Merry Christmas, darlings!

Oh, the most wonderful time of the year!  I know I say it every year, but my word, does time FLY BY.  In last year’s Christmas letter, I wrote about how I couldn’t remember the first half of the year because my mind was all-consumed with the fact that for the last part of the year I was pregnant with our little pookie head.

It’s the opposite this year; I’m trying to recall the first half of the year, but instead can only remember the second half because God blessed us with the most perfect baby boy.  I recently asked Peter, “What did we DO with ourselves before the baby?” as I was kissing sweet, squishy baby cheeks.  I think I watched a lot more trashy tv, and I KNOW that my house was a helluva lot cleaner, but who REALLY knows.

2015 was good to us, folks.  Really, really good to us.

We rang in the new year knowing that we had a big year ahead of us.  In January, Peter had the first big adjustment of getting ready for baby; his beloved Packer room got changed from man cave to man cave/guest room since the guest room was becoming the baby room.  It really cramped his style, and that’s when talk of finishing our basement got more serious.  We saw Daniel’s face for the first time, and we were more in love with him than ever.  Peter traveled to Switzerland for work while I ate ice cream at home.

In February, Peter celebrated his 27th birthday in Mexico while I slaved away at home making him a little birthday cake for when he returned.  We spent a weekend in Chicago for Peter’s birthday.  As usual, February was a pretty quiet month for us and most of the Midwest as we waited for winter to finally end.  With February came the baby’s crib – the first piece of anything that was in the baby’s room aside from the huge bunny my mom insisted on buying at Babies R Us.

March was super exciting with Daniel’s first (“first”) trip to Disney!  My youngest sister Rachel graduated high school, so we took a sister/mom trip to Disney and had the most wonderful time.  My family made being in Florida at 30 weeks pregnant easy, with lots of AC and ice cream treats.  Peter traveled to Brazil in March.  I was starting to get a little bit of travel envy at this point; usually I am the one going to Mexico and Brazil in February and March!!

In April we celebrated our third anniversary and were getting realllly close to meeting the baby.  Peter went to India, and while he was there I learned at a late ultrasound that Daniel wanted OUT and would be making an appearance 2-3 weeks early.  Obviously I withheld that information from the father-to-be until he was home.  I was put on bed rest at the very end of April following a baby shower full of love hosted by my sisters, cousin, and brother’s girlfriend.  The doctor told me to keep my blood pressure down, but that was just impossible knowing the baby was coming soon and Peter was on the other side of the world.

And then… MAY.  Need I say more??? Peter had been home for about three days when we celebrated (and celebrated and celebrated and celebrated!) the birth of our son, Daniel Martin Romenesko on May 7 at 10:09 p.m.  After being induced and heavily medicated, my biggest concern during labor was when my mom told me that she saw the head and, “The baby has DARK HAIR!”  I was very, very concerned about this, repeating, “My baby can’t have dark hair!”  Then, out popped (that’s exactly how it happens! …) our blonde haired, blue eyed boy.  (Head bruises make hair look dark.)  I celebrated my first Mother’s Day, and after 10 days in the NICU we were able to go home with our little boy on May 17.  Daniel happily participated in conference calls, cuddling, monster pajamas and being photographed every 7 minutes.

In June I celebrated my 28th birthday with my two favorite fellas.  Behind celebrating my birthday, my next favorite June event was Daniel’s dresser being delivered so that I could finish decorating his room.  I downloaded the Amazon app on my phone during maternity leave and got to know our UPS man on a first name basis.  Peter celebrated his first Father’s Day with matching t-shirts, and we spent most of the month just staring in awe at our baby boy.

July went by SO FAST as my 12 week maternity leave was coming to a close.  Daniel LOVED his first Fourth of July with three outfit changes because if there is one thing people know about me, it’s that I love America.  I’m so glad that my friends want to impose my love of this great country on Daniel so they got him tons of adorable America gear.  We kept moving through the summer with lots of visitors, which Daniel and I LOVED.  At the end of July, Daniel was welcomed into Christ’s Kingdom with his baptism which we celebrated with family and close friends.  Following that wonderful day was one of the worst days ever – I cried as I left Daniel and drove back to work.

After one week of my returning to work, Peter started traveling again.  The second week of August, Daniel and I had our first of many mother/son bonding times when Peter went to Istanbul, Turkey for work.  Daniel and I spent a couple of weekends in Lake Geneva at my parents’ so that we didn’t get too sick of each other.

With September came the most wonderful time of the year – the Walworth County Fair!  I was so excited that at only 4 months old Daniel was able to experience one of the greatest things of all time.  Never mind that he slept through a lot of it.  Peter took a trip to China where the highlight of his trip was eating at Jackie Chan’s restaurant.  To show my full support of Peter traveling to China, I had Chinese food for lunch a lot while he was gone.  Also in September, Peter and I had our first night away from Daniel while Peter’s parents babysat.  It was my first night away from the baby; I cried when we left and cried when we got home.  I missed the little pumpkin head.

In October, Peter had his first solo-run with Daniel while I was in Madison for World Dairy Expo.  Pretty sure I was the one who cried the most during that whole thing, because the men had a great time.  Peter went to South Africa for work while I tried and tried to get D Money to roll over, but the pud just won’t do it.  He started eating cereal, and we can’t feed him fast enough.  Daniel was the cutest Oompa Loompa I’ve ever seen for Halloween.  We had to force the hat onto his big ol’ noggin, but it was well worth it for the pictures we got!

November came and went really quickly.  Peter stayed on American soil for the month which was wonderful for Daniel and I, as I’m sure Daniel was tired of me being in his face all the time.  I went on another short 3 night trip for work, and while I was away, Peter was super dad and took care of a sick baby.  Since being in daycare, Daniel comes home with EVERYTHING, and since I’m in his face all the time, I usually get it too.  Peter is smarter and keeps more distance, while I just can’t help myself. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, November didn’t go quickly because Daniel and I were sick for half of it and that really sucked.  I got an eye virus, which was REALLY fun, and I was also suffering from REALLY chapped lips (details to come in an upcoming post…) and it was all just weird.  Then Daniel got pink eye, which was a huge pain since he’s strong and smart enough to squinch those little eyes SHUT when he sees the eye dropper.  Daniel celebrated his first Thanksgiving, and his favorite food was Cool Whip which, aside from birthing him, further confirmed that he is indeed my child.

With December came some BIG CHANGES.  On December 4, I gave my two weeks’ notice to CRI after accepting a job with a PR company.  Two days after I gave my notice, our washing machine broke.  Then the next day Peter left for Indonesia, I got a HORRIBLE cold, and Daniel also got sick. Yaaaaaay.  It was a physically and an emotionally exhausting month as I started saying bye to my colleagues that had become friends over the last 5 years.  Peter got back from Indonesia to a very, very emotional wife and a 7 month old who was really happy to have someone hold him who wasn’t going to randomly burst into tears.

2015 was most certainly one of the best years of all time for our little family, as we’ve been blessed with love, overall health, safety, and happiness in all aspects of our lives.  Despite the complaints throughout the year, Christmas is a time to fully step back and reflect on all of the good that God has provided, and trusting in Him fully as He reveals His greater plan for each of us.

We sincerely wish each of you the merriest Christmas full of joy, and we are so excited to see what next year brings.

With love and many Christmas blessings,
Peter, Sara and Daniel Romenesko

PS: When I was making these little collages and seeing Daniel as a teeny tiny baby, the only thing I was thinking is that I need another baby because Daniel is now a big lug who can sit up by himself (But still won’t roll over.  Priorities.) and won’t cuddle with me unless he’s sick or tired.