2021 Survey

Stephany did this survey over on her blog and I thought it was a good way to look back on the year so I'm playing along!

1) What did you do in 2021 that you’ve never done before? Adjusted to life as a family of 4. Breastfed a baby (I exclusively pumped for Paul since he didn't latch/transfer milk well). 

2) Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes, my little sister had a sweet baby girl, Maddy, on February 15th! It has been really fun to go through pregnancy and parenting with my sister, and the fun will just continue as our kids get older!

3) Did anyone close to you die? Luckily, no. 

4) What places did you visit? Nowhere new. We stayed close to home and would have even if we weren't still living in a pandemic. Some people enjoy traveling with babies - we don't! So our policy is to hold off on travel, besides trips to my parents lake home, until the baby is 1.

5) What would you like to have in 2022 that you didn’t have in 2021? I would like my kids to be vaccinated! It will be a huge relief once they are vaccinated as that should change the quarantine rules at daycare. I was hoping Paul would get vaccinated in February but it's looking it won't happen until mid-year since the Pfizer dose didn't elicit a strong enough immune response. But maybe Moderna will come through with an approved vaccine this spring. Fingers crossed. 

6) What dates from 2021 will be etched in your memory forever? Nothing in particular to be honest... Much of the year kind of felt like Groundhog's Day. But that's life with little kids!

7) What was your biggest achievement this year? Running a 10 mile race with my neighbor on the day Will turned 10 months!

8) What was your biggest failure? Gosh I don't like the word failure. Nothing comes to mind but that's mostly because I didn't ask anything of myself (i.e. I didn't set any goals) in 2021 besides balancing parenting and working full time! Those endeavors are more than enough for me at this stage of life...

9) Did you suffer from illness or injury? When wasn't I sick? Ha. I mean I had the stomach flu twice and countless colds/upper respiratory viruses! This is where being on immune suppressant drugs REALLY sucks. I have very little ability to fight viruses that I encounter.

10) What was the best thing you bought? I didn't technically buy this as it was a gift from Phil, but the AirPods he got me for my 40th birthday were worth the splurge and I use them every day.

11) Where did most of your money go? Daycare but dang do they earn that money!! It's our biggest expense category for sure, though. 

12) What did you get really, really excited about? Being able to get vaccinated!! I was eligible in March because of my immune compromised status and then got my 3rd dose in August. I'll get boosted in February.

13) What authors did you discover in 2021? Steven Rowley (Guncle), Jean Hanff Korelitz (The Plot), and Rosamunde Pilcher (Winter Solstice) are new-to-me authors with backlists I'd like to explore.

14) What do you wish you had done more of? Sleep and work on puzzles.

15) What do you wish you had done less of? Worry and wait for covid test results!

16) How did your spend Christmas? We spent Christmas Eve with Phil's cousin's family. Christmas Day was our little family of 4 plus my mother-in-law.

17) What was your favorite TV program? The Great British Baking Show!! I watched all of the seasons during my maternity leave. That show is DELIGHTFUL. I also watched A Million Little Things and loved that show, too!

18) What did you want and get? To see more family and friends than we did during 2020. To get vaccinated.

19) What did you want and not get? More full nights of sleep and a vaccine for my kids (but I knew a 2021 vaccine for the 0-5 year age group was very unlikely). 

We also were hoping to buy a Rav-4 Prime as having 4 wheel drive would be so nice in the winter months. But it just didn't happen due to supply issues. It sounds like we will get one in the first quarter of the year.

20) What was your favorite film of 2021? Knives Out was great! 

21) What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 40. We were still in the thick of the pandemic so I didn't see anyone besides my little family of 4. But I had a zoom call with some friends, lots of macarons (my fave dessert) were dropped off, and Phil got me an autographed photo of John Dickerson from CBS news and AirPods!

22) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I sound like a broken record here, but sleep. I am so very tired and run down!

23) Who kept you sane? Phil! He is the best partner I could ask for. He has a sense of humor, he keeps me from taking things too seriously, and reminds me to be easier on myself.

24) Who did you miss? Family and friends that I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked.

25) Who was the best new person you met? My neighbor Katie! She (gently) pushed me to start running again and said we could just walk as much as we needed to. We slowly built our mileage up and ran a 10 mile race together in October.

26) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2021. This is a hard one to reflect but I think I've continued to work towards accepting what I can and can't control. I'll leave it at that.

27) Show us one of your favorite photos from the year. I adore the family photos that my cousin's wife took. This is my favorite - we used it for our Christmas cards.

Your turn! Pick a few or many to answer or fill this out on your blog!

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's a fresh start in 2022!