As a new year approaches, most of us look forward to a clean slate, a fresh start, and all of the things that a ‘new year’ brings. We find ourselves making resolutions that we hopefully keep, setting new goals, and dreaming up all of the ways we can try to be better people, better friends, and sometimes even better employees. Mitch and I went over our goals for this year, but we don't really make the traditional 'resolutions', we like to keep it simple and attainable. Most things we talked about related back to being the best parents we can be, and setting a good example for Leo. We want him to grow up in an atmosphere with the same kind of love, understanding, mentorship, and family morals that we both had as kids. We know he's young, but we believe those things start from day 1. Raise 'em right!

As Mitch and I were going through all of the things we’ve done this past year - scrolling through the memories that flooded our camera roll - we realized that this was a pretty amazing year, and it’s going to be hard to top it. I don’t mean to get all mushy, but when you really sit down and take the time to look back at how far you’ve come and what you’ve accomplished, it can be pretty amazing. We pretty much had a highlight or five for each month that went by, whether it be a project we did, an event we went to, or a milestone that Leo hit. Where does the time go?

Here’s a little, or maybe big, recap of our past year.

I remember this time last year, being pregnant and super sick all the time, having to throw up in just about every washroom of every place we went - work, out for dinner, friends houses, home depot… you know, the usual outings. Not forgetting the stuff that ended up on my lap while driving on the 401 to work every day because there's no time to pull over to the side of the road doing even the limit of 100km/h. Even though I was super sick, I was so beyond happy to be pregnant that none of it mattered, and we just couldn’t wait to meet our little dude. IV fluids and living in the washroom were well worth it. Even though I got used to being sick (it really became a routine) my doctor was not so impressed with it and decided to take me off of work early. Mid January to be exact.

This brings us to Burke, our now one year old French Bulldog. I had talked about getting a dog for a while, but Mitch was not 100% sold on the idea. My theory behind it was that it would be amazing to have a dog for Leo to grow up with. It would teach him some responsibility, and give him the companionship and unconditional love that most dogs are so willing to dish out. When I was growing up, we always had a dog. Our family had three dogs by the time I had moved out, and they all played such a huge role for me. They were always there, tails wagging, excited to see me when I got home regardless of the day I had. That was something that I had always wanted any future kids to experience. Long story short - Mitch ended up reconsidering it. Me being home alone sick for three more months before Leo was born definitely played a role in tugging at his heart strings. We drove to a breeder one day, met Burke - who conveniently went straight to Mitch and rested his head in his lap (he knew who he had to convince). The rest is history. We were officially a family of two and a half, and a brindle rabbit-pig. I mean, how could you not take home this little face?

Above: Burke's first day at home.

January and February flew by, and we wanted to get away one last time before Leo was born. We knew our lives were about to change for the better, but we wanted to take some time for ourselves while we still could. Mitch took a long weekend off of work, and we ended up going to Old Montreal in early March. We took the Via Rail there, which is the best way to travel, and stayed at Hotel Place D’Armes which had beautiful exposed brick walls, and just an old city, classic, romantic feel. Our room 'got upgraded' (turns out it was Mitch all along), and we even ended up getting massages at Rainspa, which was perfect for my pregnant aching self. Mitch was also not opposed to it, especially because he had been doing physical labour at work daily. We had a great long weekend planned with skating and sight seeing, but it ended up being a frigid -27C without the windchill, so we kept indoors most of the time. I swear my legs were purple from our five minute walks between specialty shops and coffee shops. We saw some live music, and watched the Toronto Raptors play at a cool sports pub. We enjoyed perfect dinners at Vieux Port Steakhouse, and Garde Manger (which was easily one of my favourite meals I have ever eaten, and one of the best restaurant atmospheres I have ever been in - happy, knowledgable staff, and GREAT music, which is a must). Little did I know, after the best night with the greatest man, he would ask me to marry him. It was a total surprise, and OF COURSE I said yes! It truly was the greatest weekend, and just the time we needed together. Mitch had been super busy with work, and I was surprised he could even sneak away for a couple of days… but now I understand why!

Above: Garde Manger Menu (when we were there)

March continued and we had some amazing baby showers (co-ed is the way to go, because me having a sparkling water alone and opening presents while everyone stares at me is my worst nightmare). We are so thankful for our family and friends, and all of the things they helped us with. You don’t really realize how much stuff you need for a baby until you have to go buy it. We were so spoiled, and we knew Leo would have such an overwhelming amount of love in his life!

