So, I need to butter you up.  Your new haircut looks fab!  Have you lost 10 pounds?  You look fantastic today!

There, did that work?  🙂

I have entered my sweet Emma in a contest to win a free session & prints with a fabulous local photographer – Mollie Kendall.  Remember her?  She’s the one who took the to die for newborn pictures of my baby girl that I will treasure forever.

In order to win the contest, Emma needs to get the most “likes” on Facebook.  Easy enough, huh?  Well, I was laughing with my husband about how we probably wouldn’t win because we don’t have enough FB friends – I only have 350+ on my personal page and some people have over 1,000+!  Then, Tom said, “Why don’t you try to mobilize the Glue Gun Army?”  Great idea, Tom!

I know this is annoying, but I am going to beg, grovel and plead for you to help us win!  I mean, she *is* the cutest anyway, right?  😀  In return, I will teach you how to refinish your kitchen cabinets and counter tops with a new product by Rustoleum.  I think it’s going to change your life.  No, really.  I do think it will.

So, I would “love” if you would “like” my Emma.  Only “likes” count in the competition, although I’d love for you to comment about how yummy she is, too.  You will need to:

1) First, “like” Mollie Kendall Photography on Facebook;

2) Then, you can “Like” Emma’s picture (#12) in the competition.

Glue Gun Army – Hup, 2, 3, 4!  Hup, 2, 3, 4!  Let’s do this thing!  XOXOXO

Oh, well, hello there!  Long time no see.  Or write.  Or chat.  Or whatever.

At the end of last week, my husband was hit hard with what I thought at the time was just a man cold.  He was down and out all weekend, and I was pretty annoyed.  Stay at home moms need a break, too, am I right?  As I knew he would do if the situation was reversed, I gladly took care of the kids so he could rest/nap/sleep as much as he wanted to.

I did force him to go to the After Hours clinic on Saturday afternoon for a strep throat swab, though.  I’m not *that* nice.  It was negative, as were the flu and mono (!) tests we had run on Tuesday.

The “man cold” continued through Monday and into Tuesday.  And Wednesday.  And then some of Thursday.  Today is Friday, and I’m crossing my fingers that whatever virus he had has run its course – both sets of our parents arrive today to help us celebrate Zack’s 5th birthday this weekend.  I think I might have the house cleaned up, sheets washed, and cupcakes baked just in the nick of time.

Why do I tell you all of this?  It’s because I want to give a shout out to every single mom out there.  To every mom who has a deployed husband.  To the ones of you who are widowed.  To the ones of you whose husbands travel for business all week long. I do not know how you do it. Just having my husband out of commission for 6 days was enough to almost break me. I know it seems silly to say that, but that’s not my “normal.”

You women (and men) who do it all are absolutely amazing and deserve WAY more credit than you get.  So, for all of those evenings when you are struggling to get dinner on the table and get the kids in bed so you can have an hour to yourself before you have to get ready for the next day and start it all over again {Breathe, Lindsay! Breathe!}, please know that I am thinking of you and wish I could be there to help you with the dishes and get the laundry washed.  YOU are holding it together for your families and you. are. amazing.  Thank you for what you are doing for your children.  They may not know enough to thank you right now, but as adults, they are going to look back and be proud.

See?  Even a random little girl on the Internet says ‘Thank you.’