Sandberg 2009, a year in review...in installments by month...I've added in some details that only I, Hilary with the steel-trap memory (unless I've been imbibing), can recall. Why, just today, I was telling my parents and Andy that Ethan's favorite blanket is the one that my parents' friends gave to us while I was expecting Ethan in August of 2006. It's just a blue fleece blanket that says "Baby" on it, but strangely, I remember that kind of stuff.
Disclosure: If this bores the crap out of you, I promise a wonderful recap of possibly the most wonderful Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, in the near future...promise.
Jan 6 - My 29th birthday - Mom and I went to the MOA with Ethan and had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. A woman in the elevator had a newborn baby and I commented that I had 4-week-old twins and she said she couldn't believe it...and I instantly felt better about the maternity jeans I was wearing.
Jan 7 - Mary came to clean. Remember this bitch? Oooh...is that too harsh? She was our cleaning lady...and a good one...who had started working for us when I went on bed-rest the August before. One day, she just stopped showing up. We'd always paid her, we (or my parents, actually, because they were subsidizing the cleaning person at that time) gave her a fat Christmas bonus, she oohed and aahed over our kids, I always asked her about her new grandson...when she didn't show up the one day, I called to see if I had marked down the wrong day...she never called me back. My mom and I theorized about what could have happened to her...I even checked the obits. We settled on witness protection. Just a month or so ago, I heard from the friend who had recommended her that Mary almost started cleaning for them again. Guess it must have been something I said. I like Annette better anyway.
Jan 10 - My Mommy went home. That sucked. She had stayed with us for over two weeks after coming to visit during the Holidays. She was an amazing help...assisting with middle-of-the-night feedings, doing laundry, cooking...we couldn't have made it through these initial days without her.
Jan 11 - Party to celebrate my god-daughter turning 2. This might have been the first time out for a significant number of hours without D & Owen. Even I, with my steel-trap mind, was too sleep-deprived to recall much from this event...except that Emily shared her Blues Clues cake with her sister, Lauren, and Ethan and it was hilarious.
Jan 13 - 6-week check at the OBGYN. Clear. TMI? Sorry.
Jan 22 - Happy Hour with SV friends at Don Pablo's...I do believe this was my first time out kid-less since the twins came home. I was shaking with nervousness (excitement?) when I arrived. I had two beers. I felt human again. I dried my hair for that event. It was a big deal.
Jan 23 - Must have felt good about getting out the night before, because I did it again. Andy and I went out to dinner with my sister and her husband as our Christmas gift to each other. We went to Luci Ancora. Earlier that day, Andy bought me a size-up pair of Joe's jeans and surprised me with them before dinner. A zipper, a button...I felt even more human on this day.
Jan 27 - Timber Wolves game. Looks like I was really getting into the groove of leaving the house. I don't recall much from this evening...must have had a couple.
Jan 29 - The first Synagis (RSV) shot for the twins. Good Lord, those were a pain in the tail...and expensive too. But I brought it upon myself. One of the twins wasn't even recommended to have them, but I made a crazy fuss about it and had my ped call Option Care to get them to recommend it, and for my insurance to cover it. Still, couple hundred bucks a pop...preemie boys born in the Winter with an older sibling that goes to a weekly ECFE class with other germy kids...I slept better at night (wait, who am I kidding?! I wasn't sleeping at night in January, but you know what I mean) knowing they got these shots each month during the Flu season. Worth every penny.
Jan 30 - Went to a party to celebrate a friend turning 30. There was all sorts of drama earlier in the evening before this party...but it eventually turned out to be the catalyst in repairing a long friendship that had been on the rocks for awhile. And that reminds me that I have a lunch-date to schedule.
Jan 31 - Baby shower for my sister-in-law, Emma. I co-hosted this event with my mother-in-law. It was a great time...good food, fun games, great people...we didn't even know it was Linnie in there at the time. That seems crazy now.
There are other things about January that I'd like to remember. "School 10:15" is a weekly appearance on the calendar. While I was on maternity leave, I got to go with Ethan to his ECFE class almost every week...that was so FUN! It was great to meet his teachers and little classmates.
There are also lots of "Cec"s and "Anne"s on the calendar...My sister, Cecily, was unemployed by choice at the time and one of my besties from college, Anne, was on break from her MBA program...both of them were able to come by frequently to help with D & Owen and give me some much-needed adult conversation. That was fantastic!!
Oh, 2009...the "year of survival", as we called you. It seems silly to be thankful that it's almost over...because we should be thankful for every year that we have...but still, I'm thankful that's it's almost over. I came into the year with a sense of fear...of the unknown, mostly. Do we have any idea what we are doing? Will we sleep ever again? Will the stress destroy us all? It's easy to say in retrospect that it wasn't as hard as we thought it would be...but really, as I think about every month of the past year, it really wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. We are blessed with truly good kids...and, as the Hillary with two "L"s says..."it takes a village"...and we definitely are a part of one.
Sleepy, but happy, Daddy.
Mommy, Ethan, Dylan, Owen...early morning...but it looks like I'm showered and dressed...way to go, Mommy!
I love this picture...Ethan with his rosy cheeks. Owen on his left, Dylan on his right.
7-week-old twins. Owen & Dylan. They are so still. At almost 13-months, this idea is totally foreign..
No comments:
Post a Comment