At this moment, I'm sitting here wondering where does the time go? And why does it go so fast? In exactly 20 days my little Silas will be a whole year old. The big ONE!  I haven't even started planning his party because I think I'm in denial that this is in fact about to happen!  Sure we have the date and the time and food, but haven't bought presents or decorations yet!! 

  So much has happened in such a short amount of time. 12 months, 365 days of time that, before I could even blink my eyes, was over just like that. Poof! Not to mention it's been almost 2 years since I married the love of my life. Silas was born just before our first anniversary and he made our lives so complete!  Our lives became so different and we had to adjust in so many ways, but in ways we couldn't of been happier to do so.  Matt and I never knew life outside of children, at least as far as our relationship is concerned.  Ryen was a little over a year when we met, so we have no idea how to have a marriage outside of kids. A couple months after being married we made the best decision, to give Ryen a sibling that he could grow up with close in age.  We knew it would be a lot on our plate only being married for less than a year, but with a lot of love and a lot of prayer, we knew it was possible.

  I had such a hard pregnancy, for most of it anyways, but I couldn't be happier that after the first try we conceived right away.  Not a lot of women get to say that, so I consider myself lucky.  I had bad all day sickness for all of my 1st and most of my 2nd trimester, got a hiated hernia right above my uterus that effected my work, which in turn caused me to loose my job because I was unable to work any longer.  Went into preterm labor at least 4 times and had the worst sciatica pain you could imagine! I just turned 38 weeks, when on a Saturday afternoon (Feb. 16th) I had what felt like period cramps all day. They weren't exactly painful just uncomfortable. The night before, my sister-in-law made me the famous eggplant parm to help naturally induce some labor when an hour later I lost most of my mucus plug. All night Saturday into Sunday morning I didn't get a wink of sleep. I knew something was about to happen. I was supposed to sing in church that morning but knew when I couldn't make it through one song without having to stop and bend over due to the uncomfortable cramps that it was time to call the doctor.  He didn't believe I could be in labor but when I got to the hospital I was almost 4cm and after walking for 30 minutes I was soon at a 5 and getting my water broken.

  Well I didn't want this to become a labor and delivery story haha, but my point is all that hardship and pain was so worth it!  I complain about my stretch marks and my flabby belly, but I stop and take a step back and remind myself that I'm a freaking warrior! I created a human with my own body and overcame the most unimaginable pain you could ever think of!  When I saw his face for the first time the world stopped. I couldn't hear or see anything else going on at that moment but this little amazing human being that God was gracious enough to give me. 12 months. 365 days. Time filled with long late nights and early mornings. All night cries, mom and baby (sometimes dad hehe), being puked on, peed on, and pooped on. Most importantly time filled with laughter, first time smiles, first time words, and crawls, and standing, and teeth. Seeing him get so excited when his mommy or daddy walk into the room. All these firsts, but for me 2 times over feeling the most important love any person could ever feel from one tiny human. twice in my life I was given the chance to feel and be the most important person in the world to someone, to anyone, and those are my TWO amazing children.

  Being a mom is the most precious gift anyone could ever be given, and I am SO happy that gift was given to me. Thank you God. But, time flies way faster when you do become a parent.  Enjoy every single moment! The good and bad. It's all quite incredible.

-xoxo