To give you a brief overview of everything that's been happening in our family, let me present the following list:
1. Jonah had his first Halloween filled with parties galore
2. our family was struck by the illness fairy (a skin infection, two colds and bladder stones requiring surgery!)
3. I gave my annual lecture at AU's Arts Management program about corporate fundraising plus interviewed to hopefully sit on a grants advisory panel for Montgomery County
4. I hosted the Wild Women for a weekend gathering so we could continue our annual "getaway"
5. Thanksgiving, and to sum it all up...
6. Jonah's 1st birthday!
First of all our Halloween festivities were a blast. One of Jonah's good friend's from our waterbabies class hosted a fabulous Halloween and Harvest Fun party - imagine 10 babies dressed to the nines in their Halloween costumes - some were crawlers, some were walkers and some were even runners. Jonah even put up with his skeleton costume without complaining. It was so much fun! The next day we went to a Halloween/birthday party for one of his playgroup friends - this time Jonah sported a monkey costume. The hit of the party was the ball pit... I couldn't get Jonah out of it the entire time we were there! He even managed to shove a fistful of orange cupcake frosting into his mouth before I caught him.
Speaking of sweets... I think I made it through this Halloween and only consumed a handful of candy! Truly a feat in and of itself! This was most likely because we had not one, not two, but NO trick-or-treaters at our new house. I thought at the very least our next door neighbors children would come by, but no. It was super quiet. I ended up sending the candy I'd bought to work with Michael. Otherwise, I would have eaten it all!
Following Halloween though, things went downhill. I managed to have a recurrence of the MRSA that I got from the hospital when Jonah was born - that was no fun. And of course, when it rains it pours, so I came down with a cold, which I managed to pass to Jonah. And just as we were both in the full swing of our sniffles, our pug started having accidents in the house - one of which required an emergency vet visit so Michael had to hurry home from work (at 9pm...) to take her while I stayed home with Jonah... The vet pronounced that she had bladder stones and a urinary tract infection. You might as well as posted a big fat quarantine sign outside our house. We were officially a mess! After some more time meeting with different vets to figure out how to treat Ziva, she finally had surgery. Honestly, it couldn't have been scheduled in a more timely way because just as I was bringing her to the surgeon her stones clogged her tract and the surgery had to be more extensive. She had to spend two nights at the hospital. Our house was way too quiet in her absence - I couldn't sleep. I missed her snorting and snoring at night. But she recovered well at the hospital and before we knew it she was home again - yay! It took a few days to get things back into a manageable routine, which seemed to come together just in time for our house guests...
The WWW ladies descended on the Harwin household with a vengeance (and more importantly with wine!)... and with their children. It was a blast! Who are the WWW ladies you may ask - well years ago I worked with a bunch of fabulous women at the US Chamber and we grew to be very dear friends. Our little group expanded to include a few roommates and college friends and over the past decade (yes, its really been about that long!) we've managed to stay in touch. Each year in the fall, and sometimes in the spring, we try to get everyone together and either take a trip or gather at someone's home, to catch up. I wasn't able to attend last year's trip to Nashville as I was too pregnant, but this year we had this new big house and well, Michael was supposed to be out of town for work. Most of the ladies were able to come over for some or part of the weekend and we even managed to skype in one person who couldn't make it and one of the ladies' new boyfriend (all the way from Kazakhstan!). It was so much fun to see everyone, catch up, and watch our kids play together! Its really amazing that our group has remained close after all these years. Most of us have moved on to different jobs, some to entirely different careers, a few got married and had children, several have moved away from DC (and in my case back), and some of us are now home-owners. Our lives are pointing us in different directions, but we always stay rooted through one another. To me, that's the perfect recipe for life-long friendship!
Around this time, I headed over to the American University campus to give a lecture on corporate fundraising to the Arts Management students. This was the 3rd year I've been privileged to lecture for the program and I have a lot of fun approaching fundraising from such a different perspective. Its totally different to look at it all from an educational viewpoint than to be deep in the trenches asking for the gifts. Hopefully, my little contribution to the field of corporate giving will help someone out someday! In the meantime, I'm hoping to give back to my own community by participating on a grants advisory panel for my county. I met with the coordinator and should hear this week whether they will need my assistance or not. I think it would be a fun way to stay engaged and learn more about the non-profits in our area.
As for the next big affair in our house, we decided to host Thanksgiving this year. This holiday is a big one for my family and is pretty much centered around one thing: apple pie. And not just any apple pie, but completely homemade by my mom from my great grandmother's recipe. Flaky, light crust, with sweet tender apples... Mmmmm... I spend all year dreaming about this pie. I can make it and have in the past, but the sheer emotional joy of eating her pie after stuffing myself with salad, yams, turkey, etc. is a unique experience. Ok, enough about food. Thanksgiving was also fun because we indoctrinated my aunt and uncle into the world of Wii. My aunt, who is so technologically un-savvy managed to become a pro Wii bowler in just a few short games. I'm worried we created an addict... as is my uncle - the computer genius who managed to figure out how to play every game sitting down. Leave it to him to defy the purpose of Wii and still succeed at winning the games!
All of this entertaining was really just a warm up though for the biggest event of 2009 - Jonah's first birthday. I can't believe my little man is one, he's walking (practically running really) everywhere, babbling up a storm (usually in response to food of course!), and clapped for the very first time upon receiving his piece of birthday cake. It was a priceless moment - and one that was shared by his grandparents (all 6 of them!), his aunts, his cousin, his great grandmothers, some of our very best friends, and his many friends from play group and beyond. Jonah is one popular guy and we had a blast!
So, now we are whole-heartedly into the holiday season and I'm getting ready to set up for hanukkah and pack for our annual winter trip to FL where we will be able to visit family and watch our Northwestern Wildcats kick Auburn's butt at the Outback Bowl. Michael's work load has dwindled down, so we are finally getting to see more of him... all in all a great way to close a fantastic year. I can't complain in the least!
