{My Instagram #bestnine2020}
Happy New Year! Even though some of the bad + hard things won’t change overnight (COVID, I’m looking at you), I think we are all awaiting 2021 with open arms.
2020 was a HARD year for everyone. (That’s an understatement, I know.) We missed our daily routines, school, activities, travelling, and seeing our friends and family. Oh, and hugs. We had to say good-bye to neighbors and dear friends who moved away. To be honest, I almost didn’t write this post. In some ways it feels like I want to forget 2020 and write it off with a blanket “the year with the global pandemic” and just be done with it. But even though there was tough stuff, there were some also really great things to come out of the year (like Fitz!) and some day, we’ll want to remember all the details of the year we went into quarantine. [I will admit that when I went to review 2019’s post I cried. It made me really sad about how much of life we missed and the people we didn’t get to see and celebrate with this year.]
Here is the Lower family in 2020.
January. We settled back into Seattle and finished out Winter Break with one final playdate. The girls started back to school and had their semi-annual dental visit. I was back in the groove of doing BBG three mornings per week. We scheduled a test drive of the new VW Atlas at our local dealership and ended up buying a beautiful blue one the next day. Eloise attended a friend’s birthday party with a cooking class at Frog Leg’s Culinary School. We had one late morning start and one snow day from school, but nothing like last year’s Snowpocalyspe. I was invited to join a newly formed book club and enjoyed a dinner out with new friends. The girls and I had a play date with old PEPS friends, and it was wonderful to catch up and see all of the kids together. We had our first family dinner of the year and another family play date too. I found out I was pregnant (and roughly 5 weeks along)! Aaron golfed with his brother and we had dinner nights with friends.
February. We watched the Super Bowl with old friends and got all the kiddos together. I had to renew my driver’s license (and got the enhanced ID so I can travel through TSA without issues). We had our monthly play date with old PEPS friends, and I met a friend for coffee and donuts. Aaron and I went to the first pre-natal appointment with my favorite midwife and we got to see the baby. We all went to Eloise’s school to celebrate Valentine’s Day with her Kindergarten class and their families. I turned 34. We had dinner with Ben and Sarah, and kicked off mid-winter break. Aaron took the day off of work (mid-week) and we took the girls down to the Burke Museum to see the dinosaur bones. And then celebrated my birthday with Din Thai Fung and Molly Moon’s ice cream. We took a trip to the Zoo, not knowing it was our first and last one for the year. Aaron helped a friend buy a new laptop and we had a fun double date night with friends. We helped friends who were moving both pack and unpack. I birthday brunched with a friend at Toulouse Petit Kitchen in Queen Anne – yum! Grammie flew into town for a long weekend visit and I met with my book club for dinner and conversation. I hosted a baby shower for a friend at Portage Bay and we all attended a college baseball game that evening.
March. Daphne turned THREE and we had a small party for her to celebrate! Daph had her three year wellness check-up and we celebrated her birthday with Ben and Sarah at Din Thai Fung with Molly Moon’s afterwards (not realizing that was the last time we would dine out for the year). We celebrated another friend turning three at her Frozen birthday party and had a play date and dinner with friends. We survived Daylight Saving Time. Aaron started working from home, setting up his stand-up desk and double monitors in our bedroom. I had another visit with the mid-wife for my 12 week check-up and Aaron joined me for the genetic testing and ultrasound. I was SO, SO (morning) sick and Daphne watched a lot of movies on the days she wasn’t in school. Eloise had her (final) swim lesson and we had a pizza night with a few old friends. Then Eloise’s school was cancelled as the first staff member of the school district tested positive for COVID (that was March 11th). We sent Daphne to one more day of preschool (the 12th) before opting to pull her out for the remainder of the school year.* I hosted my first (and last) virtual PEPS meeting as a co-leader; due to COVID, lack of childcare/school, and terrible morning sickness, my co-leader and I gracefully bowed out of our hosting duties. We tried to figure out what our week days would look like now that both girls were home from school. We announced my pregnancy! I had a wonderful FaceTime chat with my oldest girlfriends, we received the official stay-at-home orders from Governor Inslee, and entered my second trimester (still so sick). I went to the grocery store since I was considered “immuno-compromised” and could go right at opening and haven’t grocery shopped in person since! I attempted to get through one BBG workout each week. I started posting weekly about Baby Lower.
*We could have continued to send Daphne to preschool but didn’t feel right about sending her while the community, city, state, and country were witnessing devastating rates of COVID. Fortunately we were able to continue to pay her tuition which helped allow her school to continue to run for the classmates who needed the care and to pay her teachers.
