Well… I can start off by singing you the oh so familiar song of “gee, its been forever since I blogged last” lol. But it has. Almost a full year. But I have good reason so I make no apologies this time.
2014 Came in with a bang. January 7th our house fell apart…literally. If you want all the hairy details you can go back a few posts and find it… I honestly am still trying to put the event out of my mind so I’m not going to rehash it here. We continued to watch my parents struggle with what appeared to be an endless bout of bad luck… Which is terribly difficult if you are an only child and feel like you are the only one in the world that can help them… but you cant. We lost a few family members to sickness and old age. We struggled… but… we overcame.
The house is ALMOST back to normal, and even with a few added upgrades.
Dad is working and getting he and mom back on their feet. Moms health is improving drastically with each passing month.
We find comfort in the fact that our loved ones are in the arms of Jesus rather than suffering here on Earth… and Jimmy and I have learned that we can pretty much handle anything we put our minds to taking on.
We saw my eternal bachelor Uncle get married at almost 50 years old.
Max got dedicated in church… twice… in 2 different churches.
Me and Max spent a glorious weekend in Charleston with our cousins. Time I will always cherish and remember.
I started the Lactation Educator Certification program with CAPPA in March. Ive had the lovely opertunity to work with a few mommas along the way. Breastfeeding is something I became passionate about before my babe even entered the world and I find it an extreme joy to help other mamas find their confidence and heart through feeding their babies.
We spent a weekend in the mountains with friends.
We took Max on his first camping trip… which ended up not being so successful thanks to a horrible storm and a leaky tent.
I threw Jimmy his first surprise party which also was not super successful thanks to getting lost and getting locations confused. We still had fun though.
We took Max on his first beach trip and thanks to generous family members had our first real vacation in a LONG time. Again, times I will always cherish and remember.
Spent a good majority of our summer at the lake with friends.
We celebrated our sweet baby’s 1st Birthday. Time goes by so fast.
I chopped 12 inches of hair off my head (I feel sooo much better)
Had a record breaking year in Art sales.
Enjoyed our 2nd Christmas as parents.
Made new friends and loved on the old ones.
And got to close the year with another wonderful visit from my cousins. I Love having my home full of family!
As I look back I realize how incredibly blessed me and my little family are.
So… Did I accomplish all I had hoped to accomplish in 2014… Lets look back at my goals and see…
(Taken from a previous blog post)
Heres a short list of some of the projects I plan to take on this year.
– Re organize the Garage yep… but it needs it again.
– Actually decorate the back porch nope… maybe next year
– Clean out and reorganize all the closets in the house yes… but unfortunately they need it again
– Clean out and KEEP the pantry organized my struggle lies in KEEPING it organized
– Reorganize all the kitchen cabinets yes… though they could probably use another round of this.
– Find a good daytime schedule for Me and Max and stick to it. if parenting has taught me one thing… its that schedules are ALWAYS changing
– Plan at least 2 Art shows this year no art shows… but I still managed to do alot better this year than I have ever done.
– Become certified as a Placenta Encapsulationist (more on a separate blog post) no… changed my mind about this one.
– Start certification to be a Postpartum Doula (Still thinking about it, have not made up my mind yet- I only want to do postpartum stuff…not birth stuff) nope… decided to go in the direction of Lactation education instead… may add on childbirth education sometime in the future.
– Get BACK into my natural lifestyle… the little debbies and processed refined foods are starting to take over my life again. its a slow journey but Im getting there. Definitely ate much less processed foods this year and started a few new much healthier habits and hobbies… but there is always room to grow.
– Take better care of myself in general. No weightloss goals, no fitness goals, just feel good about myself again and be a good example to my son. this is up for debate. There is something about motherhood that makes it incredibly difficult to see just how horribly you treat yourself. I feel like maybe I am doing better than I was when Max was a few months old… but I could definitely stand for some more improvement in this area.
– Get my yard looking good. I have no excuse this year. I’m home and can put in the work. hahahah uh no
– Read 4 parenting books, 2 marriage books, and 2 faith based books. nope… Ive read a few lactation books… but not really read in completion any of these.
– Deepen my daily scripture study. Deepen… thats a very vague word. I do feel like Ive grown closer to the Lord… but again… so very vague.
So what are my goals for 2015… Im still working on those.
What are yours? Id love to hear them.