A Deep Breath

Raise your hand if you're ready for 2010!

Now raise your hand if you're even more ready to say goodbye to 2009!

I am so ready to say goodbye to 2009. My husband read my mind the other day when he said it was the best year of our lives and the worst year of our lives. We are in such a completely different place than we were a year ago. It's a completely different life we're living in almost every aspect.

I am so excited about 2010. I know it's just a date. Really, it's pretty relative. But to me, January 1, 2010 will signify new opportunities, new revelations, plans, possibilities, and it feels like a fresh, untarnished, new beginning. I've never been this excited about the changing of a year.

I'm not even a big celebrator of New Years Eve. I think going out on New Years Eve is highly overrated. I'd rather stay home with my kids and celebrate with them sitting right next to me. And I get to do that this year. We also plan on celebrating by our traditional ordering out of Chinese food. It's just a thing we do.

Today was such a great day! I met up with someone from my August Moms group and we went to the zoo. It was the perfect day to do so and I packed up both Christian and Lola and we made our way there. I really wanted to do it just to see if I could handle navigating this world with two babies all by myself! Christian was nice and warm tucked in his stroller with his Elmo slippers and Lola was wrapped up in my Moby wrap. And it went great! Christian was minimally cranky, mostly because he was tired. So he slept. But he tolerated the trip to the zoo well. He needed to get out of the house and into the fresh air for a while. In fact, thinking about it, he did really well today! Lola just slept until the very end when she lost it. I'll tell you what, little girls go from 0-60 in just a few seconds.

Christian bundled up at the zoo, a little annoyed by the brightness of the day.

Not only did Christian's Elmo slippers keep his toesies nice and warm, but they were a big hit with the little ones circulating the zoo.

Mostly I felt so much like myself. And it felt so great to be able to do mommy things with another mommy. I used to take Christian to play dates and tumble classes and it was so much fun. I LOVED stuff like that. We obviously haven't been able to do anything like that for a while. I was seriously on cloud nine. I watched all the other kids enjoy the zoo and I saw all the other moms strolling their kids around. I felt we were different because my child is now different. But at the same time, I finally felt like a normal mom again. We all have our struggles - some moms were wrangling kids together, some moms were holding cranky kids, some moms were showing their kids the animals, and this mom was trying to make my kids comfortable and happy during the whole experience. It was the same, but different. But it was nice to feel that "sameness" again. The only way to explain it is by saying it was such a nice, deep breath.

So a virtual toast to more "Mommy Moments," new beginnings, fresh starts, and deep breaths. I hope and pray that 2010 is much better for everyone, for I know that we are not the only family that experienced triumph and tragedy.

There is so much we are planning for 2010 and I can't wait to see it unfold!

Have a happy, hopeful, wonderful New Year!