to my son

I was just thinking the other day about how I want to be better about writing letters to each of our children to have in the future. You know, telling them stuff I'm sure they'll appreciate when they're teenagers and think Luke and I are just SO COOL! Not only am I getting a late start with Austin, but I also decided to write them on our blog so as not to lose them in the sea of papers floating around our house in various rooms. Lucky for me, my firstborn was a son so I'm pretty sure his feelings won't be hurt that his letters started 2 years after his birth. Thank you, Lord, for boys without ridiculous emotions. ;) It will be long. Afterall, I have 2 years worth of catching up to do, and if there's one thing I am not, it's brief. Feel free to skim or skip this entry all together. But here goes. My first letter to my third favorite guy! May it bless him the way he blesses me daily.

Dear Austin:

I wish I could say that I'm one of those women that is always on top of things. Contrary to what I'm just sure you believe, I'm not super mom and so some things get started a little later than I would like. However, late start or not, I have loved you from the minute I found out we were having you and have told you everyday since how special you are to me. Now you'll just have proof!

When I was pregnant with you, the Lord specifically gave me this verse:

James 1:17

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

And what a gift you were and have continued to be!! You are our unexpected reward from our Heavenly Father. You have filled our hearts with abundant joy and gratitude for the Lord's blessing. There are so many things I love about you, and the list grows longer each day. I love that you love to laugh just as much, if not more, than I do. Before you could say Austin, you would call yourself Haha. What a perfect name for a little boy whose mouth is constantly filled with laughter! It's become a nickname now, and I doubt we will ever quit calling you that on occasion. It is obvious that you are joyful just like your Papa B and possess his zest for life. I can't wait to see how God uses this in the future.

Before you were born, I determined in my heart to share you as much as possible with our families because I wanted you to love them as deeply as your Daddy and I do. Well. It paid off. Sometimes a little too much since we cease to exist any time you have the undivided attention of your aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents. But despite my sometimes ridiculous insecurity, I love to watch you enjoy each member of the family for unique reasons. I know in my heart that I have a special place in your heart that no one else can fill. At the end of the day, I am your hero, even if for just a little while, and I will never take that for granted. Never doubt how much you are loved by each and every person in the Keiffer/Bauerlein family. No one adores you more than them. Well, with the exception of your Daddy and I, but they're a close second.

I love to watch your little personality develop. There is no greater joy as a parent than to begin to recognize a little bit of Luke and I in you. In fact, you are the perfect combination of the two of us. You are observant and tender-hearted like your Daddy. And you are verbal and passionate like me. You're a rule follower and ask me every night,

What are the rules?

To which I say,

Lay still, be quiet, and close your eyes. You can get out of bed when it's REALLY light in your room.

You still won't get out of bed on your own, and we are just fine with that. I love your gentle spirit and that when I call you "sweet boy" you look up at me and say,

Sweet girl.

I love that you want to be just like your Daddy. You will not find a better role model on the planet and oh how he loves you!! He has such a way with you, and you listen to him more than anyone else. Lately you've been telling me that you "need him." Mostly this is what you say when you're in trouble with me, but in the mornings you ask where he is. Sometimes you even get a little teary-eyed when I tell you he's at work. If there's one thing the two of you share right now, it's your eagerness to start the day. I doubt you will ever sleep late because your Daddy never did and probably never will. I predict alot of early morning activities together while your Mommy gets her beauty sleep. But for now, a big thank you for forcing me to be a morning person and acknowlege that 5, 6, & 7:00 do exist!

There are so many things I pray for you. I ask the Lord for continued good health and safety. Something tells me I will not be good about broken bones and gushing wounds. It goes against every girly tendency I have to be ok with all the dirt, bugs, and burping! Thank you for stretching me. I pray that you never lose your joy and that you will always have a song in your heart. You bring a smile to everyone's face, even those who do not know you. Your happiness and love for life is contagious, and I know God has used this already to bless so many people.

