2016 in Review

This is a review of the past year, month by month, so that I can remember all that we’ve done and been through. There will be individual blog posts coming to go more in depth on some of the events that happened.

January

  • J left on January 1 for a five week trip
  • C and I saw a ballet performance of Sleeping Beauty put on at the local university. She loved it and it led to signing her up for ballet lessons in the fall.
  • I made some healthy changes in the house by switching from dryer sheets to dryer balls, and by switching from plastic to glass storage containers in the kitchen.
  • I finished a crocheted blanket that I had been working on for C.
  • C and I took a trip to St Augustine, FL

 

February

  • J got promoted and returned from his trip
  • C ran out of the pull-ups that she wore at night and we didn’t buy any more.
  • Found out that my Vitamin D levels were very low. Ideal levels are 60-70, mine was 17. I started taking high dose supplement.
  • I met with an allergist who did skin prick testing for food items. When I was tested in Hawaii and my body was going haywire, the results showed I was allergic to almost every food tested for. This time, I showed no allergies to any food tested for. My body was healing.
  • J, C, and I took a trip to Atlanta. We stayed in a hotel downtown and went to the Georgia Aquarium, Coca-Cola Museum, IKEA, and applied for C’s first passport
  • I got a bad sinus and ear infection
  • J left at the end of the month for a one week trip

 

March

  • I got sick again at the beginning of the month, ended up in the ER at one point
  • C and I took a two week trip to Antigua, Guatemala at the end of the month to visit J’s parents who were staying there for the winter. J joined us in Guatemala for one week to be there for Easter.
  • C and I both got sick at the end of the month

 

April

  • We started some seedlings and planned a backyard garden
  • I got another bad sinus infection
  • We spent a lot of time outside playing and riding bikes
  • I met with a naturopathic doctor in Atlanta. I finally got some explanations and answers. A slew of tests were run and I started on some supplements.
  • J was gone for 10 days at the end of the month.

 

May

  • J was gone for a two week trip
  • C and I took a trip to New York City where J met up with us at the end of his trip.
  • I got sick again with another sinus infection
  • I had a follow-up appointment with my naturopathic doctor to go over test results. She ran blood tests for mold allergies and found that I’m highly allergic to 8 of the 11 molds she tested for. I had positive evidence of mold exposure in my body (thank you, Hawaii). I left with entire bag of prescriptions and supplements to remove mold from my sinuses and help my body balance and function properly again.
  • I had an endoscopy (throat scope) procedure done at the hospital to look for answers to my throat swelling reaction to dairy. Turns out, I have an extremely narrow esophagus. The average adult has a diameter of 15-20mm but mine was only 6mm. That explained SO much throughout my entire life! The doctor did a throat stretching procedure that increased the diameter to about 9mm.
  • I had a CT scan done on my sinuses.
  • We finally discovered the trigger to C’s eczema. I had kept this off of the blog and social media with my Photoshop skills but I will be opening up about it in a separate post.

 

June

  • J was gone for 13 days this month
  • C took part in a week-long gymnastics camp
  • C and I took a week-long trip to Pennsylvania to visit my family
  • C got her first official haircut at her aunt’s hair salon
  • We started harvesting vegetables from our garden
  • It was a rainy month so we spent a lot of time inside doing crafty things.
  • I got sick again.

 

July

  • J, C, Dulce, and I went camping at Stone Mountain, GA for the 4th of July which was a fun time but ridiculously hot and humid.
  • We started Whole30
  • Dulce had her 7th birthday!
  • We took C to the movie theater for the first time to see The Secret Life of Pets
  • C start survival swimming lessons, going for 10 min a day, four days a week, for six weeks
  • We saw Beauty and Beast on stage at the local university
  • I had another throat stretching procedure done that got the diameter of my esophagus up to 12mm.
  • Partway through Whole30, I started getting new ill health symptoms and at that point discovered the Medical Medium. I started following his dietary and supplement recommendations and I started feeling better one week later and have continued to improve ever since.

 

August

  • J was gone 17 days this month
  • C went bowling for the first time
  • C went to the dentist for the first time
  • I was awarded a gold medal for hula hooping at our squadron olympic games
  • C started PreK and ballet lessons
  • J and C took a trip to Seattle to visit his family

 

September

  • I met up with my best friend in Las Vegas for a Coldplay concert and some relaxation
  • J’s mother came for a visit and was here for C’s birthday
  • C turned 4 years old and had a Paw Patrol themed party.
  • We had a strong storm knock down branches and cause damage to our backyard fence
  • We participated in a neighborhood yard sale and got rid of a lot of unnecessary things and clutter

 

October

  • J, C, and I took a camping trip to Helen, GA for Oktoberfest
  • C and I ran in a local 1 mile race
  • C dressed up as Elena of Avalor for Halloween
  • I carved pumpkins with C for the first time
  • J was gone for 14 days this month
  • My mom came to visit

 

November

  • Both of J’s parents came to visit
  • J and I spent two nights in Savannah, GA where I ran the Rock N Roll Half Marathon on Nov 5
  • J, his parents, and C took a weekend trip to St Augustine, FL
  • I ran a 5k race on the military base
  • We spent Thanksgiving week in Orlando with J’s family and relatives. We took C to Disney for the first time, going to the Magic Kingdom twice and Hollywood Studios once.
  • We put up our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving

 

December

  • J was gone for the entire month, returning on Christmas Eve
  • C went on her first horse ride at a friend’s birthday party
  • C and I spent my 39th birthday at Disney World
  • We attended multiple Christmas programs and parties
  • We saw Moana and Sing in the movie theater
  • We decorated for Christmas, and we baked and decorated cookies
  • We had a peaceful Christmas at home, thankful that our little family was together this year
  • We spent two nights in Atlanta staying with friends to ring in the New Year.

 

*******
“appreciate this moment. stop and look around you. be thankful for all you have
and where you are because this time, next year, nothing will be the same.”
~r.h.Sin