2017 will forever be in our memories as one of the greatest years of our lives. It was the year that all our hard work and sacrifices paid off. It wasn’t the easiest of years. In fact, it might have been one of the hardest, but it was worth it!

2017 was a year dedicated to hard work in all aspects of our lives: in our respective careers, as parents, and as a family.

2017 was the year soccer took over and we saw the hard work, dedication and perseverance of the past few years pay off. Championships won (Treble), records broken as a team and personally, and getting called back into the USMNT. Some may say it’s a career high. I say, we still don’t know what’s to come  either way, it was an amazing year! To say I’m proud is an understatement. It didn’t’ all come easy. There were countless days and nights apart, tears (mine) of frustration and exhaustion. There were many hours of silence as preparation for big games took over. There were carefully planned meals and routines. There were last minute trips with a cray cray toddler to cheer our main guy on. There were some days I thought I was done with it all. I got so caught up in the short term challenges that I couldn’t see the big picture and where we were headed. But we went to as many games as our non soccer life schedules and health allowed. We wore our TFC jerseys proudly and we shouted go daddy at the top of our lungs. In the end it was all worth it!

2017 was the year I went back to work in what I’m good at and excelled at it. I finally felt fulfilled, accomplished, and above all challenged (and not by a toddler whining on the floor). It was a year that I had my own successes and major accomplishments and none of them involve me jumping in silence because I managed to put our child down for a nap in less than 30min. It was the year I got back on track in my career which was a huge win for me. I got a large part of my sanity back and I got back a part of me that I valued more than I knew. It wasn’t all easy either. Getting back into the grove of it all, the work environment, the constant stimulation of a part of my brain that had been dormant, the need to be focused and “on” for hours a time was a huge challenge I hadn’t prepared for. There were days I wanted to quit because I thought maybe my brain had been destroyed by motherhood. 2017 was the year, Justin had to also cheer me on. I’ll be eternally grateful to him for not letting me quit and reminding me I need to be patient and have faith in myself. Above all grateful that we found a balance and respect for each other’s career and needs. It’s a year we can both be proud of what we accomplished and proud to have helped each other make it.

2017 we found what for now feels like the perfect balance between being parents and being us  and it was a game changer. We settled into a nice routine, found habits that work for us as a family, and worked really hard to let go of what we thought parenting would be and embrace what parenting really looks like for us. I won’t get into the details, because I’m sure as soon as we land in Toronto after our much needed vacation, it will all change, and we’ll be back to the drawing board haha but we also learned that as parents we need to be open minded and ready to deal with whatever our little crazy, yet awesome kid decides is her new thing each day whether it’s 5am wake up calls or cute dance parties before bed.  We learned to breathe in, adapt, and handle it as a team.

2017 was hard work, but now that it’s over and I can look at it as whole, I can say, 2017 was great! In Spanish there’s a saying: persevera y ganarás. I can’t find a similar one in English, but it translates to Persevere and You Shall Win. That was our 2017 – we persevered and we won.