A Bad Year Leads To A Good Year

2016 was a hard year for Katya and I. Maxim grew up so fast, from a tiny newborn to a goofy baby to a loving toddler. We suffered through some hardships at the beginning of the year with finances as my business slowed down to a crawl over the winter, and we ended up having to move from our cozy townhouse into a cheaper apartment.

We fought a lot, especially because the baby kept us awake at night. We were stressed and sleep-deprived, broke and our life was up in turmoil. Then the end of the year came and it all worked out!

On his first birthday, Maxim took his first steps! I remember when he started to crawl, it was super exciting. You can see a video of it here. 

After that, he started furniture surfing and was starting to walk while hanging on to one of us. He got so proficient at it that he could balance fine and walk just by hanging on to me with one hand!

It was summer so we took him to the Guelph splashpads dotted around the city (downtown City Hall has a fantastic one, but it's always filled with running, splashing kids, so we settled on the wading pool at Exhibition Park). He could wade through water hanging on to my pinky, and I just knew that soon he would take his first steps.

Sure enough, on September 6, one year after he was born, he started walking! He teetered back and forth between Katya and I, and the look of pure joy and pride on his face was heart-melting. It was so cool! He hasn't stopped moving since then. You can see a video of his first walk here.

Maxim starting to walk was the first really great thing that happened to us in 2016 after so much difficulty. He celebrated his first birthday surrounded by family and friends in his favorite place, Exhibition Park. 

Then, in October, I received a call from Garda World, who manages all the screening operations at Pearson International Airport. I had applied to a position for a Screening Point Manager there back in August but didn't hear anything from them for a few months so had forgotten about it. Suddenly I had an interview set up!

I had previously been a screening point manager and a screening officer in both Victoria and at Waterloo Regional Airport, now I had an opportunity to move up into the big leagues at YYZ, Canada's biggest airport and the fourth busiest airport in North America!

After my interview I was offered a position at more money than I have ever made in my life. It would require driving to Mississauga four days a week and putting Maxim in daycare (Katya's parental leave had ended and she returned to work) but this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up, so I took it.

2017 has been off to a great start. First we found out Katya was pregnant again (she blames her company Christmas parties). Then we found a 3-bedroom house with a garage, a backyard, a basement, a couple of bathrooms and a dishwasher for a reasonable price. Then we learned that we're having a little girl! 

So now I'm working steadily in a pretty fascinating job (not allowed to talk about any of it), making good money, and I've got the hilarious toddler son who loves to be goofy and wrestle with me, and I've got the daughter on the way, and I've got the car and house and garage, and I'm married to the beautiful Russian woman I met in Moscow nealry 8 years ago!