Time to sum it all up again

(Previous years: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007)

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Had a baby. Paid off a car. Started working for a for-profit company.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't make any resolutions last year, and I don't intend to make any this year. Sorry.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
A ton of people (plus me, of course). My sister, and a whole bunch of friends. Including several local friends, which means play dates for Callum!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
For the first time since I started doing this survey, the answer is none. Damn baby.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
I honestly don't know. 2011 was a pretty perfect year. I can't think of anything we're lacking.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 24, when Callum was born.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Um. Is "having a baby" going to get old by the time we get to the end of this survey? I guess I'd say achieving some balance in my life in terms of raising a happy, well-adjusted baby, enjoying a thriving marriage, and working at a full-time job that I love, all without going crazy.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not working out enough. We actually canceled our gym membership because it was impossible to go. Again, damn baby. Hopefully in 2012 we can figure out some kind of home exercise routine.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Other than a hideous 24-hour stomach bug that all three of us suffered through, plus the miserable cold that I'm currently nursing, no.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our new SUV, I guess.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Torsten's, as usual. Seeing him with Callum just reinforces how great he is, every single day.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Most politicians'.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Our mortgage and childcare.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Oh, you know, having a baby. The usual.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Hush Little Baby, since that's what I sang to Callum all the time when he was an infant.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
b) thinner or fatter?
c) richer or poorer?
a) Happier
b) Thinner (not too difficult to achieve, considering that when I did this survey last year I was about 37 weeks pregnant)
c) Richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Nothing specific, really. I'm pretty happy with what I did this year.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stressing about breastfeeding. So not a big deal in the end.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
First we went to Miami Beach for four days, and then we spent a week at my parents' house in North Carolina along with my sister's family. It was great.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
With Callum, for sure.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
House is the only current show we watch. We also went through the full series of The Wire and Boston Legal on DVD this year, and they were both great.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No.

24. What was the best book you read?
I liked The Marriage Plot a lot.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Um. Did I make any musical discoveries this year? Oh dear. I don't think so.

26. What did you want and get?
A baby.

27. What did you want and not get?
New siding for our house. Yes, I know, I'm very domestic.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I really enjoyed both Contagion and Arthur Christmas.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I can barely remember. I think we went out to dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant, with Callum. I turned 27.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I really can't think of anything. As I've said for the last two years, it was a great year exactly as it was.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
I would go so far as to say that I changed my shirt after approximately 80% of incidents involving Callum spitting up on me.

32. What kept you sane?
My husband and baby.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Stephen Colbert.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
The horrifying slate of presidential candidates presented by the GOP. Does that count as a political issue? Also the usual stuff like health care, reproductive rights, gay marriage, etc.

35. Who did you miss?
I'm going to steal my answer from the last two years here: Most of my friends and family, since pretty much all of them live far away now.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Elizabeth (and Eric and Hannah). I mean, unless you count Callum, since we technically met him this year.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
I really can trust my instincts. They almost always lead me in the right direction.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Nope, sorry. I did this last year and I don't think I'll ever have such a strike of inspiration again.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Eleven months

Dear Callum,

Today you are 11 months old. Let's not even discuss the fact that this means that next month you'll be a year old, because I still can't believe it.


This has been a huge month for you in terms of gross motor skills. Something clicked in your head about pulling up to standing, and now you do it constantly. You don't so much pull as you casually brace yourself to stand up. When I walk in the room you will crawl over to me as fast as you can, place your hand on my shin, and stand up. You've also figured out how to sit back down again by squatting, kneeling, or lowering yourself down the bars of your crib. You can bend over to pick up a toy and stand back up, and you're just on the verge of cruising--sometimes you shuffle along your play yard while holding on with both hands. You've been letting go while standing more and more recently, and can stand unassisted sometimes for 10-15 seconds. Sometimes you even clap your hands while standing up.


You are becoming more and more social, too. When we hold out our hands and ask you for the toy you're giving us, you will happily hand it to us. You love to imitate the sounds that we make, and you imitate sounds that other kids make too. We went to dinner with friends one night, and their toddler shrieked so loudly that everyone else in the restaurant turned to look. Then two seconds later you emitted a pitch-perfect version of the same shriek, so similar that at first I thought it was our friend's kid making the same noise again. Luckily the restaurant wasn't crowded at all. Your nanny takes you to the playground regularly, and you've gone from crying when other babies touched you to pushing back when you get pushed. You are definitely figuring out how socializing works.


You're incredibly chatty. You say "mama," and it seems more and more like you mean me when you say it, though I'm still not convinced enough to declare it your first official word. You babble nonstop, and it really sounds like you think you're talking. You understand a lot of words--I can think of at least 20, and I'm sure there are more that you understand that I'm not aware of. You will imitate us when we say "doggie" or "daddy," but you haven't yet said those words independently. You also try to wave, though you use both hands to do it and usually end up clapping instead.


