2014 Recap and Onward to 2015!

Hello, hello....anyone still out there??? Haha!! I failed miserably at blogging this year! 2 kids will do it, I guess! However I just recently became the proud Mama of an Erin Condren Planner and my zeal for life and blogging in general is renewed! Who knew a planner could do all that?!

2014 Recap

1.     What did you do in 2013 that you've never done before?
~Became a Certified Ombudsman Trainer (COT)
~Attended my first Navy Wives Clubs of America Convention

~Volunteered and joined the Compass Kitsap team
~Became a table leader for MOPS

2. Did you keep your New Years Resolutions & will you make any this year?

For 2014 my goals were to:

1. Blog More often (I’m keeping this one until I actually accomplish it.) Clearly I didn’t do this one AT ALL. But as I said last year, I am keeping it until I do it!

2. Use my iPhone less when my children are around. I failed miserably and for that I am really upset! This will be continued as well. If anyone has tips to improve on this, please share!

3. Figure out where I want my life to go personally, spiritually and financially. Yep! Done!

2014's goals are:

1.     Blog more often!

2.     Use my iPhone less when my kids are around!

3.     Be open to the changes that will be occurring in our life in 2015 (this is a life changing year for us. I will divulge more as it happens.)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Super close to me? No, but there were many people I know who did! J

4. Did anyone close to you pass away?

Yes, unfortunately. We lost my husband’s Grandfather and I had friends lose people as well.

  

5. What countries did you visit?

No outside countries again this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2015 that you didn't have in 2014?

~A house! We are tired of living in places that we don’t own.

7. What date from 2014 will be etched in your mind & why? 

I don’t have one. Eek!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  

Branching out so much as an Ombudsman and becoming a Certified Ombudsman Trainer. I really felt invigorated!

9. What was your biggest failure?

The iphone thing! Ugh, that one bugs me a lot!

10. Did you suffer injury or illness? 

Nope! I had nasal surgery, but it wasn’t serious.

11.  What was the best thing you bought?

A Michael Kors bag that is just perfect for my life! A good bag is so worth it!

12.  Whose behavior is worthy of celebration?

The Pope! He is taking the Catholic Church in the best direction and reaching out to more people in general.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled?

Congress tops the list yet again!

14. Where did most of your money go?

Baby/kid stuff!

15. What did you get really, really, excited about? 

All I accomplished.

16. What song will always remind you of 2014?
“Brave” by Sara Bareilles
“Happy” by Pharrell Williams
These were my 2 most played songs this year. I love them both for obvious reasons.

17. Compared to 2013 were you ___________ in 2014

a. Happier or sadder?  Happier

b. Thinner or fatter?  Thinner

c. Richer or poorer?   Richer I suppose.

18. What do you wish you would've done more of? 

Blog and scrapbook!

19. What do you wish you would've done less of? 

~ Stressing out over conflict

20. How did you spend Christmas? 

I took my babies to Mass on Christmas Eve, then we ate pizza at home as a family. On Christmas Day, we woke up and opened gifts. Then my Mom & Aunt flew in. It was a fun day!

21. What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you this past year?

I know there was something, but I can’t recall it right now. It was something military related.

22.  Did you fall in love in 2014?
I stayed in love.

23.  What was your favorite restaurant?  

 Green Light Diner. Basic good food & great for kids.

24. What was your favorite TV program?

How to Get Away With Murder. Wow, such a good show!

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate in 2014?
 Not hate, but there are people I definitely had to put at a distance.

26. What was the best book that you read?

I read so many fabulous books this year. No way am I narrowing it down to one. So here are a few I loved:
-“Killing Patton” by Bill O’Reilly (Again one of his books tops my list! He can write the pants off a book. His research & detail again impeccable!)
-“Mennonite in a Black Dress” by Rhoda Janzen (I just loved her perspective on life!)
-“The Boys In The Boat” by Daniel James Brown (A memoir that is just awesome!)
-“My Story” by Elizabeth Smart (While not that well written, her message of how to get past the horrible things in life is amazing. It touched me!)

