Mother's Day & Baby Dedication

Yesterday was Mother's Day and also Belle's baby dedication! She did so good sitting in 'big church' (Jackson, too!) and she was, of course, the cutest little baby of them all!

Presenting Belle before the church

Kneeling as we prayed for guidance and strength to raise Belle in a loving, Christian home

 Look at this beauty! She's holding the gifts she received at the dedication: a flower and Bible

I wanted a cute picture of me with my kiddos. I'm not loving this pic, but it's the best I've got. Jackson sure is super handsome!

Jackson was giving me a kiss- how sweet! I just had to include it- look at Belle's headband. Ha. Poor thing. She didn't even say a word about it!

My day started yesterday with an "Iwuvyou" from Jackson, along with a card and DVD. He was so excited to tell me about how he drew in the card! Derek cleaned my car earlier this week as a Mother's Day gift and I was also treated to shopping time ALONE over the weekend! It was nice to have some me-time, but I couldn't wait to get back to the family. Belle even took part in the gift giving by going to bed without episodes of crying and sleeping all night in her basinette!

I just love, love, love being a Mommy. Even on the days when my favorite jeans get covered in poop and snot well before 10am (like last Tuesday) or when I'm just super tired from getting up a bajillion times for feedings, diaper changes, bad dreams- motherhood is so much more rewarding than I ever expected. I am having a blast taking Jackson to do fun things and watching him grow into such a smart little boy and I could soak up Belle's gummy grins just all day.

And of course, Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mom and to my Mother-in-Law, too! Linda has treated me like a daughter since I first started dating her son- we like to shop, chat, and pedicures. I am so blessed to have such great women to be Grandma's to my children!!

MOPS

I wrote this post yesterday with the intention of posting it last night, but my internet was down so it had to wait until this morning.

It's no secret that I despise practically all things cleaning, so it's completely ironic that my new favorite activity is titled MOPS. It actually stands for Mothers of Preschoolers and it's a community of moms that meet a couple times a month. There are groups all across the country and it wasn't until I had a friend mention MOPS on facebook that it even dawned on me to look and find a place close to me!

There was a meet-and-greet activity on Monday night and our first meeting was this morning. I love making new friends, especially ones who have a similar goals of raising their kids in a Godly home! Plus, there is yummy food. I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know the ladies more and making new friends.

One of Jackson's favorite things to do these days is to jump from the fireplace onto his little couch. This is what he was doing as I was preparing to leave... only he missed and instead of landing on the cushy part, he landed face first onto the plastic armrest. He had a nice goose egg as he walked into his class and the poor guy couldn't really open his eye all the way.

In other non-related news, I went to my 16 week check up yesterday and I actually lost two pounds, which still puts me at negative total weight gain. Interesting.

We have had just a crazy, busy week. I haven't even had the chance to write Derek a letter for three days-- a first since he left almost two months ago! Jackson and I haven't spent a lot of good one-on-one time together, but while we were eating dinner at church tonight, he insisted on having his arm around my back while we both ate for the entire meal. It was a hassle, for sure, but it was the sweetest thing ever. He would pat my back, lean over to give me kisses (without even being asked) and was just full of love. I was in mommy heaven!!