Sooner Than We Expected!!

Went to the doctor today for another ultrasound. She is still breech and the doctor really doesn't think she is going to turn at this point. There is a chance of course, but we could only wait one more week before we do a c-section anyway, and I could go into spontaneous labor before then and have to do a c-section... So, we decided that since Brad has a three-day weekend this weekend, we would like to do this on Friday, that way Brad misses less work, is able to spend more time with the baby and I while I recover (at least get started recovering), and just less stress on him and me. I'd rather do a c-section this way if I'm going to have one at all. So the doctor said ok, and called to check the OR schedule. Turns out that they are booked solid Friday, and they have an opening tomorrow, Thursday, at noon, otherwise we can't schedule into the OR until next Friday.

SO..... We are having this baby at noon tomorrow!! Well, noon today now. I have to be at the hospital at 10 am. I got about 3 hrs sleep and woke up wired. I have tons to do and no time to do it in! Oh well.

Our poor parents... everyone is rushing out the door ASAP with an 8 hr drive ahead of them... Mom, Dad, Matthew, Bekah, and Isaiah left at midnight, and Jeff & Julie are going to try to leave at 4 am. PLEASE pray that nothing delays either of them and no one will miss anything.

I can hardly believe that I will only be pregnant for a few more hours. That's kind of sad, because I really have enjoyed being pregnant. But soon I will get to meet my little girl face to face. I can't wait to share that moment with Brad. I'm so glad for epidurals that I don't have to be knocked out cold for this! I can't wait to see Brad holding his daughter. A little bit of me and and a little bit of him and a whole lot of love, all wrapped up in a little bundle sent to us from Jesus.

The ultrasound lady today said that she has a lot of hair. I can't wait to find out if it's dark or blonde!

We have an official name now... but I will wait and let Brad reveal that when he makes the birth announcement. :-)

So please be praying for all of us tomorrow. Most importantly the baby and I need the surgery to go smoothly and everyone come away healthy. Brad needs strength to be able to go through this with me (he'll do great, I know!), and our families need to be there and not stressed out in the process.

My family is having van problems and need God to keep it running so they can get here and back! Julie is not feeling well and needs God to touch her body so that she can have a good trip and feel good while she's here.

I'll be in the hospital until Sunday.

Only 8 more hours and 8 minutes!!!! Sorry little ticker, you're being overridden? overrode? Whatever. :-)

The next thing you'll see here is baby pictures! YAY!!!!

Our Merry Wittle Christmas

At first we weren't going to do anything for Christmas, with the impending birth of the baby any day and us not being able to travel to be with anyone, and no one able to travel here to be with us(gotta save up travel time for the birth of the baby!). But we couldn't just be all by ourselves and not do ANYthing on Christmas, that's just depressing. So we decided to make dinner, though I didn't go all out like I normally would. But we had all of the important stuff, just not as much of it as I normally would do.


We had turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and rolls. I made "green stuff," pumpkin roll, and caramel chocolate brownies for dessert. It was yummy!













But then we couldn't just NOT get each other something for Christmas. So Brad got me the "Cherish" preggo Willow Tree figurine I'd been wanting!!! Yay!! He said it was to commemorate our last Christmas without our little girl, or our first Christmas with her, depending on how you look at it. He also said that most girls dread being pregnant and can't wait for it to be over, but I've cherished every minute so it's appropriate for me. :-) He's so sweet.










And the SWEETEST card too!! That was Christmas enough in itself! 'Bout made me cry.





























I got Brad a new watch (which he has desperately needed) and a new wallet.

We weren't going to decorate at all, just more to take down and do with the baby coming, but I woke up Christmas morning and I couldn't just NOT have ANY Christmas decorations.


So I took our big pillar unity candle from our wedding, wrapped it with the one strand of wire greenery garland I had, wrapped that with the one small strand of Christmas lights, and Brad put a yellow wire nut on the top and we taped a star cut from a yellow piece of paper to the wire nut. Of all the Charlie Brown Christmas trees in the world, ours is the Charlie Browniest, but it makes me happy and I giggle every time I look at our "tree". :-)

It was a good Christmas. We watched Christmas specials on youtube all day. I got to talk to MOST of my family but I had to get off the phone because contractions and the baby moving were wearing me out. So I missed Jon, Micah, and Dad. And Josh in Iraq. :-( He comes home in February so we will make up for it then!!

Only Three Weeks to Go!!!

Megan took these for us Sunday... I was 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

I can't believe that we only have 3 weeks! It seemed like 9 months would be such a long time, but it has just flown by. I really have been blessed to have such an easy pregnancy. Even with being sick early on, it could have been SO much worse. The gestational diabetes scare has turned out to be not such a big deal after all. I have had a couple sleepless night, and a couple nights up with pretty bad heartburn. My hip joints get feeling pretty sore, I can tell everything is loosening up and getting ready for delivery! Over the weekend I think she turned. I usually feel her kick down low, and now I'm feeling her kick up high. I think she dropped today too, I'm feeling movement a LOT lower than I ever have before!! It's a freaky feeling!!!

I had to have Brad put my boots on me Sunday night for the first time. Usually I can maneuver if I work fast. But I just can't anymore. I get too squished!!

I am in love with coconut body butter on my tummy.

We think we have a name. We're 99.8% sure... I'll wait until we're 100% to reveal it to the whole world, though some know what we're thinking already.

Finding deals on ebay for baby stuff is my latest hobby. I got a gorgeous sheepskin (specially made and sanitized) for babies from Australia, normally $100 (even used ones), for $30. After researching baby slings I found that my FAVORITE was $45. I got one like new for $15.

We are almost set! I still have to get a baby bathtub, actually purchase the crib that the church gave us a gift card for, and I think I found a wardrobe that someone wants to give away. After that, we'll be good to go!

We go see the doctor on Thursday, I had to miss my appointment last week, so we'll see what she says. I'm having a lot more and stronger Braxton Hicks too, so I wonder if anything is changing?? We'll see!!!

Only THREE weeks!!! Yay!!!

Sickness

Brad woke up sick Sunday morning. Not puking thankfully but running a fever and stuffed up and generally feeling pretty bad. We were supposed to help Sis. Shaw with the kids' Christmas party that morning so I hate we had to miss that. I was ready with my red cozy sweater I haven't had a chance to wear yet!

We were home all day Sunday except I made a trip to the store that evening.

Sunday night he ran a fever off and on and wasn't feeling much better so he stayed home from work to rest it off... it helped trememdously. I don't need him sick right now, though I hate he had to miss work. He was better by the afternoon and I went with him to his school. They ended up only having a two hour class so that was nice. It was good to be with him on his breaks too. I brought him Wendy's to eat for dinner on his first break.

We stopped by Walgreens on the way home for Puffs Plus with lotion and cold medicine... they are having a buy one get one free sale on their vitamins and supplements so I got echinacea and zinc, ended up being $5 a piece. Not bad. We are set for the rest of the cold/flu season now hopefully, maybe it won't hit us again after this! Brad found a cordless rechargable massager that will be perfect for bringing to the hospital, so that was nice. They say bring tennis balls so we'll do that too and see what works best.

I found a $5 bill in the parking lot and no one around to which it might belong, in the store either... so that was yayness. :-)

Monday night Brad slept peacefully for once in and I was up and wired, not to mention having bad heartburn, which has wonderfully kicked in now. I had a few "twinges" in my back Monday morning and they went away... Woke up 3 times Sunday night with harder Braxton Hicks... I'm keeping an eye on it. Not worried unless it keeps it up with the back stuff and gets harder and more frequent. I don't need to be going into labor right now!! But it hasn't done anything since then, so that's good.

Brad is better today and I'm so thankful. I'm keeping him pumped full of echinacea and zinc, poor guy!

Goodness, I'm wordy but I have to make up for lost time! And I still have TONS of stuff to blog about!

A Phew Photos

Brad & Krissy: Back together again!

Looking much like they did in pictures when they were much younger...
some things never change!

Juan, Elijah, and Krissy.

Aren't these three cute together? Wait, that's four!

Thanksgiving!

I'm back! (Maybe with a vengeance... we'll see how long this lasts!)

Thanksgiving was wonderful! It was SO great to have everyone together. We had SUCH a good time visiting and joking around with everyone. Julie did an awesome job cooking (and fretting over) dinner and it was yummy!

Friday night we went over to Krissy & Juan's and she taught me how to make mexican rice, carne asada, and authentic green chile sauce. I know what I'm going to be cooking often now!

