Birth Announcement ... by Mary Hazlett

I have two beautiful babies of my very own.  What a magical and wonderful experience it is to be a mother.  My whole life revolves around my two children: are they happy, are they sad, are they comfortable, are they busy, are they loved....and so on. With both of my babies, I sent out Birth Announcements, so that each person that I loved could share in my joy of having a baby.  (and not to mention maybe bring a gift or food or offer to babysit).  The month of August is a busy one in my family...this week alone we have two birthdays...my nephew, Andrew, and my dad!

I don't remember a meeting with my mom that I did not hear her mention her little grandchildren.  Mom just adored her grandchildren and especially little Andrew as she said in her own words,

 "Andrew is the third in our grandson count. He is also one of the most happy, sweet and loving boys ever born. Autism makes things, most of us think of as normal and ordinary, very difficult for him. But somehow Andrew has the ability to look beyond the storm clouds to the sunny days ahead and moves on."

Andrew is especially wonderful... I had the privilege of seeing him on the first day he was born.  (I was still single and childless at that point so I know that I did not see it as wonderful as I would see it now. In fact, I got to take Andrew's older brother, Gabe, out for the day to help alleviate the new parent's work....in which we had great fun...went to the park, went to Roberts and bought him a train, and cleaned out pee in my back seat!--Gabe was potty training at the time.)  Anyhow, Andrew graced our lives and world full of love, kindness, and the ability to make us laugh!  Mom wrote a sweet and loving blog on my sweet nephew titled, "Andrew".  We all love this darling boy....so Happy Birthday Handsome.

So, on another note... I am 33 and still living in my parent's house... in a sense.   Almost sounds like I am at an AA meeting doesn't it?  Since Mom passed away in November, my hubby and I and two children decided to join forces with my dad and live together in the same household. Which brings me to another birth announcement....my Dad!  I was privileged in my life to be the baby of eight children.  I watched a very busy full house, empty and almost simultaneously my parent's relationship hit rock bottom and began to rebuild again.  It was obvious that by the time my mother passed on that my mom loved Dad very much with her blogs titled, "The Mountain Man, Blowing Bubbles, Supermen, etc"  One of my favorite lines from her blogs was about my dad, "His best trait? Optimisim."  True to behold I have, once again, watched the love of my parent's grow...although I do not see the love growth on the side of my mother... I see it ever so much now with Dad.  Although he longs for adventure and hugs again from my beautiful brown eyed mother, his optimism keeps him busy in life and still enjoying some of the small things.  So back to my birth announcement being a subtle way of asking for babysitting, gifts or food...I don't necessarily need a babysitter for dad, but I could use a steak or two for his Birthday!!!!!  Happy Birthday DAD!  Thanks for being a father to this enormous family and most of all thanks for showing how much you love our mother!!