2021!

It's hard to think about this year in many other ways besides of how COVID affected it.  I've been thinking about this post for a few days and every time I think about writing it all my mind goes to is the COVID status now compared to the beginning of the year (uhhh...too similar).  But that was far from the big picture for our year.  Time certainly means something different now, with two growing boys, than it did for all of our married years pre-kids.  Sam asks when it'll be Christmas again (besides right now, our tree is still up and we still have one more to celebrate) and when I think of how old they'll be next Christmas (getting TOO CLOSE to FIVE and TEN) it freaks me out a little bit.  These boys are growing and fast.  And while I would like to wish away the time until COVID is no longer something we have to think about, my boys will be way too old by the time that happens and I don't want to wish away these precious, magical, years of them both home and potty trained and still needing us for so much.  

Let's start with the obvious.  COVID.  Matt got his first shot right before Christmas 2020, the second in January.  I got my first shot over Luke's spring break (which Matt had off...although we didn't go anywhere) and the second on Cinqo (the only way I can remember it).  Luke went to school every single day it was opened in 2021 (which was every day besides a few snow related and scheduled for teacher meetings e-learning days) except for one, due to what may have been the stomach flu or may have just been something not settling right in his stomach (it's 6+ weeks later and none of us have had it so I'm leaning towards the second).  A day off which STILL required a call to the local department of health before he was allowed back (the next day).  Anyways, there were many days over the summer when I didn't think about COVID at all, never crossed my mind.  Now these pesky variants keep popping up.  The endemic feels rather far away and I think we all just have to learn to live with it before COVID is actually over because it will never be over and we have lives to live.  Don't be stupid, don't shove your opinions on others, and let's figure out how to live with it (like many of us have just decided to do). (I AM having a drink while I write this post because it is 6pm and been a long day and that's probably why so many COVID thoughts are coming out.)

So, the year besides COVID.  We are a diaper free household again which is very exciting.  The boys are at lovely stages where we can live without naps (even if SOMEONE should still take one a few times a week, in his parents' opinion) and use bathrooms fairly easily and traveling is somewhat easy (if the drive is under, say, 12 hours).  We did a big museum this year with them which went well and we're already talking and booking things for next summer (safe to say, I feel ok with whatever the COVID situation will be by then), knowing they will be able to handle the things we have in mind.  Sam is getting to an age where he'll really start to remember things and it's exciting to think about what memories we're helping him make.  Luke, at almost 9, remembers a lot and has memories from past trips and all that.  I just really treasure the ages they are at, still young but old enough to be easy too.  This won't last for long.  

We did two trips this summer, Savannah and Amelia Island, Florida in June and Northern Alabama in July.  I've already said a lot of words about both of those trips so I don't need to say many more even though I probably will (and am).  We didn't travel in 2020 and it was so exciting to be going ANYWHERE this summer.  Things were pretty normal for our beach trip (I just can't help myself from talking about COVID, apparently) but our week in Alabama is when things started to get a little crazy again with Delta.  ANYWAYS, the boys did great with all the hours in the car this summer and I realized that I should never go 4 years between beach vacations again.  We already have part of our summer 2022 trip booked and it's so fun to have that to look forward to!

I had a fantastic running year (407.8 miles!) where my bad joints and pesky ankle mostly cooperated (besides the ~30 miles I ran with a bad hip that I didn't tell Matt about because I didn't want him to tell me to stop running, which I definitely should have, amazing how quickly it healed when I started to go a week between runs when the weather cooled off!).  My runs were almost equally split between running with the stroller and without which seems about right, Sam was a fantastic running companion, often on our way home from or to getting Luke.  The afternoon runs often put him to sleep which was very helpful as he decided to drop his naps this fall (which definitely hits him hardest right when I need to do homework with Luke, it's FINE).  

In addition to running the second most miles in a year (to 2017), I read the second most books in a year (to 2017), increasing my 3 years running 175 all the way to...180 (which is still a lot of books).  This banner year of 2017 preceded our getting Sam in early 2018 (2017 also had a beach vacation....hum....) so maybe that bodes well?  Who knows.  We have been listed for 2 years now, no babies in sight although we do enjoy discussing baby names.  I hope Sam is as good at keeping those a secret as Luke was (Luke knew Sam's name for a good 2½ years before he was born and never told a soul).  Of course, to keep that a secret we would have had to decide on a name...which we haven't.  Samantha keeps getting suggested and I keep shooting it down SINCE WE HAVE A SAM.  So, stay tuned, if we ever get that baby and then have to make a quick decision on a name.  

We did projects around the house, I'm sure.  Hah.  I did some decorating projects that were fun and will show up in my 21 in 2021 update in a few weeks.  We planted in our garden beds which were SO FUN to watch grow all summer.  It's been almost 2 months since I tore those out and so I have kinda forgotten about them but they were a big part of our summer.  I picked flowers all the way until November which was shocking and delightful.  We didn't eat a lot out of the garden other than tomatoes so they are more raised flower beds than garden beds but we'll stick with calling them garden beds in the hopes than someday we'll be inspired to eat more vegetables (the vegetables we DO eat we don't have the space to grow, like sweet corn and potatoes).  I moved the compost, AGAIN and using that in the raised beds made them go crazy, hoping for slightly less crazy results in 2022.  And maybe we'll turn over the compost more often (so...once a year would accomplish that) now that it's in it's final resting place (for now).  

Matt now has a workshop in the basement which makes the space feel so much more functional without adding on to the house.  My laundry area could use more of an area, as I just found today when Sam wanted to "help" and sat himself down right in the tiny area I have to stand while sorting clean laundry into 3 baskets, and also have a sorter bin and the actual washer and dryer and the table we lay out shirts on and the drying rack for my sweaters and such...we also got a new (to use) dryer that Matt had to tear into about 200 pieces to get into the basement.  That was a fun night but we saved money and got a dryer again so it was worth it.  My Dad says we should move before we have to replace that dryer again but I still never want to move ever.  

What else happened this year?  Life.  Lots of life.  We are coming out of our COVID bubble, spending more time with people, meeting more Moms at school (that's just me).  We love going downtown and did that for 7/8 of our dates this year.  We ride bikes downtown with the boys and lots of other things.  It played quite a part in our 2021 and I'm sure our 2022 and beyond.

Helping with grade school homework will be a part of my life for at least the next decade and right now it's easy to say I've accepted it  but we also haven't done any in over a week, ask me again in a week and I'll have a different opinion.  You all, I cannot tell you the number of times 3rd grade homework has made me feel stupid and led me to google so I could then explain things to Luke.  Former honor student, now googling 3rd grade homework.  We frequently quote Mr. Incredible "Math! Why did they have to change math! Math is MATH."  Anyways, if that's the hardest part of our year (and the fart noises and Sam's never ending questions on WHEN we'll get a baby, his last plan was just to take my baby niece "her mom won't notice.") (Note to social workers, we are NOT kidnapping a baby.  And my sister DEFINITELY would notice.)  

Life is hard but life is life.  We're living what feels like what we've been working towards and also the times that we'll be missing all to soon.  We have each other and relatively good health and our sweet boys at home with us.  We are blessed, even in the midst of a pandemical world and all the strife...there are still so. many. blessings.  

Bring it on, 2022, just maybe, maybe, less COVID bringing it on and more adventures.  It's our last full year in our THIRTIES. Going to live it up!  (Or get a baby and be at home a lot.  That would be fine too!)