The Parents

i am Shannon, a twenty something year old, stay-at-home-mom to bubba, pooks, peanut and sweetcheeks; four kids in four years! wife to b, my hubby since 2004.

i ♥ being a mom! while i always knew that i would, i never in-visioned myself having kids so close together. in fact, i had trouble imaging that i would even be able to have kids. i have severe endometriosis and was told as a teen that my body probably wouldn't carry a baby. that i would never be able to get pregnant on my own.

boy were they wrong!

it took us about a year to get pregnant with our first and after a difficult pregnancy including severe morning sickness, high blood pressure and a nine week long bed-rest, i gave birth {three weeks early} to bubba in march of 2006. soon after i found out that i was pregnant with pooks. a complete, but happy, surprise. it was a relatively easy pregnancy and he came all on his own, 2.5 weeks early in may of 2007. just thirteen months after his brother!

five months after pooks' birth i again had trouble with my endometriosis. the result was a surgery removing a large cyst, my left ovary and left Fallopian tube. i went on the pill in hopes of controlling the pain and much to everyone's surprise, fell pregnant with peanut. we had just started talking about trying for a third, then i missed my period. he is our little miracle baby :) he turned a year old in november of 2009. about that same time, i was again in horrific pain from my endo. nothing was managing the pain and we began to talk about about a hysterectomy thus, eliminating my endometriosis. after much discussion, B and I decided that we would try for one more baby knowing that physically we could only try for a few months before the pain would be too much.

after just one cycle after quitting the pill, i was pregnant. we were amazed. not only did i get pregnant so quickly but we soon found out i was pregnant with a girl. our daughter was born in oct of 2010 and is our last baby.

when people find out that you have four kids in four years, well the comments are sometimes less than polite. i get a lot of "you know how babies are made right?" and "if she wasn't a girl, would you have tried again'' and ''wow your hands are full''. but what people don't realize is that children are a blessing and no one knows that more than we do. 

when one becomes a mom, you think you know what you will and won't do. you think you won't be one of those moms. let me let you in on a little secret...at some point in time, we are ALL that mom. it's life.

for me, being a mom means being a baby-wearing, co-sleeping, breastfeeding, coupon cutting, homemade cake making, bargain-shopping kind of mom...i never envisioned being that mom but it's all stuff that i've learned along the way and that has really benefited our family. i am definitely far more 'crunchy' that i ever imagined!

in my [non-existent] free time i enjoy: designing invitations/digital editing, doing crafty projects, watching hulu, baking, party planning, blogging, spending time with friends, date nights with b, cooking and photography.

Meet B, aka ''the hubs''. We met while we were in college, dated for a year, eloped in Vegas in May of 2004 and started welcoming kiddos to our little world in 2006. I wouldn't change a thing about our  whirlwind romance. Most days I really like him, some days I'd like to strangle him but at the end of the day, I always love him.

B was a US Army reservist, did a tour in Iraq, returned home and began working as a civilian for the government. He is a the breadwinner in our family{which allows me to stay home with the munchkins, something I have always wanted to do} and his job has allowed us to see more places than I ever imagined. We've been in different parts of Kansas, Texas and now, we're on our way to Italy.

When he's not eating, sleeping or at work he can be found either playing with the kiddos, playing on the computer or playing Texas Hold'em poker. He can't wait til the little dudes are a little bit older and can do 'guy' things like fishing and camping. B spoils his daughter like crazy...treats her like a princess and protects her from her well meaning, but over loving and sometimes rough "big" brothers.