Before Madeleine was born, people told me about this weird time perception thing that happens when you have a baby. “The days are long but the years are short,” they said.

It is true. A day can drag on – and on and on – while baby refuses to sleep or feed and you can’t figure out why they’re crying and you just. want. to. sleep. And yet time flies by! One minute you have a tiny, floppy-headed, wrinkly-skinned newborn nestling into the crook of your neck and snoring, and then, in the blink of an eye, they are big and fat and bright-eyed and trying to make you laugh when they should be asleep.

The lesson, of course, is to cherish the moments. Even the frustrating, exhausting, tearful ones. This is something I have been trying to do, and I think it can apply to all of us, not just those with little children.

True to form, 31 December 2011 feels like about a zillion years ago, as well as yesterday. I thought I’d take a look back over some of my favourite moments, as captured on this blog.* Sure, some of them are profound (to me), but some appeal simply because they are pretty, or a bit quirky, or fun. I’m treasuring moments of all kinds.

* January: Noticing moments is also about noticing little and lovely things, like butterflies
* February: For Valentine’s Day, I shared the condensed version of a graphic novel I made for Mr B, recounting our long-distance romance
* March: Food, games and George Calombaris were at the local school fete
* April: A spot of creative writing. Insights into McArdle’s Mind, a man who gets lost in the world of his own thoughts, plus stunning ghostly trees by Irene Suchocki
* May: Do you remember this wonderfully redundant automated postcard machine?
* June: I’m kind of proud of this post on eternal life. I don’t often get too philosophical on my blog, but I did here. And this moment, also in June, was the doozy of all moments
* July: It was the strangest feeling to be no longer carrying my baby inside me, learning how to be an individual again came slowly and in fits and starts
* August: I love doing surprise little guerilla community projects, like this one
* September: The day I discovered my local herb and spice merchant was a very happy one!
* October: Pulling together this garden party for my dear friend Tonia was kind of a big deal for me, but super fun (plus my Mum & Dad were in town – hooray!)
* November: I visited the Mr Burger food truck and it was sublime. This post marked the beginning of my new Meals on Wheels series for this blog. Best research ever.
* December: This three-day hike in national parkland along the Great Ocean Road was stunning, and exactly what I needed

I’d love to hear from you. What are your favourite moments from your life in 2012?

* If you’ve been reading my blog for a little while, you’ll know that between August and October I switched across from Weebly to WordPress. In the process, I lost all the comments you had left on any earlier posts. I’m sorry if you look back and find your insights and conversations missing. Please know they mean the world to me and I still look back of them in the old Weebly editor from time to time.