets already have little hooks inside the doors so that the contents (cleaning supplies, etc.) can't be pulled out onto the floor, and now our TV is strapped down.

21 Weeks

This was a big week: Baby's first trip to Walt Disney World!  (I'll do a dedicated Family Vacation post later, once I've weeded through the 271 pictures we took.)

I'm not sure why the picture is so dark...

It was also fun to reveal the sex of the baby to my family in person.

The Big Reveal

And... here it is!

It's a boy!

We're so excited!  I mean, we would have been equally excited if it was a girl, but still.  A boy!  I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but hopefully he'll be a big brother someday (to either a little sister or brother).  I never had a big brother, but they always seemed like cool people to have around.

I have to say, I really had no idea what the baby's sex would be.  I wish I could say I had a feeling, but I really didn't.  A lot of people told me they thought it would be a girl.  I had two dreams in which the baby was a girl.  But nearly all my friends have had boys (eleven boys to two girls, at last count), I'm around baby/little boys a lot more, and I found myself referring to this little one as a "he" in my head. Just like the old wives' tales, it could have gone either way.

There used to be a commercial on back in the 90's, I think, for 1-800-COLLECT or one of those various collect-call services.  Remember how you could record your name, and then the person on the other line could decide whether to accept the charges or not?  (Side note: this baby will possibly never see a pay phone in his life, let alone know what a collect call is.)  The commercial had a man calling people collect after the birth of his child and stating his name as "Bob Wehadthebabyit'saboy!"  I keep thinking about that. It would have been fun to learn in the delivery room, but it's fun to know now, too.

My one big fear is that the doctor could be wrong.  I know he's not.  I saw with my own eyes, and that ultrasound was so detailed as to show blood flow around and through organs, so I'm pretty sure determining the baby's sex was the easiest part.  But deliberately going gender-neutral with everything because we don't know is one thing; buying a bunch of boy things and then coming home with a girl (or vice versa, as the case could have been) freaks me out.  It's a silly fear.

I am so excited to meet this little guy!  And now we can get down to business with figuring out his name.