Dear beloved: happy {early} birthday!

In just 2 days my darling husband will turn twenty-six.
He's so loved by so many for countless reasons, and I'd like to kick off his birthday weekend by dedicating a post to him, written by his our beautiful sister, Danielle.


So, here it is, friends. A post by Danielle about her best friend/brother, Jon.
(Love you, sister!)

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“There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother. Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.” Anna Quindlan

My mom waited a long time for her precious baby girl. Then, I finally came along. About a year later, God gave her another precious gift and Jon joined the family almost exactly 20 months later. I took forever to get here, and then I came early. Jon came suddenly and then also late…sounds like Jon.

I think God knew I needed him – that He had a plan for our family and always knew we’d end up being best friends too.

We did have our issues though; these include stitches, burns, bites, and many bruises. But through God’s grace, we eventually realized how much we loved each other, needed each other growing up, and could support each other as friends.

Our relationship didn't just change – God changed it. Even though we didn’t always get along, I went to church, and I watched God transform Jon’s life. I thought, “If God can do that, He really can do anything. He can change me too.” (As if Jon was a hopeless cause. But, aren’t we all?) And He did. Somehow we had a new bond, the kind God always had intended for us, and for all siblings.

We banded together and prayed for each other, for our family, for others, and even went on a mission trip to Venezuela together. Instead of our relationship causing harm to each other and to others (our parents mainly), God began to use us as a team and a support system. I still trust my brother with anything and can’t think of how I made it through high school without him, or even family struggles and natural growing up issues without him. God really worked a miracle in our family and He is still at work.

I remember on my wedding day, I probably only cried when Jon saw me and started to tear up. 

There’s just something about growing up with someone, knowing all their secrets, and watching each other change and mature – I couldn’t help but cry looking at my brother and my friend. And then he got married. I think I have never run so fast in a long dress and heels – I just had to see him before his biggest day. What a proud big sister I was.

I fully believe that God places people in our lives for a reason. Look at the brothers and sisters you have and ask yourself why you have them. What does one brother or sister have that you don’t? What can you offer each other? Brothers and sisters are often rivals as children, but what a beautiful thing when you work to change that through God’s help.

I can tell you this: my brother threw tantrums, and I rarely did. I put myself to sleep. My brother was very outgoing, and I was always painfully shy. My brother thinks differently and analyzes everything in a different way than I do. He can see things I can’t and vice versa. We can talk things out and see things from a new perspective by gleaning from each other. This is not a coincidence, it’s God’s blessing to everyone that has a sibling.

So, I suggest that if you have a brother or sister, that you treasure them, lock arms with them, pray for them, and draw closer to them. If you don’t, then find a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Prov. 18:24) and cling to them. God will give you relationships that thrive and work together for His glory if you recognize them, honor them, and work at them.

Now that my brother is a father, my prayer is that God would give my niece an immovable faith in God, and a friend in her sibling(s)…just as God has incredibly blessed me.

mommy's MOST wanted!

oh-em-gee.


I'm currently on a quest to find my old baby girl. You know, the sweet, mellow one I mentioned a few times before; the one who only cries when she's hungry, gassy, or needs her diaper changed. Yeah, that one.
I have no idea where she's gone.
The baby I now have is feisty (could she have learned it from me?) and wakes up screeching for milk, and digs her fingernails (I swear those things grow overnight!) into my chest when I try to burp her, and arches her back and screams for me to leave her the heck alone because all she wants is more milk.
Yes, this is my new daughter. This is the daughter I spent the night soothing. This is the daughter I found myself telling: "Listen, who's the mom here, me or you? Who pushed who out? Stop the madness and let me burp you already."
Right now she's resting soundly on a boppy right by me. She's swaddled and is happily sucking on her pacifier. (thank God for the person who invented those things!) Still, every once in a while she spits it out of her mouth and starts looking for a nearby boob. So, I pick her up to feed her but as soon as she gets a drop of milk in her mouth she falls into a deep slumber. . . and so it goes.


I love this daughter just as much as I loved my old daughter, but DANG! Babies are supposed to be jolly and cuddly and giggly and googly. 
I guess those first few weeks were just too good to be true. 
I won't give up hope though. As my mother always says, "Hope springs eternal."
My old daughter may be hidden underneath that moody facade somewhere. I hope to someday see her again. 
In the meantime, I'm gonna go grab the claw clippers and get this baby's daggers under control.