27.  What was your greatest musical discovery?

I haven’t the foggiest idea.

28.  What did you want & get in 2014? 

~See all that I accomplished in the first question. I honestly didn’t have anything specific, so those things will be it.

29. What did you want & not get in 2014? 

 Umm….nothing! Everything I sought to do, I did.

30. What was your favorite movie of 2014?

I see so few movies….umm….wow, I can’t remember. Ohhh “Captain Phillips,” I red boxed that one!

31. What did you do for your birthday & how old did you turn?

I turned 29.  I spent time with my husband and kiddos at a local festival. It was very nice.

32. What's one thing that would've made 2014 more satisfying? 

Less stress…haha!! Let’s face it, I love the stress sometimes…I thrive on it sometimes.

33. How would you describe your fashion in 2014? 

Preppy? What do the stores call my style now?

34.  What kept you sane? 

Prayer/God…hands down!

35. What celebrity/public figure did you admire the most?  

Pope Francis wins again! I also liked Sadie Robertson. I don’t watch the Duck Dynasty shows, but seeing her on DWTS showed me there are good role models for my daughter out there.

36. What political issue fired you up the most? 

The issues with the VA and veteran’s not getting appropriate health care or any for that matter!

37. Who did you miss? 

My friends & family who live in other states.

38. Who was the best new person you met?  

A few cool ladies!

39.  Tell us a lesson 2014 taught you:

“We know that we aren't always going to be happy. Sadness, even tragedy, is going to cross our paths more than once. But if we strive to be joyful on a daily basis, we seem to develop reserves upon which we can draw.”

That quote and what I read in Elizabeth Smart’s book were very revealing for me. I often feel physical pain at the horrible things in life and guilt over my own seemingly good life. I found some peace this year with the book and the above quote. Sometimes things just speak to you at the right time!

Busy Week!

I am having one of those weeks where I have something going on everyday! I am actually looking forward to next week where the schedule is a little less intense!

This past weekend I held a baby shower for one of my friends here. It was such a great shower. She is doing a nautical theme for her son and inspiration just hit me so easily. Obviously, since I love nautical everything!
I even have a Pinterest board dedicated just to nautical stuff. Check is out here!  The shower went well and my friend had her baby on Monday afternoon. The timing was perfect. (Okay so honestly we expected the baby to be at the shower- she was overdue. Guess he just wanted Mom to have her shower first.)

Monday I did household things while Avery was shooting guns for work. Such is the Navy life!

Tuesday I was back in the grind helping plan the Ombudsman Appreciation Dinner. I love the theme. We picked "Night at the Oscars/Old Hollywood," it is going to be so much fun! I hope everyone loves it.

Wednesday and today were doctor appointments. Today was my allergist/asthma doctor. She was running 45 mins late so I did an errand before hand and still ended up waiting a long time in her office. She's never been late like that before. I adore her though and we are both pleased with the plan. Allergy shots for me! Maybe I'll be able to live more comfortably here in the Pacific Northwest now.

Tomorrow I will be at the Command bright and early. I somehow got the 7:30am time slot to present to new sailors (INDOC for those who know what I do.) I am not looking forward to that time. I am more of a 9am person, not a 7am person. Haha!!

Avery and I are doing this challenge I read about on Facebook where you ditch all drinks with sugar and drink water instead. It's not been that bad. And we are both very competitive so I know we will make it. It's really for our health and while we weren't that bad about sugary drinks....I still wanted to make the change. Plus water is free-generally speaking.

Toodles my friends....that's all I've got today!

Embryo Adoption

I wrote this last fall and never posted it. I was scared to share it. I am sharing it now as it's been almost a year. I am better with our decision and happy we donated. I will always wonder about those embryos though. I hope they make someone's dream come true.

