I can confidently say that 2017 was a year of many faces. It is hard to define the year into just a few words.

January

Wow, what a ride. Not all of it in a good way. This month saw my birthday, the birth of my niece Astrid, the appointment of a new president and the Women’s March.

Our year kicked off with latkes breakfast. Quince insisted on making a brownie cake for my birthday and told me I couldn’t peek or go into the kitchen. You can read about my experience at the march in Seattle here. We got Quince his Canadian citizenship certificate in the mail.

Febuary

The first snow for our area fell to the ground and stuck for a couple days. Quince was great with helping to shovel the walkways. Him and Olivia joined forces to make a huge snowman. We met Astrid for the first time. 

March

We attended Emerald City Comic Con. Quince met a bunch of other Ghostbusters and was welcomed into their group as the youngest member. It was great watching Nikki’s reaction to her solo photo with Tom Felton and I got a fortune told to me by Gates McFadden. Pi Day was celebrated with a chocolate pie. Probably most shocking of all was learning we were pregnant.

April

I was tired often. This started my weekly habit of falling asleep on the couch after picking up Quince from school. He would often call Richard on hangouts and tell him “mama is really sleepy”. Most exciting was attending the Pancake breakfast at the Fire Station with Quince. As well as, Steve installing the side gate making it that much easier to travel between houses.

May

Busy month! Quince’s 6th birthday party- whale themed. He was also my date for Cori & Nathan’s wedding. We found out we were having another boy.

June

Heading into the beginning of summer vacation. A letter mix-up told our doctor we were having a girl. For Father’s Day we spent went to Victoria for the day. We hung out with my dad and took Quince to the museum for the first time. We had the 20-week ultrasound, where the tech told us baby is a boy.

The highlight of the month was definitely the air rocket. Made using soda bottles and the air compressor.

July

The annual 4th of July Party in Quilcene boosted good weather and delicious food. Camping at Salt Creek with the Phillips. While we were there Quince finally figured out how to pedal on this bike! Steve and Richard took the kids on a tide pool adventure. Quince got some neat pictures using the GoPro. Richard made an awesome strawberry dessert over the fire.

August

We introduced Quince to the Lego Boost kit at an event in Silverdale with the Waterkotte’s. I marked my 1 year anniversary working with Avelient. I failed the pregnancy 1 hour glucose test and was told to take the 3 hour version. Best of all, we went eclipse chasing!! In a crazy trip we went down to the John Day Fossil Beds in Oregon along the path of totality to view the eclipse. Few things are that awesome. I knew it would get chilly but I wasn’t expecting it to be surprisingly cold. Definitely something we would like to be able to see again together.

September

School started back up, with Quince entering 1st Grade with Mrs. Branham. We also held our Baby BBQ for Edwin. Although at that time we didn’t have a name for him yet and asked our friends to suggest one along with what day they think he will be born. I was given a gestational diabetes treatment path with having to poke my finger after every meal and started my twice a week non-stress tests.

October

The discomforts of pregnancy continue in multiple forms. From having the doctors panic and order rush ultrasounds to check either movement or amniotic fluid levels to the normal prenatal appointments, daily finger poking times 4, and attending non-stress tests two times a week we were kept on our toes! Blood pressure has been kept in check with medication and blood sugar levels continue to be normal for all meals and evaluated in the morning. Quince was a Ghostbuster for Halloween again. This year him and Richard remade his pack slightly to use different tubing, lighting and a battery pack.

November

Well, this was quite a month. On the 6th we entered into the hospital about 2:30 pm and didn’t leave again until the 9th. Edwin arrived on the 7th at 7:51 pm, weighing 6 pounds 14 ounces and 19 inches long. The rest of the month was spent learning about tiny newborns. We hosted Thanksgiving.

December

Edwin and I returned to work this month. We got a very nice welcome back. We eased back into work making sure to take one or two days off a week to allow for some extra sleep and mental rest. Good call Chris for making me break up my vacation time! Edwin’s first few smiles happened about the 11th. I got a great photo of one of them. We had our first trip to Victoria on the 23rd for Christmas holiday. It was a great trip.