Annual Life Tally: 2013
Given that LJ, to my great dismay, is very nearly defunct, this will likely be the last year I post one of these here. Will copy it over to FB, and go from there next year. Seems sad to be letting go, after such a long (if occasionally dodgy) history on LJ, but since it's like a ghost town here, and community is what really drove it before, I think it's time. Fitting end to the year, I spose.
Onward to the life tally!
Career:
-Published two books. Holy crap. I still can't believe they're out there, and when I see the hard copies sitting on my shelf next to other books, I still get a little thrill. I can't express how much of a huge, huge deal this is for me, and how good it feels to finally find something that I'm reasonably good at that I also greatly enjoy doing, and can (theoretically) make a bit of money from in the future.
Family:
-Nothing big. Just had a baby show up in our house. ZOMG BAYBEE!! After all these years of wondering if it would ever happen (and I would've been OK either way), it was kind of a shock to have it happen so suddenly: less than two weeks from getting the call to taking him home. The last 11 months have been a whirlwind of exhaustion and occasional frustration, made irrelevant by the sweetest, cutest baby ever. I can't believe we've kept him alive and growing this long, and apparently even seem to be doing a decent job, as he's been generally healthy, developing ahead of schedule, and calm and delightful. There are a few little issues here and there, but he usually just grows out of them or they get corrected. He's truly been a very easy baby--none of the nightmare stuff we've heard from other parents. I think for that reason we may not press our luck, and just stand pat on what we got this time. It'd be nice for him to have a sibling, and I think I'd enjoy having another baby, now that I know what I'm doing, but I also know how exhausted I am, and I'm not sure I really have the bandwidth to manage two kids unless I had a lot more help. In any case, it would be a few years off before we did it, if we did it at all, so I'm not saying for sure one way or the other. Just leaning toward "no" based on how I feel now.
-Celebrated my 16th wedding anniversary, with the best date ever: meeting Terran's birthparents!
-And speaking of said birthparents: welcomed them into the family, too. It's actually scary how well we get along with them. We've socialized quite a bit, even without the bug involved. Helps that we're all big ol' nerds. :)
-Had a big meet-the-fam whirlwind tour this summer, where Terran got to meet a ton of cousins, second cousins, and cousins x-removed, as well as aunts, uncles, great aunts and great uncles.
-Became an honorary great aunt myself, as my pseudosister K's oldest had her first child just a few months after Terran was born. Definitely feels a little weird for her to be a grandmother now when I'm finally just getting around to parenthood.
-Lost the first (sort of) of my parents' generation. I'd lost an aunt a few years ago, but I believe that was sudden and somewhat unexpected. This time we lost my dad's oldest brother, who was 83 and had been in decline for some time. It's definitely weird to be losing that generation, since I just finally became part of the "sandwich" generation, now that I have a child. I'm not ready to be the elder generation, yet. It's coming up quickly, though; we nearly lost M's mom this year, too, as she's very close to multiple organ failure, and is in a care facility for the foreseeable future. I don't expect my dad has much time left, either, with all his health issues, but it's certainly possible he could surprise us--he has before. He's a tough old guy, and has survived an awful lot so far. In any case, I'm glad my son got to meet all four of his grandparents, even if he may not really know or remember all of them when he's older.
Friends:
-Had folks over for a delightful "debutant ball" for Terran on a gorgeous day in May. Have also had a few other smaller gatherings here and there, and have gone to some, too.
-Welcomed three new babies in my social circle: One in June, One in September and one just a couple of weeks ago. Terran didn't stay the youngest for long! The oldest is now 7, I think. The rest are in the 3-5 range. Once the babies are older, I expect Terran will very much enjoy his little playmates.
-Had a dear friend from MN visit us for a week over Thanksgiving, and play third parent, much to our delight. Terran adored her, and we adored having a bit of respite.
-Got some other kid-minding help from another friend who's been coming over every Tuesday to give me some time to do errands and write and such. It's been very useful!
-Also got some kid-minding from the world's best roomie, who has otherwise been basically AWOL. He spent most of the last 18 months working full-time, teaching two classes and doing a grad program full-time. I have no idea how he managed--and apparently he thought the same, as he finally quit his job last month. Hope it all works out for him eventually.
