We rounded out 2019 with the birth of another son, our sweet Nolan. He was born on December 2nd, 2019. Lucky for us, he's the sweetest, most mellow little boy that we needed (thank you Heavenly Father 🙏🙏), but the hours leading up to his grand entrance were not so sweet. Maybe just a little sweet, in the hard-stretch you-spiritual kinda way, but I will not get into the full story now. Soon enough it will show up on this blog.
Times are crazy right now in this world. We are in the middle of a pandemic due to the Coronavirus which has been spreading like wildfire through the nation. In March and April we were in strict quarantine with a stay at home order and since we have no major reason to be out and about, we've mostly stayed hunkered down since then aside from a trip to my Aunt's house for a day and my sister's house for a week at the end of May/beginning of June. Luckily, the weather was pleasant through March and April and we were able to get out on lots of walks and scooter/bike rides for Maeve and Rowan around the neighborhood. That fresh air plus baking fun goodies certainly saved my sanity! My feelings have been all over the place about it - - from feeling not too affected since my life as a stay at home mom didn't change a whole lot despite no more play dates and no church on Sunday, to feeling nervous that I'd never be able to buy toilet paper or paper towels ever again and eventually the shelves might be totally bare. Thanks be to God that neither of those things happened, but at this point we have reopened things up and cases are going up again. It's settling in that this virus is never really going to go away and life as we know it will be different for a while. Who knows how long. Maeve is starting (or supposed to be starting anyway) Kindergarten in about a month and I have no idea if that will really happen or what it will look like. It's already tough knowing that she will be leaving me for hours each day for the first time ever, but even more tough sending her off in such strange circumstances.
Anyway, one major blessing of this pandemic has been home church. I am embarrassed to admit that prior to this, we were never good about doing Family Home Evening or talking about the scriptures with our children. Once church was cancelled for the foreseeable future, it became up to us to give our children spiritual nourishment and do our own church meeting each Sunday. Somewhat forced into it though we may have been, I now realize what a sweet blessing it has been to have the spirit in our home during these meetings and how simple it can be to teach them what they need to know right now, yet still very powerful. The first Sunday (and every Sunday since) Rowan was dead silent with his arms folded for the entirety of both sacrament prayers and this is coming from the boy who is very rowdy during normal Sacrament meeting at church. I really believe in our more intimate family setting, he is able to better grasp the importance of what is going on and that has been heartwarming to witness. I myself have been staying on track with Come Follow Me this year and studying the Book of Mormon has been really amazing this year. It is truly a remarkable book and thanks to some podcasts I listen to that cover the material each week as well as the Come Follow Me manual, I'm really getting so much more out of it than I ever have before. Consistent scripture study has always been hard for me, but everything has come to life so much more this time around that now it feels like something I would greatly miss if I were to stop reading and studying. It is changing my life and I'm so grateful.
In some of my recent study, the importance of family records was mentioned and the Book of Mormon itself is really a big family record passed down from generation to generation. It is scripture to us, but the accounts are really just the happenings among these ancient prophets in their lives with their families. I kept feeling nudged that I should get back into this blogging and it always seems so daunting to get truly devoted to this, but the thought popped into my mind if I could just do 1 quick post a day highlighting the good, bad, ugly and memorable moments of that day I would end up with a pretty solid family record that doesn't feel as overwhelming. So that's why I'm back here now, and that is the plan! Aside from sharing Nolan's birth story, that is my plan moving forward. Let's hope I can stay committed and make this happen. These years with little children are fleeting and someday I won't remember hardly any of the funny/heartwarming stuff that these kids are doing and saying right now, unless I write it down. So here's my journal, really for me, and no one else - unless you're interested in our life too.
Until tomorrow, here's some pics from our sweaty Sunday 16 mile bike ride and lunch at the park yesterday - I always end up laughing at all the outtakes because it's so rare to get one that is good of everyone, but then sometimes we really nail it and everyone looks crazy and that usually ends up being my favorite one. 😂
And also a pic of Nolan from today that is so cute of him but also cute because Zoey is licking his hand in the corner of the picture. 🥰😂
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| I don't think my older two could be any more expressive than they are 😂 |
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| Could Adam possibly be showing anymore teeth?? And Maeve and Rowan just look so thrilled! 😂😂 |
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| Passed out on the way back! |
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