2020: Year in Review

My favorite post to write! Our Year in Review!

Here are some other years: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016

It’d be easy to pass off 2020 as a total wash; a complete disaster that should just be left behind (sanitized and disposed of.) But let’s face it — when you have small children, nothing is a wash! Our lives changed so much this year and when I look back to the beginning — I don’t even recognize it.

Of course, the kids grew and grew and grew. We barely left the house, learned to buy in bulk (not hoarding status or anything), and our home became home, school, work, playground, gym, and everything else. But I have to say that I grew a lot. My life has changed so much in 2020 and weirdly, I achieved a lot that I had been looking forward to for a long time!

At the end of 2019, I wrote that 2019 had been a year of abundance and that in 2020 I wanted to simplify our lives. Now, I don’t think stay at home orders, a pandemic and quarantining without seeing friends and family was what I meant (ha!) however, I will say this year allowed me to completely align my priorities. We went through stages of surviving, thriving, and simplifying. I became a stay at home mom. I’ve been able to prioritize fitness and working out. I’ve been able to volunteer in local politics. I’ve kept my Monat business going and have so enjoyed homeschooling my kids. I’ve turned my position as a stay at home “homeschooling mom” into a hobby with The Furniture Children. I’ve been writing (over on TFC) a few times a week which I so love to do.

So despite all the bad things 2020 has brought us (because it, for sure, has been tough) — I also feel like for the first time in my adult life I’m doing exactly what I’m meant to be doing.

So with all that… a little look back at this year —

January:

I started the year off mid-maternity leave. I spent my days holding Eva who wasn’t the easy third baby everyone told me I’d get! We mourned the loss of Sean’s dad and he spent time in Florida with his brothers. Javi started a sports class and Lola started ballet. I gave my notice at work and decided not to return for the 2020-2021 school year. I spent every day watching Good Morning America listening to stories about the novel coronavirus and thought hmm, that sounds crazy! (and carried on… life as usual.)

February:

Javi and Lola were both diagnosed with the flu and ended up in the emergency room. Eva stopped breathing in the middle of the night and landed herself in the hospital. She had RSV. We made 100 valentines for friends at school. Javi took a basketball class. We celebrated Valentine’s Day. We discovered KiwiCo. We started hearing more about the coronavirus and it seemed like something to pay attention to — but still, we carried on.

March:

We celebrated Sean’s birthday. I went back to work from maternity leave and Eva went to daycare. We made it just a few days before the world totally shut down. Covid-19 was here… and here to stay. What we thought would be a short-term shutdown turned into a new way of life. We stayed home, didn’t see family, did a lot of arts and crafts, and played outside. We watched movies, and cooked every meal, and honestly, learned to parent without the help of extended family (who we really relied on greatly.)

April:

Sean and I tried to balance working from home, raising three kids, remote learning, remote teaching, our marriage, the house, the pets, the pandemic. It was BLAH. Some days were great and some days I thought it was going to be the end (ha!) We also bought a swing set, raised caterpillars into butterflies, celebrated Easter, baked, painted, planted, did experiments, played board games, read stories… and just continued to tread water.

May:

May was a repeat of April. But we also celebrated Mother’s Day, started buying masks in preparation to leave the house (spoiler alert — we still don’t leave the house!), had a Memorial Day cookout and a socially distant visit from my parents for the first time in months.

June:

In June, I finished my 11th and final year of teaching. A total weight was lifted and all my energy went into taking care of the kids. Sean got news that his job was “work from home” for the rest of 2020, so he moved his office out of the living room and into our bedroom so he could focus a bit more during the day. We spent a lot of time outside in the yard, bought an inflatable pool/bounce house. We hiked Mt. Wachusett on Father’s Day. Sean’s parents came for an outdoor visit. We also visited the zoo and rented a cabin on a lake at the end of the month. Lola caught a fish! And Lola and I got stung by wasps!

July:

In July, we went hiking at Mt. Greylock. We swam a lot and rode bikes and scooters every day. We started work on the house (a new stone wall and patio!), celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary (by doing nothing!), and Javi’s baseball season finally started! We did a drive-thru zoo experience, and I took the kids blueberry picking. We also celebrated my mom’s birthday — together — indoors! (and officially widened our “bubble”.)

August:

In August, summer continued! I took the kids to Mt. Wachusett and back to the zoo. We visited Sean’s parents in Maine. Javi LOVED the dentist. And I started The Furniture Children! Our patio was finished and they started work on our swing set area.

September:

In September, I turned 34. We went to Jurassic Quest. I started working out. We spent a weekend in the Cape. We went back to the zoo and had our first play date! Javi turned five! We started homeschooling.

October:

In October, I was completely consumed by the election. We decorated for Halloween and had a Spiderman, a Princess Anna and a hedgehog. We voted early, and by mail. We rented a house in New Hampshire. We did a ton of experiments and crafts and tried a lot of new things. We had an outdoor Halloween party for the kids in place of trick or treating.

November:

In November, Eva turned 1! We had a small party through zoom because we quarantined so that we could travel to Maine to see Sean’s parents. I was glued to the TV for days and days until the election results were announced. We celebrated Thanksgiving — more than once! Lola was evaluated through the public schools. I wrote my first e-book.

December:

In December we were consumed with three kids 5 and under and the Christmas spirit! We did every drive-thru Christmas lights experience we could find, followed our advent activities calendar, made cookies and baked goods, played indoors and out, got our first big snowstorm, and took Eva sledding (!). Lola turned three and “graduated” from speech therapy. We celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our small bubble! And we have plans to ring in 2021 on the couch in our pajamas. 🙂

I’m not yet ready to declare expectations or hopes or intentions for 2021. I sort of want to see what happens. 🙂 But I am looking forward to it.

I hope 2021 is kind to us all.