I still can’t believe that our little Benny Bear is officially a toddler. I still call him my baby though. I finally understand why so many parents to older children still call their kids babies. I get it! That memory of seeing your baby I think truly stays with you. He’s going to grow up — where I start to see a little boy, then a little man, then a man and I bet I’ll still see that baby. Such a special bond! God has designed it so perfectly. Shelby and I are CERTAIN that we have the most beautiful boy. It takes just a few trips to Costco to know that after being stopped by countless people to say, “Your baby is so cute!” Has showed me that him being the cutest baby in the entire world must be true. No doubts! 🙂

What a year it has been!

Being a mom has changed me so much and I have seen first hand the sacrifices that mom’s make for their babies. Why in the world do mothers only have a day? They should have a whole month! This is a no brainer to me. Shelby and I are already talking about having another one. WE ARE TALKING. Although- this last time we did more trying than not trying. So… Time will tell. I am tracking my cycle so it’s been nice to know when my ovulation cycle begins/ends and when my periods are due. I am grateful that everything is lining up where it was before pregnancy. I am a little nervous. Because now I know what is coming. Before it was all a mystery and I could just kind of wait to see and then figure it out. I’m well aware of the annoyances of back pain, leg pain, nausea —- that list does go on but no need to be a downer ya know? 😉 Of course, there are many amazing things that pregnancy brings. That GLOW, the community outreach of people who congratulate you and are so excited for you (SO COOL), and the planning and prepping, the reveal of the gender, the sweet OBGYN moments of checking the heart and much more of course. I have to remember those moments and lead with them because the first list tends to distract from the GOOD stuff.

Shelby and I want a girl. I think… haha. Well, the truth is we are good with either. I know that we are planning on having the two. So of course, having a girl would make a complete set. But then I think about how brothers are buds and my own brothers relationship and Shelby and Tyler. Also, then, I think of my own relationship with my brothers and that is a win-win too. I guess it is safe to say we are happy with both dynamics. I get a little worried about the mom-daughter relationship because of the issues that I have had with my mom. But I know that God will guide me and that mom-daughter relationship will be different. Comparing is the worst evil. It really is. I am officially in the baby fever and mindset of PREGNANCY. Praying for the journey and that I can keep up with it all. Bennett is in toddler mode and I’m pretty sure is in fourth gear going on fifth. And if there is a sixth gear in there, he will find it. Toddler and pregnant? How does that work? I guess I will find out. I know that I am in good company. First of all, my mom had 3 kids in 3 years! She was in her late teens/early 20’s. But the moral of the story- IT CAN BE DONE! I think it would be really cool to have a spring baby again. I didn’t mind being pregnant in the winter time. It’s a constant heat wave on the inside so no need for layers.

Shelby and I are going to be moving into our new house. We found a home that was halfway built when we showed interest and so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to put a deposit down and have it be ours! Otherwise, it was going to go to market in May. The original buyers had to pull out because of some financial issues they were having but it turns out they are investors and ended up making other purchases with other homes with Gardner homes. So it all worked out for them! When one thing doesn’t work out for someone else- it gets picked up for someone else. Love how that works! When Shelby and I started our house hunting journey (late December) we found what we thought at the time, the perfect house. We were stretched for cash at the time and so when we put our offer in it was really all we could afford. The seller picked another offer which was only a difference of $5,000. We were mad at the time because we felt like our offer was the better offer all around – however, it was the cash that won. Which usually is the case in this housing market. Shelby being the guy that he is, was still full speed ahead in looking for houses. After the loss of the house we wanted, he suggested we go back to Bridgetower West and look around neighborhood and see if there was anything else available. Sure enough- there were several houses that were being built and one that was complete and on market.

We found the same floor plan to the house that we lost out on and there were 3 of them being built. We looked at one (which ended up being the one we got) and decided at first it was not facing the right direction mostly because Shelby initially didn’t want his office facing the long street. The other one we thought we might like the most but then realized the outside of the house wasn’t matching what we had in mind and the backyard had absolutely no privacy. We have no privacy in the house we are currently in so this was a big one for us. The last house was tucked away somewhat by itself and again we weren’t fans of the outside look to the house. When we went back to the house that we are now getting, we did a double take. We realized in comparison to the others this one was actually the best one! It’s funny how you sometimes need a second look. We saw that there was an extended patio in the back that reached across to the primary bedroom. Also, the outside was going to be exactly what we would want for outside look. Then, we noticed that it was East facing (not frying us in the backyard at the end of the day) and that the yard itself wasn’t weird shaped like the other houses and was the perfect square with privacy because the neighbors weren’t facing us directly.

So as our distraction went to towards this house — much to our amazement we found out that there were many upgrades that the other houses were not going to have. One being the tech space would be a butlers pantry, the living spaces (6) all had closets and now could be considered bedrooms for resale. Closets are everywhere! It is an organizers dream. This house we are currently in- no closet space and it gets tricky in hiding things. Also, the half bath downstairs is a full bath! And the house has brick on the outside which we absolutely love and the other houses were just paint and trim. The house also comes with black doors and black windows. These are all things we didn’t know until after we decided to go with this house. God is amazing in how things come together and it reflects little blessings like this! We are very excited. We have also found in waiting that we know several people that will be our neighbors and they are good people. I haven’t lived anywhere longer than 2 years in the last 10 years. And I have moved 10 times…literally.

I told Shelby that this is the “almost” forever home, because I would like to live here for a long time. 15 years maybe… I would really like that and even more so, need that. I got to get some roots down, some memories with people that I don’t have to constantly say goodbye to and I want Bennett to be comfortable with routines and being in his childhood home. I think that it is important to have that as a kid. We are going to be almost 30 mins away from my parents but I have no problem driving to see them. Even though my mo would prefer that I be closer because she wants all of us within 5 minutes. And guess what? She actually had that for like 5 years. Not bad for 3 kids and we all make up a 3 mile radius. Unfortunately, we are going to break that 3 mile square…. sorry Mom.