Goodbye 2012, Hello Future!

I love the idea of starting a new year!  I make it a point not to start diets or big goals on the first day of the year, because a new year is so full of hope, that I hate to start it off with tons of pressure to get on with resolutions.  That being said, after the roller coaster that was 2012, I feel like we have a little more stability heading into 2013 to allow for "normal" goals and "normal" planning of things to come.

First, a review of 2012:

January:
Hubs and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary!  Seriously, 10 years! Time has flown!  We met in the dorm rooms at UAB in Birmingham, AL, moved in to a horrible/wonderful little apartment with not much beyond a George Foreman Grill and a blender -and made it all the way to our 10 year anniversary!

The main pic on this blog is from that night.  Don't we look hot? Haha! We had dinner at Reef followed by a fantastic stay at the Hotel Zaza in their Moulin Rouge suite - my husband knows me well!

Our dessert drinks at Houston's awesome Reef restaurant! A must if you live in the area! 

Also in January, hubs ran his 3rd Houston Marathon and I ran my 4th Houston Half Marathon.  Albeit, with my worst time!  I was horribly lazy in the fall of 2011 on my training runs...my mind was already in baby mode and I just wasn't feeling running 13 miles by the end of 2011.

February:
We had a feeling this year would be the year of the Wilson baby, so we cashed out some Delta air miles and flew ourselves back to our favorite spots on the planet, St. Martin & St Barth for Mardi Gras! It was incredible!  Adult beverages, lounging, sunning, people watching...basically everything a proper DINK beach vacation should be.

Adam at our favorite, Orient Beach

The view each morning from our room at Grand Case

A visit to St Barth wouldn't be complete without a cheeseburger in paradise!

Adam arriving at St Jean Beach, St Barth!

March:

March was a strange month.  We received the news that we had been waiting for over 5 years!  Adam was offered an expat assignment...we were very surprised by the location - Abu Dhabi, in the UAE.  There were soooo many emotions. We had kind of started to settle in to the idea that we may not get an expat assignment for another few years and were focused on the year of the baby.  Of course, we accepted and began planning for the our new life abroad!

I celebrated my 31st birthday at the end of March.  Not a whole lot of partying though...as something else was brewing, but we just needed confirmation via doctor a few days later...

April:

First week of April came with a visit to the doctor along with a box after box of home pregnancy tests - couldn't freaking believe it!  We were pregnant!!!!!

I posted about the ups and downs that were to follow over the next few months involving the pregnancy here.

Just as we were cozying up to the idea of being parents, Adam and I had to begin our journey abroad...first, by him moving.  It was so hard to drop him off at the airport.  It felt like that was the end of our time in Houston, not when I left a month later.  The movers came and packed up our belongings and then it was just minimal basic furniture and the dogs keeping me company while we waited for our house to sell...we eventually just put it up for rent.

Notice the content notes.  Not sure what they found in the kitchen while packing up  our stuff for the move! 

May:

It was a roller coaster of emotions - being completely terrified of anything happening to the baby after what happened at the beginning of the pregnancy, organizing the last of our belongings and getting myself to the other side of the world to meet my husband.  First, we had to send our pups to Abu Dhabi.  That was also nerve wracking!  Luckily, they had a pleasant, uneventful trip with even a stay at the "Pet Hotel" in Amsterdam included -spoiled!!

Adam cashed in some air miles of his own for my trip - he booked me business class between Houston and Frankfurt, then first class between Frankfurt and Abu Dhabi.  That leg of the trip was ridiculous!  An awesome black limo with a German flag picked me up from the first class lounge and drove me to the plane where all other passengers were made to wait while I boarded!  Ridiculous...and awesome!! I totally played into it by putting on my biggest sunglasses and adding mystique to the event as all the other passengers pointed and loudly asked airline staff if I was someone famous! HAHA!!

The pups...after arriving safely in Abu Dhabi and being back to a similar lazy, spoiled lifestyle

June:

This month was pretty rough.  We had to adjust to a lot of things, one of them, living for almost a full month out of a hotel.  Mind you, it was a pretty awesome hotel and it was attached to a mall, but still, it gets old.  We wanted our things, we wanted more space and until we moved into our new home, our dogs were still being boarded with the American vet.

Finally, late June, we moved into our new home and our shipment arrived!  I have never been so excited to see a moving truck in my life!!

Moving truck in front of our villa

July:

This is when things got REALLY rough for me.  First, I was getting into the "I feel pregnant" stage.  Second, it was starting to get hot...not like 90 degrees hot...more like it got to be near 115 degrees...EVERY DAY...until early September!!  Also, this is normally when all the expat wives and families vacate for better climates.  So the odds of me having a social life were...well apart from Adam, there was no social life.  Also, this is when Ramadan started.  The religious period here is no joke!  Restaurants are shut down during the day, you have to be careful with drinking anything in public...it's no joke!

August:

The heat continues, Ramadan continues and still little in the way of a social life.

Luckily, we planned for a little relief at the end of the month with our babymoon!!!!

We packed our bags and flew to Thailand!!!  It was fantastic!  You can see pics and read about it here.

September:

Expat families and wives began returning to Abu Dhabi, giving me a little more of a social life.  We got our first good luck at the baby that would become Savannah Jean! Finally, at the end of the month, it began cooling down...by that I mean, below 100 degrees.

October:

Work, work, work...late nights, working weekends, long projects...we even missed the trick-or-treaters!

It was a rewarding time period though, and I was glad I could show my new coworkers what I had to offer before my impending maternity leave.  We took antenatal classes in Dubai, visited the Atlantis for a weekend and started preparing everything for baby - including her lovely nursery!

November:

The countdown to baby really heated up!  We celebrated Thanksgiving with our new friends and their families at the local golf club, then had a mini Thanksgiving at home the following day.  We set up our Christmas tree and enjoyed our final month as a couple...wondering how much life would change in the next month.

December:

What else is there to say other than...Savannah Jean Wilson made her arrival!!

She has rocked our world!  

In fact, you'll notice the pace of the monthly updates getting smaller as this post rolls on?

That's because it's near time for her next feeding :-)

Everything has changed, in the best way possible!

We cannot wait for 2013 to get underway!

Lots planned - trips to Oman, Paris, Texas, Alabama, possibly Germany, Italy, London...then maybe back home for Christmas next year.  

We cannot wait to take on a new year with a new family member!

Happy New Year!!!

See you in 2013!