28 weeks

Figured I'd get this down before I forget half of whats going on because... Pregnancy Brain is real my friends!

Our halls have been decked, presents are waiting under the tree and littles are anxiously awaiting tearing open gifts in a fraction of the time it took to wrap them.

We've been more intentional about participating in the season of advent this year as a family. We've been reading a nightly advent family devotional and progressively decorating the tree and house to participate in the anticipation of the coming of Christ. The girls' are getting it and it's so precious to hear their sweet childlike faith and wisdom remind me what it's all about.

The third trimester is here.

We've taken a break from all things baby prep for the holiday season, which after the move, the new car, the new job and wanting to stay on track homeschooling is, oh so NECESSARY!! But I have spurts of nesting where I clean like a maniac and cook freezer meals to store till after baby comes. I'm anticipating the new year and getting this little girl's nursery ready and washing all the little clothes and hopefully finishing unpacking the boxes that have been neglected in our storage room.
I'm excited to know little one in there is growing and things are looking good. I've still been feeling good, although getting slightly more uncomfortable, which I'm reminded of every night when I try to get comfortable. Luckily Jared doesn't mind the 4 extra pillows that have recently taken up residence in bed.

Friday, I had a doctors appointment and 1 hour glucose test, which I found out today I failed meaning I get to return to take the 3 hour glucose test in a few hours. (BLEH) I had gestational diabetes with Addiston and it seemed terrible because I already had food aversions, but as good as I've been feeling this time I honestly don't think it would be that bad to have it again this pregnancy. Don't get me wrong I don't welcome the hundreds of finger pricks but in the big scheme of things it's manageable. And do to the excitement (anxiety) about the follow up test, I'm up at 4am blogging (not eating-even though a pb&j sounds divine) instead of sleeping-lucky you!

Sunday when we were in our regular hurry to get all four of us dressed, ready, fed and in the car for our (we've been in the new house 3 months and still cant get used to the) 30 minute drive to church. I was loading up the van with breakfast items that hadn't been finished, make-up that still needed applying and little girl hair bows when I slipped. My cute leopard print ballet flats have nearly no traction and as I was reaching to put something on the console my feet just slipped out from under mean and my belly caught my fall on the edge of the seat and van. It hurt, startled me and Jared and led to a few  hours of baby girl being chill (which is very unlike this growing little karate kid) I tried to take it easy the rest of the day sunday, but woke up Monday feeling extra sore, so I called the doctor who told me to head strait to Labor and delivery.

After a few hours of being monitored, they determined Baby and I were ok and that I should try to limit myself till the pain subsided. I had a few days of being sore and nervous but am feeling much better!

We're headed to my parent's house for Christmas and I'm super excited to see family and get to continue with our little family traditions. The girls' are at great ages for traveling and usually we can make it strait through only stopping once. I'm only a little annoyed that It's suppose to be in the 50s on Christmas day, in Cincinnati. I love that today it was 70 in Nashville and we played outside, but I go north for the holidays to get my white Christmas. (get it together mother nature) On the bright side, heavy winter clothes take up more space and require and extra suitcase, so here's to packing light for the trip!

Safe travels and Merry Christmas Friends!

Balance

Balance y'all...I'm not finding it!

I have been so blessed this pregnancy. Save a little scare early on with a short stint on bed rest, this pregnancy has been great. I've felt wonderful, been able to eat whatever I want, (and more) and genuinely my only pregnancy symptom minus the shrinking wasteline is that I'm tired.

Life has finally started to slow down after the roller coaster that was summer! We feel settled into the house, most of the unpacking is done, we're calling a hiatus on all things house until after the new year when we plan to tackle the nursery and a few organizational things we'd like done before baby.

We're figuring out (slowly) a new house schedule (wood floors need to be cleaned A LOT), gifting the girls' swiffer dusters has been major help and letting the dogs enjoy the huge back yard! Homeschooling is going well. I've loved tutoring Addiston's Kindergarten class this semester and we're doing well with staying on track at home. Addiston is starting to read which for me is a double edged sword. The girl is a bookworm and would happily sit and let me read to her for HOURS every single day, which I love. So I'm thrilled that she is picking up some more on her own especially after we had a small stint of stubbornness and she decided she didn't want to read, but now that it's clicking I'm a little sad to see her grow up just a little more.