PS 
30 minutes after I finished this post baby produced a poopy diaper that seemed to be the solution to all of her fussiness. Thank God for poopy diapers! (phew!)

Guest Post: Emily -Amazing Grapes-

Hello, friendsies!

Today I'd like to introduce you to my dear blogger pal, Emily.

I love reading her blog because she offers such a unique viewpoint on everyday life, and we all know that a unique viewpoint always makes a blog worth reading, right?

I asked her to share a bit about her past with us here today and I'm glad she accepted the offer. (Thanks, girl!) I hope you're encouraged by her experience and make sure to stop by her blog [Amazing Grapes] and show her some love!

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Hi lovely readers of Becky’s blog, I’m Emily with Amazing Grapes! Nice to virtually meet you. (I’m mentally shaking all your hands) I’m so excited and honored to guest post for the absolute sweet and lovely Becky while her and Jon love on their precious new daughter.

see, excited!

She asked me to talk about a time I went through change; and all it did to me, so sit back and soak in my story.

For the past 6 years I worked for the Department of Corrections as an Officer and most recently as a Sergeant…meaning, I was a prison guard around a bunch of smelly icky male inmates. (No I never used the word ‘icky’ in prison. It’s just not a cool prison word, ya know?) But by the time I promoted to Sergeant and transferred to my 3rd prison, I realized that maybe this job wasn’t for me anymore. I couldn’t do much about that, I was stuck in the position so to speak, but I hated every single day I was there. Miserable even on my days off, knowing I was going to go to a job that I hated, where I’m hated and where everyone is out to burn you, talk bad about you or set you up…and I’m not just talking about the inmates.

I was always seeking God for what to do, not seeing how He could possibly want me in the job anymore, since my feelings changed so drastically toward it, but I wasn’t seeing any other options.

So after over a year there, when the opportunity for me to have surgery on both my feet came about in April of 2010, I jumped on it. HA, pun, get it?? ..moving on…

I was expected to be back to work within 3 months, but by month 6 I was wondering why I was still dealing with so much pain. I was still getting full pay and benefits so the time off was glorious. Getting the opportunity to visit my love in Hawaii, (yeah, it was rough) but then month 8 and then 9 came and I saw I wasn’t going to be getting full pay anymore since I burned through all my vacation and sick time, and my feet were still so bad, I knew I couldn’t return to work.

By January of ‘11 I knew the only option was disability retirement. But the stipulation was I was unable to work at all during the whole 6-9 month process which meant, no pay coming my way. During that time, I had to heavily rely on God to provide for me. Going from $5000 a month to $0 is enough to make a person choke! Focusing on God as my provider each and every day was a necessity for me.

It didn’t come easy by any means. I cried with uncertainty and stressed when I saw my savings dwindle faster than I hoped, but each and every time I did, He’d remind me that He’s in charge and taking care of me. Blessing me with finances where normally there wouldn’t have been any. Humbling me with friends willing to buy my groceries. (have a friend offer to buy your groceries..it will humble you in a way you never thought possible.) Showing me just what it meant to put all my faith in Him.

What would have been 4-5 months worth of savings turned into 7 months. He taught me to go from a spending budget of $5000 to $1400 a month and be completely content with it. He taught me to focus and trust in Him, where if I had still been working, I wouldn’t have.

My relationship with my Savior has flourished during this 1 1/2 years since leaving work. He’s given me the chance to be a girl again, to break down the hard exterior I created by working in a prison, giving me the chance to paint my nails, wear makeup and talk softly. It might not have been the way I thought I’d leave the Dept. but I’ve loved every minute. He’s taken me away from that environment and I don’t regret it one bit.

Changing Faces

While in the hospital one of the pediatricians told us that we should take plenty of pictures of our baby during these first weeks, because her looks would change drastically from one day to the next. We kind of chuckled and nodded our heads but he remained serious. "I'm not joking," he said. So we've taken his advice. Turns out he was very right. 

Bekah looks differently every day. 

I love this picture because she's so alert, and pink looks so pretty against her complexion.

