“You’re gonna miss this. You’re gonna want this back

You’re gonna wish these days, Hadn’t gone by so fast.

These are some good times, So take a good look around

You may not know it now, BUT YOU’RE GONNA MISS THIS”   

Ironically enough, this was our class song my graduating year of 2011.

Today this song came to mind and (since I consider it my theme song) I figured I would share with you a little about myself and highlight my personal journey from high school until now. Here is a glimpse that my life timeline.

Thanks to my dad’s genes (love ya dad), I have never been one to have down time. I have always had more than enough going on. During high school I worked on the school newspaper, was a part of student council, played volleyball, was the worship leader at my church, and somehow found time to study for my actual classes. Usually that time was 10pm-1am…

It didn’t stop in college… I carried over that lifestyle. And even though I didn’t continue sports in college, I still helped lead music at my church, took anywhere from 18-22 hours of college courses a semester, and all my other free time was spent with my boyfriend and his family. I even added a part-time job in a couple of semesters. Do I sound insane yet?

This is what most of my nights looked like during college…

I was so proud of graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 3 years instead of 4 that it wasn’t until my last two semesters when I broke up with my boyfriend that I realized I hadn’t even gotten the “college experience” that I had always wanted. Quite honestly I didn’t even know what the heck I was going to do after I graduated. I had been so wrapped up in the books and a boy that I hadn’t even made college friends or narrowed down a career choice and two years had already passed… TWO YEARS!!!!

Shortly after breaking off that 2 year relationship, I reconnected with Bradley, my old high school boyfriend from junior year. We connected so well, it was like we hadn’t even taken a 3 year break. Graduation came 7 months later in May of 2014 and 4 months later we got engaged. He was the love of my life and all I could think about was our dream wedding that would come the following year… In June of 2015.

And just like that we were married! It was magical, everything I had ever wanted. He got a new job offer while we were on our honeymoon and life couldn’t get any better. We lived with my parents for a few months while we saved a down payment for a house and in November 2015 we moved into our very first home together.

Then… Surprise! In December 2015 we found out that we were expecting a baby! I was so excited and so terrified! We had just begun our married life on our own, and in less than 9 months we would not only be responsible for each other, but a little baby as well!

And just like that, those 9 months flew by and we welcomed Natalie Grace into the world August 2016. That is when this original blog began. Since motherhood is such a joyful thing, I named my blog “My Motherhood Joys” and I got to writing. I did updates as Natalie hit milestones and I loved every bit of it. I by no means am a great writer, but I love sharing life with others.

However, being the woman that I am, (you know the one that always has to have too many responsibilities) when the newness of having a baby wore off, I decided I needed something to keep me busy and I wanted to contribute financially as well. So I decided to open a clothing boutique. It was a huge step and with Bradley supporting me I jumped right in. Quickly it began to consume my time and my life. I ran out of time to document those special moments. Shoot sometimes I wasn’t even “present” for those little moments. My life was consumed with inventory, live shows, pop up parties and more. I was surpassing all of my business goals and my sales were through the roof, but I realized I was missing out on my little girl growing up. Even though I was “HOME” I was constantly busy behind my computer, counting inventory, and resorted to occupying my child with toys, and TV instead of soaking up those moments. I missed out on time with my husband because when he was home it allowed me to have kid free time to get MORE work done instead of family time and husband and wife time… I truly believe that I am really bad at giving multiple things my attention.

After 9 months of running my boutique non-stop, In December 2017 we found out we were expecting baby #2 and I FINALLY UNDERSTOOD what people had been telling me this whole time… Baby number 2?? I had just had baby #1 right??

Time was flying by.

We were about to have a second baby which was so exciting, but it also meant that I had less than 9 months left with Natalie as my only baby. 9 months until she had to share the spotlight with another little human, and then the mom guilt set in. Isn’t mom guilt the best?? NOT! It made me realize that it had been 9 months since Natalie had my full attention for more than a day at a time. I hadn’t written a special milestone blog about her since I launched the business. Time was flying by and I was so busy, I didn’t even notice it.

So I did it… I finally decided to live IN THE MOMENT and soak up every single minute with my babies. For me, this meant closing up shop and shifting my focus to my family. That same week a property that we had been wanting to purchase for a long time was put up for sale and we were able to purchase it! The land had an old farmhouse on it that needed tons of work. So, from April-June 2018 my husband, along with the rest of my family busted their butts to get the home livable and just the way I wanted it (unfortunately being pregnant meant I couldn’t do much of the work). We sold our other home and moved into our dream home in June. Mom helped me unbox the MILLION boxes we had just in time for our newest addition to arrive. Talk about a lifesaver!

Fast forward to now, November 2018, my days are full of baby snuggles, toddler snuggles, laughs and more. I am soaking up every single moment. Believe it or not, I’m keeping the house clean, and during nap time, I’m actually bored with nothing to do. So, I decided I was going to start back up with one thing that I loved to do. Write about my beautiful family. This is something I can do IF I have free time, and I will be able to look back on it and remember all of those special memories. Kind of like a digital scrapbook!

So this NEW blog is going to allow me to document all of the fun times that we have. There won’t be a post every day. Every post isn’t going to have a phenomenal takeaway point. Some posts may be long while others are short. But my hope is if you decide to read our post, that, if anything, you are encouraged to slow down life, savor the little moments, and not get so carried away with life that you look back in two years and realize that you have missed the very moments that you live for.

I hope you’ll decide to subscribe to our blog and enjoy all the special moments that we decide to share. If you haven’t already, make sure to click the link at the bottom of the page and follow us on Facebook for daily updates and extremely cute pictures and videos!

Welcome to The Stephens Life!

XO, Katherine