2013 in Review

**Geez I know this is so late. Life is crazy!!**

One of the best parts of blogging is keeping a record of what I've done. I really enjoy going back through old posts to do these recap posts at the end of the year. So lets see what 2013 held for me:

At the end of 2012 I took a break from blogging but was back in February 2013 to recap everything I'd done in between and review my weight loss strategy and success. I'm really proud of that weight loss. I'm stuck in sort of a rut right now trying to get back into it and I'm so glad I wrote that post so that I can remember how well I was doing back then.

Left is Sept 2011, Right is Oct 2012

In March 2013, I caught up on Steven's monthly posts and did months 15-21 and then announced I was pregnant again with Logan. That was an exciting announcement! Steve and I wanted to get pregnant in 2013 but we had no idea it would happen so quickly! Also in March I picked up weekly pregnancy posts again starting with 11 weeks. During my 12 week post I mentioned we started thinking about converting the spare bedroom into Steven's big boy room and Steven was doing well with potty training. That seems like SO long ago!

One of his last pics in diapers!

Clearly thrilled about the news of becoming a big brother.

In April, we celebrated Easter by dying eggs for the first time and getting sick! Boo to being sick during the holidays. Around 14 weeks pregnant the rash from hell appeared for the first time. That was miserable! At 16 weeks pregnant, my good friend, Julie had her baby boy Nicholas and we found out baby #2 was a boy! Exciting week. We thought it would be fun to have a gender reveal party this time and we had that in April.

IT's a boy!

In May, we started the transition to Steven's big boy bed. Boy was that an adventure!  Steven turned 2, we took our traditional trip to the zoo on his actual bday, and we had a birthday party for him. Also in May, we took our first vacation as a family of 3 with my parents to Gulf Shores, Alabama. That was SO much fun! And I worked on converting our spare room to Steven's big boy room with a construction theme.

Cupcake face. LOL

In June we took Steven to the Renaissance Faire, which he both loved and hated. ha ha! We also went to Circus Flora with Steve's family for Willow's bday. That was fun and memorable when Steven peed on the stairs during the show! lol Also in June I had some fun with girlfriends and we celebrated Father's day.

All the daddys on Fathers Day

In July we got a new nephew, Micah, put our house on the market (after a TON of work on it to prepare) and finished Steven's big boy room. We also had a great time celebrating the 4th of July with the Elder's. I also finally made it into the 3rd trimester and started getting the nursery ready for baby #2.

In August, Steven and I had fun on a playdate with the Elders, Steve and I had a date night and we attended Kris's baby shower in Rochester, IL. I was ready to be done being pregnant and we decided on the name Logan Garrett. We had some fun weekends at Grants Farm and the zoo and hanging with family in general. Steven got excited about the new baby by attending a big brother class and Steve and I celebrated our birthdays.

The prego cousins

Goofball cousins

Practicing to be a big brother.

In September I felt huge and complained about being pregnant in the the ridiculously hot weather. Steven was both a joy and a challenge at 2.5 years old. We hung out with family at the botanical gardens and took Steven bowling for the first time. We took Steven to Eckerts to pick apples and had a blast. At 39 weeks I was DONE being pregnant and ready to have this baby! My cousin had her baby girl, Emelia.

On October 1st I couldn't take it anymore and was induced. Logan Garrett was born at 2:13am and changed our lives forever. Steven immediately loved his little brother which was so great. Also that month I finished and revealed Logan's nursery. We also braved the unseasonable cold weather to take Steven to a pumpkin patch. We all froze but oh well.

In November I blogged about the fun stuff we did for Halloween including Boo at the Zoo, Fall Festival in Manchester, Fall Carnival at Grandma Riegerix's church, and carving pumpkins. We also went trick or treating in the pouring rain but Steven loved it. Logan turned 1 month and I tried to settle into this mother of 2 role. I also had a blast on maternity leave.

In December I blogged about our Thanksgiving celebrations and counted my blessings. I got a little behind on blogging and didn't post my Christmas update till January but that was because we were in the hospital for almost 5 days with Logan's RSV in December.

Whew! That was quite a year for us!! It's fun to look back. Hopefully 2014 will be awesome too! Happy New Year!