It was quite amusing having two pregnant ladies together. "I'm so fat..." "WHATEVER! Look at me! You could fit TWO of you in ONE of me!" :-) (Krissy ended up being ok after all. They told her she will just keep on having contractions until the end, just rest and drink lots).

Elijah is ADORABLE! I will post pictures and video. Juan is really good with Elijah. He loves that kid, that's for sure. Brad enjoyed being an uncle. :-)

And of course it was wonderful hanging out with Mom & Dad Riddell. In the past I've kinda worried about keeping my goofiness toned down some, but not this time (don't you guys feel privelidged?) :-) I wasn't self-conscious at all, and I didn't even realize it until we were driving home. Maybe it's just more of that being "comfortable in my skin," but I really did just be myself without even thinking about it.

Turkey Days

Leaving in the morning for North Carolina for Thanksgiving. Will be heading back Sunday. We were looking forward to all of the family being back together again, with Krissy (who has called me a couple times now and we've really enjoyed visiting), her fiancee Juan (whom I've met before, I really like him, he reminds me of Josh), our almost two year old nephew Elijah, and the yet to be born Silver Destiny. She is due January 6th (the same as Elijah's birthday, and Julie's dad's birthday), we are almost the same exact amount pregnant!

But we got a message from Julie when we came in the door tonight, Krissy went into premature labor and they were on their way to the hospital. They have already had to stop her labor earlier on in the pregnancy, but as far as I know, that's the only problems she's had.

So please pray that Krissy and little Silver will be alright. We may get to meet our new niece sooner than planned.

Everyone have a fantastic Thanksgiving! I will try to be a better blogger when I get back home. Only six more weeks to go!!!!

Our Baby Shower... Part One

(For those of you who'd like to see ALL the pictures, hop over to here.)

Weekend Plans

Heading out to Ladies' Retreat tomorrow after the diabetes clinic in the morning. Brad is dropping me off there on his way to work, I'm getting breakfast at the hospital cafeteria, then my appt. is at 8:30. Finishing up at 11, Kasey picking me up, meeting Sis. Shaw a la Megan in Lebanon then onward.

Kasey is going to be mad/disappointed/irritated that I did not get her apron done. TOO much to do to get ready around here. :-(

Thou shalt not surely eat it all...

Big container of candy pumpkins was on sale for 94 cents and I DIDN'T buy it!

Go me!

And now, a few words from our sponsor...

I started a baby afghan today. I think I might ACTUALLY finish this one! It'll be a first! It's a granny square so maybe it won't be so overwhelming. Other ones I've tried I got disinterested quick or it was a bunch of small stitches so it took so much effort for so little. I will post a picture when it is finished.

I remember when I first learned how to crochet, when I was 8. Daddy taught me. I was so excited, I made a chain about 6 feet long and proceeded to single crochet about 5 rows. I was determined to make an afghan. Daddy tried to persuade me to let him teach me how to do a granny square so that I could get done faster, but no, I would have none of that. I was going to make an afghan my way. Needless to say, I made it through those 5 rows and that is where I stopped. Actually, it was a lot of work for an 8 year old to accomplish even that! At least in this day and age, I know about a hundred years ago and more 9 year old girls had completed quilt after quilt after quilt entirely by hand. But for me at any age, and especially 8 years old, those 5 rows were quite a feat.

Kim and I started an afghan. We were each going to make enough squares in our coordinating colors for a whole afghan, and then swap half, and sew them together and trim each in "our" color. I think I made it to about 20 squares and then fizzled. Kim gave Mama an afghan not too long ago that has some of those colors in it... It brought back memories and made me wish we/I had finished that project.

I'm missing people today. I'm missing Kim. And then while crocheting with yarn that I have had FOREVER, a long blond hair was tangled up in it. It's BEKAH'S from who knows how many years ago. We always shared a room until I got married. So I miss my sister too and I'm wishing we were close so we could do girl stuff together. Sigh.

In other news, I was listening to last.fm radio this morning and heard some interesting new stuff. So I've compiled an iTunes wish list.

She Will be Loved by Maroon 5 (heard already but put it on here to remind me to get it)
From Where I Am by Enya
Economy of Mercy by Switchfoot (owned the album this is on but it has disappeared)
Tall Trees in Georgia by Eva Cassidy
Passenger Seat by Death Cab for Cutie (who wouldda thunk it??)
Speed of Sound by Coldplay
Clocks by Coldplay
Fix You by Coldplay( Can you tell I like Coldplay?)
I Will be Blessed by Lisa Ekdahl
Take it From Me by The Weepies
All I Do is Dream of You by Stacey Kent
We Came to Learn the Sea by Dar Williams
The Blower’s Daughter by Damien Rice

Mostly just folksy/easy listening/jazz type stuff. Very relaxing. Note that I have no clue about these artists other songs, I just like these that I've heard. I would like to have more candlelight dinner type music and this just might start me off.

Going to try to do the diabetes clinic thing on Friday if all works out. Had a BIG fiasco with insurance because my caseworker neglected to enter info into the computer when she has had the fax on her desk for WEEKS. I arrived at the clinic only for them to tell me that I'm not covered! Yikes! But all is well now. TWO WEEKS later. Grr. Oh well.

Ladies' Retreat is this weekend!!! I cna't wait! It will only be my second. I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the one in WV last year, it was FANTASTIC. This may be my last one for a while so I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity for sure. Though Sis. Kim has forbade me to go into labor while I'm there. Hopefully not! Though if this retreat was about a month later there is no way I'd be there. So it's perfect timing.

Hoping my jean skirt arrives in the mail before Friday...

The (Might as Well Be) Finished Project

Here I am in the jumper I made. I love the drawstring waist (enhances the tummy, Jaci!) but I still want to but the velvet ribbon on to trim the neckline so it doesn't look so plain. I'm contemplating a black eyelet peeking out from underneath the hem, too. We'll see. I think I'm skipping the pockets while I'm ahead.

The first time I've ever been in a position to use one of these parking spaces!
This was at Kroger. I just had to snap a picture. :-)

Our Weekend

Wish I had taken a picture of Gabe Scott playing the accordian. Bebo was talking about how he thought there was no way to be cool when you play an accordian, because an accordian doesn't rock. Gabe begged to differ, and proceeded to play the intro to "Jump" by Van Halen (the one Van Halen song I can tolerate). It was amusing. :-)

We were about 4 rows back with the perfect angle for a great view. Close to the speakers and the baby was kicking in rhythm to the beat! Not the first time she's done that, either. She is going to be a musician of some kind, I just know it.

It's the Most Maternity Time of the Year...

Blogger was down yesterday RIGHT at the exact time that I wanted to/had time to blog. So this news is not brand-new anymore, but I am still SUPER excited about it!!!

My box from Sis. Rebekah D. arrived yesterday!!!!!!

Ooodles and oodles of wonderful maternity shirts! They all fit but one!

I did not know how uncomfy I have been until trying these shirts on. Now I feel great because I'm comfortable, and they are so pretty. I have a feeling that once this pregnancy is over, I am going to miss my maternity clothes, because I don't have as much nice non-maternity things!

AND extra baby things too that I was not expecting! Onesies, t-shirts, blankets, and a baby carrier too!

Sis. Rebekah, I do believe that right now there is a halo over your head. Thanks for making my day, week... well, the rest of my pregnancy! :-)

I've ALMOST finished my jumper today too. It looks CUTE!!! I never pre-wash my material, I guess because I'm a weirdo, but all that is left is to sew around the edges of the armholes and neckline so that the facing will stay down, and hem it, so I started it washing before I do that so that I'll have an accurate hemline. Right now the edge sweeps the floor, but I like it long, so I'll keep it at my ankles. I think I'm going to add cargo pockets to the sides because I LOVE pockets, and I'm contemplating adding some black velvety narrow ribbon to the neckline for interest. I will be sure to post pictures once it is all finished.

Your apron is next Kasey, don't worry! That's next weeks project for sure. It'll be a cinch after this jumper. I completely forgot how to turn the drawstring right side out. It took me forever, and then when the light bulb FINALLY came on and I remembered how to do it the easy way, I had already worked on it the hard way for so long my fingertips were getting numb. Oh well! But I'm pleased with the results. I haven't sewn anything for my self since Christmas two years ago, when my Lil' Sis and I sewed pajama pants together. Before that, the last thing I'd sewn for myself was when I was 14. I made coordinating jumpers for Bekah, Mama, and I. So it's been a while!!!

OH! And I found a jean maternity skirt on ebay! It is a straight style skirt ( I really like A-line the best, Sis. Rebekah) but I think it will be big enough to not be too tight in the back. It has a split in the back, but I've repaired that problem before with an insert of stretch denim, so that won't be a problem. And the best part? I won it with 17 seconds to spare, for $2.51! Yay!!!

So this has been a very maternity day. A good day. :-)

Pray all goes well with the diabetes clinic tomorrow. They will be teaching me how to check my blood sugar. Maybe it's a good thing my fingertips are numb, huh?

Oh, and before I forget...

FREE Building 429 concert at Opry Mills tomorrow night at 7!

Bebo Norman/Aaron Shust/Brandon Heath concert at Lipscomb University Saturday night at 7:30

Anyone wanna come with us?

My Honey Bear is Sick

Brad is sick this morning. He has been fighting a cold, and it was improving. He has been taking echinacea and goldenseal since the first sign, and I think that has held it off, but this morning when he got up he wasn't feeling too swift. He contemplated staying home, but he needs to work and he was joking around a bit so I know he must not feel TOO bad. So off he went. Pray he will get better throughout the day, it's one of the long days for him.

Plenty of Fluid!

Had the additional ultrasound Friday. Everything is looking good now! Fluid measures 10.5 cm, and the technician said that after years of working with Dr. Deppen, she knows that 10 is her magic number and won't be concerned about it any longer. YAY! That's worth it.

They are recording the ultrasounds for free on DVD for you now! Why could they have not done that with the first one they recorded??? But it is so neat to pop it in and watch our baby periodically. I've watched it several times already. :-) We got a good profile shot, we think she has Brad's nose! She's a cutie! I can't wait to meet her.

Two hour class on Friday morning for the gestational diabetes. I am being a good girl. My one indulgement of the day is my own version of "baby coffee". A tiny tiny amount of coffee, fill the rest with milk, microwave, and stir in a touch of caramel syrup. I'd say that's much improvement over what it has been!!

Finally finished the top half of my jumper today. I've been putting it off but I'm tired of having to scrounge for something decent to wear on Sundays. With this jumper and another one I'll make, and the oodles of maternity shirts Sis. Rebekah Doran has sent to me (a lifesaver!!!), all I'll need is a maternity jean skirt and I'll be set!! People, keep your eyes out for a long jean maternity skirt without slits or kick pleats. A tall order I know, I've had little luck so far!

I'm tired so I'm sure all of this sounds disjointed. Bear with me.

Flashback

I was looking through some old pictures on my Yahoo photo album, and came across this one. Thought y'all might enjoy seeing it. Wow, that was a long time ago! But this is the most recent picture I have of all of us kids together. Mama, do you have any recent ones from when Josh was home?

The Cook Kids
May 2002
front row, l-r (Isaiah, Me, Rebekah, Jon)
back row, l-r (Joshua, Matthew, Micah)

Baby News

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. This time I made the appointment with Dr. Halcomb. There are four lady doctors in the practice, and whichever one happens to be on call when I go into labor, will be the one delivering the baby. So I figured I might as well start getting to know the other doctors.

I like her, but I like Dr. Deppen a whole lot better. She is okay though. It probably was not the best day to meet her for the first time because the other doctors are on vacation right now and she had a delivery that morning before she could come into the office. So I imagine she was tired. But still, she was nice.

I had to wait on her to get there for a little bit while back in the examination room so I took my chart off of the front of the door and read it while waiting. I felt like such a rebellious little patient, though it is MY chart. :-) I was looking at the reports from the ultrasounds. The big one with the guy in downtown Nashville said that my amniotic fluid level was 8.1 cm, and LOW. The follow up one at the office in Hermitage said that it was 8.5 and NORMAL.

So when the doctor got there, I asked her for a second opinion on doing another ultrasound. She said that they wouldn't want to do it if it wasn't important, and that they really need to know if it is still low and not getting lower. I said, even though it had increased between the last two ultrasounds? She said yes, because it was only 8.5 cm. I asked what normal was, and she said at that point, It should be 15-16 cm, which backs up what the freaking out ultrasound dude said. Dr. Deppen said it was just the low side of normal.

So when I got home, I did my own research. EVERYTHING I've read says that anything above 7 cm is NORMAL. Anything below 5 cm is LOW. Point for Dr. Deppen. There was an article put out by John Hopkins that said that lower amniotic fluid levels is not really as big a deal as they thought, as long as everything else is normal.

However, the norm with low amniotic fluid is that there tends to be more cesareans, just because of the stigma associated with it. So, my conclusion is that if I refuse to do another ultrasound, I may find myself in the hospital with a doctor that says I have to do a cesarean because they don't know what the fluid is doing because I refused the ultrasound. I'd rather have the ultrasound than to deal with that, and I think the ultrasound poses a lesser risk than anything else I may have to deal with if I refuse. Gotta pick my battles carefully.

I had my glucose test yesterday too, and I got a call from Nurse Jamie this morning. They said no news was good news. Uh oh. I failed. My glucose level was 205. She said it should around 135. She said that anytime it's over 200 they automatically assume you have gestational diabetes and treat you accordingly. I'll be going Monday morning for a 2 hr class and getting a machine to check my blood sugar every day (hopefully just once a day but they will probably tell me 3 times a day. Grr.). I KNOW I've been eating more sugar lately. I was doing SO well until Wal-Mart came out with candy corn... and it's been downhill from there. So I asked if my recent eating habits could throw off the test, and she said, yes it most certainly could. So watching my diet along with testing my blood sugar will give them a more accurate picture of what it really going on, but at this point it is so high that they need to act accordingly just in case. Which makes sense.

Just what I've always wanted to do, stick myself every day... Oh well. :-)

NEWS FLASH

My husband has blogged again!

Go visit him and read all about it!

I'm working on a movie/slide show thing to add to it. It's so much fun!

Just Checking In

Sometimes I don't blog because I have so much to say that it kind of overwhelms me so I just don't blog at all. I'm like that with a lot of things. It is what has always kept me from letter writing because I don't know how to write short letters. If I don't have time to write a long letter, I just don't write at all. And I can type so much faster than I write... and this overwhelms me too? Oh, the delicate intricate workings of the mind that is mine... God is the only one that is not confused by my maze of thoughts... including me!

Short news clips...

I went to my very first La Leche League meeting on Friday. I am the only second generation LLLer there! I am proof that it works! I was not sure exactly what to expect but I am very pleased and came away with a wealth of encouragement and good advice in regards to childbirth and other things. I am tickled to death and can't wait until next month's meeting!

Friday night was band meeting (small group meeting for those who aren't familiar with the term) at the Donnafield's... I'm feeling more comfortable in such settings recently. I know I'm weird and it's hard for me to get my thoughts out in words like I want them to come out... I feel much more comfortable talking one-on-one. But I am me and I have been more comfortable with me lately. Brad says he thinks that pregnancy has given me a security I lacked before. Perhaps he is right.

We didn't do the yard sale today. Sigh. We were both so tired. But it was so NICE for us to have a relaxing Saturday morning. We have enjoyed each others' company today SO MUCH... He is still my best friend and I would rather hang out with him than any other I know.

We went and bought a cheap coffemaker at Wally World tonight. With Brad's early mornings he has wanted caffeine on his way out the door. Not the healthiest of routines but I can't blame him... he only drinks half a cup anyway. I had the powdered cappucino mix but ran out... and that stuff isn't the best. So we now have a little 4-cup coffee maker with a timer, so I can prepare it at night and we can wake up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee... I happen to have Irish Creme grounds in the cabinet so we're off to a good start. But now I will be jealous so I'm going to have to go on a search for yummy flavored decaf grounds. I can make a half pot for him, then another half pot for me afterwards. With the weather turning colder the idea of a cup of coffee in the the mornings sounds inviting, though normally I am not a coffee person. I prefer hot tea. Chai tea is the best stuff this side of the planet, and the other side too apparently because Josh discovered it while in Iraq on a night he was visiting in a home of one of the locals. He loves it!

I've been in a severely crafty mood lately (*rubs hands together*). Ok, not THAT kind of crafty. I knitted two dishcloths, crocheted another, finished a scarf I started last year (wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles), I've started on a fall wreath for the front door... I will post pictures when it's finished because I think it's going to be major cute. Almost finished cutting out a jumper for me... I wanted it finished to wear tomorrow. Once I get it all cut out the sewing is a snap. I'm going to be making a cute retro kitchen apron for Kasey... Will post pictures of that too! I feel WOMANLY again. I always dreamed of being a housewife who cooks all the time, whose house smells of freshly baked bread all the time, decorated with her own handicrafts, wearing clothes she made herself, with well-behaved children all around.... OK, so I know real life is not as glamorous as all that, but I can dream, can't I? At least I am reclaiming a portion of my old dreams. :-)

New Tummy Photo

Month 7

Never mind

Ok, so all of you worried doting mothers out there will be glad to know that we decided to not go camping after all... THIS week. Ha ha! I did buy a body pillow just for this purpose and WOW I should have bought one of those sooner! I did not realize exactly how uncomfortable I've been until sleeping with it last night. It's a nice thing to be short because I can put it between my knees and lower legs, support my tummy on it, and rest my head on it too. COMFY!!

