I try very hard to only post about positive things going on with us. The internet is full of major negatives everywhere you look! It’s one of the main reasons we do not have any form of social media besides our blog. It can just really get you down in the dumps. But I do like to be real, and July was a HARD month for us. Nothing major happened. We are so blessed to have a stable lifestyle and healthy family, but parts of July were definitely a struggle.
The main trouble we had this month was on the farm. Until the very last couple days of July it had not rained on the farm since the middle of May. We spent the majority of the summer in a drought and it was hard on our crops and very hard on Andrew. No rain means dying crops with no irrigation and increased input costs on fields that can be irrigated. With over 4,000 acres that means around the clock work for Andrew. The farm is our livelihood and when it suffers we all suffer. Thankfully, the last few days of July and into the beginning of August we got the rain that we so desperately needed to lighten the load and lift spirits!
The first week of July also brought my anatomy scan ultrasound for baby #5. This is the big mid pregnancy ultrasound that checks all major organs and developmental progress. Thankfully everything was perfect! On the downside, Andrew was still not allowed to go with me. This is our 5th baby and the first time he has not been able to go to my ultrasounds and doctors appointments. He never misses them. It’s been very hard for him to be excluded and very hard for me to be alone. Every milestone I wonder if something will be wrong and I’ll have to deal with it by myself while he waits in the car.
We also missed out on several vacations this month. The first of July we were supposed to be at Disney World, but they stayed closed until July 10 so our trip was cancelled. Two weeks later we were supposed to head to Panama City Beach, Florida for a week at the beach, but the major drought on the farm caused us to need to cancel that trip. As strange as it sounds our kids are so used to traveling, airports, and living out of suitcases that staying home was hard on them too. They kept getting our suitcases out of the closet and asking when we were going to the airport next.
We are definitely aware that these are major first world problems and we are so thankful for everything we have, but that doesn’t negate the affects it had on us personally. We had a lot of great things happen in July too so I’ll finish this post with all the positives!
We were able to sneak away to Gaston’s White River Resort over the 4th of July weekend. We had a great time at the river and then headed over to Mtn View to Gunner Pool on Sylamore Creek in the National Forest.
Lorelei and Maggie Mae started summer tumbling camp in July. This is the first time MM was old enough for anything and she was soooo excited. She’s by far our shyest child so I was a little concerned she wouldn’t do well in her class. Parents weren’t allowed inside due to COVID so I just had to drop her off at the door and couldn’t stay to watch. Curiosity got the best of me though and after about 20 minutes I came back and peeked in the outside window to see how she was doing and I was so happy to see her bouncing around inside playing with the other girls and doing the tumbling stuff her teachers told her to! It was like watching a completely different child! She absolutely loved it! She gets to start ballet and tap this fall and she’s just as excited!
For my Grandmothers birthday we met my family in Mtn View for lunch and ice cream on the square and enjoyed the afternoon.
We were home so much this month we got a lot of school work in! The twins are learning to read and doing so well with that! They can easily read short word sentences. They love Bob books and they really boost their reading confidence. Belle doesn’t do any school work but she’s always in the room with us playing while the other kids are doing their stuff and it amazes me what she has picked up on. For a 1 year old she knows all her colors, shapes, the ABC song and can even count to 20. I find it absolutely hilarious to hear her counting because it just seems so grown up for a baby but she’s so proud of herself.
On another Belle note, we started potty training this month and she’s basically potty trained. I have to admit I stopped her because at the end of the month we went to Disney and she wasn’t ready for that yet so we used diapers there but she does great using the potty all day while we are at home!
The last few days of July we headed off to Disney World to celebrate Belle’s 2nd birthday on August 1. I’ll post about that in a separate post! It was an experience!
Raising Rowletts 