Myla's Baby Shower

On Saturday I went to two baby showers.  Babies are cropping up everywhere this spring, and it makes me eager to have another one.  (But then I look at my exhausted, achy, nine-months-pregnant friends and think about the stress of caring for three little people and realize that it would be best for everyone if we wait a while.)  The morning shower was for my friend Rachel, and the decorations were so cute I just had to share!

Everything was done in pink and gray, and it was all so classy and elegant.  The food made up most of the decor, and it was just perfect.

There were Hershey kisses, M & Ms, marshmallows (including pink heart ones... how convenient that Valentine's Day just passed), chocolate dipped pretzels, strawberry cupcakes, and, my favorite, little glass jars of milk with pink and white paper straws.

 

There was a wishing tree, and it is one of the best ones I've seen because it had very specific prompts like "I hope you ignore... I hope you become... I hope you learn..."  I really hate being told to just write a general note.  I never know what profound or witty thing to say. 

Here is a picture of me with Katie from Takeoff with Katie.  We both loved all of the cutesy, girly things so much!  Katie and I coordinated before the shower so she could make a few specific, sweet things for Myla's nursery.  (Katie is a great artist!)  I am heading over to Rachel's today with the hopes of completing the nursery, and my plan is to share photos of Katie's sweet gifts and other nursery photos tomorrow.  (Fingers crossed!)

Have a happy Wednesday!

Sharing the Love

Love was in the air on the Monday before Valentine's Day.  In the morning I was invited to Brennan's Sweetheart Sockhop at school (say that five times fast!), which was a dance for all of the four-year-old students and their mommies.  We were told to wear our fanciest socks so we could dance in them to the oldies. 

It was such a sweet, memorable time.  Brennan just oozed happiness at having me there to dance with him, and we both forgot about everyone else in the room as we "danced" to song after song (it was really more like swaying and jumping than dancing).  By the second or third song every child in the room had abandoned his or her mommy to dance with other kids, and the moms were all chatting with each other on the sidelines.  I kept telling Brennan he could go dance with other kids, but he just said, "No, I only want you, Mommy." 

We drank root beer floats (well, Brennan ate plain vanilla ice cream and I had a root beer float), and Brennan wanted to take a picture of me with mine. 

Brennan made me a corsage out of coffee filters that he brought to me when his class first arrived in the room.  Later, when I asked him how he made it, he said, "We painted them.  But I didn't get to pick my colors.  I had to use what they gave me."  I told him that I happened to love pink and purple.  He asked, "How much do you love them?" 

"A lot," I answered. 

He said, "No, show me!" 

So I stretched my arms out wide and said, "This much!" 

Then he responded with the sweetest words ever.  He said, "Wow!  That's a lot!  But that's not as much as I love you, Mommy." 

Such simple words made me feel like the most important mommy in the building.  It filled my heart and put a lump in my throat.

That same night we had a joint celebration for two couples in our community group who are expecting new babies.  Since they are both second children, one is a boy and one is a girl, and it was so close to Valentine's Day, I decided to tie in Valentine's Day and go with a simple "Baby Love" theme. 

All of the guests were asked to bring diapers and wipes for the families.  This kept the men from having to ooh and ah over onesies and hair bows, and it allowed guests to choose how much to spend on two different gifts without feeling weird.  Plus, I asked people not to put their names on the gifts, so the moms didn't have to write individual thank you notes.

We made the babies their first valentines, and there was a prize for the most creative ones.  The winner, our friend JP, actually disassembled a pen to make a pop-up card!!

We had a whoopie pie station with a sign that said, "Let's Make Whoopie! (Pies)"  It might be a little much for a church group, but if any group can handle it, it's ours.  Everyone seemed to get a real kick out of it.

 

I enjoy Valentine's Day more now as a mom than I ever did before I had kids.  There is something so special about paper hearts and polka dotted socks when you're a child, and there is something wonderful about letting everyone know how much you love them.  When you take away the romantic pressure and just focus on loving others and having fun, it's an awesome made-up holiday!  :-)

Did you do anything special for Valentine's Day?

Back to Big D

I still have blog posts to write from before we left for Dallas, so I'll just dive in today and finish talking about my trip so I can move forward (or backward, as the case may be).

Dallas was great.  Truly great.  It was a more emotional trip than I was ready for in some ways, but I'm still processing things so it's hard to put into words.  They weren't bad emotions... in fact, most were really positive.  But when you go back and share life with people who really know you at your core, it's hard not to get at least a little emotional.