It's that time. I think I vaguely mentioned doing this a few months ago. After our IVF cycle with Matthew, we had 2 embryos left to freeze. They are perfect grade embryos. Our plan had been to use them around the time Little Dude was 2. God had other plans though.  At our RE's office, you pay a yearly fee to keep embryos frozen. This year (2013) when the bill came we had a decision to make...do we keep them just in case or do we leave the possibility of a third child up to God? Let me say, this was a very hard decision. They aren't just frozen embryos to us. They are living beings. Ultimately after a lot of prayers on my end, we've decided to donate our embryos. It will be nearly anonymous. The process requires a lot of paperwork detailing medical history and they ask for pictures (because people want to have kids with similar features to their own obviously.)

I won't lie and say it's a perfect end. I'm grieving. I know we are so lucky that we were able to have our son with one successful IVF cycle and then have our daughter so easily, thus having to make this decision, but still it feels a little like how I'd imagine someone giving a baby up for adoption would feel. It's a loss. I talked extensively with our IVF coordinator & one of the doctor's in our RE's team. It's not just the loss of the babies, but also a loss that with the donation of the embryos we are effectively done with our RE's office. When you deal with infertility, you have to trust your team of doctor's so much. The connection I felt with our RE and his staff was a strong one. They were there during a very stressful & painful time in my life. I will always be so grateful.

I know we are doing the right thing though. There are many other couples out there dealing with infertility who deserve the chance at parenthood. If this can help them, then I have to do it. I feel like it's my way of giving back to the infertility community.

So please pray for us and for the people who will use our embryos.

52 WEEKS OF MEMORIES | 29 - FAMILY

In an effort to Blog more, I am doing this blog prompt today.  This week's topic is...you guessed it: family.

Family is a broad term. Especially for me. Family to me isn't just my 2 children & my husband or my parents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Family are the people in my life who I lean on, support, grow with, and in general love.  I call the friends we've met in our military life part of that family network. The Navy family is huge and never far away.  I also call the close friends we have in our church community family. Family is a big word & a big deal.
So obviously I couldn't just post one big picture that encompasses my thoughts on family.  

Check back next week, where I might have a picture.

I'm back to blogging....maybe....I hope

I don't even know where to start, except to say that blogging felt unnatural and even a little boring for awhile there. I read other blogs and they all just sound amazing and the people who write them sound amazing. I felt like I didn't know what my blogging voice was. I still am wondering what it is exactly. I know I've pondered this before. So who the heck knows....I am just going to ramble today and see what happens.

SOOO what's been going on since April??? Well....
Julia turned 1 and had a great birthday party. Matthew turned 2.5 and is such a big boy sometimes I want to cry. I have stayed as busy as possible. Oh and I had minor nasal surgery. Not a nose job for all your judgmental divas! The nasal turbinates needed some fixing. It went well, I survived and life continued. Then we went to Illinois, road tripped to Dallas for a wedding, and then spent more time in Illinois.  Oh and my best friend up here in the PACNORWEST pcs'd and I ugly cried. A LOT! Oh a plus side...my favorite babysitter for my kids came back from National Guard boot camp, thank god! Since babysitters are hard to come by; I am very picky!

It seems like busy is just my middle name. I volunteer (which is really means I work unpaid for a Navy command), I am involved with Navy Wives Club of America, volunteer with MOPS and a million other things related to all those. I was asked recently how I do it all and honestly, I don't know. I just put stuff in my planner and go to town. With a little help from my friend caffeine.
On a good week I dutifully plan my grocery list based on recipes I find on pinterest, type my grocery list using the Safeway site and load my club card to go shopping. On a lazy week or a week where I feel tired and grumpy, I run to the commissary & pray I get enough stuff to make it through the week. <---currently having="" nbsp="" of="" one="" p="" those="" weeks.="">
I was just telling my neighbor what a nice quiet, not busy week I was having and then today I got a call to deal with a situation I can't discuss. Yeah, totally jinxed myself there.

That's it. Maybe I can get on the blogger bandwagon again. All the cool Moms seem to blog. Am I cool? ;)

Just Julia!

Wow....I super stink at blogging this year. I guess I need to put it on the calendar to actually accomplish it. Except I'm pretty sure I did that a few months ago and it didn't work either...so...yeah...about that...
I haven't done any monthly updates or news about Miss Julia in like forever, so I thought I'd focus on my baby girl today.

