Pregnancy Q and A

The pink and white striped shirt I'm wearing in this picture? $4.50 at Target. ***Cue Halleluiah Chorus***

I'm sure most of you don't know this, but being pregnant requires some PR skills. Skillz that I do not possess.

Weird, right? But the questions and attention that come from people when you're pregnant...I AM SO BAD AT THIS KIND OF CONVERSATION. Did this happen to any of you other mom's the first time around?!

These are questions I'm asked daily, and the answers people get...and I'm not annoyed at anyone here! These are very sweet questions and I am just a terrible because I HAVE NO GOOD ANSWERS. What a worthless Journalism Minor I have.


"How are you feeling?!"
"I feel fine!" said with a smile.

And that's it. I don't know if people are expecting me to complain or mention something that is bothering me, but I'm not kidding...I literally feel fine. Just fine, all the time. People asked me this all weekend, at church, at the dentist, even strangers at the baby consignment store. My ribs hurt a little but it's nothing that has prohibited me from sleeping for 8+ hours each night or painting closets or putting shelves together...so it's hardly worth mentioning. So that's it...I feel...fine.


"Are you excited?!"
"Yea." also said with a smile.

This simple answer comes off as the opposite of excited, and I realize that. But I don't know how to 'fix' it. I also feel like it's a loaded question, because in the split second I have to think about something cute and mom-ish to say, I'm thinking about labor and diapers and being a slave to an eating/sleeping schedule for months years. And let's all be real...is anyone really excited for that part? I also don't want to sound stupid and naïve like I don't know those things are coming...allowing a condescending response that usually goes something like this, "You just have no idea what's coming!" Yes, actually I do. So I've simplified my answers.


"Is it a boy or a girl?!"
"It's a boy." + smile.

Again with the simple answers. What do other women say to this? It's kind of just a basic question and answer, but everyone always expects me to elaborate...and...I have nothing to elaborate on because this our first baby and our first boy and...that's it. It's a boy. I'm buying boy clothes. Trallaahalaala. ***awkward silence***


"Is your husband excited?!"
"Yea. He is." + stressed smile.

Josh is working 90 hours a week. The only thing that really 'excites' us these days is when our equipment and employees make it through an entire day without something breaking. We're in BLC-mode and that is certainly not going to change when August 28th  (give or take a few weeks) comes. Everyone keeps telling me, "He'll have to slow down once the baby comes!" and, "He'll want to be at home and work less once the baby comes!" You think the grass will stop growing in August just because Maverick Boersma has entered the world? That's cute...I'll make sure to refer all of our irate customers to you for answers when Josh becomes a father and 'slows down.'

I am getting BLC onesies printed (and paying for them with the business card because...MARKETING EXPENSE!) and those will be just...absolutely adorable. I can't.


"Is he kicking a lot?!?"
"Yea."

People wait for me to say more...but how does someone expound on this? He kicks. It's whatever. Honestly, it's not as exciting as everyone seems to think it is? I keep waiting for this 'moment' where all of this will feel 'real' and I'll get that 'I'm a mom feeling,' and I gotta be honest. I got nothing. He's rolling and flipping and moving pretty much all the time...so. Yea. I'm pretty sure the magical mom moment won't hit me until he's HERE and sleeping in the room I've decorated. And I'm totally fine with that.


"Look at these pictures/video of this baby!"
"Umm. Ok."

I'm probably the worlds-worst-soon-to-be-mother...but I really don't care. I don't even care a whole lot about looking at baby pictures of family and friends on Facebook, to be honest. I think people are expecting some sort of adorable mother-y reaction...but I can never quite summon one. It's terrible. Yes we're having a baby, but I'm not really a 'baby person.' What's weird is I used to be...but sometime in the past five years I became completely indifferent about babies. I don't like them I don't not like them...I'm just indifferent about them.

I know, I know, 'it will be different when the baby in the picture is 'ours.'' But for the next 10 weeks, we're still childless and plan to LIVE IT UP as such.


"Pregnancy looks good on you!"
Awkward shrug and smile, "Oh stop. Thanks."

