My 28th Year Unwrapped

January

The start of the new year. This particular New Year I was extra hopeful for a year filled with more highs than lows, with hopes of Covid slowing down (LOL ), and hoping to get myself back to work after finally finding a new house and settling in. January was pretty uneventful, with no major changes, other than starting to look for jobs, turning 28, and planning my son’s first birthday. Braden also got his very first haircut, and didn’t shed a tear… every haircut since then, now that’s a different story, lol. Nonetheless, I was hopeful my 28th year was off to a good start. 

February

A month filled with change! Braden turned a year old and celebrated his rookie year. I couldn’t believe Braden was finally a year old. I found a job that got me back out into the world with human interaction (lol). We decided to put our son into daycare in order to get him around other children his age. After being a stay at home mom I realized I couldn’t give my son the attention and education that he started to need. So looking into daycares and taking tours was a huge first step. The first day of daycare was my first day of work at a brand new job. And although I was hopeful for a change, the anxiety I felt was more than I anticipated. I spent days prior and the morning of reading articles on the internet about how daycare was beneficial and how transitioning to daycare was definitely a difficult process. But it was 10000% worth it. 

After a few weeks of an adjustment period, Braden ended up loving daycare and was already starting to learn so much. I was happy he enjoyed it and happy I was going back to work and getting back into a routine. Although, Braden caught the flu within his first two days at daycare, which required his first doctor visit with a flu test and covid test. Luckily for him, it was just the flu, and it took a few weeks for him to get healthy and return to daycare.

March

This third month of the year was the start of so much sickness. Braden was catching absolutely everything at daycare and required multiple doctor visits – he became very close with his doctor very quickly, lol. He had his first case of hives (which broke my momma heart), but with all the time spent at home Braden learned to love being outside and we decided to get him a new swing to add to his playset. After some hesitation, Braden eventually learned to love his swing.

April

Braden’s second Easter but his first with getting an actual Easter basket. We kept the bucket of eggs in our living room up until Halloween, Braden loved dumping the basket on himself and picking up the eggs. Braden got his first school pictures taken and loved spending more and more time outside with the weather warming up. He continued to get good use out of his swing and new soccer goal. We may or may not be hoping that Braden loves soccer just as much as we do. 

May

After enjoying being back at work, I found a new job. I transitioned to another company that I used to work at years ago before we moved to Tennessee. Being back to my old facility brought back so many memories. Both good and bad. I was really enjoying being back at a familiar location, and Braden was still enjoying Daycare. He started loving bubbles and sitting in/on new furniture in the house (see picture below, lol). We started venturing out more and more, taking as many precautions with Covid as possible. Being inside the house we realized wasn’t doing him any good. Luckily with the warmer weather, Braden always wanted to be outside. It was a struggle on the days where the weather didn’t permit it lol. If we let him, Braden would have played in the rain for as long as possible. 

June

This month was pretty relaxed, with no major changes occurring. Braden quickly started showing us new things that he was learning in Daycare and we were loving watching him grow and learn so many new things.

July

Braden was starting to get introduced to being in the water and using a sprinkler at daycare. He wasn’t a big fan of the water initially, and our hope was to get him into swimming lessons, but of course with Covid, our plans changed and we still have yet to get him into swimming lessons. Fingers crossed that 2022 is the year!  We slowly started taking Braden out to more restaurants, with the hope of trying to change him from being a picky eater… So far, very unsuccessful, lol.  

August

Braden got his first baby pool, and was loving stomping around in the water until he realized it was indeed slippery, which caused him to start falling over and over. Eventually, falling into the water made him laugh instead of cry. Even after being at daycare for a few months, Braden was still fighting sickness after sickness with coughs, colds, bronchitis and croup. But no matter how sick this boy was, he always had the energy of the energizer bunny….. So tiring to keep up with lol. Trying ice cream for the first time was also something Braden really enjoyed.

September

Venturing out to a new park near our neighborhood was something we tried to do as often as possible – Braden wasn’t very interested in the park itself, more-so the street signs and parking signs in the parking lot – but hey, whatever made him happy! Eventually he started playing in the playground tunnels and loved to spend as much time as possible outside whenever we were home. 

October

Braden went to his first pumpkin patch, which wasn’t as enjoyable as we anticipated. Of course he was feeling under the weather, It was as hard to keep happy for the short time we were there (maybe next year, lol). He did love all the animals at the pumpkin patch, especially the goats! We got him a wagon to use for walks that he fell absolutely in love with and never wanted to get out of. Brett and I had our first two day trip away from Braden since he had been born. Braden painted his first pumpkin and went trick or treating for the first time – with the next day finding out Braden had double pink eye, (and the week after that finding out he had a double ear infection. The poor kid literally couldn’t catch a break! 

November

Braden loved playing in the leaves out in the backyard. And despite the weather getting colder, he wanted to be outside more than ever. Playing in the leaves and sweeping the porch with his rake and broom was always something he enjoyed. We got our yearly family Christmas photos taken and Braden did fantastic! No tears this year, and we actually got a few great smiles out of him! We put up Christmas decorations and Braden loved picking the ornaments off the tree. Braden also loved the blow up/inflatables that were placed in the front yard, and would look forward to them every day!

December

Braden’s second Christmas and our first Christmas spent together as a family of 3 in our new house. (Brett spent Christmas in the hospital last year). So I was definitely looking forward to a more “normal Christmas”. Braden loved all the presents he received and loved ripping off the wrapping paper and sitting on the cardboard boxes. We always say instead of presents we are going to give him empty boxes for presents. Maybe next year we will actually do it. 

It definitely felt like 2021 was filled with endless doctor visits, sick days at home, and fighting against the safety of Covid. However, Braden was really striving in Daycare and was learning so many new things. He was becoming less and less shy, and more and more intrigued with things around him. He has always been curious, but also hard to keep entertained for a long period of time. 2021 was definitely a tough year. But all of these moments listed above were truly some of the most positive memories to come from last year. I can’t wait to see how much Braden grows in 2022.

If you enjoyed this post, check out The Lessons I Learned in 2021

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