I had one kid when the year began and now I have two! Charlotte’s arrival has definitely been the defining event of 2015, but there was a lot of other fun too.
In January I finished my Once Upon a Time sampler (which now hangs in Charlotte’s room) and participated in the Schnitzel & Boo mini quilt swap and Instagram tote swap. I also had the pleasure of being a guest on Sarah R. Bagley’s awesome podcast. February brought our annual strawberry picking outing and Emma’s 2.5 year checkup, which was perhaps the first time we took her to the doctor without tears thanks to Daniel Tiger.
We spent a day at the rodeo (of course) in March and had a great time at my brother-in-law’s wedding later that month. At work, I was featured as part of the Women@NASA program. And in the quilting world, I finished my Rising Balloons quilt and joked about why I can basically never sew professionally. And…I turned 37!
We had a great Easter trip to Charlotte in April, Emma ran a kid’s K, and I also finally announced (online anyway) that we were expecting baby #2! I also had fun reminiscing about the evolution of this ol’ blog and how I continue to grow as a parent.
In May we had a visit from my friends Carter and Kent, I shared some thoughts about my career as part of Delaney Paige’s “Everyday Professionals” series, and Jose and I celebrated 6 years of marriage. I tested the flag quilt and USA pillow patterns for Rebel Craft Media. June was a fun month with my annual 30 days of creativity and finishing a mini quilt for the Alison Glass swap — plus Jose and I got to spend 5 kid-free days in San Francisco!
In July I finished my Oodalolly quilt and shared some thoughts about leadership inspired by a program I applied for at work. I kicked off a very busy August with the first item in my personal Pattern of the Month project and sharing what I made for the Texas mini quilt swap. Emma turned 3 and we had a party. It was a really great month in my career — I got a promotion and an award. But the biggest thing of all was preparing for the imminent arrival of baby #2.
September started off with a bang — Charlotte was born on the 2nd! I wrote a lot about life with a new baby and published a paper-pieced bluebonnet pattern. October brought fall fun as a family of four with a trip to the pumpkin patch and Halloween. My mom came to help me for a week while Jose went to Moscow for work. I also shared some thoughts on baby #1 vs baby #2.
In November we had a fun visit from Jose’s cousin and her family and started another round of Couch to 5K. We stayed in Houston and celebrated Thanksgiving with friends and a few days later, maternity leave was over and I went back to work.
December, as I’ve already mentioned, was just a very crazy month in life. We had family visiting for 20 of the 31 days in this month — Jose’s mom, then my parents, then my brother. I had fun on a field trip with Emma, finished my niece’s Star Bright quilt and we had a nice Christmas in Corpus Christi with Jose’s family. We have exactly zero plans for New Years Eve tonight, and I’m kind of happy about that for once.
And throughout the year, I focused on my One Little Word and monthly goals.
Farewell 2015! You were a good one!