Celebrate!

We celebrated our little one last weekend with a small gathering at our house. Family and a few close friends was all. Pizza from our favorite place and a homemade Grandma cake. Pink flowers and princess crowns to garnish, but mostly we just enjoyed the fellowship of the ones that love her.

These days the celebrating doesn't just stop at milestones for me. I'm finding that time seems to be speeding up and I'm helpless to prevent it. Therefore, I'm heeding the call the Lord has impressed on my heart to celebrate life's smaller events. Ones that typically don't merit a celebration so to speak, but ones that I will celebrate with my family and express to them the importance of gratitude.

For instance, beautiful weather in January. We celebrate by painting in the backyard.

Healthy bodies and fresh air. We celebrate with a walk down to Grandma's for family dinner.

Great friends and leftovers from Auntie Sarah's baby shower. We celebrate with an impromptu tea party after school.

Currently my little two are in the backyard playing in the mud. Samantha still has footie pajamas on and yes they are dirty, but guess what? I have a washing machine. Like most I struggle to find the balance between discipline and order while still allowing them to be little. I want our home to be a source of enjoyment for them with rich happy memories,  memories that aren't plagued with a rigidness that put them on edge. I'm still praying the Lord would give me wisdom in finding the balance, but for now I'm enjoying their chatter as they make mud pies.

This weekend we continue you on in celebration.Three birthdays, Super Bowl and hopefully something special for my rockstar husband who just closed a big deal for work {I'm SO proud of him}. Praying you all have something to celebrate right now, big or small :).

Friday Confessions

1. This week has been a total bust in eating healthy. Need an example?  Last night for dinner I ate a chocolate covered caramel pecan bar from the Elizabethan Bakery. Drake had a board meeting and I've been cooped up in the house with mildly sick kids all week so I felt completely justified. I will admit I should NOT have eaten the whole thing, there was a consequence to that.

2. I have been doing really well on the whole no shopping thing, however, I did purchase Samantha a couple pairs of shoes. In my defense,  the child's foot is shaped like a rectangle and the shoes at the second hand store I was looking at just weren't going to cut it.

3. I watch The Bachelor and I enjoy it.

4. I was highly emotional on Samantha's birthday and cried while watching Modern Family. Yes, there was a birth, but watching Phil's protective nature of his adult daughter is what really got to me.

5. My face is breaking out and I'm a little more filled out than normal after the holidays. I have no motivation to exercise or eat healthy (see #1)...maybe the stomach flu will strike and take care of it for me. Kidding, kind of. Maybe if just I got it...for like a day...on a Saturday...when Drake is home...and NO ONE ELSE in the family got it...nope, still wouldn't be worth it. Guess I'm just gonna have to move my booty and stop frequenting bakeries. Lord help me, I used to care more.

Someone please help me feel better about myself, my emotional, bachelor lovin', muffin top self.
Happy long weekend!

Happy Birthday Samantha Lou

Dear Sammy~

Happy Birthday.

I'll be honest, today did not go as planned. Rather than taking you to pick out a balloon, I spent the day cuddling you and kissing your feverish forehead. Instead of letting you run in the sand at the beach, I gave you a vapor bath and swaddled you in a fluffy towel.

Initially this morning I was disappointed sweet girl. I had purchased pink roses and was going to make vanilla bean cupcakes. You picked out princess plates and a glittery wand. We were going to celebrate this afternoon with loved ones and lemonade. I am not disappointed anymore little one.

"Hold you me, mama" you would whimper throughout the day. "Surse please", I'm so glad we still nurse. "Sing God so good", you got it baby. "Sammy's birday? sing Happy Birday Sammy", I sang you Happy Birthday at least twenty times.

Each time I looked at the clock, I would do my best to remember what was happening at that time two years ago. Your precious journey into this world. My swollen abdomen, the rise and fall of pain. My thoughts, you were so unknown and yet we had been together nine months already. I remember the feel of your warm body against my chest and kissing every inch of your face. Memorizing your delicate perfect features as we met for the first time and not wanting anyone else to hold you.

When I put you to bed tonight, I laid there and memorized those same features. Your dark thick eyelashes and rosebud lips. I've said before that you were unexpected, a blessing from God we didn't know we wanted...or more accurately desperately needed. We needed you. Mama needed you.

