2022

Hello friends and family!

Hard to believe 2022 is drawing to a close. Our daughter Lucy was born at the end of 2021, so this year was all about learning to be parents and getting to witness her incredible growth! The first year really is something. She has transformed from a sleepy little newborn into a joyful, bouncy toddler. She loves to answer “What does a cow say?” with a resounding “MOO!” She is really into socks, often retrieving them from her shelf and holding them over her feet until we put them on. And she is very in love with our cat Misty, who has turned out to be extremely tolerant, letting Lucy pat her (with varying levels of gentleness) and rest her head on her. Every stage gets to be more fun. We certainly did not find time to run any ultramarathons this year, but are so grateful to be on this journey with our wonderful girl.

Parenthood, of course, also brings many challenges. Our biggest struggle, unfortunately, has been food allergies. As we introduced solids, we painstakingly discovered that Lucy is allergic to milk, eggs, sesame, and tree nuts. Oofda. However, we were very lucky to be able to start her on a new treatment called oral immunotherapy when she was 8 months old. The treatment involves eating gradually increasing amounts of her allergens to build tolerance over time. It has been a huge time and energy commitment, but, quite miraculously, she is already taking in 15ml of milk and 2.5g of sesame every day! She is considered safe to accidentally eat a bite of either one. Big hooray for immunology in action!

We have really settled into our place this year. We did a big bathroom remodel this spring, bringing our 90s-era, cement-curbed, broken whirlpool tub into the modern era. Living in the basement with a newborn for 2 ½ months was worth it! We also hosted many great family gatherings. Lucy loves all of her grandparents, and it has been so special for her to spend time with her great-grandparents Bob and Lu (Andrew’s Dad’s parents) this year as well! We also enjoy many great wildlife sightings out here on the edge of suburbia.

We loved having lots of great visitors in 2022! We got to see Dara’s sister Hannah, her husband Brad, and their son Gordy (almost 2) many times, as they only live 90 mins away in Rochester, MN. It has been so lovely to see Gordy and Lucy develop their sweet cousin relationship. Gordy likes to FaceTime with Lucy and Lucy kisses the phone. :heart-melting-emoji: Andrew’s cousin Aly got married here in Minneapolis in May, a beautiful backyard event. We had a great time hosting his cousin Anna, her husband Peder, and their daughter Noa while they were in town for the event. In June, Dara’s cousins and aunt came to visit and meet Gordy and Lucy, which was so sweet and fun. Cousin Cassie is a pretty big deal on TikTok; the video she filmed in our basement will forever be our claim to fame. And our friends Annika and Andrew and their daughter Avery came by in August. They moved back to Australia this fall, so wanted to get in a lifetime dose of Americana at the Minnesota State Fair before leaving the country! We even won Avery and Lucy matching penguin stuffed animals to help them bond from afar.

We also managed to take some great trips this year! We had a wonderful visit to San Francisco in April, seeing some dear friends, visiting our favorite restaurants, and introducing Lucy to the city that will always have a special place in her parents’ hearts. In May, we took a road trip to Columbia, MO to see Dara’s college friends. We loved meeting baby Liam, who is just a few weeks younger than Lucy! Finally, we ventured out to Fredericksburg, VA for Dara’s cousin Walter’s wedding in October. Lucy enjoyed dressing up, meeting more cousins, and drinking a lot of her favorite beverage, Spindrift sparkling water!

We are both still working remotely for our same jobs at Stripe - Andrew as a software engineer, Dara as a data science manager. Every day, Lucy commutes to daycare, then we come back and work out of our quiet house. We see our team with semi-regular business trips; we each went to Seattle over the summer and San Francisco in the fall, enjoying a couple nights of deep sleep while leaving the other to build confidence as a solo parent :) And the work is going well! We are both enjoying our domains, getting to work on big, interesting projects alongside brilliant coworkers. Hard to complain much about that!

We love you all and are wishing you the best 2023. Come visit us anytime!

Love,

Dara, Andrew, Lucy, and Misty

P.S. Hello to those of you who are just here for the customary cat pictures. Hope you don't mind that some of them have been invaded by the baby this year :)

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