Closing one chapter and starting a new one

2 weeks ago I weaned Stetson 

88 months ago I found out I was pregnant with Payton

In the last 88 months I have spent:

44 months pregnant

52 months breastfeeding

8 months pregnant and breastfeeding

4 months not pregnant or breastfeeding

Gained and lost 150 pounds

Held 4 new babies in my arms

Sent 1 baby to heaven earlier than expected 

I am so so thankful for each one of our babies and for the fact I was able to breastfeed.

The chapter of having babies and nourishing them from me has ended. 

These past 7+ years have given me a glimpse of sacrificial love. 

We close this chapter and look forward to what the future holds.

 A little trip down memory lane

PAYTON

I went 1 whole month longer, 2.5 weeks overdue!

Payton 6 months old and she had cheeks!

COLTON

PRESLEY

STETSON

 

And now we are a family of 6, starting a new season of life!

Getting outside and Riding Horses

I know I didn't post much after our move to Ohio and during the winter months. That was mostly because I wasn't sure I needed to report that we sat inside most of the winter and hibernated. We moved to a new place and had started making some friends and I had some playdates, but our calendar was pretty clear and we did the same thing every day. Needless to say, we are so thankful for the warmer weather so we can get outside and start exploring Ohio. Moving to a new place provides opportunity for new adventures. 

So we have been getting outside more and yesterday was one of the most exciting days for Payton since we moved here because she finally got to ride a horse. We have new friends Josh and Shala that were in our Life Group and when we first met Shala this winter, Payton learned that Shala used to show horses when she was younger and her parents still had horses. Shala has 2 little boys and she told Payton she would love to take a little girl out on her horse Mack. Payton has really loved the idea of horses for a few years and we looked into lessons that but they were really pricey and we weren't sure about spending that much money on something we weren't even sure if she would like.  She was elated that yesterday she finally got to ride Mack. All the kids enjoyed him.

We have also been exploring different parks, fishing at friends homes, and taking walks and getting rewarded by cops for wearing helmets.

Presley thinks she needs her shirt off right now when the boys have their shirts off.

 

Payton has 4 days of school left then we head to Florida for our Wiens family beach vacation. We are so excited for summer. We have a lot of fun trips planned and we love being outside!

A little KC in Ohio

This past week we had some of our best friends, really friends like family, from KC visit us. Zack and Hil and their sweet twins Reese and Ava were our next door neighbors in KC. They have been on this blog a lot. Neither of us had family in the KC area, so we were really like family for each other. They were here much of last week and we had some fun outings and some fun hanging home together. We loved being able to kick back and laugh real hard with great friends. Here is picture overload.

We visited our local Children't museum called Boonshoft for the first time since moving here. We got a family annual pass from Grandpa and Mimi Wiens, so we will be going back again soon.

 

We got donuts for breakfast, had story time, did crafts and played at our house

Friday we visited the Columbus Zoo and finished the evening with pizza and a movie!

 We also had some of our favorite KC food delivered to us. We had our all-time favorite pizza, Michelle had Eric cook some of his famous ginger pork (stetson had for the first time and he out ate his siblings) and The Zimmer's sent some of the best KC BBQ sauce our way. We loved having the KC goodies, but loved have the KC people even more!