LIFE'S LITTLE DETAILS

"THE DETAILS ARE NOT THE DETAILS. THEY MAKE THE DESIGN." — CHARLES EAMES

Happy Wednesday, m' dears! I know, I've kept you out of the loop for two whole weeks mentioning very little about my plans. I'm sorry! It was done with good reason, I promise. You see, my mom and I flew to Missouri the last weekend of February to surprise my sister and throw her a baby shower. The week leading up to our departure was a busy one with countless to-dos, and since I was afraid I'd blow the surprise by saying something about the trip on my blog or Instagram, I opted to stay off of social media. This led to lots of concerned DMs asking if everything was okay. It was sweet and comical at the same time. Rest assured, I just didn't want to blow my cover. For a family of oversharers, pulling off a successful surprise is unheard of. Frankly, I'm still shocked we did it! Ha Ha! Upon our return from Columbia, I had to get my ducks in a row in Delaware and didn't find time to blog last week as I hoped.  

Now that you're up to speed, here are a few details worth noting...

• We were in CoMO for less than 48 hours. I came with a duffle of party supplies that weighed 49 lbs. when I checked in at DCA and by the time we departed Missouri, my bag was 27 lbs. lighter. What can I say? I take festive paper products VERY seriously. Checking a second bag was totally worth it!
• Our family is TERRIBLE when it comes to taking photos, so there aren't many pictures to show for our time together. That being said, it was just as lovely anyway! I'm honestly grateful I snapped a few images to send to Flyboy to share with my dad and Max (they had a boys' weekend in Delaware), otherwise content for the blog would be nonexistent. Oops! I did manage to sneak in a shot of my mom on the shuttle from the airport. She was cracking me up and I wanted to remember the moment along with our snarky banter regarding our driver. He was an absolute NUT! It's not often that my outgoing mother (she will seriously talk to anyone) would rather hide in the back seat of the bus to avoid chatting with a stranger.
• I'm so grateful for the opportunity to join my mom on this trip, and I'm especially glad that it worked out like it did. I was sad to say good-bye to my sister (no amount of time is ever enough), but I look forward to our return in a few weeks when we get to meet Poppy. Seeing the nursery put together was priceless! The idea of my sister becoming a mom and holding her daughter in that sweet little space—surreal. As a kid, when we played with our dolls, I often dreamt of what it would be like when we both became mothers. If you've got a mom like ours, that role gets put on a shiny pedestal and you pray you'll be up to the challenge someday. Even as a little girl, I looked forward to us becoming part of that special club—the one where we get to be just like the woman who brought us into this world, learn what it means to love unconditionally, and best of all, experience it TOGETHER. As the oldest sister, I've struggled with knowing my place ever since Aub came into this World. My mom jokes that she had to remind me ALL the time that SHE was the mom to Aubrey, not me. I wish I could say that I got over that phase a long time ago, but I've always felt it was my job to protect her. While nothing can prepare you for motherhood, this is one of the few times in my life I'm not worried about my little sister and the challenges ahead. Sure, I wish I could be there to hold her hand or try to make her laugh, but the truth is, she was born for this. She already has everything her baby needs. She's exactly where she's supposed to be and when she calls because Poppy is being fussy and isn't sleeping, I'll be there as I always have, not to fix anything as I've tried to do in the past, but to reassure her amidst the newborn fog that she's doing a phenomenal job.
• Speaking of top-notch parenting skills, I asked Max to pose for a picture and show me "I love you!" in sign language so I could text it to a few family members. Naturally, the Starbucks we were seated at when I made this request was packed (it felt like we were right there in the middle of it all) when Maxwell's fingers got confused and he proceeded to accidentally flip me off instead. Yeah, the couple seated next to us got a VERY good laugh out of this one. See what I mean, little sister? I know nothing. ;)

Once again, sorry about the radio silence. What's going on with you? I'm dying to know.

ALL DETAILS FROM TODAY'S POST LINKED HERE.