But more than anything, I pray that you will be saved at an early age. It is my ferverent hope that you will come to know how wide, how high, and how deep the Father's love is for you! I pray that as He holds onto you that you will cling to Him. I ask the Lord to make himself known in your life, and that for as long as you live, you will love Him even more deeply than you do your family. He is it, Austin!! Greater love, you will never find! Follow hard after him and He will change your life daily.

I knew I would love you so much but I had no idea just how deep that love would be. You are more than I could ever hope for or imagine. The perfect fit for our family. Though our relationship may change with each new chapter of your life, my love for you will not. You may not know it now, but God has big plans for you and I'm so glad He gave me a front row seat! I love you, sweet boy.

Love:

Mommy

a little randomness for your tuesday morning

I can't believe it either! Two posts in two days!! The truth is I'm about to hop in the shower so as to be ready for an early lunch with my mom. Something tells me that a girls lunch should be treated like a date...you want to be clean and dressed cute for the occasion. In other words, hat hair is not welcome.

While I have a little time to kill, I thought I'd give you all a glimpse into life in general here at the Keiffers. Also, before I get irrate calls and emails {oh, I kid!}, I do have some pictures of Austin that I will post in the near future. Just not today.

Ok. First, I need to confess that I have become slightly obsessed with the Food Network show Down Home with the Neelys. Y'all. I'm a sucker for all things southern and these two have the best accents. Plus, I love how much fun they have cooking together. And the food doesn't look too bad either. If you like to cook, you really should watch this show.

Luke got to leave for work a little later this morning so he went up to get Austin out of bed. It may have only been a few extra minutes in bed for me but it. was. GLOOOORIOUS! Sir Talks Alot also told us that he was singing quietly in his bed before Luke came up to get him. We asked him what he was singing and he said he didn't know. Gotta love it! It's a wonder he didn't say "She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain" or "Go Tell It On The Mountain" since those are his favorite songs lately.

I was cold ALL DAY LONG yesterday! The insulation in this house is alot like a vacuum in that it sucks all the cold and hot air right in; thus, putting my marriage in jeopardy because I want to turn the heat up or the air down all day long.

I downloaded an app to my iPhone called C25k. It stands for Couch to 5k. Yes, you read right. The girl that hates to run is training for a 5k. Really I'm just in it for the free t-shirt. Actually, it's more of a personal goal since I may not even register to run after I'm through training. We'll see. It's great, though, because you can still play your music and it will tell you when to walk, run, and cool down. The workouts last anywhere from 30-40 minutes. Don't be too impressed. {Not that you were or anything} It's really pretty easy and a 5k is only about 3 miles. Now those that are training for a marathon or even a half marathon, my hat's off to you! You may borrow my running shoes if you want because one thing's for sure: those things will never see the light of day where a marathon's concerned. It's good to be realistic with your goals.

Confession: I watched Oprah yesterday. I KNOW! I can't stand her show anymore either, but I tape it because my dislike for Oprah shouldn't contaminate my love for the Nate Berkus episodes. That boy's got some decorating talent. Anyway, yesterday it was all about that new show The Marriage Ref. Now I don't want to speak too prematurely but I think it's pretty safe to say that we're about to experience pure television gold! All I can say is that the first few episodes will deal with conflicts like a husband who sleeps on the porch. In freezing temperatures. A wife who refuses to let her husband put a stripper pole in their bedroom for her even though he promises it's actually an exercise pole. {Now raise your hand if you believe that. I thought so.} And a husband that claims he needs at least a meter of toilet paper when wiping. I'm not even kidding. It was great to see these couples interviewed because it appeared that their marriage was pretty solid despite these petty arguments. Plus, Jerry Seinfeld's the producer and he's hilarious so I think I'll give it a shot.

Alright. Well, I'm off to get ready for the day. A chicken ceasar salad for Gourmet Burger Grill is in my future and I am pumped!!

lovin' the weekend. 24/7.

