The view forward on January 1st 2013 was just a little hazy. Sonali was preparing to go back to work after maternity leave. I had a new job courtesy of Vertical Acuity’s sale to Outbrain. Sonali’s Mom had a mystery illness that was making her uncomfortable and causing her to lose her appetite. My Dad needed new knees. And, of course, we were still figuring out how to be parents.

Mira

Our daughter is adorable. Our daughter is fun. Our daughter loves life, people, parties and outings. What she doesn’t like is eating and sleeping. Once we find the source of her energy, we will bottle it up and sell the elixir.

Watching her grow from a tiny helpless thing into a proto-human has been incredible. She started the year lying on her back and quietly smiling. She finished by taking her first steps, speed crawling, and heartily laughing.

Unfortunately parenting isn’t all fun. There were/are a lot of 3am wake ups, stinky diapers, and messy tables. The biggest challenge was her daytime care. We went from daycare, to a nanny, then finally settled on Suzuki School. Mira’s happy now, but the transition from the Nanny to daycare was hard on all of us.

Our professional life

For the first time ever my situation has been stable and it was Sonali’s that was in flux. Outbrain is a great place to work. We built a lot of product, moved our Atlanta office to a trendier midtown location, and hired a few new people which turned me into a manager.

Sonali spent the first half of the year claiming she could not handle a higher pressure job or going outside the travel industry. Then in June, she accepted a offer to develop video conferencing software at PGi. A high visibility project at a public company isn’t high pressure, right?

Our house

We’ve fully embraced the money sink that being a homeowner is. This year we replaced the siding on our house.

Health

This was the biggest downer of the year. Not long after returning to India, Sonali’s mom was diagnosed with cancer. Chemo, radiation and surgery later, she’s cancer free (Yay!). However, she’s been left with a permanent issue that is only made worse by the horrendous patient care in India.

My dad had both his knees replaced, about four months apart. The first one went fine, but there have been some complications from the second. We don’t know what the final outcome is.

Sonali’s toe is worse and will require surgery. The intensity with which she approached her new job also led her to develop a stress injury in her wrist. In 2013, she could type but not run. 2014 might see the opposite. A career change to professional distance runner might be in order.

Onwards to 2014

2013 was a little much at times. Our goal for 2014 is to get healthy and settle into a routine. We’d both like to be more active, especially when it comes to running and biking.

We also need to see our friends more. Our daughter, especially, is not a fan of our excessively homebody lifestyle.

We’ll start on that front by wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2014! Hope to see you soon.