"how did you get a baby inside your belly Mommy?"

With all of the excitement surrounding the news of our second baby, it was inevitable that there would be questions from our almost four year old as to how exactly this miracle occurred.  Since I've become a parent I have been worried about protecting our precious baby boy from the evils of the world around him- specifically girls.  I do often think about the day when we will have to have the talk him and I worry about the pressure he will some day face when it comes to "it".

But lets slow down here a bit, the child is barely four years old and he didn't necessarily ask about "it" he just wanted to know how the baby got inside my belly.  When he first asked I sort of ignored it and said it just happened.  I knew that this answer was not good enough and would not satisfy his ever increasing curiosity so I had to come up with something to tell him.

I rehearsed it in my head...

"Well son, one night your Daddy and I..."

TMI.

"When two people are in love they... " 

WRONG.

"Son, babies come when a Mommy and Daddy..."

NO.

Finally, it hit me:  I would tell him that the stork was bringing us a baby.  Well that was not the right answer.  Soon there were questions like "if the stork brings the baby why will your belly get so big?"  "why do you have to go to the hospital if the stork carries the baby in his mouth and drops him off?" I had to revisit this stork topic and this is what I came up with... 

Mommy and Daddy decided that we loved you so much that we wanted another baby just like you.  We called the stork and he brought us a seed.  I swallowed the seed one night and it is beginning to grow.  When the baby has grown big enough I will go to the hospital and a doctor will remove the baby from my belly.

This answer seemed to satisfy his curiosity and we really haven't revisited the subject since then.  No, it is not exactly what I wanted to tell him but how do you explain the miracle of life to an innocent child?  He has plenty of time to grow and sooner than later he will be experiencing and learning all about adulthood.  I want him to be able to remain the sweet, innocent child he is.  Someday he will loose that innocence and I'd like to prolong that for as long as I can.... 

it has been a while...

I've been thinking about my blog a lot here lately and trying to find the time to get back to it.  When I finally logged in today I realized that I haven't posted anything since October!  I didn't realize it had been so long!  I know you have all missed reading about my life and what is going on, right? I kid, I kid!  My first post in over 6 months will be more of an update on what has been going on in our crazy life!


While it was emotionally draining and challenging, I had the time of my life while my husband was gone.  I was able to create a bond with my son that is so deep it will never be broken.  My love for my husband grew immensely and our dedication to each other is undeniable.  I am ecstatic that our time apart is over but I am forever grateful for all that it brought us.  I learned SO MUCH more during that 20.5 weeks than I ever imagined.  Most important, I've learned just how strong I am.


My husband graduated from his academy on November 6, 2012!  It was one of the happiest days of our lives!  All of his hard work and dedication, not only over the time he was away but throughout his entire life, all paid off on that wonderful day.  Words cannot describe how incredibly proud of him I am.  He set a goal and worked hard to achieve it.  He is my inspiration and I can only hope to one day make him as proud of me as I am of him.

Here he is receiving his creds from Director Mueller!

We headed back to Kentucky the day after his graduation and made to our house just in time to see the doors closing on the semi truck full of our belongings.  A HUGE THANK YOU to JON HALL and AMBER CHEKE for helping us with the packing and loading of our household goods!  We had a super tight schedule with the selling our home in Kentucky and purchase of the new one in Alabama we couldn't have done it without their help.  While I think Jon secretly enjoyed it, we can never ever thank those two enough for helping us out.

It was super exciting when the truck made it to our new house in Alabama!  While I'd like to lie and say the whole truck was our belongings, it wasn't.  See those double doors in the full shot of the truck?  Our stuff started about there...

  

 That truck was packed so tight a slip of paper couldn't have fit!

It had been a very long time since I had moved and was it ever overwhelming!  I didn't realize we had SO MUCH STUFF!  It has taken months for us to get everything put away and organized but I think I can say we're finally finished.  There are days we find ourselves asking "where is?" or "do you remember that thing we had?" We are missing things but I'm not sure if I got rid of them, if those things never made it off the truck, or if they are still packed away in a box in our attic.  

I'm not going to go into great detail about every little thing that happened between November and now.  We did celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Alabama style which was exciting and fun.  We also got some incredible news in mid December- I'M PREGNANT!  

So in our house, conceiving children is apparently not that difficult.  When we made the decision to have Gage we were pregnant within one month.  When we made the decision to try for baby #2, again we were pregnant within one month.  We are both truly grateful to have been blessed with Gage and now another sweet baby (boy!) who is due to arrive in late August.  I think that sometimes the ability to have children is taken for granted and little to no thought occurs about it until the time you decide you'd like to try for a baby.  We will never ever be able to express the gratitude and appreciation we have for the two miracle blessings in our lives.  

Not only are we still adjusting to life in Alabama as a family of three but now we are trying to mentally prepare to become a family of four!  Gage is elated!  He already talks about helping feed baby brother.  He wants to read to him, play with him, sing to him and yes, even change his dirty diapers.  We were blessed with an incredible child when we were given Gage, I cannot wait to see him as a big brother.  Slowly but surely we are getting things ready for the arrival of our new baby boy but man is the time flying by!  Our new bundle of joy will be arriving in about 16 weeks!  His room is painted, bedding has been ordered but we have yet to make a decision on a crib!  I know that things will come together eventually, but I do feel a tad overwhelmed!  

I think I've shared enough this post... You're probably bored to death with a recap of things you already knew!  I plan on writing more often and sharing all about our new lives in Alabama.  I have so many ideas for future posts but I would really like to know what you enjoy reading about.  Just the personal stuff or did you enjoy my previous Pinterest/crafty posts?  I've been thinking about sharing some recipes and life lessons as well.  Would y'all be interested?  I value your feedback so please let me know!  

Until I blog again, farewell friends!