2014

One of our best years yet!!!!

 

This year has been full of some really great ups, but also some really sad lows. We lost some amazing people in our lives, but we also gained one of the best gifts we could ever ask for. 

Winter

The year started off rough, though, with the death of our friend (and fellow CFer), Jeremy. It   was really hard attending the funeral of a peer as opposed to an elderly person because his life was cut too short, but we know that he is at peace now, no longer struggling for every breath. He left behind is wife, one of my good friends, who's been coping and learning how to live without him this year, but she's one of the strongest women I know.

The rest of the winter, we happily spread our news of my pregnancy, and finally made it "Facebook official" in February.

Spring

In March, we celebrated Tim's great-grandma's 100th birthday! I also hit 100% compliance with all of my treatments for an entire year! In April, I was halfway through my pregnancy and feeling amazing. We attended the Bloomington Great Strides and I hit 410 days of compliance. In May, I entered my third trimester of my pregnancy and my 100% compliance streak ended at 448 days because I forgot to pack my albuterol, duh! 

Summer

The rest of the summer slowly crept by as we awaited the arrival of our daughter (and also the birth of our niece, Alayna). Our friends and family threw us some wonderful baby showers, and I spent the entire summer nesting and preparing to meet my baby girl. August 8, 2014 was one of the best days of my life! The day that our sweet little Anna Lily arrived!!!

 

Fall & Winter

In September, we took Anna camping for the first time, when she was only 5 weeks old. :) In October, my maternity leave ended and it was back to work for me, and to Grandma's for Anna. We also celebrated her first Halloween with her cousins and family. We also celebrated Anna's first Thanksgiving, and her first Christmas where she was spoiled beyond belief.

 

 

And at the very end of this year, on December 30th, we lost an amazing woman. Anna's great, great grandma, Anna Danner (who she was named after), died at the age of 100. I am incredibly lucky to have known her and so proud that our daughter will carry on her name. She was so kind, friendly and funny. She enjoyed her share of jokes, and would love to make people laugh and smile. I'm so happy that the births of Anna and Alayna kept her holding on just that much longer to meet them several times. It's not too often that someone can get to know their five great, great grandchildren. We have so many memories and photos that our family will cherish for a long, long time. She will be greatly missed.

Danner meeting Anna for the first time when she was six days old :-)

 

One of their last pictures together on December 21st when Anna was 4.5 months old

It's pretty hard to top the birth of our first child in 2015, but watching her learn and grow this next year is going to be quite amazing. :)

2013

Here's 102 blog posts from this year summed up into one. This year was full of exciting adventures for Tim and I, the most exciting being that we finally purchased our first home!

• At the beginning of this year, I was presented with the possibility of having CFRD. Thankfully after meeting a wonderful endocrinologist in Chicago, he taught me how to adjust my diet to keep my sugars in check without having to have insulin injections, yay!
• In February, unfortunately I had to reset my compliance count due to lovely mail order pharmacy mix ups. I did, however, proudly complete 100% of my treatments for 352 days!! I reset my count on March 1st, which puts me at 312 days today!
• Also in March, we celebrated Tim's great grandma's 99th birthday, learned about the new CFF regulations (which caused a huge uproar and debate among CFers), and we got the ball rolling on the CF Living video phone interviews and plans!!
• April was a busy month! Tim and I shot our CF Living footage which was harder than I thought, but SO rewarding! I attended another Great Strides in DeKalb, the TOBI Podhaler was released, our kitten, Ozzie, was born, and I started taking the best thing ever = PROBIOTICS!.
• May was pretty uneventful, aside from me finishing up my first year of teaching! Tim celebrated his 27th birthday and we were able to spend some quality time with our adorable nephew, Isaac.
•  In June, we finalized our first house mess, and found a house that we both loved and went under contract on it. We traveled to Tennessee to meet our newest nephew, Liam, and spend time with family. Tim also kicked my butt in Brett's Run!
• July was a busy, fun-filled month! I attended my best friend's bachelorette party, spent lots of time with family, brought Ozzie home, went to Country Thunder and became a home-owner!!
• Our first chapter of our Day in the Life series finally came out and I was so surprised and humbled by all of the amazing and supportive feedback. I also started my second year of teaching - this year in first grade. And of course, started taking Kalydeco on August 30.
• In September, Tim and I continued to work on our house, we did our annual camping trip with his family which is always a great time, and we attended the most love-filled wedding I've ever been to - Jessie & Jeremy's wedding. :-)
• October is always special to me because its our anniversary month. We celebrated our third anniversary this year and we're not just married anymore, but we're now married home-owners! Tim and I also went to the Peoria Great Strides which was excellent! I was asked to speak there and we also met my blogger, CF friend, Cheriz. Finally, I had my first post-Kalydeco clinic visit where I gained 6lbs, my FEV1 increased by 5% and my small airway lung function went up by 18%!!!
• In November, Tim and I conquered 58 flights of stairs at our first CF CLIMB! Then I signed us up for the CF Rock Rivers 5K in Michigan in March, put on by the lovely Emily Schaller.
• December was full of ups and downs, and sadly ended on a very low note. We lost our great friend Jeremy on December 31. We celebrated his life in Ohio with Jessie and his family the first weekend in January, and I'm very glad we were able to attend to say our 'see you laters'.

I feel like things can only go up from here and I need to keep that positive attitude. Here's to a happy, healthy, productive and positive 2014!!!

Jeremy Locke

The world lost a good man early this morning and my heart is breaking. There are so many emotions running through my head, but mostly anger and sadness. I'm angry that Jeremy was only given 29 years on this Earth. I'm angry that CF and pneumonia teamed up against him. I'm angry that he was never given his second chance. I'm sad that he was only married to Jessie for just over three months. I'm sad that the last time we saw him was on his wedding day. I'm angry and sad that Jessie is going through this.

I'm happy (and lucky) to have known Jeremy and that I call him my friend. I'm happy that we got to live across the hall from Jessie & Jeremy for a year and got to know each other. I'm happy that Jessie decided to wear a Great Strides t-shirt to class so that I could use it as a conversation starter which has led to years of friendship. I'm so happy that we attended Jessie and Jeremy's wedding in September because it was the most love-filled wedding I have ever been to!

I hate you, CF. I hate you for taking away my friend and making his young wife a widow. Watching you take Jeremy so quickly makes me want to kick your ass even harder than I am now - to show you that you can't keep doing this!

Please keep Jessie and Jeremy's family in your thoughts and prayers as we wrap up this year and as they grieve, mourn and celebrate the life of Jeremy.

In Need of Positive Thoughts

In September, Tim and I attended the wedding of our friends Jessie and Jeremy. Jeremy has cystic fibrosis and is currently in the ICU fighting pneumonia. :( He's been in and out, and not awake very much, and his body is fighting very hard. Jeremy doesn't have the greatest lung function right now, but he has a lot of people thinking of him and fighting with him.
In the fall, he was evaluated for a lung transplant, but was considered too healthy. Since then he's had to have a blood transfusion and hasn't been feeling the best. Now, unfortunately he's battling this pneumonia. Jessie did update me this morning saying he's doing better today than yesterday and that he's fighting so hard...baby steps.
Whatever it is you do - pray, send positive thoughts/vibes- I'd really appreciate any of that for our friend and my fellow fibro, Jeremy, and strength for his wonderful wife, and my good friend, Jessie. I'll update as I get information, but please keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers during their tough time right now. Thank you!!!