Welcome 2014

2013 was a good year. There were many moments of stress and frustration, but many, many more moments of laughter, silliness, excitement, and joy. Here is my rundown of our past year...

• Our baby bear grew from a newborn to an infant to a monster toddler
• Our bug developed into an incredible, bright, insightful and stubborn "big kid"
• My sister joined the mommy club and we welcomed my sweet, sweet nephew to the family in September
• I ran my first 5K...and it was a mud run!
• I got to sate my love of party planning with a Brave 4th Birthday Party, a Dalmatian Baby Shower, and an "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" 1st Birthday Party (still to be blogged...)
• We put our house on the market and lived in a strange state of limbo with open houses and showings for almost 6 months
• We moved...and moved...and moved! From our house, to an apartment, to my parent's house in just 3 months
• Neither of my kids like to sleep so I think I might have had a full, uninterrupted night of sleep half a dozen times (not exaggerating) in 2013
• We designed our new house and are anxiously awaiting the official start of construction
• We took a big family trip to Disney World (the HAPPIEST place on earth!) with my parents and in-laws. My brother and his family even got to meet us for a few days of the trip
• My practice secured a new office and went through the process of designing the newer, larger space - I finally will get my own private office and exam rooms that are all mine!
• We got to spend a lot of time with family at home and on the road (Florida, Cape Cod, Saranac Lake, Lake Sacandaga)
• My husband's gauge of a good year...we got to see Phish multiple times
• My husband and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and a few days later the 15th anniversary of our first date 

What I learned most this past year is PATIENCE. Patience in selling our house. Patience in making progress on a new office, new schedule, and new salary. Patience in taking care of two kids with extremely different, but equally important needs. Patience in working through nightmares and fussy toddlers at 2am. Patience in balancing my roles as mommy, wife, sister, daughter, and doctor. Patience in remodeling my self image. The more I struggled to *make* things happen the more frustrated, stressed, and unhappy I found myself. 

I am hoping 2014 will find me learning from my mistakes, letting go of the things I can not change, and fully appreciating all of the awesomeness that already is a part of my life.