Frogs, Snails, & Puppy Dog Tails

I never had any desire to have a boy.

Ever.

The male species has often played the villainous role in my life.

Abusive.

Manipulative.

Selfish.

Controlling.

Just plain evil.

 As a result of my life experiences, I generally don't trust anything with a penis.

Emotionally healthy?

Probably not, but it's how I do.

Anywho.

Sophie announced that she was going to have a baby brother about 2 years ago.

I dismissed it as a cute thought.

A year later we had a surprise pregnancy.

A few months after that, we found out it was a boy.

Everyone was over the moon.

(by "everyone" I mean my mother)

"Are you excited?"

"How fun!"

"Are you happy?"

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Sure?

Then I gave birth to my beautiful boy.

I am so completely in love.

 

I get to teach him how to be a gentleman.

He will learn to be compassionate and respectful.

He is beautiful and innocent.

I get to teach him.

The Ranch

My brother, Jared, used to work for a lovely lady.

This lovely lady owns a ranch in the middle of nowhere.

We were invited to a party at said ranch.

I officially want to own a ranch.

So many trees, fresh air, chickens, horses, and TREES!

(I love trees.)

Despite the insane humidity, and being drenched with sweat, everyone loved it.

Well, everyone except Denny.

He hates sunshine and fresh air.

 

We were there for several hours, but I only had a small window to take pictures.

Finn was tired and rather unhappy about the heat.

So I got what I could, and just tried to enjoy myself the rest of the time.

The big red swing was a hit.

The main attraction was definitely the horse riding.

ALL the kids loved riding.

ENJOY THE PICTURES!

Nature Preserve

There are no mountains here.

Thus, no hiking.

This saddened me a wee bit.

THEN

We went to the nature preserve. 

All is better.

Enjoy the overload of pictures.

 

Upon arrival, Sophie and Katie instantly paired off.

They were born just 10 days apart.

Adorable, yes?

At every bridge we had to stop and look at the water.

Every. Bridge.

The tiny ones got special treatment.

The oldest skated her heart out.

She was further ahead of me 90% of the time, making it hard to get pictures.

I will have to make a road block next time.

Denny even snapped a few photos of me.

I told him how to focus and release the shutter, but forgot to have him fix the shutter speed.

My bad.

Finn rode along in my wrap the whole way. 

 

After the nice long walk, the kids dispersed among the playground.

Finn woke up from his nap.

We will spend many evenings at this wonderful place.

Love Thyself

The other day I was banging my head against the wall in my shower.

I was pissed off.

Not at any one thing in particular, just at life.

My mind had started a snowball of hate.

"Stupid day. Stupid heat. Stupid apartment. Stupid shower. Stupid everything." 

And so on and so forth.

Standing in my underwear, I looked into our full length {and very unforgiving) mirror.

I poked the fanny pack of skin on my front.

"Stupid stretch marks."

Mya busted into the room.

Chocolate covered and glorious, she grinned up at me.

"Mom, you so pretty!"

Throwing her arms around my legs, she radiated joy.

I picked her up and buried my face in her beautifully crazy curls.

She didn't see the stretches marks, the bags under my eyes, the unshaved legs, or the extra weight.

 She saw her mommy, and mommy is beautiful.

This slapped me back into reality.

I need to put more effort into loving my body.

It literally grew three people.

Not one, not two, but three people.

That in itself is amazing.