NO MORE PACI

Mother's Day this year was EXTRA SPECIAL for so many reasons... gifts I could never have planned or predicted to recieve.

The first one is that I got to spend it with all of the most special people in the world to me, Donnie, the most amazing husband in the whole world, Liliana - my baby girl who is getting so big, Noah, my LOVE-BUG, and Courtney and her mommy Pam! Had my mom been there too, it would have been PERFECT.

We began the day with a lovely service at church. Courtney loved the choir and they both loved the message. They felt so revived and energized by all of the fellowship with the sweet people at our church.

After church, we got in some more casual clothes and headed off to Mystic, CT for some delicious seafood and a walk through town. It was lovely! Before we drove out off to Mystic Donnie gave me a beautiful "MOM" heart photo pendant necklace and a card. Very sweet! :o)

Now, here is the most SPECIAL part of this years Mother's Day for me... the day before Mother's Day, we were driving home from bowling...

Liliana's first time bowling. We all had a blast!

...and Pam was having a heart to heart BIG-GIRL talk with Liliana about her giving up her paci. I had never seen Liliana so serious and quiet, she was really thinking hard about this challenge to take that big step into "big-girldom"... it was huge... Liliana LOVED her paci so much!... well that night, she went to bed and never even asked for it and when morning came, I asked her how she did all night without her paci and she giggled and said, "I found it in my pillowcase and put it in my mouth". ha! So, she started the night on the right track, but ended back at square one. Well, the next night, Mother's Day night, after going to Mystic and having a long day of fun, we brought her to bed without her paci and some more encouragement from Pam and SHE DID IT... SHE GAVE UP HER PACI!!!!! FOR GOOD... She has not used it since and only half-heartedly asked for it one time! What a big girl and a HUGE thank you to Pam for using your skills to help bring our baby girl over that big threshhold without a hitch... believe me, Donnie and I were dreading having to wean her off of that thing, but a third party is often-times much more convincing than mommy or daddy... because mommy and daddy are suckers! ha! What a wonderful gift that was for mommies day! :o)

After we laid the kids down for bed, we headed downstairs for the finally of The Celebrity Apprentice - ha! We had fun looking at photo albums during commercials and Donnie and Pam telling Courtney and I to "hush" through the show. Well, at 11:00, when the show ended, being that it was Pam and Courtney's last night in CT, we asked Courtney if she wanted to stay the night at our house (she was to shy to stay the other nights). She said "yes, I want to stay", so I drove Pam up to the hotel and Courtney got her pjs on and we headed back to my place. We had the coolest sleepover ever! We ended up sleeping in the duo-recliner sofa together and talked for a few hours until sleep took over. It was a special bonding time for us and a very special gift for both of us! We are so thankful that Donnie and Pam let us have time together like that. Pam was so excited for Courtney to have such an opportunity and so was Donnie... they both knew how magical it was for us.