JANUARY
2008 was a year of adventure and change. We began the year finding out I was pregnant! I told Phillip sometime during the New Year’s Day football-a-thon at my parents’ house. It is always hard for me to just come out and give that type of news…I never know how it will be received! But all was well. We decided not to publish the news until after we felt like the pregnancy was going to ‘take’ and therefore not have to publicize news of miscarriage, should the worst happen.
We learned how badly people around here take it when a six year old throws a snowball at a car, a lesson still somewhat fresh in Archie’s mind. I am still waiting on that jerk-face guy to make good on his promise to turn us in to the Florida authorities because we are such terrible parents. So far, we’re in the clear.
We experienced snow skiing for the first time and found that it is more possible than previously thought to break our hip in our mid thirties! Thankfully, the hip didn’t actually break, but Phillip occasionally feels the repercussions of that incident to this day.
We had a fabulous trip to Michigan to visit my Uncle Tom and experienced winter wonderland at the ice sculpture festival. It was gorgeous! Unfortunately, early pregnancy had me feeling extremely under the weather that weekend. But I loved, loved the ice sculptures! It was unforgettable! I also enjoyed chatting with Aunt Becky and Uncle Tom very much and felt our families had much in common, even though we are in very different stages of life.
FEBRUARY
February found us shocked at our obscenely high utility bill, even though we kept the house very chilly. A snap decision later, and we were tearing down our living room walls with a hammer to install some insulation and update the electrical. This was the project that was supposed to take no more than a week. Ha! Shoulda known better from previous experience.
We had a lovely visit with Regular E, Sara and my Mom when they came to ‘see some snow’. Unfortunately there was not a flake to be found in all of Cincinnati until the day they left. Everyone loves Jungle Jim’s and Mom has a knack for finding the yuckiest candy ever to purchase every time we go. We enjoyed the horse races for the first time and snow tubing at Perfect North Slopes. Tubing was FUN!! It was much more enjoyable than skiing in my opinion. A lobotomy would be more enjoyable than snow skiing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I had the experience, but it’s not something I want to repeat anytime soon.
We announced to family and friends news of our ‘bun in the oven’ and everyone seemed thrilled with the news.
MARCH
We experienced our first snowstorm, which wasn’t a storm at all, in my experiences of storms. It was beautiful and quiet, and we had a lovely day together as a family spending time around the fireplace and playing in the thigh-high snow. It was fantastic!
After the roads opened back up, we spent an afternoon exploring Mount Airy Forest covered in snow. It was loads of fun!
We got an ultrasound and saw our baby for the first time. Archie thought the baby looked kinda scary, because it was all skeletal and stuff. But he enjoyed seeing and hearing the heart beat and it made him very excited about our baby.
Spring finally sprung, after way too much dark, dismal winter weather. It was good to see the sun again!
I visited Alabama in an Old Man Mercury Marquis boat-type car because there weren’t enough small, fuel-efficient type cars to fulfill the rental car reservations. There’s a Seinfeld episode about that, I think. Anyone can TAKE a reservation, but the most important part of the reservation is the HOLDING of the reservation. This rental company didn’t get the concept, apparently.
APRIL
We enjoyed Easter in Mobile and I came home to find Phillip had knocked out the ceiling of the living room while we were away. Happy Day.
We celebrated Morgan’s eighteenth birthday by heading out to eat Hibachi at a Japanese restaurant. We couldn’t really plan anything more elaborate because Morgan wouldn’t disclose any birthday plans until pretty much the day of. I didn’t even have opportunity to make a cake, so we got a Graeter’s ice cream cake. Yummy!
The weather began to warm up and flowers began popping out. I felt much more cheerful.
We had a family reunion of sorts at Monte Sano State Park in Huntsville, Alabama to celebrate the Bookend Birthdays of my Dad and Old E. We had a fantastic camping trip, despite much pregnancy swelling and feeling hot and tired much of the time. We kept finding Mom’s bike in odd places…on top of playground equipment and ultimately, strung up in a tree. Damn that Martin, anyway! We learned how much Julie loved Elvis as a youngster and that Old E might not want to share his birthday with my Dad as much as we thought.
The end of March brought us outdoors once again, as well as the neighbourhood hoodlums. They tried to steal Archie’s bike by knocking him off of it and trying to run for it. Those kids still to this day walk the other way when they see me coming. They do not pass in front of my house. I couldn’t run fast enough to catch the little creep because I was pregnant. It was probably for the best.
