2011.

Hopefully the last mistake I make of the year: Going through old photos, papers and memorabilia while emotional.

Nevertheless, my decluttering and reorganizing made me really think about the past 12 months, as well as what the next 12 might bring us. I keep record of a lot of our life events on the blog, and it's easy to reference some things I've posted about here and try to remember other things that happened this year.

Tonight, I sit at home while Tim is at work. I'm pretty sure we weren't able to spend last New Year's Eve together, too - I *think* I was probably working. In January of 2011, we rode the waves of our half-year-old daughter's eating and sleeping schedule.

February brought Tim a new job - he was promoted to sports editor, a position that is perfect for him. Elle chalked up quite a few milestones - solids, sitting and army crawling! We also did sleep training this month. The three of us enjoyed a lovely Valentine's Day dinner and ended the month with an awesome family day.

March brought a visit from my sister and brother-in-law, coordinated around a half-marathon relay that my sister and I ran. March is always busy in the sports department, so Tim and I worked a lot. In late March, my grandmother passed away, and Elle and I flew up to be with my family. I was grateful that I was able to get the time off work without any problem, and even though losing my grandmother was hard on everyone, we were thankful that she wasn't suffering any more and happy to have the family together.

In April, Elle got her first teeth! I turned 30, and we flew to Colorado to spend my birthday weekend with my siblings and mom.We spent a snowy weekend in the mountains, eating a lot and lounging around a gorgeous house while battling altitude sickness :)

May was busy - Mother's Day, Elle started talking, I donated breast milk and we started attending the church that we are now officially joining.

I found out that I needed a mouth guard in June. This is notable because I spent most of the month at the dentist because of it. We celebrated Tim's first Father's Day, and the Reds played a three-game series in St. Pete (Tim attended all of the games). We changed the blog name! Elle went to the pool for the first time out of utero.

July was a fun, busy month. We took a long family trip to Ohio, visiting both sides of the state (east and west), meeting a blog friend and watching a good friend get married. We were able to celebrate Elle's first birthday with both sides of the family. OH! And Elle turned one. ONE.

In August, I stopped pumping. I was also gearing up for a major life change, as I accepted a new job and put in my notice at the newspaper.

September was hectic. Nursing came to an end for us. Elle and I went to Ohio for a short trip  (and the wedding of another good friend), and as soon as we returned, I started the new job. I also came down with a nasty cold. Awesome.

I feel like the rest of the year flew by - the new job and new schedule have really thrown me for a loop. We took advantage of my weekends off in October to go to a few pumpkin festivals and Busch Gardens with my new company. Elle was the cutest Elmo ever.

November seemed to be a bad month for household appliances. Tim's friend Tim came to stay with us for a week, and Tim had surgery for a root canal that didn't have a root (yeah, let's leave it at that). Tim and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary. The molar monster came to visit. We met with a financial adviser. I ran a five-mile turkey trot. My sister and brother-in-law came to visit us, and we observed Thanksgiving a few days late.

And now, December - I spent a lot of this month preparing for Christmas. I still have a blog to post about our family photos, which we used on our Christmas cards. Elle visited with Santa again and wasn't really in to it. We celebrated Tim's birthday and Christmas. 

There were definite highs and definite lows in 2011, but we have big plans for the next year, and I'm excited to see what 2012 brings us.

Happy New Year!