2016 was an interesting year, if you mean interesting in the “old curse” sense. While 2016 was the year where democracy apparently went to die (and not just because of Trump), I had a much better personal life than last year. It was damn hard, but good in so many ways.

We welcomed Little Bird into the world, watched Sprout go through a lot of transitions, and missed out on a shit-ton of sleep. (My children don’t hate sleep so much as love everything else in the world so much more, especially driving their mother and father slightly bonkers.)

Plus, my blog readership grew substantially! Thank you so much to everyone who has read and enjoyed these posts in the last year. Although it’s dinky compared to a lot of other people, I’m still proud that I’ve nearly hit 10,000 views this year.

Looking back, many of my favorite posts were the ones where I was honest and vulnerable about my struggles as a parent:

• We Left Everything Except My Broken Body (on the Good Mother Project)
• This Too Shall Pass
• The Pain of Not Being the Favorite Parent
• Why I Love My First Child More Than My Second (For Now) (on Huffington Post)
• An Open Letter to the Woman Begging in Target
• Saying Goodbye to My Childhood Home
• Weddings, Threenagers, and Grace
• Parenting Fail: When I Don’t Like My Kid Very Much
• The Hardest Part of Parenting Two Kids
• To My Children Upon the Election of President Trump
• The “Why?” Phase

I also messed around with format and structure a bit, which I hope was as much fun to read as it was to write:

• A Day in the Life During My Third Trimester
• The Saga of Transitioning from a Crib to a Toddler Bed

Some of my most important posts described lessons learned, especially as connected to a lot of the awful events of this year:

• Getting Ready to Be a Big Brother
• Finding Hope in Dark Times
• How I’ve Confronted My Own Racism
• How to Encourage Your Child to Explore 
• How Parents Can Help Love Trump Hate

Others reminded me of some of the more off-the-beaten path places we visited in Washington D.C. and beyond:

• Exploring Wonder at the Renwick Gallery 
• Lily Pads and Marshes in Washington D.C.: Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens
• Best Nature-Focused Activities for Kids in Cape Cod 

And last but not least, I greatly enjoyed both doing and seeing people’s reactions to the Outdoors Family Challenge and my profiles of biking families for Bike Month!

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