A farewell to 2019 - my Favorite year yet!

Jan 9, 2020


Goodness, 2019 was a BIG one around here...and I mean really, really BIG.
Above is my Top 9 of 2019 from my Instagram to give a quick glimpse at this year's highlights.
Let's take a (longgg) walk down the 2019 memory lane.
I didn't have the time to capture life's little moments here on the blog much after our twins arrived. So, I want this post to be one that highlights some of those uncaptured moments, mostly for me to look back on.

January kicked off with a blog rebrand.
From Silex in the City to Roots Out West.
After getting married + moving to a farm, a rebrand was in order.
You can read more about Roots Out West in this post.  I wanted the rebrand to be one that would kickstart more writing + sharing in this space..

but then January also brought the news that we were expecting! Two weeks after taking a positive pregnancy test we had an ultrasound and learned we were 9 weeks along with TWINS!!!
Twins had crossed our minds so many times that it wasn't as shocking as maybe you'd expect it would be. It was almost like the universe was sending us signs to prepare us...to the point where I had to shove it out of my mind so that I wouldn't be disappointed it wasn't twins...as wild as that sounds!
regardless, it took a lot of deep breaths, nervous laughs, and wide eyes to actually hear that news.

We told our parents at 10 weeks with this little poem we wrote::
This year will be extra sweet
our family will be growing by 
not one, but TWO, heartbeats
and FOUR baby feet!

an overwhelming amount of shock, happiness and tears of joy poured out of our parents!

When I set my 2019 word of the year :: GROW :: I hoped it would include growing our family, but didn't realize we would actually double in size.

In February, we started telling family + friends our news


In March I also started re-capping our wedding here on the blog...I promise I'll finally get OUR BIG DAY logged here on the blog in 2020 in a post that is more than this quick excerpt....le sigh... 

I also started a series of bump updates on the blog, starting with week 16.
first true bump pic, 12 weeks

& fast forward to the very last bump pic, week 36. Taken right before we headed to the hospital to deliver our babies.

In April we traveled to Colorado for a family wedding. 
and I feel this is when my bump really started to show..week 19


When we were back at the farm - we nested & knocked out some home projects like landscaping..

and adding cedar posts to the porch

In May we started making progress in our nursery & started having babies' showers.

two cakes for two babies - a family shower - theme :: Holy Sheep! We're Having Twins!

& a friends shower - theme :: Two Peas In A Pod

and the start of creating a nursery...new light fixture, green accent wall, rug + new plant stand.

June brought another babies' shower + diaper party.
We were soo fortunate to have so much support bringing two babies into this world, and still are.

another family babies' shower - theme :: Two Babies are Brewing

the cakes were made by the lady who made our wedding cake - I will forever love her work and it feels special to use her for other occasions

As for the diaper party - a friend suggested I do a quick count of the diapers for fun. Plus, I had seen this diaper count infographic, and wanted to see how we measured up.
From the diaper party alone we received 2,252 diapers and 3,640 wipes! We also received more from other showers and I didn't do a final count of everything, but what I do know is that we are 5 months along with twins and haven't had to purchase diapers or wipes yet - again, SUCH a blessing.

& more nursery progress!

July was the biggest month of all!
We started the month with a short hospital stay for me due to high blood pressure and monitoring...
I was worried our babies would debut at week 32 and be little 4th of July babes.
Fortunately, I got released, they upped my doctor visits and at the end of week 33 I was cut off from work.

We had our maternity shoot.

We had a few things we wanted to get past before the twins arrived - two county fair weeks (I wasn't attending, but my cattleman is very involved in two local fairs) & my in-laws making it back from their Alaskan cruise. Literally 2 days after the dust settled on all of these events, we delivered the twins. At exactly 36 weeks, we headed to the hospital for a scheduled c-section to deliver what ended up being TWO BABY GIRLS. We were shocked (!!), we went in not knowing genders but expected two (or at least one) boy.

In August we brought our beautiful baby girls home to the farm. We spent 5 nights at the hospital and all came home together. Such a blessing with 36 week old twins.