Happy Monday, Friends and Family! How was your weekend? Ours was great. Thank you for asking. I mean, how can a weekend go wrong when you start it out with a date and amazing cheesecake?! That's right. Luke and I got a babysitter for the munchkin so we could enjoy a little Saltgrass. It was delish. We told Monica {our babysitter} that we wouldn't be out long since we were just going to dinner and maybe a little shopping afterwards. You know you're lame when it's 7:30 and you don't want to head home just yet because a) you told the babysitter to put your child to bed at 8 and b) like I said, it's lame with a capital "L" when you can't think of anything else to do.

We ended up at Target to get a baby gift for a cousin that's having twin boys. Let's all share a moment of silence so as to say a short prayer for these two. They're gonna need it! Right, Elena?

I have to say that I cannot remember the last time Luke helped me pick out a baby gift. Oh wait. That's because HE NEVER HAS!! We may have to make a tradition out of it because he is hilarious. For example, while he visited the little mens room, I headed over to print out their registry. When I turned around he was sitting in one of those motorized wheelchair thingys as if he was going to use it. Yeah. Right. He wanted me to hop in the basket. To which I said,

Think again, crazy man! Paying for one of those after I break it is not in the gift buying budget.

Luckily I convinced him to use the two good legs God gave him to head over to the baby section with me. Can I just say that I hate trying to match the items on a registry to an actual Target item? It's completely stressful. I realize there's probably some kind of bar code I could check, but honestly, where's the fun in that? So there we were. Perusing their list and trying to pick out the perfect gift.

Sidenote: I love to give gifts almost as much as I love receiving them. So this was a big deal. My head was filled with thoughts along the lines of: what will they really use? what was a lifesaver for us? {can't believe it's been that long!!} Meanwhile, my husband is picking up breast pumps and suggesting we just "grab one of these for Amber." Uh, no.

One of the items on the list was a pack of five plain white onesies. Yes, only one pack. For twins. You should probably know that Amber and Jon are the lowest maintenance people I know. Seriously. They make me look like Paris Hilton. In other words, they're good people to hang around with. So Luke said,

Well. They're gonna need more than that!!

Well said. And thank you, baby expert! However, I couldn't bring myself to box up a couple of packages of plain white onesies. I'm gonna leave that up to one of the practical aunts. In the end, we purchased onesies with designs on them, pajamas, pacifiers, pacifier clips {because HELLO! babies love to drop those things on filthy floors!}, and Goodnight Moon. The best book ever! All in all, it was a humorous trip and we walked in the door right after Monica had put Austin to bed.

Saturday I headed up to Austin with my parents and Claire for a baby shower. Our cousins Jenny and Aaron are having a little girl in March. Oh! This month. The guys went to eat while the girls mingled and oohed and ahhed over little girl things. It was a fabulous time!

Sunday, we went to church and just hung out around the house. It was great to have some down time with Luke and Austin even though little A was more sensitive than I've ever seen him! It was one of those situations where you just want to get in bed and start all over. A reboot, if you will. I guess we all have days like that and yesterday was Austin's day!

Now. Before I go, I would like to end this post with a list of things Austin has told us lately.

{after listing the items in his lunch at school} ...and raisins. {pause} Raisins make me poop.

Mommy! Boys love dirt!!

Daddy, there are lots of trees here, right?

Me: You're right, Austin, there are.

Austin: No, Mommy! I'm talkin' to Daddy.

Luke: Yes. There are lots of trees here.

Austin: Mommy, would you like to say somepin?

{before naptime} Mommy? What are the rules?

You have to lay still, be quiet, and close your eyes.

Austin: Ok.

It's Jon! It's Jon!! Look...Jon!

{said while pointing to a picture of Muhammad Ali in Pizza Hut. Clearly, we're doing something right because Austin doesn't see color.}

Gosh, I love that little boy. He's talking more and more everyday. I love that he has such a joyful spirit and a deep love for his family.

Hope your week is off to a great start!