The last time...

I go to MOPS every 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month. If you're not familiar with MOPS, it's an organization for moms and it stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. The meetings usually consist of mothers getting together for prayer, sharing breakfast, talking about "mom-stuff", making crafts and then we have different speakers that talk about everything from keeping your child safe around pools to how to pray with purpose for your children. To be honest, I had been a little disheartened with the our speakers over the last few meetings and I wasn't looking forward to going this past month. But I hadn't been to a meeting in a couple of weeks so I thought I would give it another try. When the woman got up and starting speaking I felt myself tuning out....again.
Then she started to talk about her own son.

She talked about how she felt when her son was young and how she looked so forward to each one of his milestones. When he was first born, she couldn't wait until he smiled, when he was 6 mo old, she couldn't wait until he crawled, then walked, then talked. And before she knew it, she was standing in her kitchen talking to her 17 year old son that was almost a foot taller than her about which college he was going to attend in the fall. She then went on to say that during that conversation with her son, her mind began to wander back over the last 17 years. She couldn't believe how quickly it had all passed. Then she had an idea.

She told her son to sit on the countertop. She approached him and told him to wrap his arms around her. She also wrapped her arms around him and then attempted to carry him across the kitchen! As she stumbled back and forth, almost losing her balance several times she managed to get him back on the countertop without a scratch on either one of them. When he was finally able to stop laughing, he asked her what that was all about.
She simply responded, "Now I'll never forget the last time I held you."

When I picked Kaleb up from the nursery that day, he was asleep on a woman's shoulder. I quickly tried to remember the last time he had fallen asleep on me.
I couldn't.

I took that woman's story to heart and since that day I have tried to slow down. I've tried to enjoy my little boy because I know I will blink my eyes and he will be my big boy.

Two days after that MOPS meeting Kaleb came down with a cold and developed an ear infection. Since he had trouble sleeping, I put him on my chest and laid on the couch. He slept on me for almost 3 hours. Even though I never like to see my baby sick, I kind of feel like God gave me that little gift.

It was wonderful.
And I will never forget it.

The last month in pictures

We have been a busy bunch in October...K and I went to Texas, I went on an all-day/all-night girls only extravaganza for my girlfriend Ashley's 30th birthday and then we have had Halloween parties and of course, Kaleb's first time at trick-or-treating!!
Here are the pics from it all...


Kaleb met this girl at my friend, Karie's wedding. It was the most adorable thing to see the way they looked at each other. They didn't know what to do so they just stood next to each other and smiled until we made them hug-so cute!!


Kaleb with Lyndi and my Dad(not pictured is Bella, their dog that K refers to as Bay-ya!)


K with my Mom


K with my brother Ross and SIL Ashley


K with my Papa, they really liked being around each other!!


Ash's 30th Birthday!! (She was still in the bathroom getting ready!)
Kim, Stephanie, Heather, Me, Julie and Liz


Ash and I at Su Vino


Liz and I thinkin' we're sassy


Alf and our Monk!!




Trick Or Treat!!

HANK!!

Kaleb and I headed to Texas to meet my new nephew and his new cousin, HANK! We were so excited to meet him and he did not disappoint! He is such a sweet, cuddly little guy and I loved getting to babysit him while I was there! I have several photos to download from our trip (which I have yet to do) but here are a couple I took on my iPhone. Isn't he the sweetest?

Kaleb's Quirks

Kaleb has been picking up new words everyday it seems.
I promised I would write them down so I figure blogging about them is basically "writing" them down, right?
It's crazy how he went from just grunting and pointing a few months ago to repeating a lot of what I say now almost verbatim. I have to choose my words very carefully ;-)
Here are some of the cute things he says and does....(I will type in phonics so you get the idea of his baby voice, I love it!!)

He points to the cereal box and says see-we-all.
In the bath he says bub-ews.
He points to his golf clubs and says gock-kuvs or just gock.
When he hears the refrigerator make noises he yells, ice!!
He loves avocados and calls them cados.
He will take out a spatula and a frying pan and yell cook, cook!!
He will take clothes to the laundry room if I ask him to and he will say dew-tee (dirty) and smell it and say shew!! (my favorite!)
If he sees ANYTHING that is not his toys on the floor, he will yell EWWW! until I pick it up. If it is dark-colored, it's always EWWW POOP!! (he got that from playing golf in our backyard with Daddy and finding dog poop in the grass, yum!)
If he sees a dog, he calls it a ruf!
Helicopters are cop-taws.
If our dog Oli barks, he puts a finger in his face and says Hush! (that one is my fault!)
Any guy he sees playing golf is Hi-ga (Tiger).
When he likes something a lot he yells Cooo!! for cool.
Alf and I will say Holla! and he yells back How-wa!
Everytime we leave the house he walks over to where the dogs are and says Dye-Dye! and waves bye to them.

He is just so much fun...I have to say I love this age! We definitely have our challenges here and there but he makes me smile everyday.
How can you NOT smile at this face??

Oh I almost forgot!

I have been meaning to post this on my blog for awhile for those of you that are not on Facebook!! I really still can't believe that I captured this on video considering he hasn't done this since and in fact, we just put away his putting green yesterday. :-( Don't get me wrong, Kaleb still loves golf but he would rather smash the ball across the room than waste his time on putting. I have a sneaky suspicion we will have to replace our glass sliding doors at some point.

Palm Springs

It's been weeks since I have blogged so I need to get my blog on....
We went to Palm Springs with our friends Chris and Janae at the beginning of the month and although it was a little different than our previous trip out there (considering we now have a 19 mo old son and they have 6 mo old twins!) we still had a good time. I'm so upset I wasn't able to capture a pic of the whole motley crew but these pics will have to do....

Kaleb and Brayden

Me and Kinsley

All the boys

Daddy and Kaleb

Mommy and Kaleb

Da Limongelli clan

Quote

I feel the need to blog about a quote I heard yesterday b/c well, it deeply touched my soul and it got me thinking about a lot and you just can't let things like that go by without recognizing them, right?

"God determines who walks into your life....It's up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go."

It seems like such a simple statement, so matter-of-fact. To me, it's anything but simple...
There is so much pain, loss, but most of all, joy written in between those words. I have had many people walk away from me. And I, too, have made that choice at times. Those times are gone and I have to trust that I am exactly where I am meant to be.

The people you let stay are a blessing to your life, the ones you look forward to seeing and spending time with and if they were gone, you would miss them greatly.

But then there are those that you fight for and you will never stop fighting for no matter what. Those you ache for, you pray for. Those you get excited for when the garage door opens. Those you can't wait for them to wake up so you can kiss their face and tell them good morning. Those you kiss goodnight and wish them sweet dreams. Those you dance crazy with and laugh with. Those you get angry with and make up with.
Those you cry with and they hold you and tell you that they love you and suddenly you can breathe again...

To my husband of 7 years....thank you for being all of these things and refusing to let go when I almost let go of you. I promise to hold on tight from now on. I love you in a way that I never knew I was capable of loving. Pure, forgiving and deep. Thank you for teaching me that.

To my baby boy of 18 months (I can't believe it!)...thank you for being the light in my everyday. Your laugh makes the world good again. Your hugs and kisses are the very essence of grace, of innocence and of love. Thank you for trusting me and loving me with all of your being.

My favorite boys in the whole world. I will forever "refuse to let go..."