Let's Rewind a bit...
I've been staring at a flashing cursor for a bit now, not entirely sure where to start... but maybe we should do a quick recap so you know how we even got to where we are right here, right now. This should be fun...
So, this story begins when two people fell in love... or well maybe fell in like with each other 10, yes 10 years ago, it feels like forever! I was in the last three months of my senior year when I met Homeboy (or Shane, my now husband). He was and is older than me so, I will be honest, I never really thought anything would happen, but something just clicked! A year after I graduated high school we moved from Wisconsin, to North Dakota where we lived for 5 years, so half our relationship. Out in North Dakota, we were on our own but that is really where our life began! We got engaged and married while we lived in North Dakota, even though we came back home to Wisconsin for the festivities of the wedding. Which, let me just side note here for a minute... I definitely do NOT recommend living 12 hours aways from the location in which you plan to get married, when you are planning the wedding on your own, and by that I mean, without a professional wedding planner, not fun... at all. The wedding however was phenomenal, but that is cliche because the majority of people would say that. But, back to our journey, North Dakota set the foundation of a lot of things in our lives, from marriage, to meeting life long friends (you know who you are!) and even finding ourselves a bit in the process.
Then came South Dakota. After 5 years of living in North Dakota, we decided to move South... just not quite the "warm" south most people would move to. We didn't stay too long in South Dakota, but we sure did love it. The people were great (you know who you are also!), the city was great and we cut our travel time home to Wisconsin in half, which was amazing! However, the most amazing thing happened in South Dakota, our family started to grow. South Dakota is where we learned that we were pregnant after years and years (4 years to be exact) of trying to conceive and being told that kiddos were likely not in the cards for us! We couldn't believe it, and it took, well ,almost the entire first trimester for it to soak in that it was really, finally happening. We were having a baby.
And then... we were home, back in Wisconsin. Shortly after this move, and by shortly I mean, 2 months later, we welcomed our wonderful superhero of a boy Rhett, the greatest Christmas present that we could have asked for. Welcomed right before Christmas and brought home on Christmas Day. Rhett, to me, was a miracle, an 8lbs 9oz chubby little bundle of joy, that I never thought I would have. He was three weeks early (and yes he was still quite a big baby but his mama is a Type 1 Diabetic with PCOS so it comes with the territory I suppose), our first baby, and I will tell you this, I was terrified beyond belief. Talk about never being ready for something, bringing home a tiny, or rather chubby human, is something that you are NEVER ready for, but they are wonderful despite the sleepless nights and poopy diapers and anything else you can think of. When Homeboy and I brought Rhett home on Christmas Day, I sat on our couch and just cried, asking Homeboy why the nurses and doctors thought it was a good idea to allow us to leave with him. We looked at each other for almost an hour and kept going "what do we do now?"... trust me... we still don't know.
Wisconsin is and has always been home, and is where the rest of our lives are happening, we have left jobs, found new jobs, found a home in new jobs, met more friends, we bought our first home (this will have to be another post all its own...because we bought and renovated a home when I was 8 months pregnant... yikes!) and we had our second kiddo Miss Evalie, otherwise known as Homegirl. We really must like the month of June though because Mama's, Homeboy's (Shane/dad), and Homegirl's (Evalie's) birthday's are all in the first week... oh and our wedding anniversary! Evalie was also three weeks early and born via C-Section just like her older brother and she too was a CHUNK. She was a whopping 9lbs 12oz... good thing she came out of a cut in my belly, and even she got stuck coming out! When we left the hospital with Evalie having her in the MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC was also terrifying because we came home with three people instead of the 2 that we left with, and now we were/are a family of 4. I dreaded bringing Evalie home, I thought Rhett would ask us to take her back or throw her away or any other crazy ideas a 2 year old may have, but he LOVED her. He wanted to hold her and sit with her and feed her. He kisses her more than he kisses me, the bond they have had since she came home is something I hope that they will have forever. He is the first face she sees in the morning and he is the last to kiss her goodnight with a "Good Night Homegirl, see you in the morning".
Fast forward to today where I have a one year old that dances to "I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas" while the three year old says "Mommy I love you, and I didn't call Miss Julia an asshole today"...
We're just keepin' it real.
- Mama