Hello 2012

Since the twins were born on December 30th and all the craziness that followed, I never really had a chance to say good bye to 2011. My goals for 2011 were to basically keep calm and carry on with the pursuit of pregnancy and to be open to a year full of possibilities. Things were going very smoothly for me in 2011. We flipped a house we bought and made a huge profit, did our first IVF cycle that resulted in a tiwn pregnancy and then on July 2, everything changed with the sudden and shocking death of my older brother Chris.

Never, ever, did I think I would bury one of my siblings before my parents. The second half of 2011 proved so very difficult. We all had to come together to mourn Chris and to help his pregnant widow Diane and to care for his two year old, Evan. We had to help her pack up their dream house in Niagara on the Lake, help her move in with her parents, help her find a new home, and now my Dad is helping her renovate the house to be her new home for Evan and baby Bryce.

We will always help Diane with the raising of Bryce and Evan and with every chapter of her new life without Chris. I never knew it was possible for your heart to actually physically feel broken. Life really can kick you in the ass.

So, for 2012, I want to just take the time to enjoy my marriage, my parents and my children and all my family and friends. I want to lose the baby weight and to just focus on me. I am so lucky that I don't have to go to work until January 2013 so I have time to do just that.

My motto for 2012 is this: Enjoy. Breathe. Laugh. Relax. Every day I would like to find a moment of joy. Right now, looking at my children gives me many moments of joy. As the weeks go by and we get into a routine, I would like to continue to find and documents the moments of joy, breathe and laugh through the stress and yes, take some time out for me so that I can relax.

I hope everyone else is enjoying 2012...