People are so quick to give an opinion on someone else’s choices. I was once told, “Opinions are like buttholes, everyone’s got one and they stink.” It’s very true. Everyone’s got an opinion, but does it really matter? When do you stop letting other people’s opinions become the decision makers in your life? Now.

Now don’t get me wrong. There a few people’s opinion I value. That’s my husband and my son. Why? Because the decisions we make in life directly impact us all. Whether it be financially, life, dinner, etc. those two people are the only two who’s opinion truly matters to me. The little meme is so funny, but true. If you are letting people’s opinions effect you that much then they need to be one of those people in your life that is actually helping out in ways other than just giving you their opinion. I told my husband the other day, unless you’re paying my bills or sleeping in the bed with me, then the opinion of someone else shouldn’t matter. And as true as that statement is, not 3 days later, I am letting someone else’s opinion on a life choice I made bring me to tears. When people give their opinions they don’t truly care. They just want it to be known that they feel differently about something and want to make sure you know it. They don’t think about the toll that can take on you. They don’t consider the thought process and discussions you’ve have before a decision is made and why you made that decision. They don’t think. They will say “well we just care that’s all” and that’s all fine and dandy, but there’s a difference in caring and trying to push your opinion into someone’s life when you don’t know the back story or the thing a that person is going through in life at that point. Those decisions made were made for a reason.

So don’t let other people’s opinions on things you do in life hurt you. Don’t let it change your mind. Don’t let it effect the way you see or do things just because what they think or say is different than you. You’re entitled to your own decision making and thought process. I challenge you today, are you quick to give someone your opinion when you disagree with their choices or actions? Try not to push that on someone. As you’re entitled to that, just remember if that person wanted your input they would’ve asked. They would’ve included you in that decision. Remember, just because you don’t agree doesn’t mean you have to push that on them or let it be known. You don’t know what’s going on in that persons life for them to be where they are.

In the beginning it’s all fairy tales. You do things like trying extra hard to impress that person or pretending to like things they like or going the extra mile just to catch their attention. Eventually all of that dies and that’s OKAY!

In the beginning I used to tell Cameron I loved Labs, I would cook for him, clean for him and fold his laundry. Well let’s just say, things change! I do absolutely love his lab (she’s like one of our kids) and I feel like she’s mine now too. I did hold my end of the bargain by cooking for him! He’d be living off microwave meals and uncrustables if it wasn’t for me at least cooking him dinner. BUT when it comes to cleaning and laundry, I do lean on him A LOT and he is more OCD than I am so he definitely takes the cake when it comes to making sure the house is beyond SPOTLESS and the clothes are never dirty. Sadly I fail in that category of “house wife” lol! BUT he still loves me. We used to talk ALL day everyday for what felt like forever. Now we might not even text or call each other in a day at all and that’s okay. We don’t not talk because we don’t want to. It’s because we have the confidence in each other that at the end of the day I’m still here and so is he. On days that we are apart of course he’s the last person I talk to before I fall asleep. But we don’t have to constantly talk or be together to know how each other feels about the other. I remember how I used to tell him it was so cool he was a marine. Little did I know there was so much more to him being a marine and I’m beyond proud of the service he gave this country and will stand by him everyday. He also tried to win me over when we first started talking by telling me he was going to go to school to be a pilot. While he did consider that, I still have no pilot. BUT what I do have is a husband that loves and adores me. One that supports me 110%. One that doesn’t care what I look like because let’s be honest…I used to try HARD to “look good” for him. Now he just gets me however I end up for the day lol. Lucky him, right? Actually, I’m the lucky one because truthfully, he doesn’t care how I look. He loves me for me.

We hardly ever go on “dates” anymore because we just don’t have time, but for me the dates I want the most involve our king size bed, a movie from one of our many subscriptions, an uncrustable, some gummies and a drink. Those are the ones I cherish more than anything. In the beginning it was all the flashy go here, go there, do this, do that. Now I honestly want to just be home with my guy. Don’t get me wrong, every now and then we get out of the house together for something. We can have the best time, but I guarantee it’s not better feeling then when we are home together. Enjoying the simple things in life. Life is much simpler when you aren’t on the go so much, when you aren’t trying to impress one another, when you aren’t worried about what people say or think and when you just worry about the two of you.