Julia is the BIG 11 months old today. I am soooo not ready for her to turn 1 years old. I'm pretty sure I will have to have another baby someday, somehow so I can experience this just once more. [Catch me in like 5 years though...because I'm not ready for sleepless nights again for awhile.]

8 months old

9 months old

10 months old

Today: 11 months old

At 11 months old, Julia is:
Weight: Somewhere between 14 & 15 pounds
Height: About 27 inches
Clothes: 3-6 & 6 month clothes. (She still fits the 3 month stuff, but I was super bored of it so I moved her up.)
Shoes: baby size 2
Diapers: Size 2 (again big, but the others were leaking at night, so I moved her up.)
Teeth: 6 (2 of which just broke thru last week. She's a miserable teether, but great at tolerating teeth brushing.)

Julia loves fruits & veggies. She has pretty much nixed baby food purees unless it's apple sauce or I just get lucky. She loves yogurt though.  And she'll steal her brothers rice or almond milk if he leaves the cup around where she can reach. I am thinking weaning at a year will not be difficult, thankfully. She has a hard time with sippy cups and only tolerates 1 or 2 kinds, one kind I can't find anywhere anymore so they better last.

She's a very busy girl. Crawling all over the place and pulls herself up, but isn't that interested in walking yet. I'm wondering if she'll be a "late" walker compared to her brother who was raring to go as soon as he could. I'm okay with that though.

She loves cuddling stuffed animals and playing with little toys. Julia is just a doll and has the sweetest personality.
I'm so glad that despite my fears of having kids so close together that it worked out the way it did. I can't imagine my sweet angel not being with us.

Now to finish planning her birthday party. She's having a Minnie Mouse party at a local cupcake place. :-)

That time Matthew turned 2!

In celebration of the fact that my big boy is not napping today and has decided he'll just play in his crib, I figured it was about time I blogged about him turning 2 years old.

His presents from family on his birthday. He woke up to find these.

Opening gifts.

His "cake" was a chocolate chip cookie pie. He loved it!

On January 23rd, Matthew turned 2 years old! He had a low key day at home with presents and a pie after dinner. He loved blowing out the candle and asked us to do it again over & over again. It was so sweet! The following Sunday we had his birthday party at the community center.

For some reason I can't find all the birthday party pictures, but his theme was a Fire truck/fire fighting theme. There was a bean bag toss, dress up and coloring sheets. Plus good snacks! He had a blast with his friends at his birthday party. If I find the good party pictures I'd love to show everything I did for that...maybe someday. 

2 year well baby appointment.

Matthew had his 2 year well baby exam a day after his birthday party. I guess I can't call these exams well baby exams anymore. He's not a baby. *sniff sniff* I'd call these the toddler years, but Pampers who emails me updates calls him a preschooler. Not sure I am ready for that.....

His stats at 2 years:
Height: 35 inches tall
Weight: 27 pounds
Head Circumference: 50 cm

Wearing: size 3 & 4 diapers, 18 month clothes and some bigger & smaller stuff depending on what it is.
 

He is really doing great. His speech and vocabulary are above average for his age. They were impressed and yes I know this is bragging, but compared to a time where we were so concerned about his development, it really makes me feel good.  He has all his baby teeth except for those pesky 2 year molars. I keep watching for them to come in. He loves most foods, though sometimes isn't a fan of meat or noodles. He loves reading books & singing songs. Mickey Mouse is a huge hit with him!

March...in like a lion....

Is it March already?? Should I give a sigh of relief? I kind of feel like I ought to. Since I last posted in mid-January we've dealt with some sort of illness or injury or teething every other week I swear. I don't know if I even have had time to breath this winter. Speaking of winter....I AM OVER IT!!!! Bring on Spring please!!  Today the PACNORWEST blessed me with the most gorgeous morning. 61 degrees and sunny. That totally made up for waiting over an hour at the Naval hospital pharmacy to get 4 things for my Matthew's fragile skin.

So....what have you missed....or what did I neglect to share with you since I was away dealing with winter illnesses (can you tell I'm bitter?!?)