As soon as Brad is done getting ready (yes I'm actually ready before he is!), we are going to go out for the day. We plan on getting some lunch, touring the B17 World War II bomber that is in town this weekend ($10 for a family, not bad), then going to the corn maze afterwards. It's a gorgeous day out there and it is going to be so nice to get some fresh air.

I'm going to try to get a new tummy shot today too. I just realized today that I totally missed month 6! I'm starting month 7 already! I'm such a slacker, but whenever I would think of it I wouldn't be wearing something I wanted a picture taken in. Today is a good day though. :-)

You Have Reached Rachel...

Taking advantage of the wonderful fall weather that has suddenly appeared and going camping for the weekend. I'm such a bad blogger I know. Will return in full force next week.

Leave a message after the tone...

*BEEP*

This is the day that the Lord hath made...

It is after 2 in the morning and I just can't sleep. It could be due to all of the sugar I consumed today, but regardless, I can't sleep. They tell you that when you can't sleep, rather than just lie there forever, get up and do something until you ARE sleepy. It hasn't worked so far. So I'm going to blog a bit.

It was a wonderful Sunday! Brad worked again on Saturday so it makes getting up early on Sunday really hard on both of us, so we didn't make it to Sunday School. It's really a bummer that just as I start feeling fabulously pregnant and can make it to Sunday School, they start this Saturday work thing. We do need the overtime right now though, so it's a blessing. God knows that we do the best we can and so does the church.

Anyway, I helped Sis. Shaw with Children's Church this morning. It was SO MUCH FUN! We are learning about Truth, and she came out of the back in a trenchcoat with a magnifying glass, saying in a funny accent, "Where's the truth?? Are you the truth? Do you have the truth?" With black footprints on the floor to go with the detective theme. It thoroughly amused the kiddos. We basically learned about how God is truth and He will show us the truth if we look for it. So for the next 6 months or so we are all detectives snooping out the truth. It was cute! Sis. Shaw DEFINITELY needs to start a blog so that SHE can tell the whole world about all of this (you lurker, you!)!

She asked me to help again next Sunday, because she wants to use me as much as possible before the baby comes and then I'll have my hands full for awhile! I'm excited because I have really missed being with the kids.

We had a good lunch after church with the youth group for our meeting to kind of kick off the new year. I am SO EXCITED about the coming year. It is going to be FANTASTIC having youth service every Wednesday!!! We're having a yard sale (girls against the boys) at some point this month, which explains why I have been unable to get my own yard sale together. God knew I'd need to contribute all of that junk to the youth yard sale so that the girls can win! Yay!

I started to post about our afternoon with Brandon and Tyler, and just thinking about it made me very tired. Ha! So thanks guys! I'm off to bed now, and I'll finish blogging tomorrow.

Overdue

Well I've had fifteen million exciting things to blog about but right now my hands are tied!!! So... I guess I will just wait on that a bit longer. Just help me pray about some VERY IMPORTANT things that may happen!

In other news... yesterday Rose & Becky abducted me and took me to the new Joann's in Mt. Juliet. I didn't even know they were open yet, but they've been open since July! If I had known that I would have been there a LOT sooner!! They have a 50% off coupon thing online that is good until Sunday so I may go and get some material for a jumper later this weekend. I have GOT to get started on that because nothing is fitting. I have some maternity shirts but my one skirt that fits me is WORN OUT so I've gotta do something else. I'm debating whether or not to make a jean skirt or get a big cheaper non-maternity one and put a stretch panel in it if need be later on. Regular maternity skirts are outrageously priced. OH well.

Anyhow, I had a good time with Becky & Rose. It was SO NICE to get out of the house, I was having a cabin fever kind of day. They took me out to Pizza Hut and I thoroughly stuffed myself. It was SOOO yummy! It's funny though, I hardly ever do that anymore. For the longest time early in this pregnancy I couldn't eat much at one sitting at all, but I'd eat more often. Now I'm eating larger portions, but still not like I used to. That's a good thing, though I never really did eat large portions on a regular basis. But now, whenever I DO happen to stuff myself, it feels so weird in there! My stomach is expanded and squishing everything else that is already being squished, and nothing in there knows exactly where it's supposed to go! It's quite amusing!

Then we stopped by Kroger and I got some soup for Brad and some country ham hock slices to cook with navy beans... since it's getting colder I suddenly had the urge to make a crockpot of beans. And they just don't taste right unless cooked with ham or bacon. So yeah. Rose got me a butterfinger! Yay! I was way too stuffed to enjoy it at the time but now I'm enjoying my chocolate fix quite nicely, thank you Rose! :-)

Fall is here!!!!! I am so thrilled. I actually turned off the air conditioner yesterday and I doubt I will need to turn it back on! It is 47 degrees outside and I am wearing long sleeves, flannel jammie pants, and warm fuzzy socks (only like the 3rd time I've worn socks so far! Bye bye flip flops!). This morning I actually had a hot cup of (sugar-free decaf) International House of Coffee French Vanilla Mocha. Yumm! Time to get my hot teas out too!

I absolutely ADORE this time of year. It's pretty much the only time I enjoy being outside. I like winter but you can only endure so much time outside in it. Fall is my outdoor weather, Winter is my bundle-up-on-the-couch-with-my-sweetie-with-hot-chocolate and wish-we-had-a-fireplace time. Both seasons have definite good points.

I am excited about the youth work at church this year! I'm going to miss Sis. Kim being our leader, but she will still be there to support us I know because its in her heart to do so. I think that the Donnafields are going to do a GREAT job! Plus we are going to start having VLB (Victory Leaders Band, the name of our youth group) night EVERY Wednesday! Yay!!! I am so thrilled, and I think that everyone is much more likely to get involved that way. I can't wait to see what's gonna happen this year!!

Hippie Mama

Ok, I know I'm due for another tummy shot but this is all I've got right now. I'll have to get a real one later. This was taken this week when Brad came and kidnapped me after work, took me to get Subway and brought me to the park for a picnic. It was lovely!! Even when the kiddie soccer team arrived to practice below us and almost hit Brad with a soccer ball, it didn't ruin it!

This picture makes my tummy look funny and distorted but oh well. And how do y'all like my polyester hippie preggo mama shirt?? Ha ha!

Latest Doc Appointment

Hey y'all! We were in bed by 8 pm last night so I'm feeling better. Though I still did NOT want to get up this morning when Brad was getting ready for work. I was a bit grumpy. Brad just laughed at me and kissed me goodbye and told me to go back to bed. :-) So I did, but not for very long. Oh well. I felt better today but this afternoon I have felt kinda yucky in my tummy. Don't know what's up with that, but it's getting better now.

I'm waiting on Brad to get home from work. We're having Mexican Soft Taco Bake tonight. Good old Taco Bell boxed fix-a-meals. Ha ha!

The doctor's appointment yesterday went well. My blood pressure was higher than it has been due to my sleep deprivation yesterday I'm sure, but it was still good. I'm measuring a couple weeks small, but as Nurse Jamie said, "Some people just don't have big honkin' babies, that's all!" She is a sweetheart. :-)

Dr. Deppen was thoroughly exasperated at the radiologist for getting in such a tizzy over my amniotic fluid level. She said that up until the 19th week there are very specific numbers that they look for when measuring the fluid levels, but after that, it varies so much that there is a very wide range. I am just on the low side of normal, AND it has increased between ultrasounds, so she said there is nothing to worry about. She does want to do another one in a month just to make sure that it hasn't dipped below the normal zone. Otherwise, everything is looking great! OH, and the baby was close enough to the surface that when the nurse used the doppler, we could actually hear the "bump, bump" of her heartbeat instead of the usual "whoosh, whoosh" echo of her heartbeat. It was so neat! And it gets stronger everytime. It was so cool.

Last night she was kicking in bed, and Brad laid his hand on my tummy. She kicked him HARD, and it felt like a whole foot! It was so cute! It's so neat now that he can feel her too now. She moves more when he talks to her. I think she really knows his voice as opposed to mine.

