30 on the 30th

Well, it's over. I'm no longer the young and idealistic girl I once was. Mortality is staring me in face, years of exposure to the vices of humanity have made me cynical, though still with a healthy appreciation of the absurd, and the metabolism is shot. In short, I turned thirty. I had one last mad thought to go get a hideous tattoo or something, but bad weather prevented road travel so I laid on the couch and read an old book. Being with my family was enough celebration for me, and I had a wonderful Vermont winter day.
As is customary at these times, I took a glance back through the year, and found it be a busy one. Let's recap, shall we?
1) Henri turned one. This didn't feel as big of a deal as her turning 18 months (which she also did) but it was amazing to look at how big she's gotten in the past year. No longer a baby, very much her own girl, and the most wonderful gift I've ever received.

2) We bought our first house. Not even close to what I was imagining I'd be living in, but it's ours, it's adorable, and more than ample for our needs. It has plenty of opportunity for improvement so we'll never be bored, but it's cozy and safe so we don't have to dedicate every weekend on it if we don't want to.

3) I became an aunt twice again! First Ella Joy on February 26th, and then Dustin Josiah on November 14th. Both beautiful babies, both a true joy to the family (can't wait to meet Dusty in a few weeks!).

4) Clinicals. This has  kind of become the over riding theme of my life the past few months, and I don't remember life before it. It's meant a lot of changes to how our family works, including the start of institutional daycare for Henri and a ton more responsibilities at home for Steven, but so far I've been the only one to complain. Given how scared and upset I was at the thought of anyone watching Henri, much less a daycare situation, this reality has been a breeze. She loves her daycare, they are wonderful to her, and Steve has become even more of a hands-on dad (not that he wasn't fabulous before). I think Henri is with him more than me, and she's thriving. In fact, it might be nice if she'd slow down once in a while to let us catch our breath....

5) Cross-country vacation. We got to go visit dear friends in CA! Henri has splashed in two of the world's big oceans now, and we reveled in the fabulous weather.

Whew. I'd also like to briefly brag that I kept my New Years resolution of blogging once a week. I'm well aware there was rarely a thing of importance said, and the gloating over Henri probably nauseating, but I appreciate so so so much all those that did read, and commented, or said they liked the pictures. Thanks!

And now for the coming year. The calendar is already pretty filled up and it looks like it'll be an interesting one.
For starters, I hope and trust that come Spring I will be a Certified Nurse-Midwife. Yikes. What started sort of as a whim three years ago, and was pushed along with tons of support and encouragement from my wonderful and sacrificial family, will finally be coming to a conclusion. Two more semesters, two huge and scary certifying exams, and, well, I actually have no idea. The plan of course had been to get a job, buuuuuuuut:

Yeah. We'll be getting our butts kicked by #2 come fall. Actually, he's already kicking mine as this has been by far a way harder and more yucky pregnancy than Henri's. Between the never ending nausea, the painful shots so I don't have a stroke or die, the brain-frying exhaustion (24 hour shifts at the hospital have not been helping), utter hatred of all things sweet, mandatory ban on caffeine (I almost didn't survive going cold turkey on coffee), crying about everything, and the mere fact that this is a high-risk pregnancy so I will have seen 6 providers by the time the first trimester ends (seriously, I have at least one appointment a week through the end of the month. ridiculous), this is one I'll be happy to have over. We're still trying to wrap our minds around the fact it's even happening, so don't think we're not welcoming of it, we're just a bit, um, scared.

And that's about it! We've been blessed far and above what we deserve, and are so grateful for the love, family, and wonderful friends we've been given. I don't plan to hold myself to a goal for blogging this year as the next few months are packed, but be assured there will be fresh photos and bragging aplenty when you periodically check back in. Happy 2013!!!!