Hitting Pause

Mason’s day came and went without any major melt downs or revelations. It was a really nice day, when we woke up my husband let me have some time to myself to write in Mason’s journal then he made us a nice breakfast. We couldn’t go to the coast like we normally do, but our local town has a zoo and a water play park for kids, and we figured between the two we would find a peaceful place to sit and remember Mason. On our way to the zoo, Averie fell asleep so we decided to hang out in the huge park in front of the zoo and have a picnic. It was such a sweet and peaceful lunch just the two of us while Averie slept. When she woke up we decided to go and check out the Japanese garden that was also over there and we stumbled upon the most beautiful little pond. It was so quiet and serene, we knew right away that we had found our new spot to be close to Mason. It has a beautiful red bridge, koi, and lots of lush greenery. There are also a lot of little peek-a-boo spots if I really wanted to sit and blend in with the scenery.

 

After we spent some time in the garden we made our way to the zoo. It’s a tiny zoo (it takes less than an hour to go through everything) but it was the first time we had been there that Averie actually noticed the animals. She LOVES animals but never really focused on the animals at the zoo in the past (the other kids got all her attention) so it was like going for the first time watching her discover each animal, watching her wave at them and ohh and ahh. It was so sweet! Afterwards we went to the water play area and let her run around in the fountains that shot water out of the floor. Again, she was kinda too little to really get it, but she loved running after all of the other kids. It was a nice surprise to walk up and see our cousins there too, so even though we had thought we wanted a day just to ourselves, it was really nice to sit and hang out with them and enjoy the sunshine. Averie just loves them, and they are so sweet with her (and we really love that particular cousin!) so it ended up being a really great day.

After we were all tired from the water and the sun, we went and got ice cream. Another 1^st for Averie (we usually wait until she’s asleep to indulge) but she loved it. She wasn’t really into the cold ice cream though, she loved the mini m&m’s! We don’t give her a lot of sweets (yes, I’m THAT mom) so it was a nice little treat to share on a hot day. We had dinner at home, just the three of us and we cuddled while watching movies. It was such a great day as a family without any distractions like our phones or the Internet. It’s always nice to unplug and really enjoy your time together… something I wish we did more of.

We were talking and (doing a little math) and realized that we needed to hit pause on the baby making train. It’s important to us to leave certain months as “reserved” – for lack of a better word – like March, December and June. March is all of our anniversaries and Averie’s birthday and cramming another birthday into an already packed month would be a little crazy. (2 of my siblings have birthdays in March too) So, that means no getting pregnant at the end of June or the beginning of July. June is, of course, Mason’s month which means no getting pregnant in September. To avoid December we can’t get pregnant in March (which is sort of hard since those are our anniversaries haha!). We both have parents with birthdays in December and they have always forbade us to have a December baby- they always had to share their birthday with Christmas and don’t want that for our kids.

A lot of people give us a hard time for trying to plan it out, but I don’t see what’s wrong with a little planning (have you met me?!) when it means we can really celebrate both financially and emotionally. Those months are crazy busy for us as it is, and I don’t want our kid’s birthday being just another thing we have to get done. We aren’t in any hurry, it’s in God’s hands when we get pregnant again. (Even if He thinks it should be in the off limits months, we would make it work of course.) So all that means is we wait and try again in August- and then have to stop again in September haha!- and try again October through February. If it ends up that we don’t end up pregnant until after Averie’s 2^nd birthday, then that’s what God has planned for us. It may sound stressful to some of you non-planners but having a solid plan actually makes me feel less stressed haha! Although, by August I probably won’t be nursing much if Averie keeps cutting out feedings, so it may be a non-issue and we get pregnant right away. Who knows? All I know is I feel good about it (even with a few pauses in the middle) and it’s pretty fun to practice haha!