Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Year in Review 2013

Wow what a year! This year has been a VERY full one. Let’s get started:

IMG_0102January 2nd, 2013 – We found out what our precious baby was going to be. The technician took all of the measurements and asked if we wanted to know what gender the baby was going to be. Well come to find out our lives were going to be filled to the top with pink and bows! What a wonderful day! I went straight to the store and bought a pink outfit for our little girl.

I also started my final semester as a Junior at the University of Florida in January. 2013-06-04 001 2013-02-02 001

February was relatively relaxing. With the exception of my Best friend having her first born baby boy. I also went down the the State Fair with my Hubby and his showmen for the steer show.

March was a packed month. First off I was as big as a house, and didn’t know how on earth I would make it another 2 months carrying Addie. We had our 2 year anniversary on the 5th of March. March is also the month of Fair for our county and since my Husband is an Agriculture teacher he is at the fair just about every day for 2 weeks. The end of March I had to go to the hospital to be monitored due to my blood pressure rising. I was put on modified bed rest. Which basically meant I was supposed to be on bed rest but I could get up and move around the house and go grocery shopping. I had to finish my last two weeks of the school semester from home.

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I had my baby shower on April 6th. I got so much stuff from all of our friends and family. Addie was already getting spoiled. Since my blood pressure was giving me a problem and my swelling was beginning to get bad I was not allowed to drive to Gainesville for my last two weeks of class. My Drs. didn’t want me to have an issue and be an hour away from my hospital. Luckily ,my professors allowed me to attend class via Skype. It was kind of nice not having to get up and get dressed then drive an hour to class.  At the end of April I went to the County Fair banquet with my husband and his students. My HUGE belly was gaining quite a bit of 2013-06-04 001 2013-04-27 003attention. I still had 2 weeks before I was due, and was on “Bed rest” at that point. I was going stir-crazy though and needed to get out of the house.

May was very exciting! The very beginning of the month my husband had to go out of town for the day. I was due less than a week from that day and was kind of worried that since he was over 2 hours away Addie would decided to make her presence. She stayed content though. My Dr. decided to induce labor because of my blood pressure if labor hadn’t started by my due date, May 8th. On May 8th went to the hospital to have a baby. I began the induction process at 7AM… 36 hours later I was in the operating room prepping for a c-section. Read all about her delivery story HERE. The rest of the month was jam packed! We had Drs. appointments for check-ups, and most of all I was learning how to be a mom.2013-06-04 001 2013-05-12 001

June-July was pretty uneventful with the exception of learning how to be parents to a newborn. I did try to start back running but my incision was still tender. One big thing that happened was we were approved to purchase our first home. The house that we were renting was offered to us to purchase. We went to the bank to get pre-approved and came back to our land lords only to find out they had changed their minds and we had to be out of the house in 30 days. (At the end of the 30 days was the end of out 1 year lease) We now had a 3 month old and were trying to house hunt, and pack up our 3 bedroom home, all the while my husband was still working full time at the school. It was stressful to say the least. 2013-06-04 001 2013-05-23 001

August was rough. We moved 3 different places in 30 days. We had to move out of our big house on the 1st. We moved in with my Grandma in her small 2 bedroom house for a week until we could find a place to rent short term. Finally finding a small house to rent on a month to month basis we packed up again and moved. All the while we were still looking at between 3-5  houses per week trying to find something to purchase. House hunting alone is stressful, then add a 3 month old in tow it makes it even worse. We finally found one and started the process of closing. I am pretty sure we hold the record for the quickest closing for first time buyers ever! The bank and the closing company were so helpful. We closed on our house in 21 days. The day before we had to pay for another months rent we closed on our house…New home

Which brings us to September 6th. We signed 30 years of our life away on this day with the perfect home for our family. It has plenty of room to grow into. The end of September I learned about IRun4, and officially signed up for a running buddy.

October was spent mostly getting things put in place in our new house.

November 19th I got my match. I was matched with Jocelyn as my official running buddy. I started dedicating my miles to her and learning all about her history.

December is always a busy month for us. My birthday is the 1st, then we spend a lot of time with family and preparing to ring in the new year.

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This year was a very good one. I can’t wait to see what next year holds for my little family. Addie is growing up so fast, and I have a couple races already planned for the year.

A year in review always puts so much into perspective. Even on a bad day we still have so much to be thankful for.

Do you make resolutions for the new year? Stay tuned for mine.

Monday, December 30, 2013

My Buddy Jocelyn

Back in September I mentioned a group called IRun4. This is a group that matches runners with special needs children and adults. The runner dedicates all of their miles or workouts to their buddy and helps bring awareness to a special cause. When I signed up at the end of September I was informed that the waiting time to be matched was about 6-8 weeks time. At that time the group was just over 4000 members strong. That includes runners and buddies. Everyday I would read through all of the encouragement on the Facebook group page and feel overwhelmed by the love and support that everyone gives to each other. The support doesn’t just stop at running and working out, after the tornadoes hit the town of Washington, Il. this past November there was an outpouring of prayer and love for all of those affected. This group is truly a family that stretches across borders, lakes, oceans, and continents. As of today (December 30th, 2013) there are 11,815 members currently in the group, and it groups exponentially everyday. There are still approximately 1,800 runners waiting to be matched with their very own running buddy. I can’t express the magnitude of love this group holds for everyone.
After enrolling to be matched with a buddy, my wait both flew by and drug on. I felt like the day would never get there to finally be matched. Well my day came. The night before I checked the waiting list and I was about # 12 on the list. I knew if there was a group of matching the next morning I would be on it. The next morning when Addie woke me up to nurse, I quickly grabbed my phone and walked to her room. I checked my notifications and nothing was there. I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed. I felt like a little kid waiting for Santa Claus. As I was sitting there a message from one of the Admins messaged me. That was it! I was matched. I looked through the list of matches and found my name. I was matched with a child named Jocelyn. I thought, how neat is that. My daughters name is Addilyn and we are running for a little girl named Jocelyn. I did a little digging to find out as much as I could about my new running partner. She is 2 days older than Addilyn and just precious. Please go read all about her story at her Facebook Page.
Jocelyn is such a fighter and an unbelievably strong little girl.
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Isn’t she a cutie? I am so blessed to be able to dedicate miles and my running to Jocelyn.
If you would like to know more about IRun4 please visit the website: www.whoirun4.com.
If you would like to learn more about Jocelyn please visit her website: www.facebook.com/eighthmiracle.
I will write a post soon introducing you to Jocelyn’s struggles in her young life.


I am sorry I have been away for so long. I have been testing the waters with another blogging platform, but I decided I like this one much better so with this new year my goal is to write a post at least 2 times a week.
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