I must finish dinner. Brad is late but he SHOULD be here any minute! Hopefully!

Must... have... sleep

I am so tired today. Brad and I were up talking into they way too late hours of the night after a very thought provoking discussion with the Campbells and Bro. Shaw after church last night. I love those people.

Brad is working in Cool Springs this week and I had a doc appt. today so I had to get up with him at 3:45 to get him ready for work and head to Murfreesboro by around 5 am ish so that I could have the car today.

I slept way too little and boy am I feeling it now. I just hope that Brad has made it through the day ok. Poor baby. I have a feeling we'll be crashing before 7.

Gotta train them early...

I have GOT to get these onesies!!! I know, it's shameless exploitation of my child for advertising purposes, but hey, as long as it's something I would advertise myself (the product part, not the "I pood" part!)!!

Doesn't this newborn make that Shuffle look huge?? I can't wait until I have one of my own to hold... the baby, not the iPod. :-)

Goin' to the Chapel...

Here it is folks, my first baby brother is now ENGAGED!!! I didn't post about it before because I wanted to wait until I could call and talk to both of them on the phone. It just didn't seem RIGHT to congratulate Jon & Jaci for the first time on the internet! I had called Jon a couple weeks ago but I just called Jaci on Tuesday so hence the delay.

I am so excited for them! They seem suited to each other and they are both very happy. They are going to wait until they are out of college to actually tie the knot, seeing as how one of them will be in Arkansas, and the other in Kansas. But you never know how long that resolve might actually last. I'm sure you could find SOMETHING to study at Tech, Jaci! Marriage doesn't HAVE to ruin your plans for the future. Ok, I'll get off my big sister soap box now. ;-p

They ARE officially engaged now, however, Jon has yet to actually do the actual official special proposal. Knowing Jon though, it'll be good, but my sisterly advice to him was to not make the poor girl wait too long!

Love you guys!

CONGRATULATIONS JON & JACI!!!!

Another Ultrasound

I know it seems silly to blog about the whole tire fiasco before I blog about the baby, but once I got started on that story, I just had to finish.

I had another ultrasound last Thursday, at my doctor's Hermitage office this time. Everything is looking good! I asked the technician WHY did the fancy schmancy diagnostic imaging guy say there was only 50% as much fluid as there needs to be, but Dr. Deppen said that it's just on the low side of normal? She said that the dude has a reputation for having extremely high expectations for fluid levels and he freaks out over that frequently. They are used to that. So the nice ultrasound lady said there is still less fluid than they would like, but it has increased since the last ultrasound, and everything is looking good! Baby girl has caught up in size too, since then. She weighs a whole 1 lb. 3 oz!!!

It was so adorable this time, she kept on opening and closing her mouth. And THEN she got hiccups! We were watching her from the side and her little mouth would open and her tummy would jiggle with her hiccups! It was so cute! Poor thing, but it was so adorable!

I have another doctor's appointment on Monday. The ultrasound lady said that Dr. Deppen will probably want to do another ultrasound later on, just to keep tabs on the fluid and make sure it's still increasing. It's so nice to know that everything is ok and my baby is doing well.

The Great Tire Saga, Part Two

So when I got to the automotive department, they told me I was finished (and it didn't look like they had JUST finished, either. So why hadn't they paged me? I WAS listening and waiting for it). So I paid, and I'm thinking, cool, they didn't charge me anything to put the tire on the rim.

So I get out there and look in the back of the car, and the tire is STILL SITTING THERE on top of the flat!!! WHAT??? So I look closely at the receipt, and down at the bottom it says, "DECLINED-TIRE DAMAGED PRIOR". Grr. So I go back in and ask the desk clerk what this means. Damaged, how? Of course she doesn't know anything and directs me to go back out and ask for Jason, who worked on it. So little me, who HATES confrontation, especially with mechanic type dudes, walks out the door and says to about 5 dudes out there, "I'm supposed to ask for a Jason?" Grrr. So anyway, Jason was nice, and he took me out to the car to show me how the tire was damaged. The lining on the inside was wearing out and he said that it wasn't safe to mount. He said he even asked his manager to be sure. Grrr. (and WHY, if they only did an oil change, didn't they page me 1 1/2 hours earlier???)

Well, this was the tire we had been riding on for two days, and I figured something was better than nothing, so I decided to go back to the Goodyear place and see what THEY said about it. If someone would put it on the rim for me, at least we'd have something to drive 20 mph on to the next exit if we ended up with another flat.

So I go in there and the manager guy was at the counter. I told him what the dudes did on Tuesday. He's like, "You mean they didn't even mount it for you?" I told him he was welcome to go out and look in the back of my car and see for himself! (I was very nice, but this is sassy for me. I HATE making stinks. If I can live with it, I will. I won't even say anything if my order is wrong in a restaurant. It has to be REALLY bad for me to say anything.)

So he goes out and gets the genius who rang me up on Tuesday. He said, we didn't know there was another tire in the back, we didn't know you wanted that one mounted. I said, Well, perhaps I should have made myself more clear, but I figured it would be a no-brainer since I specifically told you that I wanted to keep it because it's my SPARE TIRE. (OOH! Getting REALLY sassy now!! But still nice. lol)

He stared at me blankly, and said ok and went back out. ANOTHER mechanic guy comes out there (this one was very polite to me) and says that the tire is no good and wants me to come out there so he can show me. Well, not only is the lining wearing off, it's wearing off a LOT. There is about 3 cups of powder sitting in the tire from the lining wearing off. YIKES! PLUS the rim has rubbed against the tire and has almost wore holes all around the outside sidewall. Most definitely NOT safe and it's a wonder it made it as long as it did. So he asks the other guy if they have another tire in the back. I'm like, No, I can't afford another tire right now, I'll have to ask my husband what he wants to do. Turns out they were wanting to GIVE me a decent used tire to use as a spare. Apparently some rich people come in there and get new tires really often and they keep the decent ones. They don't sell used tires so they are just sitting there. And just happened to be the all-elusive right size, too!

So they put the new/old spare on the rim for me, and would have put it back on the door for me too had we been able to find the lug nuts for it. All for no charge.

So I guess since they were nice to me and made it right for no charge, even better than what I wanted, they aren't TOTAL doofbrains after all. I actually might decide to give them my business again.

Maybe.

The Great Tire Saga, Part One

Ok, well we drove straight home from Assembly Sunday night, even though it was late, because it's only a 2 hour drive. We pulled in the driveway about 12:30 am. As Brad pulled in, he side swiped the trash can that was sitting at the curb, and when I opened my car door, we heard a loud hissing noise. But we were tired so we figured we'd just figure it out in the morning.

Well the next morning Brad was going to go run some errands but discovered we had a flat tire. There's some pretty bad sidewall damage. There is nothing in the driveway that could have done this, and though he sideswiped the trash can that shouldn't have done it unless there was something in the tire already and the trash can just pushed it in all the way, but we couldn't find a thing. At any rate, it's a blessing that it happened as we were pulling into the driveway and not while going 70 mph down the interstate!

Of course everyone was closed due to Monday being a holiday, except for Wal-Mart. And they don't carry our size tire AT ALL, apparently it's an unusual size, and it would take them a week to special order it and get it in. I called EVERY Wal-Mart in the Nashville area and they all said the same thing. Grrr.

So I searched online Tuesday for the size tire we needed and it turns out like only TWO companies make that size tire. Goodyear seemed the cheapest (but still cost about $100 total... thankfully someone at Assembly blessed us with just the amount we needed, you know who you are! God provided for our need before we knew we needed it!). So I called the closest actual Goodyear dealer and they were only $3 over what it would have cost to have Wal-Mart special order it, PLUS they actually had the tire in stock! Imagine that!

So I went over there and had them put the new tire on. When I paid, I asked if they just put the other tire in the back cargo area. They said, "What tire?" The one that was on the right rear that you took off to put the new tire on (duh.).
"Oh, you wanted that?" Yes, that's our spare! "Oh ok, dude, put that tire in the back for her." Ok, thanks.

Later that day, I look in the back of the car, and do you know what they did? Instead of taking the flat out of the back of the car and putting the new tire on that rim, they took the spare off, put the new tire on the spare rim, and when I said that I wanted to keep the spare, they tossed the tire in the back on top of the flat WITHOUT a rim. Excuse me, but how am I supposed to USE my spare if it doesn't have a rim on it?!?

Sigh. I couldn't do anything about it until Wednesday. And I really didn't want to go back there and cause waves, so I decided to just go to Wal-Mart and have them do it, plus we needed an oil change anyway.