-My Mom came to visit
-Matthew turned the big 2 years old.
-Julia turned 8 months old, then she turned 9 months old....I swear this kid keeps aging on me and I'm certain I didn't agree to that plan for my baby girl. ;-)
-I've been super busy doing my volunteer job. Can we say dramatic people?!? But I love it...seriously love every moment.

I've got several blog posts planned. Hopefully I can finish them and get them posted. That is if I survive the skin issues Matthew is currently having....

Oh and today is Ash Wednesday, in case you aren't religious and aware. I still haven't formally decided what to give up for Lent. I'm tired of giving up foods...with my current can't-stop-losing-weight issue going down...it seems like a negative on that anyway. I am not even following the Catholic Church's fasting obligation for this Holy Day. I need the calories.

Hope you all are doing well and hopefully I'll be back soon.  Toodles!

5 on Friday!

FIVE: 

Link up here

ONE: What a week! I am seriously so glad to see Friday. This week has been stressful. We had a death in the family and then I was ill for a few days. Being a Navy Wife & Mom and being sick just don't work together. Definitely slowed me down and I don't have time to be slowed down. 

Source

TWO: Napping!! My kids are both napping at the same time today. Yay for small victories. The past few days they've been trading off who actually takes a nap at nap time.

THREE: Little Dude will be 2 years old next week Thursday. I've been birthday party planning. The theme is fire trucks. It's so cute. I can't wait to celebrate. I will also cry. A.LOT. I can't believe it's been 2 years already. They grow so quickly!

Invite from here

FOUR:  The Bachelor television show. Yes of course I am watching. I realize this is a shock to everyone who knows me.  Kidding, kidding!! Who are my favorites?? Well Nikki the nurse obviously is my favorite. Beyond her I am unsure. They are really highlighting her as the nice, normal one. Which makes me think she won't get picked in the end, because they like to throw us all off.

FIVE: Olympics!! They are coming soon. I love the Olympics. I always cry during the opening ceremonies when all the nations walk in and are announced (I'm so sentimental!) It's the one time where I feel the world is peaceful and getting along for a brief moment.

Have a great weekend everyone! See ya next week!

52 Weeks of Memories: Weeks 1 & 2

Okay Toni I'm doing it. Now nudge me to make sure I continue the whole year.

So my friend in Australia is doing a photo blog prompt to get people blogging/taking pictures this year. I didn't do last week while it was still last week so it's included here.  Go over to her blog to see the list. It's interesting.

 Week 1's word is: NEW.

I got this book for Christmas. It's a journal where you write a sentence or 2 for everyday of year for 5 years. I really hope I can keep this up. It's fun to think of just a few things to say everyday. So far I am loving it!

Week 2: Sleep.

This is a picture of Little Dude's monitor. I'm not sure if you can find him in there. He insists on a lot of stuffed animals, plus pillows and a few other things in the crib. I've tried to take stuff out, but he must have a mental inventory because he knows if anything is missing.

Link up and enjoy the fun!

Little Miss turned 7 months and had her first Christmas!

Shocker...I never got this posted (okay not really a shocker, but I am trying to make my blogging goal...it's only been a week since I last posted!)

