We have never really been huge celebrators of the New Year.  Pre-parenthood, there was the occasional party or night out with friends (or there was that time that we double-dated in Chapel Hill and couldn’t get a cab so, in a drunken and silly decision, my best friend and I took off walking in our fancy clothes and stilettos and got about 3 miles before our soon-to-be hubbies drove up in a cab).  But, overall, most New Year’s Eves have been spent in our house with a couple bottles of champagne and Ryan Seacrest watching the ball drop.

After Noah was born, nothing really changed except we had to be extra quiet, or there was that first year, when Noah was only 4 months old and I think my first minutes of 2012 were spent breastfeeding.  What can I say?  Being a mom is exciting.

Well, this year, I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, we could pull ourselves together enough so that Noah could actually be awake with us to watch the ball drop (after all, I haven’t been able to get him to bed lately until 10pm so what was a couple more hours).  We have been trying to gear him up to be excited about New Year’s for over a week.  We have worked hard on getting him to be ready for 2015 and I think he knows what a New Year’s resolution is (although he does not seem very sold on the idea).

I bought a few extra bottles of wine and champagne so Matt and I would be in the right mindset to handle a few extra hours of the possible tired and grumpy tantrums that we were assuming were in our near future.  I made my traditional giant pot of chili and homemade cornbread so we would have lots of leftovers to eat on New Year’s Day while we watch football (but I did fancy it up with a 3-meat chili: steak, Italian sausage, and beef).

Things were going well.  We ate chili, drank wine, had to stop every now and then to participate in a Paw Patrol rescue mission, it was good.  Then, I made a pretty huge and ill-advised mistake.  I looked at Matt and asked, with all confidence, “Is it cool if I just lay down and close my eyes for a minute?”

Because he loves me, he said yes.  And, before I knew it, Noah had already had a bath, was in his PJs, and was using my leg as an adventure scene for his Paw Patrol pups.  I swear I was only asleep for about 10 minutes but, in super-tired mom-fashion, I think it was more like an hour and a half. 

Unfortunately, there was no coming back from my unrealistic power-nap and I took Noah up to his room to get him in bed.  The next thing I knew, it was 2:45am and I had fallen asleep in Noah’s room.  The ball had dropped, Taylor Swift had sung “Shake It Off” and I missed it, and Matt had poured my full wine glass back into the bottle (champagne never opened).

Looking back at 2014, this was actually a rather apropos way to end the year.  Having a willful and freakishly energetic toddler has been exciting and exhausting.  I have never been more tired in my life.  When I was a brand new mom and Noah was nursing every 45 minutes, I only thought I was tired.  Working a full-time job, seeing clients at night part-time, and coming home to play superheroes and pirates is grueling, but worth it.  In addition, the grief that Matt and I are still struggling with after losing our precious dog, Kenan, less than 3 weeks ago is still very fresh.  The stress of Christmas is usually pretty significant but, the stress of Christmas without Kenan was almost more painful than either of us could bare.

I don’t think I will be any less exhausted in 2015.  If I know my son, he will only get faster and stronger and become even more willful as he gets older.  But, as we hang the new calendar with all of Noah’s activities, client schedules, and Matt begins a new career (super excited about having him work closer to home), I am excited about 2015.

New goal for the year: stop falling asleep in Noah’s room.  My back is killing me!