The Gist of Life

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five little ducks

motherhood

All of a sudden we have such big kids. I find myself looking and clinging for anything and everything that will keep them little, just a tiny bit longer. Like sinking into every baby hug from Ames. [The definition of a baby hug: when you pick up a little human and they tuck their little…

the lasts

motherhood

Nobody warns you. Nobody warns you about the lasts as a mother. The last bottle. The last diaper change. The last sippy cup. The last contact nap. The lasts. Nobody warns you. The other night was the last night there was a crib in this home. Both babies are in big beds, and I wasn’t…

10 years & a mother

cancer

It is not lost on me that I’m celebrating a clear scan near Mother’s Day. It is also not lost on me that the significance of my scan – ten years out from when I was diagnosed! – is THE scan that’s near Mother’s Day. It is also not lost on me that it shares…

a sound bath

cancer

A music bath… sound bath… basically the same thing, but also very different. I’ve written about music baths before & let me tell you: they’re amazing. Especially if you do them right. Music baths literally pulled me out of the dark so many times. During my time on chemo & getting treatment, a silver lining…

season of life

motherhood

After what feels like a six month long winter, (actually, I think it was literally six months), feeling the sun on my face this afternoon feels like a dream. The lake is slowly starting to get back it’s sparkly, blue undertones, and the quiet bird songs are whistling in my ear as I type. I,…

another six months

cancer

Yesterday I had my six month scan. Before I continue; everything looked great, thank god. No evidence of disease; (& I’ll get to more on that later). However, this time around, my anxiety was completely out of control, (see fingernails for proof :/ they’re a disaster). I’m almost ten years out from my diagnosis, and…

those moments

the in-between

Tonight, I was reading books with Lou and Ames after their bath, (Goodnight Loon & The Hungry Caterpillar are among the favorites again), and I had a moment. From cozy robes after the tub, to lotion, and fuzzy pjs, the evening chaos had finally calmed down enough for some quiet time. We sat in our…

a check-in

motherhood

Happy Friday! Currently, the waves are breaking on our beach, with a gentle humming of back and fourth, back and fourth. Since living on the lake, I think the sounds of water has grown to be my favorite, most relaxing sound. The wind, running its breath through the willow, is a very close second. There’s…

gist awareness ’22

cancer

Yesterday was national GIST awareness day. All day long, my thoughts constantly went to cancer. Those thoughts circled my diagnosis phone call, my future, my next scan, the little symptoms I actually had when I was diagnosed, being misdiagnosed for almost a year, my label of high-risk… I could go on. All day I thought…

babies are growing

motherhood

In the past handful of months, Lou has turned two, Ames turned one, my six month scan was clear, we celebrated Mother’s Day, vacationed to Myrtle Beach, and battled COVID & hand, foot, and mouth. I continue to wait for things to slow down, to catch up on all the of Kaylee- things, but who…

a spark

the in-between

New website, who dis? Okay, my usual tagline is what? “I can’t believe it’s been ____ since I’ve written!” So, there, I said it. Now, I’ll get to some of the good stuff… For starters – this website. Beautiful, no? I’m so excited to have a refresh and to get into an actual consistent routine…

a is for ames

motherhood

Ames Bradley Doherty came into the world on April 30th, 2021. We’ve been busy loving on him ever since. It still hasn’t sunk in that I’m a mother of two. When Tony uses the words our kids, I have to stop myself from asking who’s kids? Life is funny, isn’t it? Maybe not funny, but…

saying good bye

motherhood

It’s been a hot minute, but here I am. I’ll spare you the ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been arounds’ & ‘I promise I’ll write mores.’ Even though I would say it and mean it, my follow through on those statements has been poor over the last year. It didn’t feel right exiting the year of…

what a time

motherhood

2020, what a year you’ve been. This year has definitely been a year that will be written about in history books. Change is around every corner. The tag line in our house has been, “I can’t wait to tell Lou about the year she was born.” My brain feels like it’s jumping around in constant…

lou

motherhood

Welp, I’m still here. Turns out, life with a newborn is busy – who knew? Ha, I definitely knew what we were signing up for when we were bringing a baby into the world, but I was still very clueless. What I will tell you: She is pretty great. We welcomed our daughter, Lou Roselyn…

here’s to you, 2020

wellness

I have the guilts that I haven’t written in the year of 2020. A reflective, blog post on looking forward to what the new year is going to bring is typically one of my favorite posts to write. I love looking back at the highs and lows from the previous year and creating goals on…