twenty-oh-ten

While I wait for my boys to call so I can go pick them up from the hospital (long story short: Elliot got croup, went to E.R., he needed to stay but Corryn needed to go), I'ma recap my year. Because 2010 was cray-zay.

January: Just found out we were pregnant with Corryn. Andy had just graduated and thus lost his student job. He started applying to grad schools. Fine Doodles had been in operation a few months, so I had a little business there. Elliot still had no teeth and wasn't crawling or walking. We decided to move to Washington with Andy's family to save up some money.

February: Packed up our little apartment and moved to Washington at the very start of the month. The bulk of our stuff (all the furniture, kitchen goods, and other long-term living items) went into storage at Andy's grandparents' house in Orem, as we didn't know whether we'd end up back in Utah or on the East Coast or the West Coast or what. The rest of our stuff came with us in a tiny trailer all the long drive to WA. I didn't help drive at all, as I was dizzy and sicky with first-trimester malaise. Andy finished applying to grad schools - 12 in all. Elliot got some teeth and learned to crawl.

March: Elliot turned one. We got pizza and went swimming, and his cake was shaped like his sock monkey. Andy turned 24. We went to the zoo and got dinner. I started my second trimester. Andy started to hear back from grad schools. Got accepted to nine, I think, three of which were NYU, USC, and UCLA - the top three film schools in the world. I quit writing for the Board around this time.

April: My tummy got bigger. Found out we were having a girl. Somewhere around here Andy left his job as a freelance tutor to work as a professional tutor for a company.

May: I turned 24: saw Iron Man II, got barbecue, had a crepe party. Michelle left on her mission. Becky graduated high school. Fine Doodles really picked up steam. Elliot started speech therapy around this time, I think.

June: Elliot learned to walk. Busiest month Fine Doodles has ever had, largely because of a wedding project. I was painting into the wee hours every night. Started third trimester.

July: Went to Colorado to visit my side of the family. Went to a bouncy playhouse and a spray park. Had a little business meeting with the art-business-pros in my family to get some good advice about Fine Doodles. Had a false alarm about pre-term labor. Somewhere in here we settled on UCLA, which led to the decision to have the baby in Washington. Raised Fine Doodles prices to bring demand down to a more manageable level.

August: Got an unexpected visit from high school friend Stelth, who happened to be in Washington on tour with his band. Had another labor false-alarm. A couple of pregnancy-related body problems started to get bad, to the point where I couldn't pick up Elliot. Elliot stopped speech therapy. Went to the zoo and several activities with high walking levels in efforts to get labor started. Tried to figure out how to get all of our stuff both from Utah and from Washington to California. Andy left his tutoring job to work on Fine Doodles full-time for a little while.

September: Becky left for college. Due the 4th, but didn't actually start labor until 2 a.m. on the 12th, then had Corryn at 8 p.m. on the 13th. This resulted in a lot of plan changes, as we were supposed to be moving to California about that time. Packed like crazy. Ended up that Andy drove our trailer down several days before the kids and I (with Kathleen's help) flew down. Tried to set up a new home with a toddler and an eight-day-old. We had the help of Kathleen for a week and my mom for the week after...thank goodness.

October: Still trying to figure out how to have two children. Managed to make a dinosaur costume for Elliot and a Batman costume for Corryn for Halloween. Had some tough days. Tried to make friends, have people over for dinner. Got called as Relief Society Secretary. Andy worked his butt off in school.

November: Caught up with life a little bit. Raised Fine Doodles prices again to keep Christmas from becoming too overwhelming. Blessedly, Corryn slept through night consistently (depending on your definition of sleeping through the night - she wakes me up once a night, but she sleeps for 6.5-7.5 hour stretches). Did some illustrations for my portfolio, which I submitted to a few key people, one of which snagged me a little gig that I'll be starting in January. Thrilled about it. Had Thanksgiving at the home of a family from Andy's mission, where Elliot spilled ink water all over the kitchen floor, tried to open the box of their dead pet's ashes, and mutually poked another kid in the face with a fork. They were nice people.

December: Andy finished his first term with a 4.0. I had several paintings to finish, but managed to make some good Christmas presents as well. We got to go to the temple for the first time since Corryn's birth. Andy's family came to visit for Christmas, we went to the art museum and to the temple visitor's center and to Hollywood, and they just left...this morning. Corryn got her baby blessing, and we celebrated our third anniversary.

I think I can honestly say this has been the most difficult year of my life. The end of this pregnancy didn't go so hot for me, and things didn't let up afterward. I had a bit of a rocky recovery, I think, and my hormones are just starting to get back to some sort of happy equilibrium. Plus, having two tiny kids in a brand new city with no money is just intense. We're going into debt for the first time in our lives. But despite the trials, we've obviously been blessed more than our fair share.

EDIT: The boys are safely back home, and Elliot, after staying up until 2 a.m., is feeling much better. He was very sweet and very brave. And also puked.