2007 in review
Well I had hoped to be able to do this on a brand spanking new blog – but I am still playing around with all that so you are stuck with me here for at least another week or two. In light of that news and since I will be either dying of heat exhaustion or at my parents chilling out tomorrow I thought I’d do this tonight instead…
2007 – The year of changes
I feel like this past year has been a year of change for our little family… and a year of trying to embrace the change and move forward with it.. sometimes I think we have succeeded other times, not so much!
The start of the year saw the good end of my pregnancy.. the bit that was ‘easy’ and without any more bad news or surprises. The bit that I simply needed to ‘go with the flow’ for, and trust that it would all work out. I had moments when I totally fought the flow.. especially in those last few weeks when the flow was too darn slow for my liking, but in the end I had no choice buy to let go and I think that taught me a lot.
The start of the year also saw the girls just being girls… toddlers still in so many ways despite being three. They were on the cusp of so many ‘big’ things, but just not quite there..
Muski’s birth was a turning point for so many things. It marked the middle of the year almost exactly and it felt like a huge shift in our household.. and not just for the obvious reason that we were now a family of five instead of four.
His birth awakened in me a confidence that I never knew I had. I am proud of myself for the way he was born, I am grateful for all the wonderful people who helped us achieve that along the way but most of all I am proud. I still glow with inner pride every time I think about it. It is a great to feel 100% good about something I did. No regrets. No ‘I wishes’. Just good. That has been very healing for me.
Of course, aside from me being bloody amazing to birth him, Muski is totally gorgeous too! It is like looking at myself when I look into his eyes… they are my eyes and I feel both so uplifted to be so connected to him and at the same time so sad that I never really had that with the girls. He makes me take time to enjoy him. What else can you do when he looks up at you with his big blue eyes and cheeky grin? Even if he hasn’t slept in 6 hours…
The six months since he was born has just flown by. Already he is rolling around the floor, chattering away and making his presence known, and how! He is not an infant any more… he is a chubby, cheeky, giggly, stubborn, cranky, non-sleeping, happy baby!
The girls, my babies… my teeny, tiny, helpless, little babies grew up overnight… almost without me it seems. They walked into the hospital room the morning Muski was born and were suddenly ‘big girls’. They even seemed bigger physically that morning, not just more grown up, and it made me want to cry and sing with pride all over again. They love their brother with a passion so strong it
surprises me.
They have grown in so many ways and mastered so many things. The toilet thing has clicked – finally! We just won’t mention those bad days when the wee fairy still leaves puddles on the floor, as mostly she doesn’t hang for too long. They choose their own names each day -they were Nemo and Bindi for a long time but are now most definitely Tinkerbell and Cinderella. They are beginning to move away from it being just us and them and into the wider world, staying on their own at Nanny’s and becoming more social and less freaked out by loud noises and other children. They will happily play together for hours on end, fighting and loving each other along the way. They are the same in different ways and different in the same ways and they are inseparable.
The first months after Muski was born were a bit rough. The Baldy boy was sick, then Zoe had a stint in hospital while Izzy was sick and heart broken without her. I couldn’t remember what day of the week it was, let alone if I had fed any one in the last 6 hours and it felt a little like all the changes were getting the better of us. We struggled on and worked on that ‘going with the flow’ thing to the point where I think we are much better at it now. Even Zoe knocking her front three teeth out in mid October, requiring surgery to have them removed, didn’t throw us too much of course.
The Baldy Boy has worked hard this year, trying to balance work and family and farm. There are many things we would have like to have achieved here at the pickle farm that just didn’t happen, but, looking back there are so many things we have done that we are proud of. The orchard and veggie garden are now fenced with a gorgeous rustic handmade fence and are both growing well. The Baldy Boy has also stepped up for his family, taking on so many roles that were once his fathers, which makes me feel incredibly lucky to love such a wonderful person.
We welcomed new friends for all of us and let old ones move on, even when we didn’t want them to. We missed friends who live far away, but are reminded often that it doesn’t matter how far they are, they are still part of our lives. We welcomed new babies who have arrived and the news of new babies who are yet to arrive and we were sad to say goodbye to other babies who were not to be. We spent time with family and shared some really special things with special people.
I’ve had the pleasure to work under Annette over at PBP and watch the site (and Annette herself) blossom into a truly wonderful and professional place of business but most of all fun. I’ve learnt a lot and enjoyed playing with graphic design and where it has taken me this year and I have some plans and goals of where I’d like to head with it next year. And, of course, this blog has just grown and grown – it started as a way to talk digi scrapping and has become so much more and big plans for the blog in the very near future have me just a little excited!
Now here we are at the end the year. I hope that if 2007 has taught me anything at all it is that change and growth is a good thing, to embrace it, go with the flow, and move forward…. this is what I need to remember as I face the start of the new year and letting go of my girls a little more as I watch them step off and start kinder (preschool) in a few weeks time. The first of many changes and challenges I am sure.
So goodbye 2007 ‘The Year of Change’ and hello 2008 – I hereby dub thee – ‘The Year of Organisation’. Bring it on!
Ah, what a great idea and a great review of a big year! I wish nothing but the best for you, Baldy Boy, the girls, and Muski in 2008, and I’m so glad to have ‘met’ you those few years ago (though we WILL meet in person one day!).
Have a wonderful New Year, and see you on the other side…2008! ;-)
Beautiful reflections Kate. I’m so happy you’re getting the chance to just adore your baby with no worries this time, and I’m proud of you too for his birth!
What a wonderful year in review Kate! I like the sound of 2008 being the year of organisation!