{It's a tad bit blurry but that's okay.}

I've been struggling with random bouts of sadness. Ya know, the normal postpartum stuff. I wouldn't call it depression; it's not that serious. It's the emotional adjustment of being a new mom and having your world turn upside down and inside out that can make me feel just a teeny tiny bit overwhelmed at times. I've cried in my husband's arms and he's prayed over me. . . my mom has been here to help me ease into motherhood. . . but no matter what, it's still a major adjustment for me, and I keep reminding myself that no one ever said it would be easy. As a matter of fact, it's been anything but easy. It's been hard. I keep thinking of women like Kate (Jon & Kate plus 8.) I cannot fathom being in her shoes. I have no idea how women in her shoes actually survive! I'd buckle and break under that kind of pressure. I have only one itsy bitsy baby and i'm over here struggling with this flood of random emotions. 


Yet, for every moment of struggle there are a hundred moments of delight. My heart fills with satisfaction when my daughter stops crying as soon as she's in my arms. She knows me and my presence soothes her. That's enough to make my heart smile. 
When she smiles those sweet baby smiles in her sleep- (you know, the ones that seem as if God is giving her a really cool dream about fountains of flowing breast milk or somethin') those smiles immediately light up my life. 


There are a bunch of small things I love about her, and during this time of adjustment (which may last forever) I'll just learn to cling to the small joys and overlook the frustrations as much as possible. 


Hope you all are having a beautiful weekend!

the things you do for love:

Today I had the privilege of feeling baby barf cascade down the inside of my shirt. I also experienced the exhilarating feeling of being pooped on, liquid style.
Immediately afterwards I managed to enter my password into my cell phone incorrectly (3 times in a row,) which cued it to lock me out and automatically reboot, which means I lost all of my contacts. 
Then I went to take a sip of my Mother's Milk tea and found a bug floating along the very top of the mug. 


Ugh. 


Needless to say, I've had a very interesting day thus far, and it ain't over yet.  
My mom is still here. She'll be here for the next few weeks and I keep telling her, "Mom, I have no clue what I'm gonna do when you leave." 
"You'll  be fine," she says. "You'll feel a lot better than you do now, and you'll be fine."
I hope she's right. 

I'm sitting here watching my baby girl fidget in her sleep. She'll be waking up any minute now to feast on some milk. I love her more than words can say, and I'll still love her just as much (and even more) after she's pooped, peed, and barfed on me a million times over. 
I love her even though I feel like a zombie during her midnight feedings. 
I love her even though she screams at me when she feels the cold baby wipes against her bare bottom. (I now rinse the wipes in warm water before using them to clean her toosh. She appreciates it, and I appreciate the fact that she stays quiet during her diaper changing sessions.)


I love to watch her daddy hold her. It warms my heart. 

He stares at her with nothing but love and wonderment in his eyes. It's a pretty awesome sight to see. 
It's safe to say she has his heart, and I love to watch as her eyes widen whenever he speaks to her. {sigh} See what I mean! I'm forgetting about all the poop and pee already! =)

I thank God for this little baby. She's worth every tear, all the physical pain, and every ounce of effort I've had to pour into being a new mom. 
She's such a blessing. 

Guest Post: Allison -The Blogivers-

Hi friends! Allison from The Blogivers here. 

 I was so very excited when Becky asked me to do a guest post because 

1. she is awesome 

and 

2. I think this will be a fun way to "meet" a few new blog pals! 

 So, a few things you should know about me... I am sarcastic 75% of the time, I am addicted to Starbucks frappuccinos, and I am a new mom to a sweet baby boy named Davis. While I could sadly probably dedicate an entire blog post to my love for frappuccinos, today I am going to talk about what a privilege - and challenge - it is for me to be a stay-at-home mom for this cute little boy:

Photo by Jenni

Let me start by saying that I am one of 4 children (and I have an identical twin sister - I know what you're going to ask, and yes, she is just as awesome and beautiful as me). My mom stopped working when her first child, my older sister, was born and she stayed home with us until her babies (my twin sister and me) had graduated from high school and gone off to college.  After having this example set for me, I naturally felt very strongly about staying home with our child once I found out I was pregnant.  

My husband, on the other hand, grew up with a mom who worked outside the home.  That was the norm for him, and he had a great upbringing, so he just never had very strong feelings about me staying home.  Being the good man that he is, he wanted me to be able to do what I felt was best, so we sat down and took a good look at our budget to see if we could make it work.  The numbers weren't quite showing us what we wanted, but we both decided to take a leap of faith to try it.  And now here I am!

