The Big 3-0

That's right, folks -- I am 30 years old today!! I'm sure that when I was born doctors didn't think I'd live to be thirty years old. But here I am, still kickin', doing pretty well if I do say so myself... :)
To live with a chronic illness isn't always easy, but I've tried to live the last 12+ years with an attitude of not allowing CF to control the path of my life.

In the last 12 years, I've graduated from high school. Met the love of my life. Graduated college. Got married. Became a teacher. Bought a house. Became a mother (x4). Started grad school....just to name a few things :) I am proud of how far I've come, but know that I'm not even close to living life as full as I absolutely can. I hope that I can soak up every minute of the next thirty years and then some!

To help celebrate THIRTY years, I am not asking for birthday gifts or a big party. I'd love to reach my fundraising goal of $5,000 for our Great Strides team. Currently, we have raised $3,285 which means we have $1,715 to go. Any donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is GREATLY appreciated and helps go towards research for treatments to help improve the quality (and quantity) of my life!

Thankful November, Week 5

This is my final thankful November week. If you'd like to see the previous weeks, follow the links (1, 2, 3, 4). These are in no specific order, just whatever I can think of for the day, no matter how big or small.

24) I love being an aunt! We have the three cutest nephews around and yesterday we got to spend time with them. Isaac (2) wasn't feeling well because he's teething (poor guy!), but he even his 'evil eye' was still adorable! And then we have two more nephews, brothers Cole (3) and Liam (6 months). Cole is getting so big, and learning & talking so much more. Liam was passed around all day and ended the evening zonked out on my chest - it was so precious! I love spending time with our nephews and can't wait until we have our own kids, so we can watch the cousins all play together. :)

25) Cooperative, involved, supportive parents of my students! I had several dealings with uncooperative, under (or non-)-involved and un-supportive parents today and that just makes me realize how thankful I am for those that care...and show it! Teaching is not babysitting. Teaching & learning do not stop (or only happen) at school! We have to work together to do what's best for a child. That means helping with homework, holding their child accountable for their actions, coming to parent/teacher conferences, field trips, etc. Supportive parents rock! 

I came across this article, called Parents Need to Be Reminded That Teachers are People, Too, posted by a fellow teacher and really enjoyed it! I really wish I could share it with my students' parents. So if you're a parent, or think that teaching must be so easy, go ahead and read that article. Also, come work with me for a week and then see what you think! :)

26) I am beyond thankful for the CF community tonight! Chapter 4 of our Day in the Life video series came out tonight (it's my favorite one out of the five) and I am overwhelmed (in a good way) with the amount of positive comments, blessings, encouragement, "likes" and shares - it's a wonderful feeling! THIS is the exact reason I did these videos. I want to inspire others with CF (or those who know someone) to have a more positive outlook on their disease. Realize that it IS possible to live a "normal" life as long as you take care of yourself.
I'm also thankful that Tim did these videos with me! I think it's really important for the CF community to hear the perspective from a spouse. He's the one that keeps me going! Even though he might not have to remind me everyday to do my treatments anymore, our relationship and our future is my motivation to be compliant and be as healthy as I can. Thank you honey, you're the best!! :-)

27) Four day weekend!! Although we're going to be pretty busy this weekend, I love the fact that it's four consecutive days off with Tim. I hope we're able to get a lot done in our spare bedroom and I'd love to bust out the Christmas decorations!

28) I'm thankful for a hard-working, super-handy husband! We got a good chunk of items accomplished today in our spare bedroom - second coat on the walls, I repainted the baseboards and Tim installed a ceiling fan and two pot-lights. I really wanted to keep going, but it was time to stop for treatments and dinner. I'm also glad that we're not stressed out about trying to have a fancy meal this evening, especially because we're not fancy dinner kinda people. We've decided to not make dinner ourselves, that we're going out to eat = no dishes or cleaning! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

29) Today I'm thankful for friends! Our friends Karissa and Ryan were down in our neck of the woods visiting family for Thanksgiving so they decided to stop over at our house for a little while. It was so good to see them. Since we moved last year, we're about three (or more) hours away from all of our friends from college, so its tough to see them often. I appreciate that Ryan and Karissa took time out of their family weekend to come visit. :)

30) Last, but definitely not least, I'm thankful for KALYDECO! I haven't felt the best for a few weeks this month, and I wonder how much worse I would have felt without Kalydeco helping my lungs and body. I'm thankful that its having such a positive impact on my body and that it will help prolong my life. I hope that next November I'm able to be thankful that more of my CF friends are on something that helps them this much, too!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 12

Day 12 - Your current relationship status

Well, as you all know, I am very happily married! :-) We've been married for one year, three months, and three weeks now and it's been great. Tim is a wonderful husband - he's very supportive and he makes me laugh all the time! And because you haven't seen enough wedding photos from my other wedding blogs (here and here), here's one more.

The Best Five Years

This weekend marks the fifth year that Tim and I have been together total, and our first wedding anniversary. Below there is a picture for each year and a little bit about our story.

Tim and I met my freshman year of college and his junior year at NIU. My roommate briefly dated his roommate and that's how we met. It was only a few weeks into the school year when we met, and we have been together ever since. This was one of our first pictures taken together in November of 2006.

This was our second Christmas together and our first Christmas tree. Yes, we strung all of that popcorn one night! This picture was taken December of 2007.

This was taken at Tim's graduation in December of 2008. I was in the middle of my junior year here and Tim  was graduating. This was the last year I spent in the dorms before we moved in together. 

On July 4, 2009 Tim proposed in Wisconsin Dells, WI. A month later we moved into our first apartment together and I started my senior year of college, which included a semester of student teaching. This was one of our many engagement pictures taken by my cousin, Melissa, in September 2009.

On October 9, 2010 we got married at Hopkins Park. (You can read all about the day of here). We had a gorgeous, stress-free day, and we had so much fun! 

 Today we had some friends over to hang out and grill and they brought over this lovely, delicious cookie! (Thanks Kristen & Ryan!) It's hard to believe it's been an entire year already. People say that the first year of marriage is the hardest - if this was the hardest year of our marriage, I'm definitely a happy lady and looking forward to many more years!