I’ve been recapping our year in photos since the very beginning of this blog, but updated it a little last year to focus on the bests we shared in 2017. I was looking back through photos to include in this year’s recap post and it, too, was filled with so many of the very best things. What do you say we make this sharing of the bests an annual gig?
The Best of January
January might have been the weirdest month of my life. After weeks of wondering what in the world was wrong with me, I broke down and took a pregnancy test on the ninth day of the month. I will never, as long as I live, forget the fluffy pink robe I was wearing or how hard my hands were shaking or how I abruptly woke up Josh and Scoop when I swung the bedroom door open. It’s funny looking back, because so many of you asked why I wasn’t on social media much that month, but I spent the entire thirty-one days asleep in front of the fire.
I set so many goals for myself, that I pretty much abandoned, but I’m thinking those might be a great place to start for 2019. We enjoyed the second “snow” day in one month’s time and I shared a post about Josh and jeans, which was really a great excuse to take pregnancy announcement photographs.
The Best of February
While this year was filled with so many great moments, February held a few of my favorites. Even though we might should have waited a little longer, we went public with our big news in early February. I’m not sure if I ever mentioned that we hadn’t even told most of our extended family and friends before sharing it here?! We had obviously shared the news with our parents and best friends, but we called our remaining family first thing that morning and let everyone else find out alongside you. It was honestly one of my favorite days of the year!
On the blog, I shared a new blog series for the year, caught you up on everything pregnancy-related, and tried my hand at gluten-free chicken pot pie. It needed a little work, but it wasn’t a bad start to a now delicious recipe! I also blogged about my new favorite place to shop (spoiler alert: it still is) and shared a fun unboxing video.
The Best of March
I might have still been battling debilitating morning sickness, but by March I was feeling more like myself on all other fronts. I was back to working full days in the office, blogging on a more regular basis, and adjusting to our new normal. It’s funny to look back and remember how out of control my left felt during those first few weeks of pregnancy, but it was quite the shock to our system!
I started sharing monthly bump posts in March, Ella & I traveled to Montgomery for her first dance competition of the season, and I started repping a new-to-me clothing company that I now love. I also talked about how we foster independence in our girls and shared a typical day in the life on a work-from-home Tuesday.
The Best of April
Celebrating the big girls birthdays last year was weird. Mostly because it was hard to wrap my mind around how old they were while I was pregnant, but also because I didn’t have the energy to plan and execute big parties like I had in the past. One of the best gifts in April was the okay from Sophie to celebrate low key. She wanted nothing more than an evening out with her best friends and writing that check was so much easier than throwing a big party!
I marked my one year Orangetheory anniversary with some photos of the bump in stretch pants (ha!), recapped our wonderful Easter celebration, and started our first home renovation project of the year. We also marked the half-way point of our pregnancy (what in the world?!) and chatted all about books and reading.
The Best of May
May is always the busiest month of the year and this one was no exception. Trying to wrap up school and dance, while planning our summer vacation always feels like more than I can handle. Add in fatigue and pregnancy-related nausea and you can see why I was struggling a little more than usual.
I shared three ways to wear my favorite Aventura dress, talked a little more about how I was feeling about our growing family, and finally finished up our master bedroom project. I took two trips in a single weekend (and managed to get lost between the two), celebrated Scoop’s first birthday, had the best Mother’s Day ever, and watched my biggest girl leave elementary school behind.
The Best of June
June is usually my favorite month of the year, but being out of town for two whole weeks means the blog gets left in the dust a little. It was the first time in years that I was able to be at the beach the full two weeks with my family and I will forever remember it as the last trip with big girls. They took such great care of me and I rested better than I have in the longest time. I’m sure our next beach vacation will look much different.
I finally got around to blogging about our favorite kids’ books series and read some of the best books of the year on our summer vacation. I put all of our camping posts in one place and we had an indoor picnic and recreated the best burger ever. We took maternity photos in our favorite place on earth and enjoyed our last big vacation as a family of four.
The Best of July
July was quiet on the blog (almost all of the posts were about June!) and we started working towards preparing our hearts and home for Polly’s arrival. We did manage to get out of town one more time before wrapping up the month, but I could see a huge shift in how I was feeling and was ready to slow down!
Since we didn’t know the sex of our baby, Josh & I decided to put a few old wives’ tales to the test. We spent a beautiful weekend in Pensacola Beach, gave our sun room a weekend refresh, and shared all the details of my favorite purchase of the year.
The Best of August
The month before Polly’s arrival was overwhelming, to say the least. It was such a fun month, but my to do list was longer than the calendar days left. While I loved being pregnant and this time was easier in so many ways, it was also much harder on my thirty-eight year old body. I was starting to feel a ton of pressure and had some nerve pain that made walking very difficult. I spent a lot of time inside, resting and nesting and anticipating the days to come.
The girls went back to school — Sophie to third grade and Ella to MIDDLE SCHOOL?! We were showered by friends and family with so many lovely gifts for baby and celebrated our middle girl’s decision to be baptized at home. I shared about our mini technology fast, how I was feeling with the big day approaching, and a behind the scenes look at our weekly baby bump series.
The Best of September
I’m a little teary eyed just typing that heading, because September held most of our bests this year. Guys, I watched my baby being born. How crazy is that?
I shared a monthly book recap, even though I barely read anything after our summer vacation. I didn’t blog very much in September, but I did schedule a post for the morning of our delivery?! I shared our final post in the bumpdate series, a comparison of my last two pregnancies, and the post you had all been waiting for — Polly’s Birth Story.
The Best of October
I didn’t blog much in October either, but it held some of my most favorite days – we celebrated our first official holiday as a family of five and I was able to zip my jeans for the first time in ten months!
I shared all about our first month with Polly, watched my mom give my third daughter her very first bath, showed you how we’re surviving without a designated nursery, and watched Ella represent her class at Homecoming.
The Best of November
November is my birth month and we all love fall around here. Sitting outside by the fire and watching leaves pile up around my childhood home are some of my very favorite things. I went back to work in November, but only for a few weeks, because we spent our Thanksgiving in the Happiest Place on Earth (I pinky promise to blog all about this soon)!
I would say “I didn’t blog much in November,” but I’m guessing you remember how lack luster the blog was the last few months. I did manage to share Polly’s two month update along with how I was feeling about the blog overall. One of your favorite posts of the month, was the revival of the coffee talk series!
The Best of December
You know how much I love Christmas and this year didn’t disappoint — there is something so magical about celebrating all of the firsts with a new baby. We were sure to cement a few new Christmas traditions and had to tweak a few from previous years. The big girls loved showing Polly the ropes and we’ve all enjoyed a few weeks at home together.
