Old and new resolutions

2013 was such a big year for me. I made a lot of changes personally and professionally and I am very proud of how things turned out in the end. When I set my New Year's resolutions in December 2012, I had no idea that what ups and downs I'd face through the year, but I guess no one ever really does. I knew there would be changes so I wasn't sure how I would make my resolutions work, but somehow they worked. I know most people set their resolutions and throw them out the window after a few weeks, but I guess I am just stubborn and hate to give up on things. That's why I sat down at my little blog and typed them for the world to see so I couldn't give up. There were times I wanted to quit and times I almost messed up, but in the end I successfully lost my goal weight 15 lbs and completed a 365 day photography project.

In some ways, the weight loss was the easier of the 2 for me. Exercise and eating healthier became part of my routine. I still can't say I just love to exercise and don't want to eat 3000 calories a day, but looking and feeling better are big incentives. I had no idea when I started running again in April that I would complete a half marathon. I also had no idea that I'd lose 30 pounds when it was all said and done. But, I did both of those and it feels pretty awesome to look at what I accomplished.

Now, the 365 project turned out to be a huge hassle for me. I really started struggling with creative ideas and often times just didn't want to pick up my camera. So, I started out the year with 80% of my pictures being with my DSLR and 20% iPhone, but by the fall it was the complete opposite. There were some days it turned out to be a screen shot of something on my computer and my dogs were always last resort options at 11:30 at night. I think my photography rut has extended itself and now there are many times I can go a week or 2 and not even touch my DSLR. But, I managed to get 365 images to document my year and that means the resolution was a success. I still love photography and I am so glad that I have the ability to document our lives with some awesome images, but I think some other hobbies have taken over for now and that's ok. I am behind almost 2 months in blogging the remaining photos, but they are all edited and waiting so I hope to get them up soon and close the door on the 365/2013 project.

With those goals accomplished, it was time to turn my focus on 2014. With being back at work and having more limited time, I had to be careful when setting new resolutions. My new job is pretty demanding and the little bit of energy I do have on days I work is spent with my family and exercising so I decided to focus on one thing at a time before setting new challenges.

I hate to say it, but I did gain 5 pounds back after I finished my half marathon. I was so burned out on running/exercising and combining that with the holidays meant calorie overload. But, the good news is I have refocused and decided that is not acceptable. I didn't work so hard last year to give up, so my goal is to lose those 5 pounds again and shave time off my running pace. I have started running more seriously again and added strength training back to the routine and I know combining those things with healthy eating will bring positive changes. Todd and I have signed up for a half marathon in Charlotte in April and I am determined to beat my time from November so I have some work to do. I've also got to work on eating better, especially on days I work. I am a total stress eater so those working days are really tough for me to handle. I plan to limit the eating in the cafeteria at work and limiting the snacks and wine at home. I have to find a good balance with food and my training so that is also something for me to focus on.

So, the first 4 months of 2014 are dedicated to being me better physically. Once I achieve those goals, I will reevaluate and see what I need to work on next. Reevaluating my goals throughout last year really helped keep things achievable so setting smaller time limited goals are the way to go for me. Here's to a positive start for the year!

2013 in review (picture style)

January brought us birthdays, first haircuts, and family time inside.

February and March gave us new toys and some outside play time.

May and June saw recitals, gymnastics shows, and family celebrations.

July and August meant plenty of extra playtime.

September and October meant back to school, cooler weather outside, and Halloween.

November and December were about good times spent with family and turning the car seat around.

Christmas 2013

Christmas just keeps getting better every year for us. I think watching the kids enjoy Christmas may be more fun than I ever remember Christmas being for me as a kid. Even Mason was pretty excited this year, which just added another layer of fun.

Seeing Santa got us mixed results. Aubrey actually talked and smiled for Santa, which is huge progress for her. Mason, on the other hand, was pretty pissed about being dumped on some stranger's lap. Poor kid.

We took the kids to walk through the Christmas lights in McAdenville and had such a good time. The weather was perfect and Mason was amazed at all of the lights.

Todd, Aubrey, and Mason started the Christmas festivities the weekend prior to Christmas by visiting family in Raleigh. I had to work, so I stayed behind with the puppies. Both kids had a blast playing on the farm and seeing their cousins. They also started with round 1 of Christmas presents.

Christmas Eve was spent at our house with my family sharing presents. I think the present of the year was given that night when Mason opened a remote control train. He is currently obsessed with this train.

We also added a new tradition of leaving food for the reindeer in the yard, in addition to Santa's snack of peppermint pie (yeah, we forgot to bake cookies and realized this around 9:30, so pie it was).

Christmas day was busy in the morning with opening Santa's gifts and visiting Todd's family in Mooresville. But, we spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying the new gifts.

While Christmas was a blast, we are a little glad the Christmas season is over. Our family has been so busy for the past month that we are wishing for some quiet time over the next few weeks before the craziness of the birthday season begins for us. 

23-months

Our last month of a 1-year old in the house. I was remembering tonight as I got Mason ready for bed how 2 years ago I was sitting in the glider in his room relaxing and preparing for his arrival. And, now we have this crazy little toddler that is almost 2. It just seems impossible, but here we are.

