Happy Birthday Uncle Randy!!  We love and miss you!! Hope you have an awesome birthday – Tell the kids hello from us and we send big hugs!!!

Big Birthday Hugs and Kisses,
love us

xoxo 

Come on… You think he should win the cover of a magazine, don’t ya!  American Baby Magazine is running a contest… Vote for the little face you visit here on the blog!  I’ve never entered a photo contests but this face was too cute to pass up!

You just have to click the stars all the way over to 5 STARS – and then I think you click on the recommend link too? I don’t know really – just go vote!

Click here to vote!

Thanks! 

xoxo

This got passed on to me and although I usually delete forwards and long story emails I took the time to read this… To all my fellow mommy bloggers/readers.. this ones for you.

And to my own mom… thanks for being the invisible hands all my life. It’s never been unnoticed or unappreciated.  Especially now more then ever.  I’d be lost without all your love, help and support – we all know that!  I love you mom…

Invisible Moms

         I’m invisible.

         It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I’m on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I’m thinking, “Can’t you see I’m on the  phone?”

         Obviously not!  No one can see if I am on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

         I’m invisible.

         Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more:

         Can you fix this?    Can you tie this? Can you open this?

         Some days I’m not a pair of hands; I’m not even a human being. I’m a clock to ask, “What time is it?” I’m a satellite guide to answer, “What number is the Disney Channel?” I’m a car to order, “Right around 5:30, please.”

         I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude – but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.

         She’s going – she’s going – she’s gone!

         One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England.  Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean.

         My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, “I brought you this.”

         It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe.  I wasn’t exactly sure why she’d given it to me until I read her inscription: “To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.”

         In the days ahead I would read – no, devour – the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

         * No one can say who built the great cathedrals – we have no record of their names.

         * These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.

         * They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

         A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the  cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, “Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.” And the workman replied, “Because God sees.”

         I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, “I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you’ve done, no sequin you’ve sewn on, no cupcake you’ve baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can’t see right now what it will become.

          At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self- centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

         The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

         When I really think about it, I don’t want my son to tell the friend he’s bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, “My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.” That would mean I’d built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, “You’re going to love it there.”

         As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we’re doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Do you ever feel like you wake up and hit the ground running?  I felt like that today – Just seemed like there was a lot I wanted to get done but somehow just couldn’t get out of my own way.. so by noontime I just resigned to the fact that what doesn’t get finished today will still be there tomorrow!

After watching O.A.R. on Regis and Kelly this morning (Uncle Marc was so funny!) we headed out to do a bunch of errands.. after Jacks nap and Daddys YUMMY lasagna dinner that he made (which has now been renamed Salana according to Jack! – whatever that means!!) we started the bake-a-thon!  We always like to bring Daddy and all his friends cookies, brownies, banana bread, or whatever we feel like baking up for them when we get to visit.  We know it can be tough on the road (sometimes!) so Jackson likes to bring them a little treat thats made with love from home.  Now we all know what a huge fan of baking (or mixing really!) Jackson is so it didnt take much convincing – It wasn’t two seconds after we put it into the pan were little hands licking the bowl! (I know, raw eggs, don’t scold me, I let him eat it – With the cuteness on his face I had to snap a few shots! I promise if he gets sick from the 15 seconds I let him eat it I’ll never let him do it again!!… and don’t say you’ve never done it yourself! hehe..)
Anyways- This is the first time I’ve let him lick the bowl – or taste it I should say… Think he liked it?

Okay. no onto a little secret about me.  I love sweets. Candy, cookies, cake, cupcakes (my favorite!) I love it all really. BUT I don’t love it in big quanities.. Unlike some people I know.. (DAD!) who could eat an entire bag of snack sized candy – I only want one.  So half a brownie is good for me – or half a cookie – but Oh how I love that half!  So being pregnant – that sweet tooth has been a little amped up… One of my favorite things lately has been store bakery Oatmeal Cookies with icing… yyyuummm–ooo as Rachel Ray says!  When we were food shopping this morning I passed by these and somehow they just jumped into our cart!  The thing that kills me is the sticker on the top… read it:  ’ALL NATURAL’… WHAT exactly does that mean?  Now I will say, we are a bit more on the organic side then most of my friends or family that I know of.. I am a bit neurotic when it comes to a few organic things.. (meats, poultry, produce etc..) and I’m not always GREAT about it – but we are conscious of it… But THIS – Come ON!  These store bakery cookies are NOT all natural – no matter how much I love them, I do acknowledge that!  I know it doesn’t say ‘organic’ but all natural is a close second… It just made me laugh that this was the sticker on top… I guess they try to pass off anything as ‘good for you’ these days… At least it has oatmeal in it right?!?!

Oh! One last thing – So right after we came in tonight the sun was still out but all of a sudden a HUGE DOWNPOUR happened.. a sun shower downpour! It was so cool – at first Rick said – “Keri, it’s raining on the left side of the house but not the right, the sun is out!!’.. I stepped outside and saw perfect blue sky with TONS of rain pouring down.. If I hadn’t put brownies in the oven I problem would have headed out to catch a rainbow as I’m sure there was one… 

Off to see our friends/family tomorrow… Stay tuned for more pictures then…

Thanks for checking in!

xoxo

Keri

Well with only 10 weeks left, I thought I should at least start to get things ready for Ms. Mollys debut!  Lucky for me I have a great connection with a lot of other mommy friends (a lot of them, photographers too) that are always making great suggestions of new things they’ve come across or things that are new.  Seeing as we’ve already done with once with Jackson I have a pretty good idea of what we’ll need .. and although she’ll be getting a lot of hand-me-downs from Jackson, there are some things that she will need for her own! Especially since this time around its a GIRL and that means PINK! dresses! bows! hats! tights! shoes! all kinds of fun stuff! 

