I’m a bit late with this, since I was sick the past few days. I could skip it, but I enjoy this look back on my year, so I guess I’m doing it for myself. I just reread my new year’s resolutions from last year, and I must admit I didn’t get any of them done – in fact I just forgot about them. Oh well. I think I’ll try to stop making resolutions that I never keep. :-)

• January: We had Savannah baptized in January, and my parents drove up for that. While they were visiting, my mom helped me make Savannah’s River costume for our Firefly party! We flew to New England to visit Paul’s family (and attend said Firefly party). Savannah did great on her first plane trip, and we didn’t freeze to death, hehe.
• February: Savannah and I drove up to visit my sister Amy during her last year of school. We had a wonderful visit, even though it snowed while we were up there, making driving in the North Carolina mountains a little scary for this southerner! Savannah hit the 6 month mark and got her first solids – something that she didn’t really get the hang of until a few more months. Also, I had an ultrasound and my doctor told me that I have a gallstone. I have never done anything about it and haven’t had any major problems, so hopefully it doesn’t bother me any more.
• March: I took a mom & baby water aerobics class to get in shape for our trip to the Dominican Republic, and had a blast! Savannah loved the water too. I got my Ergo, a baby carrier that I’ve heard nothing about raves from other friends. We finally paint the den while my sister was visit for her spring break, which is the last step to finishing it before carpet. The month ended with us flying to the Dominican Republic, to visit our dear friend Tree and her family!! We had a great trip down and got to celebrate Tree’s birthday with her on March 31st!
• April: We began the month in the Dominican, hiking and exploring. We celebrated Easter with them, and enjoyed two days at a Caribbean beach. We were sad to return to Atlanta, but at least it was warming up here! I found out that Maddie and Savannah won a photo contest for “Cute Baby in cloth diapers”. The theme was “friends”. We visited a new church this month, one that we are now very involved in and attending full time. I started having trouble with thrush and mastitis, and had difficulty getting a doctor to take me seriously because I wasn’t running a fever. We ended the month by flying up to Massachusetts for a quick trip to attend the wedding of Paul’s cousin.
• May: While I was up in Mass., I got a breast abscess and had Paul take me to the emergency room. They gave me some drugs for the pain and sent me home again, since I was flying back to Atlanta the next day. When I got home, I got into a bath and the abscess burst! I was able to meet with my midwife the next day who referred me to a breast surgeon. In short, I healed okay but have not nursed Savannah on that side since then. Later in May, we went camping with Savannah for the first time. We also pulled up all the tile from our den, getting ready to have carpet installed. Towards the end of the month, we drove up to North Carolina for my sister’s college graduation.
• June: At the beginning of June, we had our carpet installed in the den and the room was officially finished! That was exciting! We drove up to Indiana for the annual Gerig Reunion, this time staying in our old dorm. We had a wonderful time and I think everyone else did too. I can’t wait until next year’s reunion! Towards the end of the month, we had a scary emergency room visit – Savannah had an intussusception, but they were able to fix it without surgery.
• July: Some college friends stopped by to visit on their way home from Florida, and we went downtown and had a wonderful visit with them. A few days later, we had a second emergency room visit for Savannah, this one not as scary – she had an abscess drained (most likely got it from me). I went back to work at my old job for a few months – just one day a week, but the extra money was nice! We had our land surveyed and the back sun porch removed which has been really nice! Of course, it also made the foundation problems more obvious…
• August: I decided to scrapbook Savannah’s first year of her life. Since I wanted to finish it in time for her first birthday party, I spent all my free time this month working on the scrapbook. (And finished it! Well, almost all of it.) We also drove up to Pennsylvania to spend a few days with our friend Melissa who was visiting from Asia. Savannah turned 1 on August 22nd! We had her first birthday party the day before, and many friends and family came to celebrate with us. I think it was a fairly successful party, considering it’s the first birthday party I’ve ever thrown. Savannah started scootching around this month, which is the first time she’s moved on her own. Hooray!
• September: Savannah and I went downtown to the Dragon*Con parade, dressed as River and Zoe (respectively). We had a great time. Then Savannah broke her leg a few days later and was in a cast for most of the month. It fell off twice, and finally we got a Wee Walker (a boot) for the last week. At the end of the month, she was cleared to start physical therapy. We got discouraging news about our foundation – it’s going to cost about $18,000 to fix.
• October: This month brought more traveling. I did my first flight by myself with Savannah and it turned out great. We flew up to Pittsburgh for a family wedding, and had a wonderful time with my extended family. We also got to meet Kacie! Then we flew to New York City to spend some time with my brother-in-law. I loved my time in the Big Apple, but I think we were both ready to be home once we got there! Paul missed us too. When we got back, Savannah had her physical therapy evaluation, and she was diagnosed with hyperflexibility and low muscle tone. They estimated 6 months before she would be caught up to her age as far as crawling/walking.
• November: We started physical therapy, and have had good days and bad days as Savannah starts learning to put weight on her legs. I helped coordinate a child sponsorship program for Christmas between our church and a local ministry, which took a lot of my time. We went down to Orlando for Thanksgiving, spending time with friends and family. We also bought a new laptop at the end of the month.
• December: Christmas came, and I was incredibly busy with church things. At the height of it all, I decided that enough was enough – the cats had to go. This is something I’d been struggling with more than a year, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. Beth and her daughter Maddie accompanied me and Savannah to Orlando, where we left the cats at my parents’ house. When we got back, I turned my focus to Christmas and getting gifts and cards rounded up. It took two full days of cleaning, but I managed to turn our house from a pig sty to a lovely home in time for our Christmas day guests. We even made our first Christmas dinner! We had a great Christmas, and I had a terrible 28th birthday, and I finished out the year being sick. Oh, joy! Here’s to 2011 and all the hopes and promises it brings!!

It’s funny how much different a year makes.

Christmas 2009:

Christmas 2010: