Quite Random

Just a little random post for this Sunday morning. A while back, Matt gave me his phone and I was browsing pictures and I found these from when Maddox was born. Matt had taken them and in the craziness of the day, week, month, we never got them transferred. So here they are. :)

My guy looking so cool in his OR gear!

Love him.

Skin to skin in the recovery room while I got checked out by the nurse.

Mom's turn. Worn out...

Y'all, I had laughed, cried, you name it but in this moment, I was a HAPPY girl! Tired but happy!

At our hospital, you get to push this button when you have a baby and it plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" through the whole hospital. Love it.

One more...Maddox's first visit by the on-call ped. We like Dr. Bailey.

And there you have it, random goodness. :) 

A FUN Birthday Party

Our friends, The C Family, have a little girl who just turned 2. They invited us to her birthday party last Saturday morning. It was an outdoor party with lots of water play fun. We were grateful to be invited and we had a BLAST!!

Geared up and ready to go! 

My guys on the slip and slide.

CHEESE!!!! This guy had pizza, popsicles, cake, Wiggles juice and on and on. ;-)

Attempts at group picture. I didn't have the best angle but there they are. :)

CAKE TIME!!

Sweet moment: There were water balloons and Mason came running over to give this one to Maddox because it was just his size. Best big brother ever.

Thanks again, C fam!

The Things We Knew by Catherine West {A Book Review}

Let's see if I've still got the ability to review a book after several weeks of not reading at all! 

First book up after my break, The Things We Knew by Catherine West. This book was a great read for my current season of life. Twists and turns to keep me interested but so well written that I didn't have to think too hard! 

The Things We Knew is a novel based in Nantucket. I was super intrigued by that because that area just seems like a place I'd love to visit someday in the future. The Carlisle family is the focus of the book and the main character is Lynette. She's the youngest of five children and circumstances in life find her home caring for her father who is not well. 

The story follows Lynette as she works to bring her siblings home so they can determine how the family estate should we cared for. In the meantime, Lynette is remembering things from her past and trying to put them together. She was 11 years old when her mother died and nearly 12 years later, she begins to have recollection of that night. She's an artist and she's painting through the thoughts/recalls in her mind. 

A family friend, Nick, also comes into the picture and a romance is budding along the way. There are so many twists and turns as Lynette remembers that day all those years ago. Her siblings are dealing with their own tragedies: abuse, impending divorce, addiction, etc. 

I loved the writing style of this author. I felt like she really brought the characters to life on the pages. I loved that the story wasn't all roses and sunshine but more a picture of what real like may look like when a family is going through hardship.

The one downside for me is that I hoped for a little more faith to be involved in the story. It's there but it's not as present as I thought it might be. Nonetheless, I thought this book was excellent! 

Storytime is the BEST time!

After we went to Eden Terrace, we went home for naps and after that, we got out of the house fast for story time. I figured, we were already dressed and used to being out so we might as well do it big! 

It was Maddox's first story time. He wasn't sure what the fuss was all about. It was quite a yawn for him. :)

We have been to this particular story time a few times and it's always been great. This time was no different except that we were literally the only people there! The leader, four volunteers and us. After first, I was nervous about that but Mason ended up loving it. He got to answer all of the questions, do all of the activities, etc. It was perfect! 

(Disclaimer: We definitely prefer story times with friends but for this day, it was just what we needed!) 

Matching Momma animals with their babies. 

Dancing

 

 

Getting all of the attention from some of the student volunteers! These guys did such an awesome job helping out! 

 

 

"Hey Mom! Remind me again what we're doing here!?" 

Ice cream and story time? DOUBLE WIN!!! 

The leader had paint ice cubes to paint the ice cream craft. She said she just mixed paint about half and half with water and frozen them with popsicles sticks. It was a great idea and made some cool art! 

A Morning at Eden Terrace {MOMS Club}

I've mentioned our MOMS Club in the past but it's worth talking about again. When I was a new mom, I had just entered into a huge new season of life. I went from working full time to working only PRN (as little as 6 hours a week) and being a SAHM. It was a fun season but I quickly realized that I needed support. I joined a MOPS group which was incredible (and still is!) but MOMS Club just gave me so many options for playdates, constant mom support and many other things. 

So much of what our group does is playdates, park meet-ups, etc but we also do community service projects for our community, among many other great things. 

This past week, our group was invited to a local assisted living facility to interact with some of the residents. I almost didn't sign up to go because I knew it would involve taking both boys out and trying to give Mason full attention while also making sure Maddox was content. However, I decided to do it and I'm so glad I did!

The boys and I got to sit with Mr. Jack, or as he wanted to be called "PaPa". We colored, ate a snack, played with play doh and just talked. Mr. Jack was the best resident in that room for Mason to sit with. He was so good with him and Mason just enjoyed it so much. When snacks were passed around, Mason handed his coloring sheet off to Mr. Jack while he sat back and ate. haha!!

I was smiling the whole time and just thinking that in some small way, I hope this helps to teach my boys about kindness to others. We live in a world with lots of darkness and evil. That's not anything new. However, we also live in a world where WE have the ability to shine light into darkness. This morning spent at Eden Terrace, well, it was a moment where our lights shone bright. 

That man may not remember our names or even our faces but for that 45 minutes that we sat at that table with him, he never stopped smiling. And that? That's what it's all about.

 

My Boys

These days with a 2.5 year old and an infant are incredible! 

They are incredibly hard.

They are incredibly sweet. 

They are incredibly emotional. 

They are incredibly fun. 

They are incredibly beautiful. 

No matter the kind of day it is, I look at these two boys and I can't help but smile. Mason loves Maddox so much and I know that Maddox is growing to love Mason, too. 

I'm a grateful gal! 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These boys? Well, they're something to smile about!