Reflection 2012

apple juice toast

midnight 2012-13

[I wrote this in early January and forgot about it!]

It’s time for my second annual reflection based on Simple Mom’s “20 Questions for a New Year’s Reflection”. I copied the exact questions here, but go get the free printable from Simple Mom.

These are all answered from my perspective, but I made Matthieu jump in on questions 5, 6, and 7.

1.    What was the single best thing that happened this past year?

telling my husband that I am pregnant

2.    What was the single most challenging thing that happened?

financial fall-out as a result of moving and under-employment

3.    What was an unexpected joy this past year?

forming new friendships, growing others, and reuniting with old friends

4.    What was an unexpected obstacle?

hormonal imbalance causing months of emotional and physical challenges

5.    Pick three words to describe this past year.

Anna: transitions, toddler, compromise

Matthieu:transition, toddler, poor
(Uncanny!)

6.    Pick three words your spouse would use to describe your past year—don’t ask them; guess based on how you think your spouse sees you. (If you’re not married, have fun guessing the answers from other friends and family, or just skip this question.)

Anna: I think Matthieu would describe my 2012 as: fun, discouraging, changes

Matthieu: I think Anna would describe my 2012 as:graduation, career, sexy

7.    Pick three words your spouse would use to describe their past year—again, without asking.

Anna: I think Matthieu would describe his 2012 as: exhausting, exciting, milestones

Matthieu: I think Anna would describe her 2012 as:bootylicious,difficult, delayed

8. What were the best books you read this year?

The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne (translated into Finnish), Scripture Stories for Children (LDS from the early 90s), Ten Little Goblins by Pamela Jane Manning, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, Bossypants by Tina Fey, Grandpa Green by Lane Smith, Jade by Taru Mäkinen

9. With whom were your most valuable relationships?

I don’t like to name friends for fear of leaving someone out, but my Utah County girls know who they are. I always value my relationships with my parents and brothers and sister and all my in-laws. My husband and daughter are sacred to me, and I spent more time (quantity and quality) with Alexandra than anyone this year, lucky me.

10. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year?

I started reading more.

11. In what way(s) did you grow emotionally?

I became more empathetic in some ways.

12. In what way(s) did you grow spiritually?

I allowed myself to self-evaluate my spiritual state candidly.

13. In what way(s) did you grow physically?

I grew an avocado-sized baby!

14. In what way(s) did you grow in your relationships with others?

I got two more nieces; yay!

15. What was the most enjoyable part of your work (both professionally and at home)?

I learned a lot about editing, writing, networking, and blogging, and about my strengths/areas needing improvement in my freelance editing/writing/translating work. I get satisfaction out of organizing my home.

16. What was the most challenging part of your work (both professionally and at home)?

I would like to work more (work with more clients and write a good, monetized blog), but my progress is slow and I feel frustrated. I resent, procrastinate, and feel guilty about procrastinating housework.

17. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year?

Lazy escapism via the interweb.

18. What was the best way you used your time this past year?

reading to Alexandra

19. What was biggest thing you learned this past year?

You can feel joy and sorrow at the same time, and probably will the rest of your life. Fight for the joy to dominate.

20. Create a phrase or statement that describes this past year for you.

The ebbs and flows are frustrating, but the river is still moving forward.

I made up an abbreviated version for Alexandra and answered on her behalf.

1. What skills did you practice most this year?

complex sentences, vocabulary, and narration; praying; climbing; hurrying; group play; persuasion; eating with fork and spoon and drinking from regular cups; dressing and undressing self (with a little assistance); all pottying skills (but refusing to use it); beautiful singing voice; memorizing songs and books and sayings; making up words, copying/being copied, tickling and other silliness for humor

2. How big are you?

36” [91.4 cm] (tall enough to ride some “real” rides at the Mall of America amusement park); 30 pounds [13.6 kgs]; hair halfway down back

3. In what ways are you more mature emotionally?

participatory (social) play; expressing frustration, sadness, anticipation, regret, and gratitude; empathy and comforting others; taking/giving/waiting for turns

4. What did you enjoy most about daily life?

reading; watching shows; going to the playground; playing with grandparents, aunts/uncles/relatives, peer-friends and cousin-friends

5. What was most challenging about daily life?

when mom is on the computer for long stretches of time and when dad is at work/school for long hours; trying really hard to do something but not mastering it quickly enough for own high standards

6. What are your catch phrases?

“I’m Woody!” “I’m a princess!” “Give me [  ].” “Can you read it, please?” “I want to [whatever someone else just mentioned]!”and endless talking about anything from goats to commanding dogs to colors to categories of vehicles, etc.