Photo by Jenni

All that to say, I consider it a huge blessing that I am able to stay at home with Davis and I do not take my responsibility to take care of him lightly!  Overall, I LOVE spending my days with him.  I love getting to comfort him, teach him, provide for him, and watch him grow.  I love that I will get to see all of his "firsts".  I love knowing that he is in good hands. I love having a constant companion who goes with me wherever I go. 

But to be honest, there are some days when I would like to tell him to stop crying and change his own diaper!  There are days when he never seems to stop fussing, when I never seem to be able to do anything right, when I just want an hour to myself.  In those moments, I find myself being jealous of moms who go to work all day and don't have to worry about taking care of another human being for those 8 hours - no butts to wipe, no poop stained clothes to wash, no mouths to feed.  And how nice would it be if Davis would give me a set lunch break each day?! 

But usually it only takes one of these smiles (and maybe a margarita... with tortilla chips and queso... and definitely a frappuccino) to talk me down from the ledge and remind me that my new "job" is the most rewarding one I'll ever have, and I am blessed.  

Becky, I am so excited for all the JOY you have ahead of you with your little girl.  Thanks for having me! 


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Thank you SO much for sharing a glimpse into your life, Allison! 
I encourage you all to check out her blog. It's quality, folks! ... and besides, the cuteness of her bitty baby boy is enough to draw you in and make ya wanna keep updated with the goings on of her daily life. He is beautiful! 

Memory Monday {Pt. IV} The Reception ::toast::

Hello, guys & dolls! 

For today's memory monday i'll be zooming in on my dear bff, Liz. 

She did me the honor of saying a few embarrassing, but mostly really sweet things about me and I thought it'd be perfect to share her speech with you all. 

Here it goes. 

(Love you, Lizard!)

I’ve had the privilege of being friends with Becky since I was about 5 years old.  We lived across from each other in the same apartment building and we would talk to each other daily, through our living room windows.  Eventually, we moved next door to each other and so we began to hang out daily.  We were two peas in a pod and we did/talked about what usual little girls do/talk about: we’d make up merengue dances to Kinito Mendez, we’d talk about how long it would take before our moms would let us shave our legs, we’d hang out in our tree house in her backyard, and of course, we’d talk endlessly about our boy crushes. 

I know when Becky asked me to make a speech, it was because of a particular story that we still laugh about today:   

When we were about 10 years old, we were playing outside when a set of twin boys whisked by us on their bicycles.  We immediately went boy crazy, as young girls usually do.  As the afternoon went by, the twins stopped by to hang out with us.  Of course, we thought we were the coolest girls on the block.  One of them took a keen interest in me and by the end of the day I’d “finally” done what we’d only dreamed about in our short-lived 10 year old lives— I had FINALLY kissed a boy!

Problem is, although I was ecstatic because I had my first kiss, Becky was in no mood to hear about it. She just sat on the stairs and cried.  And when I say cry, I don’t mean one tear rolling down her cheek-- she was bawling!  I didn’t understand why she wasn’t happy for me.  This was our dream come true.  She finally looked up and spit it out:  I’M OLDER THAN YOU! I WAS SUPPOSED TO KISS A BOY FIRST!!  The crazy thing about it though, was that Becky is only 4 months older than I am…  I still tease her about it…  Little did she know that the prince charming of her dreams would be waiting for her in the years to come.     

I moved to North Carolina around that same time.  Distance only tested our friendship's endurance and thankfully we passed. We've always kept in touch.  As the years went by and we grew into the women we are today, I was always impressed by the common thread in Becky’s character.  Her goofy qualities never left, but more importantly, her ideals and morals only matured and grew stronger. She always presented herself with class and in the best light possible.  

This couldn’t be more evident when looking for the person to spend the rest of her life with.  

She never wanted to settle for someone who didn't share her same morals and who didn’t love God as she did. . . and finding that balled up in a cutie wouldn’t hurt either.  

I admire her strength to keep looking for that “perfect man” and to never settle for less than what she deserved.  I am so thankful that she was able to find that man in Jon.  I’ve never seen her happier and more content in her destination to that pursuit.  The glow on her face today is a sign of her bliss.   

Jon, I always tell Becky she is living the fairy tale life we dreamed about as little girls, and I’m so excited she will get to live her ‘happily ever after.’  I think I speak for us all when I say thank you for being her prince charming.  I look forward to celebrating your lives together and watching your family grow.  I only pray that your children will have the morals and values that have been instilled in my beautiful best friend, and I only hope that your children will have friendships that outlast any distance and of course, any kind of “boy competition” out there.  