Little Sis: 7 months on 12/21/2013

Julia turned 7 months old and as evidenced is still our little peanut. I have no idea of her height/weight or anything. But I imagine she's not too far off from her 6 month stats. She seems heavier some days and other days she feels very tiny still. I actually don't even realize how small she is in comparison to other babies until I see people with babies younger then her who are much bigger or the same size as she is. I sometimes feel I'm constantly acknowledging her peanut status. Anyway...what's she been up to?
Clothes: 3 months & some 3-6 month stuff (I moved her out of 0-3 because I was getting bored with the same stuff.)
Diapers: Size 1
Eating: She loves solids. I don't give her that much, but I do let her try different tastes & textures. She's about 95% breastfed still. She gets 1-2 bottles of formula a day...I'd love to cut these out, but so far haven't been able to.
Sleeping: That's a work in progress still. She is in her crib for most of the night, but still wakes 1-3 times a night. And is usually up & ready to rock by 7:30am. (Suffice to say I got spoiled by her brother who is a great sleeper. Hopefully she'll get it figured out soon enough. I try to be patient as she's likely my last baby & I wish I could remember more often to savor those moments in the dark alone.)
Teeth: She's still only got the 2 teeth she got at 5 months old. I often think she's getting more teeth, but then none appear, so who knows!
Talking: She doesn't babble tons, but has managed to say Mama & baba. I love to hear it. She has a very sweet little voice.
Toys: Her favorites are a Pete the Cat stuffed animal I bought for Matthew and more recently she likes Minnie Mouse I have on her changing table.
Moving: She started crawling in mid-December. It's a very odd looking crawl, but she moves very well. It's fun to see her go for toys now.

Playing with her toy stroller on Christmas

Her first Christmas was a good one too. She got some fun stuff to play with & cute clothes. Her Brother loves the toys she got too, so some of them have been moved to her room so she has a chance to play with them as she grows.  In the above picture she's wearing her red yoga pants. Yoga pants for babies = cutest thing!!

I think that does it.  Toodles everyone!

13 in '13....Photo Linkup

Join the link up here!

I already went through my year, as you read in my previous post from Wednesday, but this is a picture post and well....fun...duh!  So here we go:

January: It was a big birthday for Matthew!

Little Dude turned the big 1 years old!

February: Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day with my cute little boy!

March: We moved to a bigger house.

Gracie Cat

 April: I bought last minute things for our Little Miss.

Cute leg warmers

May: Our Family Grew

Last pregnancy shot. 40 weeks

Julia was born.

 June: Summer trip to Illinois

Going to the pool

 July: 2 months old

Little Sister!

August: The kids were baptized.

September: I turned 28

All dressed up and looking nice!

 October: We picked pumpkins on a sunny day!

Riding in the wagon is fun!

November: Matthew got his hair cut for the first time

Playing with toys and no tears.

December: Julia's first Christmas and Matthew's 2nd Christmas!

Looking at Daddy

This was a fun look back! Enjoy everyone!

2013 Recap: Happy New Year!

2013 Recap

1. What did you do in 2013 that you've never done before?
~See the Golden Gate Bridge and visited California
~Saw a Pope retire and saw a new Pope elected for the 2^nd time in my lifetime.
~Bought a car with my husband (our first car bought together.)
~Gave birth naturally. I really didn't think I could do it, but I did and I felt like super woman.
~Become an Ombudsman for the Navy.
~Met the VCNO
~Attended a Navy Birthday Ball (I had only been to Submarine Birthday balls previously.)
~Became a stay at home Mom to 2 kids.

I think that’s it…did I do anything else that I can’t remember? Hmm…probably!!

2. Did you keep your New Years Resolutions & will you make any this year?
For 2013 my goals were to:

1. Not allow others emotions control my actions as much. –I worked on this one, but ultimately others emotions still controlled me more than I desired them to. So this is a work in progress.
2. Raise my confidence level. I also worked on this, but it’s still a work in progress.
3. Return to work after I have our 2nd baby. Technically I didn’t return to work, but I became an Ombudsman, so I feel that fulfills this goal.
4. Blog more often. I obviously failed on this one completely. I’ll just have to try again.
5. This wasn’t listed with the goals I made for 2013, but I blogged in November 2012 about it and that was for it to be my year of faith along with the Catholic Church. –I majorly accomplished this one and I am thrilled about it!

2014's goals are:

1. Blog More often (I’m keeping this one until I actually accomplish it.)
2. Use my iPhone less when my children are around.
3. Figure out where I want my life to go personally, spiritually and financially.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Oh yes…but there’s so many I am not sure if I can list them all.  Of course the best birth was my own baby girl!

4. Did anyone close to you pass away?

Not this year. It was a quiet year for us in that regard.
  

5. What countries did you visit?

No outside countries; hopefully I can visit Canada again in 2014. I haven’t been up there in several years.

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you didn't have in 2013?

