A Little Update

Guys, did I promise to blog once a week LAST month? 

I did indeed. And I have failed.

I don't really have any excuses other than that life got in the way again, I haven't felt like writing (despite having a lot to write about), and just trying to keep a certain toddler constructively busy and not tearing down our house.

I do have some upcoming things to share soon, such as new recipes, reviews of a few trips we've taken, a 2017 goal update, an Annabelle update, a new shop announcement (eek!), and just some life lately posts. 

I've been super busy lately during Annabelle's nap time taking pictures of and listing her old clothes for sale. It's so sad when she outgrows pieces I've loved seeing her in. I am stashing away those really special pieces in the closet for now and will box them up when we move next, but it has felt really nice to sell a lot of her stuff. After all, we do need to keep buying her new, bigger clothes, so it's nice to recoup a bit of what we spent! 

We  also finally went through a ton of baby stuff and ended up donating to a local women's shelter so much of what we no longer need: three breast pumps (two electric and one manual), a metric ton of breast pads, milk storage bags, bottles, bottle parts, and more. It feels great to have that all out of the house since we no longer need it - hopefully it can benefit some other new moms and families! It is slightly bittersweet, though, since I spent so much time with those dang pumps! BUT it feels great to know we won't be moving those across the country again! 

It's hard to believe she was ever so tiny! I ended up keeping a few of the outfits shown for myself because she was just so adorable in them, and I'm far more attached to her newborn stuff than the rest! 

How have YOU all been lately? 

Blogging Break + Catching Up

Oops! I didn't mean to fall off the face of the earth... but life happens, I guess.

I've been super busy the past few weeks being a mom and all... and we also had a few visitors right in a row, which has ever happened since we moved to Dayton... and if I'm being honest, it's because no one wants to visit Dayton. It's crazy what a cute little baby will do.

My mom flew out to visit Annabelle, and she was able to be here for her five month birthday (five month post coming tomorrow - over two weeks late!) We had a great time going to lunch and hanging out for a few days, and she even babysat for us so Lieutenant Lovemuffin and I could have a date night! We went to Texas Roadhouse and then FINALLY saw The Martian at our local dollar theater. It was sold out FOREVER here, and since I read the book, I needed to see it. It was pretty good.

Shortly after my mom left, our friend Lydia (one of Dan's best friends) came into town, and we were able to go watch Lieutenant Lovemuffin defend his thesis for his Master's degree, which was awesome. Shout-out to my friend Megan for watching Annabelle so she didn't cry during her daddy's presentation.

After Lydia left, our friend Michelle came out for a few days! We were best friends in college, and she is definitely one of my closest friends for life. She is pregnant with her first right now, so we took it easy and just did a lot of talking.

It was amazing having so many visitors, but I am flat out exhausted now. We're back to our day-to-day lives, which is welcome at this point. We only have about a month left here in Ohio, so we're trying to soak up all of the good things about it that we know we'll miss.

I'll update on our upcoming move soon!

• Have you ever had back-to-back visitors?

    

Resolution/Goal Updates

If you'd like to read about all seven of my New Year's Resolutions / Goals, you may certainly do so! It's the very first post I made on this blog, but you can access it much easier by CLICKING HERE.

I just thought I'd make a post to share how I'm doing with the goals I set for this year. Some of them are going better than others, but having them to look at all the time is helpful. I think I'm going to print them out and hang them up in my house so I have a daily reminder!

This resolution is going well! I have already finished two books this year, and I am nearly done with a third. That puts me well ahead of schedule, but I must keep in mind the craziness that March and April bring for a teacher. I probably won't get much reading done during those months, so it is okay that I am getting ahead now! The books I have finished so far are The Bible (okay, so I started that in October of 2011, but I DID finally finish the entire thing) and Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally. I am now in the middle of Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret, which I borrowed from one of my students! 

This is the goal I am furthest behind on because I haven't even found any races I want to run yet. Oops. I am slacking. I also haven't been hitting the gym as much as I'd have liked to since I've had an AWFUL cold, but tomorrow begins a new week, which also means my workout regimin is back in full force! I know I want to do the five mile race through Garden of the Gods this year, as well as The Color Run (again). I also found a Glow Run 5K that would be a blast, but I'm waiting to see if someone will run that one with me (hinthintcoughcoughDanandAaron). 

This is going very well, and it is helping me to see the little things in everyday life that I have to be grateful for. There are so many things I wouldn't ordinarily notice or remember, but because of this journal I am forced to. A couple examples so far are: "seeing how happy my students are to be back after break", "making it through the day after all of my technology failed on me", "a Red Robin date night with my love", and "the ability to sleep in on a Saturday and still check everything off my to-do list". It's the little things, people. I would highly encourage everyone I know to keep a "thankful journal". 

This journal is also going well, but it's not as cool as the "thankful journal" to me. I think the REAL greatness of this journal will be in the years to come. Remember, this one gives you FIVE spots to answer each question, and you fill in the year. Since 2013 is the first year I'm participating in this, it's just answering a prompt on four lines each day. Next year and the ones after that, it will be really cool to see how my answers have changed as my life progresses and changes. It's still nice, though, and any writing is good writing, in my opinion. 

Well, you guys tell me. Is this going well? I feel like I have blogged when I have needed to, but without the goal of blogging every single day like last year, it's a lot more difficult for me to come up with posts worthy of sharing, which is why I didn't even post the last one I wrote to Facebook. I feel like no one cares what I have to say, but oh well. I write for myself, because it feels nice, and because it helps me get my thoughts out. I will try to come up with better topics to write about. I am currently working on a few crafty projects, so I will DEFINITELY share those when they are finished! 

This goal is so far so good! Dan is with me on this one, and he told me that he wanted to attend church more regularly and get more involved, so I am excited that we are on the same page! We are 100% with church so far this year, and that isa good feeling. We have talked to more people in the past two Sundays than we have in all of the other times we have gone. Today, we went to a new member orientation meeting, and we filled out some paperwork to become members of the only church I've ever felt comfortable in on January 27th. I'm pretty excited but also nervous because this is a big step for me. I'm feeling confident about the direction my faith is going in, though. We also found out our church is offering a weekly class on Wednesday evenings for engaged couples to focus on marriage. We wanted to attend something like this anyway, and the fact that the pastor running this class happens to be a retired Air Force Chaplain is just icing on the cake! I mean, it can't get any more perfect than that! 

This goal is a struggle for me, but I think I am holding up well. I have stepped outside of my comfort zone several times already this year in my personal life AND at work. I am feeling confident about the decisions I am making, and I REFUSE to let FEAR stop me from doing anything I want to accomplish! This is more of a vague goal, though, so it's tough to share my progress with it. Just trust me when I say I have been fearless. It's so great to have a supportive fiancé who is so willing to help me on this journey. 

I will leave you with this photo of my beautiful girl, Stormy:

Well, how's that for a loaded blog post?! I hope everyone had a great weekend and continues to have an amazing week! I'll post again soon...