I LOVE YOU, BECKY and a huge congratulations to you both!!

oh my golly goshers!

These last 8 days have been the most intense, at times overwhelming, ree-diculously rewarding days of my life.
I am tired. That's an understatement. I am exhausted, fatigued, and clutching cups of coffee like I never have before.

{Morning of my birthday. Yikes.} 

This is why it's been a tad bit silent here on the blog for the last 3 days or so.
I have every intention of posting (I even have guest posts lined up, HELLO!)
then the baby poops the poop of a lifetime and I gotta go running to change her.
Or she pees a fountain's worth of pee and it seeps through her layers of clothing. . .
Or she barfs all over us and we have to run and change. . .
Or I simply become all wrapped up in staring at her and wondering how such an amazing little being could come from me, and thank God because He didn't have to bless me with such an incredible gift.

Baby was born 4 days before my birthday.
That means that yes, on my birthday I had an emotional breakdown and bawled about the fact that, "It doesn't feel like it's my birthday at all. I feel like CRAP. I have all these weird pains and I feel so out of it, and it's so hard because I haven't slept, and I'm happy BUT I feel miserable!" (?) We women make absolutely no sense at times.

For the record, I still feel crappy on a daily basis, but at least the feeling comes and goes. . . it's slowly fading. (phew!)

So we spent my birthday at home with baby girl. Jon's mom baked me a strawberry shortcake that was delicious beyond words. (I love strawberries and pound cake!) Although it was the most rough birthday (because I'm still adjusting to mommyhood) it was also the best birthday ever (because I was surrounded by love and blessed to hold my baby in my arms.)

{Evening of my birthday. Thank God for concealer!}

So yes, darlings, I now have a firsthand understanding of the fact that motherhood ain't easy.
All of you amazing moms deserve some kind of reward or recognition.
Speaking of moms, my mom has been here for the last 24 hours and I am SOsoSOsoSOso grateful for all of her help.
Her presence alone is comforting. She's an encouragement all around. She knows me pretty much better than any of my closest friends, and she knows what makes me tick and what makes me relax, and she's kept me sane thus far.
Thank God for mommies!

I hope you all have had an amazing weekend!
Hugs!

Guest Post: Tamara -Your Heart On Paper-

What do a college ministry, henna tattoos, lengthy handshakes, and chicken wings have in common? Nothing! Unless of course you’re talking about how I met the man who won my affection and ultimately my heart.

I would like to say that it was that perfect movie storyline that brought my Husband and I together, complete with candlelit dinners and rose petals, but I’d be lying, and honestly this story would be a lot less fun. 


I’ll put the pieces together for you. My Husband Randy decided to check out the coolest college ministry in town. I happened to be a leader in said college ministry and was told with a steely glare from my college pastor to be sure and greet new people. So there’s the college ministry part of the story, it’s our setting. Next, henna tattoos.

My younger sister had just arrived home from a mission trip to India and had brought home some henna for me to try. Awesome! I wasn’t going to wait until after church to try out the ink, so I applied some to my arm, my whole forearm, pretty noticeable. There’s the henna, now the handshake.

Randy, who is a very gregarious individual, introduced himself to my sister and me. His action of greeting us won me some brownie points from my pastor, as it was assumed that I greeted Randy and not the other way around, score! Well, in introducing himself, Randy shook my hand for a really long time. My thoughts were, he’s cute, but he’s kinda weird, who shakes someone’s hand for that long? When he met me, he thought, “she’s cute, but kinda weird, who has tattoos like that?” Mutual weirdness. 

Ok, we’ve covered college ministry, henna, and handshakes, what about chicken wings? Let’s just say that I have to thank whoever created the honey BBQ wing, because if it weren’t for it, I may still be a single woman. After Randy and I met and had our mutually interesting first impressions of each other, we thankfully both agreed to go with the church group to buffalo wild wings and get some food. It was there that Randy asked me my age, how rude! And for my number, that was OK. 

So then how did we get from thinking each other was weird to thinking each other was the coolest ever you ask? Well, we talked for 4 months, decided we should do fun things together and dated for 8, then decided we should always do fun things together and were engaged for 4 more months and have been married for 11. We moved to Memphis, TN two days after our wedding and have been living in a 3rd story apt which was really cool until I realized how many tornadoes go through Memphis and how much it stinks when I have to carry mass amounts of groceries up 3 flights of stairs. It has been a lot of fun so far, and as each day goes by we find out more weird things about each other, and can’t believe how things worked out. It’s not always sunshine and lollipops, but it is always beautiful. And weird.