Jared's new job schedule still has us all confused. He works mostly 9:30-6:30 which is hard on the girls. By the time he gets home we have dinner and then start getting ready for bed. We do get to eat breakfast and dinner everyday as a family and I'm really enjoying this season of sitting and just chatting with the girls over meals before the new one arrives and we're distracted by crying and nursing schedules and lack of sleep. The girls miss having more play time with their dad, so we're trying to be intentional about carving out more weekend time as opposed to doing chores and running errands.

For the most part thats it in life right now. I'm in bed shortly after the girls every night, so Jared's getting in some reading, video games, and helping with dishes or laundry that I have left over from the day. But we're lucky to get in a run down of the day, much less a long talk. Luckily we have 2 date nights scheduled this month so we should get to catch up there, and we're taking a birthing class on saturdays, so long drives are anticipated!  I've text a few friends here and there but pretty much unless I see people at church or our homeschool community day I've been MIA to just about every relationship I have :(

Last Month our college friends came to stay for a long weekend and oh my word the sweetness of 5 little girls playing!

(Praise the Lord for having someone who REALLY gets it!)

Jared and Jesse were college roommates, Amber and I hit it off first semester of Freshman year. We were married within months of each other and had our first 2 (4?) children in the same seasons, we are now embarking on homeschooling together and are all food hippies. A decade of friendship in and we laugh at how much life we've done together and how in a few short months we will have 6 daughters between us!


Last week we went to dinner with dear friends to find out that they are having a girl less than 1 month after we are. I'm so glad for a friend to do pregnancy with and a built in friend for our little girl!

I know there are seasons in life and I'm glad things are running smoothly for our family and household but being an pregnancy-exhausted extrovert is hard. When you yearn to go to dinner with friends, or sit and catch up over coffee but really all you want to do is sleep, your mind and body are at odds with each other! I'm hoping I get a small spurt of energy before this third little girl arrives to catch up with some friends and family over the holidays. In the mean time I'm clinging to forced outings and pop-in visitors!

Halfway (20 weeks)

The Thursday I was 19 weeks and 6 days, a friend watched the girls so Jared could come to the doctor with me. We scheduled our appointment for the first one of the day so that he wouldn't be late to work. We had an anatomy scan first then a normal doctors appointment.

We both sat and tried to read our books while waiting to be called back. I'm not sure about Jared but I'm pretty sure I re-read the same 2 paragraphs 3 times because I couldn't focus through the excitement.

We had the super calm, quiet, unexcitable ultrasound tech. She without inflection or expression measured the little one growing inside me. snapped pictures, of things I didn't recognize. (at least a dozen ultrasounds into this motherhood journey and I'm lucky to spot a profile and the spine maybe a heartbeat) I was able to see a four-chamber heart beating. But other than that Jared and I spent 20 minutes giving each other questioning looks as my nerves went nuts. Eventually she asked if we wanted to know the sex-we did!

We got an all clear from the doctor who said the little one was perfectly healthy and that things were progressing just as they should. Little one is measuring about a day behind where she should but as far as we're concerned thats perfect.

20 weeks

The following Saturday we threw a combined house warming/gender reveal party to let our friends see the new house and let our girls discover along with our friends the gender of our newest little one.

I had saved one of our larger moving boxes and filled it with colored balloons, the girls spent all week saying blue balloons means it's a brother, pink means a sister. For the most part they were ok with either except one threat to not love a brother as much as a sister.

IT'S A GIRL!!

They are thrilled and so are we!!

16 weeks

Life has been settling down recently.

We're getting established in the new house. The kitchen, girls room, our room and toys are done. So ya know the high priorities.

I'm enjoying being back in the swing of things, off bed rest and SLOWLY building back up to normal activity.