We also celebrated one whole year of marriage on 8.18.19.

could not do twin parent life without the rock + teammate that is my cattleman

My in-laws offered to watch the girls, and we took them up on it by heading out for a quick day date.
It was my first time leaving the girls, and while pumping before we left, this was my reflection....

We headed out for a bit of a progressive afternoon of sips + snacks.

I enjoyed the time away with my man, but we kept it quick, and I grabbed a Starbucks coffee on the way home, because obviously that night shift doesn't go away just because you went out for the afternoon. We got home and snuggled up our girls as a family.

In September we had a few more firsts.
Our first "outing" as a family - besides doctor's office visits. We went to a restaurant to celebrate the girls' Great Grandma's Birthday - only because our family rented a private room.
Our first Grandparent's Day where we celebrated our parents - we hosted a very impromptu brunch here at the farm.
September is also our month we dread in our family, the month that marks the loss of my brother and dad...2 years & 2 weeks apart. So, we had our first little anniversaries of that (we always mark them with a family dinner). But this year the girls brought a bright spot..
but grief is funny...any happy moment is always tinged with sadness..a reminder of them not getting to meet our girls.

In October we celebrated my birthday! The Cattleman took off work and we had a full family day. Homemade breakfast, lunch with my in-laws, pumpkin patch, shopping and then out to dinner while my in-laws watched the girls.

I got back into the creative game & we had a few Three Sheep Shack pop-ups. This is a shot from the Maker's Market at Long Row Lavender.

We celebrated the girls' first Halloween! They dressed up as our sheep, Millie. Danny and I dressed up as the farmers tending to the herd. We hosted a small family gathering here at the farm. It was so darn perfect.

& October brought a big lifestyle choice for us. I decided to resign & not return to work from my maternity leave. Which was not what we had planned on. I was going to return after 12 weeks and my Mom was going to babysit in our home. But, my new-ish job as a Logistic Coordinator required being on call 24-7 and we decided that that role would not be a fit any longer in addition to my newest role as a twin mom. There truly is no perfect scenario, but for our family, this is as close to perfect as it gets for now. I'm so content being home with our girls and happy we were able to make it work.

In November we had a 3 month milestone shoot here at the farm for the girls. I was so pleased with how the pictures turned out.



I just love their sweet innocence - those expressions!

We also celebrated the girls' first Thanksgiving. We were surrounded by family, and despite our losses, are so very blessed.

December was a big month!

our entry - my favorite space to decorate - especially seasonally

The girls' got baptized on December 1st! It was a special day dedicating them to our church. Then we celebrated with an intimate gathering at our home after wards.




We celebrated the Cattleman's birthday.

They met Santa for the first time. Blissfully unaware.

Our first Christmas season as a family was such fun! The girls were 4 months and didn't know any better this year, but even so, they just add so much joy to the mix!



The girls' first Christmas ever, our first as parents, our parents first as Grandparents -so special all around.
It's extra exhausting to get everyone and everything loaded up for each event, but we conquered 4 of our 6 events so far and have enjoyed alll the family time at each. We celebrate two of our extended sides into January and I actually love that the season lives on.

We celebrated New Year's Eve at our friends' home for a family friendly party. We were home and had the girls in bed before midnight. Everything about that was a win in my book.

-----------------
If you read along this far, bless your heart.
Certainly my longest year end post to date - yet, a big one, full of big moments.

I always feel like this space is mostly for me. A "for me" blog, rather than a "real deal" blog.
But for those of you who are loyal readers, sorry if I left you hanging on the details of the day to day in 2019. I'd like to be better in 2020, but I can't guarantee what level of a priority I'll be able to make this blog space in the coming year.
I'm still wayyyy in the trenches of parenthood..twin parenthood no less. Instagram is an easier space for me to be sharing in for now. Follow along there if you have it!

So, 2019, here's to you!
You brought much more goodness than I would have expected & our two biggest blessings thus far!
(2018, you were a really big deal too)

4 comments

  1. Thank you so much for your update! Your girls are so adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a year! You will always remember 2019. I'm looking forward to following along on your blog. Thanks for linking up with Hello Monday! Tanya - The Other Side of the Road

    ReplyDelete

Would love to hear from you!

© Roots Out West - Branding by Union Shore - Blog Theme by FCD