An Update & Beginning of Birthday-Palooza!

  Well, this is lovely. Since today is Wednesday, it is one of my "work" days. These days, I use the term "work" loosely because I'm not doing much of it. Since I'll be having another child soon, as well as switching jobs after she comes, I haven't taken on new clients in a while. This leaves me with an awkward schedule, where many Mondays and Wednesdays I see a couple of clients in the morning, have anywhere from a 3-5 hour lunch break, and then see a few people in the afternoon. At first I felt stressed about the lack of income that accompanies this sort of situation, but lately I've come to embrace the free time that it has afforded me.  Many days I go home and do housework or run errands while Liam enjoys the company of whichever grandmother he is with that day. Today, though, I'm giving myself a pretty awesome mommy day.

  Currently, I'm sipping an iced mint mocha at my favorite downtown coffee shop after perusing the nearby fabric shop and a few flea markets. In an hour I have a hair appointment ... you know, so that at least my hair can look nice as the rest of me continues to become more and more giant. It's nice to pretend to be able to control something :) Anyway, I'm also taking the next hour to try to get some blogs scheduled to post. We decided to turn off our home internet for the summer in order to save some money until I start working again in September. This wasn't my favorite decision ever, as I know I'm going to want to do lots of blogging about my darling baby girl, once she arrives, and about our transition to a family of four. So, I'm going to do my best to get blogs written on Word, so that whenever I get a chance to be somewhere with wireless, I can upload them and schedule them to be posted. My goal is to post blogs at least twice a week, until we get our internet back. We'll see how that goes. For the next few days, get ready for a deluge of Liam posts ... his birthday was last week, and I have a lot I want to write about; and more importantly, lots of precious pics.

  But for today, just a few of my favorite pictures from Liam's last couple of weeks as a one year old:

  This was taken one day when we had a spontaneous picnic at work with Daddy. The Lord has given us lots of opportunities for sweet family time and memory-making this spring, and I am so grateful. I can't wait to be making these memories with our little girl in the mix, but it has been so special to really soak up Liam's last months as an only child ... at least the only child we can see.

  A couple of weeks ago, Josh had the opportunity to spend a couple of days backpacking in the Buffalo River Valley with one of his best friends, Del. Del & his family are preparing to move from Arkansas to Washington, where Del will spend his residency as an ENT specialist; so I was so thankful that the guys got one more chance to adventure in the woods together before the Slonekers live so far away. These two guys became good friends in college, and I am continually grateful for their relationship. I am amazed at the godly men that the Lord has allowed as friends in my husband's life ... it is such a blessing that the people he enjoys spending time with the most are guys I am excited for him to be around. They truly do sharpen each other, and they have a lot of fun, too.  This visit was also special, because at the end of the man trip, Del's wife, Chelsea, and their son, Davis, came up to NWA and Liam and Davis got to meet one another for the first time.  Josh was SO excited last year, when he found out the Slonekers would be having a son, and I know these two guys can't wait for the father-son camping trips that will surely be in the future.

   Last week, Liam got to try out he & Cora's new ride, with his friend, Jane. Jane is the precious daughter of one of my very best friends, and when they came for a playdate recently, we tested out the double jogger when we strolled over to a nearby playground. Liam and Jane both have such gentle spirits that they seem to play together really well. He's only about 5 or 6 weeks older than she is, so it has been fun to watch them go from itty bitty to full-blown toddlers together. On this particular day, as Jane was busying herself with going down the slide, I noticed Liam, who was on the other side of the playground, sitting down with his hands folded and eyes scrunched shut. I overheard, "Jesus, gank you ..." before he realized I was watching him and became too shy to continue his little prayer. When I asked what he was thanking Jesus for, he simply said, "Jane." Precious. Wouldn't that be a great story to tell at a rehearsal dinner ... you know, if they were to get married? Don't tell either of them that I said that, though. That's a sure way to sabotage my plans :)

  The night before Liam's birthday was the Chick-fil-A Mother-Son Date Knight, and a couple of my girlfriends and I took our little guys for some dinner and pageantry (the employees were all dressed in midieval garb and the restaurant was decorated). I LOVE Chick-fil-A and the sweet families I know who operate them. I never cease to be impressed and thankful for the meaningful ways the stores give back to the community, and date knight was no exception. Liam was, of course, freaked out by the cow, but he was very excited to give high fives to the operator's sons, who were dressed up as knights & had swords; and he told me he thought the jester, who is another friend of ours, was "handsome"!

  We wrapped up his last night as a one year old with a family walk around our neighborhood. I guess Liam sensed that he is growing up, and decided that on this particular night, he should get to walk the dog. Don't worry, we waited until 80 pound Jack was good and worn out before we let Liam take the end of the leash, and gratefully his 15 feet of dog-walking did not end in being drug down the sidewalk. What a big man he is becoming!