The Greatest Adventure Yet: Becoming Parents May 2020

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or just don’t follow me on social media, you’ve probably already seen the news that we’re expecting our first baby GIRL!! What felt like months and months of waiting was so worth it when I finally saw those two lines.

I’ve been pretty quiet here on the blog, and really all of my Outside This Small Town social media accounts for a while. There’s plenty of reasons for that. Ever since finding out I was pregnant, Stephen and I have both been so elated and ecstatic for this huge change in our lives. So many emotions have transpired over the last 5 months. I’ve had to come to grips with feeling like I wasn’t entirely in control of my body anymore. Morning sickness (although this is grossly mislabeled because it’s basically ALL day) set in at about week 5. My appetite changed, I developed serious aversions for certain foods and smells that would send me running to the toilet in a heartbeat. I’ve been put through pure agony with something called hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) for the last 16 weeks, but I’m saving more of that story for another post.

The things I loved to do took a backseat to my mental, physical, and emotional health. Trying to get out of bed while feeling so sick and fatigued has been the biggest struggle of all. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love being pregnant – seeing my body change weekly and watching the baby grow throughout all the ultrasounds. The first time we heard the heartbeat, I felt like my heart jumped out of my chest. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember that I’m actually growing a life inside of me.

All this to say, I haven’t spent my days writing, editing photos, and planning out content as usual. It’s not that I’ll never do it again, but I just needed a serious break from the grind of keeping up with posting on social media, a weekly calendar of self-set deadlines and draining myself over it all.

Weekend trip to Solden, Austria and some snow hiking

I’ve done some pen to paper writing trying to keep my mind busy and put down in words all the emotions that I’ve felt throughout the first and second trimester. I always want to provide the BEST content for my readers and stuff worth actually reading as opposed to half-hearted posts. So I want to thank each and every one of you for hanging in there with me while I search for my voice again. Thank you to those still following along and reading previous posts, and those who check in on me and remind me to also take care of myself. Our lives are changing before our eyes and I’m excited to embrace motherhood and this new season of life.

Maybe my content will adapt to our new lifestyle and become more about family-friendly travel, but we’ll always maintain our adventure side and will never stop hiking, downhill mountain biking, climbing, and all the other adrenaline-filled things we love so much.