2015: things I’m proud of

This has been a hard year. Have I said that lately? Perhaps yes. But it’s just true, and I’m not one to run from truth-telling even if it’s not always sweetness and light.

Yet, there are a lot of things I’m proud of, both personally and inside my family. Things to celebrate. We all beat ourselves up an awful lot. It’s okay to acknowledge our accomplishments too, no?

I’m still nursing my preemie

Breastfeeding an extremely premature infant who should be floating around in the womb for several more months is not for the faint of heart. Pumping every three hours around the clock, teaching him how to nurse (when he had no normal feeding cues, slept hard and woke up ravenous, accustomed to bottles and schedules), having surgery for tongue-tie (when he promptly forgot how to suck on ANY kind of nipple, leading to one round-the-clock panic attack for mama). And last but not least, the fact that, like so many other very early babies, he required supplementing with formula. This is heartbreaking for me, a died in the wool lactivist. Still, with the help of a Lact-Aid at-breast nursing supplementer, he’s still happily nursing and hasn’t had bottles in almost a year. He’s also crawling, babbling constantly, sporting four teeth, and pulling up to stand.

Here we are at Josiah’s NICU family reunion. (Missing: oldest son, who was chatting up the nurses he used to see every night while visiting Josiah.)

We’re debt freeeeee!

This was my husband’s big goal (and accomplishment!) of the year. At my behest, we went through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University as a new couple, which has been a wonderful blessing not just for my husband personally but for us as a couple. We’ve faithfully had monthly budget meetings to talk about our finances which has spurred some great conversations not only about our goals but about our dreams, hopes and fears.

I gave up sugar

This was a recent accomplishment that I’ll be writing more on later. I haven’t  had one drop of sugar in over two weeks, something I never thought I would be able to do, and don’t miss it a bit. And when I say sugar, I mean no sugar – no honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar or any other concentrated sweet thing.

I kept good habits

Goals I set a few years ago have become ingrained habits now (ah, the beauty of habits). Reading my Bible, practicing my french, taking walks every day, I’m proud that I did these things (almost) daily.

I KonMari’d my possessions. And they stayed that way!

A big fan of minimalism and decluttering already, I read the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up in the summer and immediately set out to implement a few changes in my organizing and storage. I’m happy to say it stuck. I get an outsized jolt of happiness when I open my closet, makeup drawer and dresser.

I wrote a new ebook

Ahem, shameless plug: Gluten-Free and Family Friendly: Gluten-free, family-approved recipes to please your palate – and your budget!

What are you proud of accomplishing in 2015?