Shippmate Shower Surprise!
Tonight was our end of the year BBQ for our life group from church.
We are incredibly new members to this life group as just last January, life was moving a little slower than usual, the first trimester was taking a little pep out of my step along with my heart hurt hurting more than I dared ever admit in The Aftermath of Getting Fired, and I just felt compelled to intentionally seek out some people in our church to live life alongside.
Since we’ve been married, Ryan and I have constantly found ourselves in different groups helping out– worship team, Awanas, youth ministry, but we hadn’t JOINED a group, and I felt this was important to do. I remember going to the meeting where I would find a life group, and I had told Ryan he didn’t have to join the group with me (because he is more okay living life without a group lol) but I just requested he go to the icebreaker of an informational meeting with me.
And then I somehow talked him into just checking out the first life group meeting with me, too.
You can see where this is going, I’m sure– The Shippmate (though one really content with solo voyages) decided to come aboard this sweet group with me!
AHOY!
We’ve really enjoyed getting to know the couples, and we could not believe that the end of the semester had crept up on us and our final meeting was here!?! When Amy sent out an email explaining it was our last meeting, I seriously felt like we had just started!
So, we show up tonight, and Amy had wanted to make sure Ry and I would both be there, because we had missed the last meeting and she said something about doing a little something for our baby. And being that we literally JUST joined the group AND several of them had given us “congrats on finding out you’re having a girl” gifts, I truly figured this meant something like a group prayer for the baby or a card.
Because that would have been PLENTY.
Instead, we walk into Craig and Sherri’s always beautiful and inviting home to see this sweetness:
Which were not just incredibly thoughtful and beautiful, but SUPER DELICIOUS, too!
Jen did such a fabulous job, and I absolutely loved the writing on them, as well as the sweetness of the phrase “baby love!”
Fancy, personalized cupcakes already felt like too much, and then after we had awesome burgers and brats grilled by Craig, the party transitioned to this beautiful little gazebo area outside where they started bringing out GIFTS!?
And not just any kind of baby gifts, but everyone brought us wonderful books for Baby Shippmate’s own library!!!!
I could not have been more excited about this, for a couple of reasons…
1. I had just spent all afternoon cleaning out our huge bookshelf to get rid of a ton of books to make room for creating a library for our baby girl, so books were most certainly on my mind!
2. I obviously LOVE books, and earlier this year I had loved how at my sister-in-law’s shower people brought her books instead of cards, but didn’t really do that for my upcoming showers, so it was SO cool and special to have this shower that was all about BOOKS!
In addition to such awesome books, Amy and Chris gave us this precious bow for our little lady, as well as the teeniest tiniest little socks that just about made me want to cry!
And you can also see in this picture the sweet bunny from Jen and the beautiful basket Sherri had all of the gifts in!
And check out what Wanda made for our little baby…
Quilted blocks for her to play with… or for me to throw at Ryan during labor, someone suggested lol.
Ryan said how the blocks reminded him of Grandma Wanda, and then realized Wanda also is “Grandma Wanda!” (And then Ry said, “Well, I meant you remind me of OUR Grandma Wanda,” and it was so sweet to me to hear him call GW “our Grandma Wanda,” because I love that he feels that way!)
Not pictured, but also incredibly exciting to me was a kitten book that Linda picked out for us! It makes me happy and only slightly stresses Ryan out when people associate me so readily with cats.
I LOVE IT. :)
This group really made us feel so loved tonight. Ryan and I got in the car, and we felt so humbled by the generosity of these people. We both just looked at each other and all of the blessings of gifts in our backseat, and we just couldn’t believe it. Our feelings toward the surprise of a kindness from this group were so identical in just feeling so humbly undeserving of that kind of blessing!
Holding The Shippmate’s hand on our drive home, I just couldn’t help but think of how our very life group was such a clear model of Christ’s love for us. Ryan and I truly did NOT deserve this kind of shower from this group. We’ve barely been a part of the group, several times in the semester we had to miss for various other commitments (speaking to the youth, worship team, or the time I forgot and accidentally ended up at a basketball game with my dad lol), and we’ve never thrown anyone in the group a shower, let alone given them a gift of any kind!?!
This is not the group of people I would have expected to give us a shower or do anything beyond a big hug of a congrats for our baby girl, and yet– they showed us love and generosity as if we’d been a part of their group forever. As if we’d celebrated milestones in their lives with them and been there for their big moments.
As Ryan and I were bringing in the gifts from the car with a continued feeling of disbelief of the group’s kindness, I really did think how that kind of disbelief or even confusion toward someone’s kindness is actually not foreign to me…
I can think of someone else who demonstrates it to us daily. That kind of love– the kind that knows no conditions or doesn’t care when you joined the group… that kind of love is SO the love of my Lord and Savior!
It doesn’t make sense that He would love me so much He would die for me. It doesn’t make sense that the minute I ask him into my heart, He is there and gives me the gift of eternal life as if we’d been friends forever!
Jesus is completely in the business of hosting baby showers for people that just joined the life group.
Of all the lessons Tommy Nelson’s book and video taught us this semester in our group, I would argue none were as powerful as the one I walked away with tonight.
The reminder to love– in all circumstances– like Jesus loves. When you’re on the undeserving end of a sweeter than sweet baby shower, your heart begs to re-pay the kindness or adequately express your gratitude… and while I will absolutely attempt to do both of those for our precious life group members, I also was reminded of the call to action my heart should feel for this same kind of love Jesus lavishes on my undeserving soul DAILY.
What a blessing of a gift Jesus gave The Shippmates in these people we’ve had the opportunity to live life with this past semester.
My heart is bursting with grateful and appreciation for their love, generosity, and excitement for our baby girl!
-Ephesians 3:20-
PS: Kim and Gene- We all missed you, and Ryan brought your book, Gene, so we’ll have to connect soon to return that and see you two! :)
This has been my day:
There are just no words.
PS: As soon as I can breathe out of both nostrils again, I promise these posts will get better.
A Stormy Kind of Monday
Sick allergies combined with a crazy storm combined with one active little baby girl that I feel like was extra hyper with the thunder all resulted in very little sleep for me last night.
Regardless of my sleep amount, food is always a priority to me, and with this recent allergy attack of a life I’m living, I feel the very best I’m going to feel all day right after waking up. Which is weird for me, but I’ve learned to capitalize on it.
And because of the aforementioned crazy storms, The Shippster wasn’t working, so I went all fancy on him and upgraded from my normal turkey sandwich lunch to THIS:
Which would turn out to be the most productive part of my day, so I’m glad we captured it with a picture.
I had actually never made asparagus or salmon, so it was a big moment in The Shippmate Kitchen.
And quite a tasty one.
Pretty much minutes after finishing this lunch that didn’t involve any Subway wrappers, I collapsed on the couch and wouldn’t move for the next 8 or so hours.
My mom isn’t quite convinced this is just allergies I’m dealing with, so I don’t even know, but it’s about ten kinds of miserable, because I had a long list of things to accomplish today and that salmon/asparagus/sweet potato lunch was about all I got to check off the list.
Ryan, however, was a total champ and got so much done on the room transformation that is taking place to make room for a baby girl kind of nursery! And then he so kindly went to get groceries for dinner for us, and because I had been way out of commission all day, I didn’t even know storms were coming our way until several people started texting me asking me if we were safe.
(And because “checking on me” is one of my 13 love languages, I loved every one of those texts!)
So then I tried to figure out if we were safe, by asking Gaiser to turn on the news:
And it seemed like things were actually not so great.
Not to mention the black sky and craziness I saw out all of the windows.
Ryan called to see if I was okay and/or if we needed to activate our Shippmate Emergency Plan which involves evacuating our humble abode that is without a basement to skip on over to our sweet friends’ basement for safety.
(And because I know you’re wondering, yes- I’ve asked Keli and I’m allowed to bring our cats over with us.)
