BOY!!!
Brad and I were able to go in for my ultrasound this morning which is always fun! It was amazing to see how much the little guy had grown. He is measuring ahead just like his big sister did at this point. I think that we are going to have another big baby on the way. It was such a sweet gift to know that he is well and healthy in there. It seems like everyone knew/thought that it was a boy except for me just call it mother’s instinct! I am so excited for the little guy! I am also excited to dress him like his DaDa (khakis and a button down) it will be too cute!!! My “morning sickness” had taken a little break (throwing up just once a week) but I have been sick a lot more lately. Whats with that!!! We are quite excited to welcome this little one into the world! I am sure that Charis is quite interested in seeing exactly what a Cai (Micaiah) is as well.

“Praise the Lord. I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord: they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.”
Psalm 111:1-4

Charis is getting to the age where people will give her stickers be it at the grocery store, in a card etc. She cannot fully appreciate stickers yet but this started my mommy mind rolling back to my childhood days of stickers. Back in the day we had good ole’ sticker books/albums. The pages were kind of glossy so that you could stick you sticker to the page and still use it later. I think that the plastic puffy stickers were probably my favorite. I had a good set of puffy Care Bear stickers. Oh, they were so cool! My second favorite set was of Snoopy stickers that were scratch and sniff with the Root Beer smell! You know Snoopy and Root Beer!? My whole sticker book smelled like Root Beer it was odd but pretty cool I must admit! I also had books that came with stickers and you could place the stickers where they went through out the book. Those were so neat-o! I spent hours with all these stickers and had a blast trading them with friends (although I would not trade my Root Beer Snoopy’s or Puffy Care Bears). The simplicity of childhood!

It has been odd to me how many people comment when Charis wears pink. I am talking total strangers here just when we are out and about. In my mind I have often thought that little girls wear pink. I am sure this is a stereotype but hey go to the store and check out the little girls clothing and a vast majority of it is pink. Charis does own clothing that is not pink but anytime that I dress her in a pink outfit someone will make a comment. I am not even talking head to toe pink. For instance tonight she had on a pair of leggings with blue, pink and white stripes and a pink turtle neck and of course a pink bow. She did have on white tennis shoes with pink flowers but you try to buy girls tennis shoes without some form of pink on it. We were eating at dinner together as a family at ABC and a lady at a nearby table struck up a (one way) conversation with Charis (Charis is not fond of strangers). She kept asking her if she liked pink and told her all the pieces of clothing that she had pink on. Now if this was the first time I would just chalk it up to random conversations with total strangers but there have been at least four or five other times when strangers have mentioned Charis wearing pink one person even said, “Wow, that is a lot of pink”. I just had to share this odd thing. I say Charis looks cute in pink and even though I have heard rumors that green is the new pink someone needs to tell the clothing designers.

One of my favorite places as a child was in my Granny’s jewelery. There you could find a ring for every finger and a ring for every toe and you were sure to make music wherever you went with all the necklaces dangling from your neck. My mom, aunts and uncle have finished the cleaning/sorting out of my Granny’s house and mom brought much of the jewelry home with her. She recently brought it over so that I could “play” for just a little bit. When I was little my Granny kept her jewelry in the middle drawer of her dresser and then there was a jewelry box as well on top of the dresser I would spend hours adorning myself and letting my mind wander to other times and places. Her fake diamond rings would send me pretending and daydreaming about my wedding then her rings with stones would find me dreaming that I was at an elegant party and on and on the list goes through necklaces and clip on earrings as well as broaches. Now my Granny’s jewelry is kept in a fishing tackle box which is odd but I think that she found it easier to sort through as she got older and her Multiple Sclerosis began to consumer her hands. I cannot explain the emotions that came over me as I journeyed through the box. There were tears and there was laughter. I had given my mom a bad time as she babysat the night before and we came home to find her adorned in jewelry but you cannot go through the box without playing dress up. It is impossible I decided! Many of the rings fit my fingers perfectly now without falling off as they did when I was a child. The broaches were just as beautiful as always and they even brought small daydreams. Placing the necklaces over my head I heard the clank clank as the necklace got caught on my glasses. The same sound was made as my Granny would be getting dressed and putting on her jewelry as the necklaces passed her glasses. Once around my neck the necklaces gave off the fragrance of my Granny which which smelled of her chewing gum. She could always be found chewing a stick of gum. The tears rolled as I smelled the smell and felt her cold jewelry around my neck. I longed for one last hug and touch. It was precious to me to see these pieces that I have not seen in years and to know that they would be at my mom’s house for Charis to find and treasure someday.