2017 Year in Review

2017

Looking back over this year, I'm noticing how many new things we've done!

The literal first of which was staying awake to welcome the new year - something I haven't done since becoming a parent.

The Parents:

We started the year by claiming back our bedroom from the piles of laundry and kid toys that had consumed it, and finally, in the last two months of the year, I also became a Person Who Makes Her Bed! I feel like a whole new person each morning. It's glorious. It was the last piece of the clean zone puzzle.

Steven entered a new decade this year and decided to mark that milestone by initiating a soul-searching session in which we identified some of our values:

peace.simplicity.service.flexibility.cross-cultural.

Two new ways to apply our values: volunteering with refugees and being deacons in our church

We appreciate the opportunities to walk alongside people going through tough stuff - although we're often awkward in the midst of it. 🙈 Working with refugees didn't end up looking the way we'd envisioned, but it was worth doing and I think we'll do it again. Deaconing (not a real word) has been even more fulfilling and fitting for us than I thought it would be - although we still have a lot to learn.

Had a(nother) new baby:

Read about the dramatic delivery here

I was nervous about the transition to a family of five since the transition to a family of four did not go smoothly. But thanks to lots of people praying and my mom coming over almost every day for the first month, it went swimmingly! Oswald snuck into our family like he'd always been there.

We celebrated our fifth anniversary this year. I love to think back to the year or two leading up to our wedding because it was probably the time I can most clearly see God at work in my life. Five years of marriage doesn't sound nearly long enough to have built the family and relationship we've built - I guess we haven't wasted much time. I wonder where we'll be in another 5 years. 

photo by: Rebecca Sior

Other new things this year: growing a garden (in which we grew too many foods that we don't actually eat and discovered that our soil is supurb, which leads to massive tomatoes that kill everything else - better luck next year) and welcoming a new pastor (with whom we've had several fun and inspiring interactions and look forward to lots more).

The newest new thing happened this morning: it snowed and Daddy stayed home to take the kids sledding - something I specifically wrote about wishing for at the beginning of the year, but did not expect to be happening before the year was over! 

Steven is officially no longer working in landscaping and I already miss taking the kids to watch him work. I grew quite proud of his ability to transform an ordinary yard into something magnificent. He started that job just before we got married, which makes it feel like part of the family in some ways. But this has been a year of taking advantage of new opportunities and we're excited about this one too.

The Kids

Oswald's new things this year include breathing, etc.

He is a delight. He seems to be a nice mixture of the girls' personalities: engaging and energetic yet content. He slept like a dream for the first 4 months and has been sleeping like a nightmare for the last 3, but we'll get it figured out sooner or later. Hopefully sooner. Please be soon.

Our big little guy <3
photo credit: Rebecca Sior

Ellie's new things this year include preschool and a severe dust mite allergy. She loves preschool except for the hour before she has to leave the house, in which she becomes her mother and realizes that nothing could possibly be better than a day at home on the couch. #introvertproblems

One of my favorite preschool stories: "Mom. When we were standing in line the boy with dark hair and long eyelashes HIT me because he was FLAILING around! Some kids have trouble standing still." 

The dust mite allergy is less fun, although it is good motivation to dust the house twice weekly and actually wash our her bedding once a week. 😒

photo by: Rebecca Sior

Also new this year: Bunk Beds! Ellie has become quite the gymnast
photo credit: Rebecca Sior

Monkey see, monkey do
pc: Rebecca Sior

Lucy's new things include walking and talking, but in true middle child form, these accomplishments have become overshadowed by the newer new things her older and younger siblings are doing. She has done an excellent job stepping into her new role of big sister (and by "big" we really mean "older" because she is only 3 pounds heavier and will likely soon be his smaller sister).

Note that at the start of the year, Lucy was wearing the pajamas Oswald is wearing in this video. And her skill set matched his: sitting, not crawling, not walking not talking.

Next year, the trend of new things continues with the start of Steven's new job, which is somewhat of an old job and which I hope to be able to explain by the end of next year, but which is currently too confusing and technical for me to attempt to explain. I can tell you that his commute will be less than a mile (if you need a sub-par car, let us know as we're planning to dump ours on gift ours to someone) and that there is a park half way between our house and his office. So if you're looking for us on a sunny afternoon in 2018, you can bet we'll be at that park hoping for a lunch-break meet up.

Love,
The Millers

Last year's letter