You, my spunky third born have shown me that I'm capable. Capable of rising to the occasion, loving bigger and trusting more. I pray each day the Lord would give me wisdom to be the best mama to you and your siblings.

I love you so much baby girl it hurts. Hurts in a good way. The kind of way that motivates me and propels me forward even when this mama business gets hard. I even take cues from you sometimes..watching you play with your baby dolls. You rock them, kiss them, nurture them and remind me of the basics. No matter what life throws at us, I am your mommy. I will always be here to rock you, kiss you and nurture you, just like we did today.

Happy 2nd Birthday beautiful girl!!! Let's get you better so we can eat cupcakes off princess plates and chase each other along the seashore.

Love,
Mommy~xoxo

Little Man Love

Someone very special will be making their debut within the next couple of months and we can't wait. On Saturday I was blessed to open my home to host a celebration in his honor...well him and his mama's :).

I love the symphony of chatter that begins when women gather together.

It was a beautiful day. Luke and mama were showered with amazing gifts, fed with delicious food and loved on by a lot of women who can't wait to meet this little guy.

Luke, buddy, your parents are some of my favorite people and not only that, but you are being born into a family that LOVES babies. We absolutely cannot wait to meet you little man!!! Auntie Lisa loves you so much!!

Also, be gentle on your mama when you come out.

And one more thing, since this is my blog, how cute is Sammy?

Tidbits

Tonight a special request was made in our house. "I just wanna sleep close to my stisters". Yes, he says "stisters".

Daddy gone and cold weather seems to make us all huddle closer. Rather than her usual steamy shower, Juliana opted to hop in the tub with the younger two tonight. They all three sat crammed in the tub till the water turned cold and even then begged me for five more minutes. A precious tidbit from our day that I want to remember.

Samantha's favorite book is Rainbow Rob, a story about a penguin who wonders what it would be like to be a different color. It was a gift from Uncle Jake and Auntie Sarah to Juliana on her third birthday. Each page provides a new tactile experience. "touch it mama" she'll say. And so I do.

We read it over and over. Tidbits...

Legos are a new favorite in our house. Whether in piles on Trent's floor or camouflaged in fruit bowls, they are everywhere. Tidbits.

Our afternoon stroll to pick-up Jules lulled the little ones to sleep. As the Lord would have it I had picked up a special treat today and got to enjoy it with just my big girl. Un-interrupted time with her, conversation about her day over hot chocolate and a cupcake. Tidbits.

Our day, it was far from perfect. We were running behind this morning, there may have been a meltdown over lego pieces not going together, little sister threw more than one tantrum over who knows what. There were homework frustrations, unexpected messes, I even got stung by a bee on my run. Life is not all cupcakes and snuggles over here, but there are so many moments, tidbits in our day that I don't want going unnoticed. I don't want to be the mom that is so fixated on just getting through that I miss the exquisite joy that is mine to be had.

Speaking of which...I have avoided telling my true "new year's resolution" here on the blog. I am scared of the accountability it brings to write something down for others to see, but here it is. I have resolved to not shop for a year. Food, yes. Clothes, no. Toilet paper, yes. Household decor, no. I want the discipline of deferred gratification and the freedom from stuff. Just like I don't want to be the mom fixated on getting through, I also don't want to be the mom fixated on making sure their daughter has the perfect pajama's to wear to a gingerbread house party. Or the mom fixated on my house perfectly curtained and accented. Not. Worth. It.

The Lord promises to provide us our daily bread. He tells us how He cares for the birds in the air and the flowers in the fields. I trust that He will meet all our needs without me "helping" Him out at the BabyGap or Nordstrom. My desire is to be the mom fixated on shepherding her children's hearts. Modeling contentment for them and feeding their appetites for security and Biblical truth rather than materialism. I want to be the wife who's husband's heart safely trusts in her while he's out working hard.

So there it is. Should you happen to see me in a new outfit, smack me. If you spy a new throw pillow on my couch, throw it at me. All jokes aside I am committed to "keeping the budget lean in 2013". Anyone else up for the challenge??

Besides, I am rich in tidbits...