18 for 2018

This is the first year since I started my blog that I haven’t made my giant collage of the year and all it’s best moments. (see: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017!)

Instead, I’m going to pick 18 highlights–small ones–of 2018 to share with you all. I decided to do this in favor of time, and also because, with a new baby, it’s too hard to pick just a few pictures to highlight. I would end up with a million pictures, most of them of my daughter. Since my main goal for 2019 is to be in the moment and appreciate the little things, it also seems fitting to focus on my favorite little memories from 2018. Of course, this could easily be 18 (or 100…) highlights just from parenthood, but I did my best to include some other parts of my life.

(Okay, most of these little moments are of my baby…but in my defense, she really is just that amazing, says her completely un-biased mother :)).

Also, it just doesn’t feel like a new year without documenting it on my blog. Even if it’s the end of January already!

Here we go, in no particular order:

ONE: Singing happy birthday to my one-year-old

TWO: Listening to the church bells during a night walk in Tallinn

THREE: My baby “mmming” while eating a pastry in at the amazing Regatta Café in Helsinki, to the amusement of the entire place

FOUR: Watching a dear friend dance with her new husband during their New Year’s Eve fiesta

FIVE: Flying over Mount Rainier (also my daughter’s first flight at five months old!)

SIX: Randomly spotting whales while visiting Depoe Bay, Oregon (on my birthday, no less!)

SEVEN: Coffee on this porch

EIGHT: Exploring Copenhagen with my new little travel buddy in tow!

NINE: Christmas tree hunting

TEN: Napping baby during a lunch in Tallinn

ELEVEN: My brother and my baby on the beach

TWELVE: Visiting my siblings in Idaho

THIRTEEN: Walking in my new neighborhood in the fall!

FOURTEEN: A picnic in the park for my mother-in-law’s birthday

FIFTEEN: Seeing family all over California

SIXTEEN: Family coffee dates

SEVENTEEN: Family time in the snowy Montana countryside at Christmastime

EIGHTEEN: My postpartum hair (at least for the first few months, until it all started to fall out)