This is very sweet, but I am terrible at handling these comments gracefully. I've always loved attention, but 'pregnant attention' is...different. Not bad different...just different. A couple weeks ago Baba (a realtor at our office) yelled to me in the parking lot, "Mollie. You look beautiful." It sort of made my day. But it was random. No less than four employees at Van Wall ask me if I need help with something during my trip from the front to the back of the store. The employees at Schaffer's have been like this too! They have always been sweet, but lately when I ask for ridiculous things (ie: "Could you unhook my key from the key ring so I don't ruin my nails?") it's consistently met with laughter and a smile. I'm sort of loving it, but it's also confusing.


So...yea. So summarize, I'm the worst at pregnant conversation. Let's just talk about something else the next time we see each other. LIKE HOW MY FRONT DOOR IS HOT PINK.

I would like to note...after my last blog post I have an almost EXACT 50/50 response to the C-section conversation I posted. I'm thinking about starting to document it because everyone I talk to has a different opinion and it's fascinating. I'm sort of loving it. It's almost like a game to see the different reasons people preferred what they preferred and I have to say...if Maverick keeps his head in the right-side of my ribs for much longer...a scheduled C-section it will be!

MmB

Pregnancy Quotes by Josh and Mollie: Part I

Note: Please read the following with a HEAVY DOSE OF SARCASM.


"Why does Maverick get a better room than me? I want to sleep in here. How much weight can this crib hold?" - Josh

"I think it's important we plan his Halloween costumes. This year he will be a baby raccoon. Next year he can be the 'Western Maverick' with the cowboy boots from Erryn and Sean. Then the year after that he can be the 'Top Gun Maverick' because I already have a GAP army jacket and aviators." -Mollie
"Okay good. I'm glad we have the important stuff nailed down." - Josh

***Referring to the 3D picture that was taken during my 9th ultrasound yesterday***
"This picture creeps me out but I thought you would like to see it." -Mollie
"You're going to be such a good mom." - Josh

"I think we should just have Winston come and do your C-Section if you have to have one." -Josh
"I would totally let Winston perform a C-Section for me." - Mollie

"I think at the very least we need to have Winston there to hold your hand." -Mollie
"Good idea." - Josh

"Get your iPad off his face! He doesn't like that! How would you like an iPad crushing your face?!" -Josh

"Something weird happened today that I need to tell you about...I ate a banana." - Mollie
***For those of you who know about my habitual aversion to bananas...this was very interesting news***

"The construction at the hospital is so stupid...we can literally walk to the hospital faster than the time it would take to get in the car and drive and find parking. Plus, once you get to the hospital to have a baby, you just do more walking anyway." -Mollie
"You're right. We're totally walking there." -Josh

"He kicked a lot at the ultrasound today." -Mollie
"Why?? It sounds like he's struggling and he's not comfortable and he wants out." -Josh

"You look very flowy today." -Josh
***This is what Josh says whenever I wear the kimono/cardigan I wore for our pictures***

"This room is awesome. Are we just going to be a one and done family so we can keep it this way?" -Josh

"I'm praying he doesn't have the Boersma nose. But in this ultrasound picture it looks like his nose is huge." -Mollie
"YOU'RE SO MEAN." -Josh

"I think I would like to have a C-Section so it can be scheduled. It will make it easier for you with work and I want to have something on the calendar." -Mollie
"I think that's a great idea." -Josh
***My evil plan just might work...he's been upside down for almost all of my 2nd and 3rd trimester ultrasounds***

"This weekend is Maverick's first trip to the lake! Let's pretend it's our first family vacation." -Josh


MmB

Baby Project 29,037,883...ANTIQUE DRESSER

Between now and whenever I'm no longer able to bend/sit/reach/crouch/jump/crawl/lift/pull/squat...I plan to complete one project per week at our house. And last week that project was refinishing a small dresser that my Aunt and G'ma gave us.

I've heard a couple stories about this dresser. At first my dad thought it was his step-dad's when he was little but he didn't really remember seeing it much growing up. Aunt Marcia said it was definitely an antique but wasn't sure where it came from. G'ma set everyone straight and said it was just a dresser that Henry found in an old farmhouse he was cleaning out and brought home...good enough for me. I'm calling it a family heirloom.

