Well, it’s be a while since I last updated. Mostly, it’s
because of life in general. We have adjusted quite well to life with 4 kiddos.
To say we are busy would be an understatement, but we are taking life day by
day. Running our business is a full time job, and running our household is also
a full time job. On St Patrick's Day, we opened our expansion to the brewery, a restaurant
portion called The Porch at ETX Brewing Co. So far the feedback has been
tremendous and we are excited to finally share our completed project with
everyone! It, like the brewery, has been a labor of love! I honestly can’t
remember the last time we have had a day off. It’s been 7 days/week. To give a bit of
perspective…one of our day nurses (who works 12hr shifts) told me today that
she hasn’t seen Brian since January! WOW! I knew he was putting in long hours,
but I did not realize that he was gone quite so much. Since he is gone from
home when the kids wake up each day, I make sure to take them up after
pre-school to catch some quality “daddy time!” I love that even when he is
swamped with work, to-do list, projects, meetings, phone calls, finances,
emails, etc…he always takes the time to make the kids feel special and that
they are the center of our universe!
As many of you know, the Brewery is 100% our family
business. Brian and his brother, Matt, embarked on their dream when they began
the business plan back in 2013. Thankfully, we have watched that dream turn
into a thriving business over the past year. Our family business has expanded a
bit more, not only in square footage, but also in family members. The restaurant
portion is the dream of my sister and her husband’s (Meredith & Aaron).
Seeing their dream come to life and watching it pair beautifully with our
brewery is excitement beyond words!
2017 flew by! Drake and Kennedy will turn 6 in June! Hayes
turned 2 in October and has the vocabulary of a 5 year old. Collins is 10
months old! She is the absolute happiest baby in the entire world! She loves
her siblings, army crawls, loves to eat and says Mama & Dada.
The questions I am most often asked include: How do you do
it? Do you ever sleep? What is it like having nursing in your home 24/7? Since,
other people probably have these same questions, I would like to address these…
How do you do it? I wish I could say that I have a profound answer
to this, but I do not. We just do it each and every day. We do what we have to
do for the betterment of our family. It goes along with ‘how can you be so
strong?’ Because I have found when being strong is the only choice that you
have, you find it. That’s it, that’s all I’ve got.
Do you ever sleep? Surprisingly, this question actually
comes most often from the nurses we have in our home. The answer is…not nearly
enough!
What is it like to have nursing in your home 24/7? Well,
imagine having a house guest…ALL the time! Our nurses are here for the happy
moments, the sad moments, the frustrating moments, and the everything… It is
hard to explain. Even our nurses who are here with us for their 12hr shifts don’t
understand what it is like. Even though they are here with us day in and day
out (or night after night), they still get to go home. Don’t get me wrong, we
like our nurses and we are thankful for them, but there is always someone here.
This past weekend our day nurse was out sick. So, I wore my mommy hat and also
stepped in with my nurse hat. It’s definitely more challenging and more of a
juggling act when I’m the nurse, but I also enjoy having some time with Just
Us. One of the highlights for me is having one-on-one time with my Drakey. With
the exception of hospital stays, which are miserable, we don’t get to have our
one-on-one time as much as I would like. This was a personal struggle for me
when we went from some nursing to increased 24hr nursing. I remember crying to
my dad about missing my Drake even though he was here in our house. It was just
very different, and took some time to find our balance. To be perfectly honest,
one of my favorite things on the days we don’t have a nurse is not wearing a
bra in our house! Lol! It really is the little things. I’m not going to lie,
Brian likes being able to walk around the house at night in boxer shorts on
those nights.
I am planning to write another blog post very soon so that I can update on some of the exciting things our Drake has been up to lately! He's one amazing little boy! More to come soon...
Toy Story!
Hayes turned 2 in October
SANTA!
That laugh!
Collins' 1st Christmas!
1st day of Pre-K for these two
His smile lights up the room!
We took a short camping trip in the fall. Thankful Uncle Aaron stayed with Drake so we could have a little getaway with these three!
Always helping daddy at work
Snow in Tyler!
My amazing sister, Meredith!
St Patrick's Day at the Brewery!
Drake loves swinging in the backyard
A VERY full swing!
My little shopping buddy
Helping little brother
Daddy can always make her smile!
Taste of Tyler!
Dance pictures
Sweet Siblings
Family Easter pic
Cuties on Easter!
