Daddy's Boy

This morning I was cleaning out Jake's dresser drawer when I came upon a shirt I had forgotten all about!

It was his Steelers shirt!!

So, I was soo excited and ran into the family room to show Jake!  He was in there with Daddy watching t.v.

Mama to Jake "Jake, look at what I found!!"

Jake to Mama "WOW, MY FAVORITE STEELERS SHIRT!!"

Right then and there, I swear my husband was going to cry! 

He immediately put it on and insisted on wearing it all day, even though it was like 90 degrees here today!

The Steelers are his all-time favorite team and while, of course, we watch every game and always root for them, I truly had no idea that Jake knew who they were.

It was really, really awesome to hear him say that!!

Here are some pics:

My son, he's a stud!

Two Years Ago

You, my Sweet Caroline came into my life.  When I think about our time together in the hospital, tears come to my eyes.  Not sad tears. happy tears.  Oh how I loved having that one-on-one time with you and getting to really bond with you.  Something I definitely missed out with your brother & sister.

It was 11:30am when Dr. R proudly announced "IT'S A GIRL"!  We had kept your gender a secret for the whole pregnancy, which I might add, was the hardest thing ever and I don't even know why we did it!  Although, I knew in my hearts-of-hearts that you were my Sweet Caroline.  I think we all did :)  In fact, we hadn't decided on a boy's name!

You were absolutely beautiful!  I remember our first 'meeting' so vividly.  You instantly tried nursing off my nose!  You smelled so yummy and I couldn't get enough of you!  Your eyes, your lips, your long fingernails.  All of it, was beautiful.  I felt like the luckiest mommy in the whole world.

The time we spent together in the hospital was amazing.  Daddy had to take care of Grace & Jake, so that meant that you and I had lots of bonding time.  I am forever grateful for that time with you.  You were amazing from the first night with us.  Grammy stayed overnight with me while Daddy went home to take care of G&J and I remember when Grammy & I decided to go to sleep and catch the couple of hours sleep we could....we blinked and FIVE hours had passed!  On your first night, you slept FIVE hours straight!  Grammy & I panicked at first but then realized that you were just sleeping like a baby :) 

After that, you discovered how to nurse and you were a champ from day 1!  You nursed like it was going out of style!  The nurse would tell me to write down everytime you nursed.  So I did.  And before you knew it, I was writing every 20 mins!  No kidding!  Grammy & I use to laugh at that!  There wasn't much sleep to be had until we got out of the hospital, but I didn't care.  I loved being with you, awake or asleep!  In fact, I am POSITIVE that your first smile happened on your 4th day in the hospital.  I tried to get a picture of it, but wasn't 100% sucessful.  But these are pretty close.

You are soo very precious!

While in the hospital, your brother & sister did come and visit you but Grace was very unhappy that day and refused to have her picture taken.  But here is one with Jake.

Then before we knew it, you turned 1!  We of course threw you a birthday party and you were unbelievable cute that day.  You decided not to nap that day and rallied! 

And here we are.  You are now 2 years old and I honestly do not know where the time goes.  You are such a happy, joyous baby!  I constantly feel like I hit the lottery with you!  You are sooo smart.  You can count to 11; you have a fantastic vocabulary and speak in 3 word utterances!  You are amazing and I am honored to be your mommy.

I love you to the moon and back, my Sweet Caroline.

Kids say the darndest things!

So I thought I would start an ongoing post full of, as we call them, Grace-ism's!  She truly says the darndest things!  So, here's a couple to start and I will update this as new ones come out!

Dad to Caroline "You're so pretty, just like your sister Grace".  Grace looks over to Dad and says "She's not THAT pretty Dad".
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As I am scolding Grace for not listening, she puts her hand over her heart and says "This is my heart. God loves my heart.  Jesus loves me"
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Grace and her friend are having a picnic outside.  Her friend says "I want to have a picnic at your house.  Do you have a dog and a cat?".  Grace says "Yes, we have a dog and a cat".  Friend says "I don't like cats".  Grace says "Well I guess you're not coming to my house then".
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* Grace out of the blue comes over and says to me "I'm tired of being so pretty".
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She cracks me up!

Wordless Wednesday

Water Play!

A way to give back

I have joined Stella & Dot!  For those of you not familiar with them, check out this link!  Their jewelry is adorable and affordable!

So my thought is to introduce everyone I know to Stella & Dot so that you can get some rockin' pieces for yourself while helping out some incredible non-profit organizations at the same time!

But I also have a motive :)  A hefty portion of my proceeds with be donated to 3 charities that I wholeheartedly support.

The first charity that I plan on supporting is 'Friends of Maddie'.  This little girl changed my life.  She changed my whole way of thinking about life on this earth and how we should not take one day for granted.  Her parents started this non-profit to support families of critically ill babies by easing the transition into NICU life and providing an ally until the end of their child's hospital stay.

The second charity is the 'Layla Grace Children's Cancer Foundation'.  Another little girl who I fell in love with that lost her battle with cancer.  Her parents are determined not to have her death be in vain and have started the non-profit to help raise funds in stopping cancer!

The third charity is 'St. Baldrick's'.  This is an amazing organization that, thus far, has raised $20million, that's right....MILLION, in the fight against childhood cancer!  I am in awe of all they do to help eradicate this nasty disease.

So, won't you help me by ordering some beautiful jewelry??  Just think, everytime you put on a piece of jewelry that you ordered from my website...you will have helped in the fight against cancer!!

Here's the link to my website.  Happy shopping and thanks for helping!

It's one of those days

It's one of those days where the tears will not stop flowing.  As much as I try to pull myself together, it is just not happening.

Maybe I am hypersensitive??  Why do I feel so alone in my mourning??  I feel like I am the only person out there that mourns these babies that pass as if I knew them personally.  Is that soo crazy?  Definitely a question for my shrink!

All I can think about are these mom's that are having to witness their child's last breath on this earth and wonder how does one move forward after that.  And yet they do with strength and grace that I did not know existed on this planet.  I am in awe of their faith and their will to go on.

To the Potvin's, there are no words that I can give you that will comfort during this time.  Just please know that my heart is heavy with sorrow for your loss.   I am soo deeply sorry for your loss.

For those interested, here is the to the Ellie's CaringBridge website: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/elliepotvin

God bless you all Potvin Family.

Starlight, Starbright

For my babies ~ you have made every wish come true and I am the luckiest mama on the planet!

Lyrics by Nicolette Larson

baby i am here

baby i am here

never thought that in a million years

never thought that you would come to me

you're the answers to a million prayers

you're the apple of my eye

i can hear you breathing next to me

just how lucky can one person be?

i am looking at a mystery

everything i dream, more than i can wish for

starlight, starbrigt, all day all night

i will be right next to you

here forever, i will never leave, i will never leave

baby you're my little ray of light

i could fin you in the darkest nights

if you cry then i will hold you tight

never letting go, i would do that for you.

starlight, starbright, all day all night

i will be right next to you

here forever, i will never leave, i will never leave

baby i am here

baby i am here

starlight starbright, all day all night

i will be right next to you

here forever, i will never leave, i will never leave