Growing in God

 Well, hello all. Once again, its been awhile since I last posted. Life just keeps me busy and on my toes. And well, the last time I posted I announced I was pregnant and was around 14 1/2 weeks along. And now, my baby girl is here! Braylee Joy Fairbanks was born on Sunday, November 22, 2020 at 9:39am, weighing 4lbs 13oz and 17 inches long. I was induced the day prior, at exactly 37 weeks along. And I will explain everything in this post! So, to start, I went in for an ultrasound over at Maternal Fetal Medicine when I was 22 weeks pregnant. At that ultrasound, they discovered a couple of things. First off, they found that I had what is called a succenturiate lobe to my placenta. Meaning, that my placenta was in 2 pieces. I had the main part of my placenta that was anterior and connected to the baby, but then there was a second part to my placenta that was posterior, and connected to the other part of my placenta by some vessels. And along with that discovery, it was found that my b...

Woah, long time no post! Clearly, by the title, a lot has happened in the last months. So let me jump right on in. Well, as the title says, I am pregnant! My due date is December 12, 2020. I found out I was pregnant by taking an at home pregnancy test on April 10th. Matt and I began trying to get pregnant in February, after I had my IUD removed on January 31. We made the decision to start trying, because I honestly thought I was going to have a hard time getting pregnant and that it was probably going to take us a long time and a lot of trying, and that we might even need help. And I was basing that all on the fact that my cycle had always been irregular my whole life. I was diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 13, but was told it was most likely weight related and that if I lost my weight it would be fixed. Well, after using a birth control pill called Yaz gave me a blood clot in my right lung, my only option for birth control to help control my period became using the Mirena IUD. And ...

As you all know, right now is a crazy and scary and stressful time for pretty much everyone in the world. Everything going on with Coronavirus-COVID19 is nothing like any of us  have ever had to see or deal with in our lifetimes. We are all having to take things just one day, one moment at time and learn as we go. We are having to adjust into "new normal's" and new schedules and routines. Most of us are living under "Stay At Home Orders" meaning we can only leave the house for essential needs(groceries/medical needs) or if you are an essential worker. And aside from maybe going outside to do things in the yard or take a walk around your neighborhood, you are in your house all day. We are dealing with being out of work, laid off, under financial strain, or maybe even having to deal with home schooling your kids. And on top of that, you can't be with anyone other than the people in your own home. I will say, technology is a pretty big blessing. Because of te...

I know this post is very much over due, but I have been super busy and just have not had the time. But, I am finally getting around to it, writing all about my wedding day! Which was, by far, the single most best day of my entire life. So, without further ado, lets get into it. My wedding was on September 21, 2019 at 4:00pm. I woke up that morning very excited, anxious, and ready to go. I packed up the last of my things, had a quick breakfast, filled up my tervis cup with some crystal light and I was off to my church to begin getting ready. I picked up my 11-year-old niece, Sophia on my way over, and, together, we excitedly headed to church. We arrived, and I did a couple of small touches to some of the decor in front of the church, and then went into the nursery where all of us ladies would be getting ready. My cousin, Emily, did all of our hair. I got my hair done first. I had it done in a half up, half down hairstyle and had a really pretty sparkly headband in and also my veil. Al...

FOUR YEARS! Four years ago today, I went in for my Gastric Sleeve Weight Loss Surgery. It was the day I FINALLY made the choice to gain control of my health and my life. And boy, little did I know the crazy, wild, and difficult journey I would be getting into. But yet, each moment has been so worth it and I am so proud of each step of my journey. Anyone who says having a weight loss surgery is "taking the easy way out" has absolutely no idea what they are talking about and is insane. Because having this surgery is far from easy. All the surgery does is simply give you a tool to help you lose the weight. But if you don't use the tool the way it is suppose to be used, it isn't going to work. So, I have had to put in A LOT of work for my tool to work for me. I have made crazy changes in my eating habits and nutrition. I eat much smaller portion sizes, don't snack near as often and when I do I have snack it is much healthier than it use to be, and the quality of my ...

