Wednesday, December 31, 2014

So long 2014... don't let the door hit you on the way out!

This has been a tough year for my family, no two ways about it. 

We started out with the birth of Liam, which was fantastic and he is the best, sweetest, most adorable baby in the world. Even though he is a great baby, becoming a family of four and having a baby in our lives after almost 6 years was a huge adjustment for all of us. 

Before Liam was born I made everyone in the extended family update their TDaP vaccination. When Jeff got his, he had to get a physical which led down a rabbit hole of testing resulting in a surgery, two biopsies and a diagnosis of hemachromatosis. After he started treatment for that, his doctor noticed that he had many enlarged lymph nodes. Thankfully, the biopsies were benign granulomas and the diagnosis was sarcoidosis and not lymphoma. Even with health insurance, our medical bills this year have been astronomical. 

I haven't been as on top of things as I want to be. I haven't been able to do any of my crafts or write nearly as much as I would like. I started freezer cooking this year and that has enabled us to start eating a lot better. Jeff and I have each lost about 15 lbs in the past couple of months. We hope to make it to our goals this year. 

Makayla is trying our patience and testing our discipline at every opportunity. She's smart and a master at pushing every button on every person she knows (some might call that manipulation). We love her but lately, living with her is exceedingly frustrating. This is why when parents of younger kids say things like "It'll be so much easier when they can do XXX." I just think to myself, yeah I thought that too- but it's not ever any easier, the challenges are just different for every stage. 

Well anyway, here's to a new year and the new challenges that it will inevitably bring. I hope that ours are less this year!