April 2012:

moving out of our apartment of 3 years (we were sad)

October 2012:

Matthieu's 30th birthday party (Big Bang Theory theme)

2011 reflection

15 Things I Miss About Utah

We moved from Utah to Minnesota four and a half months ago. In many ways, it was an easy move. We have family and friends here already, and we had been intending to move here for years. I never thought I would stay in Utah forever. Of course, I miss my family and friends in Utah. I am still in touch and feel that many of the relationships I have there are lasting, but it is difficult to shift the dynamic of the relationship.

Though I lived in Minnesota for 15 months as a live-in nanny for good friends, it's a completely different lifestyle for me to be a married mom of a toddler. It was hard to let go of the routines I had in Utah. This could also be re-framed as "Things I Appreciated About Utah" or "Family-Friendly Activities in Utah" but I kept it personal to me.

These are some things I miss about the Beehive State, and Utah Valley in particular:

1. Breathing very little second-hand cigarette smoke. Fewer people smoke in Utah than most other places.

 

toddler bowling at Provo Beach Resort

pony ride at Farm Country

2. The Riverwoods--particularly Provo Beach Resort (which Alexandra asked to go to a hundred times after we moved), and also Blickenstaff's. Less often, but still regularly, we enjoyed visiting The Museum of Ancient Life and Farm Country, both part of Thanksgiving Point.


3. The not-great, but convenient playground at the shopping mall 3 minutes from my apartment

4. Never driving more than 10 minutes to a restaurant, and having almost all weekly activities or errands within 15 minutes of home

5. Cafe Rio

6. Not getting lost quite as frequently, as there is basically one freeway running through the whole state, and the streets are usually grid (so you know that if you are on 100 South and you need to get to 200 North, you drive 3 blocks north)

7. Knowing which way was north based on the Wasatch mountains

4th of July carnival, in a 1912 fire truck, Provo

 8. A culture that catered to young families: a plethora of maternity and child shopping, year-round (especially summertime) affordable and/or free family-friendly activities just around the corner; large network of friends in the same phase of life (with whom to chat at the playground, empathize, commiserate, and share clothes and gear). We liked living across the street from the Scera Shell, which had outdoor musicals in the summertime.

9. Handmade vendors and local artists with affordable goods, like at Bijou Market.

Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at BYU

UVU basketball game (see her UVU onesie?)

 10. Accessible university campuses; Utah Valley University and Brigham Young University (and Utah State University and University of Utah and others...) have lovely museums, exhibits, guest lecturers, concerts, and events, often free to the public.

11. I thought parking in downtown Salt Lake City was a hassle. Then I tried to park in downtown Minneapolis. Silly me.

12. Not needing to drive the freeway during rush hour very often. There were lots of places to shop or eat (like Barnes & Noble, Rubio's, University Mall...) that I could get to without fighting traffic if I wanted to get out of the house in the evening.

Mt. Timpanogos LDS Temple

"The Christus" at Temple Square, Salt Lake City

 13. Easy access to services and goods particular to my religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). While many aspects of the cultural permeation, homogeneity, and commercialization of my faith annoyed me, it was comforting, convenient, and inspiring to easily buy board books with beautiful paintings of Jesus or an issue of the Friend, to buy supplemental materials for religious instruction or practice, to have my congregation in my neighborhood, to visit historical sites of my church, and, I'll admit it, to feel "normal".


14. Relatively close proximity to hot springs, national/state parks, including Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Yellowstone

 15. Breathtaking mountain/canyon views every single day

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Alexandra is articulate. She talks a lot, and her memory is stretching further and further all the time. These are her current favorite phrases:

All Day Every Day:
"Kattoo [Watch] //Muumit/Pew [Pooh]/Einsteins/Little People/World Music/Apina [Monkey: Curious George]/basketball//?" If one show is declined, she goes through each one to see if she can watch anything.