~A full year of not being pregnant. I hate to say that when I know many are desperately wishing for pregnancy, but I want a full year of my body to myself (or mostly to myself since I am not done breastfeeding.)

7. What date from 2013 will be etched in your mind & why? 

May 21^st- Julia was born. I will never forget that day and her birth.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  

Being a Mommy to 2 kids. It’s a hard job, but I love my babies fiercely.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I don’t want to focus on the negative, as any failures are highly personal to me and not something I share if they aren't obvious.

10. Did you suffer injury or illness? 

I hemorrhaged after Julia’s birth, but that’s it besides a few miserable colds and sinus & asthma issues. I am pretty healthy thankfully.

11.  What was the best thing you bought?

I haven’t the foggiest idea.  My car probably!

12.  Whose behavior is worthy of celebration?

Everyone who positively impacted my life in 2013. Friends, family, medical staff, priests and more.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled?

This could take me awhile. How about we just go with people who did things out of malice, people who forgot to represent the people they were elected to represent fairly and those who sought attention in repulsive ways.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Student loan companies and baby supply companies.

15. What did you get really, really, excited about? 

Having a baby girl!

16. What song will always remind you of 2013?

I feel silly saying this, but the song “Story of My Life” by One Direction. I don’t know why but I like this song and it’s all I can think of to answer this question.

17. Compared to 2012 were you ___________ in 2013

a. Happier or sadder?  Just as happy!

b. Thinner or fatter?  Fatter (due to pregnancy) at the beginning and then thinner (can’t stop dropping the pounds…I gotta work on that. And for those wondering, no it's not an eating disorder issue.)

c. Richer or poorer?   Richer in spirit; poorer in cash.

18. What do you wish you would've done more of? 
Scrapbook. I didn’t pursue it at all in 2013. I was just so tired or busy.

19. What do you wish you would've done less of? 

~ Stressing out

~ Procrastinating

20. How did you spend Christmas? 

I took my babies to Mass on Christmas Eve, then we ate pizza at home as a family. On Christmas Day, Julia and I woke up early hung out together before we all had breakfast together and then opened gifts. Then my Mom & Aunt flew in. It was a fun day!

21. What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you this past year?
I honestly cannot think of anything.

22.  Did you fall in love in 2013? 

Yes, with my baby girl!

23.  What was your favorite restaurant?  

 Hop Jacks (their Mango lemonade is the best ever!)

24. What was your favorite TV program?

Downton Abbey and Scandal. Such good shows (and yes I could add way more to this list; I'm such a tv addict!)

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate in 2012/2013?
 Hate is a strong word…let’s just go with highly distrust.

26. What was the best book that you read?
I read a lot of books. I liked several of them. If I have to narrow it down....I'll go with Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly. Fantastic book and so well researched.

27.  What was your greatest musical discovery?

I don’t think I had one. Interesting question though.

28.  What did you want & get in 2013? 

~A baby girl born healthy
~5 years of marriage
~A bigger house

29. What did you want & not get in 2013? 

 ~A paying job, but it’s okay…life goes in different directions for a reason.

30. What was your favorite movie of 2013?

The Great Gatsby!

31. What did you do for your birthday & how old did you turn?

I turned 28.  I spent time with my husband and kiddos!

32. What's one thing that would've made 2013 more satisfying? 

Less stress…haha!!

33. How would you describe your fashion in 2013? 

Preppy? I think that’s how my husband would describe my look. J

34.  What kept you sane? 

Friends, family, God/prayer and my kidlets.

35. What celebrity/public figure did you admire the most?  

Pope Francis. He’s the first Pope in recent history to actually make an effort to relate to all people in the world.  He seems real and down to earth.

36. What political issue fired you up the most? 

I check most of my political opinions at the door, so I don’t think any really got me that fired up.
 

37. Who did you miss? 

My friends who live in other states.

38. Who was the best new person you met?  

My daughter, Julia, of course.

39.  Tell us a lesson 2013 taught you:

It takes a village to raise children and going with that, do not be afraid to use your village when you need help.