Okay, let's get on with the 2012 review!
Certainly a huge year for me and Laura. The first months leading up to Connor's birth was hectic. We had a lot going on in terms of figuring out work (the biggest issue I think), getting his room ready, getting all the stuff we needed to get him home, and basically just getting ready to have him! The first months went quick, if I remember correctly.
Connor Kazuaki Yamamoto was born 3/30/2012 at 2-something in the morning! 2:44 or something. I can't remember. It was a quite the grueling battle, mainly for Laura. I was just tired. She was tired and in pain. I guess an 18-hour labor will do that. We went in around 8 in the morning and I think we both were expecting maybe a couple of hours of labor at the worst. Issues with the pitocin led to a longer-than-needed labor. Oh well - everything well smoothly in the end and everyone was okay. That was the important part. After the long day, the next few days were spent keeping him fed and getting used to it all. I had taken a week and a half off from work when he was born. Laura was able to take about 6 weeks of full-time leave, which was nice. Oh yeah, the leave situation was another thing that was very annoying. That aside, there was then a 2 week part-time leave that Laura took to ease me into parenthood full-time. I told my work about this whole stay-at-home thing, oh, I think in early February or so. I quit April 20-something.
The first few weeks were hard getting used to, of course. I was at work, though, so it was all Laura for a month and a half. I really can't remember how much he slept in the beginning. I think 30 minutes or an hour after being up like an hour. Man, it's embarrassing, but you really do forget things during first time parenthood. There is so much going on. Luckily, Laura's Mom helped for about a week after he was born. I'm sure Laura appreciated that.
Skip forward a few weeks. I think my Mom came down to visit/help as well. Then after that, one Connor was settling down and his "schedule" more consistent, Chris and Alicia. Skipping forward a couple of more months, he was finally starting to interact but he still couldn't move. A couple of MORE months and he was finally crawling. Time was going so fast for us, it literally went like the last couple of sentences I wrote. All the little things in between have been forgotten, at least in my mind. It's like, birth, first poop, first bottle feeding, first roll over, first-[insert event here].
He's just over 9 months now and I can't believe he's that old already. He starting to babble, eat solids pretty well, eating out at restaurants. I suppose the next thing is walking! He's starting to try now. Sort of dangerous, actually, if you're not watching.
Come to think of it, a lot of the 2nd half of the year was me getting used to taking care of Connor and getting into the groove of things. Laura took a job here in OKC, obviously, so we're here until about June, at which point we need to decide whether or not we're going to stay here or move. It seems for now we're going to be here since Laura should probably work a year or more before moving on.
It snowed a little during this Christmas, which was a nice change since the last few years. We do miss the snow. Although it snowed, nothing really stuck, so it wasn't THAT great.
The big present for me this year was a banjo! I had watched a banjo documentary on Netflix a few months back and I got really interested in. I always liked the sound of a banjo, though, but the documentary kicked it into high gear. This was a DIY kit, so I had to stain the parts and put it together. It took a couple of nights, but now it's put together and tuned and everything. Getting used to playing it and fingers don't hurt since the first few nights! I remember I was "decent" with the guitar, so hopefully I can pick up the banjo fairly quickly - a few months before I can start playing some decent tunes.
And so, 2012 has passed. A big year for sure, probably the biggest year in terms of lifestyle change for us. Connor is great, but he is also tough to take care of and work what we liked to do around. We've seen a couple of movies in theaters thanks to Laura's parents watching him, etc. I've gone to a few doctor's appointments taking him with me. Sometimes he does extremely well, sometimes he cries the whole time. Makes me nervous, for sure. My driver license is actually expiring at the end of this month, so I need to go to the DMV. Of course, it'll probably take an hour or two of waiting, so I can't really take Connor. Laura's Mom is coming out next week and she's going to watch for a while while I go. Hoping it goes smoothly/fast. I first have to go to the DMV then to the tag agency to get my actual license. Stupid.
This year will probably be another big year, not because we're having another child, but because Connor will be walking, talking, and all that it brings. I'll probably need to step out of my comfort zone more and take him to events and stuff...dreading that!
We have a few trips out of state planned for this year as well. We're juggling going to CO next month. This will be his first time flying! I'm nervous about that as well. Thankfully, the flight is pretty short, maybe a little over an hour, so it shouldn't be too bad. Besides, people aren't flying to be in a quiet environment, right? Oh well.
Anyway, gonna go take a bath now I think. Laura is watching the season premiere of Poopton Abbey.