Drifting Into Sleep:
"Hauska hevonen [Fun horse]," while remembering how much she enjoyed her pony ride last week.
"Hassu kalkkuna [Silly turkey]," while remembering how the turkey in Sandra Boynton's Red Hat, Blue Hat puts his (or her?) shoe on his head and his coat on backward, among other dressing foibles.

Mealtimes and Bedtime:
"Rukous [Prayer]," because once we teach her something, she doesn't forget...unless that something has to do with her mortal safety, like running away, darting into the parking lot, or coming when she is called.

Playing:
"//Vauva [Baby]/Gifa (Girahvi) [Giraffe]/any toy on its back// nukkuu [is sleeping]."
"Leluäpäki [Slide]?," by far her most requested activity, though while at a playground she may only actually go down the slide once or twice.
Observations such as "Poika menee alas liukumäki [The boy is going down the slide]," or "Koira juoksee [Dog runs]," or "Siinä on [There is a] //vauva [baby]/lentokone [airplane]/koira [dog]/pyörä [bike]//."
In the swing, "Ke-ke-shi (Rocketship)?" so that I'll sing the rocketship song (from last summer's swim lessons, but give her a super-push in the swing instead of lifting her high out of the pool).

Breakfast:
"Puuro/Oatmeal" or "Vohveli [Waffle]", sometimes "Cereal".

When I Am Paying Attention to My Google Reader Instead of Her:
"Tietokone pois [Computer away]!"

When Matthieu comes home, re-enters a room, or she wishes he would come home:
"Dad tuli [Dad came]!" or "Dad tulee [Dad is coming]!"
"Watch basketball?"
"Feed fish?" because Matthieu's Kindle has a digital aquarium that he (supposedly) set up for her.
"Hi, Dad!" is one of the first sentences she spoke. She also says "Bye, Dad" "See ya, Dad" "Dad kouluun [Dad to school]" and she says,  "Dad kotiin [Dad home]" when she doesn't want him to leave or misses him (which breaks my heart).
She also sometimes just shouts a random word out of excitement to see him when he first walks through the door, like "Shoe!"

Outside at Night:
"Tuossa on kuu [There is the moon]!" She is an expert moon-finder. Matthieu and I picked up the habit of looking for it whenever we're outside at night from her.

Reading:
She says, "A. K. O," while pointing to words or letters, and "Two. Free. Four. Five" while pointing to numbers. She can consistently count to quantities of five, and Matthieu has heard her count to six.
She has a few of her favorite books memorized, I think, because she will randomly blurt out the word as it is being read, such as "happily" when Clifford wags his tail happily in Clifford's Apple-Picking Day.

Singing:
She knows all the words to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and most of the alphabet song (in English). She also sings along with a few words to "You Are My Sunshine" and her bedtime lullaby "Nukkumatti". She loves music and has lots of favorite songs, including "Shake Your Sillies Out", "Korro Korro Kirkko", "Old McDonald" and "Oravan Pesä". When she was sick yesterday, she lay on the couch and looked at me and started singing, "Voi, minun, voi minun, pikkuinen tyttö...[Oh, my, pity, my little girl...]" from a song about a sleepy girl that I sing sometimes.

I could do this all day. She has lots of words, but I wanted to remember a few that mark the special phase of life she is in now. This is the phase where she likes her oatmeal unsweetened but would willingly subsist off of fruit snacks, is thrilled by the moon and any dog (real, drawn, cartoon, toy), takes showers (not baths) like she is twelve and curls up with her Pooh blanket and pacifier like she is tiny, runs away as fast as she can without looking back, reads books in someone's lap as long as possible, and thinks her parents are the coolest people to chill on the couch with any night of the week.
We think she is the coolest person to chill on the couch with any night of the week.

2011 Reflection

I grabbed this 20 Questions list for fostering reflection from Simple Mom's Tsh over at (in)courage and I thought it would be fun to share my answers. You can download her .pdf if you'd like to answer them yourself. If you post it online, tell me, so I can see your answers.

1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year? Alex giving me an impromptu kiss. ? We've had a blessed year: I was able to declare myself an editor and work from home in my field; Matthieu has been successful in school and work because he's working his a## off; Alexandra keeps growing and learning in every part of life, blossoming and filling our days with delight. And next year we'll be getting two nieces/nephews (don't know which yet).