I've started feeling regular movement. Jared and Isabella have felt the baby move too. Addiston claims that she has but I'm pretty sure she just felt my stomach growl. No worries, it'll happen.

I got to take the girls with me to the doctor for the first time this week. I go so frequently that I wanted them to see where I was and not be curious or frustrated that they don't get to go with me frequently. This was my 5th appointment (Most women have only been once or twice at this point) and the first time I wasn't getting internal monitoring or giving copious amounts of blood so I figured it was now or never to bring the girls.

As expected they thought it was boring. Lots of stuff they aren't suppose to touch, waiting, being quiet, waiting, being patient. They thought it was cool for half a second that they got to hear the babies heart beat but that was the highlight of their hour with me and thankfully I don't think they'll be begging to come back anytime soon. 

14 Weeks & Vegas

The day I was officially 14 weeks, we were a day past when we were suppose to close on our house, and taking a weekend trip to vegas with Jared's new company.

Being freshly sprung from bedrest and still recovering from, new car, new job and house in Limbo referring to us as stressed was a HUGE understatement. The trip was probably the worst timing possible but oh so necessary. Having a reason to put on make up and wearing something besides yoga pants was just an added bonus!

Small talk about fantasy football isn't my forte, (and thank the lord neither is it Jared's) but we love to travel, see new sights and eat! All of which Vegas provided.

The highlights of the trip included, eating brunch at the top of the stratosphere:

The food and the views were spectacular. 

Getting to go to Vladimir Kush and Chihuly (two of my favorite artists) galleries on the same day! 

Reading an entire book (Go set a watchman) Poolside

Eating Gordon Ramsay's famous Beef Wellington! 

YES! Worth the hype!!

And the appearance of the bump! (earlier than any of my other pregnancies)

14 weeks 3 days Baby the size of a Lemon

We spent most of our time in work functions and trying not to stress about the house closing still being in limbo! We played 0.17 on penny slots (just to say we gambled in vegas) and took more pictures of things we thought the girls would find interesting than things we were actually interested in.

"dancing fountain" which the girls want to see! 

Ours and the girls' souvenirs

We came home to no news on when we would close on the house, but happy girls and a positive outlook from a much needed break!

12 weeks

After 4 agonizingly long weeks of bed rest I ventured back to the doctor. I had spent too much time googling. Asked everyone who knew about the pregnancy to be in prayer for the SCH to heal, and lost too much sleep stressing about it. All while attempting to talk Jared through getting the house ready for us to move.

First thing I had my early glucose test.
I had gestational diabetes with Addiston and for each subsequent pregnancy they like to test me at 12 weeks that way if I do test positive for Gestational Diabetes I can start a special diet early and insulin if needed. It was 8 am I had been too nervous to eat breakfast and that sugary orange drink tasted nothing like the coffee I wanted. I completed my task and settled into reading the new Harper Lee novel. Finished my bloodwork and was passed off to Ultrasound.

I was able to spot the heartbeat myself, it was strong at 167. (old wives tales predict thats a girl)
Little one was bouncing around all over the place. Probably from that pure sugar drink I had just chugged.

After a thorough search and a few tears of joy the nurse practitioner (my OB had been called in to deliver a baby) confirmed that the SCH was nowhere to be found. I was released from bed rest and told as all pregnant women are "take it easy"

The next day we traveled to Cincinnati for my sweet grandmothers 93rd Birthday, at which we announced to my side of the family that we were going to round out the grandkids and make it an even dozen.


(Oh, and I passed my glucose test. No finger pricking for me this time!)

10 weeks

Just to clarify, this is a recap since we kept the pregnancy pretty hush-hush for a while. Little tidbits I didn't want to forget when this one is grown!




When left to my own devices and on bed rest I google.

When one is on bedrest for any reason to threaten a pregnancy one should not google but google I did.

Unfortunately during this time we were in the process of more house showings which meant me being terrible at bed rest. On night when we had a showing (that turned out to be our new buyers) I was craving hot wings, so to hot wings we went-(because this isn't our first time Jared has learned just to give into the odd cravings) We went we ate, I got heartburn. All was well. We can back home and I resumed my bedresting. I laid down and as I listened to the bedtime noises going on down the hall I felt a very distinct movement.

