Oh, 2020. Yes, you were a weird and sad moment for the world, but you also brought us our sweet baby Caden, both of my sisters` weddings, my baby brother’s college graduation, and lots of wonderful family time. While I’m hopeful for a more “normal” 2021 (travel! friend gatherings! getting out of the house more!), I will continue to hold tight to my babies and be grateful for my blessings even if we don’t see that normalcy come to fruition for a while. I’ve written one of these posts every year since my blog began (except for 2018), and I love looking back on them!
January
We kicked off 2020 with a little more Christmas at Mozart’s Light Show. Here is me with my first baby and pregnant with my second baby!
We got to see Baby Caden this month! I can’t believe that as of writing this post I’m now helping this little chunker learn to walk!
Daniel and I did a pre-baby getaway to Whitefish, Montana this month, where we got to stay in this dreamy bed & breakfast! I wrote a whole post about Whitefish here.
We also had my sister Elizabeth’s wedding shower this month!
February
Looking back on February, we really crammed in lots of fun! And that’s a good thing, because we really had no idea what the rest of 2020 had in store for us.
First, we celebrated Elizabeth’s upcoming wedding with her bachelorette weekend! Here us sisters are at one of the wineries on our wine tour. Obviously, I was not drinking. 🙂
The next weekend was wedding weekend! I love this photo of Liz and Carson taken the morning of her wedding day on my sister Ellen’s Polaroid.
Getting ready for the wedding celebrations!
Look at that gorgeous bride and handsome groom! And that little ring bearer is pretty darn cute too… Side note: One of my scariest parenting moments took place right after this. Carson had his first big injury when he took a tumble on the concrete stairs. He had a big goose egg on his head. After talking with my cousin who is a paramedic, we decided we didn’t need to run him to the emergency room and miss the wedding. I’m thankful we made that decision because he was just fine and actually was able to complete his ring bearer duties with a smile just 30 minutes after the accident.
After the wedding weekend, we got together with some friends who were expecting their baby girl. It was fun meeting with a friend who was pregnant at the same time. They actually ended up having their baby the following week!
I was grateful I was able to attend Carson’s Valentine’s Day party at school before the the daycares all shut down in March/April. He had a blast!
We also celebrated Daniel’s 31st birthday with a special order from Milk Bar in NYC!
And we ended February 2020 celebrating my other sister Ellen at her bridal shower! I hosted the shower at a cute restaurant in Waco. Here’s us with our mama.
March
We slowed down a lot in March. I was dealing with some pregnancy health issues, and COVID-19 really began affecting the US at this point.
We spent a lot of time just soaking in the final days of Carson being an only child.
My friend Brittany paid us a visit from Houston!
We took advantage of Carson’s visit to Gramma and Grampa’s to start cleaning out our garage.
I love this photo. I had thought that this was going to be our last “family of three” photo because I was going in to be induced that day, but Caden had different plans. See below.
Here I am thinking I was going to have a March baby. Long story short, I was sent home to have the baby later since Caden decided to flip back to a breach position.
April
Since we had more time before baby, we continued to give Carson as much time and attention as possible. Daddy and Carson made a blanket fort.
Daniel took this final “bump shot” of me on the morning of April 6th, right before we headed out to the hospital for our induction appointment.
Then, nearly 14 hours later, our second baby boy arrived!
A few days later, Carson was able to meet Baby Brother at home. Instantly, I was assured that having two babies less than two years apart was going to be worth it (even if it has had its difficulties).
That weekend, Caden had his first Easter, and we dressed both boys up in their Easter jammies, since we weren’t going anywhere in April 2020.
And we spent the rest of the month going almost nowhere, soaking in all the newborn cuddles, learning how to be a family of four, and celebrating Carson’s second birthday!
 
 
 
May
May brought a whole lot more family time, some visits from grandparents, aunts, and uncles, my 31st birthday, my first Mother’s Day as a mother of two, and our 9th anniversary!
One of my favorite meals ever is a charcuterie board, so that’s what I got for my birthday. 🙂
Since COVID forced many restaurants to pivot to a takeout system, we were able to order in from our favorite place in Austin – Emmer & Rye – to celebrate our anniversary!
Haha, no dressing up for an anniversary celebration less than two months postpartum….
 
June
In June we spent time in our new backyard pool…
…had our first quick date night after Caden was born…
…spent lots of time with the boys…
 
…took Carson for his first Baylor campus visit (Sic ‘Em!)…
…celebrated Ellen’s marriage to Lane (small ceremony, and looking forward to the big party in June 2021!)…
…and celebrated Daniel for Father’s Day with a visit to a farm and a winery!
July
July brought more family time and virtual VBS
August
August brought us Caden’s mohawk, Carson’s school photos, Caden’s transition to the crib, walks with friends (2020 style), a visit from my friend Kaitlin, and lots of water play outside!
September
In September, Carson’s dreams came true with a visit to my cousin’s fire station…
…more time with Gramma and Grampa…
…pumpkin jammies…
…COVID hair…
…and another lovely date night.
October
October was so fun. I love October. It brought: a fun visit the the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to check out their outdoor Fortlandia exhibit, Carson’s first camping trip, the casting of a very important vote, and Caden’s first Halloween!
Sadly, this month I also developed some health issues that I’m still dealing with today.
November
In November we spent lots of time in the beautiful weather…
…went to a fun pumpkin patch…
… set up a temporary baby gate situation while we tried to figure out a good play area to contain our new crawler…
…a fun visit with friends (2020 style)…
…and lots of Christmas jammies and brother time!
December
I haven’t shared our Scenes From the Month for December yet, but here’s a brief look through photos to round out this post.
 
Happy New Year, everyone!
{Thanks for reading! Want to know a little more about me? I’m a CPA learning how to balance a career with motherhood and regular travel while planting roots at home in the Austin, TX area. When I’m not exploring my home city with my husband Daniel and baby boys Carson and Caden or cuddling with my chubby orange cat Banana, I’m probably either out on a playdate with my son or planning, packing for, traveling to, or daydreaming about our next adventure. After all, my travel mug collection is never complete. If you have wanderlust too, be sure to follow me on Instagram (and InstaStories!), Pinterest, and Facebook, or subscribe to my blog!}