We barely stopped moving the whole time we were in town.  We went from one meeting or event to another with really great meals in between.  In fact, meals were a highlight of my trip.  I ate Mexican three times in two days, had a brisket sandwich (I truly miss Texas BBQ... Sorry, Tennessee natives), savored my Chicken Caesar Sandwich and pasta salad at La Madeleine, and had a divine Valentine's Day dinner at Bob's Steakhouse with my friend Erin and her boyfriend, John.

Everywhere we went I took pictures of my food, and I think Jim was partly amused and partly embarrassed.

Our old community group used to do a Valentine's Day dinner where the men cooked and cleaned dinner for the women.  It was so fun.  Most people had other plans this year, but our friends Doug and Marc cooked with Jim for Angelia, Susan, and me.  It was delicious and so nice to be pampered a little.

I am bummed that I don't have any pictures with Susan or Angelia.  I think I was too busy talking and enjoying our time together, but I do regret that I wasn't more intentional about taking pictures with them.

We scheduled our trip for Valentine's Day weekend so I could surprise one of my best friends on her birthday, but the surprise didn't quite work out.  Nevertheless it was awesome to finally meet her boyfriend who is an awesome guy.  I feel quite certain that they are the real deal and I will have many more years to get to know him better.

It was really fun to travel on Valentine's Day weekend because Southwest Airlines celebrates in full force.  Every counter and gate was decorated in the most crafty way... 

I didn't try to compose a good picture because the people at the gate thought I was taking a picture of them.  I didn't want to scare anyone.  But you get the idea.

Overall it was a memorable, special trip.  I am not waiting another three years to do it again.

Returning Home

On Saturday morning we got up at 3:30 AM and made our way to the airport to escape for several days.  This was my surprise Christmas gift to Jim.  After three years, I thought it was time for him to return to Dallas.  It was time to reconnect with special friends, to reflect on where we have come from and dream about where we are going.  It was time to eat Mexican food and do lots of shopping (even if it is without lots of money) and it was time to give many, many hugs.

It was time to return home.

I had no idea that we would do this so literally.  After a delicious lunch at La Madeleine (which in and of itself brought back lots of memories of life before kids), I asked my friend Erin if she would chauffeur us by our old house so I could look at it.  After sitting in front of the house for an eternity, we worried that the new owner would call the police, so I decided to get out to take a quick picture before leaving.  As I was getting back into the car, the new owner of the house walked out.  I jumped out of the car and walked over to introduce myself.  I let him know that we had owned the house three years ago and just wanted to look at it.  The man was really nice, let us know that they had just moved in this past June, having bought the house from the man we sold it to, and before I knew it he had invited us inside!  (Who does that?!)

Our house in Dallas was our first home, and it is the house where we brought Brennan home for the first time.  It is full of our handiwork, our dreams, and our memories.  Many things happened while we lived in that house that have shaped who we are today.  I'll never forget closing the door on that house for the last time and feeling like I was leaving a piece of myself inside.

Just three months after we sold our house, we received several phone calls from our neighbors that a horrible thing had happened.  The man we sold the house to had had a friend visiting from Chicago.  The visitor and his girlfriend (?) got into an argument, the visitor pulled a gun, and in the end, the man came out with a gun pointed at the police.  He was shot dead on the front stoop of our house.

To say that this tragedy rattled me would be a huge understatement.  In my heart, it was still my house.  We didn't have permanent housing yet in Nashville, and I hadn't transitioned yet.  It had only been a few months.  Someone had violated my home.  He had made my beautiful, safe place feel scary and ugly.  I couldn't stop picturing blood all over the white walls and tile in the entryway.

As we walked in the front door of the house, I was overcome with emotion.  The walls had been painted a beautiful tan color and hung with welcoming artwork.  Each room looked so different from when we had left it just three years ago, but the rooms looked safe and cared for.  All of the horrible, scary things I had imagined started to go away.  I couldn't help myself and started to quietly cry.

The new homeowner said that this was his first home with his wife, and they looked forward to starting a family together there.  He had already done lots of projects (many that we had wished we could do ourselves), and it was clear that he took pride in his home.

I was thankful that there were still remnants of us in the house.  The lights that Jim had added and rewired, the floors, the beautiful tile work in the bathroom... The owner said that they enjoyed those things, and the bathroom had been a selling feature for the house.  It was not our house anymore, but our efforts had not been eradicated.

This whole trip was supposed to be about reconnecting and moving on.  I could never have guessed that God would have something like this up His sleeve.  I have closure on something I didn't know I even needed, and I am so, so grateful.