I was shocked but through all the stress of the past two weeks it was just what I needed.

The next day we got our second buyer, bought a car to replace the BMW and Jared got a job offer from an exciting new company. Excitement but stress.

I learned lots and lots about what we now refer to as SCH (subchorionic hematoma) and got more and more paranoid. I didn't have an appointment with me OB scheduled again till 12 weeks but called and begged for an ultrasound to be ordered at that visit for the hematoma monitored and they obliged.

8 weeks

Two weeks after the initial ultrasound I went back for a second scan.

In the meantime we had sold our house, found out about the crack in the foundation of our sold house, and had a seller back out. 

We were praying for good news and a strong heartbeat. 

The baby is apparently high and the tech had to work to find it but she found a strong heart beat at 167 bpm. 

Needless to say I cried. 

I got to see the doctor again this time and give LOTS of blood. 

The relief I was feeling from hearing my baby's heartbeat was quickly squelched when the doctor informed me that on the ultrasound she also found a subchorionic hematoma.

It had been present on the first scan but they wrote it off as implantation bleeding, but when it was still there on the second scan theres a slight cause for concern. 

A subchorionic hematoma is a small hemorrhage of the uterun wall that increases the risk of miscarriage by forcing the placenta to detach from the embryo. 

Because I have had multiple miscarriages in the past my doctor encouraged me to take it easy and go on bed rest as much as possible. 

Because bed rest is Oh so easy when you're a stay at home mom of two and your husband is leaving on a business trip to California. 

6 weeks

Ok so since we were hush hush about the baby for a while let's backtrack.

I found out I was pregnant on the 4th of July, which also happened to be the day we were hosting the girls' combined birthday party, had 6 family members in from out of town and the day we reached an agreement on the new house.

Because of my history I called the my OBGYN the monday after I found out I was pregnant. 

I went in a few days later and they put me on progesterone. 

It's a super easy pill that I take at bedtime, mainly because it makes me crash and feel like poo, so the hopes are that I'll sleep through all the lovely side effects if I take it at bedtime. 

Two weeks later (6 weeks) I went in for my first ultrasound. 

Things looked ok. Baby in the right place, but it was super early so all the could see was a sac. 

I was bummed to not hear a heartbeat but glad to know that things were as they should be for the time. 

Excited

On top of all the fun that's been happening the last few weeks with the houses and the car, We've also been hiding the fact that we're PREGNANT!!

The millers are becoming a:

We're so excited for our newest little one and so excited to finally share it with the world!!

Are you kidding me??? A house update!

ok so, concerning the house, the last two weeks have been like one big long episode of punk'd.

Seriously I'm waiting for Ashton Kutcher to pop out from behind my fridge with a camera crew and tell me it was all in good fun.

First of all I want to preface this by saying I love our veterans, I'm beyond proud to be an American and come from a long line of Military men.

That being said the VA loan process is a joke and has made my life a nightmare recently.

Our buyer is purchasing our home through a VA loan. That means we pay his closing, the government pays some fees and that there are some pretty strict guidelines the house has to meet for him to be allowed to buy it.

Our house is 20. We've taken care of it but it is NOT brand new. We received a list last friday of things that had to be accomplished by today in order for the VA to approve him getting the money. Jared is a very capable guy. He's built me some furniture and can repair just about anything that breaks but it was beyond the realm of physical possibility for him to do everything that needed done. So we scrambled to find a handyman to help which we did by the skin of our teeth.

Just some of the examples of what needed done: Repair/replace and paint all wooden window, door, and threshold trim that has weathering. Re-caulk around all window and door frames. Replace window screens. Pressure wash siding, scrub eves and soffits (bottom side of gutters), caulk wood seems and paint. Add splash guards to all downspouts. Repair any drywall settlement cracks inside the house (we've had two contractors come out to tell us all the minor drywall cracks in our home are cosmetic)-we had to repair them anyway. Re build back steps, stain to match deck. Add handrail going downstairs. Replace 1 cracked time in downstairs bath. Replace perfectly good electrical outlets with new ones. And this is not even all of it.

