2012 was a pretty darn good year, I’d say.
It featured a lot of stability, which was a blessing and nice surprise in the Navy life. It’s not often that we go an entire calendar year in the same house, with no orders or changes to current orders, with a husband who was home EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. of the year (except for a day or two at the Rose Bowl, but I’ll forgive that!).
The year started with us having a 3 year old and three 6 month olds. Big brother didn’t know his alphabet, couldn’t read numbers (though he could count pretty well), and was a little toddler still in his mama’s eyes. The babies? Well, they still stayed where we put them, and ate pureed food and drank from bottles that we mostly had to hold for them.
One year later, we have three babies who walk, run, and climb their way around the house. A big brother who counts, sings, runs, plays, and is more of a boy than a baby now. We hear sweet little voices all day long as they talk to each other and us (or yell, or scream, or cry… but that’s a topic for another post). Big brother takes an active role in helping them (sometimes too active). We have children that I can refer to less and less as “babies” and more and more as toddlers and kids. It’s kind of scary!
Last year I pledged to finally recommit to running in earnest. And I did. Sort of. I definitely accomplished more this year than ever before. My first triathlon. My first road race. My first of many post-babies half marathons. Faster. Stronger. But I was still a bit lackadaisical with it all. Why bother training for a half? I’ve done 6 before! Well, let me tell you, a triplet pregnancy later, and having been up with children in the night before, leads to a half marathon taking more effort than it has in the past. But we made it. Steven and I survived our first half together. And we can only do better next time!
This year? We’re ready. Bring it on. January is starting out right with a trip to Disney (Remember, kids under 2 are free. When half of your family turns 2 in just a few short months, better go now while it costs half as much!). February brings big boy turning 5. FIVE. HOLY CRAP HE’S TURNING FIVE. That’s like… a whole hand. Seriously. How did that happen?!?! March brings the big 3-0 for a certain daddy in this house. April? Submarine birthday ball. I think I’ve already planned more for it than was done by March last year. Thank God for that! Olympic triathlon in May? Scheduled. June? Three little ones have a sweet little birthday. July? Our last school break before daddy finishes school here and we head on the road to who knows where. August? Kindergarten. Need I say more?? September? Graduation from NPS. Marathon in October? Hopefully, depending on orders and what happens (welcome to the real Navy again!). November? Hopefully we’ll be settled in a house that is bigger than the one we’re in, or at the very least isn’t any smaller. And December? Goodness, another year, another Christmas, another 365 days without deployments.
How can it get any better than that?!