Happy New Year!

As one year ends and another begins, it always seems like a good time to take some time to reflect on the past year and to look forward to the year ahead.

Blue learned to sit in 2010

2010 was a good year as well as a hard year for us. HandyMan and I struggled a little as we adjusted to being parents. We sometimes found it hard to still be husband and wife while taking care of an infant and continuing to manage our jobs and house. There were many days that laundry was not done and frozen pizza was the meal of choice. As Blue grew into a toddler we fell into a better routine and it became easier to balance our different roles. As Blue began to eat more table foods, it became increasingly important to provide well-balanced meals for him, which forced us to actually prepare meals! In 2010 we also celebrated HandyMan’s 30^th birthday, my brother’s wedding and the arrival of twins in my sister’s family.

What adventures with 2011 hold for my family? I don’t know all of them, can’t even begin to predict most of them, but I do know several things that will happen. In February HandyMan and I are going to take Blue on his first ever plane ride when we visit HandyMan’s grandmother in Houston, TX. We’re looking forward to the trip, but nervous about how Blue will behave on a plane. This spring we hope to reroof our house. A tedious job that we have been putting off for 3 years and that we can no longer afford to put off. We also hope to do some remodeling in our house, plant a garden and hopefully attend a Cubs game this summer. Blue will celebrate his 2^nd birthday this fall and we might be thinking about potty training by then. Blue is going to continue to expand his vocabulary, hopefully learning to say more than just “No!” which is all he says right now.

This is also going to be our first full year doing some farming. As a way for HandyMan and I to learn about the farming process before we actually take over the family farm, HandyMan’s father has rented us one field. We are responsible for all the decisions and expenses for that field and even though it is only one field, there are still a lot of things to consider and questions to ask. Hopefully, we won’t make too many mistakes!

As I look ahead to 2011 there are a lot of things to be looking forward to, but I find that I’m most excited about the little things – watching Blue learn new words, spending time with family, date nights with HandyMan. I’m also excited about the surprises. I wonder what fun things will happen this year that I can’t predict?

What are you looking forward to in 2011?

~ guest post by MRS

Hungry for more? Related posts:
Blue’s Big Brother Plans
One. Two. Three. Four. First Down!
Balancing Harvesting & Parenting