15 for 2015: Final Recap

Happy New Year's Eve! It's crazy to think that 2015 is almost over. This past year Nate and I traveled, spent a lot of time with family and friends, both transitioned to newish jobs (well, I went back to my old job, but it was a new team so I'm counting it!) and announced that our little family will be growing by one. I'd say 2015 was a great year, and I'm looking forward to the challenges and promise that 2016 brings. I didn't check off everything on my list, but overall I'm satisfied with how keeping myself accountable meant that I got some stuff accomplished that I don't think I would have otherwise. Here's how I did on my 15 for 2015 list:

1. Try 6 new recipes that aren't desserts (and post the review/recipe on here).Done! The final list is below. My favorites from the list are definitely the baked chicken parm and the creamy chicken buttermilk dumplings. The chicken parm is soooo easy to make, healthy and delish. The chicken and buttermilk dumpling recipe is definitely more involved, but was well worth the labor and the one recipe where both Nathan and I were fighting over the last leftover. 
1.  Zucchini Lasagna
2.  Baked Chicken Parm 
3. Cheeseburger Casserole,
4. Bangin' Good Shrimp,
5. Creamy Chicken Buttermilk Dumplings. 
6. Roasted Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Pizza
2. Read 5 new books. Read 10 new books. So I met my original goal of 5, but came 3 books short of 10. I think averaging a little over a book every two months was a good pace, and I definitely read more this year than I have any other so I'm still counting this a win. 
1. Bossypants by Tina Fey
2. Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me? by Mindy Kaling
3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (seriously, SO good!)
4. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
5. The Vacationers by Emma Staub
6. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
7. Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult 
3. Try something that takes me out of my comfort zone. Done, well....almost :). I guess having a baby technically is something that's going to come in 2016, but deciding to start a family was a big step. 
1. Having a baby
2. Pushing myself skiing (hello black diamond runs!)
3. Flying 8 (yes, freaking 8) times over the 6 day trip for work to Puerto Rico, Barbados and Trinidad. 
4. Take pictures for at least 4 family functions. I was just one shy of making my goal, but a nasty cold and being exhausted meant I was in no mood to take pictures this Christmas. 
1. Family Ski Vacation - Colorado
2. Little Brother's Graduation
3. Ashton's first birthday party
5. Hang pictures of family/friends on the walls (this sounds simple, but our home has had nearly bare walls...for almost 2 years). Complete! 
   
6. Send a birthday card in the mail to 3 6 friends/family members. Met my original goal of 3, but didn't step up to do 6. 
7. Do an act of kindness. I think this is halfway done. I paid for a stranger's coffee, and Nate and I adopted a family from our local community shelter. Nathan was the one to really dive into the adopt-a-family by offering us to help, so I can't take most of the credit, but it was nice to be able to help out a family in need. 
8. Visit 3 places I've never been before. Complete!
1. Trinidad
2. Barbados
3. Puerto Rico
4. North Carolina
5. Atlanta
9. Follow a clean eating or whole 30 plan for a week (hopefully longer, but baby steps, right?) Yea, this definitely didn't happen. Could it have? Yes. This will definitely be on my list for 2016. 
10. Work back up to running a 5k again, straight through. Completed on the treadmill in July, but never got to it outside. Right now running seems downright laughable, but once baby comes I'm looking forward to getting back into it. 
11. Blog at least 24 times. Done! 
12. Clean out/organize all of the closets in our house. I'd say this was about 80% complete. Before our little guy gets here I'm planning on doing an overhaul on our basement/closets (baby stuff takes up a lot of space!) so we can donate/purge everything we don't use or need.
13. Surprise my husband in some way. Surprised N with tickets to Modest Mouse in September. 
14. Do a house project.  Complete! Painted the house and put on new shutters, and then in early November we replaced our kitchen back splash with tile in lieu of tin. 
15. Go visit a friend that lives in another state. Done! Visited our friends in Atlanta over Labor day weekend. 

-A

24 Weeks

Weeks along: 24

What's new with baby: Baby is the size of a cantaloupe and is just about a foot long. His skin is becoming less see-through and the new capillaries that are forming in his skin are making it pinker as well.While little man still has 16 more weeks until he's fully cooked, he'd have a chance out in the world if he came early.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

Symptoms: Pregnancy-wise, still feeling great, but I've officially hit the week mark with this cold and I'm so freaking over it. Unfortunately there's nothing my doctor can really do since it's a virus, so I just have to let it run its course. I'm still taking Sudafed maybe once or twice a day and then one Benadryl tablet at night to help me sleep. It helps a tiny bit, but not much. Fingers crossed that by Christmas it's all cleared up!

Cravings: I had a massive craving for a Taco Bell taco this week, but with everyone being out and about for last-minute shopping, the line was ridiculous so I opted out. Don't worry though, I've still been eating all the Christmas treats at work this week ;)

Workouts: Nada. Nothing. And probably won't happen until I feel better.

Baby Purchases: Bought our little guy this outfit that says "Mommy's Little Cub" on it from Carter's on Sunday. I know we'll probably be overloaded with boy outfits, but I just couldn't pass it up.

High point of the week: Christmas, of course!

Concerns/Issues: Just want to be able to sleep with my mouth closed again.

Missing: Being able to take all the medicine without hesitating. I've been staying away from taking anything besides my pre-natals throughout this pregnancy, but I finally caved towards the end of the week and got the clear from my OB to take some Sudafed and Benadryl to help with my cold.

