The annual list!

The last few years I’ve started working on this in the fall because thinking back over the entire year is hard, but not this time! Oh, no. I waited until the 28th to start. Think I can use “procrastinated on making my list” on my list? I guess we’ll see what happens….

1. Had the happiest labor and birth for sweet Wilson Ann, born at 1:04 a.m. on her due date, November 22nd (8lbs. 11 oz; 21 inches). Drug-free, two contractions of actual “pushing,” and once again, totally floored by the baby’s gender!
2. Got tossed in head first to (and SURVIVED) NICU life after Willa was born with an unknown omphalocele which resulted in surgery on Day Two of her life (which also included a bowel resection that was also previously unknown) and then three long weeks of living in Omaha away from the rest of the kids while she recovered at Children’s Hospital.
3. Started Grounded Sky, my very own yoga for service (15% goes back to the community) business!
4. Hosted classes, a workshop, a retreat, and four community-based events through Grounded Sky, the last of which raised over $700 for a local backpack/food program for elementary kids.
5. Became a Presbyterian! After almost two years of attending, we officially joined FPC in June.
6. First concert at Red Rocks! Nahko and Medicine for the People. Bestill my music loving heart!
7. First MLB game! #ForeverRoyal (I married into this, but whatever; it’s fun!)
8. Built my very own website from scratch (OK, template) for GS.
9. Spoke about Body Dysmorphia in front of an entire room full of people.
10. Got hit by a deer while driving to book club. The (old) car was technically totaled, but by golly, I still went to book club!
11. Read 52 books!
12. Wrote 75 blog posts! Writing was one of the main factors that kept me sane during our Omaha stay.
13. Taught, for the first time, a five-week summer course for CCC (and this was directly after teaching two nights a week in the spring – and fall – semester).
14. Attended two full training weekends with SreeDevi Bringi for Yoga Nidra certification. And then wrote several of my very own Nidra scripts!
15. Visited, for the first time – which is actually embarrassing considering how close I live to it, the Cather Memorial Prairie south of Red Cloud, NE.
16. Became a kombucha fiend. No one ever loved fermented tea as much as meeee in the weeks following Wilson’s birth. Kept my system functioning and healthy, for sure! Now home, I still have to have it on the daily.
17. Did eleventy-billion loads of laundry. Just kidding. Probably closer to 500, but since I can barely remember to put the clothes in the dryer, much less count loads, I may never know just how shocking the real number is.
18. Experienced food poisoning while pregnant. Clearly not something I’d recommend.
19. Finally earned enough views on Her View from Home posts to actually EARN payment! Whoohooo!
20. Potted succulents in June. Kept them alive rest of year. Yay, me!
21. Donated approximately 800 hundred ounces of breast milk to local mamas because Milky Mama + NICU pumping for three weeks (plus ten more days after getting home trying to even out my system) meant I WAY over produced. Waaaaay over.
22. Started reading The Little House series for the umpteenth time but this round has been aloud to my 8yo (we made it to the first few chapters of The Long Winter, and this is with many other books read aloud inbetween them).
23. Gave up coffee. Started drinking coffee again a couple-few months later. Probably the last time I try that craziness, at least while small children share my living space.
24. Made actual phone calls to actual politicians (although nowhere near as many as I should have) because, Resistance.
25. Got to be on the local news with my hubs and sweet little presidents, less than a week before Wilson’s arrival, talking about our POTUS-named crew. It was sweat-inducing but paired well with my nesting desire to clean the house, and the piece turned out to be a great little “keepsake” of this stage of life for us.

So that was actually easier than I anticipated, until it wasn’t. I got all the way to 22 without much stumbling, but the last couple took me a while to determine. If you’ve never tried a list of your own, do consider giving it a shot. It’s a really great way to look back at the last 12 months as you celebrate the ups/downs/forwards/backwards/all arounds/and inbetweens that have made up your year. #measureyourlife