Well my goodness time sure does fly. My last post was an update on moving back to our home town, renovating my grandparent's house to live in while we build our dream home and starting our life on the farm. SO much has happened so lets do a quick catch up sesh shall we? We are still at my grandparent's house but we have added a big coop and 14 chickens, a fabulous garden, a little farm stand, a new barn cat named Mavis, Miss Shelby (our almost one year old Golden Retriever aka Bennett's wife since they will be making some babes soon) and still have the donkeys plus Moo girl our paint mare and Pirate Parade our thoroughbred gelding. Next up? We are checking out some mini Galloway cows and beef cattle next week to add to our ever-growing farm. I think Seth is really coming around to all the animals and homesteading so to speak and I am loving it - and also a little shocked!
We decided on the name Buffalo Church Farm for our forever home and used the old native American marker tree on the property as the logo. We just wrapped up our final meeting and revisions with the architect and have our finished plans IN HAND Y'ALL as of last week! I cannot believe it - two years in the making and we are finally ready to break ground on Buffalo Church Farm. I'll share a little sneak peek below and definitely stay tuned as that journey starts to take shape.
2025 has brought us joy but also heartbreak as we navigated the loss of a baby boy back in March. Although it was a surprise, our hearts definitely felt content knowing he would be apart of the Otey crew and never would we have guessed that a miscarriage would be in the cards. We were smitten to say the least. While we will never know why he didn't make it to my arms, we find peace knowing that God has a different plan for him and that one day I will hopefully see him. He is now by the marker tree and will always be in our hearts. The girls celebrated their 10th and 4th birthdays on a trip to the mountains shortly after and we are just soaking up all the family time we can. They are literally growing like weeds and bring so much joy, laughter and love to our hearts daily. How lucky I am to be their Mama.
With heartbreak and loss also eventually comes reflection and healing and we decided to not give up on trying to expand our family. Around mid July we found out we were pregnant again and though our hearts were guarded, we started letting ourselves feel joy and happiness again slowly by counting each day as a gift and thanking God for the blessings we already have. My doctor has been heaven sent and I am so looking forward to the relationship that will develop with her. She called us after hours one evening to let us know that genetic testing came back and that all was well. She also asked if we wanted to know the gender and informed us that it was another little Otey girl. My heart swelled up with so many emotions and we were all together as a family to receive the news that evening. It just felt right. I am 15 weeks as of yesterday with this little baby girl (when I wrote this post I was 14 and not sure when I would share but it feels good to start writing again) Andi also informed me that this new baby may want to look back one day and see these posts since I did them for each previous pregnancy. Oh the nostalgia of the good ole' blogging days. (Good idea Andi!)
If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. I'm so excited to bring back the blog and document both this new home journey and also this new pregnancy journey. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I hope you all know just how thankful I am for each and every one of you.
Xoxo
Jessi
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| 2025 2020 2014 |
How far along? 14 Weeks
Size of Baby: an orange - 3.5 inches and 2oz
Total weight gain/loss: Lord have mercy who knows? 125 start
Symptoms: Big ole' sore chest, SO tired but feeling good and thankful
Maternity clothes? Oh yes- 100% when it comes to pants. Living in dresses thus far
Stretch marks? No - incorporating the oil already though
Sleep: Sleeping great and heading to bed way earlier than usual. Still waking up to pee every night 5x or more!
Best moment this week: Writing this for future me and future babe
Miss Anything? Wine while cooking
Movement: Nothing prominent yet! Can def feel uterus/tightness of left lower side though!
Food cravings: Texas Pete/Buffalo Sauce haha and Pizza at first!
Anything making you queasy or sick: thankfully no
Have you started to show yet: Oh yea
Gender prediction: Baby Otey #3 is another girl!
Nursery: Not so much in this house but have a theme in mind
Workouts: At least 3x a week plus farm chores, whew!
Labor Signs: no
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy but nervous, deep breaths!
Looking forward to: Feeling movement!
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