But as I was watching the news, Gaiser and I were pretty sure the storm was going east of us, and we weren’t really in the path that needed to activate emergency plans to go to the Daileys.
So I told Ryan to just keep shopping and hurry home to make me some waffles.
(The “hurry home” part incorporating him getting home safely and then making the waffles, in that order and priority.)
He made the best waffles ever, and I just love him (and waffles) so much.
In much more important news, please pray for the families and people affected by the horrible Oklahoma tornado.
And because that kind of tragic news calls for comfort that can only be found in Scripture, and because this is one of my all-time favorite verses to have memorized in my heart, I will conclude with today’s Verse of the Day from my Bible app:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
-Psalms 139:23-24-
Mama Knows Best
There have been many sweeter than sweet moments of watching my own mom transition from mom to Grammy, and I don’t mean “soon-to-be” Grammy, because The Mom already IS straight up GRAMMY!
To my aforementioned most handsome nephew, Roman Henry:
Or let’s step back a few weeks (Roman is already 3 weeks old!) to when Grammy FIRST laid on eyes on this fine looking man:
Isn’t it just the sweetest?
So there are all sorts of really wonderful moments I would love to blog about where I have just adored watching my own parents become grandparents.
(NOT TO MENTION the beautiful that is with my own daughter “waiting in utero” to get to be loved and spoiled by them, too!)
Lots of precious happening, and I wish I had time to record it all, but it is storming something CRAZY here tonight, which means I need to take cover.
Under the covers.
Because something about being wrapped up in my Grandma Wanda quilt with The Shippmate makes me feel invincible to the intensity of the storm raging outside.
So more precious moments captured another day in May, AS WELL AS The Mother’s Day blog I’m dying to write, but need more than 13 minutes to get it all down.
For tonight, just a little musing of a post about the joy that is my mom.
I appreciate her for a wealth of reasons, but tonight as Ryan and I were driving home from Olive Garden (sans the “The,” Ryan… my Shippmate calls it “The” Olive Garden which always reminds me of my great-grandma Me-Me, who was 94, and called Wal-Mart “Wal-Mark”… Me-Me was past the age of correcting… The Shippmate, not so much lol.)
Anyway, we’re driving home, and I was just reflecting on something my mom told me before we left, and I realized it’s the third time in this pregnancy she has told me such a thing, and I just felt so thankful to have her because if not your mom WHO WOULD TELL YOU SUCH A THING?
(I know you’re dying to know what it is now, huh?)
While admiring my hair and outfit and loving on the evergrowing belly, she just kindly pointed out, “Yeah- this is probably the last wear this cute maternity top is going to get, okay?”
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.
Meaning- GIRL YOUR BELLY HAS OUTGROWN THIS TOP. RETIRE IT.
But coming from my mom it was perfect.
Ryan trying to tell me might have been not as great. A friend probably wouldn’t just say it. And a stranger would annoy me.
So, as we were driving home, I was just thinking, “If not your mother, TRULY who in the world tells you you’ve maybe stretched the cuteness of that particular top one wear too many?!”
And this was a two-fold reminder for me.
1. I AM SO GRATEFUL TO HAVE MY MOM. And that she is the best and the kind of mom I adore spending time with and love to pieces.
2. I AM ABOUT TO BE SOMEONE’S “MOM.” The role that I can think of no one to replace! One day, it will be ME gently telling my little lady that she’s probably done wearing that preggo top. Or that the black pants she is now safety pinning because they’re too big are probably time to pitch and invest in a new pair. (Another true Robin Dyer story lol.)
It was just this realization that made me so overwhelmingly grateful for my own mom AND excited to BE a mom.
I want to be just like her:
PS: And that adorable top? I think if it could talk, it would have definitely thanked my mom, too, because it was REALLY working hard yesterday. ;)
Making Room for a baby!
Moving Shippmate sort of stuff to Grammy and Gramps’ house to make room for all of the joy and blessing that will be The NURSERY!!!!!!
