The month of celebrations....

June is always a crazy month for our family with birthdays. My husband and all of our children celebrate their birthdays this month. It's been one year now since Brielle joined our family and what an exhausting yet joy filled year it's been. She is such a happy, content girl who loves her family, books and food:) She loves attention from her brother and so far isn't in a rush to be mobile which is okay since I'm sure once she starts will make life really wild. She loves taking baths and I'm sure will be a big fan of the pool this summer just like Ian. 


Later this month Ian's turning four which seems so wild to me! He's come a long way since his preemie days that's for sure. He is now an adventurous, active boy full of energy who loves school, sports, water, music (especially drums)and riding his bike.

 

And five years ago on the 27th will be Lillian's birthday, the day we became parents for the first time. It seems a lifetime ago with all that's happened since then. I'm thankful that five years later we find ourselves with two children who have made our family and lives so fulfilling that we don't have much time at all to think about the sadness that once overwhelmed us.

Microblog Monday and book recommendation...

I've found it's true what they say about having a second child, time goes by so much faster!!! Brielle is already 7 1/2 months old, crazy!!! So I've had the best of intentions to update on here and thought of this space often but there are so many other things in my life that take priority these days, this has definitely been neglected. I was inspired by another blog friend to make it a point to just do a small post for Stirrup Queens Microblog Monday, so here I am. 

I feel like our life with two little ones is finally starting to fall into a good rhythm.You guys months 4 to 6 were HARD!! Hence another reason for my absence. Brielle wasn't sleeping great, was experiencing growth spurts and keeping up with 3 year old Ian and the craziness that is a toddler at that age it was all just a lot. We don't have family nearby & the babysitter we loved moved and we haven't tried a new one yet so we don't ever really get a break which definitely doesn't help. I feel like just in the last month or so I'm finally starting to get out of the fog that was being consistently intensely sleep deprived! So hopefully I'll be able to make it back here occasionally!


For any other families out there built through embryo donation I've meant to mention a great book we've found. A few months ago we got the book Training Wheels to begin introducing the concept of embryo donation to Ian and eventually to Brielle. We've always felt it's important to be open with them about their background and how they came into our family. So that they always know our donor family is a part of their history and essentially family as well we've always talked about them and have never shied away from discussing embryo donation and how it helped to shape our family. We decided we did need a little assistance though in introducing the concept to the kids at their level and since Ian's starting to understand more about his surroundings we wanted to be sure we have something that could begin the discussion as he is ready. I'd definitely recommend the book, the story is more in line with an open adoption like ours but could be used for other families as well!