Apparently this dresser has been through a house fire. It also sustained a number of 'refinishes', including a process called 'antiquing' in the 70's, which was when people applied a super glossy dark stain/finish...and essentially ruined everything antique about the piece they were 'refinishing.' My aunt used the dresser for a while in high school and college, it's been moved around a ton...and a few weeks ago my dad brought it back from Des Moines so I could add another lovely project to my lengthy list.

Fun fact...it also came with an attachable wood framed mirror, but the glass is cracked. That project is going to be a little more expensive because I'll have to find someone to replace the glass in the exact ornate shape it's in...for now it's being stored in the basement.

So last Monday at about 4:30, I decided to start scraping and sanding the dresser...because how long could that possibly take?

THREE HOURS. It took three hours.

BEFORE

What's funny is that this project seemed to go really fast. When you've spent a month without a kitchen while you refinish sanding and staining and sealing your kitchen cabinets...refinishing a tiny dresser is actually kind of fun.

For the most part, removing the 'antique' stain application went pretty smoothly...in some parts it would peel right off in sheets. I knocked out the drawers and small door in less than an hour, which gave me a false sense of confidence when it came time to start the actual dresser.

Since I was out on the deck for three hours and Josh happened to be home a little early that night working on the computer...he would come check on me every so often because he felt bad his pregnant wife was outside sanding and scraping. He is pretty sweet. :) He would come out and get some good scrapes in (I don't know why he is better than me at everything) and then head back inside to keep working. I'm always pretty adamant that he NOT help me with projects so I can prove I can do them on my own...hence allowing me to tackle more ridiculous projects with his approval since he knows it won't end up on his plate.

Anyway...he would come out and yack about opportunity costs and how a seemingly 'free' dresser is never free and it's actually costing us about $500+ after all the time and labor and blah blah blah so I had no problem sending him back inside so I could SCRAPE IN PEACE. IT'S A FAMILY HEIRLOOM AND IT'S WORTH IT OKAY.

This is what our sad little dresser looked like after three hours of being scraped to death.

Because we had to scrape so hard, a fair amount of sanding was required. Good thing I happen to have a handy-hand-sander from those satanic kitchen cabinets I refinished last spring. It was perfect for this project and even though it doesn't look like it...this dresser was as smooth as Maverick's future butt when I was finished. :)

I should note...before I tore this thing apart, I removed the little rusty wheels that were on the legs, as well as the hardware. I also took the door off, but kept the hinges because replacing those would have been next to impossible. I added little felt circles to the bottom of the legs (there was still some rusty metal showing) so it doesn't leave marks on the carpet. It also made the bottoms of the legs easier to paint.

Determined to get to the stopping point goal I'd set for myself that night...this thing still needed to be primed. At 8pm. Whatever, it's fine. We watched Parenthood while I painted on an old sheet in the middle of the living room. Josh doesn't even bat an eye at this kind of behavior anymore.

After the first coat of primer!

After two coats of gray paint!

I tend to jump the gun on painting projects...as in I don't usually like to waste time letting things cure for 24 hours when I could just crank the ceiling fan on high and come back in an hour to throw on the second coat. I was a really good girl about this project though because I wanted to do it right and make this piece a special one...each coat sat for 24 hours and I didn't add hardware until a few days after the last coat...I didn't even push the drawers and door all the way in until yesterday, which is a new record for me.



I paint in my swimsuit about 80% of the time in the summer. It's not weird, okay.

You can see the color of the gray a little better here. I picked the color of the bedroom walls, and then dropped down to the darkest shade on the paint chip for the accents I'm doing in the bedroom (more to be revealed!).

After the thing was painted, I was obviously dying to get hardware on it so I could consider this project officially 'FINISHED.' Problem was...the 50% chance I had at hardware being 50% off at Hobby Lobby last week did not work in my favor. WHICH MEANT WAITING UNTIL MONDAY WHICH ALMOST KILLED ME.

I have a problem.

I found the glass knob I liked best and looked the most 'antique' at Lowe's for $3.97. I was happy with that.

I found the glass pulls at Hobby Lobby after looking at Lowe's AND West End Salvage for better, more antique options, and these were the most fake-antique-looking, yet affordable pulls I could find. I think they ended up working just fine for this dresser. After all, they couldn't be too girly and glitzy since the dresser is in Mav's room, and I think I may already be pushing my limit on that anyway. They were $9.99 which was ridiculous, and the reason it was worth waiting to buy them until yesterday when they were five bucks.