Ok, I am sure you are all taking one look at the title of this post and thinking to yourselves, "since when is Tori in to basketball?" or "what is this even about?". I promise I am not trying to click bait you, and I also am definitely not in to basketball. But really, I could come up with no better title for this post than that. Because the month of March, for me, has simply been madness. And it has gone by so fast and I am just like, where the heck did this last month even go? Let me get into explaining. I came back from Costa Rica, and March started right away, and I hit the ground running with getting myself back on track and back into routine, and also with more wedding stuff. My fiance and I made our wedding registries and we even went and got things figured out for our wedding bands. I also was able to go and pick up my wedding dress from the store, and I have purchased all of my accessories, such as a headband I am going to wear, my shoes, and a bra. And w...

I just got home from the trip of a lifetime! I just spent the last week in Costa Rica, along with 16 other people from my Church. And we were shown Costa Rica, by our pastor who was born and raised there! The best way for me to describe Costa Rica, is as a place filled with so much joy, happiness, wonder, and beauty. God's handiwork is just everywhere throughout the country. Through people who are so kind and joyful, to the amazing beauty of everything you see, everywhere you go. And I totally understand now why Pastor Tito raves about it so much! For me, this trip, was seriously a HUGE thing for me. And was simply, a dream come true! I seriously always dreamed of taking a big vacation and trip like this one. But, not only was cost a factor, but my weight was also a huge factor. Before I lost weight, I either needed a bigger seat, or would have to possibly buy more than one seat on the plane. And also my weight made it that I knew I never would be able to enjoy or even parti...

2018 is almost over! How freaking crazy is that?! I swear it was just yesterday that I wrote my post about 2018 just beginning!! And as 2018 wraps up and 2019 begins, it is that time where I just reflect on how this last year went for me and how well I accomplished my goals for the year. First off, I wanted to just make this another really good and positive and year. And 2018, definitely, was a very good and positive year. And I gotta say has been and even better and more positive year than even 2017 was. The first thing I wanted to do to accomplish that was dive deeper with the Lord and build my relationship with Him more. I definitely think I did that, maybe not quite as much as I initially wanted, but I still did that. And I think I keep getting better and better with that as time goes on. As far as my weight loss journey, my only goals for 2018 was to keep doing what I was doing and to get the skin on my stomach removed. And I was able to have the skin on my stomach removed, whic...

Today is September 22, 2018. Today I ran my first ever 5K!! I first signed up for this 5K back in May when I really started getting fully back into a good workout routine by going to the gym. I was thinking I had probably gone a little crazy at the time, but it was something I really wanted to do just to see if I could do it, and also just to prove to myself just how far I had come. I also was interested to see just how well it is I would do in a 5K race situation. And, boy, little did I know just how exhilarating it would be! Last night, I went to bed at like 10:30 in hopes of falling asleep at a decent time and getting a good nights sleep since I was going to have to wake up early and I wanted to be well rested! Well, I couldn't turn my dang brain off and it ended up being well after midnight before I finally got relaxed enough to fall asleep! So I woke up at like 6:30 this morning to get myself ready for the race. I was tired, anxious, and nervous! I got dressed, made myself a...

I seriously cannot believe that it has been 3 years since I had my Gastric Sleeve Weight Loss Surgery. On September 14, 2015 I made the single most greatest decision of my entire life to better my health by going in for my surgery. And at that time, I had no idea just how far I would come in this crazy journey and just how insane and wild this journey was going to be. Because, it has been difficult and wild and insane, but also wonderful and empowering and filled with lots of learning and growing moments. And I feel I have definitely come the furthest in this last year alone. In just this last year, I have lost an addition 20 pounds to the already crazy amount of weight loss I had. I feel like it has been because I have been working on myself A LOT mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually. At this time last year, I was very happy and proud of the progress I had made and of how far I had come. But, on the inside, I was hurting. I was still hurting a lot over the loss of my Mom and ...