Five Buckys

I spend a lot of my day repeating mantras in my head and sometimes aloud. "You can do this." "You are strong and capable." "Find your inner Beyonce." Along with many other Beyonce inspired quotes. To me, Queen Bey is this fierce, happy, and grown woman that laughs in the face of hard times. A photo taken when I thought one kid at the grocery store was difficult. I have no photos of a grocery trip with two kids because busy. My mantras usually come out full force during trips to the grocery store and other various errands. I repeat these inspirational quotes over and over in my head while I bribe the toddler with character gummies to please for the love sit on his bottom. I pause occasionally to baby talk to a not listening not caring 3 month old who would just rather attract every person in the store by crying causing them to grace me with a never welcome side eye. I see you and I smile in your direction while calming my inner Beyonce. bow down,...

photo by Carrie Coleman We moved to a new city at the end of last month. Jared scored a new job that is good in all the important ways. Once we learned we were moving, I cried. I cried happiness for my husband and I cried sadness for my own pathetic self. They say that change is good. And that's true. But, you know what, change is also terrifying. It is. So there. Leaving Charlottesville was emotional. Although it was the backdrop of only three years of my life, I feel as though my life truly began there. My mind was full during our last few days in Charlottesville. I thought of meeting Jared and falling in love and getting engaged and then married and then pregnant and then pregnant again. We were so busy with life.  But more than just leaving the city, it was hard to leave our home. The home of August's first steps, of his first and second birthdays, of him learning how to climb up and down stairs, the home of kissing his noggin everyday when he would round the corner t...