Austin Again

Almost two years to the date, I returned to Austin to see my favorite little Texas family!

We partied {Hello Kitty style}, built lots of Legos, and visited as many parks as we could.  Since my last visit was all about new baby Selah, this time they wanted to make sure they got to show me some of their Austin favorites, including the state capitol, the famous Salt Lick, and the quaint Georgetown square.

Knowing that this was one of my big vacations this year, I was asked a number of times if I was getting to do & see everything I wanted to, but honestly, just spending time with these kiddos + their parents was more than enough for me!

Thank you Heater family for your love & hospitality!  Now, I just hope it doesn't take me two years to get back down there to see you all again.

Friday Thoughts

Sometimes, when I can say "I've had a good week", I can't help but feel like I've accomplished something big.

Between receiving good news at work, attending an amazing Influence Network class on marriage by Susie (& Will) Davis, and taking some time to plan & dream with Sam about his photography business, I have been in a happy mood most of the week.

Plus, I'm jumping on an airplane tonight to go visit one of my best friends in Texas and that feels like the icing on the cake!  So excited for a little getaway full of girl time and snuggling her two littles!

This week's links are kind of a smorgasbord, but I got something out of each of them so I had to share: 

• Speaking of girl time, Nina from According to Nina shared her Mother's Day gift from her husband and this idea has now topped my wish list.  It's not something I would have thought to ask for, but I love, love, love the idea!
• One of my college friends, Tyler, wrote a post this week on living an Instagram life and as someone who spent 2012 posting one photo every day for the whole year, this post really made me stop & think about whether I'm living in the moment or the future... (and to be honest, it's usually the future.)
• Lastly, Hayley, one of the co-founders of the Influence Network, and her husband shared a video this week on how to get your loved ones on board with your vision/ideas.  After spending some time this week thinking about the future of Sam Grable Photography, it was great to hear how dreaming & practicality can work together to achieve a common goal.  Plus, it was good to hear from a man's perspective on the whole topic.

So that’s what I’m thinking about this week.  What's grabbed your attention this week.

Memories

As I mentioned last week, Mother's Day was hard this year. 

Before getting pregnant, Mother's Day was just a Hallmark holiday that let me celebrate my mom once a year (even though she deserved to be celebrated every day of the year...) and really didn't hold a lot of significance, to be honest. 

But a year ago, newly pregnant & on top of the world, this holiday took on a whole new meaning.  Suddenly, I couldn't wait to honor the women in our lives who have loved/raised/supported Sam & I and celebrate their new title as "Charlotte's grandma/nona/nana".  And honestly, the gift-giver in me couldn't stop thinking of memorable, sentimental gifts to give for the years to come...

But then life took a different path and even though it wasn't what we had pictured last Mother's Day, I couldn't think of a reason not to still show my gratitude towards these women in my life.  So this year, I decided to gift a daily reminder of the little girl who stole all of our hearts.

It wasn't a unique or complex gift, but very sentimental.  For the women who received this notepad, I believe it brought back a lot of memories for each of them.  The feeling they felt when they first met her, held her, looked into her big brown eyes probably came rushing back in an instant.  And while that can be very difficult because we all miss her, I have also found it to be a blessing because it helps us remember all of the good times we had with her.

See, I've worried since day 1 about what it will feel like if I stop remembering all the little details about our little angel.  I never want to forget one second of the nine days we had with her and I don't believe any of our family does either, but the truth of it is, life has moved on and the memories aren't as fresh as they once were.  Even today, five months since we've last saw her, I sit here in tears because it's so difficult to see life go on around us, without Charlotte. 

And sadly, I don't think that feeling is going to ever go away, but her memory lives on...

A shadow box full of Charlotte memories.