2016 In Review: Part II

The second half of 2016 has truly been the fast six months of my entire life. I swear, I blinked and it was gone. It becomes more painfully real every day just how fleeting time truly is, especially once you have children. We have had a lot of sweet memories in the past few months, and I know they will only get sweeter as our boys grow.

July

We celebrated the 4th of July at home. Or rather, at my in-laws house. It is still so crazy to me to realize that we lived there for a year. It already feels like a lifetime ago! We really did have some sweet memories from our time spent together, and I grew to know my mother in law so much better because of the experience. Despite all of the challenges, so much good came out of living in extremely close quarters with them! And, a confession: we are total scaredy-cats when it comes to traveling or getting adventurous with our kiddos. Lincoln was in the peak of his crying/screaming/difficult stage, and no way were we being subjected to a long car ride with him and his set of lungs in the backseat. We made the most of being home and had a fun day!

 

I wrote one final post as we were wrapping up the house. Those final weeks were the most painful, because we were so close to moving, and yet it felt so far. I have not made it past 38 weeks in pregnancy, but I think those final weeks before moving were my karma, because it felt like the longest few weeks of my life!

August

I went back to work the first day of August, and while it is never fun to give up that time off, I will say that after adjusting to life with two under two, some days going back almost felt like a bit of a vacation! Of course, I also spend many days wishing I could stay home with my boys. It all depends how those first thirty minutes of our morning goes ;-) Not only did I go back to work, but I got a new job! It made going back a bit easier, because there was excitement and anticipation for a new role ahead of me.

Days later, our sweet Jackson turned two! I realized I never posted a recap of his birthday party, so will now take the opportunity to unload all of the party pics that never made it to the blog. #sorrynotsorry He has been a huge Thomas the Train fan, so this party was truly on Thomas overload. We received about 8379 trains, I think.

 

We moved into our new house on August 12th! It was such a huge deal, and seriously felt like Christmas morning. I was kind of emotional unpacking all of my dishes and items, I had not seen them in so long, and I missed my coffee mugs! I wrote a post on the home building process, and really walked through everything from square one. I enjoyed writing it, and if you are considering building at all, I hope it provides some insight as to what goes into it all.
I capped off the month with saying RIP iphone, as I accidentally tossed it in the wash. So in case you are looking for me, you can reach me on my IPhone 5, which has zero space left and somehow has to last me until next fall!

September

September was a fun month. We were settling into our new house, and finally feeling things get into the swing of our new normal. We took a long weekend to take Jackson to the Minnesota state fair. He loved seeing all of the farm animals, and we loved trying out the food! It was the first time we have gone in years, and we really had no idea what we were doing. We need to be more strategic next time to make sure we hit up all of the food we want to try!

I talked about my postpartum body and my ups and downs with losing the baby weight. I have been fortunate to bounce back fairly quickly after having babies, but can say that my experience following my second versus first pregnancy were definitely different! It is so important to give ourselves grace and know it is okay if it takes a bit of time.

We spent September celebrating our birthdays, having another kid free night to attend a friend's wedding, and soaking up sweet days with our kiddos.

October

We celebrated our anniversary. I cannot believe we have already been married for three years, and together for seven! And then, I look at all we have done in the past three years, and can't believe how we have fit it all in!

I did a fun collaboration and tried out some new bottles for Lincoln, and they totally changed the game when it came to others feeding him when I wasn't around!

I finally got around to doing a house tour and shared our home before moving anything in. To this day I love to look back and remember how it looked in those final days when we were so excited to move in!

We hosted our first party in our new house, in celebration of Lincoln's baptism. Our sweet boy, who has quite the temper, ended up being a perfect angel throughout his entire baptism. We had so much fun having everyone over to our house, and celebrating our littlest man being forgiven of his sins.

November

I blinked, and suddenly Lincoln was 6 months old. He grew and changed so much this fall, outgrowing his colic (and possibly reflux) and becoming so much more happy and content.

I did a little fall home tour, and had so much fun beginning to decorate. I cannot wait to build and add to our décor a bit as the years go by. We also celebrated Thanksgiving and enjoyed spending some time with our families.

December

I figured we were due for another update, so I did some talking about Jackson at 28 months. This fall he started talking up a storm, doing imaginative play, and becoming so much more interactive. I think I say this at every age, but two year old Jackson is the sweetest thing I have ever experienced.

I shared a holiday home tour, and am still enjoying our decorations. I am so in love with our mantle and Christmas tree, I don't ever want to take them down!

I did some reflecting and shared my thoughts on where this blog is going. I love hearing your feedback, and as I continue to write and share my life with all of you who follow along, I want to be as intentional as possible in sharing our world and experiences.
After it sitting in a bag for the longest time, I started playing around with the camera to start capturing some better photos. And now that I have some of it figured out, I can say with confidence I need to stop stealing the one that my sister has and get my own. It is so much fun to capture high quality images, especially of my boys!

We wrapped up the year by celebrating Christmas, and I think that this year was the best one yet. Both of my boys are at such sweet stages, and this was the first year that we started to see the magic in Jackson's eyes. Watching him experience Santa, fall in love with his beloved snowmen, and get so excited about old traditions made my heart feel so incredibly full. Being a mama is the greatest blessing I have ever been given, and this year packed in more challenging and rewarding mommy moments than I could have imagined.

2016, you were difficult, hard, overwhelming, and so incredibly good. I know that this will be a year that I look back on and ask how we possibly did it, and yet it will also be the year that I look back on and remember when it all felt like it finally came together. I know 2017 will be very different than the past year, in a good way. Goodbye 2016, I am sad to see you go, but I am also so ready to move onto our next chapter.