So all in all it was a good year, even though it didn’t start very well – MrB got labyrinthitis right as 2011 became 2012 and was very sick for several weeks.

He did eventually recover and no serious health troubles have bothered us since.  I have actually hardly been sick at all this year, maybe it’s got to do with the crazy new year’s resolution I made (and actually mostly stuck to!)?

In February I ran the Brighton Half Marathon and right afterwards was out of running action for a while due to one of my knees being busted from a fall.

In March I though about Papa who passed away a year ago in March 2011… (I actually think about him a lot… not just in the month of March…)

In April I visited Amsterdam and caught up with my best friend from my sophomore year in college in Missouri – a crazy Dutch chick I hadn’t seen since 1997!  I also pondered how meaningful running has become for me and decided to screw the PND and give up Citalopram.

In May we all visited Edinburgh to catch up with friends we met while living in Canberra.  After that little holiday I spent several weeks stressing about a job situation (one that did have a very happy ending eventually – 5 months later!)

In June I answered some questions about my sugar free life that was still going strong and went to Britmums again to catch up with all the great friends I’ve made through blogging.

In July and August I took 9 weeks off work and spent most of it in Estonia.  And because it’s a miserable rainy December right now I’m going to post these photos again to lift my mood :)

In September we visited the Making of Harry Potter studios near London and I fell in love with CrossFit.

In October I ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon and the Run to the Beat Half Marathon.

In November the winter blues started to rear their ugly head (especially since I’ve been off Citalopram since the end of April).

In December we spent a lovely weekend in a spa hotel on our 12th wedding anniversary and afterwards a mad rush leading up to Christmas followed.

In total I wrote 567 blog posts in 2012 and after 7 years I’m actually calling it quits with this blog.

Only because I’m working on a new one :)

It’ll be a little “happy place” for me as I go through my midlife crisis and train for a marathon (Paris, April 7, 2013) and attempt to live not only sugar free but wheat free and dairy free as well!

Until the new blog opens up, catch up with me on Twitter, I’m ALWAYS on Twitter :)

Have a wonderful 2013! See you soon in my new blog!

Mwah!

Upon opening his first present, Oskar fell on his knees and shouted “My first wish has come true! Thank you! Thank you God for making Santa!!”

Oliver opened up all of this presents and of course has been playing with one of the smallest and cheapest items all day. Parents always go just a little overboard when it comes to Christmas :)

While we woke up to lightning and rain, the skies cleared for lunchtime and I took Oliver for a walk. He slept for an hour and I enjoyed the quiet streets.

We arrived home just as lunch was ready and the afternoon has been spent half in food coma, half on FaceTime with various family members in various other countries and continents.

MrB is making pavlova now and since I’ve already had a bit of sugar today in the form of gingerbread cookies, I think I might have some pav as well – we might not be in Australia this year as initially planned, but we can always eat some Aussie food :)

And I leave you with some photos from last night and this morning. It’s been a good day but I’m looking forward to tomorrow when everything is open again and I can take the kids for a play at a soft play centre and go for a run – I go a bit stir crazy when I’m inside all day long.

We are taking it easy this year for Christmas – we’re not going anywhere, we only have one house guest, we only have a couple of very casual catch-ups with friends planned and a pantomime on the 28th.

Most presents are wrapped, the turkey and a new batch of gingerbread cookie dough is in the fridge. There won’t be a special Christmas breakfast or brunch or any of that – just the regular porridge or pancakes and being out and about whenever it’s not raining.

Today we went ice skating in front of the Natural History museum, it was quite  a workout for us holding the kids up for 50 minutes :)  Afterwards we enjoyed a late pizza lunch sitting outside – it was such a warm day! Then a walk through Hyde Park checking out the sights of the Winter Wonderland in the background and then home to a movie and mulled wine.

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

It’s nice not to rush at this time of the year, it’s nice not to have to-do lists, it’s nice not to dress up for Christmas but just be us and just swing it (easier for me to say than MrB as he’ll be the one cooking :).

I hope everyone has a cozy, memorable and stress-free Christmas surrounded by their loved ones!

Bowling on Sunday afternoon had some good moments…

It’s been a weekend of mixed emotions. I have stayed away from newspapers and actually hidden them so that the kids don’t see the headlines. I am not ready to explain.

If I still lived in the States I know I’d have to explain, and generally I don’t shy away from deep and meaningful conversations with my kids (more with the 7-yr old than the 4-yr old) but living in London now I am hiding this story from them… I don’t know whether this is the right thing to do or not, but it’s what I’m doing…

Other than that, we’ve had some fun moments this weekend but also a whole LOT of moaning and tantrums :|  I don’t know if other parents feel the same, but when my kids have tantrums that just last on an on and on and morph into moaning that goes on and on an on – I totally feel like I’m failing at this parenting thing.

