One for the road

2009

Jon is upstairs putting Owen to sleep.  I can't say enough how much my heart is locked to those two guys.  

It's New Year's Eve.  

I told a friend today that Owen is at that age where he'll probably be up drinking all night.  

Baby jokes are so, so very funny.  Thankfully she's in the same boat and didn't report me to the authorities. 

That said, other than celebrating periodically through the night with my nursing babe, I'm not really feeling the partying.  Maybe it's holidays in general, maybe it's the fact that I've been wearing Jon's fleece shirt for a few days now, maybe it's that a small person felt like dancing at 6am this morning - no one knows - but it's going to be low key.

But - in the spirit of marking the passing of time and all it's milestones - I was thinking today about the places we've come from and traveled through this past year.  2009 was a great year.

I had barely gotten used to writing 09 on everything when suddenly (or not so suddenly since it did take 9 months and 14 hours of labor) Owen arrived.

And instantly I was a mother.  And instantly I was in love.

And we were a family.

Over the next few months, while we watched Owen grow (rapidly), we worked on growing some friendships too.  

Before the year was half way through we uprooted and moved to Baltimore for a year so I could study and Jon could experience a 1.5 hour commute (one way).  Yikes.

To ease the sting of such a commute we soaked our moving weary muscles at the beach - Owen's first taste of sand and surf.

Giving him time to hang with some of his cousins (and an uncle).

Bravely stepping into the mix comes Gina.  See the light - she's like our angel.  Sent from heaven.

Our little house slowly became home.  And we grew a lot of tomatoes.  A lot.

And we are happy.

I hired a cleaning service.

And Owen started walking.

And learned to program computers.

So the year went by.  A year of starting something fresh.  More than likely the type of new that tipped off the first domino in a long series - stretched from here as far as I can see down the road.

More change coming I'm sure.  Remembering to write 2010 on all my papers is probably the least of it.

Here's to newness!