2009 Year in Review

JANUARY. We rang in the New Year at the Romgi’s parents house – without his parents, but with Ben & Krista and our neighbors Doug & Angie. The Bwun continued hiccuping and kicking me mercilessly. We started going to prenatal classes at the hospital in Payson, shortly before we started going to the hospital on a weekly basis for my late-night woes. See, in mid-January I had the bright idea of rearranging our living room furniture…including the extremely heavy tv. This was actually a very bad idea, as it meant that I was technically in labor for the next 6 weeks, with regular contractions and not a lot of sleep. I think I’ll skip that part next time. With a nice prescription for Ambien, though, I was able to mostly enjoy a 4-day trip with the Romgi’s family to a ski lodge in northern Utah (I did not ski). Also, I ate boeuf de bourguignon for the first time. That was an experience worth repeating.

FEBRUARY. Free breakfast at Denny’s, except an hour-long wait in line behind a really, really creepy guy kind of ruined my appetite. What did sound good, though, was our traditional Valentine’s Day dinner: my favorite Korean dish, samgyeopsal. So. Delicious. Unfortunately, the night before (Friday the 13th, NOT coincidentally), I made the Romgi take me to the emergency room because I was in severe pain – which I thought was from pulling a muscle when I tried moving the tv. One blissful shot of Demerol, one ultrasound, and five hours later, we found out the truth: the Bwun hated me. He had kicked me so hard he was ruining several of my organs. The good news was that my doctor agreed to induce me before the Bwun’s due date. So the Romgi and I went home, got some sleep (I probably got a bit more than he did), and set to work finishing the nursery. It’s amazing, if I do say so myself. And then…and then…the Bwun! Seriously, we had a baby. He was little. He did nothing but sleep at first. I could gush about how fantastic he is, but then what would I talk about for the rest of this summary? My mom came out to stay with us for about two weeks, and after she left we seriously considered paying her to come back. Oh yeah, and the Romgi got accepted to BYU Law School! I guess that was just before we had the Bwun. But it was easy to get caught up in the whole we-have-a-new-baby thing.

MARCH. It turns out that you can do a lot of reading when you have a newborn. I think March is probably my all-time record for number of books read. By the time the Bwun was a month old, I was starting to feel like I just might be able to pull motherhood off. Then the Romgi left for a weekend to visit law schools in California. Misery! No one to take a turn with the Bwun in the middle of the night! Luckily, my sister visited that week, which was not only pleasant company but almost like a nanny I could give the Bwun to. Why don’t we have a real nanny? The Romgi celebrated his 25th birthday. Man, we’re old! No wonder we need a nanny!

APRIL. The Romgi decided to stay at BYU for law school, so I was spared the horror of packing everything up to move out of Utah (although I probably would not have minded leaving the snow). Actually, the weather in April was gorgeous, and I spent a lot of time outdoors with the Bwun, taking pictures of the Bwun. And the weather. Mostly the Bwun.

MAY. I unintentionally scheduled a trip over our anniversary, so the Romgi and I didn’t have a chance to go out to celebrate. Instead, I was in Yellowstone with his mom and my sister-in-law (and our kids). The snow had mostly melted, but there were very few people there, so we were able to enjoy the scenery and the buffalos – in relative peace. The Bwun was still too small to know what was going on, and he mostly slept in his carseat. What a good baby. After a couple days visiting Old Faithful and the breathtaking Sapphire Pool, we headed back to Provo so that our little family could make a second trip. The Romgi and I packed another suitcase and took the Bwun with us to New Mexico for my grandpa’s 80th birthday. Almost all of the extended family was there. It was great to see relatives and show off the Bwun (my dad hadn’t even met him yet!). By the time we got home from that excursion, the Bwun and I had been in the car for over 60 hours of driving time through 6 states (Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico) in 6 days. Impressive for such a little kid! Also impressive, he learned how to roll over at 3 months. Trust me, it’s really cool. We took advantage of a Memorial Day sale at IKEA to give our living room a whole new look: we replaced the plaid/flowered pink-and-green couch with a nice Beddinge sofa bed, added a Poang chair and a black bookcase, and Craigslisted our huge tv (the one that almost killed me) so we could mount the flat screen on the wall. It looked fabulous.