Another Fun Fact...I didn't scrape or sand or paint the back of the dresser. Which I will probably regret someday, but I only had a quart of accent-color paint and wanted to make sure I had plenty, because there is NOTHING worse than being in the middle of a painting project and running out of paint so you have to stop and drive all the way to Lowe's to wait for someone to come and mix your paint. So I made a judgment call some would deem as lazy and went with it.

And after all of that...HERE is the finished product!

This room has terrible lighting, so I'm thrilled that in a few months when we have a REAL LIVE BABY living in here and Libby comes to take his pics, she will capture some good pictures of the décor too...until then, you'll have to put up with my iPhone Instagrams.

One other thing to note...old furniture smells sometimes. This dresser smelled a little...interesting. So as per the suggestion of Patti Boersma, I have a box of baking soda sitting inside to take care of that. Until then it sits empty, just waiting to be filled with organized baby goodies.

So that was my project last week from start to finish. You can hardly call it a tutorial, but...it's something I guess. ;)

MmB

Welcome to Camp Maverick: Baby Shower Devotional

The devotion Lisa shared at our shower was too perfect and special not to share...I want to make sure I remember it forever and can reference it often! I also wanted Josh to get a chance to read it since the 'grass' half of the blog and devotion sort of belong to him...and I did a terrible job of explaining how glitter and grass tied together with our desire for Maverick's future salvation on my drive home after the shower. Yea...now I bet you're interested...you'll have to read all the way to the end for it come full circle and I promise you, you'll never think about glitter and grass the same way again!

Adoptions, babies, weddings...I might be biased, but I think we have the FUNNEST CG EVER.

Mollie,

When I was asked to do a devotional for your shower, I knew that it could not be a cookie cutter devotional. I knew that, for you, it needed to be unique and one of a kind. In looking for a devotional idea, I went to your blog and ended up thinking that I would use GLITTER AND GRASS as the theme for your baby shower. I think it's safe to say that no one else will EVER have a baby shower devotional on glitter and grass.

I first looked up "grass" in the Bible. There aren't many verses...one of the first that I came across was Psalm 103:15 which says,

"As for a man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more."

I think we can all agree that what I just read sounds kind of depressing and appears to have nothing to do with a baby. BUT, if you look at the verses before and after it, we begin to see that it is certainly not the case. The verses before it (Psalm 103:13-14) say,

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for He knows how we were formed, He remembers we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass..."


He knows how we are formed - we can see the beautiful picture of what that really means if we jump ahead to Psalm 139:13-16 which reads,

"For YOU created my inmost being, YOU knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise YOU for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; YOUR works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from YOU when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, YOUR eyes saw my unformed body. ALL THE DAYS ORDAINED FOR ME WERE WRITTEN IN YOUR BOOK BEFORE ONE OF THEM CAME TO BE." (emphasis mine)

These verses show the depth of God's love and care for each one of us and how He has created each one of us wonderfully - knitting us together in the secret place of our mother's womb. It also shows that we are not an afterthought...He planned our days long before we ever came to be. Yes, God certainly cares about grass.

We then also need to look to the verses that then follow in Psalm 103:17-18,

"But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and His righteousness with their children's children - with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey his precepts."

This is a promise that God is giving to those who love him and follow the truths found in His Word. I want us to look at just a few ways that we as parents do that.

Because grass is grass, we have to talk about the first thing I think of with grass...grass stains. Grass stains with little boys are guaranteed. There is nothing good about a grass stain. It is a colored path that marks up and item and makes it ugly, is difficult to remove, and can even, in some cases damage an item.

Sin is like a grass stain. Sin leaves a mark upon a heart and makes it ugly, it can be difficult to remove and it can even damage a heart.

So where am I going with all of this?

Baby Maverick will be so sweet. We will all be in awe of his sweetness. When he is born, we will see his tiny toes and how wonderful he is made and we will all declare him to be "perfect"...but the truth is that even he will be a sinner. We all are. Psalm 51:1 says, "surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

God knew that sin would enter this world and would begin to stain hearts and destroy lives - that's why he sent Jesus! And that's why he tells us as parents that we are to train up our children in the truths of God's Word.

