Day-o-Mama

Mother's Day was the best this year. I've come to realize that for parents of smaller children, Mother's Day is kind of a 'make it' or 'break it' day for the dads, kind of like an anniversary in cognito. My husband clearly knocked it out of the park for 2008. He let me sleep in, gave me beautiful sunflowers, and made an adorable card that included a list of the little things I do for our boys under the title of "Not Unnoticed". John said double negatives were allowed when honoring a mom. He made an afternoon appointment for my mom and I to get massages, and he didn't care when I announced that I was not making dinner that night. (Not that he normally would, but it was still appreciated.) We had a great day as a family, and I felt completely honored as a mama. Thank you, John!!!!

Happy belated Mother's Day out there to all the mommies of the world, especially to our moms who mean the world to both of us. John and I speak often of our newfound appreciation and admiration to our own moms who devoted everything to us when we were small, and have bailed us out more times than we can count now that we're parents ourselves. We love you beyond expression!!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!


Mother's Day was also special because Finley Matthew had his baby dedication at church that day. Even though the ceremony itself was nothing formal, we were happy to publicly commit to raise our son under the guidance and instruction of the Lord, with the support of our church body and family. What a huge commitment to live out day to day, but it's about the most important one we can make!

Last week was so exciting for Jack because his Aunt Jackie came home from college! He was beside himself when she got to our house. In anticipation of her arrival, he picked out a special cookie for her at the local cookie store. It was so cute, and honestly, very unlike Jack to think of others, especially in a bakery!:) Jack had picked out a cookie for himself, and then he shouted and pointed to this flower smiley face cookie and screamed, "JACKIE!!!". I thought because we sometimes call Jack Jackie that he had realized that the flower smiley face cookie was much larger than his original choice and therefore a better pick for himself. But I was wrong. I picked up the big cookie and he mumbled something about Jackie coming home from school. Of course I bought the thing because it was a selfless act on Jack's part, which is not normal these days. He held the cookie on the way to the car as if it were the arc of the covenant. All day long he'd point to the box and tell me how it was Jackie's 'cake'.


Jack's personality blooms day by day. He's very into hygiene right now, which is good. Other mothers of teenage boys warm me of the 'funk' that will permeate my household one day. So for now, we'll greet each frequent bath and shower request with a smile.

Another one of Jack's favorite things right now is monsters. Yep. Monsters. He has a Sesame Street book where Grover warns us on every page that there's a monster at the end of the book, so don't turn the page. But of course you turn the page and at the end is lovable, furry old Grover who is the anticipated monster, but not the scary thing you were expecting. Anyway, he's started calling all of the golfers that come play behind our house, Monsters. "Good morning, Monsters!" is what he said two days ago when we jogged past a group in golf carts. He seems to like the thrill, but definitely on his own terms. When John or I try to initiate a monster play, he'll look at us like we're stupid and say, "There's no monsters." On this particular day a monster was anyone with a coat on their head.

Unfortunately Scout was not scared, but rather excited by the blue coat on Jack. If you know our dog and his affection for the color blue, then you know what happened next. Needless to say, Jack has not played monster games with Scout since.


***Fungus Among Us Update***
John went to MUSC on Monday for another follow up. They are very pleased with the improvement that they're seeing. The doctors backed off of the eye drop schedule to 4x/day instead of every 2 hours, and the best part is that he doesn't have to do the drops through the night! They reminded him of how 'lucky' he is that they caught this so quickly as all 12 of the other documented cases either lost their vision or their entire eye. Ew. We're not calling it luck, but a blessing from God. Thank you all for your continued prayers.

***Blog Overhaul Update**
The blog needed a new look. As of now, there are 5 people who like it and 2 that don't. We'll see...