PS: We’ve been a million kinds of busy moving and such today, and I have SO MUCH enjoyed the sweetest and wonderful comments from yesterday’s post here and on Facebook, and I cannot wait to reply to those SOON!
I so appreciate your love and allergy remedy ideas, and I WILL be responding, but for now- these eczema covered eyes are half way to dreamland…
PPS: In the event you were wondering- I actually hate my allergies more today than yesterday. True story.
The One Where I Was Going To/Maybe Did Complain A Lot.
So I had tonight’s post all drafted in my mind, and it was going to be a REALLY uplifting post in the form of me listing all the reasons I hate Craigslist.
And maybe involved sending a text to Amy regarding the death of a certain Craig that invented a site that had caused me such grief.
But then as I was drafting that blog in my mind while waiting on a Craigslist guy that was an hour late to call, I decided instead of just listing all the reasons I hated Craigslist, I could branch out and incorporate everything that had annoyed me about my May 17th.
It was going to be kind of like the idea Oprah had where at the end of the day, you’re supposed to reflect on five things you’re grateful for and journal them.
It was going to be like that, except nothing like that in that it was going to be things that highly annoyed me all day and me documenting their terror here in my Dyer-E.
Just as not to waste a good draft of a blog I had in my head, here were a few:
1. The fact I drove to Overland Park from Warrensburg (64 mile trip one way) and had to recruit a bodyguard of a brother to go see a glider that the owner described to me as “nearly perfect.” When I inquired via the phone about the “nearly” and explained I was coming from the far off land of Warrensburg, she said the “nearly” was just referring to a few stains. Which I was okay with. What Atticus and I would find out I was way less okay with was the fact the glider DID NOT GLIDE. The thing was straight up broken. And she wouldn’t turn the light on, I THINK to prevent us from seeing the multiple stains or maybe she thought the dark would mask the jarring of the broken of the chair. But the best, and by best I, of course, mean worst part was how she seriously looked at Atticus and I with no remorse or anything and thought maybe we were going to load that thing right on up and take it!??! (If I was going with my original plan and making this post a total gripefest I wouldn’t have add the part where I actually had a great time with Atticus and then getting to see Bailey and the most handsome nephew on the face of the planet. But we’re not trying to be Oprah or positive in this draft, so moving on to further annoyances.)
2. Further annoyances in the form of allergies. To quote my doctor, “You’re the walking picture of someone with severe allergies. Your ears, throat, swollen lymph nodes, and eczema covered eyes could put you in an allergy textbook.”
Awesome. My modeling career could finally take off right smack in the middle of the bi-monthtly printing of Eczema Enthusiasts.
3. I don’t have the energy to explain in detail this annoyance, but just know that I had one too many phone call today with a doctor’s office and trying to get the story straight on results and communication between nurses/doctors, and then the best moment when I had explained everything for the thirteenth time to a nurse that said, “Oh wait- you’re not even a patient of my doctor– I have the wrong file!”
Of course it was. If you’re a doctor or a medical professional, please know that the nurse you have relay information for you and your office staff directly affect how people start to feel about their entire treatment experience. Splurge a little and get awesome people for this role. People like the ones that work at my dentist office. I love them.
Or people like Brittany Gum. You’ll make that place even more awesome, B. So excited for you on the new job!
(Oh man. There I went being positive again in my gripefest. Dang it.)
4. Gas prices. I am not normally one to complain about these, but being that I was driving all over the world today in my allergy misery of a situation, I just felt compelled to add that the fact gas prices have somehow skyrocketed really added to the joy of a gripefest.
5. Oh and just the overall fact that glider/ottoman sets have to be hundreds of hundreds of dollars at Buy Buy Baby. I just don’t even get that. Who do they think they are charging that?!
Okay, I think I had a few others, but I can’t remember, and I really can’t wait to get to the part of my day that totally changed the incessant complaining theme of this post!!!!! :) :) :)
That would be the part where I decided to try one more Craigslist deal before being done. (In the event you’re counting how many deals I tried total, it would, yes, only be 2. But I just did not see this getting any better than broken gliders and unreliable people. AND I was getting tired of having to annoy people and ask them to be my bodyguard in case the people posting gliders were targeting pregnant women and were going to try to steal my baby or something. I think there is either a Lifetime movie about this or an actual person from around my hometown that was doing this. Either way, I didn’t want to take my chances.)
