New Year's Eve...

Wow...what a year 2009 has been...

Yesterday, we enjoyed sleeping in and having family cuddle time in bed. B was up at 5 and I brought her into bed when she was up at 8. Erik was working while I was visiting the day care again. I just straightened up the house and organized the items for the Secretary desk which is arriving tomorrow. We ventured to Levin to check out a bedroom set we liked but even with their great "sales" the price isn't that much different than it had been and we still haven't found a set we absolutely love enough to justify the price tag (I like the Bassett West End but they don't carry it anymore so Levin's French Quarters was close enough).

We said from the beginning we were going to do a low key NYE and eat in and watch a movie and ball drop with Crosby and Brooklyn and reflect on all the great things in our life. Well, we then decided we were going to do a variety of appetizers so we stopped at Giant Eagle in Wexford and got a large antipasto tray (seriously, like 5.4 lbs of food for $20) with dolmades, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, prosciutto stuffed peppers, capelloni onions, artichokes, etc and then paired it with some popcorn chicken, cheddar and jalopeno bites, along with a meat/cheese/cracker tray. We had our bellini's all night and watched Angels and Demons and reminisced of our trip to Italy. Seriously, it has been an awesome New Year's Eve and now with just minutes to go before the ball drop.....I can't wait to see what 2010 brings for us as it surely will bring a lot of firsts in our house.

2009 truly was a great year for us (probably one of the best ever) and we are so lucky to be at this position in our lives. I looked down on the sleeping Brooklyn in my arms and the sleeping Crosby between Erik and I and I just want to cry thinking about how perfect our life is right now (granted, there are plenty of things I would love to add to it but we are so happy as a family right now).

A review of the Decade:
2000: survived Y2K, finished my freshman year of college, was supposed to go to Greece but the trip was canceled because Bill Clinton cancelled his trip back in November 1999
2001: spent the summer doing research at Penn State in Hershey and working at the Hersey Grill; 9/11; turned 21, traveled to England with Erin and Kisa, Traveled to Cali and Chicago with Erin for American Chemical Society trips
2002: did my Senior Honors Thesis after a summer and fall of research on the tobacco hornworm; New Year's Eve in Times Square; med school interviews and accepted to my first med school (huge relief), Traveled to Orlando with Erin and Kerry for ACS
2003: $200,000 scholarship for med school (which made me change my plans from going to Pitt to leaving the state given the terms of the scholarship); graduated from college; cruise with my Erik, moved to Virginia; met Susan; kinda "separated" from the BF/now DH
2004: Traveled (Dominican Republic, spent the summer in Europe, traveled a few places in the US for conferences); reunited with Erik
2005: Vacay to SoCal with Erik, got engaged, decided I did not want to be a surgeon anymore, moved into townhouse with Erik
2006: decided my career field (dermatology vs anesthesiology), got married, honeymooned in Jamaica and traveled for conferences
2007: found out I matched to Pitt for residency and disappointed (blessing in disguise as we never would have realized that we could have bought our current house had this not occurred) in where I would spend internship; graduated from medical school, traveled for weddings and pleasure
2008: 10 year dating anniversary, bought our house; moved; finished internship and left Virginia; started residency; got Crosby (LOTS OF CHANGE this year), and had our big trip to Italy, Bought the Mercedes (accomplished Erik's goal of owning a BMW/Benz/Lexus before age 30).
2009: Got pregnant, Lauren got married, had Brooklyn, Steelers Superbowl, Pens Cup (which Erik was fortunate enough to be able to actually go to the game), Erik wins his 2 FF leagues (they were his first wins ever and he's been in the leagues for 10 and 7 years so his wins are like my wins), limited travel this year :(

A review of the Year:
January: Chronic Pain rotation, an extremely cold January with lots of snow (almost the entire month), almost lost Crosby as she took off (unleashed) through 18 inches of snow running down the road at mom and dad's, Ski weekend at Decker's, Steelers Superbowl, did well on my AKTs
February: PACU rotation and a week on pain service (really like Regional), found out we were pregnant February 13th and cleaned out Babies R Us of all 0-3 month Christmas items at 88% off and bought the "I'm the Big Sister" shirt for Crosby, told Erik on February 14th using said shirt
March: Magee ORs, really liked my limited OB experience, told Lauren of the news, went to conference in DC, did well on my ITE, Lauren's Bachelorette Party Weekend at the house
April: Presby, Easter, saw the peanut on US on 4/9, told the parents on 4/10 when we came home for Easter using said shirt, had a week off where we landscaped and cleaned the house, Erica's Bridal Shower
May: Magee OB, trying my first stint of maternity clothes and loving the stretchiness, BBQs, Doug's wedding, Lauren's and Erin's Bridal Showers, watching Pens playoffs seemingly every night I was on call, finding out that our little Peanut was a girl
June: Magee OB, 10-year HS graduation anniversary, Lauren's wedding, Penguins Cup, Going to Game 4, Erik going to Game 7 (seriously, Game 7...how fricken' awesome), watched all of the games essentially of the playoffs, Erin's wedding, finished the ceiling
July: ICU hell...seriously 30-hr call shifts almost every 3rd or 4th night...ugh...Gary and Erica's wedding, painted the basement and got furniture, painted the nursery and bought furniture
August: ICU hell, Lauren came out to visit, finished nursery, our 3rd anniversary
September: Neuro, starting to get more difficult to move, FF party out here and home to NC for FF Draft #2, our big Garage Sale, Baby Shower here and Baby Shower in NC
October: Southside Regional (absolutely loved this), home for Katie's baby shower, my birthday weekend with the parents out here while we all decorated for fall, PSA meeting in Harrisburg, B's arrival on October 23rd after lengthly debate about induction, Halloween
November: spending time with our Brooklyn, home to meet the family, 10-year high school reunion, Thanksgiving with the family
December: home for dad's birthday, Christmas, baptism....December was quite the blur

Best of 2009 series of questions:
December 31 Resolution you wish you'd stuck with. (You know, there's always next year...)
I really didn't have resolutions, but rather goals for the year. I wish I had been better in keeping the house more organized and cleaned more frequently (yes, I have been told many times that our house is always so organized, put together, clean, etc but in my mind, it's not). I really would rather have quality time with Erik, Crosby, or now Brooklyn than worry about the last the hardwood floors had been hand scrubbed as I'd rather just run the Dyson over them.