Bloggin, eh?

So I've decided to try out this crazy blog thing. What's adding one more crazy aspect of this life?! I'm not promising a post every day, or even every week. But we'll see where this journey takes us. I'm a firm believer in 'everything happens for a reason' as clique as that may sound. But I feel everything I do in life has a purpose and a reason behind it. So we'll see where this takes us. 

As an introduction, I'm Brandy Sloan. Get it, Life of a Sloan? Yeah. If you didn't guess it... there's your answer, my last name is Sloan. I'm actually very proud of my last name. It may be my married name, but behind my 'new' last name is a new start. I won't get into all the gory details of my life before marriage, but I will say I wasn't fond of my maiden name, 'Morelock'; it just doesn't hold many good and cherished memories. So ditching my maiden name in April 2011 was something I was excited to do. As bad as that may sound.

OK, to warn you. I tend to go off in a tangent from time to time. I have an issue with 'staying on task'... It's something I've never been the best at, but I do promise, I get the point across... it just may take me a couple days to get there ;-) 

Anyways. I'm Brandy. I can be pretty blunt and forthcoming. I'm witty and sassy. But I'm a very kind-hearted, caring person (or at least I like to believe I am). I will be turning 25 in a short week from today. My husband is Ben. He will be turning 29 in January. (WARNING: if you don't like sappy, move along) We met on a cold January evening at a party. That was all it took. We became friends, talked almost nightly and in April 2006 made it 'official' that we were a couple. After a 3 month break-up in 2008, fate took over and brought us back together. We bought a house in February 2009, got pregnant in December 2009 (100% planned), got engaged in April 2010, I gave birth in September 2010 to a bouncing baby boy, Bentley, via c-section after a failed induction! 

Who is now 3 years old! 

In April 2011, Ben and I tied the knot! It was such an amazing day! We had our closest friends and family there to help celebrate our day and help make our day what it was!

So we got hitched... started living life the married way. With a 6 month old little boy. In April 2012, we decided to start trying for Baby Sloan #2. Conceived and was due February 23, 2013... but sadly miscarried July 5, 2012 at 6 weeks 5 days pregnant. 

It took us 6 months to conceive our Rainbow Baby... I know that is a very small time frame for many and I should be glad it only took us that long. But it was a long, heartbreaking 6 months. But we finally conceived our sweet little GIRL! 

Our little Rainbow Baby is now 3 months old! She was born August 2013 via natural VBAC! Time flies way too fast! 

If you don't know what a Rainbow Baby is, here is a sweet little description:

"Rainbow Babies" are the understanding that the beauty of a rainbow does not negate the ravages of the storm. When a rainbow appears, it does not mean that the storm never happened or that the family is not still dealing with its aftermath. What it means is that something beautiful and full of light has appeared in the midst of the darkness and the clouds. Storm clouds may still loom over but the rainbow provides a counterbalance of color, energy, and much needed hope.”

I should probably tell you a little about what we do. I do a variety of things. First and foremost I'm a mother. I like to call myself a 'crunchy' parent. I breastfeed, babywear, extend rear-face until 2 years minimum, cloth diaper, baby-led weaning, attachment parent... living a more natural state of life. It's become a passion of mine since I gave birth to my first child. Next, I'm a sales rep for It Works! Global (crazywrapcowgirl.myitworks.com). I'm in love with the products IWG offers. The life-changing that we do on a daily basis. Getting healthy is something I find important now that I have kids. I want to be here for them when they grow old. I'm also a sales rep for not one, but two magazines. Horses Magazine and Varsity Monthly. Both of those I work from home... So that enables me to be home with my kiddos every day, all day. Some days are easier than others, but that's the case with everyone. Not just WAHM's. I'm also the co-owner/operator of Sloan Quarter Horses. Which we should just change to Sloan Farms. I train, show and breed Quarter Horses but I've been very focused on Buckskins since the day I was born. We also raise beef cattle so we always have fresh meat in our freezer. If we find a place with more land soon, we're going to expand our farm to pigs, chickens and whatever else we feel like dabbling in. 

Ben is a Welder/Fabricator at Lomar Machine and Tool. He's been there for 10 years. We joke he's going to run that place one day, but it could happen! He's passionate about his job. It's what he does to support his family and he does a damn good job of it. He is a very hard-worker. After going to work all day long, he attends night classes anywhere from 1 to 3 nights a week to obtain his Journeymen's Card. He is my right-hand-man (literally!) when it comes to the farm. I rely on him quite a bit when we have a new baby in the house. 

So that's a little introductory about us. The Sloan's. I won't go much more into detail, I'll let you learn your way about us through our posts here. However many there may be. However long I keep this up.

Until next time, friends