Domestic:
-Utterly failed at any real gardening because I was just too damned tired. Hoping I have more bandwidth for it next season.
-Bought a gorgeous grandfather clock to commemorate the adoption finalization
Travel:
-Next to nothing, save the meet-the-fam Oregon tour, another Southern Oregon jaunt for the recent funeral, and an overnight on Halloween weekend in Vancouver, where we met up with a fandom friend. I miss being able to travel, and can't wait til the bug's old enough to come with us on our adventures.
Misc.
-Finally finished getting my dental implant, which took forever, but I now finally have a (fake) tooth back in that molar hole, and can chew on that side again. Huzzah!
-Got diagnosed as diabetic (though mildly so--only .4 points over the cutoff) and got put on a pen-injection med that seems to be fixing the problem. May not be able to fully reverse it, but I think it's been caught soon enough to keep it from messing with the rest of my body. The med plus kid wrangling also shaved a bit of weight off of me. I don't care all that much about that part, but I don't mind shedding some of that, since hauling around a 30-lb child is its own hell.
-Worked with a rheumatologist to figure out a Mystery Inflammation thing, which may or may not be the root of all else that's wrong with me (including my anemia, ongoing pain/exhaustion, etc.) MRIs and blood tests galore, most of which have shown very little.
-Kind of backed off from all things fandom, just because I don't have the bandwidth anymore. Right now, all my stanning is going to the baby, so the Famous People have to take a back seat. I'm sure they understand. Still keeping up with my fandom friends, of course; just don't have the time for pop culture beyond just being a passive consumer of it.
Career:
-Finish at least one more book, I hope. I have one that's about 3/4 done, but I think I'm going to write a couple of prequel books for it instead, since I'm otherwise overloading the dang thing with backstory and exposition. I'm also working on a sequel for Harper, plus a couple of unrelated projects. Which one I end up pubbing next year (if indeed I make that happen) is anyone's guess.
Family:
-Try my best to manage an energetic toddler without having a complete breakdown or turning him into an intolerable brat. I may or may not survive this. We'll see. We're on a waiting list for a nice day care center nearby, so we're hoping he can start that in February or March at the latest. He'll be doing 2 days/week, since that's all our budget will allow, and since I'd miss him too much if it were more. Should be enough for him to get some social time with kids his age, and for me to have some writing time/time to myself. I've been alone with him 10 hours/day most weekdays, and it's really intense. I need occasional breaks to be something other than Mama.
-Celebrate 17 years of marriage, and 19 years together with my darling M, who's proving to be an absolutely stunning Papa Bear. Indeed, I married him in part because I thought he'd make a good parent; nice to see my instincts were correct on that count. He's also turning 40 next year. Current plan for commemorating that is getting him a nice new car. Hope we can manage the budget for it, considering I got a trip to the UK for my 40th!
-Likely lose at least one of our parents. That's going to be ... odd. Not looking forward to it at all. Not just for the obvious grief reasons, but because of the subsequent logistical nightmares of managing that plus the kid.
Friends:
-Attend kid birthday parties GALORE, and throw one of our own, finally. Ooo!
-Maybe meet some new folks with kids Terran's age--maybe from his daycare or something. It's a little awkward to try to make friends outside of queer and nerd circles, but I suppose it's worth a try.
Domestic:
-If we get the bandwidth, muck out the garage and finally set up the "geek cave" in the third-car area in the back. The garage has become the Place Where Things Go to Die, and that needs to change, especially with now having to store baby stuff, too. Eesh. We've been here for four years, and it's amazing how much useless crap we've piled up in that time. Damn us being both acquisitive and pack rats.
-Maybe do a little gardening? I'll want to bring the kid outside more when it's warm, but I don't know how much he'll let me do anything other than keep him from eating something poisonous.
Travel:
-Probably not much. Don't think the kid's going to be quite ready yet, but we might manage to do something close to home, perhaps late in the year when we can communicate with/direct him a bit better than we can now. Some folks can manage air travel with little ones; I'm just not one of them.
Misc:
-Finally get to the bottom of the Mystery Ick? I hope. It'd be nice to finally get that solved, and get on the road to getting my body back from the firey pit it seems to live in these days. I have hope, though, since the diabetes is being managed well so far.
