Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a good week and are enjoying the last days of summer! This week we celebrated Asher's 8th birthday! We had a fun day all about him and of course went to an A's game (his favorite). I also released the bonus lunch chapter for my new book Eat What You Love. For all of you that pre-ordered or are thinking about pre-ordering – all you have to do is enter in your order number! See below for more info. I also shared a new recipe for dairy-free fudge pops using Vital Proteins gelatin! Scroll down for more info!
This one. His zeal for life and everything he experiences is contagious.
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Happy birthday to our A’s loving 8 year old!
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Happy bday boy!!
See that smile? I was reminded yesterday of a time where I was fully sure that smile wouldn’t return. At least not the wide and sincere smile I always knew.
It’s pretty amazing how our brains recall memories we otherwise would have forgotten just from familiar locations, sites & scents.
While walking Kezia around the A’s coliseum yesterday, trying to get her to fall asleep, I tucked myself into a small quiet stairway that led to a private suite. After standing there for no more than 30 seconds, it all came rushing back.
4 years ago we decided to join friends in a suite during my final time carrying Aila. We wanted Asher to experience something happy during such a time of uncertainty, & wanted Aila to hear joy & laughter in case she wasn’t with us much longer. We also went to Disneyland earlier that week.
We had been waiting on some important answers from our specialist, & I’ll never forget looking down at my phone to see her number calling. I ducked into that same stairway to answer her call so I could hear her properly.
That call changed our life forever & my heart broke into a million pieces onto the floor of the stadium. In that moment, & the days & months following, I thought I would never be able to put it back together. I would look at photos, when life was still blissful, & wonder if I’d ever see that smile that was on my face again. I’d search for other women who had lost babies & look to see if they still smiled.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine taking a step forward into the next day, let alone going on to have 2 more babies who would bring us more joy than we could fathom. 2 babies that forced me to scoop the pieces of my heart up one by one and rebuild it. Who, in addition to Ryan & Asher, would make that smile return.
A smile returned, and a heart rebuilt – but with one giant piece missing until the day she runs into my arms and fills it again.
Yesterday was a reminder that no matter what you are going through – it’s worth it to press on. I can’t imagine all that I would have missed in this life if I allowed myself to give up & stay crumbled on the floor like I wanted to many times. Spending today grateful for this smile.?
Did you pre-order Eat What You Love and download your free packed lunch bonus chapter yet?! There’s 4 weeks worth of packed lunch ideas in there plus 3 sneak peek recipes from the book! This will only be available until December 4th so go grab it while you can here!
Love this bundle of joy!
Did you catch my live segment making these creamy egg/dairy/nut-free Fudge Pops yesterday? The secret to keeping dairy free frozen treats from getting icy is that little green Vital Proteins packet! ???
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We have so many garden tomatoes!! I know exactly what they’ll be used for, just need to find the time to pick them and make it… I will also definitely be fishing out some of my blender bread from the freezer to make a grilled cheese with grass-fed cheddar. Get the soup recipe here!