As believers, training up a child is directing their HEART to God and our central focus of parenting becomes the gospel. We can parent without the gospel and still produce children who are good, obedient and polite...but without the gospel they will never understand the sin of their own heart and their need for Jesus. Because God has entrusted our children to us, it is our responsibility as parents to direct our children - with their sin-stained hearts - to the cross. It is pointing them to the Savior.

I use Chlorox2 on grass stains. It is amazing stuff and I can get really excited about it. When my boys have a grass stain, I wet it with a bit of water and pour Chlorox2 on it. Chlorox2 is blue but when I pour it on the stain, it turns white and begins to bubble up and I know that it is cleaning the stain. I then throw it into the washer and it comes out clean very time. Simply put, parenting our kids to the cross is showing them that just as Chlorox2 wipes out grass stains, so Jesus can wipe out the sin in their life and make them clean.

So how do we accomplish this huge task that God has given us as parents?

That's where the "glitter" comes in. Glitter is defined as: bright, shimmering reflected light, causing the surface to sparkle or shimmer. We become glitter. Glitter is God's glory shining in our hearts, reflecting His goodness.

Mollie, you need to be glitter to little Maverick. Your life needs to reflect Jesus so that he an see and know God's love through you. Glitter seems to make its way everywhere and in everything. You can be glitter to Maverick by reflecting Jesus daily. You need to be in the Word in in prayer and then your heart will overflow the Jesus though your actions; by what you say and how you say it; by teaching him the truths of God's Word and living out the truths in your own life; by teaching him how to worship and praise God; by praying over him and teaching him how to pray; helping him learn to obey; and teaching him how to deal with sin in admitting wrongdoing, asking for forgiveness, and learning how to repent and turn away from future sin. (Bible Study Fellowship)

Matthew 5:16 says, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven." But I think it would be appropriate tonight to say, "Let your glitter so shine before Maverick, that he may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven."

Mollie, here is my hope and prayer for you...

...when you see glitter scattered around months after Christmas has come and gone, that rather than becoming irritated or annoyed, it will remind you to be glitter that shines and reflects the light of Jesus so that Maverick sees the love of God in you.

...and when you do Maverick's laundry in the future and see his grass-stained pants, that rather than becoming irritated, frustrated or upset over the grass stain, it will remind you to pray for you little boy's sin-stained heart to accept Jesus as His personal Savior. And if you have the privilege of seeing him give His life to Chris, I pray that those grass stains will forever give you tears of joy...for hidden in the glitter and grass are God's goodness and his grace.

***Giving credit where credit is due. A couple of the ideas for this devotional came from two resoruces which I highly recommend. Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp and the children's home training lessons by Bible Study Fellowship.***

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Devotion by Lisa Leland
Shower photography by Ellyn Carson

How it took me five years to finally be good at cleaning our house...

You laugh. But it actually took me until this year to feel like I had this whole 'clean the house' thing down. 'Get better at cleaning the house' was on a note titled 'Before Baby Bucket List' on my iPhone for the past three-ish years. And I just recently deleted it as something I felt like I had accomplished.

It might seem odd because most people probably think our house is clean enough...and I've always sort of enjoyed cleaning (scratch that...how the house feels after it's cleaned). I grew up cleaning bathrooms and vacuuming and dusting (THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE), so I obviously know how to do these things...it's just that when it came to my own house...and you add a job and grocery shopping and helping run a business and PROJECTS and dirty laundry for two...it's hard to become a master everything overnight.

Just to throw this out there...I'm up against a little more than the average wife-trying-to-keep-the-house-clean. You might have a baby or five children, but I promise you...Josh could rival them all. He comes home EXCEPTIONALLY dirty six+ days a week. Meaning his laundry is also exceptionally dirty...and his employees come in and out of our side door to the kitchen to grab things like water bottles, their checks, truck keys, etc...making keeping the house clean (specifically the kitchen) a non-stop battle. Tom Hay once came over to clean out the drum of our washer and it was BLACK. I'm not kidding...the inside of our washer lined with a thick layer of black dirty scum that we spent the night cleaning in the bath tub. When I asked him if everyone's washers looked like this, or was ours the worst he'd ever seen...he replied that it was, in fact, the worst he'd ever seen. And Tommy has seen the inside of hundreds of washers in his lifetime. THAT'S HOW BAD IT IS HERE YOU GUYS I'M NOT LYING!