So don’t worry about all the flashy stuff! Focus on each other. Lean on each other, grow with each other, respect each other and don’t get caught up in the “things”. As long as you have each other that’s what is most important.

For 7 years, I have loved you and solely you. You made me a mom. I grew you for a short 32 weeks and have loved you and celebrated you for just over 6 1/2 years. You’ve been our one and only. Unexpectedly this will end soon, but this is what I hope for you.

I hope you know that mom’s heart is big enough to still love you just the same. Mom is still going to be your biggest supporter. I will always keep your belly full. My arms will always be open for your many hugs. There will always be time for our lunch dates and trips to the movies. I’ll still make puzzles with you on the floor. I promise to still read to you and help you learn. I will still do everything I can to keep you safe and protected. I will alway be there to kiss the bo bo’s and clean your scrapes.

You will forever be my #1. You made me grow up as a person and together we have grown. You were the first person I loved besides your daddy. You taught me a new kind of love. You taught me just how much a heart can love another human being before even meeting them.

I pray that you will protect your little sister and give her the love you share with me. I hope that adjusting to having another baby in the home doesn’t cause you too much stress or overwhelm you too much. Mom will try to make it as easy as I can for you. Love you to the moon and back!

The sun always comes again

They say after the rain comes the rainbow. The sun will always come out again. They also say that things don’t always go according to “your plan”.

Many of you know my story of loosing a baby just over 4 years ago and being told I had an incompetent cervix a couple years later. Well we honestly had decided to not try again for children. We had one handsome and healthy boy and that’s better than what some have. We were happy with the life of just us three. We were totally fine with just having Brodie. I had tons of people tell me “not to be scared to try again”. Sure the fear was there, but that’s not the reason we made our decision.

Rewind to July 2019, we are getting ready to leave on vacation to Oregon and I had missed a few periods, but in all honesty, with my medical history it was totally normal to me. Even took pregnancy tests each time to just ease my mind, which all came back negative. What wasn’t normal was that on that Monday we were leaving for vacation, I threw up my coffee after a couple sips. I don’t just “throw up” coffee for no reason. So my little inquiring mind started rolling. I decided to take a test and guess what…positive! What on earth were we going to do? Cameron was fixing to be a full time student and I’m self employed. Of course the first things that came to mind were the panicky things. Second thing that came to mind was how on earth was I going to tell Cameron because like I mentioned before, we weren’t trying so it would be a HUGE surprise. Well my deliverance was TERRIBLE to say the least. I don’t keep things like that well from him. I mean if I buy gifts, he gets them as soon as they come in or even knows about them once I’ve ordered it. I just don’t hide things from him at all. So once I got back home to finish getting my stuff together for our trip, I have zero words and just decide to toss the pregnancy test at him across the bed while we’re packing our stuff. Like I said worst deliverance plan, looking back I probably should’ve done that a little different. I don’t even think I said a word lol. Of course this would be changing our lives and plans we thought we had. All we knew to do was go and enjoy our vacation and when we got back then we could handle it. I mean we literally were leaving to head to the airport that day so there wasn’t much I could do until we got back.

So the third set of panicky thoughts come rolling in, what’s our plan? How do we make this time successful to not experience a loss again? So once we get to Oregon, it’s 4th of July week, so businesses do close. I made a call to my doctor and talked to the nurse and she beings to explain how I will need to make an appointment for like 6 weeks from now and meet with the OB Coordinator and I’m like no… that’s not how this works lol. You tell my doctor that I have called and that I am pregnant. Please tell him then call me back. I can’t wait that long. Because of course all the fear is in the back of your mind. So once she calls back I had an appointment the day after we got back from vacation. Sure enough, pregnant. We mapped out our plan and what the next steps were to keep this a successful pregnancy.

