Seven

Have I told you all that Skip and I are going on vacation this summer? We leave in about a week for an all-inclusive resort just 30 minutes from our home. No, it's not the beach but every room does have a scenic view.

Accomodations are private with two adjustable beds. Every suite comes with a deluxe bathroom. The staff offers 24/7 care with just the touch of a button. This resort is equipped with an exceptional child care facility. Each child gets individual attention and lots of hugs. The professionally trained staff will even watch the children during the night so the adults can have some alone time. It is even rumored that they will bathe the children per request. How awesome is that?!

Meals are served 3xs per day. Visitors choose their own menus and they serve it via room service! Apparently, you can even have a local "spirited beverage" every 6 minutes if you desire.

All the fun we need is in one building. It sounds like heaven! We can't wait to go.

Eight.

What's in a name?

Raise your hand if you think Z-man and Loulabelle are the real names of my kiddos? These are fun names, but they are not the real ones.

Shocking. I know.

They happen to have, in my opinion, great names. But for the sake of the blog I keep them to myself.

Z-man was named after Skip's (not his real name either!!!) grandpa. It is a generational name that Z, Skip, his dad and his grandpa all share. This name is over 100 years old. When Skip and I were dating, he told me that his first boy would share the same name. It is a name of great importance to his entire family. It has been an honor to fulfill their desire. These are great men for Z to pattern his life after.

Loulabelle's name was more random. I fell in love with her name sometime in high school or college, not sure now. It was someone's last name, which is my favorite kind of name. Her middle name is mine, my dad's, and my great-grandfather's. We could not have picked a better name for her. She is fun and quirky and curly, just like her name. It fits.

The baby's name is very special to me. His first name is the ending of my maiden name. His middle name is my dad and brother's first name. My dad passed away when I was 20, after years of battling cancer. I was his little girl. I hope this name will honor him and his wonderful memory. He was the type of man that everyone adored. He was kind, and gentle, and hard working. The same traits that I pray over this baby. I think I will call him "Wing Man" on the blog.

One of the main reasons that I don't share the names here is to keep public opinion away. Since they are on the unusual side, we have received our fair share of negative comments.

When Loulabelle was just 1 month old a lady sent me into serious name regret. She walked up to me at the mall and gooed all over Lou. She told me how cute she was, yada yada. Then she asked me her name. Gushing with pride, I said the sweet word. The lady looked right at me and told me how weird that was, then walked away. I lived with Name Regret Syndrome for an entire month afterwards.

I have already had comments regarding this baby's name. Some love it, some hate it. It even took my family some time to adjust...and it's a family name!

The important thing is that we adore it. It is unique and meaningful. No one else has this name. It is actually a noun, but I am OK with that. We will say it with honor for the man he is named after was a good man.

(Whew. This is turning into a very long story.)

While Z-man was away at camp, we finished the baby's room. One of the first things he did was run in for a peek. He spent a few minutes looking around. When he came out, he was very quiet. Almost upset. Being sentimental, I thought he was just sad that his old room had changed and was no longer his. I asked him what was wrong.

"Do you not like the room?"

"No. I like the room. But why did you change the baby's name to WMM (pronounced whim)?"


"Oh, sweetie. Those are his initials."

"That's good. Cuz WMM (whim) is not a cool name!"

Everyone's a critic!

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Don't forget to visit my friend Pam and enter her fun GIVEAWAY!!!

Nine.

Nine days to go...

In the celebration of our new life, my friend Pam is hosting a GIVEAWAY!!!

Click over there and guess our baby's weight.

The prize will be good!!!

Ten.

That is the number of days that I will ever be pregnant again in my whole life.

That is the number of days that I will feel the secret of being kicked and tickled from the inside.

That is the number of days that I will feel my baby hiccuping inside me like he is now.

That is the number of days before our family grows to five.

That is the number of days that I have to emotionally and physically prepare for the birth of our last child.

That is the number of days until I can see the baby that God created for us.

That is the number of days I have to live with swollen, achy legs.

That is the number of days until our family's love will overflow.

Ten.

He's Baaaaack!

What a fast week! It seems like just yesterday we took Z to camp and now he is home. Oh, it did my heart good to see the little guy today. He was so stinkin' sweet when he saw us...wouldn't let us go!