I once read somewhere once that your house is only as clean as the dirtiest place in your house...and at first I was like, 'This person is crazy. Who cleans the inside of their microwave that often?!' And then I was like, 'That's actually true and WE LIVE IN COMPLETE FILTH.' So for about the past year, I've attacked all of the grossest places in our house on a much more regular basis (rather than just my usual spring cleaning)...and I think that's why I've felt successful. All the places I hate the most get a swipe or a wipe on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and IT FEELS SO GOOD.

I'm not really on a 'Monday, Tuesday, etc.' weekly-style cleaning schedule...though I think I'll probably make one for myself once I'm home with a baby every day to give my days a little more structure/purpose. For now this is how I roll:

Here's what gets cleaned at our house more than once a week:
Kitchen counters/sink
Kitchen floor
Shake rugs/vacuum entrances
Vacuum living room floor
Vacuum bedroom floors/hallway
Bathrooms (if needed)

Here's what gets cleaned weekly:
Toilets
Bathroom sinks
Vacuum under furniture (island, buffet, dining table, desk, couch, shelves, coffee table, etc.)
Dust all furniture
Dust window ledges

Here's what gets cleaned bi-weekly:
'Tops' of everything (microwave, stove, fridge, shelves)
Dust blinds
Spot-mop tile
Cobwebs on ceiling/corners
Vacuum corners/edges
Wipe down appliances
Bathroom floors/rugs
Mirrors

Here's what gets cleaned when I notice it's necessary:
Vents
Ceiling fans
Decor
Closet shelves
Showers
Behind toilets
Tile floor
Inside of appliances
Curtains
Under/behind beds
Q-Tip clean inside the washer
Q-Tip clean drains and faucets

Make friends with Magic Eraser. My fridge and microwave and stove and grubby-finger-printed-white back door look brand new after a wipe-down. And they last for-eva.

Dust with a Swiffer cloth. You're probably like, 'Wow, that's so expensive!' It's actually not. I get them from Sam's Club and I use them until they're black. Meaning...I can usually use it twice for my weekly furniture dust-down before they're ready to be tossed. Nothing grabs hair and dust bunnies like these puppies. It makes dusting less of an 'ordeal' and only takes five minutes to whip out, fling across the furniture, and toss back under the sink to use next time. I dust MUCH more frequently using this approach

Add a Dyson to your Christmas list. We finally bit the bullet and bought one of these last year and called it an 'Anniversary' gift because I was convinced our cheap old Dirt Devil vac was making our house dirtier. Every time I tried to use the attachments dust would fly OUT of the vacuum and into the air instead of being sucked IN. The first time I used our Dyson DC65 in our already 'clean' house...I literally FILLED THE TANK. Ya. That's how bad of a situation we had here.

I generally feel happier and enjoy being at home more when our house is clean and since it's a task I'm sort of stuck with for life, I figured I might as well become an Olympic athlete at it. I don't mind drop-in visitors (grandparents who pull in the driveway and THEN decide to call to see if you're home) as much and I can sit down and relax with Josh in the evening when he gets home if I've used my time and energy well throughout the week to keep the house clean.

I hardly even bat an eye when I find grass in the fridge, in the freezer, on the back of the toilet, IN OUR BED, or in the dryer lint (ask me what makes up approx. 60% of our dryer lint) because Josh has trained me to believe that GRASS = MONEY...so I've just become a master and obliterating any blade of grass that enters the house.

In Maverick News: His room is coming along FABULOUSLY and I'm dying to Instagram the living crap out of it. But I'm going to refrain because I know it's so far from finished (still need the shelf and rocker before it feels 'done'). Hopefully there will be a post coming SOON! :)

MmB

Welcome to Camp Maverick: Baby Shower Advice

I don't know if these notes from my baby shower were supposed to be kept 'private' but some of them are seriously TOO GOOD not to share. I'll leave names out of each piece of advice, but as I was reading these to Josh last night I went from laughing hysterically at one card to my heart melting over the next one.