You love toys. You're also really into lift-the-flap books at the moment, and can happily lift the flap over and over again, though we have to be careful when you do it so that you don't accidentally rip the flap right off. You also turn the pages of your books, making it hard for us to actually read them to you. You can focus on books for a very long time, though, and will deliberately and thoroughly look through your books one page at a time, examining each one thoroughly before moving on to the next. You will play with your toys for a long time, and then you will occupy yourself by tossing them all away, over the play yard or the side of your crib. You try to stack everything, and will nest your buckets in each other by size. It is amazing to see you starting to learn how to use toys as intended, rather than just banging them together. In music class you know how to use the drum, the jingle bells, and the xylophone. If I put a hat on your head you will then take it off and put it back on over and over again.


You're still growing--you gained about half a pound this month after a couple months of no gain at all, and now weigh just over 28 pounds. We are moving more and more away from purees, especially now that you try to grab the spoon when we feed you and do it yourself. You have a great talent for finger foods by now, and though quite a bit of food still ends up on the floor when you feed yourself, by now you actually manage to consume a fair amount of food when you eat. You love everything we eat and many things we don't even like. Favorites include pickles, tomatoes, cucumbers, chicken nuggets, noodles, and rice cakes.


You are still sleeping fantastically. Even on vacation, you sleep 12 hours at night and take a 2-3 hour nap during the day. We love your sleep schedule and although we've learned by now that nothing ever lasts, we are hoping that you stick with this particular routine for awhile, at least.


Speaking of vacation, we're in Florida right now, headed to North Carolina shortly, and you are a fantastic traveler. We were lucky enough to end up next to the only empty seat on the plane on the flight to Miami, so you flew in your car seat and slept for three hours on the plane. You are not incredibly impressed with the cold ocean water, but enjoy splashing in the pool, and even when you tipped off the pool steps and fell face first into the cold water, you didn't even cry. And you really like playing in the sand. Your laid-back personality lends itself well to traveling, and we really appreciate being able to mess with your schedule without getting punished for it later. I'm sure at some point that will change, but we're enjoying it while it lasts.


You are still the sweetest, mellowest, most fun baby I've ever met. You have seemingly boundless energy, which can be exhausting, but it's worth it to watch you explore and laugh and interact with your world more and more every day. 2011 has been the year of you, and certainly the best year of our lives as a result. We are looking forward to many more amazing years with you.


Love,
Mama

Holiday spirit

It's the season of giving. So head over to pseudostoops and leave a comment on her annual series of Giving My Money Away Extravaganza posts. Today your comment will send money to Bundle of Joy, a diaper bank. And check back all this week because you can comment every day to donate money to different organizations.

So! Off you go! But before you leave, please enjoy this photo of Callum on Santa's lap. Am I a bad mom because I was glad he cried? It's just such a classic photo, yes?

Advent

Two months ago Katie mentioned to me that she wanted to sew an Advent calendar. She grew up with a fabric one, and wanted something similar now that she has a baby of her own. I thought it was an awesome idea, and fell in love with the picture she showed me, so we decided to do it together. Katie found this pattern, we bought materials, and then we each started sewing.

I started mine on Sunday and finished it last night. It would have been quicker, except that my sewing machine is incredibly basic. It was purchased used 15 years ago and was pretty much the cheapest one my parents could find. I was able to sew the tree and, of course, the straight seams with it, but it completely butchered a snowflake and I knew not to even bother trying it on the intricate detailing of the numbers, so I ended up stitching all the numbers and snowflakes (and the star) by hand, which slowed me down.

But I finished it in the nick of time, on the first of December, and here is the finished product:


Each of those little pockets has a tiny wooden ornament in it, and every day you pin an ornament on the tree, so by Christmas the tree is completely decorated. Isn't that a cute idea? Plus, the pockets allow for so much flexibility. As Callum gets older we can stick little chocolates in there with the ornaments, or maybe slips of paper with holiday activities written on them (a la Elizabeth).

But for now, it's just the calendar, and the ornaments. And I love it. I feel so crafty! Like I've really CREATED a family holiday tradition, something that Callum will hopefully grow up adoring and looking forward to every year.

And, of course, we put up our tree. I won't put it up before Thanksgiving, but I do like to have it up for ages so we can admire it and feel happy every time we see it, so two days after Thanksgiving we bought it and decorated it. And put out our outside holiday lights. Now all we need is a wreath. But in the meantime the tree is sufficient.


The ornaments are the best part, naturally. He removed them from the tree himself. I was gratified to see that he grabbed a purple one first.