April. We had our first virtual game night in lieu of family dinner. I started making cloth masks. I went in for my 16 week check-up with the mid-wife and started grocery pick-up (which we continued to do until the summer when we switched to grocery delivery via Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods and will probably continue indefinitely). I did my best to support small, local businesses including picking up tulips from Skagit Valley (and delivering them to a few friends). We celebrated Easter with an at-home egg hunt with the girls, and attended our first Zoom birthday party. The girls started “Spring Break” and it felt exactly the same as the other days, and we were so sad to have to cancel our trip down to Cannon Beach with Grammie. Eloise had a Zoom call with her Kindergarten class.* The girls and I did so. many. art projects + Kiwi crate projects. We had another virtual game night with friends, sent a Door Dash gift card to our friends who had just had a new baby, and also had a Zoom call with the parents of our PEPS group (which was meeting monthly up until the pandemic started). Eloise and Grammie started doing weekly FaceTime story time which continued all year, even now. There were a lot of sidewalk chalk drawings. I started my fifth month of pregnancy. A friend brought over dinner for us and I joined some girlfriends on another Zoom birthday call.
*At the beginning of the pandemic there was almost no online instruction for Eloise’s Kinder class. And then the team of Kinder teachers began creating and posting assignments and videos, but Eloise wasn’t at all interested for basically the remainder of the school year. She enjoyed doing workbooks (which I had picked up from Amazon and my mom had sent) and art projects and her Kiwi Crates.
May. Another virtual game night with friends (and I think we started using the House Party app by this point). We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with tacos and my 20th week of pregnancy! Aaron and the girls spoiled me for Mother’s Day. I went to my 20 week ultrasound (alone as visitors were not allowed) and got to see Baby Lower. The girls joined in on a kids’ game night (in the afternoon) and we joined our friends later that evening for a (virtual) House Party. I started baking sourdough bread. Eloise had another Zoom call with her Kinder class. Aaron and I celebrated his birthday early with a Luau BBQ Dinner from Canlis, complete with BINGO night. And Aaron joined his brother for a socially-distanced golfing adventure. We celebrated Aaron’s birthday! I met up with a Amanda for a socially-distanced lunch date and catch-up – probably my favorite lunch of 2020. I craved Cinnamon Toast Crunch and bought the biggest box I could find. We ended the month with another virtual game night.
June. I had my 24 week check-up over the phone, Eloise had another Zoom call for school, and we celebrated a friend’s birthday with a drive-by hello! We opted out of all the summer camps we had lined up for the girls (including bike camp and art camp) and we started looking for a tiny two-wheel bike for Daphne. We picked up Eloise’s school yearbook and school stuff at her school. I very badly cut my thumb with a very sharp knife (de-pitting an avocado) and thankfully our neighbor who is a nurse helped me avoid a trip to urgent care. We took a day trip out East to the U-Pick strawberry fields which ended up being the perfect socially distant activity! With lowered COVID rates locally and warm weather, we were able to start doing outside, socially distant, masked dinner and play dates with friends. We watched Ben and Sarah’s dog for a long weekend and the girls decided they really wanted a dog… I went to the derm for my annual skin check and Eloise had her final Zoom call for Kindergarten. We celebrated the “last day” of school (Daphne and Eloise) and had a play date and dinner with friends. Aaron BBQ’d a brisket and we celebrated Father’s Day all weekend long. Aaron drove Eloise down to Oregon to meet my parents who took her back to Boise for a week of (quarantined) Grammie Camp. We bought an outdoor couch in anticipation of lots of time spent in the backyard. Aaron started building a shed in our side yard (to house all of our outdoor stuff). We blew up a new inflatable pool to help cool off. I started my seventh month of pregnancy. Aaron and I took Daphne to Carkeek Beach Park for some play time, a picnic lunch, and ice cream! I got my first haircut of the year. I entered my third trimester.
July. I took and passed my (last) glucose test and had my 28 week check-up with the OB. We watched Hamilton along with the rest of the world – so good! We had a family play date with friends to celebrate the 4th of July. I picked up pastries from my favorite bakery, Bakery Nouveau, whose twice-baked almond croissants are my favorite ever. My PEPS mama friends threw me a socially distant baby shower and it was wonderful to see all of them and catch-up on life. We had our final masked family play date with our best (family) friends before saying a heart-breaking good-bye as they started a new family adventure across the globe in New Zealand. Aaron took the girls to the dentist for a check-up and the dentist started talking to Daphne about how her teeth are changing because she sucks her thumb. We had a last-minute mini family photoshoot with Ashley in our backyard, and then outside dinner with friends. I started my eighth month with Baby Lower. The girls and I drove up north to meet friends for masked blueberry picking and a picnic. I was able to have an outside, socially-distant mama chat session with a friend who I hadn’t seen since the spring – SO much of life had changed. I started painting (touch-up) in the nursery. We voted in the Primaries. I had my 32 week OB appointment.
August. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a dinner from Canlis! [Earlier in the year we started planning a solo trip to celebrate, probably to San Francisco, but that was laughable at this point!] Aaron and I decided that even though we were being safe with masked play dates and social distancing, for the remainder of the summer and fall, we would really restrict and go into quarantine in preparation for Baby Lower’s arrival. This meant no more play dates, even masked ones, and no more in-person errands (so, grocery and food delivery) or non-OB appointments. My family threw us a Zoom Baby Shower! We celebrated Eloise’s SIXTH birthday with Eloise donuts, games, and cake. We started a Ridwell subscription which is a local company who collects recyclable material that Seattle can’t/won’t take for recycling (like styrofoam, plastic wrap, and clothing). I started my ninth month of pregnancy and had my 36 week OB check-up and ultrasound (this was to see whether Baby Lower was relatively large and may need to be induced early).
September. Daphne turned three-and-a-half and had her first day of school, though she wouldn’t actually return to school until October. Eloise had her first day of First Grade and kicked off her remote school year. And I started seeing the OB weekly for check-ups. Aaron, Eloise, and I had a virtual family conference with Eloise’s teachers (she has two who co-teach) and Aaron picked up (and set up) her district-issued iPad for school. We dropped off two old car seats for recycling at Target (they are SO hard to recycle usually). Eloise started her first full week of school, complete with PE and art class. Grammie came into town (after quarantining in Boise) to visit and for Baby Lower’s arrival. I had my 39 week check-up (which ended up being my last)! We had our final weekend as a family of four. I started my day on Monday, September 21st feeling a bit different and very pregnant, and ended it at the hospital in OB triage. We welcomed Baby BOY Lower – yay, Fitz! With everyone back at the house, we tried to find our new “normal” (which, turns out, we have yet to find). Meg came over to the house for our first family photoshoot and Aaron started his paternity leave. We had lots of doctor’s appointments for Fitz to check his weight and latch, and said good-bye to Grammie.
October. Eloise had a virtual reading assessment, and we all figured out the ins and outs of remote learning. Our Meal Train started with three meals each week, either delivered or gift cards sent, for nearly 6 weeks! Aaron and the girls got their flu shots (I had mine during my pregnancy). Daphne (finally) got to go back to school and she LOVED it! I got to chat with Amanda from her new home on the other side of the world. Fitz turned one month. We celebrated Halloween with some social distanced trick-or-treating and the girls dressed up as unicorns while Fitz was a little mouse.
November. Aaron extended his paternity leave for an additional month. We VOTED IN THE ELECTION! Woot woot for mail-in ballots. And I had my 6 week post-partum check-up, and started a virtual PEPS group with other local mamas of two or more. Aaron saw Dr. Snip and we are done having babies! Eloise and Daphne got haircuts for the first time this year, and their little bobs are the cutest. We had a parent-teacher conference with Eloise and her teachers. And Fitz had his 2 month check-up. We celebrated Thanksgiving with a Zoom call (with my family), watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade (a few times), and Aaron cooked a chicken. We headed out to the local Christmas tree farm for our Christmas tree. We decorated for Christmas – I decorated inside while Aaron hung lights. The girls had a masked, outside play date with a neighbor and were thrilled! Aaron’s paternity leave ended and he headed back to work (still working at home, until probably at least the summer).
December. Eloise had her last days of school before Winter Break along with a Zoom holiday social call with her classmates to celebrate together. We convinced the girls to watch Arthur Christmas with us and they loved it, watching it no fewer than three more times this month. I continued to meet virtually with my PEPS group each Thursday morning. The girls and I watched The Nutcracker which we streamed via the PNW Ballet at least three times. I wrapped presents that family had so generously sent to us for Christmas. We received so many cookies from neighbors. And then we baked and decorated sugar cookies for Santa. The girls wrapped presents for Aaron and me as well as each other. Fitz had a virtual peds appointment for a rash on his cheeks (which is totally normal and has cleared up now) on Christmas Eve. We ventured out (for the first time since March) as a family to U Village to run some errands and run around in the sunshine. Ben came over (outside) for a present exchange. The girls chose which cookies to leave out for Santa along with a glass of apple cider. Christmas morning came, the girls joined us in our bed (as they usually do in the mornings), we opened stockings, ate a Christmas breakfast, and opened some gifts. We had a Zoom call with my parents and siblings, and saved a few presents to open with them. The rest of the day was spent playing with new toys and FaceTiming with family. The girls did a FaceTime craft with Grammie (noise makers for NYE) and we watched Soul as a family. And Daphne’s preschool teacher came by and we did a socially distant and masked hello, the first time we have seen her since October. We rang in the New Year!
It’s been quite a year. And definitely one we will never forget.
Happy New Year’s!
M
And see our previous years’ highlights: 2019 // 2018 // 2017 // 2016 // 2015 // 2014 // 2013 // 2012 // 2011
I loved this so much. Thanks for sharing ♥️