Here are a few things we’ve come across that are pretty cool… check ‘em out for yourself or for anyone you know who’s having a baby! 

1) Golden View Ultrasound.  So I’m a slacker and haven’t scanned the pictures yet, BUT for Father’s day this year I went to have a 3D ultrasound for Rick.  Talk about crazy!! I have a DVD with the ultrasound on it but I also have some still pictures of Ms. Molly and boy is it crazy how much she looks like Jackson!  I was shocked when I first saw her little nose!  She even held up her hands crossed over his face just like him!  They have a location in Boston and Chicago but I’m sure other states have it too.  They have gift certificates which is such a great idea for a shower gift for moms-to-be!  I felt like I was cheating or something – It’s like a sneak peak preview of whats to come.  The crazy part was in the lobby they had ‘in and out’ pictures — ‘in’ pictures of the babies in the womb, and ‘out’ pictures next to them when the baby was born! craziness I tell you

2) Pampers Gift Certificates.  How cool is this!  One of my fellow pregnant friends blogged about it (thanks Beth!!!) and I had no idea — Who doesn’t need more diapers! I had no idea you could buy people gift certificates just for diapers.  Which, having been through it once before, I’ll tell ya – you never know the size you’ll need!  We bought all size 1 diapers before Jackson was born, but the poor thing was so tiny he was in newborn diapers for a looooong time!  Granted we used the size 1 but I think we ended up giving some away too because he moved into size 2 quicker then we thought he would and we had too many size 1’s! Granted, if you’re a good girl like my best friend Kim who will be using G Diapers (or so she hopes to!!! haha) you wouldn’t want this gift certificate but, We loved the swaddlers with Jackson and to be honest, I don’t know if I can’t be the good person Kim is with the G Diapers right now – Maybe after a few months… I’m terrible for the environment, I know.  (For what its worth, I LOVE the idea of G Diapers – and I’m so proud of Kim for wanted to go that route – But to be brutally honest I know I’d fail miserable if I had to start it right now.. especially since Jacksons in diapers too!) 

3) ITZBEEN. Where was this thing when I had Jackson?  Oh my lord how cool.  I literally had excel sheets that lined our house of charting Jacksons latest events.. sleeping, diapers, eating whatever.. how cool that its digital and all in one place.  Love that.

4) Angelcare Monitor.  LOVED THIS.  This was worth its weight in gold when Jackson was born. With Rick traveling I swear I lost more sleep because I was standing over Jacksons bassinet making sure he was breathing.  Once we got this thing I felt like a whole new person!  I have serious anxiety problems anyways but this was SUCH piece of mind for me.  Some people can just lay the baby down and be fine with it – me? not so much.  This is the new model that tells you a lot more information then the one we had – temperture  etc. but regardless, it is worth it if you’re a super neurotic like me!  

5) Video Monitor.  Okay I know I said the Angelcare was worth its weight in gold but THIS my friends, is THE BEST monitor out there.  Once Jackson moved to his own room – and could wiggle around (obviously!) we had to stop the Angelcare because he would roll off the sensor pad and it would alarm (talk about panic! haha) so we opted for the Video Monitor.  Holy moly it is the best.  You can watch them, make sure they are okay – make sure the blankets aren’t over their head etc. all without going into their room to disturb them. LOVE LOVE it.  Everyone should have one.

6) Animal Playmat.  How stinkin cute are these! Don’t they look super cuddley!! After finally finding the muffin mats (below) and nearly falling over when I saw how much they were we started looking at alternatives… How cute are these!!! I know Jackson would love it too!

I’m sure we’ll come across 100 more cool things in the meantime but those are just a few that I’ve got bookmarked.. The things ‘off the beaten path’ are always the coolest – especially when you hear first hand how other people love it! But, other then that we only have a few things other we’d like to pick up – the aquarium swing, her crib and dresser, some storage things and of course girlie clothes! And because a few people have asked,  We’ve also been told its acceptable to have a second shower these days – especially when its a different sex baby then your first –  but we haven’t decided if we’re going to have one yet.. We really just want to celebrate her arrival with our friends and family so maybe we’ll just have a party for her instead!!  One of my mommy friends said to set up a registry even if you don’t have a second shower for family and friends to get the few things you do want instead of something you might already have from the first time!  Good call – You can check us out under babiesrus.com and target.com. 

We are so excited to get working on her room.. Well, I am because I’m nesting LIKE CRAZY! (you know, the whole clean out the entire house and everything in it phase? yeah. I’m there!)  But we had almost everything set up for Jackson at about now – We haven’t even started for Molly!  We have painting to do, furniture to move and all sorts of things to organize (in her room and around the house!)  With only 10 weeks left I guess we better get moving ‘eh…
Can’t wait to have that newborn baby girl in my arms! I know it seems like forever away right now, but I also know how fast the time is going to go and then I will be a mother of TWO! YIKES!!
Pictures tomorrow… its been a crazy few days the past week!

Hope all is well for all of you!

xoxo

K