Left: Owen’s Pregnancy Announcement, Aug. 2021 – Right: The Clough Family, Aug. 2022
It’s incredible to look back on just a short amount of time and see where life can bring you. A year ago my husband and I had just learned that new life was beginning. One year later, we now have a happy and healthy baby boy. A year ago I was 10 weeks pregnant and riddled with equal amounts of fear and excitement. I searched high and low for the perfect local spot to whisk my family off to to snag a few photos for our new “miracle” announcement.
Little did I know (and probably most of Kansas City still), that tucked neatly in the southern most part of the metro is a stunning Mediterranean-style campus. Set on 1,200 acres are breathtaking fountains, picturesque nature trails, an exquisite rose garden, and more. I knew this was the spot! I mean seriously, a 30-minute drive from my home and we felt like we were tourists along the French Riviera. This place is incredibly beautiful, peaceful, and meditative… embodying all of the components I needed in order to survive the rollercoaster pregnancy I was about to experience.
I don’t know how I survived the pregnancy, but I did. And what a reward my husband and I were given at the end of it! We are so blessed to have such a beautiful family. Adelaide is now 9 years old! 9 YEARS OLD!!! Wow, that time went fast! Emilia would be 5! Always with us….always! Roselyn just turned 4. That girl knows how to keep us on our toes! And Owen, my little baby boy… 6 months old and growing, growing, growing!
The road to complete our family wasn’t the smoothest or the prettiest route. It may have been scenic, but it sure didn’t feel like the most charming ride compared to others. We hit a lot of bumps, potholes, and may have curb checked a time or two. But man! It’s incredible to sit back and look at where our imperfect (and what some may deem as broken) journey has landed us! I think that is exactly what makes our story and our family beautiful!
As Owen rounded the six month mark, I knew I wanted to bring our family back to the fountains. It is satisfying looking at our photos and reading my blog post from August 2021, knowing what I was feeling then and seeing where I am today. See our Pregnancy Announcement post here. I may be all smiles in the photo, but behind that beam was a pregnant woman absolutely terrified and filled with an immense amount of panic and fear. They were not my happiest moments and that fills me with great sadness. Realizing that what should have be an extremely exciting time in my life was actually overshadowed with anxiety and worry.
For those reading this post that are currently on their “roadtrip”, my wish is that this post gives you hope. May some small form of hope help keep you moving, because the scary journey you are currently caught up in is not your ending. Life won’t always be messy. You aren’t forever stuck in this “broken” place. My life is far from perfect where it stands now. I know I will continue to have my highs and my lows. But it does give me a little more strength – being on my high side now – knowing that I survived that terrible, terrible (not so distant) low. I know that surviving those scary moments before means that I can also make it through all the other difficult obstacles that life will hand me later in life.
My FOUR babies. My reason to keep on moving.