Quarantine

BABY #5 IS….

Birthdays, Faith, Family, Mommy Blogger, Quarantine

TWINS! Just kidding just kidding just kidding. 🙂 We are absolutely having ONE more baby. Are you as shocked as we are? We had a comment that said “It always cracks me up when parents say they were “shocked” to find out they were pregnant…” Whelp even though we love sharing life with you guys I won’t get into that much of our life. I will just let you know we truly were surprised and leave it at that.

I will be totally honest when I say that I wasn’t ready. Boston was born Jan 2, 2020 and we really thought we might be complete with him. Before I get too deep into this, I want to say that I went through a miscarriage after Dakota. I was only 7 weeks when I miscarried but that was truly heartbreaking and painful. I have so many incredible women in my life who have suffered from loss and infertility so I need to be sure I choose my words carefully before I discuss the mental challenge of becoming pregnant when I really wasn’t prepared. It is something few women talk about in fear of being judged by those who have the opposite issues and I understand why. Having been through both now, I feel more confident in discussing.

Babies are always a blessing. I knew that before and I know that now. However, I felt guilt for 2 months straight when I couldn’t even mention the idea of having another without crying. I was upset with myself, I was upset with Craig, and I was confused. We found out MUCH later than normal because my body was still recovering from having Boss. I’d gotten into a groove of having 4 kids, I had gotten back to my pre-birth weight, my scar from having a third c-section finally felt good, I had really begun to settle into this life of 6. I was ashamed in myself for being sad about something so good. I didn’t want to share because until I could wrap my head around having one more, I wasn’t ready to let anyone else know. In hindsight I wish I would have shared. Community is something that has become so obviously important especially after a year like 2020. I won’t make that same mistake ever again in any aspect of my life. No one was meant to be alone or feel like they are and even though I have an extremely supportive husband, family and friend base I put myself into a position that made me feel exactly that…alone. Make note of this if you haven’t already learned it.

Craig held my hand, my heart and my mind through 2 months of sadness. We decided we would tell the kids and family around Christmas. I was ready by then. We found out gender together just the two of us. We enjoyed the firsts together as much as we could even though he isn’t able to go to all of the appointments and ultrasounds like he has before. We started pulling old clothes out and prepping together in the most beautiful, intimate way and it became a positive before I knew it. All of the fear left my heart and head through prayer and love.

So, on Christmas day, Santa secretly planted one extra stocking on our fireplace mantle with a special note inside along with scratchers from Amazon that say your surprise is a new baby. Below is what the note read. The reactions were priceless, the love was overwhelming and I can now say that HER timing is PERFECT and we are so very excited for this little baby girl due May 2, 2021. (I do tend to have the babies about a week and a half or two early which puts Craig in Texas so PRAY FOR US 🙂 Love you all, thank you for the support, stay steadfast in faith and take advantage of those around you because alone is NEVER better.

2020 has been different 

Much different than most 

We ran out of TP 

From East to West coast 

The Boyd bunch rallied 

They got creative instead 

Of sulking and crying all alone in their bed

You have loved on each other 

Through thick and through thin 

That is why Jesus and I  

Decided to add one more in! 

Scratch away and you’ll see our extra special surprise 

We love you and thank you for being angels in disguise

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

P.S Dakota Lynn every prayer was heard 

As For Me and My House

Family, Foodie, Humor, Mommy Blogger, Music, Quarantine, Working Mom

I haven’t written in a while for two reasons. Lack of inspiration being one and fear being the other. It is difficult to be inspired when you fear the opinions of others especially in a creative writing space. Something shifted as we listened to an incredible church service yesterday, then last night we got to jam with the trio and the icing on top was watching “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” this morning. The feel good vibes are strong today because I got to feed my soul with all the things. So, I thought I would tell you about them 🙂

Church. The message was simple. “I Believe”. If you are reading this you know that me and my house serve the Lord. He is our center and my children are being raised Christian. If you do not agree I don’t judge. That’s what it’s all about. BELIEVE in your faith, yourself, your family, your friends just believe and do it with conviction. Shut off the news, don’t get involved in the rumors or the arguments on Facebook, don’t waste the precious time we have being caught up in the crap. I believe in being informed and drawing my own conclusions from there. I try and steer clear of any news that is opinion centered. The Pastor yesterday basically said all of these things (except he didn’t say crap) and it was so refreshing to be reminded. So I will continue posting and writing and keeping it light and fun because that is us. I do it in hopes of bringing some smiles to you whether you are wearing a mask or aren’t wearing a mask, whether you are red blue or green, whether you watch Fox or CNN, whether you think Whataburger is better than In and Out. Actually, if you believe that last one you are wrong but I love you anyway. I digress…

