Where'd you find the best cup of coffee (or tea, or wine, or beverage of your choice?)

The best wine we found was at Bureaux Vineyard.

What cracked you up?

Mostly I was cracked up by my girls. I love how Piper is Sary's biggest fan and she cracks up when Sary does.

Most bizarre conversation of your year: script it. Use pseudonyms if necessary.

Me: Taking all my medicines with Sary watching as she brushes her teeth.

Sary: When I am a mommy will I get to take all those vitamins?

Me: I hope not, hopefully just one. (the actual vitamin)

Me: I love your pretty white teeth!

Sary: I love your pretty yellow teeth

(Boom goes the dynamite! No wonder mommies struggle with self esteem.)

What rocked your world, changed your life, and shifted the ground beneath your feet?

(Okay whoever wrote this list expected a lot from any given year didn’t they?!?) 

The most life changing thing for me this year was Jake.  You would think that after 8 years of marriage 1 year of engagement 3 years of dating.  That’s 12 plus years all together, there wouldn’t be much left that he could do that would change me.  He is my world, my life, the ground beneath my feet; how can he shake things up?  It is his solidarity his ability to be there for me “whatever it is” that I need him to be “wherever there is” that I need him to be he amazes me. 

When I ask, “Do you think I can move this mountain?”

He says “Yes there is nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it.”

When I tell him “I feel like a failure that mountain was too big for me to move.”

He says “That’s okay you made a dent in it, right there.  You might not move it now, but you will someday, when the time is right.  I believe in you!”

He thinks I am smart and beautiful and sexy and wonderful and there is nothing I can’t do.  He is my champion my cheerleader.  Wow that is earth moving.

Who has been you teacher this year officially or unofficially?

I have learned this year.  But I am not sure that I have a teacher.  Would it sound arrogant to say I have been my own teacher?  I have taken motivation from my children and my husband but basically I have just decided to do it.::insert Nike swoosh::  I have decided that I can have the life I want.  I can be fit I can take care of myself.  I can be successful in my career.  I can be the mother I want to be.  This is the year of better.  I decided.  That is it that is all it took.  At the beginning of the year Jake and I changed our mindset to the year of better.  We were over having a sick baby we were over the PTSD we were ready to be better.  With that changed mind set of better I just did.  I was better.

When did you take the easy way?

This is a hard one for me because I am someone who likes to take on a challenge the idea of taking “the easy way” rubs me the wrong way.  I have been working my butt off literally and figuratively this year.  I have not taken the easy why with my weight loss.  I have changed my diet I have exercised I have sweat and cried.  I have worked my butt off at work too I have written winning proposals and I have earned awards and I have commuted all the way around the beltway 4 days a week for 6 months.

Where have I taken the easy way this year? Putting in my resignation may appear as taking the easy way out of the challenge.  Maybe I could have tried to find a different project or a different schedule or one more compromise.  But for me the hard answer was to admit Deloitte is hard and not everyone is up for the challenge.  At this time, though the challenge is appealing, being with my family is more important.  It may look like the easy way to my friends still climbing that ladder but to me it was a very hard decision to give up the prestige and the challenge and return to the other side of the beltway where my babies are reminding me that my own eminence is not the most important thing in life.

What was your favorite blog post?

My favorite blog posts were the two I wrote about my girl, Sary and Piper.

Where did you spend your money?

This is something that is of discussion in our household this time of year every year.  We end up in December with a lot of expenses for Christmas and Birthday parties.  We are in reflective time thinking about how we want to spend our money in the future.  We start planning goals for the next year and we wonder how did we make so much and save so little.  This year was especially hard for my extended family having helped them out impacted our savings a great deal.  Having two girls in daycare was hard on us too. Money is a source of worry for Jake and a source of guilt for me and stress between us.  We have plans to make a new budget in January which will help to account for occasional expenses and cyclical expenses, in addition to the monthly expenses hopefully that will help to ensure savings are saved.

What astonished you?

I had to look up astonished not because I had never heard the word but because when I heard it as a blog prompt it didn’t ring a bell with me.  What has filled me with wonder and amazement this year? When I think of wonder I think of the hearts of children and their indescribable thirst for knowledge and understanding of the world around them.  My children have been the most astonishing thing in my life this year.  Sary has grown up so much in the last year.  Her ability to relate her experiences to conversations is a very cool new development.  I like the way she is seeing connections in the world.  She has the most amazing faith in God that I am so thankful we have brought her up in the church.  She asks me questions that show a sincere desire to know God and Jesus.  Piper’s development over the last year has been astonishing too.  She has developed physical strength, walking, and talking.  She has also developed a better understanding of the world and the dangers of going downstairs and jumping off the furniture.  She understands everything we say and can make her own desires known.  This is my favorite year of being a mommy so far.  I love the sweetness of the cuddles and the fun of the wrestling.

When did you celebrate?

I have mentioned the celebrations we had throughout previous posts.  We celebrated:

1.       Piper’s first birthday at home with friends and family and a snowflake theme

2.       My Birthday in OBX

3.       Easter at the Burkets the girls were surprised with a new playhouse

4.       Jake’s Birthday at Breaux Vineyard

5.       When I lost 20 pounds

6.       When Jake got an unexpected raise

7.       Our anniversary at the Homestead

8.       Completing the Zombie run

9.       When Piper graduated OT

10.   Halloween with a Mermaid and Elmo

11.   When the Townsends announced Katie’s pregnancy

12.   Obama being re-elected

13.   When my brother came to visit from AZ

14.   Thanksgiving with the Burkets

15.   When I got an award at work

What were your favorite songs?