So, next begins a daily pill for the next 6 weeks, followed by a surgery to sew my cervix closed, followed by lots of extra appointments with specialists and shots in the hips every Monday. At about 15 weeks I had lost 12 pounds and had been in the hospital numerous times for constant vomiting and dehydration. Was eventually diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum – long story short, you’re sicker than you’re supposed to be, have huge weight loss and this can cause complications. So thankfully we got that under control and your girl started gaining weight! Also about this time, I go in for a routine appointment with my specialists and every time I go they do an ultrasound, so I was really seeing her a lot in the beginning. The girl doing the ultrasound asks if I knew what I was having. At this point, I haven’t done my genetic testing that scans the baby’s DNA for abnormalities and tells you the gender and I knew it was still kind of early to be 100% sure. Well when I tell her no and that we planned on having a little 4D ultrasound done in a couple weeks to find out and she says “well honey I can tell clear as day, would you like to know?” So of course I say yes and she says it’s a girl and she flips it on the TV screen for me to see. So truthfully, I would’ve been happy either way, but Cameron and Brodie definitely wanted to add another boy to the mix. So you can only imagine how the delivery went to those two! Priceless. Everyone just “knew” I would be having another boy.

Fast forward quite a few more weeks and here we are at New Year’s Eve and celebrating 30 weeks of this bundle of joy! I have had feelings of being scared, emotional, excited, nervous and anything else you can imagine. I have almost made it as far as I was with Brodie. So fingers crossed and lots of prayers she continues to bake a little longer! Here’s to our caboose!!

Sending Brodie bak to school this year, I had so many things going through my mind. Get these supplies, order this uniform, buy a good back pack (let’s be honest, I spend good money on these because I need them to last all year) and so on and so on. Most importantly, getting him pumped up for school!

Growing up I LOVED school! I remember the start of my first grade year and I loved making sure I matched head to toe, hair was in place, shoes were perfect, perfect smiles, everything. As a little girl, I know I had more priorities of how I looked then my son does. Don’t let that fool you though! Little Brodie LOVES his hair and it’s gotta be JUST RIGHT! We get hair cuts about every 2-3 weeks and it never fails when he wants it cut it’s on a day or time that no one is open and he wants it done right then.

Him going back to school got me thinking about my younger days. Next fall will be my 10 year reunion. 10 whole years. I’ll never forget starting graduation with my welcome speech and realizing this is it! I’m done, we’re done! But looking I have so many memories! Some good, some not the greatest, but none the less they help mold me as a person. Even a few hair appointments ago my hair girl and I were talking (we graduated together) and talking about our reunion and how both of us were more than happy to head things up and get everything scheduled. In our conversation, both of said how come we weren’t friends in high school and kind of laughed about it. Because in all honesty we weren’t friends! Neither of us know why, but in a sense it’s funny because now in our careers we are both helping each other. AND Let’s be honest I WILL NOT trust another person with my hair anymore. She truly saved my hair from a BAD situation and now it’s incredible. But seriously, at Rosepine we all got along for the most part! In our talk the other day we were bringing up old memories that we’d forgotten about and it made me realize how great we all really had it in school. Whether we were “best friends” or just social acquaintances, we had a good class of kids many of which are all still friends. We all wanted to grow up so fast and get out of there, but I bet many of us would want to go back even for 5 minutes. Of course I’m one that would only want to go back for a minute. I enjoy life now and I think my high school years were a good stepping stone. Kids nowadays (and I feel SUPER old saying that), want to grow up so fast! I will say when I moved out of home and experienced my first taste of “adulthood” my first thought was what the heck was I thinking, send me back, I quit, I’ll do high school again any day of the week. I have so many great memories of high school and with Brodie starting school back it makes me think of all those great times and even though it’s almost been 10 years ago, it feels like yesterday.

I even remember how I worried SO much what people thought about me. Did I look skinny enough, was I pretty enough, was I in enough clubs, did enough people like me and so on. BUT in a sense, all that was silly stuff. It didn’t matter if I wasn’t crowned Homecoming Queen, it didn’t matter if I didn’t have straight A’s (let’s be honest, English kicked my butt), no one cares now if you were the president of the Beta Club. All that stuff was just extra stuff, but what’s important is that you made memories and learned from things that you did.

When you look back on your high school years, would you do it again? Would you want to go back? Are you the same person now as you were then? Do you still see or talk to your old friends? Are you looking forward to your class reunion?