After sharing this dream come true project of mine, the biggest question I was asked was “how?”. Turns out, so many people have a dream of writing a book — which makes me happy to say, anyone can do it! Now with self-publishing, anyone can hold their very own book in their hands. To make answering this question easier for me, I decided to spell it out in this blog post rather than try & get all the information needed via direct messenger. If you have any further questions passed where this blog post goes, do not hesitate to reach out! I want this dream to come true for you, too.

Choosing to not find out the gender of our baby until delivery was one of the most fun decisions we made in our pregnancy. It is something we will probably continue to do as we grow our family. This choice reflected our design ideas for the nursery, too! A big reason we wanted to wait to find out was the force of keeping things neutral. This way, if we are able to continue to have children, the things we have & the room would match any of our babies with a few added touches here & there. We are still adding things to this space, but here are the details & intentions we put into this dream room.

As I step back into the world of writing, I see it only fitting to bust the writers block using our son’s story. This space was created as an outlet & healing process for me during our 6 year infertility journey. Something to keep tabs on our growth & adventures, something to work hard on, something to share with our one day family. How surreal is it that that family is finally here. May 24 of 2022 at 7:39 pm we welcomed our sweet baby boy into the world. His entrance was nothing short of what we prayed for, even if it was yet the hardest obstacle for me to process. Here is the birth story of our Gentry Bernard.

I left all of this behind for numerous, good, solid reasons. Reasons that I felt so called in that made it feel like the best decision for myself. For about a year I have played with the idea of stepping away from this creative outlet (sharing on the blog here & on Instagram). That feeling never went away & felt heavier as time went on. So I did something about it! Now, about three months later, I am feeling so renewed, challenged & honestly just confused on what to do moving forward. Giving up this space I think was a mistake. Switching gears, however, is what I should have done from the start while taking a breather from the burn out.

My annual end of year recap & gratitude post for the year we endured. 2021, the word was “accomplishment” & accomplish we did. In some ways. Maybe not in the ways I intended when I chose that word for the year. That is the beauty of documenting it though. Looking back & seeing the vision I had to now seeing growth in ways I didn’t even expect. This story won’t help you make a craft, decorate your living room or fix your infertility… oh how I wish. But if you have enjoyed our story & want a summary of this past year, then here you go! Our 2021.

Tradition. Something I think about a lot as a sentimental & emotional being. We have dreamt up our growing family for 6 years now. That is 6 years of ideas & habits & hobbies that we began all with the hopes & dreams of our kids being apart of this one day. Things like camping trips, what our Sundays will look like, daily routines, you name it. Tradition is even more heavy during the holidays. This is just one reason why the holidays have been hard from infertility & loss. You always think that will be the year you get to experience these growing tradition in the eyes of littles ones. Christmas Eve is one of those holidays & these are the traditions I hope we can continue, begin & strengthen in the coming years.

I am so into mushrooms right now. The decorative kind, I should add. They are for sure coming into style — which I am equally stoked about as I am bummed. I liked having a quirky little interest. Honestly though, they are a special little accent that I have dreamed up for a special little room we will have in the future. If you know what I mean. Mushrooms are such a cute, natural decor piece that could be both sophisticated & fun. This Egg Carton Mushroom DIY would be so fun to do with kids or yourself for multiple reasons!

Another neighborly gift in the books! I am being really challenged since moving here. We have the sweetest baker of a neighbor & I just cannot keep up with how giving she is. We had so much fun bringing them our Stovetop Holiday Potpourri, but she has upped the game with a box of homemade Christmas cookies. Time for a little Christmas gift drop off! With a little idea guidance from my sister in law, the gift of hot chocolate it is! I needed some help coming up with some non-oven related gifts to give. Her idea of a hot chocolate kit & the left over clear ornaments I had at home made the perfect answer to this gift.

These sweet, sweet wreaths are near & dear to my heart. They were a random creation a few years back for a market I signed up for. I knew I wanted to make wreaths, but I didn’t know exactly how I would. As I was prepping the greenery for the hoops, I set one down for the glue to dry. Well, I had some torn out pages from a hymnal on the ground & was not paying attention as I set the decorated hoop right on top of it. It was meant to be! I have been making these now for loved ones to hold memories, favorite songs, family recipes, anything that can be printed on paper, basically. Now I share with you exactly how I make them so that you can make them too!