LKSquared … 2011 Year In Review

2011 has definitely been a year that I will remember forever!  There is nothing like buying a house and raising a 1 year old!  So much of the year has been crazy busy…I thought it would be fun to jump on the “year in review” bandwagon…at least to remind myself of all we’ve done this year!

January:  2011 started out slow on this blog since my beloved laptop died & I had to wait for a new computer.  Once it got here, I had to write everything down from A’s 7th month so that I wouldn’t forget among the chaos of moving into the new house!  Uploading photos from our move revealed some super cute photos of A helping!  We also found some photos of Cousin A2…our phantom baby!  We got a great ETC post at Grampa’s Hanukkah party!  We said our final goodbye to A’s first home.  Over at the new house we got a beautiful new sink!  We celebrated A’s 8th month, got to see her huge smile for Yo Gabba Gabba (not much has changed with that last part!), and figured out how to handle a baby who wouldn’t sit still!  I made my first plea with the 10,000 ants invading our house to GET THE HECK OUT.  We remembered how pretty A looked at Thanksgiving dinner in another ETC.  We posted pics from our New Years Eve taco dinner.  I became an Ikea Hacker.  We got new windows in the dead of winter!  A’s nursery got some personalized art.  I put together some inspiration for our master bedroom.  A’s Aunties were the star of the final ETC post of January! Finally…A showed me that nothing I buy is ever really for me!

February:  A started feeding herself.  I embraced the camera with my 2 debils.  Birthday madness starts.  We celebrated cousin S’s 2nd birthday!  We celebrated Cousin A Mash & Grampa with a little fun in the snow.  Then Grandma’s birthday!  We Embraced after a girly photo shoot!  I took our Living room from navy to black.  A made a boy cry.  A started holding her own bottle!!!  We hosted a superbowl/Glee party!  We had a very sweet Valentine’s Day.  We went to Cousin S’s school for her Yo Gabba party!  Daddy pompom’d A’s ceiling!  We played at the Children’s Museum of Paramus.  We wished our future husband M a big Happy Birthday!  We started swim lessons with PD!  We reviewed A’s 9th month and wished a happy birthday to Auntie E!  We visited our awesome family in Chicago!  We ETC in bathing suits!  A had her first bubble bath!  We compared A to our baby pics to see who she looks like!

March:  We wished our best friend PD a very happy 1st birthday!  We had a visit from AG&M where we went to the aquarium, played in A’s playroom, checked out the park in Brooklyn, and went to PD’s birthday party!  A also got her first stomach virus.  We documented A’s 10th month.  A went to Grandma’s house & gave Mommy a much needed day off, we had lunch with all the girls, we wished Cousin S good luck getting her tubes in her ears, we played a little ice hockey with friends, and I confessed my stress!  Finally – I got snuggles from an 11 month old…best feeling ever.

April:  I went down to Maryland for a visit with Auntie S2 and left A home with Gramma.  We wished Uncle P a happy birthday.  I embraced the camera on a bad day.  I found a glider that ALSO reclines and was sad I didn’t find it before I bought the one I did.  I was given an amazing gift by Auntie S2’s Daddy.  We took A for her 1 year photos!!! We started celebrating A’s birthday early with Grampa & B, and then we had the main event.  A’s 1st birthday extravaganza!  Then she actually turned 1.  Holy Hell How’d that Happen!  We didn’t get much reprieve before Passover came!

May:  I turned 31!  I celebrated with 2 of my favorite girls.  We celebrated Mothers Day with a vacation to the Florida Keys with the G Family…did it have to end?  We celebrated Aunt D’s birthday between traveling.  We celebrated 2 years of wedded bliss.  I found out that when some people google “pregnant young girl” they get “lksquared”!   I turned to my first parenting book for help!  I suffered from mommy-brain 🙂  I updated some of Cousin A2’s milestone’s!

June:  We went to Florida with Mister LK’s company for Memorial Day but it took me a while to get the posts up!  First we hit up Disney, then we spent a day at the hotel.  We came home to play on the beach here with PD.  We wished happy birthdays to Uncle B & our great friend E!  A started to get a little loose with her kisses!  We embraced the from Epcot.  We had fun and kept cool in the yard.  We welcomed baby CJ to the family!    We found our cat M in the closet.  We celebrated Father’s day.  We went to A’s first dentist appointment!  I thanked an amazing mother for being an amazing friend.  We reviewed Duke Falcon’s Restaurant in Long Beach.  We celebrated Auntie S’s 30th in NJ.  We embraced on a very busy day!