I always manage to talk through these situations but long sessions of explaining/guiding/negotiating/comforting/disciplining a child are so freaking emotionally exhausting.

And then there’s the issue of them being boys and loving playing with guns and I totally detest that kind of play but I just do not know whether there is any boy who does not like to play with guns and am just hoping that them knowing not to aim at others is enough…

Feelings to summarise this weekend: Gratitude mixed with a lot of Weltschmertz.

10 days until Christmas – life’s still busy but showing signs of slowing down… I even took my ‘rest day’ today seriously and had a long afternoon nap :)

MrB has been coming home before the kids are in bed and it’s been so nice. Sadly I had almost forgotten just how nice it is when he comes home in time to do the boys’ bathtime and bedtime with me. I feel total calmness come over me as soon as he walks in the door and I love when all 4 of us are cuddling in our bed and reading books. It’s visible and palpable how the kids love having him home during workday evenings and I feel a lot less frantic when he’s around (I can be a bit of a stress head, especially when I have to jump straight into homework/bath/books/bed routine after a day in the office).

So one more week of work and then 2 off. It’ll be a quiet Christmas here in London – we couldn’t go to Australia this year but we’re looking forward to just slowing down, catching up with friends and remembering that life’s not all about work, work, work.

The tree is fake but the gingerbread dough I made – cookie decorating takes place tomorrow night.

Oliver’s nativity play + Joseph’s oufit
Oliver not really participating because he hates big crowds
Office Christmas dinner
Five working days
Seven CrossFit days
Estonian School Christmas party
Oliver not really participating
Swimming with the kids
9km run after CrossFit on Saturday
Generally feeling sore from neck down to ankles
Totally pumped to finish this 12 Days of CrossFit Challenge
Gingerbread cookie dough made
Christmas tree put up
Christmas presents bought
MrB’s birthday present bought
Christmas packages ready to be shipped
A busy diary for the week ahead
No commitments next weekend (other than running, of course)
Ready to sleep. Right now.

Love my new top from Kaisa @ kaisalarkas.com

I no longer have Wednesdays off work to run errands, spend time with the kids or cook dinners. In addition, I’ve decided to join the “12 days of CrossFit” challenge at my CrossFit gym and that means that I have to fit in a class every freaking day from this Monday until the 14th of December.

There are also various work/school/nursery related Christmas functions AND a costume hunt for my little “Joseph” for tomorrow’s nativity play (eek!! so soon!!!) AND Christmas presents going overseas that need to be wrapped and posted asap.

A cherry on the Cake of Busyness is my date with ink next week and MrBs birthday on the next day (not related in any way). The lollipops (sugar free) have been purchased for the first event (apparently sweets are needed to not pass out) and the second event has been sorted as well. Whew :|

All of the above means not seeing the kids much :(, letting them eat lasagna several days in a row (MrB made a big batch on Sunday) and hoping Oskar does his reading and his homework every night without much supervision :|

Despite feeling a bit frantic at times, I think in general I’m doing ok – I have written to-do lists for myself, delegated lunch prep to MrB (I leave before 6am for CrossFit) and homework supervision to mom (this will involve mainly hassling as she can’t really help due to the language issue).

Whew. I should be able to catch my breath on the weekend of 15th and 16th – these days are totally blank in my calendar :)

This morning’s CrossFit was fab. I had hoped for burpees and box jumps (instead of lifting weights) but I got rope climbs and slam balls. Fine by me! I lost a bit of skin from my right hand from the rope but did my 5 rounds of 400m run, 2 rope climbs and 12 slam balls in 17 minutes and 52 seconds. I don’t know whether that’s any good, but my heart was seriously thumping by the end of it so I consider it a success.

I actually told the coach that I love those kinds of workouts the best and could do without all the heavy weightlifting – I hope I don’t get dis-membershipped for saying that!

In other news – home life is a case of musical beds at the moment. Oliver has been coughing badly and slightly feverish all week, so every night he ends up in our bed. He likes to cuddle just a little too close when he’s feeling off :)  I have had enough of trying to balance myself at the end of the bed, so I slept two nights in his bunk bed, letting him cuddle with MrB instead.

Last night Oliver decided that it was time for MrB to sleep in his bunk so at midnight they switched places and when I got up at 5:40 for CrossFit, Oliver was still deep asleep and not having his usual 5-6am coughing fit. Maybe, just maybe he’s starting to get better.

Anyway… yesterday I was thinking how so many bloggers can write so eloquently about various topics and don’t tend to ramble on about their days or their weeks like I do. So often I feel like such a crap blogger for not being more creative, but every time I try to be my real life friends laugh at me (with love, of course) and I actually really like that my blog is just my diary and not a half-commercial looking mommy blog with serious mommy topics.  It’s just not my style… (maybe I should buy that domain name of www.spontaneousrambler.com as I planned to a while ago? :)

Wishing everyone a great weekend – do something active and smile :)