Yearly Recap: 2016.

What?! It’s already time for the yearly recap?!  

I’ll admit that this year’s yearly recap will be mostly from memory since I wasn’t that strong at blogging and what I did blog, I often wrote weeks and sometimes months after the fact and just back dated the posts. Oops. But here goes, anyway…  

January: We brought in the New Year with my family. If I remember, Sean was still working at the liquor store and had to work that night but managed to get out in time to celebrate. My uncle Chucky leaned on a candle and caught on FIRE and my aunt Regina put out the fire with her hand. It was funny because it was all good, and she covered her hand in mustard the rest of the night because someone was positive that helps burns?! January also meant that maternity leave was over and I had to go back to work. It was rough. Javi started school and got his first (?) real cough and it was horrible. We watched a lot of Pats games, but I think they ended up losing? We celebrated my dad’s 50th birthday.

February: It snowed a bit in February and Javi was invited to his first child’s birthday party! Sean’s grandmother passed away and we attended her wake and funeral. Javi made his first Valentines (foot prints in the shape of a heart), and we took him to the park for the first time even though it was FREEZING.  I started to Konmari.

March: Javi took his first school pictures 🙂 and we started to give him baby food. He started to roll over for the first time, and I took him to the White Mountains for scrapbook weekend. We spent some time outside and he went on a swing for the first time. We celebrated Sean’s 30th birthday, and Javi met the Easter bunny!

April: Javi was all about rolling over and rolling across the room! Sean stopped working at the liquor store. It started to become nice weather and we went for a lot of walks. We went to the marathon start line, and Javi wore his first track suit. We went out with friends for Sean’s delayed birthday celebration and we got locked in a room with a zombie that we had to escape from! We went into Boston with Sean’s family for dinner.

May: I celebrated my first Mother’s Day. We signed up for a 5k and went but since it was pouring we didn’t actually run. It got hot out and Javi enjoyed sitting in a dishpan outside on the deck. (I don’t remember much else…)

June: Javi got a crazy diaper burn and it was awful! I survived my first week with Javi… without Sean when he went to Florida. It was hard. So hard. We took him to the aquarium. I finished my 7th year of teaching and summer break started. The cats caught colds… seriously. I started taking Javi to story time at the library and swimming classes. Sean and I had a date night and saw Macklemore in concert. Sean celebrated his first Father’s Day. We spent a lot of time outside and Javi LOVED my parent’s pool.

July: Javi went swimming almost every day. We celebrated the 4th of July. We flew to Seattle and did A LOT of stuff while there. Javi started drinking from a straw (which is one of my favorite memories). We rode on a ferry and a ferris wheel. We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. We vacationed in Puerto Rico and Javi loved the pool… but didn’t enjoy the ocean. Our luggage was lost but then recovered. We celebrated my mom’s birthday. We saw my great-grandmother.

August: I continued to Konmari. I started to plan Javi’s birthday party. I took Javi to Touch-a-truck. We got a new car and become a one car family. We went to Maine with friends and left Javi for the weekend for the first time. Javi finished swim class and got his first (of many, I’m sure — ha!) ribbon. I started my eighth year of teaching.

September: I turned 30 and Javi turned 1! We celebrated him with a “you are my sunshine” theme party. He started to walk. We painted a few rooms in our house. Javi found his lovey — a stuffed dachshund from Ikea we named Frank. My parents and Barb sold their house and Barb moved in with us!

October: We went to a pumpkin patch that was all out of pumpkins. We “ran” a 5K. Javi got his first basket (in his basketball hoop). We went to Patriots place and community day. Javi was dracula for Halloween and we went to the zoo! We went trick-or-treating at trunk-or-treat. My great-grandmother passed away.

November: We went to our friend’s wedding. I tried to purge our basement. Joe and Kim visited for an early Thanksgiving. I colored my hair for the first time in 5 years. We went to the Cape for Thanksgiving. I spent an entire weekend watching the Gilmore Girls revival and hated it. I was totally devastated after the election.

December: I tried to get my act together after weeks of being pretty angry over the election. We decorated for Christmas and did all sorts of fun things that we’ll turn into traditions. We took Javi to see Santa 3 times, just to get a good picture. We went sledding. I started posting on my cat instagram account again. I also started Konmari, again. We bought a lot of furniture from Ikea and moved around the rooms in our house. We celebrated NYE at home, with family and actually stayed up until 1AM! Javi was in bed at 9 (very late for him!)

It was a tricky year. I won’t lie. Sometimes world events and things out of my control get me down. But it’s also really easy to look around and be so thankful for our little family. I’m excited for what 2017 will bring and to watch Javi-man grow!   Happy new year!