{With Randy's grandma, on our wedding day.}

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Tamara, you rock, girlfriend! Thank you for sharing your love story with us!

Some of you may remember Tamara's name being mentioned on this here blog before. She's the one who graciously offered to bless one random winner with some of the amazing stationery/journals she offers in her Etsy Shop: Your Heart On Paper.

Go check it out if you haven't done so already! 

(I LOVE her journals!)

Aaaand, we're home. (thank God!)

First off, I'd like to introduce you to my latest gift from God, my baby girl:

Giving birth to her was one of the most difficult things i've ever faced in my life. 

(I'll share details with you later.)

For now I'd just like to focus on the fact that she's healthy, she's here, and we are SO blessed!

She's been such a good baby: she cries when she's hungry, fusses when she's gassy, and is complacent at all other times. (Thank you, Lord!)

Juan is off for the rest of the week, so we'll be spending a nice amount of quality time with this cute little thing. We love her more than we can put into words. Now I fully understand how powerful the love of a mother truly is. 

Thank you for all your sweet comments & well wishes & prayers! 

I hope you enjoy the guest posts I've lined up for you. 

(I'll be posting between guest posts to keep you updated.) 

HUGS & LOVE

xoxo

So this is how it happens...

Then comes our itty bitty baby in her baby carriage!

Labor has begun 

and trust me, I am not blissfully smiling as shown in the photos above. 

However, I WILL be smiling just as soon as baby is in my arms. 

Please pray that all goes smoothly.

I'm excited to share more with you soon!

xoxo

(For the record, this is a pre-made post. There was no way in the world I was gonna stop and create a post between contractions. That would be crazay!)

this is not just about pregnancy.

There are a jumble of things on my mind today, and I think I'll pile all my thoughts into a post full of random babbling. 
Warning: this starts off a bit negative but ends on a positive note. 


✰ I woke up every 45 minutes last night to (you guessed it) go potty. If I don't give birth soon I may just end up hangin' out in the bathroom all day and sleeping in there all night. Forreal. 


✰ After drinking a heavenly pomegranate all fruit shake at Jamba Juice yesterday I am now craving another one today, and won't be able to have one because there is no Jamba Juice spot nearby. Woe is me. 


✰ I won a pretty cool giveaway a few weeks ago and recently received the package in the mail. It was empty. I was pretty sad about it. As in, it crushed my hormonal heart. At first I thought someone might've opened it and stolen the t-shirt that was my prize, but upon further examination of the envelope my husband and I came to the conclusion that it looked as if it had just fallen out along the way. I planned on going to the post office and complaining, but I didn't wanna go through all of that stress. (Any little issue can easily become stressful when you're in the very last stages of preggohood.) So, I just let it go. Oh well. 


✰ I've had a pretty incredible amount of heartburn these last few days. It makes me wanna scream. I also ran out of Tums a few days ago and bought this store brand antacid version of Tums. Never again. I'd rather chew on tar. 


✰ I cut the tip of my ring finger while scrubbing the inside of our blender yesterday, after my husband told me to watch out for the sharp blades. Yay. Best part, we're all out of bandaids. 


✰ I'm beginning to think the baby will be born on my birthday, and I'm envisioning all of my future birthday gifts just flying out the window. Did I say I wanted baby to have her own special day? Maybe what I really meant was I want the both of us to have our own special day. Ha. 
If I must sacrifice my future gifts, I will do so with love. (Lord, help me be selfless. Amen.) 
My mom was born the day after Christmas, so at least she'll be able to sympathize with me. There's always someone who will try to kill two birds with one stone by giving her a birthday/Christmas gift. Sucks. 


✰ In just 8 days my mommy will be here, and my world will be a better place. 


✰ We went over to Jon's mom's for dinner last night. She made us minestrone and sent us home with leftovers, which means I don't have to cook tonight. . . neither do I have to feel guilty for not cooking (because lately my husband's been making his own dinner anyway.) I am free! Thank God for moms (and husbands who cook!)


✰ I learned a new word today that I wanna share with the world because it's pretty cool. 
   Buttinski. 
   Go check out the definition and enjoy the word with me. 



Hope your Thursday's been happy!
(No baby yet, if you didn't figure that one out already.)
=)