So, I was waiting on this guy to call back, and because I felt so miserable I was literally just sitting in the Bath and Body Works parking lot being so uncomfortable and wishing I could cut my nose or head off to alleviate the pain.
During the hour I waited on him to call, I even had a little self portrait kind of photo shoot.
Here was the first pic I took to capture how miserable I felt:
But then I was like, “Hmmm- I don’t know that this picture is an accurate depiction of HOW horrible I feel. Let’s try again.”
And before I could hit the camera button, I started in on another sneezefest, and accidentally captured THIS:
Which was PERFECT.
And about that time my bodyguard for Craigslist Deal #2 texts me and suggests I just come hang out at her house until this guy calls.
That was a lovely idea, and naturally on my drive to Erin’s house, he calls lol.
So with very little hope and more just a spirit of “I’ll do this so I can tell Ryan I tried Craigslist, but we just have to buy a new chair” I venture onward to deal #2 with my all-time favorite babysitter and now friend, Erin following me so kindly.
(Her really cool husband even refreshed her on some self-defense moves before we left, so that was great and made me feel positive The Craigslist Killer had nothing on us.)
I’m guessing that you see where this is going, if it was enough to turn all my aforementioned “annoyances” (that I KNOW are not that big of annoyances and hashtag it on up as FIRSTWORLDPROBSFORSURE) because OH YES…
THE GLIDER AND OTTOMAN WERE PERFECTION!!!!!!
I could not believe it! The glider didn’t just glide, but it glided just like I wanted it to with a gliding ottoman AND IN THE COLOR I WANTED!!!
And for $90!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which if you know nothing about gliders you might not fully appreciate is a STEAL. Like the one I sat in and loved at Buy Buy Baby was $700!!!
And this one felt just as wonderful to me except MORE wonderful because I don’t know that I could even sit in a $700 chair and not feel stressed out lol.
I was so excited to tell Ryan!!!! He was so proud of my business transactions and persistence, and now I would like to end this blog and collapse on the couch, but not before thanking the following incredible contributors to our Craigslist success:
Atticus, Bailey, and Roman Dyer for their accompaniment and encouragement and adorableness.
And the really good salad you gave me some of, which I have thought about several times since.
Erin Burns- I mean Schauer for your willingness to help and load up that bad boy!
DJ for the sweet self-defense reminder.
Craigslist deal #3775432561 for such a sweet deal.
Ryan for saying we should investigate cheaper options and then being so sweet to me about all the “work” I put into it.
…and even Craig for inventing the list that led me to my awesome new glider and ottoman!
PS: I’m too tired and can barely see out of my allergy/eczema infested eyes to proofread this, so I swear if you find an error and point it out in the comments, I’ll add you to my list of complaints for the day. ;)
Psalms 139:13-14
As I was waiting to see my baby girl at our ultrasound today, I found the Verse of the Day on my phone especially relevant and precious:
And after completely marveling over the way in which our little lady was absolutely wonderfully and fearfully made, I felt so thankful to Jesus for such beautiful and perfect workmanship.
But the precious and relevant of this favorite verse of mine didn’t end there, because shortly after our appointment, I had the extreme pleasure of holding my favorite nephew.
Meet Roman Henry.
(You may recognize an old friend of ours in MJ also looking on at Roman in complete awe.)
Literally as I’m holding my incredibly handsome nephew, my baby girl starts KICKING HIM!
Not in a rude way, but definitely in a “I can’t wait to play with you, cuz” kind of way.
It just blessed my heart something wonderful.
God is good.
When Labor Has A Soundtrack.
I just knew I would love birth class, and it’s proving to be even more awesome than I expected.
