Looking BackHow incredibly understated "what a year" is as a summary for our 2006.
Technically speaking, slightly more than a year's worth of events in our lives will be mentioned here.
An early morning sunrise over our new backyardThe babies came home - at approximately 5 pounds each - on December 29th, 2005.
While Janne was in the hospital (for about 6 weeks prior to their birth), I was getting the house prepared by putting some of our way-too-much stuff in storage, putting new ceramic floors in the kitchen and office, and - of course - laying new carpet, assembling furniture, and painting what would become their first - and quite possibly last shared bedroom in our little house in Hamilton. As well, I'd feed and medicate our little 'boy', Jag, twice a day at regular intervals because of his diabetes (see post below), and then, after work, visit Janne in the hospital, and often take some supper in for her, because the hospital food wasn't exactly cutting it. She was losing weight in her first couple of weeks in hospital, which is not something you should be doing when you're about to give birth to twins...
The sunrise this morningDuring this time, the staff at my radio station(s) were amazing to me. Lynda (many people here refer to her as 'Mama') was giving me gift certificates for restaurants to help keep Janne's weight up, and organizing a pool to raise money for gifts for the babies. She also made two beautiful blankets, which they still use.* Drew gave me time off when I needed it most, and simply told me not to worry, that they'd figure out how to cover off shifts somehow. There was a lot of love and support for us, and everyone was aware of the dangers we faced with an early delivery, and were always asking me how things were going. In hindsight, I'm sure many people wished I would just shut up about us occasionally, and ask how they were doing.
*{Lene, Janne's sister, who cheers us on from her home in Toronto, unable to make the trip to see us for reasons I won't get into here, also helped make two beautiful blankets for Liam and Morgan, with help from Steph (I'd need a separate post to explain to you the things this woman has accomplished in the last couple of years) and Ken (for all intense and purposes, my brother-in-law). By the way, there's a link to Lene's blog, The Seated View, on the right-hand column of this blog.}
I don't want to neglect for a moment the help we received from others. So many people came to our aid, but mostly 'Mom', 'Mormor', 'B' - she goes by many names, but these days, she prefers Mormor (loosely translated from Danish means Mother's Mother), because, as she told me last night while at our house for New Year's dinner, Liam and Morgan are the best gift she's ever received, aside from her own two daughters. Over the last year, she came to help Janne during the day with the babies, and would try to get from Toronto to Hamilton twice a week - but we're talking about a woman with fibromyalgia who is embarking upon her seventies, and she eventually had to cut her visits to once a week. She cried the day she told Janne she had to cut back because of her health, but she needs to know we understand, and we love her to pieces for doing everything she does, including bailing us out financially when it all gets too much to keep up with.
Actually, she makes it impossible to not love her - simply by being herself.
It's the first year Liam and Morgan were home for Christmas
Where was I? Oh, yes.
After getting the babies home, we put even more stuff in storage to 'stage' the old house, and get it ready to sell. We had 'ordered' a new house in September of '05, with a delivery date of Oct. '06, so it was time to get the old one ready for the market. It was one of the most stressful experiences we have ever been through, with the market starting to slide (wouldn't ya know) just as we put the 'for sale' sign on the lawn. It was as if the sign actually said, "Please come in to our house, look down your nose, and f*ck us around for a few months". But, after dropping both our price (twice) and an inexperienced real estate agent, we got out from under a house which had provided us with more than our share of headaches. I'm pretty sure the new owner will be happy, considering we repaired everything in the damn place over the eight years we lived there. We also raised the average going rate for a house in the neighbourhood by selling for more than any house had ever sold in the history of the street.
...and then we packed and packed and packed and packed, but we still weren't ready when the movers arrived on a sunny November morning. We have an excuse, though. Twins require a boatload of attention. You can only get so much done in a day when you have twins. Everything you do, even the most menial of tasks, takes longer. I'm not griping here, by the way. I wouldn't have it any other way. They are the reason we do everything now, and they're the best reason I know of.
A colourful sunset on our new street
We've only been in our new house for a little more than a month. There are still no pictures on the walls, but there are baby gates to keep Liam and Morgan safe and out of areas they are not yet ready to negotiate. The garage is full of backyard stuff until the spring, when we'll hopefully get a backyard in which to put it all. Then, we'll introduce each of the cars to the garage, since neither of them has yet had the chance to spend a moment inside it.
As Dee (Hi Deb) reminded me in her comment on Jag's farewell post, it has been a spectacular 12 months for our family, and although losing Jag was a very difficult way to end it, I'm proud of what we've been able to accomplish in the last year.
There is a Chinese saying (which I've been told is actually supposed to be a curse) which sums up our last year: "May you live in interesting times." Life would be pretty boring otherwise, though, wouldn't it?
I'd like to say thank you to everyone who's posted here, or just come by and visited (lurked is such a harsh word) to see what we're up to.
May your New Year provide - in a good way - many interesting times.
Going forward, with room to spare
