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Farewell, 2014!

I wish I could say that I was ending the year on a bang, but really I am ending it on my sick bed (er, at my desk at work being sick). For the second time this pregnancy I have bronchitis, which is just as fun as it sounds. Luckily, I seem to be slowly getting better and not progressing towards pneumonia like had happened in September. It has definitely been the pits feeling crummy over the holidays and I feel sad that I haven't been able to play with Maddie and her new Christmas toys as much as she wants me to, but here is hoping I will be on the mend soon.
2014 was a pretty huge year for our family and I just wanted to do a little end of the year recap to say goodbye to a wonderful year and hello to another exciting one!

The Big News
This year we became homeowners! This was a goal that had been HUGE for us and while the process was anything but awesome, the day that we closed and opened the door to OUR home was amazing and (almost) worth all the chaos leading up to it. Then, the day after we closed, we found out we had O'Shea Baby #2 on the way! A whole lot of excitement in 24 hours! All three of us are very excited to welcome a new little lady into our family and I have a hunch that Madeleine is going to be a pretty awesome big sister.

That Awesome Man of Mine
Matty has been taking classes and will be finishing school in early 2016, which was a huge personal goal for him. He is acing everything, which has me in awe because he is taking really hard classes that I can't even imagine juggling with everything else he does. This year also welcomed a very well deserved promotion for him, again, something he is acing even while being the most awesome husband and daddy in the world.

Maddie
Oh this little lady of ours - she never ceases to crack me up and make me want to take a nap in the same breath! She is a bucket of energy, giggles, creativity and wonder and I cannot imagine being a mama to anyone else. I have no idea how she keeps up the energy levels that she has or where she gets the hilarious things that come out of her mouth and I cannot wait to watch her grow in the next year. She is still in gymnastics class and spends a lot of her day doing "artcrafts", looking at books, practicing her letters and learning everything she can about animals. 2015 will bring the "big sister" title as well as her first day of school and I just know she is going to handle both like a champ.

Personal Triumphs
I am also making some exciting changes at work and hope to share all about it in the early days of 2015 (cliffhanger!). I have been working my butt off and feel really fulfilled with what I do, where I am and where I am going in my career and am looking forward to this next year.
I have continued to volunteer with Back on my Feet and although my running pace has slowed, I have continued to run and am looking forward to a healthy post-pregnancy comeback. I managed to get another marathon and a couple of halves earlier this year, including the third of the Cape Cod Trilogy of half marathons at 13 weeks pregnant. I also joined up with the Dorchester Running Club when they formed this spring and have spent most Saturdays pounding my neighborhood pavement with the most awesome group of ladies. I love that I know so many people in my neighborhood now and always have people I can call up for a run!
I got really lucky this year and had my bestie move from Western Mass back to the city, so I get to spend more time with her, and am looking forward to getting back to my regular yoga night with another bestie after the holidays. I feel so very lucky to have a really amazing group of friends that not only love me, but totally help me out with Maddie and the village mentality necessary to raise an awesome kiddo.

Travel
We did a bit of traveling this year including a first-time trip to Yosemite where Maddie and I had the honor of being in a beautiful wedding. While out west we also hit up San Francisco and got to see a lot of my family. I had a business trip to San Diego in May, which allowed me to see my Grandparents and Aunt, who we will hopefully be visiting again soon after the baby arrives in 2015. We also had some trips to NY, Cape Cod and Vermont and are looking forward to starting 2015 off with a babymoon in FL.

Looking Ahead
I am pretty sure that every year I make financial stability my main goal, but now that we are homeowners I feel a little more positive about making some real progress in this area. We have A LOT of debt to pay back and I have a looming maternity leave that won't see much in the way of pay, but we are really committed to making changes in the way we spend and save in 2015 and will hopefully see some progress in this area.
Personally, I am looking forward to being the mama of two girls and am really hoping to have another healthy, uneventful delivery and a successful go at breastfeeding and co-sleeping with this new babe. I am also very committed to making sure that Maddie has all of the love and security that she needs from everyone and am working on preparing her for life with a sibling the best that I can.
Once I recover from labor, I am hoping to hop back into training and be ready for the Louisiana Marathon in January of 2016 and maybe even bring a little PR. Of course, I will just be happy to be back out there in those long miles, but speed training is definitely on my radar for 2015.
Maddie will be starting pre-K in the fall (!!!) and we are actually going to an Open House at the end of January to start the process which is so, so crazy to me!

So, just a little wrap up of the year behind us and a big welcome to a new year filled with new experiences, more adventures and hopefully a lot less bronchitis!

Happy New Year!

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