JUNE. And just in time, too, because we had a full house for the Bwun’s baby blessing. My parents and sister came out from California, and my grandpa drove up from New Mexico (he adored the Bwun, who is named after him). Then add in all our friends and family who live in the area, and there really was standing room only. For the rest of the month, I enjoyed gorgeous weather, an adorable baby, and a new (to me) camera. The Romgi and I also enjoyed a trip to the Cheesecake Factory, a magical place with enormous servings. Plus cheesecake. How can you go wrong?

JULY. The Bwun was surprisingly interested in fireworks. I don’t think he cried much at all. Then again, he doesn’t ever cry much. Did I mention he’s the perfect baby? The Romgi’s boss at work did some incredible portraits of the Romgi and I, which we proudly displayed when I had my birthday party. Yes, I too turned 25. Ancient! Decrepit! No? I guess not. I made a three-layer carrot cake and it was beautiful. We used some of our spare cash to buy a butterflied leg of lamb. You know it was good if it made it onto my year in review. Actually, it was better than good. It was heavenly. And we thankfully had it before disaster struck: the Romgi got swine flu! We were quarantined in our house for a week! We missed seeing Krista’s newborn twins! But, miracle of miracles, the Bwun didn’t catch the flu. He was perfect, like always.

AUGUST. After taking some more pictures of my adorable baby Bwun, we all went down to New Mexico again. This time, it was just us and my grandpa. The Romgi had a few days between the end of his job and the beginning of law school, so we took a “vacation” at my grandpa’s cabin. It was not restful, but it was a ton of fun. We even got a bat in our room the first night. Adventure! Back in Utah, we tried to give Krista a break by taking her big kids to the dinosaur museum. Apparently I forgot that I hate crowds, and I was g-r-o-u-c-h-y. But before too long I got over it because…the Bwun learned how to crawl! It made him even cuter than before! I have the best baby! (Sorry, all other parents. I’m not objective. But I am right.) Then the Romgi started law school. Challenging, demanding, and stressful. I bet it’s hard for him, too.

SEPTEMBER. We tried to have some family pictures taken, but it was more work than we expected. It did finally work out, and if you ask me, we looked mighty spankin’ good. While the Romgi continued on with law school, I decided to try doing classes on campus during winter semester. I also wrote my most-discussed book review, for The Red Tent. You should read it! (The book. And then the review.)

OCTOBER. The Romgi had a week off of school, in which he refinished our ugly bedroom nightstands, and we made cup pies and biscotti. Once he went back to his life in the library I took a trip to California to surprise my parents. The Bwun surprised me–he was well-behaved and calm for the entire car ride. We had a nice week-long visit and got to see some friends and family. I didn’t blog after our trip, so the rest of the year is really guesswork.

NOVEMBER. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with our neighbors, and then took advantage of some great Black Friday deals from the comfort of our living room. I love the internet. The Romgi and I made it through the first few discs of season 3 of 24–isn’t the show on season 7 or something? We’re so far behind! We’ll never make it. Although it did take a lot of restraint to not watch the entire season in one sitting.

DECEMBER. A bad way to start the month: the Bwun got swine flu. So not fun. But he got better, and we started getting ready for Christmas. (Ok, I started getting ready. The Romgi was in the midst of finals.) There were cards to send out (I think this year’s were top-notch!), presents to buy, caramels and fudge to make, gift boxes to deliver, and luggage to pack. We took the train again–and once more, the Bwun was an angel. Aside from wearing us out walking up and down the aisles with him, he was so good. He learned how to wave and charmed everybody on the train. He also charmed my family, which, let’s be honest, wasn’t difficult. He’s just so charming. We loved the pleasant California weather, and it was hard to come back to the cold wintery death of Utah. Especially because our car died on the freeway on New Year’s Eve. What a lousy way to end the year! We sure hope we still have a car in 2010!

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