I’m about to embark on my first trip of the month...the current calendar shows I’ll spend approximately 12 days on the road...and with that realization came this overwhelming pull to revive the blog. Even if no one reads it, I have it for us. To one day share with the girls how I viewed our lives when they were little. And maybe there’s another full-time working mom out there that can relate to the fierce mom guilt I suffer every time I pack my bag and board a plane. I’m not going to lie - I love every second I travel for work - but it doesn’t mean I miss everything that goes on at home.
Can I take a quick detour and brag about my husband for a minute? Because as I sit here waiting to board my flight at 5:45am, he’s at home with our nearly 14 month old who contracted hand foot and mouth virus from daycare. He’s holding down the fort with our 6 year old as she completes the last week of kindergarten. He actually kissed me goodbye and helped me load my suitcase this morning. He is my rock.
So what have we been doing you may ask? There’s just so much to share I don’t know where to begin. It would seem most appropriate to rewind back to my last post but that’s almost insurmountable. Lily started kindergarten and that was when I lost control. We were now bound by her schedule and not ours. The days just started passing by in a blur.
Julia started crawling just after Thanksgiving and my mom asked me when Lily started crawling. I had to reference the blog - I documented everything here with her. She would go to bed and I would blog in the evenings or during naps on the weekends. But now, our life is like Groundhog's Day - each day goes by so fast I often forget what day of the week it even is. I mean - it's gotten so bad that right before Christmas I showed up for a meeting a day early.
Mike and I had ten days off at home for the holidays with the girls. I checked my work email for catastrophes only and not once booted up my computer. I read a lot of great articles and blogs that really resonated with me and decided 2018 would be my year of reflection, not resolution. I love to write. I always have. So I bought a paper planner (yes in this digital world there is still such a thing) and decided to use it to help document our lives, not just plan. I even promised myself I’d use my camera again. I signed up for a photography class to reconnect with manual mode...I actually completed every assignment. Then I vowed to do a 365 day project. That kind of turned into a 52 week project. And well..now it’s something more like a 12 month project. I have to be able to capture at least one good photo a month right?
2018 has, and will continue to be such a monumental year for us. It’s hard to put into words the emotional roller coaster we’ve already had so here’s a few highlights from the past few months as well what we know is left in store for us:
- B and Jaqueline move to Salt Lake City. For those of you who know me well, I’m not a cryer. But when your sibling moves halfway across the country and no longer lives 15 minutes from you, you reserve the right to cry at any time - even at the office.
- B and Jacqueline move to Salt Lake City. Turns out having your brother live in a really cool city means you have a built in vacation destination. We spent spring break in UT checking out their new place and tearing up the slopes.
- Ten years in the clear. April marks Mike’s 10th year in remission. I will never ever forget the day I stood in the hospital with Mike’s parents and heard the doctor tell us his biopsy was positive for lymphoma. I will also never forget hearing we possibly wouldn’t have children. I can laugh now that we have two crazy healthy beautiful girls but I cannot forget the incredibly important conversation we had as two college students regarding infertility and sperm banking. TMI? Sorry it’s real life. And we’re incredibly lucky.
- Julia turns ONE. It's unacceptable how fast time is flying by. I thought we were on warp speed before but boy was I wrong. Julia has completed our family in a way I never could have imagined. She has taught me things about myself which I thought I already knew.
- The Hoy Fam almost moves. Again. There are two places in which my husband will always be happy. On the water or on 40 acres. When a farmhouse and land came up for sale in a nearby school district, we drove out there and walked the property. My stomach was of course in knots and when we moved to make an offer and found out a sale was already pending, I knew it wasn’t meant to be. It was at this point we decided to finish renovations on the Thornapple.
- The Malibu arrives. 18 year’s ago my dad and brother went to buy a life jacket and ended up with a new boat. It’s unclear if a life jacket was actually ever purchased but a new boat most definitely arrived at Austin Lake. For those of you who know my father, impulse buys are not his style so this ski boat was destined for our household. When my parents decided the time had come to get rid of it, it was only natural for Mike and I to buy it. It hadn’t just been a part of my childhood but also Mike’s. We spent endless hours in high school on that boat and then in our adult lives with Lily. She has taken great pride in cleaning, waxing, and driving. I’m so grateful for the memories yet to come.
- Diesel turns TEN. It seems like just yesterday we brought her home. Mike and I weren’t even married yet but she was our first baby. I could never have imagined the bond she would have with our children. She sleeps every night in Lily’s bed. And I dread the day this ceases to happen. In a few short days she'll be ten...that's like 70 or something in dog years.
- Demo day is coming. Cabinets have been ordered, my dream farmhouse sink is in, and my bank account feels empty. A full kitchen and master bath renovation is coming and I'm dreading every second. You heard me right - the thought of it makes me anxious - but the outcome will be well worth it. I think.
- Summer is here. It may not be official in terms of the calendar but summer is in fact here. I know this based on the humidity level, the river traffic, and the wonderful amount of sunshine we've experienced.
- Lily is (almost) a first grader. She cannot be more excited to say this. Although yesterday she was feeling a little sad to leave behind her kindergarten teacher, she is incredibly excited to not be the low man on the totem pole. I'm full of mixed emotions as we watch her finish out this last week. She has grown leaps and bounds from where she was last August - not just academically but also in maturity and confidence.
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