We kicked off April with some ‘nesting’ as they call it. Lots of cleaning, scrambling, and more scrambling to get everything you think you’ll need as new parents. Scrambling because somehow something as obvious as a bassinet had slipped my mind on the list of things we would need - pregnancy brain is real folks! Our doctor decided that she wanted to induce us on April 13th, she was afraid that Leo was too small and wasn't getting enough nutrients because of how sick I had been. April 13th came along, we went and got induced at 4pm, they sent us home around 6:30pm and told us to come back the next morning around eight. I didn’t even make it until 9:30pm and I was in so much pain we decided to go back in. There was no way I was going to sleep through what I thought was pre-labour. We walked in and thankfully our doctor was like “You’re in labour!”. You never want to be the person that goes in too early and gets sent home, but I also had a fear of waiting too long and giving birth in the car or in the hallway of the ER when we were checking in. This actually happens. I've seen it first hand. Thankfully neither of those things happened to us, and the staff at PRHC were amazing. Leo was born at 1:20pm on April 14th, 2017 (which was Good Friday, no coincidence) weighing a healthy 6lbs 9oz. Our hearts have never been so full. We got to come home on the Saturday and we brought Leo to his first Easter brunch as a two day old!

The next few months consisted of a ton of firsts for us, starting with my first Mother’s Day and Mitch’s first Father's Day. We also sold our house.

Having a newborn, a puppy, and a house to clean for showings is a ton of work. Our agent would phone us and ask us to do a showing in 30 minutes and we would be cleaned, baby bag packed up, and out the door in no time. We really had it down to a science by the end. Not so much in the beginning though. It was more like “we need two hours notice so it doesn't look like a hurricane went off in here”. We are so glad that we did it though, and it sold fairly quick. It was conditionally sold and then another family put a firm offer on it, so it ended up being a great scenario for us. The closing date was in early August so it also gave us tons of time to get our situation sorted with having a newborn and needing to pack, to store most of our belongings, and to move the rest of them.

Above: Mother's Day

During the summer months, we enjoyed a lot of family time. We spent some time by the pools of our parents homes, at the cottage, and with friends soaking in the weather and celebrating birthdays. My dad got married and so did Mitch’s mom. For my dads wedding, we went to Punta Cana which was incredible. It was perfect warm weather and Leo travelled really well. He slept during takeoff and landing on the plane both directions. He was awake briefly enough on the way there to have a poop-splosion out his diaper and all over my arm. Luckily for me, I was sitting in the middle seat. Oh wait... not so lucky. Poor Mitch and my grandma were both trying to clean me up while I was stressing out about all of the people sitting around us knowing there was poop all over the place. It ended up being just fine, and Leo was as smily as ever. Once we arrived, clean bums and arms, we enjoyed the beach, ocean, and relaxation. I think Leo loved it just about as much as the rest of us if not more. The wedding was gorgeous and so much fun, we wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Mitch’s moms wedding was in the backyard of their beautiful custom home that they designed and built. They have it landscaped with two ponds, a waterfall, a beautiful bridge, and freshly poured concrete as a new added touch. It was perfect, and so full of love, family, friends, food, drinks, and tons of ‘can-can’ style dancing. They sure know how to throw a party! We also went to two other weddings of close friends that we were so glad to be able to make. Leo was at 3/4 of them! We also got to attend Ronnie Hawkins Hawkstone Manor home for a private concert including artists such as Jim Cuddy, The Weber Brothers, and Kris Kristofferson. Leo even got to meet Ronnie and Kris!

Above: Leo's first dip in the pool. Remi really likes Leo. Leo did not really like Remi. They love each other now!

Above: At the cottage

Above: Leo's first time in the ocean

Above: Catamaran ride in Dominican

Above: My dad & Tracy's wedding

Above: Mitch's mom & Bob's wedding, August

Above: Leo meeting Kris Kristofferson

Summer was also filled with hikes, and more hikes. It was so wonderful to be able to get both Leo and Burke outside for a mega dose of fresh air daily. It's so nice to see Burke be able to be off leash and run through hiking trails, hes totally in his happy place while we're hiking. Having Leo in the carrier for hikes is also such a nice thing. It makes the hike more of a workout for me, carrying 15 plus pounds on the front, but it's also great bonding time, and it's so fun to be able to see him exploring the forest and taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells. Not to mention they both sleep super well that night. I think Burke must hike at least 2x the distance we do. He does zoomies the whole time, and he runs super far ahead then has to run back to us to make sure we're still coming.

