Home with Heather

  At 40, I thought I would have my children raised and out of the house. Then it would be my time. My time to have a career. My husband and I would finally have our house back. I wouldn’t have to reheat the same cup of coffee seven times a day. The laundry would be for two people instead of what sometimes felt like an entire baseball team. There would be vacations. Romantic weekends. Traveling. Sleeping in. And maybe, just maybe, I would finally remember what it felt like to go to the bathroom by myself. I thought I would finally have some time to get back to me. That was the plan, anyway. But life had a completely different plan. And suddenly, there I was at 40, back in the world of 3 a.m. feedings, diapers, toddler tantrums, and trying to remember the last time I had actually taken a shower. To say it was a shock would be an understatement. I mean, my kids were grown. I had already made it through the baby years. I had survived the toddler years. I had done school d...

  There is something very different about raising a little one when your older children are grown and raising children of their own. I never really thought about what that would feel like. When I had my older children, I was simply their mom. I was in the middle of the sleepless nights, the busy days, the messes, the worries, the laughter, and all the little moments that come with raising children. I was just trying to do the best I could with what I knew at the time. Now, I’m doing it again. But this time, something is different. My older children are grown. My two oldest daughters have children of their own. And somehow, we have found ourselves in the same season of life together. We’re all raising little people. We’re all tired sometimes. We all have days when we wonder if we’re doing enough. We all have moments when we need advice, encouragement, or simply someone who understands without having to explain. And I think that’s one of the most beautiful parts of this seaso...

Hello friends, I’ve shared so much about our home and family, but not much about my personal life. So today, I want to share a story that changed our lives forever. My husband and I already had five children and five beautiful grandbabies. I became a Mamaw at 37, and I thought our family was complete. Then, at 40, two pink lines changed everything. This is the story of how an unexpected pregnancy gave our family a brand-new beginning. So there we were. The kids were grown. The house was finally quiet. The laundry piles were smaller. The fridge stayed full longer. And for the first time in… what, two decades? We could actually hear ourselves think. We were officially empty nesters, a phrase I used to think meant margaritas on the porch and spontaneous weekend getaways. And for a minute, it did. We slept in. We binge watched shows that didn’t involve singing animals. We had adult conversations that weren’t interrupted by spilled juice or someone screaming “MOOOOM!” It was glorious...