Half-eaten cakes and Heart-shaped rocks

Dear baby,

So much has happened since I last wrote that it seems a lost cause to catch up on everything, but I'd like to try and catch some of the highlights.  For one thing, your daddy celebrated his first Father's Day.  He got a ton of texts and Facebook wishes--all full of congratulations. 

I made him a Father's Day cake... but it may have been missing a few pieces by the time it got to him... oops!

We got the yard ready for my birthday party, and it looks a lot better.

The morning of my party, I woke up to find one of our trees had bloomed for the first time.  Talk about a thoughtful gift from God.

Your dad bought me a Wii for which I had been pining and my party guests gave about $500 bucks towards my camera and equipment, but I'd have to say the most wonderful thing that happened that day was Stephen surprising me by coming down from Lincoln, NE for my birthday party.  The morning after Dad treated us all, including Brendon and Kristine, to breakfast at the Magnolia Diner:

Stephen stayed for a whole week (yay!) and we all went to see the new Transformers movie in 3D at the IMAX.  That following weekend your dad and I went to New Braunfels for Fourth of July weekend.  On our way up there, I was distressed to discover that I had paid $1000 towards my student loan via online bill pay instead of my usual $100.  What a difference a zero makes!!  And they wouldn't refund the money of course.  :-(  That was a downer for the weekend but at least we had the money (barely).  Of course, it wiped out our  meager savings that I had been counting on for your baby room stuff and the wedding anniversary trip, but still.  I guess you can look at it that we're just that much closer to being debt free.  There were no fireworks due to the droughts (this year we broke a record for the most counties with a burn ban within the state) but we had fun regardless.

 

Your dad found this while skipping rocks at the Guadalupe and brought it to me... I thought it terribly sweet!

This past Wednesday I met up with Kristi and we went to Babies 'R Us to get registered.  I am so relieved I had her help.. I would have been so lost without her.  Now, my Aunt Cindy can quit asking when/where I'm registered, haha.  It's done!  :-)   It's still difficult to imagine that a baby, OUR baby,.. YOU will be actually using all this stuff.  

Now, this weekend we're finally catching our breath.  Not for long, though. Next weekend is your dad's birthday and then I'm trying to plan something nice for our big 10th wedding anniversary next month.  It's a busy year!

Changes are always going on in the world around us too.  Yesterday the shuttle Atlantis blasted off into space, marking "the end of the three-decade U.S. shuttle program and a fundamental shift in focus for NASA."  It brought back memories of my dad taking me to NASA when I was little.

And, while you have been incubating, the world map has been forever changed, for South Sudan became its own country as of midnight last night. 

Change--it's inevitable.  Things grow, they age, they die, and other things take their place.  But one thing I know, the change that's coming with you being added to our family is one I look forward to.

Love you,

Mama