The end of 2009

As the 2009 came to a close and the 2010 has started, I want to take a few minutes to reflect on the events of 2009 and what made it a special year for us.

I have to say that 2009 was finally a great year for our family, especially after 3 challenging years before. The most important and cherished event of the year is the birth of our second son, Nicholas. He is such a wanted and long-awaited baby that he brought so much joy and content to our family. Alex is a very proud big brother and he couldn't be any happier or any more helpful! It was amazing for me to see how Alex "grew up" overnight and took his responsibilities as a big brother very seriously.

2009 was also a big year for me as I graduated with my Master's degree from the U, passed the Nurse Practitioner boards, and became a board-certified Acute Care NP. This is a big accomplishment for me and I am proud that I was able to accomplish this goal of mine. I am so grateful to my family for being supportive of me furthering my education for the past 2.5 years. It took a lot of sacrifice and long hours of studying and not being able to spend as much time with my family as I wanted to (it makes it that much sweeter now to stay home and spend much of my time with my loving family)! I am looking forward to finding a job in my new career when I'm ready.
2009 did not start well for Dave. He lost his job of 10 years at Fidelity Investments as the recession set in. It was a major disappointment and a huge financial scare for our family. However, as most things seem to work out in life, it was for the best and was a blessing in disguise. This job loss made Dave reconsider his career goals and realize that what he was doing for a job was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He made some plans (and took actions) for a future career and is on his way to a new, radically different career path. Who knows how long it will take him but at least he now knows exactly what he wants to be when he "grows up" :)
2009 has also brought some uncertainties for the future as I had a life-changing diagnosis of a heart condition that I was born with but never knew about. I've had some scary days during pregnancy when I didn't know if I would wake up the next morning. I always did (so far) and am remaining optimistic that it will be stable and allow me to continue with my normal life. Only the future will tell. But for now I live one day at a time and enjoy every day as much as I can. Life is such a beautiful and such a fragile thing! I look at the beauty around me every day and am amazed and humbled how lucky I am to live on this earth and to have my family.
We did not take many long vacations this year, as we always have in the past, for multiple reasons. However, I feel like the year was still adventurous for us. I went to San Francisco in August for a training class to prepare me for the NP boards. I took my family along and we made a vacation out of this trip. It was a lot of fun and we got to relax and do some sightseeing. We've also gone on local road trips, did some camping, and had multiple weekend mountain picnics with our best friends. As most of the year was spent being pregnant, we did not make it to Russia or Hawaii, which makes it that much more exciting for the new year to come so we can finally take a real vacation somewhere fun! As of right now we don't know where or when we'll go but one thing for certain, 2010 will be an adventurous year for us!
Alex turned 5 and started kindergarten in 2009. He loves school very much and is a great student so far. He's made many friends in school as well as maintained old friends from preschool. Girls in his class are crazy about him and I heard a rumor that he has a few "girlfriends" in his kindergarten class. He is such a charmer!
Sandy and Bessie had a great year also. They get along fine and are loved by everybody. It was interesting to see their reaction to Nicholas when we brought him home. Sandy was a little afraid of him at first and now she mostly ignores him. Bessie, on the other hand, is very protective of the baby. She'll sit under his bouncer when he's in it protecting him :)

For now we're enjoying having a newborn Nicholas in our family. I spend most days feeding and taking care of Nicholas, sleeping, eating, and having short outings.