2013: A Year of Change

2013 was a year of change for our family in many ways. From a fast-forward move back to KY to finding out we were expecting yet again...life seemed to throw some unexpected curve-balls, keeping things exciting for sure, but also somewhat stressful.

Below are some of the blog posts from 2013 that have documented our year of change. If you are a new More Skees Please reader, these posts will get you up to speed on our little family (click the title to read the post).

I Survived the Dr. Oz Detox
At the beginning of the year I was determined to make small changes to better my health and the health of my family. I started following the blog 100 Days of Real Food and slowly eliminated processed foods from our diet. It was quite an undertaking but over the course of a few weeks, our pantry and refrigerator looked very different - and nobody in my family complained a bit. To kick off my own transformation, I decided to attempt a detox as a way to cleanse my system and I wrote about my experience. This post continues to be the #1 source of traffic on my blog to this day. If you are considering doing this or even another detox, I recommend you read through this post for some encouragement. Because believe me, if I can do it, anyone can!

I Wouldn't Have You

This post came to me as I reflected on how our little family came about. While it's true that our expectations are not always so obviously met, I realized that in the end, things turn out exactly as they are meant to be. I experienced heartache many times in my journey to finding love and having children. But God knew what he was doing when he placed Ricky in my life. And each of our children have been blessings in their own unique ways.

When Mama Bear Comes Out

After 5 years of raising a child who "looks different", I was no stranger to noticing the stares and comments from others in social settings. However this year brought about a sense of confidence in dealing with these types of encounters head on. Whereas before I might have chosen to ignore these situations, only wishing later I had spoken up, now I find being assertive is much easier. Not only am I standing up for my child, but I'm also teaching people to confront their own behavior while raising awareness for others with physical differences.

Introducing apertOWL

After becoming a stay-at-home-mom in 2008 when Aiden was born, there was always this part of me that wanted to get out of the house and do something. I started volunteering much of my time to nonprofit organizations and loved what I did. Before long, I began to dream of starting my own nonprofit dedicated to helping other families touched by Apert syndrome. I talked it over with another mom with a similar passion as me and together we cultivated the idea into reality. This is the story of how it started to come together.

Temporary Roots

We weren't planning on moving back to Kentucky from Texas until this coming summer 2014. However things were sped along when Ricky's employer asked us to come back a little earlier. In a matter of days, we had listed our house, packed half of it up and the boys and I relocated, leaving Ricky in Texas to tie up loose ends. Little did we know that a week later, I would find out we were expecting baby #4! Talk about piling on the life changes! I hadn't yet shared the happy news in this post (hesitating because of my 2 prior miscarriages), but here I write about the whirlwind move and setting down "temporary roots" at my parents house.

Everything's Changing
The big pregnancy announcement post :)

Just Like You Only Different: An Open Letter to Aiden's Kindergarten Classmates

New school, new staff, new kids...Aiden starting kindergarten was exciting, sure, but this transition to a new city where we really didn't know anyone made it anxiety-ridden as well. I wanted so badly for Aiden's 1st year in school to be a positive experience for him. I wrote this letter to his classmates and shared it with his teacher. Soon after I learned that I had absolutely nothing to worry about. Aiden was doing great. Making friends, having fun, what a relief! This post was later printed in the October issue of Cincinnati Parent Magazine :)

An "Abrupt" Complication

At 23 weeks I learned that I might have a placental abruption. I was put on modified bedrest which quickly turned into hospital bedrest and a very scary situation. You can read my related posts with subsequent updates about the pregnancy here, here and here. In the end, all has turned out well. As of now I am 35 weeks and although I've experienced my typical preterm labor issues, the abruption has not been an issue - if it ever existed at all. I spent almost 6 weeks on bedrest (1 in the hospital, 5 at home) which was extremely challenging. But we got through it and now we are just patiently waiting Nolan Alexander's arrival :)

Stay tuned for a look ahead at the many exciting adventures 2014 is sure to have in store!