Because we were kind of slackers the first week… well more so because we were EXTREMELY busy and literally weren’t home one single night between Class #1 and Class #2 (see HERE for how that is affecting my cats… and I now wish there was some way I could see the click through rate on that plug to go check out my cats’ reaction to our absence, because it just HAS to be astronomical) we somewhat failed to do our homework until the car ride to class.
The advantage of a bit of a drive to class!
So I bring out the book and start reading the material to Ryan.
And after several questions about the content of our reading, it asks the Coach (that would be Ryan) to list 10 ways he will assist me while I’m in pain during labor.
Ryan says he has no clue and doesn’t remember reading that. And even though I don’t remember reading that either, I am somewhat annoyed and lacking confidence in my Coach at that answer.
We then review last week’s lesson and remember this chart of ways to handle pain, and I had to check the boxes of the ones I prefer and to quote my Coach of a Shippmate:
“You checked them all.”
Which was maybe true lol. So we read through all of those again, and when we came to the one that reads “focusing on a special image,” I was reminded of something I wanted to ADD to the list.
(They do have extra boxes for that very purpose, thankyouverymuch.)
Recently, I was thinking about labor and different methods that could help me relax, and a very specific idea came to mind in the form of the DVD we purchased on our honeymoon of us swimming with dolphins! So naturally I bring this up to Ryan, and he looks SO stressed out by this idea of bringing in a laptop or a DVD to play while I’m in labor of us doing tricks with our dolphin, Ariel.
Which then transitioned to me envisioning of all of the ways I need pain and stress management causing an adverse effect on The Coach. And that made me laugh.
I haven’t asked my professor or my doctor if dolphin swimming videos are allowed while in labor, but I just don’t get why or how that could be a problem.
Beyond embarrassing my Shippmate.
(Note to Ryan: Remember when we questioned if that DVD was worth the money we spent to get it? If it aids in the birth of our first child, I’ll go ahead and count that as a definite win of a spend.)
Moving on to us actually arriving to class. After a short nutrition game matching vitamins and their benefits, our professor handed out some answers from the quizzes in the book.
Which only slightly disappointed me that we wouldn’t be trading and grading for people to see how we GOT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM RIGHT!!!!!
But then I did ask her a question about the homework that according to Ryan’s look and arm squeeze to me was a bit over the top, and then he actually whispers to me, “Is this how you were in high school?”
Bahahahaha. If only he knew! Maybe it’s best we met post-graduation of high school and college for me. ;)
And then the best/worst part of class happened in the form of a video documenting 23 positions for pain management during labor.
A girl that looks about my age is the pregnant woman and she is pretending to be in labor, while a slightly older woman (her doula, maybe?) is coaching her through these positions, and our professor DID warn us the video was a little slow but super informative.
I was busy taking notes, and while I had noticed the extreme awkward of the two women’s acting abilities, I was very much focused on recording the positions so I could master them at a later August kind of date.
However, my Coach of a Shippmate was NOT taking notes and ONLY focusing on how awkward these women were, and he just starts making horrible faces and reactions to their positions that continually is making me WANT TO laugh. But I hold it in, because NO ONE else is laughing at the video.
Our classmates are watching it with intensity (besides the one dad I saw doze off briefly lol) but NO ONE is laughing. Which I will admit, I was even surprised by, because it WAS funny how the faces of these women looked so intense and stressful.
Not to mention, the positions are…. well just interesting.
Or to quote what my Coach of a Shippmate whispered in my ear:
“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to say that delivering a baby looks a whole lot like making one.”
Yes! THIS is what I am dealing with while both trying to focus (I have a goal to be valedictorian of a class we’re not posting grades for!) as well as NOT LAUGH myself.
I was able to sidebar that hilarious comment and not embarrass myself. In a minute or so, I would not be so fortunate.
Because throughout the 23 positions, labor is obviously progressing, and we’re now in the pushing section where the narrator so calmly explains we are to “listen to the soundtrack of her moaning through the pain.”
