Goodbye 2015

The past year has been a great one, for sure. I was pregnant and had Henry, which were obviously HUGE life milestones. Here's a look back on some of my favorite moments.

Spending a Winter Weekend in Central Oregon with Family
Yep, you're hearing it again. I love Bend, I love the snow, I love talking and laughing with my family. We don't have a weekend planned for Bend this year and I'll admit that makes me a bit sad.

Warning: tubing at a ski resort is not as fun and carefree as it appears. #terrifying

Finding out Our Little One was Healthy
(and has long runner legs like his dad & mom). I may be short at 5'3", but I have pretty long legs paired with a child-size torso.

Being a Pregnant Runner
I always wondered what it would feel like and now I know. It was hard from the get go, but manageable (with walk breaks) until 30 weeks or so.

Running near campus in between classes

Going to School While Pregnant
I'll admit I'm disappointed that I've put my school dreams/aspirations/whatever on hold for now, but I know it's the right thing to do considering how much time and energy raising a baby requires. I also know I'm not passionate enough about the end goal (and all the hard work in between) to chase those R.D. dreams right now.

Coffee @ school needed when pregnancy insomnia hits

However, I think it was really interesting to take classes with 20 year olds being a non-traditional 32 year old sporting a baby bump around campus. It really gives you perspective on things. I also confirmed that organic chemistry is insanely hard and is a good part of why I might not continue on with the program. It's hard to feel smart when you struggle with an entire subject.

Setting up Baby Moe's Room
I'm not the greatest decorator, but with Baby Moe on the way, I had a vision of how I wanted his (or her) room to be and that was white and grey with a few pastels mixed in and pretty clean. It was nice to see everything come together and have a room to welcome the little one home to.

Four hours later, IKEA dresser success

Hiking While Pregnant
While my running definitely slowed down over the course of my pregnancy, my hiking picked up. It was a great way to get my heart rate up without being quite so jarring on the pelvis. It also provided a good opportunity for the manfriend and I to be active together on the weekends. Probably my most memorable hike was doing the 8+ mile loop with blog friend Elizabeth at Silver Falls.

34 weeks @ Silver Falls

31 weeks on top of Misery Ridge @ Smith Rock State Park

Starting a New Job at Nine Months Pregnant

I had the fun opportunity to help a couple friends open their new running store, including work on the marketing, designing and writing content for the website, plan the grand opening party and working with customers one month before Henry was born. It's continued to be a nice balance of providing a creative, work outlet as well as provide a little bit of income and keep me connected to running. 

Having a Baby

Preparing for Baby Moe's birth and actually having Henry was by far the most monumental thing I've ever done. And the birth was the most physically demanding thing I've endured, even considering I had an epidural about halfway through the labor. Twenty-four hours of labor, including three hours of pushing had me feeling like I had run a marathon, been run over by a truck AND done about 100 pull ups in the days following his birth. 

Seeing Pete Become a Dad

Not only were those initial father-son bonding moments so sweet to see, it's been fun to watch the manfriend become more confident and grow as a dad to Henry as the little guy grows and changes. I've also really appreciated that he gets to spend Sundays one-on-one with Henry as I work at the running store. 

Camping with Baby

This was our first big outing with Henry. It involved taking the dog to the boarder, packing up the car full of camping and baby gear and timing the drive right. It also happened to be crazy hot that weekend, so we were careful in keeping the little guy in the shade as much as possible. Henry did surprisingly well sleeping in the Rock 'n Play in our tent and I managed to nurse him in a camping chair in the middle of the night with no trouble several times. 

My Return to Running

While it took a while longer than six weeks for me to return to running after Henry was born, it felt really good to regain that part of my identity. And once I felt like I was solidly running again, it was exciting to sign up for my first postpartum race and then run the half marathon!

Watching Henry Grow 
While this will obviously continue, it has been incredible to see how much babies change exponentially in the first year of life. It's been a blast watching our happy little guy discover the world and we feel pretty lucky to share it with him.

Well, I'm sure I could go on and on, but I think I'll stop right there. These are definitely the highlights from what I can tell in scrolling back through my photos from 2015. 

Here's to an exciting and fulfilling 2016! Per the usual on New Year's Eve, I'm feeling pretty pumped for all the possibilities in 2016.

What were three of your biggest moments of 2015? Any exciting plans for tonight?

I think our plans involve dinner and some bubbly on the couch after the little man goes to sleep. And I've already declared we'll be celebrating an east coast NYE. ;)