birthday countdown

my little buckaroo will turn TWO on the 13th! {crazy actually that its already birthday time again...i still haven't shared his first birthday party...opps! will do that soon!} with a little inspiration from this post...i decided to make him an advent type calendar leading up to his big day! this way we could celebrate each day as his birthday counted down closer and closer.

{the frame and wiring i made last winter...i use it for pictures and try to change it out with the seasons.} for this "calendar" i used my favorite tags and glittered one side with a number and the flip side i wrote one of the things we just love about our "baby" boy!

we flip over a new tag every morning...

its been a lovely way to celebrate...and just one more reason for me to tell him how much i love him each day! i am going to save them all and put them in his baby book packaged together. i am looking forward to continuing this as a tradition each year...and with each year he'll understand more and more!

THE beach

a bit of a back story... 2 years ago the stars aligned and God further showed his love to this sentimental mommy-to-be. if you know me well you know how much i miss our families. you know that i am {or so i've been told} an EXTREMELY sentimental person. you know that there are little things on this journey of medical school/residency/fellowship that i feel like we miss sharing with our families and i call them part of our sacrifice...other people might not think they fall into the category of sacrifice, but my heart puts them there.

many of these moments center around having our first child! one being able to tell our families in person that we were pregnant. we missed that opportunity...but not fully!

i will forever be grateful to the BUT of that statement! i was able to tell my sister that we were pregnant...in person...on a beach in california!!! oh the places He will take you to fulfill your dreams! it was a special moment that my cousin recorded for us! we even wrote baby crim's name in the sand...

well...fast forward 2 years...and my sister surprised her hubby with a trip to california! a package arrived for little tickle today with some very special things...he was quite excited to open it...
on the same beach that his arrival was announced aunt chi chi again wrote his name in the sand...only with a few more details this time...his initials and his birth date! what a precious gift for him to have!!!

i read the card to him and then handed it to him...he "read" it back to us for a good 60 seconds...then proclaimed "AMEN!" dr. daddy and i laughed so hard...in part astonishment!

thank you aunt chi chi and uncle g...and for the hip beach shirts too! little tickle is one blessed babe to have you!

"the girl's room"

my parents still live in the same house i was brought home from the hospital to. the front room was first my nursery, then i invited sister in and we shared it for years until she left home, then it was solo mine again, then i married my man and it changed hands again. now...its back to the "girl's room" as we have always called it. and my handsome and i stayed in it this trip.

many times as a little girl playing "baby dolls" i dreamed of becoming a mommy. seeing the mister playing & sleeping in the room that i grew up in, played in, dreamed in...its very real and surreal and dream-like all at the same time for me.

many dreams, many years of wanting and then getting old enough to realize that not everyone is able to have children...my wanting turned to longing...and then when the time was right for our family...my longing turned to hoping that we'd be blessed with a child. and we were. my mind still has a hard time wrapping and realizing that it happened...and he's here. and its as if he always has been. in a way he has...he has always been in my dreams that started in that very room!

a wonderful reminder

i recently came across this poem by mother theresa. to say it came at the perfect time would be an understatement {ok...a month ago would have been sheer perfection!} i can't explain how much many of the verses touched me and was the reminder i needed...hoping at least one of the verses speaks to you too...

people are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
forgive them anyway.

if you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
be kind anyway.

if you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
succeed anyway.

if you are honest and frank; people may cheat you;
be honest and frank anyway.

what you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
build anyway.

if you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
be happy anyway.

the good you do today, people with often forget tomorrow;
do good anyway.

give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
give the world the best you've got anyway.

you see, in the final analysis it is between you and God
it was never between you and them anyway.