So a month or two ago I uploaded all of these pictures to a blog and then never filled in any of the writing. When I started seeing this local trend of visiting a sunflower farm, I was intrigued, but it took a couple weeks to get up the courage to drag the whole family out there.
It was worth it, quite beautiful, and honestly makes me want to plant some sunflowers next year. The family needed to get out of the house, because social distancing/quarantining has kept us pretty isolated. We needed to get out there and do something, see something that wasn’t our house, our land…etc. I would say that this little trip made me realize that we need to take this time to get out and explore nature right now.
I used to call Aurora my “Hippie flower child.” As a small child she was always so easy going. She is for sure the reason that her dad and I had another baby so quickly, because she was just so easy. Its kind of that meme you see float around the internet…where the parents are fooled into having another and that child turns out to be a very different, difficult baby. That was so us and sooo my second child, Johnny. Aurora has lost a bit of her flower child ways as she has become a preteen (soon to be teen), but she is still one of my most mellow kids.
Speaking of easy and difficult children…Our 5th, my Mr. Henry, has been the most needy baby yet. Honestly if he had been my first child, I might not have had any more lol. From the first 24 hours he came into this world until now, he has been quite the handful. He was born with a blood incompatibility that landed him under UV lights. This made it so that he didn’t want to nurse. We spent the next 3 months pouring hundreds of dollars, endless hours, and emotions into fighting our way back to a nursing relationship. It was by far one of the darkest times I have had in years.
The postpartum depression was so strong. I ended up back on medication after having been able to manage my depression and anxiety with weekly therapy for years. All of the crying, money, and time was worth it. It would have been worth it if we had never gotten him back to the breast, but I am so happy to report that we did. After 3 months we got the hang of it and now he is 13 months old and obsessed. I am starting to wonder if he will ever wean. I can tell right now though that life with Mr. Henry is going to be an interesting ride.
There were so many bees! They were beautiful and honestly kind of scary in the moment. However we left them alone and they left us alone. I am so glad my kids did not freak out, because we have had those moments with them in the past. Maybe they didn’t even notice? The bees were pretty obsessed with these gorgeous sunflowers (I mean…weren’t we all…).
At this time in my life I haven’t been much into taking pictures of myself. I have to remind myself that I want my kids to look back and see me in pictures, not just find me in the background. So I forced myself to take one. Scarlett came up and we took a shot together. Scarlett is my middle child, but was the baby for 5 years. Right now we are going through some growing pains and I have to work to remind this girl that we are just as over the moon with her as we are with the rest of my crazy bunch.
Johnny was his usual anti-picture self. I pick and choose my battles there. Johnny has started to mellow out a bit more with age, I am not sure he will ever be super chill, but we are working on handling our anxieties with more grace. I am so proud of the relationship we have right now and how he always wants to talk to me about how he feels, dreams, ideas, etc. I hope we can keep this going forever.
Currently listening to: “Mama’s Broken Heart” by Miranda Lambert
Currently Reading: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
Redefining Family 