Kara & Greg’s Year in Review 2008

January: We had a great winter! The Northeast received lots of snow and we got a chance to do more skiing than in any recent winter. We spent some family time up at Sunday River, took the school kids skiing at a local mountain, and day tripped up to New Hampshire. As you can see from the picture, we even took a shot at snowboarding down the hill behind the dorm!

February: Valentine’s Day brought big surprises... We found out that Kara was pregnant and a doctor’s visit shortly after confirmed that she was due in mid-October. We were both thrilled and, admittedly, pretty nervous about staring down the road to parenthood. Why worry now though... We have nine months to figure out the details!

March: During our spring break, we traveled to Pennsylvania for a weekend with Kara’s family and then spent a few days in New York City on the return trip. Towards the end of our vacation, Kara celebrated her twenty seventh birthday. As we returned to Fay (and as the bump grew!) we told the school administration about our pregnancy. They were excited for us and were generous in offering to work with us on our duty schedules to accommodate our changing needs.

April: In April we attended a cloth diapering seminar. Yes, a three hour class about cloth diapering and we were both astounded at how far cloth diapers had come from the pins, folded rags, and plastic pull up pants of our youth. We started researching different diapering options and would eventually find our way back to one of the brands that we first leaned about at this seminar.

May: Kara had an ultrasound midway through May, and it was the first time that we were able to see the baby. It was amazing to see the little fingers and toes and made the pregnancy feel very “real”. We started shopping for baby furniture and began the process of making space for the baby in our apartment. School was wrapping up and we looked forward to the more relaxed pace of summer.

June: We headed out to Oregon and Washington for a two week road trip. We stayed with good friends outside of Portland and visited the northwestern coast, some national parks, and even had a close encounter with several Roosevelt Elk! It was a fantastic trip and we relished the spontaneity and relative freedom with which we were able to travel!

July: Greg worked at the school’s day camp running their rock wall and ropes course. We took advantage of the long days and went out to the movies, baseball games, dinner out, and hiked all over the area. We swam, traveled to the Poconos, and attended a family wedding. It was a laid-back summer and we are glad we took the time to enjoy ourselves.

August: In the final weekend before school started up, we headed down to Boston’s South Shore and spent a night in a beach side hotel. Our room was upgraded to the top floor facing the ocean then, while we were at dinner, the lights on the entire peninsula went out! It was a strange and surreal night wandering around a darkened seaside town. The moon was the brightest light around and as people came out to the streets, it created a sort of street fair ambiance. The lights eventually came back on and we fell asleep to the Cuban jazz band playing at a wedding in the hotel.

September: Kara was the model mom-to-be. She walked miles every day and we attended birthing classes like they were for a grade. School started without event and we were happy to be back in our old roles of coaching, teaching, and being dorm parents. The beginning of school was, as usual, ultra-busy and we both found the constant activity to be an agreeable distraction from Kara’s ever growing belly. Due to the rainy end of the summer, we were treated to an outstanding display of fall colors.

October: Greg celebrated his birthday with a huge family kielbasa dinner! We discovered an authentic German deli north of Boston that carries a fantastic assortment of homemade old world style sausages. The biggest surprise of the month would come on the 27^th. Our daughter, Adalynne, was born at 5:07am after a very short labor. Kara was in the hospital for less than 30 minutes before giving birth and despite the rapid delivery, everyone was healthy and well.

November: November was a sleep deprived blur. We were overjoyed with our new baby girl, but struggled with our new erratic sleep schedule. We had a joint family Thanksgiving celebration in Foxborough and benefited greatly from the continued support of the school community, our family, and friends.

December: With each passing week, we are slowly finding more normalcy in our lives. We have a Christmas tree (and it is decorated!) and we are finally learning how to care for Ada to better meet her ever changing needs. She is smiling more, playing peek-a-boo, and feeding like a champ. Perhaps more than ever, it is strange to look back one year ago and see the enormous changes in our blessed lives.

Happy Holidays!