-Maybe have the bandwidth for something other than writing and kid wrangling? Would like to do a bit more fandom and/or gaming stuff than I have been lately.
Onward to the life tally!
Career:
-Published two books. Holy crap. I still can't believe they're out there, and when I see the hard copies sitting on my shelf next to other books, I still get a little thrill. I can't express how much of a huge, huge deal this is for me, and how good it feels to finally find something that I'm reasonably good at that I also greatly enjoy doing, and can (theoretically) make a bit of money from in the future.
Family:
-Nothing big. Just had a baby show up in our house. ZOMG BAYBEE!! After all these years of wondering if it would ever happen (and I would've been OK either way), it was kind of a shock to have it happen so suddenly: less than two weeks from getting the call to taking him home. The last 11 months have been a whirlwind of exhaustion and occasional frustration, made irrelevant by the sweetest, cutest baby ever. I can't believe we've kept him alive and growing this long, and apparently even seem to be doing a decent job, as he's been generally healthy, developing ahead of schedule, and calm and delightful. There are a few little issues here and there, but he usually just grows out of them or they get corrected. He's truly been a very easy baby--none of the nightmare stuff we've heard from other parents. I think for that reason we may not press our luck, and just stand pat on what we got this time. It'd be nice for him to have a sibling, and I think I'd enjoy having another baby, now that I know what I'm doing, but I also know how exhausted I am, and I'm not sure I really have the bandwidth to manage two kids unless I had a lot more help. In any case, it would be a few years off before we did it, if we did it at all, so I'm not saying for sure one way or the other. Just leaning toward "no" based on how I feel now.
-Celebrated my 16th wedding anniversary, with the best date ever: meeting Terran's birthparents!
-And speaking of said birthparents: welcomed them into the family, too. It's actually scary how well we get along with them. We've socialized quite a bit, even without the bug involved. Helps that we're all big ol' nerds. :)
-Had a big meet-the-fam whirlwind tour this summer, where Terran got to meet a ton of cousins, second cousins, and cousins x-removed, as well as aunts, uncles, great aunts and great uncles.
-Became an honorary great aunt myself, as my pseudosister K's oldest had her first child just a few months after Terran was born. Definitely feels a little weird for her to be a grandmother now when I'm finally just getting around to parenthood.
-Lost the first (sort of) of my parents' generation. I'd lost an aunt a few years ago, but I believe that was sudden and somewhat unexpected. This time we lost my dad's oldest brother, who was 83 and had been in decline for some time. It's definitely weird to be losing that generation, since I just finally became part of the "sandwich" generation, now that I have a child. I'm not ready to be the elder generation, yet. It's coming up quickly, though; we nearly lost M's mom this year, too, as she's very close to multiple organ failure, and is in a care facility for the foreseeable future. I don't expect my dad has much time left, either, with all his health issues, but it's certainly possible he could surprise us--he has before. He's a tough old guy, and has survived an awful lot so far. In any case, I'm glad my son got to meet all four of his grandparents, even if he may not really know or remember all of them when he's older.
Friends:
-Had folks over for a delightful "debutant ball" for Terran on a gorgeous day in May. Have also had a few other smaller gatherings here and there, and have gone to some, too.
-Welcomed three new babies in my social circle: One in June, One in September and one just a couple of weeks ago. Terran didn't stay the youngest for long! The oldest is now 7, I think. The rest are in the 3-5 range. Once the babies are older, I expect Terran will very much enjoy his little playmates.
-Had a dear friend from MN visit us for a week over Thanksgiving, and play third parent, much to our delight. Terran adored her, and we adored having a bit of respite.
-Got some other kid-minding help from another friend who's been coming over every Tuesday to give me some time to do errands and write and such. It's been very useful!
-Also got some kid-minding from the world's best roomie, who has otherwise been basically AWOL. He spent most of the last 18 months working full-time, teaching two classes and doing a grad program full-time. I have no idea how he managed--and apparently he thought the same, as he finally quit his job last month. Hope it all works out for him eventually.
Domestic:
-Utterly failed at any real gardening because I was just too damned tired. Hoping I have more bandwidth for it next season.