So after my ultrasound appt. Wednesday (which I will blog about later), I went back to Lebanon Wal-Mart. They told me it would be a 1 1/2 hr wait for the oil change, and a 3 hr wait for the tire. Yikes! But I thought, well, it needs to be done anyway and I can easily spend 3 hrs in Wal-Mart... yeah right.

So I wandered around for awhile, then headed to the book section to sit on the bench and read (and I didn't even fall asleep this time!). I read half of Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, kind of a retelling of the Book of Hosea around the turn of the century thereabouts. The book of Hosea is one of the most moving books of the Bible, in my opinion, and has always been a favorite of mine. Look it up and read it, those who haven't. I guarantee you won't regret it.

Anyway, now I'll have to go hang out in Wal-Mart again and finish the book! I just couldn't sit on that bench any longer, so I put it back on the shelf and wandered around a bit more, then went to eat lunch at the McDonald's in there. Three hours had passed and they STILL hadn't paged me. So I went to go see what the deal was.

To be continued...

Our Assembly Weekend

Back to blogging now. I'm such a slacker!

We had such a good time in Chattanooga. Our church convention (General Assembly) was awesome. There was a pretty big decision to be made and although there was some confusion at first, in the end, God took control and cleared the confusion. We're headed on the right road!

It was so good to see some of our good friends there. The Strongs, the Lamms, the Hills, the Mountain View gang, and so many others. I got to meet the Adams' and Mandie, though briefly. Although there wasn't a lot of time for visiting, but we had already decided that this Assembly was more to us that a big social event anway. We also had a good time seeing Brad's parents. We hadn't seen Julie since Thanksgiving, so visiting in person with her was a long awaited treat! I'm blessed to have in-laws who love me. :-)

We ended up camping for our stay there! It was only $15 dollars a night, and I thought I could handle 3 nights in a tent. It was a good campground, Racoon Mountain and I did okay in the tent. If I was further along than I am I couldn't have done it though. They have cute little air-conditioned cabins too for $25-35 a night so I think I want to do that next year. It was more convenient to downtown than any one else's hotel! Except for Brad's parents, they stayed at the same exit as us, and they were kind enough to let us shower in their room when we woke up late and the camp people were already cleaning the showers (at 8:30 am!!). At any rate, I told Brad that camping out would make us feel closer to the people who attended Assemblies past, in the early 1900's!

We had a good time out late with Isaiah Peter at IHOP on Saturday night. I was SOOOO tired so of course I was talking absolutely out of my head. Isaiah was so kind to put up with me! Bro. Jason Mullins was sitting behind us with his crew so I hope we didn't disturb them too much with our ruckus!

Sunday after the Assembly adjourned we went out to eat with the Hills and the Lamms. After about 30 minutes of deliberation of where we were going to eat, Bro. Mark decided he wanted a pizza joint, and they only one we knew of was a little place Brad & I had driven by on the way to IHOP the night before. So we went there and it was pretty good ( I was worried it would be horrid since we'd never ate there and I had suggested it!). They ended up being a Pizza/Sub/Cheesesteak/Hot Wing place. Yummy! We had a good time with them and all their kids. The Lamm boys still remember when we stayed the weekend with them and I thoroughly amused them by calling pajamas "jammies". They are cuties!

Afterwards, we went with the Hills to hang out with them for awhile at their hotel room. I'll let Brad share the pictures of that. And I used to think they were quiet people! Yeah right! Ha ha! We had a blast with them and the boys. We've asked Joe & Karen to be the godparents, though I still think that's a funny name! We'll have to come up with something different. :-) You hate to think of something happening to us but it's worse to think of what would happen to our baby if we weren't prepared. I trust the Hills to raise our little girl like we would. There were others we could have picked, but we felt like while the others would do a good job, our baby would have been more of a burden to the others we considered. If that makes any sense. But we felt like they were the ones that God wanted us to ask, so I'm glad we did. :-)

'Fess up!

Ok, WHO signed me up for Babyblogorama??? That's just weird! Cool, but freaking me out!

Sleep, you know I never get enough...

*listening to: "Sleep" by Riley Armstrong* (be sure to check out the link!)

It is way too early. I have a ton of stuff to do today to get ready to go to Assembly tomorrow morning but I am so tired right now. It is taking every once of strength I have to even type on this keyboard. So WHY am I up, you ask? Because I got up at 4:30 am to get Brad's lunch ready and make him breakfast and other assorted stuff like that. But now it is almost 7 and I hear the bed telling me that I left it too soon.

I have a ton of laundry to do. Dishes need to be done. I'd like to leave the house in some semblance of order. Yeah right. When was the last time THAT occured around here???

We have decided that we don't want to spend $30 a month on a storage unit anymore, so next week we are going to pull everything out of there and have a massive yard sale next weekend. We might do a mini-one on Monday, since it's Labor Day. A lot of people will be out of town, I know, but a lot of people will just stay in town and grill out or something. So we could sell some on Monday and sell the rest of it on Friday and Saturday. Of course that would mean setting the thing up twice, and I don't think I want to do that. Oh well.

Ok, I'm gonna go start some laundry and then go lay down again for a bit, and maybe I'll have more energy after awhile.

Shawna & JJ's Wedding

Here's a few pictures from the wedding of Shawna & JJ that we went to Saturday evening. It was very elegant without being stuffy. First time I've been to a formal wedding like that was, and only the 4th wedding I've been to period! Jerry was so nervous he wouldn't even look at Shawna when he was repeating his vows. She was all trying to cock her head at him trying to get him to look at her. Reminded me of my wedding when we played Tim Strong's "With Your Hand in Mine" after we lit the unity candle, and had to tell Brad to hold my hand! But anyhow, it was a lovely wedding and the food was awesome, and that's the important part, right? KIDDING! I wish there had been more material on the girls' dresses, but it could have been worse I suppose.

Jerry in the limo that transported them to the reception

Pictures on the table when you walked into the reception. Cute! I couldn't get the thing to not glare, but oh well. Shawna's t-shirt says "I Love JJ" :-)

Walking into the reception after being introduced as Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Jones.
They are such a happy couple!

Weekend Photos

Settling in at the concert...

Eating lunch that Becky packed for us.
It's hot out, but we're still OK so far.

OK, now we're not ok.
Chris resorts to swiping some ice and him and Becky take turns.

Plumb with her 7 month pregnant tummy and her new hairdo
*mourns loss of long curls*

Brad was tickled because the Arizona flag is hanging off the speaker thingy.

Getting ready to head home.
We survived!
And isn't Becky's outfit pretty?

My long weekend details

Hey y'all!

Thursday evening we had a good dinner in Nashville with Scott & Angie. They are awesome! That was my first time meeting Scott and the first time I'd ever really been able to visit with Angie. Angie and I are definitely kindred spirits and Scott is a hoot! He has our sense of humor, that's for sure. But we all had wonderful conversation and we really appreciated their good spirit. Angie will be at Assembly and I look forward to visiting with them both again sometime.


I had a good birthday Friday, I'm the ripe old age of 24 now. Weirdness. I talked to my Mama for a long time on the phone, I'm so glad that it was her that helped bring me into the world. She rocks. :-)

Brad came home with beautiful roses and the new Plumb album, in a gift bag that he so carefully arranged, it was so sweet. And he wrote me a note in my birthday card that was the SWEETEST thing ever and he made me cry. We got ready and he took me to eat at Demos'. We hadn't ever been there before but had heard awesome things about it, and boy, they weren't kidding! It was voted the most romantic place to eat in Lebanon. It was classy without being stuffy. And the prices weren't bad either. Because it was my birthday, I decided to have the steak & shrimp, I never go extravagant so it was a nice treat, and in spite of that we still got out of there for a decent price. It was a lovely dinner and we immensly enjoyed each other's company. We have always been so close but our fellowship is just intensified lately and it just gets sweeter and sweeter.

Saturday we went to a free outdoor concert in Franklin. We missed Nate Sallie and Hyperstatic Union, but we got there for By the Tree (who was OK but their performance was kind of weak) and Plumb who was the headliner. She is one of my favorites, her lyrics are so artistic and have spoken my feelings in song so many times it's not even funny. Plus she just ROCKS! She is 7 months pregnant now and about to pop or she would have been even better than she was! Becky & Chris came with us and I know they must love us now because it had to be like 100 degrees out there and we sat in the sun for about 2 hrs. We drank a lot of water and lemonade and had ice cream too. Chris even swiped a chunk of ice out of the Purity booth's cooler and had it sitting on his head. It looked very comfortable!