And okay, I absolutely thought the word soundtrack was an interesting word choice, but RYAN could NOT handle it. He looks at me so stressed out by it and from his look and my already kind of immature reaction to the word choice of “soundtrack,” I am again in full on HOLD IN LAUGHTER MODE.
And I’m halfway succeeding.
Until.
Until my Coach of Shippmate starts BE-BOPPING and making these noises to ACCOMPANY the moaning soundtrack, and I had been trying so hard for 19 freaking positions to hold in my laughter (and trying ESPECIALLY hard with the soundtrack portion) that I am literally in PAIN and tears are STREAMING down my face and I JUST LOSE IT!
In front of everyone, I half grunt/half laugh SO loud and forceful, and I am SO embarrassed, because STILL: NO ONE IS LAUGHING.
I wish you could see how red in the face I was—not just from embarrassment, but also from the pain it had been for the last 19 positions to hold in SO MUCH laughter. I forgot how hard that is for me, because as of lately, I generally find myself in situations where laughter is appropriate, and I just lost it and laughed so hard (baby belly jiggling and all) while Ryan looked at me like he didn’t have a CLUE what was so funny!!!!
(But please don’t worry, I absolutely explained to the class about his be-bopping and how I am so sorry and I actually loved the moaning soundtrack and hoped to download it on iTunes immediately after class.)
It was in that very moment last night that I recalled everyone warning me we would meet some embarrassing and interesting souls of people in our Bradley class.
I JUST HAD NO IDEA THAT WE WOULD BE THAT COUPLE.
I love you, Coach, and I can hardly wait to see how I react to you be-bopping during The Soundtrack of Moaning that will be my own labor.
Hopefully Ariel will be there to calm me right down.
Cat love and baseball pants
We are so busy and so never home for more than a quick change of clothes or a shower that our cats are literally getting upset.
Two nights in a row when we get home just in time to shower quickly before bed, they have looked up at us meowing as if to say WHY DO YOU GUYS NEVER HANG OUT WITH US ANYMORE!?
And then Gaiser does this thing he does when anyone is not giving him the attention he knows he deserves (most often to my non-cat loving mama lol) where he bats his paw toward us as if to draw us in closer to get some lovin!
And you better bet this just breaks my heart, so I am ELATED that tomorrow after work I. HAVE. NOTHING!!!!!
I can finally write the blog I wanted to write for Mother’s Day and then one re-capping tonight’s amazingly wonderful Bradley class and MOST importantly, I can pet my darn cats!!!!!!!
HALLELUJAH!
They do, however, appreciate EVERYDAY IN MAY because it at least gives them 5 minutes with me before I go to bed, and I mean could they be any more adorable and precious of blogging encouragers and companions?
They have the whole couch, and as soon as I sit down– they’re right by my side. I just love them.
Okay, this is becoming borderline weird, which you know I’m cool with, but I’m also EXHAUSTED, so I am going to wrap up this cat of a lovefest with the promise of much better blogs to come soon!!!!!!
You know- like ones that don’t just talk about my cat obsession.
But before I bid you good-night (and have to leave my snuggle muffins) let me share a little something about someone I’m in love with that is a bit more normal than my Gatsby and Gaiser lovefest.
That would be my Shippmate.
Among quite a few little perks of subbing at Crest Ridge would be this treasure of a find I stumbled upon in a 2003 yearbook today.
Hello, First Base!
Seeing my Shippmate in baseball pants?
Ummm yeah- they don’t even need to pay me for today.
13 Daymakers from 5/13
Things that made my day:
13. Realizing I didn’t have to be to work until a bit later and having time to really perfect the mascara. Always a good start to the day.
12. My routine morning friends totally bringing it with a classic Christmas episode of Boy Meets World. Ryan is not very chipper in the morning, so I find great compensation in spending quality time getting ready and excited for my day with Cory, Topanga, and Mr. Feeney.
11. My friends. Throughout the day, I had such meaningful, hilarious, and insightful conversations with six of my favorite friends, and it just blesses my heart something crazy that I have such incredible people in my life. (And none of those conversations were on the phone– as in talking on the phone but rather via text or Gmail chat which are my very much my preferred modes of communication. Text messaging for President!)