July:  Happy Birthday Great Grandma A!  We celebrated July 4th with munchkin CM!  We packed up our good friend SB to move to Buffalo.  We wished baby CJ a happy 1 month.  We headed to Sesame Place with Grandma & to a country style family reunion, where we also ETC!  We welcomed home baby CJ!  A created her very first painting masterpiece!  We embraced A’s 15 months with a list of her crazy big vocabulary!  We wished a happy birthday to Grand Aunt G!  We posted Baby CJ’s nursery mood board.  We wished a happy birthday to Uncle C!  We prayed to find Daniel Bobis.  We ETC at the beach with Auntie E!

August:  A started wearing Mommy’s shoes!  I reached out to other free rangers.  A got her first fever.  We visited the R Family for a weekend in Connecticut!  We added Elfa to the laundry room.  We spent a very rainy day playing at PD’s house!  We sent Daddy a pic while he was away in Vegas!  We replaced the siding on the house & reviewed Built Right Renovations.  Gramma bought A a Howdy Cow bouncer!  A ate 4 cobs of corn at 1 dinner!  We felt the east coast earthquake!  We ETC & started a search for 20 minute recipes!  We documented our house in photos in preparation for Hurricane Irene!

September:  We evacuated Long Beach with the whole family & headed to Auntie H’s in Brooklyn.  We came home to a tree on our house!  I noted how different grocery shopping is now with a toddler.  A & her forever friend held hands on the boardwalk.  We wished baby CJ a happy baby naming.  We took down the pear tree & cleaned out the crawl space.  I missed my Grandma like crazy.  CJ & A met for the 1st time.  A tried on my baby sweaters!  We ETC on the cool fall beach!  A spent the weekend at Gramma’s, and we remembered the sweet moments between M & A from their visit!  I entered the Paper Mama photo challenge with “Young Love” & was a favorite!  A got sick and slept for 48 hours straight.  We wished AG a very happy birthday!  We celebrated Rosh Hashana & had our first dance class!

October:  We removed the pear tree stump & had A’s first 20 minute tantrum.  I entered the Paper Mama Photo Challenge again with “this is the life“, “toes in the sand“, “all the street cred, no boobs“, “face“.  We wished a three way happy birthday to Cousin A2, Auntie S2 and puppy B.  A got super sassy & obsessed with Cousin S!  We ETC in the pumpkin patch.  I started to get my photo albums put together.  I found a really funny video!  We had a family photo in the orchards.  I pulled my back out right before our Halloween dance party.  Finally, and most insanely…we got our new fridge!

November:  Mommy & A had their very own dance party!  A went on a weeklong vacay with Gramma & we wished the G’s a very happy 3rd anniversary and a happy birthday to Daddy!  We reminisced on our trip to the City Hall pumpkin patch while A was not with us.   I prepared myself to go back to work after a week off!  Leading up to Thanksgiving there were 7 days of thanks.  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7.  I ended November with a special wish for A.

December:  We embraced the camera on a 65 degree day!  I entered A’s sandy toes into a new photo challenge on Iheartfaces.com.  A unpacked from Florida herself.  I was offended by the neurotics who wrote that cry-it-out makes you a bad mother.  We ETC from the Long Beach, Cali airport with the birthday girl & from Legoland!  I laid out why Santa doesn’t visit our house.  Mommy & A cleaned up our lawn.  We wished a happy birthday to Miss O.  We spent Christmas Eve at the tree, which is where we ETC from!!!  We had 2 Hanukkah parties & I got to recap 1 so far!

And here we are!  ready to ring in 2012 and see what adventures lie ahead of us!  Every year with A is going to be crazier and faster than the last.  I’m buckling up.  As far as resolutions go…I want to be a more patient mom.  In an effort to do this, I’d like to find a better balance between momLK and personLK without sacrificing A’s wellbeing.  Will be difficult, but I’ll keep my hopes up!  I had dreams of what I would be like as a mom.  I thought it would be so simple to keep my life what it was & not let “mommy” takeover happen.  While she was an infant, this was super easy…she was easy to tote around and quiet or napping most of the time.  Then I started navigating toddlerhood.  Boy has my life changed, but when I sit back and think about how this happened to me, I realize, there’s nothing more important than her happiness and well-being.  This year I’m going to try to work in some time for myself to do the things I love and hopefully…I’ll be more settled with the idea of my life coming 2nd to hers!  I had my chance to be #1…it’s her time now!  I’ll just make being #2 the best it can be!

Happy New Year!!!