First Anniversary

Today is Josh and my first anniversary. A year ago today we would have never imagined that we would be living on a farm with chickens, ducks and donkeys and have a baby.

Josh and I have known one another since we were about 7 years old. We grew up only a few miles from one another and even rode the same school bus. We took piano lessons from the same lady, we had many of the same teachers, and our little sisters were in the same Girl Scout troop. We never dated in high school, but we were debate partners and had the same social circle throughout most of our lives. In college we continued to hang out on weekends and we even attended concerts together.

We kept in touch online and went through many major milestones while living in separate towns and states. We didn't begin dating until more than 15 years after we first met. We picked the most inconvenient time to progress our relationship. Josh lived in Phoenix and I lived in Springfield. After I visited Arizona a couple of times, Josh found a job here and moved back home. His mom couldn't have been happier (and neither could I). He proposed that fall and we were married the following year.

When he lived in Phoenix it seemed as if time were standing still. He was a million miles away so I focused on cycling and teaching. When he moved here everything sped up dramatically. It seemed like only a few moments passed between his move, engagement, marriage, pregnancy, moving, baby, farming, surgery, today...

Things are slowing down now, I hope. We have agreed to cap our livestock purchases for the year and focus on the garden and improving what we have before we buy any more. We do not plan on doing any traveling this summer (other than Josh for work). I have become such a homebody now that we live on the farm. I love our home and land and feel very content with staying in, eating home-cooked meals and spending time with our family. Although gas expenses are high, we still spend so much less than when we lived in the middle of town.

We are both so pleased with our lifestyle choices and I can tell that choosing to live our simple, rural life has brought us both so much closer together.

Here's to another great year!
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I'm not sure if I already posted this picture, but lately Ben is spending a lot of time chewing on his thumb, sometimes while holding his blanket or a burp rag. He is also spending a lot of time wearing only a diaper. His drooling and spitting up was causing us to go through so many outfits a day, it's just easier to keep him in a diaper and wipe him down, then put clothes on if we go somewhere or for bedtime.


We spent over four hours yesterday in urgent care because Ben's incision has become infected. It is red and puffy and started collecting puss in places (gross, I know). They drew a ton of blood, then sent it off for lab work. After more than an hour of waiting for the results, the doctor returned and said they didn't draw enough blood and had to do it again. So after another hour and a half, they decided to put him on 10 days of oral antibiotics. We will have a doctor's appointment this week, next week and the following week for his post-surgical check-ups and his 4 month appointment. Ben now weighs 12 lbs. 12 oz. After 24 hours on antibiotics, the incision is already looking better.

Josh and Ben entertained me during the looooong wait.