Happy 1st Birthday to my baby boy! 😭(warning: probably an oversharing, too long of a post, but I have so many thoughts today!) If you have known us for a while, you know how hard it is for us to get these kids of ours here. Jared and I had decided after Capri that we were probably done having kids. My body had been through a lot, we had boys and a girl, and we thought maybe we should be done. However, I had a dream not long after that decision that was special to me so I won't share all of it, but in it there was another little boy who wanted to come to our family. I talked to Jared and after a lot of prayer decided to try one more time. After a few months I found out I was pregnant again, but because that doesn't always work for us, I had my 6th miscarriage a few weeks later. It made me question whether I really wanted to keep putting my body through this. I leaned on that dream I had, though, and was pregnant again the very next month. My Dr. wasn't sure if I was getting a positive test because of my miscarriage or a new pregnancy, so I had an ultrasound. That first ultrasound showed nothing. My Dr. kept having me come back every few days and low and behold there was a new baby in there. When you've had as many miscarriages as I have, your Dr. is really nice and recognizes the crazy anxiety that comes along with pregnancy for me. I had weekly ultrasounds until I was 16 weeks and got to watch Cannon grow from nothing into a tiny baby. My pregnancy was difficult as mine always are, my C-section was the worst one of the 4 I had, but this sweet baby has brought this family so much joy from day 1. He brings us all together and makes us all smile. He's the happiest kid on the planet. I'm so grateful he wanted to come to our family and feel so blessed that my body worked one more time to get him here. I've been pretty depressed thinking about my last baby turning 1, but I've realized lately to just appreciate his life and cherish his sweet spirit. I know he'll probably grow up and give me a run for my money someday, but for now this sweet 1 year old just makes me happy. We love you Cannon man!! Thank you for letting me be your mom. 💙👦🏼
Now that Jared is home, we had a day full of birthday celebrations (and 4 hours of ⚽️)! Cannon got his first taste of orange rolls and cupcakes. The ball pit was a hit with all of my kids, and we had two different cakes for my birthday people--chocolate and lemon. Capri spent hours in the sunshine watching her brother's play soccer. She can't wait for her turn! Parker also got to go to a birthday party that ended up being an awesome experience. I didn't know beforehand that Parker was the only friend from school invited and the rest of the attendees were members of the most wonderful, large extended Ethiopian family. It was fascinating to talk to them and we felt so welcomed. They all introduced themselves, laughed with us, and cheered Parker on in his bowling. It was like being a fly on a wall in another family's celebration and I loved every minute of it. I'm so tired, but now we move on to Easter. I keep thinking life will slow down, but this must just be the new norm! 😬🎂🎉
