Well Happy New Year to you all! Being that it’s still January, I don’t feel too silly throwing that around.
I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season filled with delicious food, time with family and friends, and hopefully good health! Good health was tough to come by in our home this December. I remember asking Brad if this is what Christmas will always be like with kids?! In all honesty and to keep a slice of perspective, we had a couple of viruses – nothing serious. But when your little gets it and takes a solid 10 days to run its course, then I get it and takes a week to run course, then just as you think you’ve sanitized enough and maybe Brad is safe, he got it too. A virus called adenovirus got all three of us, and had us battling right up to the 23rd. We had a wonderful few days from the 23rd through most of the day on the 26th, until our fight with viruses was not over, and a stomach flu caught both Brad and I the evening of the 26th. A 24 hour whirlwind that really wiped us out.
But since then, I’ve been knocking on wood that hopefully we’ve built enough immunity to a few bugs around that we can see friends and family again!
So, January. What does everyone do mentally in January? Set resolutions? Goals? Plans? Reflect on the previous year? Maybe its super cheesy, but I love that ‘best 9’ photo grid that everyone seems to put together at New Year’s. I am happy to say that I had a hard time picking just 9 of the best pictures from 2018, so I picked 9 of our family, and 9 more of the homestead!
We had so much change as a family, it was really fun to look back at the year. And change is coming to our family again this summer, as we will welcome another baby in June!! 
But back to reflecting on 2018 for a minute. Dylan turned 1 in April, and I returned to my full-time job on May 1st, after taking a full 12 months of maternity leave. A huge shoutout to working moms and dads because this transition was, and still is, HARD. Dylan went into daycare 5 days a week, and adjusted really well, and I think he genuinely likes going. But even this was strange because daycare 5 days a week is his routine – being at home is off routine, and for a while it seemed like we could not figure him out! Let me tell you, that is a tough mental game to work through. But, you learn, grow, adapt, and make the weekends whatever you need.
So this January we are trying to imagine what life will be like, a short 6 months from now. We’re doing the legwork now to be as prepared as possible from a farm prep standpoint, and a household readiness standpoint. But, can you ever be prepared to have a second baby? When we ask Dylan, “do you think the baby will be a boy or a girl?”, he just answers with “No”. So any advice from other parents on how to bring a new baby home to a toddler, send it right along!
I’m going to sink into a new book this January called, Girl, wash your face by Rachel Hollis. I’ve recently started listening to her podcast too, and love the positive energy I get from it while I drive to work. Sometimes we need a little positive energy boost in the midst of cold, snowy, where-did-the-sun-go winter! While Brad isn’t plowing snow, he’s been working away at a really fun project that we hope to use this summer, and hopefully many of you will be able to check it out with us! Stay tuned!
We will to continue to share our story with you as we plan our way to spring planting, and we really appreciate all the shares, likes, and comments on our social pages along the way!