**No new teeth came through this month, but we are pretty sure those 2-year molars will be here soon. He still chews on things like crazy and has a runny nose so I am just waiting to see them.

**His language continues to get clearer and easier to understand. He still has his jumbled words (we call it Mason-ease) but he is working so hard everyday to say more.

**He refuses to eat from his high chair tray anymore. He wants his chair pushed to the table so he can eat like the rest of the family.

**We have finally nipped all of his crying at bedtime in the bud. We realized that leaving his door cracked when he goes to bed keeps him from screaming, so we let him fall asleep with the door open and close it after he is asleep. Bedtime is much more pleasant without a screaming toddler. 

**He made his first trip to Atlanta for Todd's cousin's wedding. And, he spent his first 2 nights in a regular twin bed after we forgot to bring the pack-n-play. (That was a really long weekend, I might add).

**He has handled my transition back to work pretty well. I was worried about it since he has been so attached and clingy to me, but my mom is watching him and Aubrey, so that made the transition really smooth.

He has become obsessed with play-doh

Thanksgiving lunch with Aubrey

Christmas family session 2013

We had our annual Christmas family session in November of this year with Nikki from Magnolia James Photography. As always, she got some great family pictures  and we were so excited to share them with everyone.

Graduation

2.5 years ago, I got a text from Todd saying "they want me to go to grad school." I texted back "who is they and are they paying for it?" "They" turned out to be his employer and yes, they were paying for it, so we jumped at the opportunity for Todd go back to school at UNCC. It was a crazy decision, especially knowing that we were trying to get pregnant at that point and pretty sure I wouldn't be going back to work after we had a 2nd baby. But, we couldn't pass up that chance so Todd started studying for the GRE and getting ready to go back to school. A few weeks before he started school, we found out we were pregnant with Mason so we knew the next few years were going to be a roller coaster, but we were determined to make it all work.

And, we were right. The next 2.5 years were insane. But, we all made it through and on December 14, we got the ultimate reward of watching Todd cross the stage to accept his Master's degree. And, his graduation day fell 1 week short of the 10-year anniversary of my Master's graduation at UNCC, so it was nice to be back in the same arena 10 years later to watch my husband celebrate the same milestone.

And, in true Todd fashion, he had to one up me on the Master's degree by finishing with a perfect 4.0 GPA to my 3.8-ish GPA. I know the numbers don't mean a hill of beans once you graduate, but it was a friendly competition over the years and  am so I proud of him for working so hard to make all A's in school.

So now our family can enjoy the return of some normalcy in our lives and enjoy the happiness of no school until we start kindergarten next fall.

13.1 miles in the bag

Back in July, I got the bright idea that I could run a half marathon. Around September, I wrote about losing my mind.  I somehow made it through the training and felt pretty good after my first few 10 mile runs. However, about 2 weeks before the race, I got sick and that put a damper on things because I felt terrible and missed a few training runs, including my last 10 mile run. 5 days before the race, the doctor diagnosed me with a sinus infection. By the actual race day, I was feeling a little better, but still not back to 100%.

I woke up at 5:30 on race morning with serious butterflies in my stomach. I gulped down my protein shake, got dressed, and was in the car by 6:30, still a little in shock that it was actually race day. Luckily, parking was easy and by 7:30, my bag was checked and I was standing in line ready to start. I decided to jump in the corral for the 2:08 pace time, which was a 9:45-ish pace. I thought that would be pretty managable. The first few miles didn't seem to bad, but by mile 4 I started feeling not-so-great. It took that long for the congestion to thin some, but evidently my corral was a popular one and a huge group stayed with the pace runners almost the entire race. The pace team did get a bit ahead of me, but as long as I could keep them in sight, I felt ok. This course was really hilly, but when I crossed the 10k mark at 59:53 I was ecstatic. I was slightly ahead of the pace team at that point and feeling pretty good. Then, at mile 10, it went downhill. My left calf muscle started tightening up, plus the balls of my feet were killing me. I powered through, but around mile 11 I couldn't stand it and started walking. I walked most of mile 11 and did a walk/run through mile 12. I was so happy to see the finish line and started crying immediately. I really don't remember crossing the finish line and there was certainly no happy face from me. I was sobbing from pain, but thrilled to have crossed the line. I then began to search for Todd, my mom, and the kids. A volunteer gave me my medal and it seemed like a surreal moment. I was trying to call Todd but had a poor signal, which didn't help the crying. Finally, I saw Todd and I buried my face in his shoulder and cried and cried. Finally, I was able to calm down, explain what was wrong, and that seemed to help me feel better. I was able to smile and take my finisher's photo and walk back to the car, so I was pretty sure there wasn't any serious damage. Todd got a text showing my official time and I was a little disappointed to have finished almost 3 minutes slower than my pace team. My official time was 2:10:41, which looking back, is still 4 minutes faster than my original goal. However, I know I could have finished with that 2:08 pace group if my calf muscle hadn't been hurting.

But, I now have motivation to do it again. I had even considered running another half in a few weeks, but Todd is graduating that morning and I would never miss watching that. Todd is also pretty jealous that I've finished a half now, so he is training with me to run another one in April. I've got about 20 weeks to train and I am aiming to beat that 2:08 pace with some time to spare.