This week has been a little boy's dream come true. When I saw this picture, I knew he was in heaven!



You can tell how much his counselors love and adore the kiddos. These were his two favorite ones, Scott and Evan. The words they said about him today were precious.

The best part about the week was the letter we received from him. It read,

"Thank you for sending me to camp. It is grate.

Sed me nex yer. And the nex yer. And the nex yer."

Well done, Z. You did it! You came out of your comfort zone, embraced new challenges and made new friends. You even let a CUBS fan (gasp!) take you under his wing! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!

Big Mistake. Huge.

Yesterday was day number one without Z. I had also dropped Loulabelle off at Camp Ma and Pa's for 3 days. Which wasn't hard because I know I can talk to her every 2 minutes if I want to. And I know her counselors!

So basically, I was home alone all day.

Home alone and pulling up the Camp website every 5 minutes to hoping to see a picture of Z smiling and having fun. I had worked myself into quite the frenzy.

Plus, I didn't feel good. Swollen, fat, yucky, self-conscious.

Plus, all I ate yesterday was cake and tuna. Which leads to some very ugly consequences.

It wasn't the makings of a good day. So what did I do to torture myself some more? I went downstairs into Z's room and laid down on his bed. The pillow that he left behind still had his little boy smell on it.

AND I CRIED LIKE A BABY FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT!!!

Ugh!

Hello, Mudder. Hello, Fadder.

Summer is officially here. This year we made the decision for Z-man to attend camp for the first time. It sounded great in December, but yesterday my heart was torn, stretched and tested beyond what I thought possible.

Yesterday did not start like every other day...the teasing, the bickering, the snacking, the crying. It started with sweet snuggle time, prolonged hug time, caring for sister time, doing chores on-time time. All of which is wonderful, but made it a little harder to think about not having him around for 7 days. If only every morning of summer would be this good.

We were to drop off at camp around 2:00 for the opening ceremonies hoop-la. All of us were anxious, yet joyful and happy. I could tell Z was very excited about this week, yet he still had some anxiety regarding the time away from home. For the most part, his excitement was greater than the anxiety.

My biggest prayer yesterday was that the Lord would surprise us. And surprise us He did. The very first person we saw was a Kindergarten teacher that I taught with. Her job in the summer is to drive a bus for camp. It was so thrilling to see her and have her greet Z with a huge smile and lots of encouragement. What a blessing to me.

Every person that we encountered was genuinely happy to see the Z-man. They made over each camper with cheerful clapping and lots of hollering. The first thing he did was slide down a long fire pole into the arms of his counselors. Then they rushed him off for a snow cone. After that, it was time for us to introduce ourselves to his counselors, get Z unpacked, make his bed and leave.

GULP.

Walking down the path to his cabin, I prayed again for the Lord to surprise us. Again, He was faithful. We walked into his room and saw 3 familiar faces. There are 4 boys in his cabin that he knows from school. We thought he would only have 1 boy. Thank you, Jesus!

His counselors were the perfect blend of excitement, spunk, energy and, most importantly for Z, restraint. They handled him exactly the right way, not too much, not too little. Immediately, I felt comfortable with these young college men. One of them asked me if I had any questions regarding this week.

Me? Questions?? Nah, I'm good.

What!?! Of course I had questions! Except, for the life of me I couldn't think of any. The only thing I asked of him was NOT TO TAKE HIS EYES OFF MY CHILD. DO YOU HEAR ME? NOT EVEN FOR A SECOND!!! Please.

I have to give kudos to the training that these young people must endure. They must have a special class in mom-handling. He looked me straight in the eyes and went through his entire training process. He talked about everything from his CPR certification, to life jackets, to how much sunscreen they would use on Z. He actually said,

"Here at camp we are all about safety. Safety first, then Jesus." That boy just won me over!!

Time for goodbyes. This is the moment I have been dreading since we signed him up many months ago. I was fearful of leaving him in tears and having the counselors pull him away from us. But when you pray for the Lord to surprise you, HE WILL!! Our goodbyes were tear-free and joyful. We left knowing that Z was happy. He said he wanted to stay for 12 weeks instead of just 1. THAT IS HUGE FOR HIM!!! I am so proud of his bravery. He has really changed and grown this past year.

Except now he can stop growing, cause my heart can't take it!