2014 has been A YEAR! The past few years have been full of nothing but huge changes for myself and Jerry, and this was probably the craziest year yet… but in a good way. I want to recap some of the biggest moments of 2014, as I do every year.
A baby on the way…
In April, we became pregnant and were delighted to find out the amazing news in May. I took several early pregnancy tests which came back negative, but I decided to keep taking tests because I just had a feeling. When we finally received a positive on May 13, 2014, just a few days after the negatives, we were ecstatic. I took a test while Jerry was at work, and when he got home at 2 in the morning, he brought home another one. There were happy tears while we sat in our little bathroom in the middle of the night. It was one of the best and most exciting moments of our lives. Also thrilling was finally finding out and announcing the baby’s gender and name back in September! We cannot wait to meet our baby in just a couple of weeks! The whole story of our pregnancy is now told on my new blog page “Baby Caleb,” so please check it out.
^^Learning the good news in May 2014, Mom and Dad to be on Christmas 2014 at 36.5 weeks pregnant.
^^Caleb, 20 weeks
A home of our own…
Another momentous and life altering occasion happened in 2014, when Jerry and I closed on our first home on March 28th! It was a long, stressful, and difficult journey with tons of back and forth with the bank, and the day we finally closed was one of incredible excitement and happiness. It’s been a crazy nine months as homeowners, including lots of ups and downs, repairs, and renovations, but ultimately, we wouldn’t trade being homeowners for the world! We are proud of this huge accomplishment and can’t wait to continue work on our house as our budget and time allow. For more of our fun homeowning adventures and renovations, click here. You’ll see all my posts about being a homeowner.
An exciting first year…
Amidst all of the excitement and huge changes for our little family in 2014, Jerry and I celebrated our very first wedding anniversary on October 5th, 2014! I still can’t believe it’s been over a year since our wedding. We had a very low-key but fun anniversary weekend. Clearly, it has been a very huge and eventful first year of marriage, and even when things aren’t perfect, I’m always glad Jerry is the one by my side. Our whole love story has its own blog page now, located here.
Blogging changes…
My little old blog here has seen quite a lot of changes in 2014 as well. It’s basically transitioned from a book blog to a personal/lifestyle blog after a huge blogger identity crisis. While books will always be my passion in life, after blogging for over five years exclusively about books, (my five year blogiversary was in September) I suffered some burn out. I most certainly am still reading, and even still reviewing on occasion, but I’m liking the way my blog has transitioned and I have really, really enjoyed becoming a personal blogger. I talked at great length about my decision to no longer be exclusively a book blogger here, if you’d like to know more! To go along with my new blog theme, I am also getting a new blog design and tagline very shortly which I am super excited for!
I haven’t tracked my blog stats much in the past, so I don’t have a means to compare, but below are my main stats for 2014 for my own future reference. I have no idea if these are good, bad, or in between, but I am very happy with my blog and that’s what matters!
Total page views: 39,618
Total visits: 27,787
Most viewed post in 2014 with 3,603 views (posted in 2013 though!): How to Lose Weight Without Dieting
More memorable moments and posts of 2014…
While I covered most of the big things of 2014, there were some other memories, moments, and blog posts worth remembering from the year:
- The year started off on a rough note during my short lived dog fostering adventure. See, I was a dog foster for a little bit of time, until I had an awful experience with a very sick dog. This tribute was for Oliver, who touched my heart and broke it, too.
- I have survived more than a year as a night-shift wife! It’s tough, but we do what we have to do to support ourselves and our growing family.
- The same weekend we bought our house, I bought my Jeep! WOOHOO! I have always wanted one and I finally have one.
- I learned to accept my introverted nature a bit more this year, and talked about what it means to me to be an introvert.
- I had a goal to run five races this year… but then I got pregnant. I did get to run one race though, and it was a lot of fun!
- I celebrated my three year “adoptiversary” with Dakota! He’s kind of a nuisance, and I’m always saying ridiculous things to him in the form of scolding, but I love him dearly.
- Even though my weight loss is on hold for the moment until after the baby is born, I detailed my fat story, discussed my problem with food, wrote a letter to the old, fat me and as embarrassing as these things are, at least I’m not an asshat who judges fat people like this lady I had a dealing with.
- I worked on trying to not compare my life to others and realized that it’s okay to not be perfect!
- I also really learned how to be financially responsible and a lot more thankful for what we have. We may not have all that we want but we have all that we need and I am thankful for everything we do have… it IS enough.
Bring on 2015…
Usually, I set myself a ton of goals each year but I’m going to try and be realistic here and refrain a bit.
2015 is the year my life will change the most. I am going to become a MOM! I know that nothing will be the same after our son is born and this is a GOOD THING because along with all the changes that come with being a parent will come an indescribable love! We are ecstatic and anxious, and simply cannot wait to meet our baby. So for 2015, all I really want is to learn to be an amazing parent and family of three. That is what 2015 is all about for me. Everything else pales in comparison.
That said, I will state a couple of other intentions I have for the year. I’d like to read 50 books. I’d like to run another half-marathon, or at least a couple of other races. I’d like to get fit again after he is born, and lose most, if not all, of the pregnancy weight by the end of 2015. I will continue to work on our finances, saving when we can and keeping our finances in order. I’d like to continue with house renovations, but I’m not sure what projects we’ll tackle next… and I think I’ll leave it at that. I’m not going too in depth with my goals because I really have no idea what having a baby will bring, except that life will change drastically in only the best possible way. I definitely plan on continuing to blog as much as I can, and chronicling our life as a growing family into the new year!
Happy New Years to all of my wonderful blogging friends, both old and new. I have made a few new blogging friends this year thanks to my transition into personal blogging, and I have enjoyed following along in all of your lives. I hope to continue these friendships into 2015 and beyond!