-Bought a gorgeous grandfather clock to commemorate the adoption finalization
Travel:
-Next to nothing, save the meet-the-fam Oregon tour, another Southern Oregon jaunt for the recent funeral, and an overnight on Halloween weekend in Vancouver, where we met up with a fandom friend. I miss being able to travel, and can't wait til the bug's old enough to come with us on our adventures.
Misc.
-Finally finished getting my dental implant, which took forever, but I now finally have a (fake) tooth back in that molar hole, and can chew on that side again. Huzzah!
-Got diagnosed as diabetic (though mildly so--only .4 points over the cutoff) and got put on a pen-injection med that seems to be fixing the problem. May not be able to fully reverse it, but I think it's been caught soon enough to keep it from messing with the rest of my body. The med plus kid wrangling also shaved a bit of weight off of me. I don't care all that much about that part, but I don't mind shedding some of that, since hauling around a 30-lb child is its own hell.
-Worked with a rheumatologist to figure out a Mystery Inflammation thing, which may or may not be the root of all else that's wrong with me (including my anemia, ongoing pain/exhaustion, etc.) MRIs and blood tests galore, most of which have shown very little.
-Kind of backed off from all things fandom, just because I don't have the bandwidth anymore. Right now, all my stanning is going to the baby, so the Famous People have to take a back seat. I'm sure they understand. Still keeping up with my fandom friends, of course; just don't have the time for pop culture beyond just being a passive consumer of it.
Career:
-Finish at least one more book, I hope. I have one that's about 3/4 done, but I think I'm going to write a couple of prequel books for it instead, since I'm otherwise overloading the dang thing with backstory and exposition. I'm also working on a sequel for Harper, plus a couple of unrelated projects. Which one I end up pubbing next year (if indeed I make that happen) is anyone's guess.
Family:
-Try my best to manage an energetic toddler without having a complete breakdown or turning him into an intolerable brat. I may or may not survive this. We'll see. We're on a waiting list for a nice day care center nearby, so we're hoping he can start that in February or March at the latest. He'll be doing 2 days/week, since that's all our budget will allow, and since I'd miss him too much if it were more. Should be enough for him to get some social time with kids his age, and for me to have some writing time/time to myself. I've been alone with him 10 hours/day most weekdays, and it's really intense. I need occasional breaks to be something other than Mama.
-Celebrate 17 years of marriage, and 19 years together with my darling M, who's proving to be an absolutely stunning Papa Bear. Indeed, I married him in part because I thought he'd make a good parent; nice to see my instincts were correct on that count. He's also turning 40 next year. Current plan for commemorating that is getting him a nice new car. Hope we can manage the budget for it, considering I got a trip to the UK for my 40th!
-Likely lose at least one of our parents. That's going to be ... odd. Not looking forward to it at all. Not just for the obvious grief reasons, but because of the subsequent logistical nightmares of managing that plus the kid.
Friends:
-Attend kid birthday parties GALORE, and throw one of our own, finally. Ooo!
-Maybe meet some new folks with kids Terran's age--maybe from his daycare or something. It's a little awkward to try to make friends outside of queer and nerd circles, but I suppose it's worth a try.
Domestic:
-If we get the bandwidth, muck out the garage and finally set up the "geek cave" in the third-car area in the back. The garage has become the Place Where Things Go to Die, and that needs to change, especially with now having to store baby stuff, too. Eesh. We've been here for four years, and it's amazing how much useless crap we've piled up in that time. Damn us being both acquisitive and pack rats.
-Maybe do a little gardening? I'll want to bring the kid outside more when it's warm, but I don't know how much he'll let me do anything other than keep him from eating something poisonous.
Travel:
-Probably not much. Don't think the kid's going to be quite ready yet, but we might manage to do something close to home, perhaps late in the year when we can communicate with/direct him a bit better than we can now. Some folks can manage air travel with little ones; I'm just not one of them.
Misc:
-Finally get to the bottom of the Mystery Ick? I hope. It'd be nice to finally get that solved, and get on the road to getting my body back from the firey pit it seems to live in these days. I have hope, though, since the diabetes is being managed well so far.
-Maybe have the bandwidth for something other than writing and kid wrangling? Would like to do a bit more fandom and/or gaming stuff than I have been lately.