Sleep: With being really congested sleep has been hit or miss, but I <3 the Snoogle. Actually, the entire family does. I've caught N stealing it at night to put in between his legs, and the pugs love resting their head on it.


Looking forward to: Getting everything for his nursery and putting it together.

23 Weeks

A little late, but better late than never! 

Weeks along: 23

What's new with baby: Baby boy is the size of a grapefruit and his face is fully formed.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

Symptoms: Was feeling great this week...until N brought home a cold. This whole weakened immune system kind of sucks, but I'm just trying to take it easy. Fingers crossed it doesn't last long.

Cravings: Cheeze-its were on my mind this week, besides all the sweets.

Workouts: Thanks to being sick, only got in one 3 mile walk/run with weights afterwards. Taking a break from pushing myself until I feel better.

Baby Purchases: None this week, although my mom bought him a couple soft blankets for his room.

High point of the week: My dad painted the nursery and installed some new closet doors for little man. My friend Jenny and I also did our annual baking day, which is always fun and helps me get in the Christmas spirit :-).

Concerns/Issues: Just wanting to make sure this cold doesn't progress into anything that could harm baby M.

Missing: Being able to take all the medicine without hesitating. I've been staying away from taking anything besides my pre-natals throughout this pregnancy, but I finally caved towards the end of the week and got the clear from my OB to take some Sudafed and Benadryl to help with my cold.

Sleep: With being really congested sleep has been hit or miss, but I <3 the Snoogle. Actually, the entire family does. I've caught N stealing it at night to put in between his legs, and the pugs love resting their head on it.


Looking forward to: Getting everything for his nursery and putting it together.

22 Weeks

Weeks along: 22

What's new with baby: Our little boy is the size of a water bottle/papaya. He's sleeping anywhere from 12-14 hours a day and his eyes and lips are more developed.

Maternity Clothes: Yes

Symptoms: Had my first week of some lower back pain, but all around I continue to have an easy pregnancy (which I'm so thankful for)!

Cravings: Just all the sweets. Chocolate. Fruit. You name it. I try to eat healthy at least 2/3 meals of the day with healthy snacks, but I know where I really need to cut back is the sugar.

Workouts: Shooting for at least 3 workouts a week got that in this week. It wasn't much, but did a 3 mile walk/run and 2 more 2ish mile walks. I need to step up the intensity, but with work and home life being really busy I'm counting any activity as a win.

Baby Purchases: We bought the paint for little guy's room, and last weekend we picked out a crib/dresser. My dad is a rock star and is actually painting the nursery for us and installing new closet doors. I'm so lucky to have such supporting parents, and I hope N and I can be half as great as them when our baby is born.

High point of the week: N got to feel the baby kick! The look on Nate's face when he felt it was priceless, and it left us with the biggest grins on our faces :-)

Concerns/Issues: Nothing this week. 

Missing: Feeling a little vain  this week with the numbers on the scale continuing to rise and freaking out a little bit about fitting into my pre-pregnancy clothes after he's born. I know I just need to focus on eating healthy and staying active though, and what happens happens.

Sleep: Has improved! N bought me a snoogle for Christmas, and since my sleep has been so crappy lately he decided to gift it to me early. I was worried it was going to take up the whole bed and be more of a nuisance than anything, but it's actually helped and I don't think N's feel squished at all.

Looking forward to: Seeing the nursery all painted with new closet doors, and really starting to design his room! We also need to register at some point, and I'm looking forward to that too :-)

21 Weeks

Looking more and more pregnant every week! 

Weeks along: 21

What's new with baby: Baby is the size of a baseball cap, bok choy, or a pomegranate - take your pick :-). This week he's working on producing meconium (his first poop) and he's now about 10.5 inches long!

Maternity Clothes: Besides workout clothes and cardigans, pretty much exclusively maternity clothes at this point.

Symptoms: Struggling with sleep, but otherwise feeling great! Little man is more active every day and feeling his kicks are the best :-)

Cravings: Continuing to crave sweets. This week my mother-in-law brought over this cream-filled banana bread and it was out of this world.

Workouts: Decent this week. One 3.5 mile walk with weights, and 2 more 2-2.5 mile walks with some running and weights at the end.

Baby Purchases: N and I took advantage of Black Friday sales and bit the bullet on getting the stroller/car seat combo we wanted. Our baby purchases up to this point have been thrifty, gently-used products, but I really really wanted the UPPAbaby Cruz with the UPPAbaby Mesa car seat. Out of all the strollers we looked at it, it was the most user-friendly and compact while also coming with a lot of optional attachments (plus it had awesome reviews). The only downside? The price. Luckily on Black Friday it was 20% off, and since it's rarely on sale we jumped on it. I never thought I'd be so excited to get a stroller, and having a car seat in our house is starting to make this all feel real :-).

High point of the week: N feeling Baby M after I worked out this weekend. Our little guy has been active enough that N can feel him when he decides to curl up in a ball on one side of my stomach, which he especially likes to do after I've been walking or running.

Concerns/Issues: Now that we're a little more than 4 months out labor and delivery is on my mind more and more along with how we're going to adjust to sleepless nights with a newborn.

Missing: Nothing this week

Sleep: Hasn't gotten any better. A pregnancy pillow might be in the near future....or a new mattress.

Looking forward to: Picking out the nursery furniture! My parents have generously offered to purchase us a crib and dresser so we're heading to KC this weekend to shop around.