After the concert we rushed home, showered and dressed and went to a wedding. We both have worked with Shawna & Jerry and they have been good aquaintances so they invited us to the wedding. Shawna is a sweetheart and claims to be a Christian.... It was a sweet wedding. Good food at the reception too! We visited with another co-worker, Dave, and met his wife Joann. That was fun. She was telling us all about her trips to Europe and her experiences there. It was a very amusing time. We stayed long enough to eat and see the bride & groom arrive, extend our good wishes to both and tell them we were praying for them, and made our exit as they were announcing that the bar was open and they would be setting up the dance floor! Ah, sorry, no. :-(

Pictures coming soon, I have to figure out to make the optical zoom on my camera stick so that I can upload them that way. Anyone know what I'm talking about? I know Becky does. I have to break out the manual, I suppose, but I'd much prefer finding things like that out for myself. Oh well.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

As if no one has already guessed that due to the recent hue changes of my blog. :-D


We are so excited! I will never forget that moment, looking up at that screen.... When the technician said, "It's a girl." We both just gasped and Brad said, "Wow!" And we were both crying.

She was adorable and we could see her really well! It was so cute, she had her legs all crossed up and her hand in the way too so we couldn't tell anything, and the technician was prodding her with the thing to get her to change position, and we were looking at her profile, and she balled up her little fist and bent her elbow and punched several times up at the thing that was poking her! It was so cute!!! Brad says she's going to be just like her mother (meaning we're spirited, not that we're violent!). :-)

They said the baby looks GREAT! She is measuring kind of small, more like 19 weeks instead of 21 weeks. But no biggie there. The only thing they are concerned about is that I only have 1/2 as much amniotic fluid in there as they want me to have. They said a few things could cause it, high blood pressure, diabetes, overexertion. None of those apply to me, I don't do hardly a thing around here anymore because I get tired out so easily, and my blood pressure has been wonderful. No sign of diabetes. They said that it could possibly indicate a Downs syndrome baby, but the baby looks too good for that to be the case so that is out the window. They said that it's possible that it's just a fluke thing and it's normal for this baby to have less amniotic fluid. But they are going to do a blood test to make sure that I don't have a lingering infection somewhere, and then go do another ultrasound in a couple weeks just to keep an eye on things. I'm just glad that the baby is looking so healthy, so I'm not really worried about it, we'll just need to keep tabs on the situation. I'm trusting God to have his way with this little life.

Sigh. I'm so glad to be a Mommy and know that I'm having a little girl! We are going out to dinner tonight for my birthday and then going shopping for something pink or purple!!

Will post more pictures later. :-)

First Baby Pictures

Her Profile

She turned her head to look at us!!

Her arm from elbow to fingertips

Kind of hard to tell, but it's the sole of her foot with her toes on the right

Getting Picture Happy

My brother Joshua and me during his 2 week leave home in Arkansas. He just got promoted from Private First Class to Specialist! Mom was surprised that it happened so soon after he got back to Iraq, but I told her they must be just rewarding him for not going AWOL during his leave! Yeah, I'm sure that was the determining factor. Whatever, me. :-)

Josh & Heather. They are such an ADORABLE couple!

Visitors from the West

Oh, and tonight we are going to go out to dinner with Scott & Angie Bambrough, Brad's former pastor in the Church of God of Prophecy in Tuscon, AZ. For those who don't know them, she's one of the Lewis girls. They are in town this week so we're going to get to meet with them. They have been a big part of Brad's life, Scott has known Brad practically since he was born! Ok, maybe he was 2 or 3, but close! I met Angie briefly at the VA/WV Ladies' Retreat last year, but she had to leave because her dad was having major health problems. But this will be the first I've got to meet Scott. Brad has been trying to do his best impersonation of him, with Scott-isms and stuff. "MapQuest it, or 'Randy McNally it' as Scott would say." So I'm sure he's a hoot. :-)

Pray it all goes well! I'm always a little nervous meeting new people.

Sewing, Anti-Fashion, and Surprises Gone Wrong

Good morning!

First of all, I have BIG news that I wasn't going to share until this evening but SOME PEOPLE don't know how to evade a question and throw someone off track without lying (Goodness, didn't Brad ever keep any Christmas present secrets?).

Anyway, when I went into my doctor's appointment Monday, I tried to get them to reschedule my ultrasound appointment so that it wouldn't be during the Assembly, even if it meant having to wait longer. :-( Well, they felt so bad for me that I had to miss my last appointment that that they decided to work me in TODAY!!!! Yay!!!!!

I'm so excited!!!! We ran into Walgreens after church last night for toothpaste, and they had the cutest little baby fleece blankets for a dollar a piece. I almost got a couple, but I thought, no, I'll wait, maybe tomorrow I'll know if I need to get blue or pink! I HOPE this child isn't modest yet!

I'm picking Brad up from work at noon, and heading to Nashville. Our appointment is at 2:40, so we should be there and waiting in plenty of time.

Happiness! I'm so glad I don't have to wait any longer. :-)

Second, my maternity pattern I got on Ebay came in the mail yesterday. I can't find a thing I like that is made already and all the patterns at Wal-Mart are pretty much blah. So I found a couple patterns online, and a couple more should be coming in soon too. Now I just need to make a trip to a fabric store and find some cheap material. I have some wonderful purple velvet material but I'm going to wait and make a nice winter dress with that later on. But if we make it to any part of Assembly (hopefully the whole thing, we'll see!) I'm going to need more church clothes. So I'm gonna get sewing!

This is the pattern that came yesterday. I'm going to make the longer one and add 3/4 sleeves and do something to the neckline. I'm thinking about making the main part of the dress print, and then doing the sleeves in white with a matching inset for the v-neckline to make it look like a jumper 2-piece set. I'm not sure yet. We'll see what kind of material I find.

You can't tell it from the picture, but the long one is not flared enough and has a back slit, which I don't do (if you're going to have a slit, why not just cut it off where the slit begins? Everyone can see your legs anyway. Oh wait. Some do. Never mind :-/). So I'm going to cut the skirt a bit wider going towards the hemline so it will be more A-line.

This is going to be fun! I haven't sewn anything in a while, so I'm looking forward to getting started again.

I told Sis. Smith on Mom Riddell's blog that I would post my story about fashion. So here it is. When I was younger, I absolutely REFUSED to wear anything that was in style, simply because it was in style. When everyone started wearing butterfly clips in their hair, I was repulsed. Under no circumstances would you catch me with one because everyone else was wearing them! My Mama always told me that if you have a group of girls, and they are all wearing pink t-shirts, and there is one girl in the middle who is wearing a purple t-shirt, who do you think is going to stand out the most? That left a huge impression on me. Not to draw attention to myself, but just to not care about being different. Now, if I find something modest that I like that just HAPPENS to be in style, then that's OK. But I'm sure not gonna let those money-grubbing worldy fashion mongers dictate MY life! Ha ha!

Say a prayer that all goes well with the ultrasound today! This morning when I dropped Brad off at work I said, "See you later, Baby!" He looked at me, I laughed, and said, "See you later too, Daddy!" :-)

Weep With Those Who Weep

I feel bad right now because I have a baby and Becky doesn't. I feel guilty for being happy when she isn't. Sigh. There's a lot of things I don't understand.

I have thought about making a separate blog for baby stuff. Because I feel like I'm just rubbing it in by having all this here, even when I know that she knows that I'm not. It's just hard because this is pretty much my whole life right now.

I know that she knows that I love her and I'm sorry and I would fix everything for her if I could. I know that God must have a reason but that doesn't make things hurt any less.

I know that the only thing that has got me through some pretty heart wrenching things in the past was my relationship with Jesus. But I haven't ever been through anything like she's been through. I can't relate on the same level.

So I don't know what to do. Keep praying is the only thing right now.

Month 5

Twenty Weeks and Five Days

A Quick Note

Good morning!

Had another doctor's appointment yesterday. It went well. They have a new nurse there and she was sweet. She had a hard time finding the baby's heartbeat at first, and I was beginning to get a little worried, because I hadn't felt the baby move that morning yet either, but she found it. I guess it's just because there's more room for the baby to move around in there right now.

She also measured me for the first time. She said I'm measuring at 21? Whatever that means. That couldn't mean less to me. I just wanna know that everything is OK.

And everything is looking good!

Brad took new tummy photos Sunday, I will have to post them later today. That and pictures of Brad in his electrician get-up. He's so cute. :-)

I have a bunch more to post but that would take time I don't have right now. I have errands to run so I'd better go get a shower and get moving!

(Oh, and go read Brad's blog. He will fill you in on some things I didn't.)

