Bring it 2011 - I dare you!

2011...hard to believe. I can say with 100% certainty that 2010 brought the most change I've ever experienced in one year.

I began 2010 ten weeks pregnant, working full time, living in Atlanta and not having a clue what the next twelve months would entail. I had never heard the word omphalocele, never been in the hospital, never dealt with a health insurance company. I thought of myself as a career woman, couldn't imagine life without 8am-5pm, lived to meet sales goals. I spent my free time running, going to the movies, eating out, having cocktails with the girls (well, pre-pregnancy). Jared and I went out almost every weekend and were free to come and go as we pleased.

Fast-forward to January 1, 2011 and here I am, stay at home mom in San Antonio with more medical knowledge than I ever thought I'd know. My free time is spent...well, let's be honest, what free time? My goals are now Harper's weight, what she's eaten for the day and physical therapy milestones. If I get a run in, it's a huge accomplishment and my "want to see it" movie list is increasingly getting bigger and bigger. If we eat out, it's once in a blue moon and we're home by 8pm. And I wouldn't trade my life now for my old life for a billion dollars.

In August, I met the second love of my life and I don't think I could have had words for the old Brooke to prepare her heart for what she would feel. Becoming a mother changes you to the core - changes your identity, what's important in life, what matters. You become part of a club that automatically bonds you to that woman on the plane with the crying baby that you use to roll your eyes at, that mother in the grocery store with a child throwing a temper tantrum in the aisle, that woman kissing her sleeping baby in her lap at church, that mother who's heart is breaking as she sends her baby to surgery. You are all unique but also one in the same.

So 2010, you were a tough one. You took me to places I never thought I'd go but you have also made me a better person. You've softened my heart and given my life a new purpose. You are definitely one for the history books.

And to you 2011, bring it on. I'm ready!