January - I was home on maternity leave still and enjoying my days cuddling my then one month old Oliver. I attempted my first re-brand attempt on the blog (changing from The Fashionable Adventures of Bethie the Boo to The Melodic Stylings of Bethie the Boo and realized that was still too long of a name!) as part of my word of the year: Simplify. I wrote some posts about breastfeeding as that was something I was doing A LOT at that time! We attended Winterfest as one of our first date nights out as parents.
February - I went back to work and it was hard. The month passed by in a bit of a blur honestly. We discovered Oliver had a non-life threatening condition with a scary sounding name called laryngomalacia (immature larynx). We somehow survived that first month and got into a groove though and every day things got easier. Nate spoiled me with a delightful Valentine's Day at home. We finished out the month with Oliver's baptism.
March - We really found our groove in our weekly schedule. Oliver decided to start exhibiting teething symptoms early. I ended up buying my parents car when my beloved CRV decided to bite the dust. The weather finally started to thaw and we bought a great outdoor stroller for Oliver and started taking him on walks when we could and discovered he loves to be outside. We took him to the zoo for the first time as well.
April - Winter hung on for just a bit longer, but finally headed out for good by Easter weekend. We celebrated Oliver's first Easter. I somehow managed to complete a 5k with my sister-in-law after not running for over a year. We attended a benefit at a brewery held by some good friends who are the ambassador family for the March of Dimes. I shared some reflections on how I felt a year prior when I learned I was expecting Oliver. We enjoyed finally getting to eat outside at some outdoor patios and went on plenty of walks.
May - Spring was definitely here to stay. I finally got to visit Target Field when I received free Twins tickets from my work. I celebrated my first Mother's Day (well first Mother's Day with Oliver on this side) and was spoiled greatly by my sweet husband. We celebrated eight wonderful years of marriage. I hooked up with the Thrift Style Thursday gals and had a lot of fun with the various themes for the rest of the year. (PS - Thrift Style Thursday is returning very soon, can't wait!)
June - Oliver turned six months old and we took his very first vacation to St. Louis, MO to visit Nate's grandmother and other relatives there. We had a great time! I survived single parenthood for several days when we returned while Nate went on a business trip. I set out on a "No Shop Summer" in an attempt to try to save money to maybe go part time at work - sadly that didn't work out but it was still a good exercise for me and one I plan to repeat soon. I attended my ten year college reunion and had a blast spending the day with three of my sorority sisters. We went to my cousin's wedding and it was a ton of fun. Finally, I re-branded the blog again and was much happier with the result.
July - We celebrated Oliver's first 4th of July with a picnic with my parents and also with some friends. We took advantage of being outside pretty much every opportunity we could. We went away for a weekend to a cabin with our music group. We left Oliver for an overnight with his grandparents and trekked up to Duluth for the All Pints North beer festival.
August - More summer fun. Nate brewed some beer to start getting ahead for our annual Oktoberfest. We had a visit from our St. Louis relatives and enjoyed showing them around our city, including a taproom crawl. We went to the MN State Fair for Ollie's first visit there.
September - We started really getting into Disc Golfing after discovering how much we enjoyed it while Nate's relatives were visiting. We went and did apple picking. We visited a couple of wineries. And we wrapped up the month with the third beer festival from our beer pack - the Autumn Brew Review.
October - We went to a friend's beautiful (though chilly) outdoor wedding. Nate and I had a chance to do a distillery tasting. We celebrated a super fun Oktoberfest with our friends. Oliver had his first really bad cold with fever but thankfully it was short lived. I had a disastrous job interview (I didn't say much about it at the time) but have realized I'm better off where I currently am. I drown my sorrows of that disaster in some shopping with the lovely ladies of two birds. I also had a chance to meet the fabulous Ally when she visited from New York. We celebrated Oliver's first Halloween with a fun family theme of costumes.
November - We managed to disc golf one more time before the weather turned - and holy did it turn fast. It snowed and got very cold very quickly. It was sad to suddenly give up our walking outside with Oliver every night! We found other ways to entertain ourselves - we visited the Science Museum and the Children's Museum. We celebrated mine and Nate's birthdays and also Thanksgiving. Ollie got his first haircut from daddy. I wrote some posts that were difficult to share but I felt a great deal of support on - about Oliver's sleep habits and also about our one and done status on having children.
December - And that brings us to this last month. It was a big one in that we celebrated Oliver's first birthday - both with a day off as a family and then with a big birthday party. We found out Oliver has a milk allergy. We celebrated his second Christmas. But in the midst of all that of course we were hit with the big sickness too, so it feels like the month just flew by. I'm so happy we're ending the month in better health!
Overall it was a great year. We found our way as parents. We managed to do a lot of fun things - both as a family and as a couple. We've curved out a pretty nice little life as a family of three and I feel very blessed, happy and full of love. That being said, I am looking forward to what 2015 has in store for us as well. I'll have more reflections on looking ahead tomorrow! Until then, cheers to 2014 and thanks for being here with me this year!
