In her presence

Our Babi...MY Babi...and especially Cohen's Babi had a few things up her sleeve before she left us.  I wanted to share this story with you all because It. Is. Unbelievable.  And I don't want to forget these precious moments.  I've used this blog mostly to document our lives and I can tell you that Babi has been a HUGE part of it.

First of all, we were so lucky to have her living in the same city as all of us these past few months.  We knew our time was special and limited, and especially of late that each day was a gift.  This past weekend we could tell that she was especially tired and the stubborn fighter wasn't nearly as spunky as she once was.

Babi came over to our house for steak and lobster dinner on Thursday (10/16).  We were cooking whole30 and having a celebratory meal before my Dad's surgery the next day.  Four generations of men ALL needed hair cuts, so they went together to see Audrey. (That's Deda, Dad, Patrick and Cohen)  I got to spend a precious few hours with my Babi alone.  We looked at old photos even though she didn't remember them, we cried, and got to say our goodbyes.  I remember thinking she knew something was up. She knew I needed some time to hold her hand.

If you have held on reading thus far, THIS is where it gets cool :-)

On Monday (10/20) Cohen had an especially challenging day.  He didn't nap, went to the dentist, and was just 'off.'  Jennifer and Patrick were over and we were entertaining a wild child before putting him in the bath a bit earlier than usual.

With absolutely no prompting from us he stopped playing in the bathtub and declared,

"Babi is going bye-bye."

I asked him where Babi was going...

"Babi is flying with the Eagles."

I grabbed my phone to try to get some of this on video, and you can hear me asking him where Babi is.  By this point he is distracted again by his water toys, but I cannot tell you how special this moment was.  After he went to bed, I told Patrick we were going to visit her the next morning.  I just had this feeling.

She passed away around breakfast that next morning.  I wonder if Eagles are Angels in a two-year-old's mind...


And finally, as we were gathering as a family and surrounding Babi yesterday, she made us all laugh once more.  About a month ago, in typical Havlik-women fashion, we all went out for manicures.  Babi had asked for bright orange and we were talking about our new iPhones, the cute Emma, and life.  For whatever reason none of our phones would take pictures that day, so our nail tech (Anthony) snapped some shots of her with Laura and Emma to text to us later.  Would you know that I forgot about the pictures?

Until I got a text message on my phone at 10 am yesterday.  With this picture below.

Let me clarify.  Anthony is NOT a friend with me on Facebook.  He would have had NO IDEA that we had said our goodbyes yesterday morning.

Coincidence?   I think Babi was just letting us know that she may be gone physically, but will always be there in spirit.

oh - TWO- doodles!!!

Happy Mickey Mouse Birthday to you Cohen...

We don't have cable after moving out from Cici and Grampa's house but when you DO watch Mickey Mouse, the 'oh tooooooooodles' part is your favorite.  So we went with it for a theme for the day.

We had so many family and friends come out to celebrate on Saturday (your ACTUAL) birthday this year.  In between the craziness of kids running around, opening presents and house visitors, you also skipped your nap.  JOY ;-) But it was worth it..

Your Babi and Deda came and spend all day watching the mayhem at our house.  Even Babi thought you were quite entertaining.

Babi and Deda made it by!

my big two-year old!

I wanted people to be able to come and visit and eat without having to serve food all day.  So we had a serve yourself atmosphere and Mickey and his friends helped.  We had "Toodle's Trail Mix" ... do not judge the food selection below. NONE of it is nutritious, on the Paleo/whole30 plan OR is generally anywhere close to our home.  But for one day, totally worth it...

Flowers in the back were for me to celebrate the BIRTH day as well ;-) Thanks Patrick!

Yummy Mickey-shaped Oreo cookies as an easy sweet treat (missed my blog on that? The recipe is here)  We were just going to do a simple sheet cake, but the city of Tulsa does not support the Mickey-themed cakes.  They DO, however, have many MANY MAAAAAANY Minney mouse cakes for all the little girls. Don't get me started on why my BOY child can't have a Mickey cake from Walmart, but the GIRLS have 4 choices of Minney Mouse.  So instead, I made up a few decorations and we put it on top of simple cupcakes.

Our "Hot Diggity Dog Bar" (You know you are a parent if you are reading this and the song automatically comes in your mind..) I just placed hotdogs in the crockpot with all the fix in's on the side. I thought it went over well!

And lest you think that because we had a horrible menu of non-nutritional items in our house, you KNOW I had to have some healthy snacks.  Ran out of time to make Shakeology cookies, but Mickey shaped watermelon (thanks Jennifer!) and veggies worked just fine!

We had so many family and friends come out to celebrate on Saturday (your ACTUAL) birthday this year.  In between the craziness of kids running around, opening presents and house visitors, you also skipped your nap.  JOY ;-)

I'm sorry for the picture overload, but these speak louder than my words could ever do.  We are so lucky to have you in all your sassiness, huggable, snug gable, and smarty-pants self.  Happy Birthday, Cohen.

Eating Cake with Carolyn

Could have scared him or not...he LOVED the giant Mickey

Cousins...so sweet

And then you have to bathe them before bed, right??

Thank you again to all the people who helped and came out to say you loved him..(and us maybe?) We even got to spend the weekend with college friends and family. Life is good ;-)