We spent all weekend neglecting our kids, paying people to help and last night asked the appraiser to come early in case there was anything that popped up so we could fix it before this morning. By the sheer grace of God we passed and finally were able to take a breather. Before diving head first into packing the rest of our house.

I spent the day running stuff to Goodwill, packing the final cookware and toiletry items in preparation to close on the new house in the morning when I get a call from our amazing realtor.

Mind you, we've had a buyer back out. A cracked foundation, a timeline put on our house we're purchasing making us accept a lower offer, a ridiculous list of house fixes and as I'm taping shut the box with our alarm clocks, my sound machine, and the books that sit on our nightstands our agent tells me our buyer had a last minute credit ding and isn't eligible to close tomorrow. He says it's a mistake but mistake or not we are on hold until the issue gets resolved.

We're exhausted, our poor girls want their toys out of boxes and don't understand why we have to wait longer. And I want my kitchen back, to cook on more than one skillet and to be off of the crazy real estate carousel.

Adulthood 101

Well as I shared before, our house has a small crack up the side. It's not considered a crack in the foundation but could lead to one so it needs fixed. We happily obliged to have it repaired and our buyer backed out!

We tried everything to save the contract but he got spooked and walked away.

So we went to the sellers of our new house and asked for an extension. Mind you they have been in a similar situation and before us had a seller walk away (which worked to our benefit) so they granted us a 15 day extension to have new offer on our house but need to get their house sold as well.

So to break it down we have 11 days to have an accepted offer on our house.

We, lowered the price a bit to attract new buyers and our agent is going to have an open house on Sunday.

We're feeling a bit of pressure but also trusting that everything will work out how it's suppose to.

On top of all the fun house drama. We're still functioning with just the van. The BMW was officially totaled and Jared went to clean it out yesterday. We signed over the title, turned in our keys and should have a check from insurance in a few days.

We're happy with what we're getting from insurance but if we have to get a new car we want to get ahead of the game and get one with fewer miles and maybe one that is cheaper to maintain than the BMW was. But don't want to go out and buy a new car with all of the house stuff pending.

Thankfully we have a few friends with third cars who are letting us borrow them for a few days but we'd love for things to start to settle down.

crash

When Jared and I were engaged, we spent a lot of time driving up and down the state of Ohio. We got stuck behind a lot of semi's a few buggies, and a fair share of tractors. Got cut off plenty and learned which lanes had fewer pot holes, and what time of day had the easiest traffic.

One night we were headed to my parents house from columbus. We had done dinner and seen a LATE movie so it was probably near 2 am by the time we got to the Cincinnati area. We were getting off the exit to my parents' and without a car in site Jared used his turn signal to get into the exit lane.

Ladies and gentleman that sealed the deal.

I know it's ridiculous. We were already engaged. And had known each other for years but after all the miles spent on that highway in all times of day. It was the habit of using his turn signal, the attention to detail, the little thing that sold me.




Well, Last week Jared and the girls had a different experience. And I had the HORRIFIC privilege to witness it.

The left wheel well in my van is cracked. Not a huge deal but if you have to slam on the brakes it shakes a bit. Jared made arrangements to have it fixed for me, and one morning we swapped the car seats into his car, and headed towards the mechanic.

It was raining and had been all night.

Jared and the girls were following me and at a green light I turned left.

Jared followed and ...

A nearly head on collision. 

I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe, could only think of my little family in that little car. sitting still in the middle of the road. 

I parked and ran. 

Jared was the first out. 

He said they were all ok. 

Tears, LOTS of tears. 

We got the girls out as airbag smoke filled the car.

I held them and cried. A sweet stranger reminding me to breathe and praising god with me, that by no less than a miracle my whole family walked away without a scratch. 

The girls were more confused than scared. 