Never been a big music person but this year I realized that it is more a result of being picky than it is not caring.  I am a big fan of Po Girl. I was introduced to Girl in a Coma and Ingrid Michelson this year.  I think my favorite songs for this year are Po Girl “Pink Shoes” and Kiss me in the dark” and Ingrid Michelson “Ghost”.  I did enjoy going to an Ingrid Michelson concert with Marissa this year.

What was the best book you read?

Virtuoso Teams the book is the basis for the Deep Dive methodology that Deloitte uses.  It is an awesome way to facilitate problem solving and strategic planning. Most of the books I read this year were work related or church related.

Where did you visit this year?

I was working really hard at improving my utilization at work so we did not travel as much as normal ths year.  We did go to OBX for holy week/Spring Break with the Bachman’s.  Piper experienced the beach for the first time and my little sensory seeker loved rubbing sand on herself.  Sary acted like she was immune to the cold water.  We saw a beautiful huge double rainbow. During Labor Day weekend we went to Austin Texas to visit GiGi and Uncle Matt.  Uncle Scott and Aunt Lorraine came down to visit while we were there.  Piper enjoyed meeting GiGi. Sary liked seeing the bats fly out from under the bridge.  We visited Williamsburg over Columbus Day weekend we loved going to Busch Gardens and meeting Elmo and friends was good practice for Disney next year.

What was the most delicious meal you ate this year?

This year I have not been focusing on my foodie tendencies because I have been focusing on making healthy lifestyle changes. So I will say that Shakeology is the most delicious meal I have had this year.  I have had Shakeology for breakfast almost every day for three months.  I feel so much healthier now that I am starting my day with a nutritional boost.  I am not trying to be a BeachBody commercial either.  I am just so far away from focusing on food that I can’t even remember a fancy meal I had this year.  I have some memorable meals.  Jake took me to a nice restaurant in OBX for my birthday and the girls were precious. Jake and I went to the Homestead for our anniversary and Jake had to buy pants and borrow a jacket to eat in the dinning room, but the food was meh.  I gained three pounds after a Burket family meal at Olive Garden celebrating an award I got at work.  I enjoyed Thanksgiving because the whole Burket family came together and it was very nice, Sary lead us in singing her “We are Thankful” grace and Piper said Amen.

When you were most grateful?

I was most grateful when Piper graduated from Occupational Therapy.  It has been two years since she was born.  When she was born I was so scared.  The whole world looked strange to me.  I no longer trusted the comfort of my own dreams for my family.  The future was unpredictable.  I was so frightened that she might die or be physically disabled.  She grew stronger every day and came home in March before her due date and was healthy, no malformations, no brain bleeds.  She still had a challenge with coordinating her suck swallow breath but hey she could swallow.

I started her in Early Intervention right away.  She was evaluated in May.  She automatically qualified because she was born so early.  We were assigned an Occupational Therapist.  The first focus was on her suck swallow breath coordination.  It was immediate.  The advice of the OT worked wonders she was able to do it if she wasn’t distracted before the next OT visit two weeks later.

A year later at her evaluation in May we had overcome many obstacles her sensory seeking behavior was normalizing.  Her torticollis was not that bad.  She was walking and learning to talk.  We continued the therapy and added a couple goals around speech.  She had just started Day Care in April and I was not sure how she would adjust.  We had a couple months of slow progress she was sick a lot she was prescribed a preventative nebulizer treatment.  As soon as she was healthy again she burst forth all sorts of new words and abilities.

We worked on her neck and before I knew it when the OT asked me what my concerns were I didn’t have any.  A year and a half after she was born and poof like that, no more concerns.  I said “let’s keep an eye on her neck” so we scheduled our next appointment for two months later. (Not two weeks two months.) We met the OT in October and Piper was doing great. No more OT for now, we did not decline services we are still in early intervention but there are no immediate concerns.  I am so grateful to Lorna and her wonderful skills and patience. I am so grateful to God for his plans.

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” New International Version (NIV)

Examen 2012

A blog prompt for every day in December to help me examine the progress I have made in my Heart Mind Body Soul

When were you most grateful?
What was the most delicious meal you ate?
Where did you visit this year?
What was the best book you read?
What were your favorite songs?
When did you celebrate?
What astonished you?
Where did you spend your money?
What was your favorite blog post...that you read or wrote?
When did you take the easy way?
Who has been your teacher this year - officially or unofficially?
What rocked your world, changed your life, shifted the ground beneath your feet?
Most bizarre conversation of your year: script it. Use pseudonyms if necessary.
What cracked you up?
Where'd you find the best cup of coffee (or tea, or wine, or beverage of your choice?)
When did you struggle?
What’s the most whimsical/spontaneous/ridiculous thing you did?
When did you see God at work?
When were you the angriest?
What’s been the best decision you made this year?
Who came into your life in 2012?
What did you learn?
What gifts did you give? What gifts did you receive?
Meme of the year: post a picture.
What did you make?
Where did you spend the most time?
Who surprised you?
What did you give up?
If the year 2012 had a hashtag, what would it be?
Where were you on January 1, 2012?
What’s one thing you’re committing to in 2013?