I’m not making any New Year’s resolutions this year.  I looked back at my 2012 resolutions and I met some of them, but a lot of them didn’t make sense as the year progressed and they were appropriately put to the sidelines.  I think that, instead of making a big deal about setting goals and resolutions right at the end/beginning of a year, you need to make and re-evaluate them year round.

I met a lot of goals during 2012.  I lost even more weight, meaning that when I got pregnant again (another goal met!) I was 15 pounds lighter than my last pre-pregnancy weight.  I traveled around the world.  I made it to 8 years of wedded bliss (not that I ever doubted that we’d make it this far, but it’s still a nice little milestone).

No doubt about it, 2012 was a full year.  Here’s a look back at some of what we accomplished during the last 12 months…

• January – Got back from a 6.5 week visit to the States and started writing for an expat blog; started running with a friend and working my way back to an even better level of fitness than where I’d been before getting pregnant with Joe.
• February – Signed up for a photography class; started to become even more adventurous in my cooking and in trying alternative ingredients to make meals healthier; went to the dentist for the first time in a long time and (unfortunately) found out that I had some cavities – blah!
• March – Made my first pavlova and got to meet some new expat friends; figured out that going back to 12 hour shifts wasn’t a great idea at that point in our lives; babyproofed the house even more in attempt to protect our Kiwi whirlwind from injuring himself; Chris took an overseas business trip… apparently not a lot was going on in March!
• April – Wrote quite a few “Living in New Zealand” posts (something that I started in January); officially went back to work on a casual/PRN basis, thereby ending my mat-leave
• May – Joe began walking; found out that we would be temporarily moving to Oxford, UK come October; found out that we would be moving back to the States sometime before the 2013 school year for Chris to start his new job in Virginia… lots of news about moving during this month!
• June – Joe gave up his morning nap… that’s a big deal for most parents!  It certainly was for us; celebrated both Chris’ and Joe’s birthday on the 12th and 14th, respectively; visited the South Island for the first time (for me); had our first taste of what a big childhood illness looks like… stomach flu can be rough on little ones!
• July – got my first haircut in 9 months (and have now realized that it’s been 5 months since then and I’d resolved to go sooner than that… oh well!); joined a toy library; took a blogging break and recovered from even more winter sickies
• August – Added up our own total cost savings for cloth nappies vs. disposable nappies and was pleased to see that cloth was well worth the initial expense; my grandmother passed away; I was cooking even more in an attempt to keep up with Joe’s voracious appetite and tried out all sorts of finger-food recipes; started Joe in swim lessons and at daycare 2 mornings a week; got sick yet again!
• September – My not-so-trusty laptop bit the dust for the final time and we became a 1 computer family; sorted through a huge amount of Joe’s clothing and posted them on TradeMe in prep for our move out of our apartment and to the UK
• October – Moved out of our apartment and went to the UK for 2 months; moved into our place in Oxford; visited Scotland (Glasgow and Edinburgh) and London; enjoyed visits from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law; went to Stonehenge… looking back on those posts makes it seem like our time in the UK was a long while ago, or something that happened in a dream.  I’m so glad that we were able to go there.
• November – Settled into Oxford life even more and found myself entertaining the possibility of living there for even longer (at some distant point down the road!); announced the pregnancy; had a visit from one of my sisters and went to Windsor Castle, Bournemouth, and London again; flew back to New Zealand at the end of the month with a layover in Hong Kong and arrived safe and sound with all of our luggage
• December – Re-acclimated to life in New Zealand; took another trip to the South Island, this time to Queenstown and Wanaka; settled into our friends’ house for 3 months of house-sitting; started back at work after a 2.5 month hiatus; celebrated our 8th anniversary, my birthday, and Christmas; found out that we were having a baby boy!