2014

8 months later... I'm going to try to keep this up with a blog or 2 a month and will (hopefully) backtrack to cover the 8 missing months. 

2014 hasn't been so great thus far. After a couple of weeks of severe back pain, Matt had surgery January 10th for a partially ruptured disc.  He's doing well as he recovers, but it will still be several weeks before he's back to "normal".

The week of his surgery was (obviously) very painful for him, but I'll readily admit that it was very stressful for me.  No one has ever accused me of handling stress well, and that combined with exhaustion pushed me close to a breakdown for a few days.  The whole situation cemented my yearning to live closer to family. Friends down here made many offers to help out with childcare and food, and I most definitely took advantage of it! It just would have been an extra relief to have our parents or siblings close enough to lean on too.