(we're carseat sticklers)

Addiston: "the car was kinda wobbly then it stopped"

Isabella: "there was a big bang and I yelled"

They weren't afraid.

Insurance still hasn't passed final judgement on the car but everyone on site pretty much agreed it was a gonner. 

Guess we'll be getting a new car along with a new house *insert sarcasm here* 

We're just thankful everyone's ok! 

The house

Well in a whirlwind of life events our house sold the day it officially hit the market.

It was chaotic at best, but we are thrilled to not have had months of showings and keeping the house in perfect condition.

It sold sooner than we thought it would and we close on both houses in 12 days....12 DAYS!

There are boxes everywhere, we're pawning stuff we don't want anymore off on friends and throwing away anything the girls will let us get away with.

Yesterday we had an inspector come out to take a look at a crack in the side of our house. It's sort of the dark side of the moon to us. It faces our neighbors driveway and there's only about a foot of yard so we don't go there much and honestly didn't even realize it was there.

Well turns out our little friend is actually a minor crack in the foundation and while at this point isn't the worst case scenario it's still WAY more expensive than we had anticipated for home repairs. We're in a pinch to get it fixed before closing so next week will be an interesting time of loan documents, construction workers, movers, and parents in from out of town to help rescue us from all the madness. 

I'm a little sad to be leaving our first home. Where we brought our girls home from the hospital and where they took their first steps, learned to climb stairs, and ride their bikes. 

But we're so excited for what's to come. 

Wacked out

About nine months ago my body started to go all cock-a-mamie! I was cranky, and tired, hot, then cold, an insomniac, crazy person. I tried cutting back on caffeine, I tried eating healthier (if you know me you know thats hard-we're already pretty healthy) I attempted to self diagnose and treat with essential oils. Nothing was working. After 3 months I finally caved and went to the doctor. Turns out my thyroid was out of wack. I had hypothyroidism.

My doctor prescribed synthroid and the next day I started taking it. The following day I decided to google it. I learned lots about thyroid function, the endocrine system, and hormone levels. 8 days later I had done enough research to dump the pills and call my doctor. 

I went in with a game plan, my numbers were high but not dangerously high so I asked if I could do some experimentation on myself. She smirked and asked what I had in mind,(mind you this is a very holistic doctor and the synthroid is considered a VERY safe drug) After discussing our super hippie healthy lifestyle and presenting 3 articles from medical journals she took me seriously and went and got a notepad. (Who's smirking now) 

I explained that I had learned that iodine is a key mineral in thyroid function and while most people get trace amounts of iodine in salt because table salt in the US is iodized we haven't used table salt for years, we use Himalayan pink salt and won't be changing anytime soon (more on that another time), So in short I was probably iodine deficient, secondly my body had been having babies, miscarriages and nursing for nearly 5 years, and that this past year was the first time my body had gotten a chance to regulate naturally there was something bound to be off. 

I went on to explain my use of essential oils and how some applied to specific places helped cleanse the body of built up toxins, and stimulate lazy parts. After nearly an hour of talking we had formulated a game plan, mega-doses of iodine, morning and night,  endoflex oil applied over the thyroid and nutmeg oil rubbed directly over the adrenal gland in the afternoons. Consuming as much coconut oil as i could stand (I hate coconut and blended it in smoothies) and Yoga 3 times a week. 

Well yesterday I went in for some blood work and guess what, my numbers are all normal! 6 months of smelling like a spice cabinet and being diligent about following a health treatment plan I had a say in and my thyroid isn't just being supplemented it's HEALING!!! EESCHK! I'm so excited. I have a few more months of vitamins to make sure my body's got the hang of things, then we can taper off and I'm free. no daily pills for me! 

Here we go again

ok I'm sorry, I say I'm going to get back in the habit of writing and leave ya' hanging. My Bad. 

Habits are weird like that. The good and the bad ones! Like exercising regularly and eating right. When you do it you want to do it more but catch a chest cold and heave like a beached whale on the treadmill for half an hour before realizing you should probably take a few days off and BAM it's a month later and the gym's calling to see if you want to cancel your membership. (For the record-never cancel-they provide childcare weather or not you're working out!!)