:-)

PIZZA!!!!

Being able to order Papa John's online for delivery with an e-mail coupon ROCKS!!!!

(Sorry, Mama, don't mean to rub it in, but see what you have to look forward to if you move to TN? You can actually have stuff delivered to your door!!)

Today's Non-diatribe

Hello everyone. Today is a weird day.

I have a lot on my mind and heart and some things I'm not sure what to do about. God knows though.

I'm hoping that Brad will be able to get off of work for Assemby (our yearly worldwide church convention for those who don't know). We'll see what happens.

I talked to my Mom this morning. We always have a blast talking. I definitely inherited a lot of my personality traits from my Mama. However, the older I get the more HILBURN I tend to be!!! ha ha! My Dad's mom always had this thing she would always say when we were younger. ANYTHING good about us grandkids, ANYTHING at all, was automatically labeled a Hilburn family trait (my grandmother's maiden name). My naturally curly hair. My craft skills. The way my eyebrows curve. ANYTHING! My Mama was like, didn't they get anything good from MY side of the family??? So it became a joke in our house that anything odd or weird or corny we do is a Hilburn trait. If you're around my Daddy long enough, you'd think so too! ha ha! Just kidding, I love my Daddy, but he CAN be corny. :-)

I had a good chat with my mother-in-law too. She's so sweet. I'm so glad I have people around me who help me be what I need to be. And she never makes me feel bad for interrupting something so she can talk to me! I try not to though because she has a lot going on right now.

Don't we all?

And many more...

Happy Birthday Jonny!!!

It's my big little brother's 22nd birthday today. How fast time has flown by! I couldn't imagine growing up without Jon. We have had our disagreements from time to time, and I haven't always been a good big sister to him, but I love him to death and I wouldn't trade him for a thing in this world. He's one of the smartest people I know. We used to be washing dishes together in the kitchen, me washing, and Jon drying, and and Jon would start talking about something scientific that went right over my head. I'd just nod and "uh huh" and tune him out. But Jon & I have had some very interesting discussions over the years, oh how I wish I had every one of those conversations recorded somewhere!

And now so much has changed. But let's not forget the good times we've had together, okay? Throughout the years you've not just been a brother to me, you've been a good friend. You've seen me go through a lot of junk! Thanks for hanging in there. Thanks for the talks. Thanks for the craziness that no one but our family would have understood.

Thanks for a lot. I love you, Jon.

Happy Birthday from your Big Sister.

Here We Go Again!

*CORRECTED*

New ultrasound appointment set for Friday, September 1st, at 10:00. I'll be there if we have to leave at 5 am to do it!

Still Yellow

Listening to: Yellow by Coldplay (needs that cool Xanga feature)

Ok, here it is. No Wendy, nothing is wrong with the baby. We are both fine.

I just didn't get to do the ultrasound. Sigh.

Our appointment was at 3:00. I was supposed to pick Brad up at 2:00 to head to Nashville. I forgot the paper I needed and had to run back to the house and didn't get to Murfreesboro until 2:30.

We headed to Nashville. And not just ANY part of Nashville. DOWNTOWN Nashville! My doctor delivers at Summit, has offices in Hermitage and Lebanon, and they do routine ultrasounds at the Hermitage office. But for the 20 week ultrasound they send you to a special diagnostic imaging place at Baptist Hospital. In DOWNTOWN Nashville!

We knew we were going to be late anyway but I thought, well, we'll just try to be there as soon as we can and maybe they'll take me anyway.

TRAFFIC! BAD time to be headed for downtown anyway. WHY did I not think of this when I made the appointment??? I was just thinking of how Brad could work most of a day before coming with me. NEXT time the appointment will be in the morning and Brad can just go to work afterwards.

So after fanangling around traffic for forever, we finally made it to 40, only to have to sit in traffic because a BIG truck had dumped it's load of sheet glass ALL OVER the interstate and they had to get it all cleaned up. I couldn't believe how much glass had been dropped when we drove by it. They were using a snowblower thing to get it off the road, and they had a BIG truck full of broken glass. Someone is going to be really mad at the truck driver dude.

So we FINALLY get off at our exit, only to wander around the same 4 blocks for an hour trying to find the place because both of us were reading the map thingy they gave us wrong. We pulled into the parking garage at 4:30. 4:30!!!!!!! By this time I was bawling. Traffic was stressful, trying to get unlost was stressful, and then we were so late... we decided to go in anyway just to see. Maybe when they saw my puffy red eyes and heard my story they would have pity on me and take me anyway.

The lights were out in the office. There was a lady finishing up something in there, and she was so sweet but she said that everyone had left at 4, and that she wished I would have called them. I COULDN'T because I was stuck in traffic and I don't have a cell phone! (We were going to get cell phones anyway when it got closer to baby time so we can get ahold of each other when it's "time" but this is going to speed up the process!)!! But it sounded like they might have waited for me had they known the situation. :-(

So. Back to the elevator. More bawling in the elevator. People trying to ignore the bawling pregnant woman in the elevator.

We were going to call our parents afterwards, so we stopped at an Exxon. Big fancy gas station and NO PAY PHONE! More bawling. HOW am I supposed to talk to people when I'm bawling, anyway???

We were going to head to church but there was no way. Traffic was at a standstill. The only thing that was moving was 65 South. So we went to Cool Springs. I was starving because I had been told to not eat anything for 6-8 hrs before the ultrasound, so Brad took me to Backyard Burgers (our favorite burger joint). I was in need of some serious babying. So we went to Lifeway and read for a while, and got the new old Matthew West cd. Then Brad took me to Marble Slab Creamery where I got Cheesecake ice cream with blueberries in a waffle cone.

After all of this I felt better. Brad was great. And I got to thinking, hey, things could be worse. I still have a baby. We're ok. And for once this wasn't my fault. Even if I hadn't been that half an hour late getting to Murfreesboro, we still would have been too late.

So, with my sweet hubby next to me, and the baby moving around in there, we went home.

On 840. It took us an hour. But hey! There wasn't any traffic!!!

Sweet.

Blue or... pink?

Today is the big day! I'm going to pick Brad up from Murfreesboro at 2, then we're going into Nashville for our ultrasound appointment at 3! I'm so excited. I HOPE I don't have a modest child because I REALLY want to know if it's going to be a girl or a boy. Oh, and get this! I can bring in a blank VHS tape and they will tape the whole thing for me! How cool is that???? Anyone have any recommendations on how to get it from VHS to DVD to a quicktime file? I NEED to be able to share this!

Can anyone tell how EXCITED I am due to the amount of CAPS used in this POST???

Pride and Vanity vs. Honour and Humility

Thought I'd share with y'all what I found in answer to Becky's request.

I Peter 3:3-4

God doesn't want us to adorn our bodies with jewelry and make up. He wants it to be our inner spirit that makes us beautiful. (Another scripture I remembered since then confirms this: Psalms 149:4)

I Corinthians 13:4-5

If we have God's love in our hearts, we won't seek to lift ourselves up in any way: whether it be our appearance, our accomplishments, or anything else.

Proverbs 18:12

This one speaks for itself. Lift yourself up, and you'll be destroyed. Be humble, and you'll be honored.

Luke 14:8-11

See above.

Isaiah 3:16-24

Thanks to Wendy for bringing this one to my recollection! It sounds like basically the daughters of Israel were being prissy and worshipping their own looks, lavishing attention and adornments on their bodies. It's plain to see what the Lord thought of that.

Vanity, Vanity, All is Vanity

Ok guys, I need some help. Becky asked me to find some scriptures on vanity to share with her 10-year old cousin who spends 45 min. standing in front of a mirror just admiring herself or brushing her hair. I want to share some clear scriptures that the 10 year old will understand. There is a LOT about pride but I'm trying to make this as simple as I can. I've found a couple that I think will work but I thought I'd ask for y'all's input and see what y'all can come up with!

Thanks!

(Hopefully we'll get some feedback, Becky!)

My Siblings

My Sister

My wonderful Lil' Sis, Bekah Anne. She is growing up WAY too fast! She gets more gorgeous every day. She's not just my Lil' Sis, she's a good friend. I can talk to her about anything. It's so nice to come home and have a girl comrade. We stick together. With 5 brothers, we have to!

My Brothers

All FIVE of my brothers. From left to right: Matthew (14), Micah (17), Josh (19), Jon (21), and Isaiah "Buddy" is in the front, he's 9. They're a good bunch and I wouldn't trade any of them for anything.

All of us have our quirks and can be boogers, but we love each other. It's so nice having a big family. :-)