We moved on August 7th into a vacant place my mom had, the "Green Rental". It's a one bedroom home in East City of Peterborough, which is an amazing location. We will actually miss it a lot when we move out. It’s great for walking - there are trails, grocery stores. and the downtown core right within five minutes of walking. It’s right near little lake, so in the summer the sights and sounds of the water are beautiful. The Silver Bean Cafe was a place we frequented. It's got an awesome selection of food and their smoothies are great. Peterborough also offers live outdoor concerts in the summer, every Wednesday and Saturday, which we can hear from our backyard. It’s so nice to sit outside and hear the city come to life. One project we did at this house was ripping out the deck that was here and redoing it, so it was higher off of the ground, and larger of course.

Above: Almost completed deck at the "Green Rental"

During this time we were also consumed with checking real estate listings, doing drive by’s of properties, and booking showings for the ones we really liked. We were getting into fall at this point, and the busyness of summer was starting to thankfully fade. As fun as it is to always be doing projects or making plans, when the weather begins to cool down you don't feel as obligated to be completing ‘weather permitting’ projects and you can really start to wind down and enjoy some quality time together as a family. We started having date nights, and games nights with a few friends.

With the fall weather, also brought Thanksgiving and Halloween, which were both firsts for Leo. We enjoyed thanksgiving with family, and friendsgiving with close friends, and Leo, Mitch , Burke and I were skeletons for Halloween.

We ended up buying the lot we were waiting for on November 20th, and immediately began dreaming about our future family home. We take possession on January 15th, so we’ve got a lot to do! Mitch’s step-dad Bob is going to be doing the drafting through his company Your Own Design, and the home will be built through Cleary Homes. We can’t wait to get started!

While the whirlwind of a new home and a growing-too-fast 8 month old are always on our minds, it was time to take vacation. We spent the holidays in Florida with Mitch’s dad, step-mom, and brother. We missed having his sister with us this year, especially with it being Leo’s first Christmas, but we really enjoyed the time away from this -30C weather. Leo loved swimming and he really progressed while we were away. He’d been standing up for a few weeks, and walking while holding our hands, but now he is motoring back and forth across our living room with his stand-behind walker. It is the cutest thing, and he’s so proud of himself that you can’t help but smile and laugh with him every single time he does it… which ends up being 3/4 of the time he spends awake!

We rang in the New Year with some close friends. Leo partied like a rockstar and kept everyone smiling until about 11:45pm when he went to bed. Don't worry, he had a mega nap until about 9:15pm, so we let him enjoy everyones company until he got sleepy again. He went to bed with perfect timing for everyone to cheer in the ball drop, blow their loud noise makers, and clang their glasses together in celebration. As you can probably tell, we were all up way past our bedtimes.

Leo has hit so many milestones and come so far this past eight months. You tend to forget how fast time goes and how quickly things change with babies. He went from not being able to hold his own head up (we called him the baby owl because of the head bobs and circles he used to do), to holding his head up, enjoying tummy time, rolling over, using his jolly jumper, sitting up without any pillows or support, eating pureed food, walking with his walker, standing up on his own, and he's got 6 teeth! I don't even remember what it was like to have a fragile baby anymore now that we’ve got this almost-toddler getting in to everything. We couldn’t be more proud of him though, and every stage has been the best stage. There is always something to look forward to with him, and he's always making us laugh.

I know this is the 'personal' recap of 2017, but throughout the year we also took on some projects:

• we built a 7 foot tall industrial bookshelf for the living room - and learned how to weld

• we built floating shelves for the two piece main floor washroom

• we completed a backsplash-turned-entire-wall in exposed brick tile (we loved it so much we couldn't stop)

• we built Burke a dog deck

• we used our vinyl maker for gifting and for future home decor projects (the thing is a miracle worker)

• Mitch and his brother completed a deck at a rental property

• we dug up and built a new and improved deck at our current location

• we framed our shipping container for storage so it could be insulated

• Mitch built a picnic table for out at the farm, somewhere to lace up and set your beverages while playing pond hockey this winter

• we began drafting our future home

**for more details on our projects, I will be writing a project recap post as well. Check it out!

We can’t believe how much our lives have changed over this past year, and we are so fortunate to be surrounded by the kindest, greatest, weirdest, most genuine humans who give us nothing but laughs, motivation, and support.

We’re so excited for all that 2018 has to offer, and we hope that it finds you with love, happiness, and your goals becoming accomplishments.

Happy New Year!

#NewYear #Family #Recap #Summer #Weddings #Firsts #Newborn #FrenchBulldog #Friends #NewBuild #BuildingOurFamily