Within these cards lies some of the best advice I've heard to date...and since these people know me so well, they know exactly what I need to hear and when...the funny advice, the serious advice, and the practical advice...I love it all and can't wait to scrapbook these and keep them forever. :)


Always remember...
...to give Josh grace and forgiveness. Babies magnify the love AND the stresses of your marriage. Be on the same team and support each other, even at 3am and after multiple diaper/clothes changes and Maverick will be blessed.

When the going gets tough...
...call Nikki and Kate...we'll bring smotherella sticks and rum (for Josh)

When the going gets tough...
...as you get up MULTIPLE times a night in those first few weeks...months...REMEMBER it is only a very short and very limited time. You WILL sleep all night again. But you will NOT have two precious, grateful completely dependent eyes looking up at your in those hours of the night on a regular basis again. Cherish those hours - don't dread them. Praise God for the baby he has given you the opportunity to get up with (it took me a few babies to realize this).

Always remember...
...the LOVE God has for you and your family. And the love you have for EACH OTHER!
God + Nothing = Everything!

My wish for sweet baby...
...is that he can have wonderful babysitters, such as Ellyn Carson and Alyssa Duvick.

When the going gets tough...
...just remember all the terrible dates I've been on.
***DIED LAUGHING AT THIS ONE***

Always remember...
...youu are his mother and you know what is best for your child. When baby sleeps, mommy should really rest too. The dishes and laundry can wait. Make sure to take care of yourself in order to be the best mom you can be - put your needs first at times (it's not being selfish). Keep your relationship with Josh strong, keep your communication open. There will be many changes ahead - some hard to deal with, but as long as your bond stays strong with Josh, you will be just fine! Don't forget to keep up with date nights as well, good for mommy and daddy and baby! I'm so happy for you guys! Your strong love for each other and your amazing faith in God is something I look up to you guys for. Your future is so bright and glittery!"

My wish for sweet baby...
...is that he remembers how awesome his parents are, even if mom tries to sneak some glitter in his lotion!

When the going gets tough...
...call your mom or Jamie or a friend to come help you. Seriously! I've learned that as a mom you don't have to have it all together all the time (or at all).

Words of advice...
Always sleep when he sleeps. You can't be super mom when mom is a zombie. Baby will cry, throw up, not sleep...things will get better! Remember how much of a blessing he is and you will be an amazing mom.

When the going gets tough...
Take a few hours for yourself and get a pedicure, a Venti drink from Starbucks, and wander the aisles fo Target. I find this is the best way to calm down and help put things in perspective. So excited to watch you grow as a mother! And if things do get rough, always know I'm here for whatever you need (as a babysitter or Target companion)!

Always remember...
...glitter and grass are God's goodness and grace. What a gift to become "mommy and daddy." Praying that you will seek God's face and rely on Him during the good times AND the bad. It's been a joy and privilege to get to know you this past year and it will be even more so as we welcome baby Maverick into small group.

When the going gets tough...
...just wing it (or Google it) and know you're an AWESOME mom!

Words of advice...
...(I know you don't want lots of 'advice' but here's my two cents)...Take vacations and trips at least twice a year. Once with Maverick and once WITHOUT. You love and cherish the memories from both!

Always remember...
...you and Josh were here first. I'm reminded of this all the time...God started this family of yours with you and Josh and now is building your family with Maverick - He is entrusting you and Josh as parents to lead Mav to Jesus just as you and Josh encourage each other and push each other to Jesus...you will be working together to lead your son. Remember where you started and continue to build off of that. As you have this excitement and new unbelieveable love for your 'little man' remember the man who is by your side and the love for him. This might not make sense now, but I can't wait for you to experience this love...we can chat more. :) The love for Jesus, Josh, and your new little man is the most amazing feeling a wife and now mommy can have!

Words of advice...
...Dear Mollie, Sometimes babies cry a lot and you might feel like it's your motherly duty to figure out why baby s crying. There really might not be anything you can do to stop it - so put Maverick in his crib and go take a shower. He'll probably be asleep when you're done. Also...love Jesus. Love Josh. Call your mom.
***ONE OF MY FAVORITES***

I've had too much fun'playing' with all this baby stuff this week.

More pictures and baby shower memories coming soon! :)

MmB