Our PB&J Adventure Book

A Milestone, 3x Over
I'll admit, I've let this blog's "anniversary" pass by for the past two years without saying much. Mostly due to the fact that I'd just plain forget (thanks #momlife). But this year was different. This year it felt like all the signs were reminding me of that day that I decided to publish my very first post. Thanks to the handy "on this day" photo feature and just an all around nostalgic feeling... This year, I was reminded this time three years ago when I first welcomed everyone to my brand new space, this PBJadventurebook!

So in a post three blogaversaries in the making, today I want to celebrate this little blog, how far it's come and for all of you that follow along and support this space!

A Place for Healing
Reflecting back to the creation of this blog it's kind of crazy to remember how this all began. I never had any intention to "blog". I loved being on Instagram because I'm a natural photo hoarder and it was a great space to share my memories. But the thought of actually creating an entirely new space and maintain it never crossed my mind. Then life hit and it hit hard. Three years ago we lost our son, our angel son to a severe congenital heart defect (CHD) a little more than half way through our pregnancy. It devastated us. For me personally, the loss broke me emotionally, physically and mentally. I had found some healing from the amazing messages of shared loss and stories of hope that people would send via Instagram DM's. Offline, I had found a bit of therapy by keeping a written journal of personal thoughts each day. At the end of each day I'd write down one thing that made me happy, no matter how big or small. It could have been a funny commercial on TV that brightened my mood to something like a card sent from a loved one. With the positive, I also wrote down the negatives. By chronicling the set backs along with the positives throughout the day helped in a strange way. Seeing my feelings written out, the good and the bad... it was truly therapeutic.
In the weeks after our loss we also decided to move forward with what would have been our "baby moon" trip to Japan. We were on the verge of cancelling, but were encouraged to continue with our travels by numerous family members and even my doctors. They said it'd be a good way to get away from it all and maybe find a bit of healing in such a difficult time. So we ventured on with our travels turning our trip into one of healing and in hopes of finding out smiles again.

So how does a loss, a therapy journal and a trip to Japan have to do with this blog? Everything.

Healing, Hope, Miracles and Magic
Japan has always been a happy place for us as a couple, it's our favorite travel destination and was a place we liked to visit every other year. This trip though would be different. There were moments of sadness in reflection to what the trip was originally planned for, but there was also hope. We were able to laugh, to find magic and most of all? Smile once again. It was a good trip and we returned home hopeful for the future ahead. Once back, I felt re-energized and ready to take on whatever life may bring in the new chapter of our lives. Then I noticed something... In between the continued messages and stories of hope I was still receiving on my Instagram,  I'd also began getting quite a few messages pop up over questions regarding our trip to Japan. There were plenty of people curious on our favorite moments for the trip, wanting to know any tips and tricks for their own travels, or just asking for us to share more about our healing adventures around Japan. There also seemed to be a common theme among the questions, "Why don't you have a blog to post about all of this?"
Thats when I got to thinking... Why didn't I have a blog to put down all these thoughts and answers?
If I had a space to just share the photos or information from our trip, even a simple recap I could just reference the blog to people who were asking. That was motivation point number one. Then the most important motivational sign to starting a blog came to mind. Writing seemed to be therapeutic for me in my healing journey. Reading the messages and stories from other fellow families and moms who experienced loss had always given me hope, so why not do the same? Why not share our own story? Share our journey moving forward in hopes that it might help another person or couple going through the same thing? So it really got me to thinking... what if I could create a written space online, a blog... to do both... to share information about things like our travels and to also have a space to write about our journey moving forward. I could make it my little "adventure book". It would be my personal online journal, the "written extension" of my Instagram and be a place for... well...everything.

So at the end of February 2017, I took my first steps into the blogging world. I'm the most tech illiterate person out there and had no clue what I was doing... I still don't have a clue sometimes, but managed to create this little space. This is my place share all the bits and pieces of our lives, the highs, the lows, the bumps, the joys. All of it.

What started as a way to organize information and share our story of us turned into so much more as time went on. When this blog started in February 2017, we had no idea what the future would hold, both blogging wise and in life. I wasn't sure if I'd even have enough to write or post consistently. I didn't know if we'd ever succeed in becoming a family or be parents at all. No idea if I'd even have any other useful information for people to use. No idea if anyone would even read along. All I knew was that I was ready to have a little blog space to pour my heart out in written form.
Now here we are three years later. We're parents to a miracle baby (toddler) and have been able to chronicle our adventures in parenthood and as a family years over. We've continued to travel and recap those adventures as well. Most of all, three years down the line I'm still here, the same girl, still forever filled with hope and love, and still wanting to share all of that with you.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for reading along! Thank you for being here, no matter if this was the first post you've read or the 120th since the start! To this little adventure book of mine... happy 3!💜

For a real walk down memory lane you can head HERE to see my very first post that started it all!