Yesterday was my birthday. I woke up expecting a card and maybe a gift.  What I got was SO much better.  I did get a card (with a wonderfully-thoughtful handwritten note of appreciation and love from The Husband--there may have been a few tears when I read it later), and he gave me a French vanilla frappucino and some pastries he'd picked up on the way home from work.    But what he told me as he gave me those things was pretty darn amazing:  while I took Oliver to the doctor, he and the children would be cleaning the house. And they did. He continued cleaning well into the afternoon while the kids and I played outside. We ordered take-out from Cheddars and had a quiet dinner together as a family at home.    The reason he chose to clean on my birthday was so that today, when he took Jack and Ella on errands and fun adventures, he didn't want me to have to clean. He wanted me to do whatever I wanted. So I did! While Oliver slept, I took a ...

This cutie pie turned two months old a few days ago, but I wanted to wait until his check-up today to post this.   His pediatrician thinks that there might still be a slight hernia, but now he thinks there's also a hydrocele there, as well. We're going to be scheduling an appointment with a pediatric surgeon to look things over and decide whether surgery is necessary.  Everything else looks good. All the folks checking him over today remarked on how alert and calm he was. His eyes are still very blue (yay!), and he has a sweetness about him that is so endearing.  The appointment was VERY long, but I got some great shots of us :)       We 💙 this boy so very much. 

Happy Valentine's Day ❤😘💖 from Jack 💚   and Ella ❤️   and Oliver 💙   You are loved.   

Those of you who have known me for any length of time know that I have a deep love of children's books. It is very difficult for me to pass up a children's book that is lovely or is well-written.   Our home is filled with old and new books for little ones, and we even have boxes of them upstairs and in the garage.   We have several that we read over and over, and Jack knows many by heart.    I found this out recently when I was reading a book to them before bed one night, and in my slightly sleep-deprived state, I left off a word. One word. And Jack said, "Mommy, you forgot to say..." I can't tell you the word because I'm slightly sleep-deprived right now, but he knew it, and he was right.   Besides knowing Jesus and living in a way that pleases Him (we LOVE that storybook Bible 👆👆👆), my greatest desire for my children is to love books as much, if not more, than I do. And so far they do. They love to be read to, and they both enjoy looking a...