10. I finally SAW my baby girl move around! I’ve felt her, but never quite seen it like I did today, and it was glorious.
9. A picture of my most handsome nephew, Roman Henry.
8. Sitting in the hot car full of sunshine after work for the 7 minutes of free time I had this afternoon. I fear pregnancy might alter my obsession with baking in hot cars, so I am enjoying it while I still adore it.
7. Bible study with my mom and her friends that are becoming my friends. :) As mentioned here before, we’re doing Beth Moore’s study on Esther, and it’s totally rocking my Monday nights in a way that even The Bachelor can’t compete with, but in a way The Bachelor can compare to: King Xerxes, Coward of a King– coming to ABC this fall.
6. The reminder during our Bible study of the POWER in transparency. So thankful for women being brave to share their hearts with such confidence in the Lord’s provision.
5. Pizza Hut with Mom and Ramona. I just love those two and their friendship and the wisdom they dispense to me over really yummy salad, pizza, and Diet Cokes our waitress intermittently mingled over to refill.
4. A BRACELET FOUND!!!!!!! On Saturday, we had stopped by my parents’ house before heading to Rachel’s graduation party, and I had set my favorite anchor bracelet in my lap to have Ryan help me fasten before getting out of the car. Except I forgot to have him fasten it and got out of the car and due to the hugeness of my belly I couldn’t see that I dropped it. Upon realizing this later, I called my dad to check the driveway where he found some of Ryan’s headphones lol but not my favorite bracelet. Ryan gave me this handmade super special bracelet, and I was feeling sad about its disappearance this morning and trying to remind myself of the wisdom from one of my all-time favorite pastors (Pastor Hodges) in holding loosely to the things of this world. (I doubt he was talking about anchor bracelets from Etsy, but still.)
Anyway, I then even emailed Lynnette to make sure it wasn’t dropped somewhere at Rachel’s party and in an annoying amount of explanation (kind of like this #4 on my list right now lol) tried to explain to her where she could look near the curb of her in-laws’ house! She was so sweet to go look and recruited her family in the process, and even told me of a sailboat necklace of hers once being lost and then found, but I had just about given up hope when my dad calls and says HE FOUND IT!
In our driveway?!?! It had only been ran over a few times lol and it was still saveable, so I’m so excited to reunite with that precious peach tomorrow morning!
When I text Lynnette the good news, she replied:
“I had a positive feeling about it being found!!! Those nautical things have a way of turning up- like lost treasure.”
AHOY!
3. Speaking of nautical, my Shippmate text me while I was at Bible study to inform me of his valiant efforts in making something for our baby girl’s nursery! It was something I had just planned on us buying, but he had the idea for him to make it and his enthusiasm and motivation for the project for his daughter just really means a lot to me! You’re already a stellar dad, babe, and I just love you so much.
2. The most precious First Mother’s Day card from Amy and all of her kiddos. All of them signed it which was super sweet in and of itself, and Amy’s words just made me cry and feel so excited to be a mom all-in-one. AND with the Mother’s Day card was MY BABY SHOWER INVITATION!!! Perfection doesn’t even cover it– from the stamp to the design to the font to the wording, it was absolutely FABULOUS. I so appreciate every bit of that carside delivery this morning, Amy!
THE NUMBER ONE “MAKE MY DAY” MOMENT FROM MY MAY 13th….. topping a lost treasure sort of find and the sweetest Shippmate invitation and a Christmas episode of Boy Meets World…
1. To quote my favorite Devan Dignan, “Good thing lil Captain (this is him referring to my baby GIRL lol) won’t have to live in a world without Jack Bauer…”
Because look who I will be reuniting with Summer 2014:
AND FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, RYAN AND I WILL GET TO WATCH IN REAL TIME!!!!!
Thank you for all of you who text, emailed, and Facebooked me about this. Your recognition of my association with The Jack Bauer did not go unappreciated.