MAY
In May, Morgan was gearing up to graduate high school. We went to her art show where we saw her beautiful paintings. Since she didn’t want to attend or participate in the school’s graduation ceremony, we didn’t attend either.
I was five months pregnant and feeling every bit. Pregnancy seems to be hard on my body. Or perhaps it’s because I expect to feel better than I actually do and therefore, plan too much. Anyhow, I can’t express how exhausted I felt on a daily basis. Being anemic probably didn’t help much.
I learned I should eat lots on the night before Mother’s Day because waiting for the boys to get up and make breakfast took a looong time.
We began T-ball with Phillip as the helper-turned-head-coach. He made a fantastic head coach!
We went to a few Reds games and enjoyed every one of them! Reds baseball always makes for a fun family outing.
We experienced the plague of caterpillars in Mount Airy Forest while doing a training hike in preparation for our Appalachian Trail adventure to come at the end of May. Caterpillars were falling from the trees like raindrops. It was really creepy, but really interesting. They completely covered everything in sight!
Memorial Day Weekend, we met our friends Tyler and Dawn at the Smoky Mountains to do a three-day hike along the Appalachian Trail. I couldn’t possibly list all the neat things we learned and experienced in this short synopsis, but it is an experience none of us will ever forget! Archie did great carrying his own pack the whole time and although I was slow, I did well for a pregnant woman in her third trimester hiking mountains. I was by far the slowest hiker, but it was nice being by myself while lagging behind for a little while. Phillip made sure I didn’t get too far behind, so he and Archie would wait up for me. We found we love backpacking and it was a time of great togetherness.
JUNE
We celebrated Morgan’s high school graduation by heading down to Mobile from the Smoky Mountains to enjoy a crawfish boil with family and friends. It was nice to visit everyone and would be the last time I visited Mobile until Thanksgiving. Morgan stayed for the month of June, but we headed back the day after the party.
I learned that even only backpacking for three days made for stinky, stinky packs and clothing. I almost threw up while emptying out the packs for laundering. Yuck!
2008 was a year of adventure and change. We began the year finding out I was pregnant! I told Phillip sometime during the New Year’s Day football-a-thon at my parents’ house. It is always hard for me to just come out and give that type of news…I never know how it will be received! But all was well. We decided not to publish the news until after we felt like the pregnancy was going to ‘take’ and therefore not have to publicize news of miscarriage, should the worst happen.
We learned how badly people around here take it when a six year old throws a snowball at a car, a lesson still somewhat fresh in Archie’s mind. I am still waiting on that jerk-face guy to make good on his promise to turn us in to the Florida authorities because we are such terrible parents. So far, we’re in the clear.
We experienced snow skiing for the first time and found that it is more possible than previously thought to break our hip in our mid thirties! Thankfully, the hip didn’t actually break, but Phillip occasionally feels the repercussions of that incident to this day.
We had a fabulous trip to Michigan to visit my Uncle Tom and experienced winter wonderland at the ice sculpture festival. It was gorgeous! Unfortunately, early pregnancy had me feeling extremely under the weather that weekend. But I loved, loved the ice sculptures! It was unforgettable! I also enjoyed chatting with Aunt Becky and Uncle Tom very much and felt our families had much in common, even though we are in very different stages of life.
FEBRUARY
February found us shocked at our obscenely high utility bill, even though we kept the house very chilly. A snap decision later, and we were tearing down our living room walls with a hammer to install some insulation and update the electrical. This was the project that was supposed to take no more than a week. Ha! Shoulda known better from previous experience.
We had a lovely visit with Regular E, Sara and my Mom when they came to ‘see some snow’. Unfortunately there was not a flake to be found in all of Cincinnati until the day they left. Everyone loves Jungle Jim’s and Mom has a knack for finding the yuckiest candy ever to purchase every time we go. We enjoyed the horse races for the first time and snow tubing at Perfect North Slopes. Tubing was FUN!! It was much more enjoyable than skiing in my opinion. A lobotomy would be more enjoyable than snow skiing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I had the experience, but it’s not something I want to repeat anytime soon.
We announced to family and friends news of our ‘bun in the oven’ and everyone seemed thrilled with the news.
MARCH
We experienced our first snowstorm, which wasn’t a storm at all, in my experiences of storms. It was beautiful and quiet, and we had a lovely day together as a family spending time around the fireplace and playing in the thigh-high snow. It was fantastic!