Jam sesh. There is nothing better and nothing I love doing more especially with Adam, Craig, Casey, Jenny, Amanda and Kelly. The talent on the porch last night was insurmountable. The conversations and the hearts are so good and kind. The way the music made me feel and the food/drink was perfection. 2020 has really brought to light the importance of being kind and present. I was so present last night in every conversation every laugh and every vocal lick. I am just so grateful for good friends, for this time of stillness, for our health and for the exciting things happening in our life musically. I am trying to focus on the positive otherwise the negative can get so overwhelming I start to drown. I choose to focus on the good and it is a choice I make every morning when I wake up for myself and my family. Having a fun night makes the choice easier and the bad lighter. So get out there you crazy cats and kittens. Go read the book, drink the wine, get the tan… whatever makes you feel good and recharge your sanity battery during the weirdest year of all time.

Finally Mr. Rogers. If you have not yet seen “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” stop reading my blog right now and go watch it on Amazon Video FO FREE. It was totally different then I thought it would be. It’s a reminder that love is always the simpler choice. Covid has made a lot of people really bored, angry and depressed. Give them grace. This is my Corona mantra. When Craig is having a rough day I give him grace. When I am having a bad day he gives me grace. When some dingleberry comments on a picture of our son to cut his hair because he looks like a “sissy” we give him grace. I still call him a dingleberry because I am not a saint. Again, I am working on my Mr. Rogers mentality not quit there yet.

BELIEVE. BE KIND. GIVE YOURSELF GRACE.

Thank you for reading this it’s a reminder for me and if one person finds some comfort in a word or two I will be a happy camper. xo

A MUST DO during Quarantine

Family, Foodie, Humor, Mommy Blogger, Music, Quarantine, Working Mom

We have been getting pretty creative around here during quarantine. Some of our fun activities have included making “spongey soap” (super cool and handy in these times), “Kite Fishing” (using a fishing pole as your kite string), metal detecting, I have mastered the art of french braiding which has been a goal of mine for YEARS, teaching kids under 8 years old to sing harmonies together, potty training a two year old (basically letting him be naked all the time and peepee on plants), playing a pinball video game in the late night hours as a “date night”, Dakota Lynn our 4 year old is officially incredible on a bike with no training wheels, Dakota is now skating too, Jaxon can do skate tricks, Graydon digs for worms that we use to fish…. Guys I could go on with all of the weird pointless but oh so fun things we are doing at the Boyd Bunker. That being said, my ultimate favorite thing we have done since being quarantined is… get ready for it… OTG!

Craig and I went OFF THE GRID for a full day. I am not sure if it was the phone update that tells you how many hours you are using your phone a week OR maybe he had just grown tired of the Tik Tok posts BUT Craig woke up one day last week and said “We are putting our phones on the night stand and not checking them again until 6PM”. Folks… this is HARD. My first thought was we don’t have a land line so what if an emergency happens and no one can reach us (in hind site that was a reasonable fear and we probably should have at least checked them once). Second thought was, what if my three month old says his first word or starts walking or learns to read today and I don’t have my camera to document it??? Then I remembered, he’s three months old.

Once I got over my fear, put down my adult “choopy” (Our family calls pacifiers “choopy’s”… no clue why) aka phone and my eyes adjusted to the real world and not the virtual one, I began to really REALLY enjoy. I did not one, but TWO puzzles with my kids and just FYI the patience it takes to do puzzles with a two year old and four year old is unimaginable. We didn’t talk business, money, pandemic or dumb posts ONE TIME in the day and it was the most beautiful breath of fresh air. During lunch I found myself laughing and flirting with my hubby because I was present. At the end of the day our kids told us it was “the best day” and there is no amount of likes or views in the world that could ever beat that type of reach.

If you can, if you are currently unemployed, if you are feeling the weight of stress pushing down on your shoulders or if you just need a good mental detox, I am telling you now go OTG (off the grid). It is probably one of the few times in our life we are able to without feeling terribly guilty. You won’t be missing out on anything because there is nothing to miss out on. You will absolutely have several moments throughout the day of peace and I guarantee you will smell some flowers you would have normally missed. In fact, I was so inspired by a day without technology that I have decided to become Amish if this thing isn’t over soon. If you need to reach me I will be out in the country churning butter, harvesting my own wine, gardening, and sewing. WTH is happening to me??? #quarantine