2012 In Review

I wanted to do a post like this last year, but let's face it, I was up to my half-closed eyeballs in the diapers and laundry that accompany a 3-week old. My year in review:


January

I turned 32.

Lane turned two.



We took a short trip to Antalya, Turkey as a family.


February

We got family photos taken for the first time.



We potty-trained Lane.

Shannon went to the States for two weeks, leaving me alone with a 2-year old and a 2.5-month old.


    Girls snoozing together, giving me a break!

March

Noel started sleeping through the night.

Lane started her love affair with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.



I started taking a Turkish class outside the home, dragging Noel with me to class each week.


April

Lane went on her first Easter egg hunt.



Noel reached that happy, smiling, rolling-all-over-the-place stage.


May

Shannon got Lasik eye surgery.



Noel and I went to the States, surprising my youngest brother for his high school graduation.



Shannon went out-of-country for a week, and I nearly went insane.


June

We gave Noel her own room: the bathroom.

Lane and I had our first real tea party.


    First tea party.

Shannon took a CELTA course, effectively making me a single parent for a month.

It got really hot in Istanbul, so we spent some time in the pool.



We took a day trip to Buyuk Ada (Big Island) off the coast of Istanbul, giving Noel her first carriage ride (and Lane the first one she might remember).



More family photos!




July

We went to a conference on the Marmara Sea, where Noel took her first dip in a pool and Lane cried all week while in childcare.


    View from our hotel room.


Shannon's dad came to visit.




We took a day trip to the beach with some good friends. It was Noel's first time to the beach, and Lane's first visit in almost two years.



Shannon turned 38.


August

We celebrated five years of marriage.

Shannon went out of town for a week, so I ate whatever I wanted. (We did drop his cholesterol about 30 points, just in case you were wondering.)


    Where he went.


    What we did while he was gone.

I night-time potty trained Lane while Shannon was gone.



And I attempted to put the girls in the same room, but Noel started getting some teeth that week and waking lots during the night, so I gave it up.


September

We moved out of our apartment and into temporary housing, waiting on our visas to come through for our next move.



I took a break from blogging with no guilt.


    Lane got really interested in coloring.


October

We voted.

I chopped off all my hair.



Lane became hilarious.

We took the girls for one last "big hurrah" in the "Big City."


   First time in a ball pit.

We moved to another country.


    View from our apartment when we arrived.


November

Lane broke her collarbone and got an ear infection.

We started language lessons and began to figure out life here.

We decorated for Christmas in the typical Scarbrough fashion: pizza and decorating with A Charlie Brown Christmas playing on Thanksgiving Day.




December

Noel turned one.



We got some decent snowfall and Lane got to really play in snow for the first time.





Noel got three molars in four days (25th-28th) and we put the girls in the same room again.

Christmas.





Fireworks for 30ish minutes on the 31st. Best show I've ever seen.


     View from our apartment windows of fireworks all over the city.

Happy New Year! As crazy as 2012 was for us, it was a great year. I'm praying for another great year in 2013!