By Natalie
I haven’t known what to say or how to say it. In the beginning because I was adjusting to the shock of our miracle unassisted pregnancy, after 5 years of secondary infertility. Also because I was awfully nauseous. In the second trimester I remained silent because I still didn’t have much of a desire to write. But now.. at 30 weeks here I am and the time feels right to share this poem written for my SECOND.
By Natalie
A few weeks ago I found myself in what I felt like was an emergency situation. My mental health was deteriorating all summer and I struggled to manage until the day that one trigger blew up everything inside me. I was numb and could not deal with anything or anyone. My body had been breaking down for a while. One night in August I became unexpectedly nauseous. I was restless and unable to sleep and then I began vomiting at 3am. I had brain fog, I tried consuming more electrolytes, convinced maybe the heat of the summer was the issue. I couldn’t recall words and on top of that my irritability was spewing on everyone around me.
By Natalie
Felicity had a week and a half off for Spring break in April. The extended time allowed her to decompress from school, get healed up from another case of strep throat, get together with friends and take a trip to Wilmington. This little NC town has been on our bucket list since we moved to Charlotte. Nestled between the Cape Fear river and the coast this historical city was pleasantly charming.
By Natalie
Happy December 1st! How sweet are these pink bags? I ordered them for my vendor markets this season. When they arrived I thought they would be such an adorable upgrade to Felicity’s advent calendar. I set 25 of them aside and stamped the rest with my Lux logo. Luckily I printed the number cards on cardstock paper 2 years ago so they’ve been holding up over the years and I was able to easily transfer them to the pink bags. The calendar has gotten alot easier over time now that I have such a good base to work with.
By Natalie
Last year I had a few friends say “mom goals” to me referring to the craft themed advent calendar I created for Lici. I love hearing that I’ve inspired friends to be creative with their littles. However I’m also conflicted because I don’t want anyone to see what I’ve created and think that they’re not doing enough for their kiddos or they are not meeting some arbitrary mom goal. Creating these crafty kits for Lici is my love language to her as a creative. I find joy sharing my love for crafting, needlework and reading with her. It shouldn’t be every mama’s goal because not every mama is into those things. Other mamas have different interests and talents. They should mother the way that God created them to mother.
By Natalie
Years ago Brandon and I heard a sermon on margin. Margin in a nutshell is leaving space and time in your life and schedule, to prevent overwhelm. Margin for us over the years has grown into more than leaving time in our schedule, it’s having margin in our finances for those in need and in our case space in our home as well. This margin we had created was exactly why we could say yes to inviting Zoe into our home. Margin is key so you have time to breathe, you’re on time and so you have enough energy left for your family. It has allowed us to say yes to people in need and it’s something we’ve always tried to incorporate in our lives. Since Felicity started kindergarten I’ve juggled, balanced, scheduled, whatever you want to call the way that I try to manage our lives all while keeping margin. Not having a 9-5 job means that I have the flexibility to do what I want with my schedule, yet I’ve been finding myself trying to fit a whole load of things into my schedule. I’ve realized that I need to sit and revisit my margin for this season of life.
By Natalie
I went through my drafts recently and found some decent pieces that I never posted! I found this sweet post that I didn’t publish because I went into labor soon after. Loved rereading this with a smile on my face thinking about how quickly the time flew. This morning I watched that little girl put her big backpack on and walk into school.
Throwback to Five years ago… (more…)
By Natalie
As you may know if you’ve been following along here for a while, every December I assemble an advent calendar for Felicity. This year’s calendar is full of activity sheets from The Box Full, along with a few fun craft kits I found in the Target dollar spot (my greatest weakness) and Michaels. I love seeing Felicity’s joy over this calendar and watching her crafting ability grow each year! (more…)
By Natalie
“I’ll take them.” I said without hesitation. What had come over me? When my friend Jamie mentioned that her girls weren’t crazy about their new preschool and wasn’t sure what to do, I spoke up. “I’ll take them.” I said. Knowing I could do it, I wanted to do it, and was pretty sure that I should do it. Jamie asked if I was serious. I nodded. “Let me know how they do in school the next couple of weeks.” I told her as she was still unsure if they needed time to adjust. (more…)
By Natalie
Lights on 6am
Leggings up, contacts in.
Morning Zoe, time for school.
Dark sky, red lights. (more…)