Goodbye 2008

The year 2008 brought a lot of good times and happiness for me. I'm fortunate that I can say that as I know 2008 was very, very hard for many people.

In January I was happily growing my third baby, the long-awaited pregnancy both filling me with joy and pointedly showing me that I am not as young as I used to be. One of my favorite posts from my pregnancy is this one. K was still wearing pull-ups and I was so frustrated with him. We also found out that the Munchkin would probably be a little sister.

February found me opening my etsy shop, confirmed that the Munchkin was a girl, and the first time one of my children had detention.

March confirmed that I do not make such a great pregnant lady anymore. Miss M had her first manicure.

In April we picked out D's name. Miss M got her big girl desk in her room. K Man continued to F with everyone about what he knew by claiming he knew nothing (no colors, no counting, no letters).

In May, I turned another year older. K graduated from his first year of preschool. Miss M lost her first 2 teeth. On the 22nd, I welcomed my third and final child, Ms. D. One week after her birth by cesarean section, my incision reopened. Craig started packing my open wound twice a day.

The first of June Ms. D did her automatic upgrade to a cordless model. Miss M graduated from Kindergarten. Our septic system quit on us and I found out I had a kidney stone after going to the ER for pain in my other side. Both of those things happened the same day. I had my first CT scan...and later in the month, my second CT scan. My family went on vacation for a week with a 3-week-old infant and a lady with a 1-1/2 inch long open wound in her abdomen and a kidney stone working its way through her. I finally passed the stone at the end of the month.

In July, M turned 6 years old and K turned 4 years old. Ms. D was baptized. We got a new septic system. I took all three kids to the MN Zoo by myself and planned to do it again. I went to IKEA with my mom and all three kids and survived. Miss M started first grade.

August brought Ms. D's first laughs, a tiny baby laugh in the waiting room of the doctor's office. Miss M lost another tooth. K continued to rebel against the potty. I took the children to the MN Zoo again. My incision finally healed at the end of the month (three months and three days of packing twice a day).

September brought the start of K's last year of preschool and finally success with the potty. We had some scares that a bat was inside our air conditioner. It eventually vacated the premises. Craig and I celebrated our 8th anniversary. I continued to bask in the glow of love for my children.

In October I participated in the Mission Soldier Support holiday greeting card drive for the soldiers overseas. I also was accepted to be a blogger for the Parent Bloggers Network and started The Zoo Review to house my reviews. We had a happy Halloween.

I participated in NaBloPoMo again in November, which ensured I would post every day. This delighted my family and few others. I got my new ring sling. Craig gave me a Canon Rebel as an early Christmas present and I started taking even more photos (who knew that was possible?). Ms. D ate her first cereal and broke out in a horrible diaper rash. We quit cereal again. I decorated two trees for the Festival of Trees. I bought my domain name (please update your links if you've been so kind as to link to me!) so there is no more blogspot in the url.

In December I finished up the weight-loss challenge 13 pounds lighter. We welcomed our elf and my children continued to fight like champion boxers. I stayed up way too late at night trying to get everything prepared for Christmas. Christmas was over in the blink of an eye. We are very blessed.

In 2009? More of the same. Mostly good sprinkled with some not-so-good to make us appreciate the best even more. I hope to work on my patience more. I hope to savor my time with my kids. I pray for good health and safety for my family and friends. I will be happy with what I have, because I am so rich.

Happy New Year!