2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened? Matthieu's dad's health problems and near-death experience

3. What was an unexpected joy this past year? We've (especially me) have been able to foster new and meaningful friendships.

4. What was an unexpected obstacle? Hmmm, I don't know that any obstacles caught us off guard. I think we did expect to have more energy and more patience and more romance (wink) than we actually had.

5. Pick three words to describe 2011. volatile, sunny, full

6. Pick three words your spouse would use to describe your 2011 (don’t ask them; guess based on how you think your spouse sees you). fun, learning, mom-ish

7. Pick three words your spouse would use to describe their 2011 (again, without asking). hard, busy, "Dad!" :)

[Matthieu's response when I asked him to choose words: "I don't believe in using single words to describe a whole year." Of course he doesn't.]

8. What were the best books you read this year? Grown-up books? The Help. I read most of the first of The Hunger Games until I lost it on a plane, but I like it so far. YA: Jade; Forbidden Sea. Early reader chapter book: the first of Ivy + Bean. Picture books: I have over 80 and I looove them, but off the top of my head: The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Click, Clack, Moo; Paiva Muumilaaksossa; Pat the Bunny; Gossie, The Thingamabob; Press Here; Seven Hungry Babies; My Personal Penguin; Goodnight Moon; Pikkuveikko; Christmas in Noisy Village.

9. With whom were your most valuable relationships? Alexandra and Matthieu, my parents and sister and brothers and extended family on my and Matthieu's side, old and new friends, new colleagues

10. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year? I am pretty slow to learn from mistakes if that's what this question is getting at... but it was a big change for me to be home all the time, working from home, neglecting housework, and enjoying/teaching/caring for Alexandra.

11. In what way(s) did you grow emotionally? I think I am a tiny bit more patient.

12. In what way(s) did you grow spiritually? I reconciled, or at least soothed, some troubled feelings pertaining to doctrine and culture.

13. In what way(s) did you grow physically? Well, the pants I bought six months ago don't fit. And my hair was longer, shorter, and longer again. Alex is definitely the winner in this category: she grew several inches and three clothing sizes and two shoe sizes, grew legitimate pigtails, and learned to walk, run, climb, wrestle, twirl, kick-walk, push a stroller, feed herself, throw, "swim", go up and down stairs, put things in/out of other things, shape-sort, stack blocks, play ball, put pants on, etc. all in the last twelve months!

14. In what way(s) did you grow in your relationships with others? This year has included lots of good conversation with friends, and I bond over that. I also feel more connected to close family members.

15. What was the most enjoyable part of your work (both professionally and at home)? Learning new things; having a sense of flexibility (both apply in my profession and at home) and at home, I love to see how Alexandra soaks up the world around her, and finds ways to be happy and have fun. And I love to see Matthieu laughing with her and teaching her. I also have enjoyed our relaxed time together, as a couple, and as a family, more than any other "social" time in my life.

16. What was the most challenging part of your work (both professionally and at home)? Professionally, it has been challenging to visualize concrete goals and it has also been challenging to find child care that meets Alexandra's and my needs ideally. At home, I won't be sad when my diapering days are over, and it is challenging when a certain toddler does not walk in the direction I want her to, like up the stairs when I'm carrying seven grocery bags. At home, it is also hard that Matthieu is gone for such long days most of the time.

17. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year? Hello, internet.

18. What was the best way you used your time this past year? I make time for those I love, so that's good. And sometimes I fold laundry while I watch TV, or work while Alex sleeps, so I get points for those, too.

19. What was biggest thing you learned this past year? Most of the time, people are asking for your love and acceptance, even if they don't articulate that well.

20. Create a phrase or statement that describes 2011 for you. "We'll figure it out."

If you read or even scrolled through that beast, Alex would probably say thanks, or more likely, "Dikadikadika peitto. Syödä välipala ," which is Finnish for "Dikadikadika blanket. Eat snack."

December 24, 2010

 

May 21, 2011

December 14, 2011 [4th wedding anniversary] (Alex is wearing the same shirt, but it went from a little too big to a little too small.)