2016 Survey

I love a good writing prompt/survey. So, here is my 2016 in review. Apparently this survey came from THIS blog. I found it by way of Jolie.

1. What did you do in 2016 that you’d never done before?
  I had a third kid. I focused on living my life unapologetically.  Sent a child off to Kindergarten.



2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
   I'm actually not much for New Year resolutions. I make goals for myself throughout the year. I don't feel like a new year marks much for me.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
   Well, I did. For the THIRD time! To a 9 pound baby. I'm at that age where everyone is constantly having kids, so there were a lot of people that did.


4. Did anyone close to you die?
  Yes, my sweet grandmother. This was a really hard loss for me. A lot of people are like, "Were you expecting it? She was old. She had dementia." The truth is I wasn't expecting it.  I thought there would be some sort of warning. She didn't have a sudden decline that gave us all the opportunity to say our goodbyes. She just passed away one day. I really miss her, more than I ever imagined.

5. What countries did you visit?
  None. I haven't been out of the country in 6 years. The last time I left the country was for our honeymoon in Mexico.

6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?
  More confidence in my decisions. This is a life long goal. As I said above, I tried to be unapologetically myself this year. I lost a few friends because of that. I would like to feel better about those losses and know that I am really forming a strong group of people around me.
More energy.

7. What dates from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
April 20th because Fox was born.

September 7th because it was the day we lost my Grandma.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Mothering 3 children. I was really scared of how that transition was going to go. So many people told me that the transition to 3 was the hardest. That made me nervous because the transition to 2 was very easy for me and I worried that this would be a huge adjustment. While transitioning to 3 was harder than 2 was, I still think having Mia was the hardest. She was by far my hardest baby and I had to learn how to be a mother for the first time. 

9. What was your biggest failure?
 Losing my temper. I want so badly to be more levelheaded. I don't like the voice I use with my children and husband when I get upset.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
  Nothing too extreme, my pelvis separates more than it is supposed to when I am pregnant. That was very painful for the first 4 and a half months of 2016. Then postpartum I had some horrible tailbone pain. I am really glad that went away. 


11. What was the best thing you bought?
  My minivan (praise hands emoji). I LOVE my van. It is the best. We drove in Jake's x-terra the other day and I felt like it was so small. Which is funny because that used to be our big car. I honestly don't know that I will be able to drive anything else. I love that van.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
   This is a hard one. I feel like a lot of people had hight points this year. Mia has grown into such an amazing girl. She is a miniature adult. Watching her grow and maneuver childhood is fascinating. For the first few months after Jack turned 2 he was biting people. He grew out of that and I feel like that is something to celebrate. Jacob always amazes me. I can be pretty mean when I get mad, he continues to impress me with his reactions. He never stoops to my level.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Oh boy, I try not be political on my blog, but Donald Trump wins hands down. I can't even begin to go into this. 
14. Where did most of your money go?
Boring grown up things. Medical bills, mortgage, new van.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Having Fox. He was 8 days late, so each day the anticipation grew. (see above photo of me 5 days overdue)

16. What songs will always remind you of 2016?
  Formation by Beyonce, Can't Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake, old song but I listened to it a lot: Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson

17. Did you make any new friendships?
  I did! I made some really strong friendships this year. I feel like I established a legit Mama Tribe.  I am so thankful for those connections for me and my children.


18. Did you go on vacation?
 We went on a few little trips. We went to Mount Shasta at the beginning of the year. That was so much fun. We had a nice time hanging out in the snow.

 We went to Redding for Mia's fifth birthday.

 My mom took us to Ashland, OR



We really didn't do anything huge, but had a few short trips that were a lot of fun.

19. What do you wish you had done (more and less) of?
 We made big plans to camp and then...never went. I didn't exercise enough, which is pretty obvious by my body and energy level.

20. How did you spend the holidays?
 At home with our little family. Jake had to work Christmas and Christmas Eve.




21.  What new food did you discover?
Hmmm, nothing stands out. I have really been enjoying sundried tomato garlic butter on a fresh baguette. That isn't a new discovery, but I definitely ate it a lot this year. I also discovered my love of soft boiled eggs.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
I really enjoyed Shameless for a while and still really like You're The Worst

23.  What was one of your favorite experiences of the year?
  Holding my new baby. I am kind of addicted to new babies.


24. What was the best book you read?
Kind of embarrassing, but What Alice Forgot was my fave of the year. It isn't going to win any literary awards, but I really liked it. I read it in about 24 hours. It was one of those books that I just had to know what happened next. I basically ignored my kids for a day so I could read it (like let them play in the backyard ALL DAY while I sat on the back steps and read).

25. What was your greatest musical or artist discovery?
Sia. I really enjoy Cheap Thrills. Also, Lin Manuel Miranda. I know he's not new, but his growing popularity put him on my radar.

26. What did you want and get?
 Back to Fox. A healthy third baby. I had a scare early on in my pregnancy with him, so I was so glad that he came out healthy and came out at all.


27. What did you want and not get?
Patience. I would really like that.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
 What movies came out this year? I don't know that I even saw any movies that weren't kids movies. I will update this later if I think of one.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
 I turned 30. We went out to breakfast, then spent the day in the sun at the river. My mom made me dinner. Jake treated me to a shopping spree. That was fun. I don't remember the last time I went shopping just for me and spent that much money on clothes just for ME.


30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I had gotten out more with my kids. I keep things pretty small with them. I want to work on going on bike rides, to the swimming pool more, and things of that nature.  Again, more exercise.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?
Well, I was pregnant for the first 4.5 months, so that involved a lot of leggings and maternity jeans. I wear a lot of leggings with tunics/long shirts. Jeans and a sweater or t-shirt. So, comfy-classic?



32. What kept you sane?
Friends and my husband. Having more mom friends in the same phase of motherhood this year helped me to have people to vent to. I also spend a lot of time talking to Jacob. That is always a great way to end the day.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Glennon Melton really impacted me in 2016. I knew who she was for a long time, but the election really brought out a lot of her best stuff, for me.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Haha. So, the election/Donald Trump. 

35. Who did you miss?
My friends that live far away.  My sister. She lives far away. Thank God for Skype. I really need to work on Skypeing/Facetiming more of my long distance friends. It makes the distance smaller.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm not sure I met anyone new that made an impact on me. I developed stronger relationships with people I had known for a while.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016.
I can't please everyone. I am a people pleaser and I tried hard to let go of that in 2016. I saw that being honest with people and being my true self made me happier, but didn't make everyone else happier and that is okay.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Oh goodness, if this was 15 years ago I would have something come right to mind. 
Maybe this.

Comments

  1. A little late, but great post! I love a prompt too.
    It sounds like your life is plenty busy, but I always love reading your posts!

    ReplyDelete

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