I had started out writing this entry on December 31st of 2012. It began as a reiteration and an honest "confession" of sorts of the various things that were going on in my mind as I remembered 2012. However, I ended up deleting all of that, which to be honest, was a lot of stress-inducing negativity. I've decided that dwelling on things in the past that can't be changed is only going to make things harder and more stressful on me, so therefore this post is intended to focus on the positive outlook I am working so very hard to have for this upcoming year. How's that for an introduction?
First and foremost, a recap of the last month-and-a-half, since I haven't written since November. Basically, December was a little crazy. We had some time off at the beginning, but then jumped right back into our typical weirdness. I was able once again to attend the Advancing Ethical Research conference for PRIM&R in San Diego from the 3rd-6th. An extra bonus this year: Mom and Sarah came with! After almost missing my connecting flight at O'Hare from Milwaukee, I got on the plane (Mom and Sarah - already on the plane - biting their nails in hopes that I would make it!) and we were off. The trip was really nice. The weather was great, the company was wonderful, the conference.. well, it was a conference in a dark convention center in sunny Southern California. We were able to enjoy some wonderful meals, got to see our cousin Megan and her boyfriend Scott, and generally just have a nice time away. The hotel was awesome, too (Mom scored a corner room on the 20th floor, overlooking the city and the bay - complete with Concierge level access. It was a nice treat!). Preston, Rose and Skip all survived being home for 4 whole days together, which eased my mind.
As soon as we got home, we were back to the grind, with Skip working two weekends in a row to make up for the time he was home while I was gone. Managed into one of those Sundays was the baptism of Waysen Joseph-Nainoa Meshenky, our newest godchild. We are so honored to be blessed with being his sponsors - it means so much to Skip and I that Munch and Alicia chose us to be such a special part of this little guy's life. Also during one of those weekends I was able to get down to Chicago with the family, where we checked out the (obscenely crowded) Christkindlmarket and enjoy a dinner at the Parthenon. I decided I pushed myself and the kids a little hard that weekend, though, because we were pretty exhausted afterwards... which eventually turned into a visit to Urgent Care with Preston - with a 103.6 fever. My poor guy had a really nasty ear infection and just was a limp noodle - on came the antibiotics. Awesome timing for Christmas, huh?
We had a small get-together for the End of the World on the 21st, then it was TubaChristmas up at Bayshore for me on the 22nd. Mom and Dad came up to watch the kids so that we could go out for our anniversary. 6 years already! We had a wonderful meal at Rumpus Room, then enjoyed ourselves at the Tym's Christmas party that night. The kids and I were in CL for Christmas Eve with the Preston's, then met Skip up at his parents' for Christmas dinner. We had a couple of great visits with family, but then Rose and I started crashing. By Wednesday both of us were down for the count - her with an ear infection. More antibiotics! I managed to drag myself out of bed long enough to make it to work only on Friday, then basically came back home for another 2 days. We enjoyed NYE with Sarah W. and her kiddos, then a nice day off.
We were both back at work for a couple days before going down to CL to celebrate our Eckel Christmas. I have to say, it was one of the nicest visits we've had in a while. I think everyone was happy, got some pretty nice gifts (a Coach wallet for me and a turkey fryer for Skip!), and most of all just good company. We only stayed one night, for we wanted to be back up in Milwaukee for the 3rd Annual Hacker Pizza Party on Saturday. Great times had by all, and some great news ;).
Which basically brings us to now. The holiday planning had been really stressful on us all - from friends to family - and there were a lot of factors to it, at least from my perspective (I think that's why we all got so sick). To combat some of that happening again, Skip and I have really begun to make a serious concerted effort to get some things straight in our lives - our health and our finances. We have a potential trip to Mexico in the works for June that has lasered our focus onto getting into shape and saving money, a couple of things neither of us have been too good at lately. So far we have already seemed to have made huge strides on both fronts, and I can't wait to see how we continue. I have said that the only thing I want for my 31st birthday in April is to have my house finished, so that is our other focus. Between those things, and our "typical" routine, that's just about enough to fill our plates. I hope we stay sane and have at least a little fun in the next 5 months...
Preston and Rose continue to be wonderful. That about sums them up 98% of the time. A few pics from our Christmas card:
