mom’s birthday

In the middle of a scorching August, not all that long ago, a princess named Terri was born. She was raised in a magical home with 3 sisters & wonderful parents. At a young age, she met the man of her dreams & they married. ✨ They were told they would never be able to have kids. 😭

....Welllllp. Those doctors got that wrong. 🤣 Happy birthday to the most beautiful mom in the world. I love being one of your ELEVEN miracle children ✨🥰❤️

We celebrated with family photos because it’s nearly impossible to keep them up to date with how quickly the sisters are popping out kids at this point 😜

the way he looks at me

the composition of this family photo was a fail, but I had to share this because LOOK AT HOW ELIOT LOOKS AT ME 😭❤️ I am the luckiest.

Spent the day with a dear friend. Picked up lactation cookies from a kind mama who has blessed me so much. Celebrated Matthias’ dad: 60 years of life. WOOT!✨ it’s been a good day.

burnt

what a hard week. transitioning seasons, conflict, all the hormones. tonight I wrote down hurts, frustrations, things I need to let go so I can move forward & burnt them.

my heart hurts tonight. buppy, my sisters dog, was killed by a loose rottweiler that attacked yesterday. and animal control has been horrible and useless, as they always are. (I only have horrible things to say about animal control and how stupid they are, so I’m leaving that alone.) so many things are being yanked up from our experience almost exactly one year ago now— the memory leaves me literally shaking around unknown dogs off leash. I have found that I also have unresolved anger about how the situation was (not) handled by the appropriate parties. more to work through.

if you will, pray for Lizzie & Charlotte. pray for peace & comfort... and justice.

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BABY

Eliot went to the nursery for the first time today at church & it’s only because I was volunteering in there 🤣 he LOVED it. so many new toys & babies 😂 ok, this is the most only-mom-cares thing I’ve ever written. I can’t help it. It was just the cutest thing ever & we have the happiest baby ever 😭❤️ Tonight we celebrated Hannah Joy & Ethan & their newest little love in their home. Hannah Joy didn’t want the party to scream “baby shower”, but I literally brought balloons that yelled baby. Couldn’t help myself 😜

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sticks

It’s Halle’s 9th birthday today. I miss birthday breakfasts with siblings... the only downside to growing up must be that. She came out to our land today with the rest of the family and while she played with Eleanor, Sarah, & Ella making fairy houses & playing make believe, the rest of us picked up sticks to clean up the property. The bobcat and tractor have been incredible for clearing the land, but it leaves it a mess. It’s incredible how different it looks as it’s picked up. 

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full belly

Eliot was so happy today. Having a full tummy of breastmilk thanks to a donation from a friend transformed him into a Chatty Cathy. I feel so terrible. Has he been hungry for a long time? How long? I don’t think I want an answer to that question. My heart hurts. I am grateful he’s eating enough right now and I hope I can produce enough again to help him stay full and grow big & strong. It’s only day two of power pumping but I am anxious for results. I was hoping to tandem nurse. If I can get through this, I know we can do that. One day at a time. 

late birthday dinner

Tonight Eliot played & took a nap at Ethan & Hannah Joy’s while we went on a date to celebrate my 26th. 🖤 Eliot needs more milk than my body has been providing him these last few months. I definitely feel like I’ve let him down. I started supplementing fenugreek & fennel a week or two ago, but I’m going to add in pumping and actively eating foods that supposedly help. I know I’m eating enough calories, I think just all the hormone changes with pregnancy have changed things.

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7 months! Oops

this is exactly how helpful I can be when Matthias starts working around cars. 😂 I don’t take pride in being ignorant or unhelpful in this area, but we’ve just never gotten around to me learning on the job and honestly it doesn’t interest me. so that’s that. I took this snippet of our day before realizing... it’s 7 months since Eliot was born! which means we need to do our monthly photo! he’s already asleep now, so I’m going to try to get it with him when I wake him up at midnight to nurse 😂 wish me luck?

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Teething

Eliot has been teething and has been such a sweet boy. He’s extra snuggly and being a total mama’s boy. This morning I found myself trying to make him smile as soon as I got him up to see if the top two had come all the way down yet. They haven’t, but all of a sudden I’m excited and think he’ll be so cute with some teeth. 😭❤️

August 3rd, 2020

Today was wonderful and a perfect reminder of why I’m so happy to be making our own rhythm for our days. Some highlights included meeting Hannah Joy at Sweet Paris for brunch & to talk about August plans. (It’s the busiest month of the year for the Bonin clan.) And celebrating Steven’s 26th birthday by the pool with some friends, family, and food.

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the sweetest surprise

I was so surprised today 😭❤️🎉🥰 My sweet friends, Savannah Smith & Kristin Carrigan apparently started scheming together a couple weeks ago to make a plan for a mini party when I hit Gold. Savannah & Cleavland drove up from Corpus Christi and spent the night with Kristin & Chase last night. They spent the morning cooking fajitas and baking a cake and drove down from Centerville while Matthias and I were out on a motorcycle ride. None of them had ever been to my in-laws before, but they knew we were here so they just showed up😂 (my mother in law didn’t know this was happening either, so it was a little shocking when they all unloaded from their cars🤣) To have friends drive from so far to just hug us and celebrate in person means the whole world 😭❤️ We got to take them back to our property and show them where we’re building our home and dream of all the future parties we’ll have together in it.