After the roads opened back up, we spent an afternoon exploring Mount Airy Forest covered in snow. It was loads of fun!
We got an ultrasound and saw our baby for the first time. Archie thought the baby looked kinda scary, because it was all skeletal and stuff. But he enjoyed seeing and hearing the heart beat and it made him very excited about our baby.
Spring finally sprung, after way too much dark, dismal winter weather. It was good to see the sun again!
I visited Alabama in an Old Man Mercury Marquis boat-type car because there weren’t enough small, fuel-efficient type cars to fulfill the rental car reservations. There’s a Seinfeld episode about that, I think. Anyone can TAKE a reservation, but the most important part of the reservation is the HOLDING of the reservation. This rental company didn’t get the concept, apparently.
APRIL
We enjoyed Easter in Mobile and I came home to find Phillip had knocked out the ceiling of the living room while we were away. Happy Day.
We celebrated Morgan’s eighteenth birthday by heading out to eat Hibachi at a Japanese restaurant. We couldn’t really plan anything more elaborate because Morgan wouldn’t disclose any birthday plans until pretty much the day of. I didn’t even have opportunity to make a cake, so we got a Graeter’s ice cream cake. Yummy!
The weather began to warm up and flowers began popping out. I felt much more cheerful.
We had a family reunion of sorts at Monte Sano State Park in Huntsville, Alabama to celebrate the Bookend Birthdays of my Dad and Old E. We had a fantastic camping trip, despite much pregnancy swelling and feeling hot and tired much of the time. We kept finding Mom’s bike in odd places…on top of playground equipment and ultimately, strung up in a tree. Damn that Martin, anyway! We learned how much Julie loved Elvis as a youngster and that Old E might not want to share his birthday with my Dad as much as we thought.
The end of March brought us outdoors once again, as well as the neighbourhood hoodlums. They tried to steal Archie’s bike by knocking him off of it and trying to run for it. Those kids still to this day walk the other way when they see me coming. They do not pass in front of my house. I couldn’t run fast enough to catch the little creep because I was pregnant. It was probably for the best.
MAY
In May, Morgan was gearing up to graduate high school. We went to her art show where we saw her beautiful paintings. Since she didn’t want to attend or participate in the school’s graduation ceremony, we didn’t attend either.
I was five months pregnant and feeling every bit. Pregnancy seems to be hard on my body. Or perhaps it’s because I expect to feel better than I actually do and therefore, plan too much. Anyhow, I can’t express how exhausted I felt on a daily basis. Being anemic probably didn’t help much.
I learned I should eat lots on the night before Mother’s Day because waiting for the boys to get up and make breakfast took a looong time.
We began T-ball with Phillip as the helper-turned-head-coach. He made a fantastic head coach!
We went to a few Reds games and enjoyed every one of them! Reds baseball always makes for a fun family outing.
We experienced the plague of caterpillars in Mount Airy Forest while doing a training hike in preparation for our Appalachian Trail adventure to come at the end of May. Caterpillars were falling from the trees like raindrops. It was really creepy, but really interesting. They completely covered everything in sight!
Memorial Day Weekend, we met our friends Tyler and Dawn at the Smoky Mountains to do a three-day hike along the Appalachian Trail. I couldn’t possibly list all the neat things we learned and experienced in this short synopsis, but it is an experience none of us will ever forget! Archie did great carrying his own pack the whole time and although I was slow, I did well for a pregnant woman in her third trimester hiking mountains. I was by far the slowest hiker, but it was nice being by myself while lagging behind for a little while. Phillip made sure I didn’t get too far behind, so he and Archie would wait up for me. We found we love backpacking and it was a time of great togetherness.
JUNE
We celebrated Morgan’s high school graduation by heading down to Mobile from the Smoky Mountains to enjoy a crawfish boil with family and friends. It was nice to visit everyone and would be the last time I visited Mobile until Thanksgiving. Morgan stayed for the month of June, but we headed back the day after the party.
I learned that even only backpacking for three days made for stinky, stinky packs and clothing. I almost threw up while emptying out the packs for laundering. Yuck!
The remainder of June had us doing lots of schoolwork in preparation for time off after the baby was born. Lots of resting because I was so darned tired all the time, and finding the ideal neighbourhood pool. Summer in Ohio is fantastic because it’s never very hot and the nights cool off enough to have a nice fire pit on the back porch in the evenings.
2 comments:
Love the synopsis! I wish I had been creative enough to think of that!
Yea...what she said.
Great job...I'm impressed!
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