Mother's Day...

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Mother's Day... man I wish every day was Mother's Day... if you asked Blake he would say it is... HE HE HE.. we had a good day started out with church, had some lunch at home, we all took a nap (which is rare for me), then we all headed to chilli's (bc my friend at church mentioned the skillet queso and then it was stuck in my head), then for my treat for the day we got to go grocery shopping at Tanglin Mall which I never do bc the milk is like $15 and jello is $16 and they have tons of organic good stuff... I really wanted to go bc they have Grand's Cinnamon Rolls and Crescent Rolls... they were out of Cinnamon rolls but we got some other good stuff and walked out with 3 small bags for over $100... yikes but a memorable mother's day...

The best part was when I put Pierce to bed... we kissed daddy good night and Pierce and I had some alone time... he wanted me to sing him his song "Pierce my ear" so I did and then he wanted it again and again... so while he has his head on my shoulder and I sing it like 5 times... we started to pray... I thanked God for Pierce and the blessing is he is to daddy and I... and then Pierce said Amen (which got me all teary eyed) but then the next part was the best... I said "I love you Pierce", he said "I love you too", I said "you will always be my baby" and he said "no, I will always be your big boy"... lets just say I kissed him and lied him down and lost it... came outside and Blake looked at me and I lost it again... happy tears of course... I am so thankful for my family... This was my 4th mother's day and they keep getting better and better...
These pics were taken before church... our special tradition..

During church Pierce made me a flower in Sunday school (the one he is holding) and the church passed out flowers to all the moms (the one I am holding).

Can't miss out on taking a picture of my two favorite boys...

A special Mother's Day shout out to all the moms in my life... ViVi, Nana, and Grandma we love you so much....

It's time for BOO's not POO's...

Well most of you have barred with me for several weeks now as I show you the happy times in Singapore with loved ones... and yes there are many but I want to spend a little time today talking about parenting and the times when you just don't know what to do.

Sometimes as moms we share the great things about our children... all the praises... all the blessings... all the great times... and we (I) fail to be authentic at times and share how hard it is to be a parent at times...

Now don't get me wrong (a little disclaimer)... I feel truly blessed to be a mom and we all should be but lets not act like it is NOT the most difficult job we have ever done... I am in a MOPS group here in Singapore and that is one of the things we are learning to do... to live on Planet MOM and part of that is learning true authenticity with our friends, husbands and children... so here I am being authentic with you.

I am sure we could all share a moment in our life with our child(ren) that was just really HARD... and this one might not seem like a big deal to some of you but it is starting to totally rock my world...and just pure GROTESQUE... (of course all of this is written light heartedly)

MY SON likes his poo... yes I mean poo poo... (I have to give you a visual but it is fake)

He will go poo in the potty at times but he loves to store up and "crap" in his bed and then play in it... am I grossing you out yet...

Well there have been many days that I have walked in his room and found pellets of poo everywhere and then spent the next hour scrubbing his bed, his room, his toys, and him... but yesterday (thankfully Blake was home)... I went to his room to find him smiling with so much pride... and poo poo was everywhere... the worst yet... and then I took a closer look and found little reminisces around his mouth... I then asked him if he ate his poo poo and he said...

YES

Can you believe it... what would posses a child to do such a thing... I spent the next hour cleaning... Blake (after giving Pierce a bath and brushing his teeth) spent the next 30 min on-line to see what we needed to do (medically)... and Pierce spend the next 30 min. in time out (after getting two spankings)...

After all that time we had a talk with Pierce and I told him that mommy was very disappointed and that I was going to need some time... I was not in the mood after scrubbing poo for an hour (I did not tell him that part)...

So I am coming to you as a mom without any idea of what to do about this... any suggestions... I have looked on line and nothing really concrete... just boys will be boys... but lets face it this is very gross... and I need it to stop...

So mom to mom... any suggestions?

Yes... what a sweet face... looks so innocent... love him though... even in his mischief.

Little Gym and Hair Cut (in FTW)!

Organized playtime is way overrated for my 2 year old... does anyone else feel this way? While in FTW my mom and I took Pierce to the "Little Gym" and wow... was I tired after it was over... Pierce did Gymboree when he was an infant but this whole thing where a teacher is singing baby songs and asks all the mothers to grab their little ones to sit on the happy wall for a minute while she gets this huge parachute rainbow thing out and does not want any children running around for their safety... is for the birds... and then we are suppose to set our children on a balance beam (about 5 children) and have them sit there and play nice and then hang them up side down for a "wheelbarrow" stance... you have got to be kidding... my son only wanted to run around the entire time... most of the kids were younger than him but there was one boy about 2.5 years of age that just ran around with him... they had a good time but I was breaking a sweat trying to keep up with him and try to act like Pierce never acted this way (but that was fake... who am I kidding he always acts like this).... My mom had a good time watching the show and got a bunch of pictures.... enjoy.

Chasing... come back here... see all the other kids sitting on the parachute... my kid running crazy.

This was the best part... he loved turning upside down on the uneven bars. For the record this was the only time that I got him to sit down (on my legs while bouncing him up and down)... we even had to sit in time out during the 45 minute "organized play time".... does anyone else have them problems?

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We also got our haircut in FTW... wow look at this set up.... he loved sitting in the car while watching cars and sucking on a sucker.... smart idea.

And if that was not enough... he got to play with a HUGE train set afterwards... heaven for my 2 year old.

CAPTAIN PIERCE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY!

I just can not believe that our little man is 2... oh how I love this little man.
The cutest little Pilot in the world.

So cute... this was actually taken after the party, after a nap and he wanted to get all dressed up again and go and sit on the run way.

Playing with his airplanes.

He just would not put down the planes...


Just some of his friends that were at the party.

During the party I had everyone that wanted to participate make parachute jumpers and then we had a contest... who ever had the longest air time won... it was a great game and lots of fun.

Such a cute picture.. Pierce has recently found his nostrils and loves to play with/in them.

Sweet Avery.

Cutest little prego lady at the party.... by BFF Shelly.

ViVi and her sisters.

Pierce picking up all the parachutes... he could have done this all day.. pick up and launch... pick up and launch.

Sweet Brooklyn.

After lunch, parachute race, fellowship...it was time to open presents... Pierce was a little overwhelmed... he would open a present and then want to play with it... he has not learn the art of opening all the presents and then playing.

After his nap we had to play with the airplane geotrax toy... so cool.

After playing the boys went and watched a movie outside... does someone look tuckered?

I had to get a picture with my little handsome man...

Then we had to look at the all the stars and the moon before bed... another favorite thing Pierce likes to do...


"HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAPTAIN PIERCE" ... thanks to everyone who came the party... we had so much fun and look forward to year 3.

A shout out to my mother and all the other mothers reading this!

The 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.'

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice 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 Janice 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: 'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.' In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story 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, Charlotte . 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, 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.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. 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 daughter to tell the friend she'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 three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want her to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to her friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot see 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 women.

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Thank You Mom and to all the mom's that are invisible women... your sacrifices are not unnoticed.