Well, I got out of the habit of writing and now here's to getting back into it. 

So life recently….

I'd love to catch you up on the past 2 years, and I will... in time, but theres more pressing issues.

We bought a house!! 

And by bought I of course mean reached an agreement with the seller to promise to pay the bank a lot of money over a long period of time! 

It's hopefully our forever home. And perfect for our family. Pictures will come once things are more locked down and the house is in our names. 

We've been causally looking for about 9 months (Err maybe longer) and by casually looking I mean getting daily emails and going to multiple open houses EVERY. SINGLE. SUNDAY! We like our house now just fine. We've made it work. But we've know from early on it wasn't the home we wanted long term; it wasn't the house we want our girls coming home from college visits to, or where we want to grow old. So we looked, for a long time, we were picky, and when the right house came along we jumped on it, and someone else had jumped first. 

We called about this house after only 3 days of it being on the market, only to find out that another family had already put in an offer. The realtor took pity on my heartbreak and promised to call if anything fell through, and sure enough three weeks later he called during my book club to let me know something had indeed fallen through. The next day we submitted a bid and now we cross the t's and dot the i's! 

One of those t's that need crossed is that our house needs to sell! The market in the Nashville area is CRAZY right now and houses are selling before they're even fully listed so we not worried. Just another thing on the to-do list! Right under fold the 8 loads of laundry currently residing on my couch and above clean the oven. 

So if you're in the nashville area and looking for a house, here's one for you!

It's been a while

At a young age I discovered that I had the travel bug.

The insatiable desire to find new places, explore different cultures, and be with new people. 

I like to go all in when I travel, eat the local fare, visit a small white church off Main Street, find a hidden book shop and spend an hour rummaging through it's treasures while milking my coffee. 

The church we went to on our honeymoon

Everybody's got their thing, some like to stay in the same hotel everywhere they go, eat the same chain restaurants they do at home, and just escape. Some people climb mountains, some want to be in the middle of the dessert. Some hide out in the middle of the woods.

The ocean has always called to me. 

My favorite vacations all take place at an ocean. Our little family on the Atlantic. Our honeymoon in the south pacific. Our anniversary trip to Italy. (technically that was the Mediterranean sea but thats close enough) It's calmness, it's flow, it's power. The sound, the smell, the hypnotic way it gets me. The ocean and I, we're tight. 

I love to walk in just so it's foamy white peaks kiss the bottom of my knee caps, letting the tide pull the sand slowly over my feet. Pushing me slowly out towards shore then the undertow pulling me slightly in. I cold stand there for hours. In awe of nature and the God who created it. And I have. 

But you know what inevitably happens.

I get lulled in by the push and pull. The sound, the smell the hypnotic way it gets me and eventually I realize I've been standing there for hours and the tide is coming in and those foamy white peaks are no longer kissing my knee caps but my abdomen is submerged and my shoulder just got splashed by the spray. Then out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of a full blown wave, but it's already to late and I'm flat out.  I get worked by the undertow and I'm under for a minute. Down for the count. I come up and make my way to shore but it takes a minute to catch my breath, regain my strength and wrap my head around what just happened.  I sit there and stare at the ocean. Then eventually get up take a deep breath, dust myself off and get on with it. 

And you know what thats exactly what happens in life too. 

You get lost in the day to day. The mundane. The ins and outs. The reading of the same book every afternoon, the wiping of the bootys and divvying out of snacks. The finding of the favorite blanket and the fixing of the toy that ALWAYS breaks. The unloading of the dishwasher and folding laundry, cooking dinner, and scrubbing floors. You forget to take a step back, to watch yourself. You get in over your head and then when you're already struggling to get back to safety you get knocked out and you just gotta take a minute.  

So I took a minute. 

I took a deep breath.

And I needed it. 

But ya know what?

Minutes over. Life. Goes. On.

So here's to dusting myself off, taking a deep breath and finding my sea legs again!