The forest in Shakespeare’s play, “As You Like It”, is described as a magically, beautiful, place that provides refuge for those who live there. Whether by choice or not, they all seem to realize its surreal, almost fairytale qualities. This doesn’t mean that life is free of trials and troubles, but Celia (one of the characters from the play) seems to sum up everyone’s sentiments when she says, “I like this place, and willingly could waste my time in it”. That forest’s name is Arden.
We welcomed our Arden into the world on December 23, 2014 and much like the characters in the play, we found ourselves in a place that felt completely surreal and "dream like". That feeling began months earlier, June 9th to be exact. That day began our journey into parenthood for the second time around.
For years, Art and I wanted more children. But just a few years into our marriage realized that it was very possible that "more" was not what the Lord had in store for us. So we were a very content family of three. However, being content does not mean that the questions don't continuously pop up. People were constantly asking when we were going to have more. Ugh. I grew to hate that question. I hated that question because even though it was asked out of nothing more than curiosity, it hurt. I felt inadequate because I only had one child, I must be doing something wrong. I felt anger towards those close to me when they were having their babies and complaining about having "more". I felt sadness for Drake because he would never have siblings. All of these emotions made me want to yell, "I DON'T KNOW, STOP ASKING!!!!!"
But instead, we fell back on the ever reliable sarcasm and started answering with "Oh, we're just waiting until we're 40 to have the twins." I have to say, the reactions to that comment was priceless. And the beauty of it was it stopped the "baby conversation".
Fast forward, to May 2014. Our one and only, Drake is weeks away from graduation. Art and I are super excited for the next phase in our lives, "empty nesters". How thrilling to be at that phase when we aren't even 40 yet!!! Oh, the things I had planned. The first thing, however was to get through the last few weeks of school, graduation and the infamous open house. We had a few bumps in the road leading up to graduation. Plus, I had planned on having the open house at our place. That was a wonderful idea when I thought of it. The only problem was we had come off one of the worst winters in years and the amount of yard cleanup was overwhelming. I was exhausted. We made it though!! The bumps were smoothed out, I had some pretty amazing people that chipped in to get the yard work done and we were just a little under two weeks from the open house. Things were looking good. But I was still exhausted.
The exhaustion was driving me crazy. I didn't know if it was stress or allergies or both. All I knew is the things that I look forward to doing after a long winter indoors, I didn't have the energy for. Finally, on June 9 I decided for whatever reason to take a pregnancy test "just to check that off my list". I went to the dollar store and picked up a couple after all, why would I spend money on expensive ones when that's not the issue. Let me tell you, those things work just as well. LADIES, STOP SPENDING MONEY ON EXPENSIVE TESTS!!!
I took the first. It came back positive. I took the second. Imagine that. It also came back positive.
We welcomed our Arden into the world on December 23, 2014 and much like the characters in the play, we found ourselves in a place that felt completely surreal and "dream like". That feeling began months earlier, June 9th to be exact. That day began our journey into parenthood for the second time around.
For years, Art and I wanted more children. But just a few years into our marriage realized that it was very possible that "more" was not what the Lord had in store for us. So we were a very content family of three. However, being content does not mean that the questions don't continuously pop up. People were constantly asking when we were going to have more. Ugh. I grew to hate that question. I hated that question because even though it was asked out of nothing more than curiosity, it hurt. I felt inadequate because I only had one child, I must be doing something wrong. I felt anger towards those close to me when they were having their babies and complaining about having "more". I felt sadness for Drake because he would never have siblings. All of these emotions made me want to yell, "I DON'T KNOW, STOP ASKING!!!!!"
But instead, we fell back on the ever reliable sarcasm and started answering with "Oh, we're just waiting until we're 40 to have the twins." I have to say, the reactions to that comment was priceless. And the beauty of it was it stopped the "baby conversation".
Fast forward, to May 2014. Our one and only, Drake is weeks away from graduation. Art and I are super excited for the next phase in our lives, "empty nesters". How thrilling to be at that phase when we aren't even 40 yet!!! Oh, the things I had planned. The first thing, however was to get through the last few weeks of school, graduation and the infamous open house. We had a few bumps in the road leading up to graduation. Plus, I had planned on having the open house at our place. That was a wonderful idea when I thought of it. The only problem was we had come off one of the worst winters in years and the amount of yard cleanup was overwhelming. I was exhausted. We made it though!! The bumps were smoothed out, I had some pretty amazing people that chipped in to get the yard work done and we were just a little under two weeks from the open house. Things were looking good. But I was still exhausted.
The exhaustion was driving me crazy. I didn't know if it was stress or allergies or both. All I knew is the things that I look forward to doing after a long winter indoors, I didn't have the energy for. Finally, on June 9 I decided for whatever reason to take a pregnancy test "just to check that off my list". I went to the dollar store and picked up a couple after all, why would I spend money on expensive ones when that's not the issue. Let me tell you, those things work just as well. LADIES, STOP SPENDING MONEY ON EXPENSIVE TESTS!!!
I took the first. It came back positive. I took the second. Imagine that. It also came back positive.