A couple more pics from EJ's birthday weekend...over two months late!
two of my most favorite people!! 
Sweet Birthday Girl!
Boo & The Dragon waiting on Pop & Nena! They couldn't get there fast enough for them or me! HA!
My computer is on its last leg. Imagine that. I am buttering up my wonderful, amazing, fabulous, handsome hubs to buy me a new one. Until that happens everyone will have to make do with spotty, at best, updates and pics:). I am so behind on keeping up with this pregnancy. I guess having 3 kiddos, moving 3 hours away, and having a run in with sickness has taken its toll. I had my check up and was super sick! I had a horrible cold and pink eye to top it off. Dr. R prescribed antibiotics and I could not have been more excited to get my hands on drugs:). I am feeling much better! The appointment went well my blood pressure was elevated a bit. I am sure it was purely situational. I have been very stressed. Fundus was measuring LARGE. I have a scan on my next appointment to check size. We are talking induction, I am almost certain we will induce at 38 weeks. I am not a huge fan of inducing but with all the situational issues sounding this birth Josh and I feel its for the best. So I am using the big baby card. If my provider wasn't 3 hours away, if Josh hadn't just started a new job, if we didn't have to find childcare for 3 kids, if things were normal I wouldn't but it is what it is. I have to have the scan to prove I am carrying a large baby because the hospital just enacted a policy that restricts voluntary inductions. Hence, I am playing the large baby card! If all goes as planed I will have our baby boy on March 4th! That is a super special day. It is my Moms birthday! I am giving her the best gift ever! 5 years ago on that date I gave her a wonderful son in law. That's right, Josh and I will be celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary in labor and delivery! March 4th will be a HUGE day in our family!
I am feeling very very large. Super uncomfortable. All very worth it, however:)! I am experiencing heartburn that burns to my ears! It is insane. I can't believe I just have a bit over 3 weeks to go! The kids could not be more excited. They love feeling the baby move and kick. We are getting things ready. Baby gear is appearing in my house and I absolutely adore it!! Mimi gave us an amazing rocker recliner and I have no clue how we lived without one! We are really enjoying it and know Hollis will love it too! Less than a month and I will be rockin my cutie!
Invisible Mother.....
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'm 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.. The invisible Mom. 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.'
Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?, What's for dinner?'
I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -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. She 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. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she 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: 'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'
In the days ahead I would read - no, devoured - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: 1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. 2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. 3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. 4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.
A story of legend 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. 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, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand 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.
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 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built 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, he'd say, 'You're gonna 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 mothers.
The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.
To all the wonderful mothers out there!!
May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.
