2011 in review

So another year has passed and it is time to reflect on 2011. The standout thing for the year is the addition of little Ethan into our lives! He has enriched our life so much and I really cannot imagine a world without him. He is just the coolest little dude you could find! He has a wonderful balance of thoughtfulness and playfulness, he is cheeky yet often spends time just contemplating the world. Ethan has a huge amount of energy and I can see how interesting the coming years will be for us. I love his excitement at seeing us first thing in the morning, his little hugs and his sloppy kisses.

Family: Family is incredibly important to both Jason and I, here are some of the highlights from 2011:

• Jason and I (and little Poppy as Ethan was known then) saw the New Year in over in Queensland.
• My Mum and Dad visited Perth not long after Ethan was born (I am really looking forward to their return visit to Perth so I can show them round- something that wasn't really possible with a 11 day old baby!).
• We were visited by Jason's mum and dad three times! As well as Leza and Melissa;
  
• We had a trip to New Zealand, staying with Jason's family;
• Ethan met his Great Grandad; and
  
• Jason and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary.

Unfortunately we missed my mum's 60th birthday and my Dad's 70th birthday. We missed both our families at Christmas time and have yet to meet MacK Dalziell (Ethan's older cousin by around 7 weeks).

Friends: Just like family, our friends are also really important to us. Some highlights of this year have been:

• Visiting a number of friends while in NZ (Megan; Lawrence, Nicci, James and Maeve; Angela; and Blossom and Kate);
• Being visited by my friend Josie, unfortunately it wasn't the best weekend with me being readmitted into hospital but it was lovely to see her;
  
• I had a great baby shower with my lovely Perth girlfriends;
  
• Having great times with Sandy and Nathan and Melanie and Michael here in Perth; and
  
• Making new friends (through mothers group and my online baby support group).
  

Health and Wellbeing: In terms of our health and well being we have had a pretty good year:

• Ethan arrived safely (albeit 10 days late!) and has been healthy ever since (he has had 2 small colds);
• My pregnancy was very uneventful and I was doing 2 hour walks while 41 weeks pregnant!;
• Jason won his work wellbeing program for most improved (bringing his cholesterol down from dangerous to healthy and losing 3kg and 10% body fat) over a 12 week period;
• I lost all the baby weight (and some of the weight I put on pre-pregnancy and post ultra marathon!);
• I have been running regularly with Ethan and built my fitness up to be able to run around 15 - 18km with the pram.

As always, with the good there is always the bad. I was readmitted into hospital 18 days after giving birth for the weekend, I suffered from a nasty bout of mastitis and recently broke a back tooth which requires a root canal. And... on the subject of teeth Jason had a number of visits to the dentist this year. It was expensive, but worth it as his teeth are in pretty good shape right now!

Other: Other memorable things (memorable for various reasons) from 2011:

• We sold Pembroke Rd;
• Our car required a major overhaul (which cost $5245 to fix), the week after we fixed the car our washing machine broke down and was not repairable and my tooth broke. These three events put a reasonable dent in our savings; and
• 2011 was the first year in my whole adult life that I didn't compete in a single sporting event!

So when looking back, although it was a quieter year than usual for us we have still done a lot, seen a lot and enjoyed life with our family and friends. We are really looking forward to 2012!