How To Disguise a Butterball...

Just kidding.  I'm not interested in disguising my "butterball" baby... and even if I were, it's pretty impossible at this point!  I am B-I-G... BIG!

I may not be able to do it - but Brian, as it turns out, is GREAT at disguising a turkey!  He was given this assignment in school.  His teacher sent home a picture of a turkey on construction paper - a terrified looking turkey.  The kids were asked to help save the turkey from Thanksgiving dinner by "disguising" him in some way!  I immediately started pitching a bunny.  Easy-peasy, I thought.  I'd have Brian glue a bunch of cotton balls all over the turkey - add some ears - done.  But he'd have none of it.  His turkey had to be Darth Vader.  Oh boy.

No surprise, Brian left much of the design to me while he played.  But he did the coloring and glue stick operation!

As it turns out, we make a pretty good turkey disguising team!

Today was such a special day for me.  My beautiful (in every way) neighbor, Sonia, threw a baby shower for me!!  She assembled a lot of the Moms from Brian's pre-school for a delicious breakfast at her house.  I was so, incredibly flattered that she would do this for me... and go to so much trouble!!  I mean look at this beautiful table with the homemade granola parfaits and finger sandwiches...

The ladies all put together to sign a lovely card...and gave us a gift card to "Home Cooked" where we can order home cooked meals to stock our freezer once Hope arrives.  It was extremely generous and we will for SURE put it to good use.  Trust me!

But I was most thrilled with having a chance to get to know these women.  I am a pretty shy person.  Add on top of that starting Brian in a new school shortly after the death of Gavin... and having to be face to face with women I don't know... it's been a socially nerve wracking three plus months.  I've been pretty quiet.  So, the fact that these ladies did this for me today - hardly knowing me, really - was so humbling.  I really enjoyed my time with them.  We couldn't have a picked a better pre-school for Brian - for so many reasons. 

I've had three beautiful surprises over the last couple weeks that I wanted to share.  The first is my new locket.  Back in 2010, when we lost Darcy, I was contacted by a woman in Australia that had been following our story.  She had a jewelry company and wanted to make a memorial piece for me to remember my little girl.  They were able to laser engrave Darcy's actual handprints on the silver heart - engrave her name and birthdate on the back - and then I had our funeral director fill the locket with some of her ashes.  I have worn it every day.

My australian friends contacted me again once Gavin died to ask if I wanted a locket for him.  This time, they were able to add one of my favorite photos of the two of us.  His name and the day he died is engraved on the back.  I haven't yet had it filled with some of his ashes, but I will.

I'm so grateful to be able to represent my three children in this special way.  And Ed has already been put on high alert to add Hope's name to the group!

I had a high school friend, Julie, drop off these beautiful gifts for Hope.  I love seeing her name on things.  But it was the personalized burp cloths that had me in tears.  It sounds so silly, but let me explain.  Before Gavin was born - my friend, Elayne, made burp cloths for him.  One of them had his name... another one had ribbon sewed across the bottom... another had an iron on decoration.  I TREASURED these burp cloths and treated them like gold.  They were one of my favorite gifts.  One survived in near perfect condition and will remain in Gavin's memory box forever.  So to see new burp cloths for Hope - from a wonderful store called "Baby Be Hip" owned by another woman from my high school! - made me so happy.  Not to mention the gorgeous tote bag!!  Ed loved that it had a ladybug on it.  He considers them to be good luck.

And then there was yesterday.  Yesterday we had a visit from Miss Wendy, Gavin's physical therapist... and our friend.  She and her husband wanted to do something for us to memorialize Gavin.  She decided to have a brick dedicated to him at our local YMCA.  She sent me the photo of the brick yesterday and I was blown away.

She chose the YMCA because we took Gavin there to practice his walker skills early on.  But, as she told me yesterday, this was really more for her.  "I miss the little guy," she confessed.  She frequents the Y and will walk by this brick often.

Ed and I continue to be extremely humbled by the outpouring of love for Gavin from friends and strangers alike.  I feel like the whole world misses our little guy.  

And, as always, we feel touched by the outpouring of love towards our little (growing) family.  We don't take any of it for granted.

Showers of Happiness, Gavin Style...

Summer break ended today and school was back in session for Brian - and Gavin's friends in his classroom, too.  Brian was very excited to see his friends again.  And he was proud to tell one of his teachers that he was going to be a big brother!  Brian's time in that classroom will be ending soon!  He started in Miss Laura's class in January of 2012 with a speech delay.  He really was barely talking at all!  I wrote about his first day... and MY first day sending a child off to school alone (Gavin had yet to start school yet) in THIS piece.  It didn't take long for Brian to start talking... and never stop.  So now it's time for him to move on.  His last day with Miss Laura is August 6th and he will be in a new preschool making new friends by the end of the summer.

After I picked him up from school and we had lunch together, the two of us went on a very important mission.  We set off for Gavin's classroom to meet with his teacher, Miss Megan.  Megan is due to have her first baby any day now!!  Miss Sara and I had been invited to her baby shower, but we were in Disney World and couldn't make it.  So today, Brian and I delivered our presents and were so happy to see familiar faces (including Gavin's - his picture remains on the wall!).  We represented Sara, who is enjoying a summer vacation with her parents!

At Megan's shower, her Mom and sister did something extraordinary as a way to honor Gavin, who was so special to Miss Megan.  Take a look at the sign that greeted guests as they came in...

While Brian had fun playing with Miss Ericka, Gavin's former Occupational Therapist, I had the chance to chat with Megan and just take in the classroom that was once Gavin's.  Megan showed me photos of the adorable nursery they set up for the baby - with monkeys swinging from trees all over the room.  But the part that got me choked up was when she told me that there is a photo of Gavin on a shelf right above the crib.

The first gift I wanted to give Megan was a copy of "The Invisible String."  I told her I wanted it to always stay with her - either in her personal collection...

...or travelling from classroom to classroom.

The gifts we chose were rather sentimental for me!  Both were from her registry and I got very choked up when I saw that she chose the "Rainforest" bouncy seat.  Ed and I chose everything Rainforest when I was pregnant with Gavin.  It seemed appropriate since we met on the way to Puerto Rico!  I hope Megan's little baby (my money is on BOY!) enjoys his seat as much as Gavin did.

And I couldn't resist choosing the baby tub off of her list.  After all, Gavin loved his bath... and anything to do with water.

Miss Sara and I are both in agreement - Megan is going to be a natural as a Mom.  How do we know?  Because she's already a surrogate Mommy to the kids in her class... and she loved Gavin as if he was her own.  This baby of hers doesn't know it yet... but he (or she... but really, I'm so sure this is a boy!) has won the Mommy lottery.

And he (or she) scored a pretty incredible guardian angel in Gavin, to boot.