January:
We confirmed our pregnancy at our first doctor's appointment and ultrasound which showed our little "peanut", with a scheduled due date of August 29. We traveled to Kansas to say goodbye to my dad before he went on active duty for his overseas deployment. I traveled to Seattle for the American Meteorological Society (AMS) annual conference. My Macbook laptop died, and my world turned upside down (especially my work productivity) for many weeks until I got a replacement and my files set up and organized again. I also started teaching an introductory weather class at CU (the University of Colorado-Boulder). I had just over 300 students in my class! And I started a new job at work, splitting my time between the Research Applications Lab (RAL, where I had been working for the past 3 years) and in the GLOBE Program (a science and education program managed at UCAR). Having essentially three jobs (CU, RAL, GLOBE) made for a busy me...add being in the first trimester and I was one tired person!
Our little peanut!
February:
I kept busy prepping for my class in every free moment that I had, while also still trying to hide my pregnancy from my colleagues until we were past the "safe" 12 week period.
March:
I traveled to Japan for a conference for five days, then had only two days at home before going to San Francisco for another conference. I was in San Francisco when the tsunami wave from the big earthquakes in Japan reached the U.S. west coast. I was very glad to be back before that tragedy occurred, but was very sad knowing I had just interacted with so many friendly people who were suffering through that natural disaster.
My trip to Japan was short and mostly for work, but I did get to do a bit of sightseeing, here at the top of Mt Tsukuba.
April:
We flew to Florida to attend my step-sister's wedding and took a belated honeymoon Caribbean cruise. I felt Evan's kicks for the first time on this trip (and pretty consistently every day of the cruise). When we returned home, we had our 20 week ulstrasound (though it was 21 weeks in the pregnancy) and found out we were having a boy!
Honeymoon cruise ports of call in Honduras (left) and Mexico (right)
Ultrasound at 21 weeks
I started going to garage sales on my weekends looking for good baby finds! Among my great deals were a $20 pack n play (i.e., a portacot) and $50 glider chair. John built us a raised garden bed, which provided us with yummy vegetables (especially zucchini!) all the way until our first hard frost in mid-October.
June:
More garage sales, including our neighborhood-wide sale. John and I walked our neighborhood and racked up the deals (which we had to walk home several times to drop things off!). We got our $10 baby swing, $2 Boppy nursing pillow, toys/books, $5 Baby Bjorn carrier. We also were given several huge boxes of baby boy clothes (for free!) after the sales were over by our neighbor (the remaining clothes that didn't sell). We have put so many of those clothes to good use! I also attended a workshop in Boulder with some good friends from my days in the SOARS program, and hosted one of them for several days in our home. It was so good to see old friends, and wish they lived closer! My Mom and Rick visited and helped paint the room that would become Evan's nursery. John and I enjoyed a fun summer tradition of a Colorado Rockies baseball game. And we traveled to Nebraska where my I had a baby shower with my friends and family back home. A great month with friends and family for sure!
John and I at a Rockies game.
Me and my lovely shower hostesses
July:
We spent every Thursday evening this month at a birthing class. My dermatologist also found a melanoma on my back, so I had to visit a plastic surgeon for its removal. (Luckily, the stitches from this excision came out the day before my induction!) On Sunday July 31, I called the on-call doctor to inquire about possible amniotic fluid leaking, but was told "you'd know if you water had broken", so we waited until Thursday Aug 4 (our regular weekly doc appointment) to then find out I did have a leak (a slow high leak) and would need to be induced early.
August:
Evan was born on August 5th! 3.5 weeks early, but he was a good healthy weight of 7 lbs 8 oz. Our lives completely changed for the better after this moment! The rest of this month I spent a lot of time indoors learning how to be a mom and take care of a newborn baby. Even though it was a super dry and hot month, Evan and I were sheltered in our air conditioned home. John also finished his flight instructor training and passed his CFI test this month!
Motherhood day #1 :)
September:
Louise (aka Nana) came to visit for several weeks to meet Evan. We took Evan on his first road trip to Glenwood Springs and Aspen and to Rocky Mountain National Park. John got hired at McAir Aviation as a flight instructor. I had my Colorado baby shower, which had to be rescheduled to be more of a "meet and greet" due to Evan's early arrival since it was originally supposed to happen on August 7.
Evan and I at our baby shower "meet and greet" in Colorado.
October:
Evan got his first round of shots at his 2-month check up and I did my best to enjoy my last few weeks of maternity leave. We dressed Evan as a skeleton for Halloween, but will save taking him trick-or-treating for a future year (perhaps one in which he can walk or has teeth to rot with candy). Speaking of teeth, I found out I needed a crown at my regular dental check up this month and so ensued several weeks of visits to my dentist for the procedures.
November:
I went back to work (first official day back was Oct 31), and my mom came and lived with us this month to help us watch Evan during this transition period. It was a busy month learning how to balance life and work and prepare ourselves for upcoming holiday travel! Evan took his first road trip back home to Kansas and Nebraska and he met his great-grandfather over Thanksgiving.
December:
Evan met Santa, then flew to the other side of the world (his first time flying!) to Australia to meet the rest of his family! We celebrated Christmas Aussie style, and rung in the new year with the early fireworks show on the beach, and then by watching the Sydney fireworks on tv at midnight. For the early show, however, we wanted to avoid the crowds of Mooloolaba, so we went to North Shore beach (same beach we go for morning walks on), which is quite a ways north of the fireworks action. We had an unobstructed view over the water, but it was a good distance away such that we didn't hear any of the bangs and booms. The upside: Evan could enjoy seeing fireworks for the first time without being scared by the noise. The downside: they were a little bit far away and it started to rain on us during the finale, so we had to start packing up and missed part of the show. It was also awfully windy! But Evan seemed entranced by the fireworks off in the distance, and thus we have declared he enjoyed his first new year's fireworks show!
Our family on New Year's Eve after the fireworks, ready to begin a new exciting year! (And although you can't see it, Evan's shirt says "My 1st New Year's")
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