2019 was quite a big year. After a quiet start, we found out at the end of February that we’d be expecting a new addition to the family in November. I spent the following 9 months incubating a baby and then the last month and a half of the year just trying to survive while keeping a newborn alive. Some things were put on the back burner during this time, like growing my freelance business. Life slowed down a little with a growing belly and the aches and pains that came along with that.
We still managed to have some fun adventures. I travelled to Hamilton (Ontario) for a sign painting workshop, we spent a weekend camping (though sleeping in a tent at 4 months pregnant was definitely no fun), we went river tubing with my mom, ate fried foods at the country fair and took a few day trips across the border to Burlington, Vermont. I even snuck in a little trip to Florida with my sister to visit my aunt and uncle in March. I also spent a lot of time working on my balcony garden and grew lots of vegetables and flowers. Hopefully I’ll have the energy to do the same this year and enjoy my morning tea out there with Elliott. Another highlight was the canning I did in 2019. I made seville orange marmalade in the winter, strawberry rhubarb jam (with fruit we picked ourselves) in the summer and dill pickles, canned tomatoes and salsa in the fall.
We ended the year with our first little trip away from home, in a cabin in the woods for Christmas. Since my family has outgrown my parents’ house, Matt and I rented a little place one town away for a few days. We were in the middle of a few weeks of struggling to get Elliott to nap (and nights weren’t great either) and I felt so overwhelmed by it all, and concerned for my 6 week old baby who wasn’t sleeping as many hours as the internet told me he needed in a day. Now that we have a bit more of a routine and naps are a little more under control (of course as I type this, he’s having a day where he refuses to nap more than 30 mins at a time), I can finally appreciate those middle of the night feedings by the fire during those 3 days we spent in the cabin. There was something magical about getting up to add another log to the hot embers then feeding my baby on a rocking chair by the fire I had just made. I couldn’t appreciate it completely at the time but I think his first Christmas was a pretty special one. Hopefully next year we will be able to make some memories that don’t involve tears of desperation and sleep deprivation.
I didn’t take my cameras out a lot in 2019 (cellphones are just too convenient) but here are some of the highlights.
January – starting the year off with a weekend in a cottage
February – visiting my favourite little spot in Burlington
March – a trip to Florida to escape the cold and visit family
June – Bobby basking in the glory of the balcony garden
June – an amazing 4 day workshop on sign painting
June – last camping solo trip just the 2 of us
Views
A long hike while 4 months pregnant
July – making jam with freshly picked Dunham strawberries
July – enjoying the veggies from our CSA baskets
August – a growing bump at 27 weeks
September – making tie dye onesies at my baby shower
September – learning to can tomatoes (and salsa)
October – apple picking
Too many apples or 8 month old bump
October – changing views
November – the arrival of Elliott
December – our little man, one month old
December – Christmas in a cabin in the woods
And (over)abundance
