Another year gone by

And here it is New Year's Eve of 2013.  This year flew by faster than any other - thanks to my pregnancy.  I never imagined on New Year's Day this year that I'd be sitting here at the end of the year with a four week old son.  It's still so surreal at times!

We did a lot this year even with the pregnancy.  Let's take a look back.

January - We finally got the couches my in-laws promised Nate years ago.  Checked out some of the new taprooms in our area and pretty much hibernated as it got cold.

February - Visited Winterfest, celebrated Valentine's Day at the new restaurant Louis in the upstairs of Cossettas.  Had our CD release concert for Praise Project.

March - Irished it up on St. Patrick's Day - maybe a little too much, ha ha.  Celebrated 15 years of being together as a couple on the 22nd.  Visited a winery in Wisconsin to celebrate and had a great dinner out at the Butcher and the Boar.  Sang with the choir at St. Stephens for Holy Week.  Went to Firkin Fest in St. Paul.

April - Celebrated my mom's birthday.  Found out we were expecting Oliver and as I have admitted, had a mild panic attack and chose to lay low most of the rest of the month.  We lost a huge tree branch in the backyard thanks to the late winter snow.

May - Nate went on a road trip with his beer buddies.  We saw Oliver on an ultrasound for the first time and announced to our immediate families on Mother's Day that we were pregnant and then to our friends at the end of the month.  Celebrated 7 years of marriage on the 27th.

June - I got to do my civic duty and served Jury Duty for two weeks - reporting in once.  We started receiving our CSA goodies on a weekly basis. 

July - We celebrated the 4th of July with Praise Project friends.  We traveled to Itasca with Nate's family for five days.  We helped some dear friends move into their first house.  We prepared for and then hosted a successful garage sale.  And we found out we were having a boy.

August - We went to the cabin with Praise Project, getting an extra day than normal and had fantastic weather.  We slowly started getting the house ready for baby but more so for starting Project: Replace front window.  We went to the State Fair.  We really started enjoying our weekly CSA share as most items were in harvest about this time.

September - The front window was successfully replaced over Labor Day weekend.  We went crib shopping and picked out/ordered the one we liked with my in-laws.  We registered for our baby gifts.  I found out that I unfortunately had Gestational Diabetes and learned how to manage it for the remainder of my pregnancy.  We went to our first Childbirth class on a Saturday.

October - Most of my showers were held this month - Nate's family, my family and my friends shower.  My mom and I went to see Josh Groban in concert again.  We opted out of Oktoberfest due to being so busy with the window project and baby prep.  We went to another class on coping with Labor.

November - We had another shower with Praise Project.  We attended three more child prep classes, this time focusing more on caring for our baby instead of the birth and delivery.  We celebrated our 32nd birthdays with a special movie treat at the big ICON theatre to see Catching Fire.

December - Oliver surprised us by coming 10 days before his due date - and we wouldn't have it any other way.  We had a great birth experience and were home and settled well before Christmas.  Celebrated his first Christmas with both sides of our families and have been adjusting to life as a family of 3.

It was quite a year and again, I say it every year, but how does the time go so fast?  It scares me to think that it will increase ten fold now that we have a child.  I already can't believe he's almost one month old.  He's outgrowing his newborn diapers.  I just don't want it to pass me by too quickly - so as always I just resolve to try and enjoy every moment of every day.  And I want to complain less.  I have so little to complain about when you look at the big picture.

Happy New Year to one and all!