Life with the Ferrells (the old blog)

Our new home

2008-02-21T04:24:00.005-05:00

The new blog address

Okay, I finally heard enough of "when are you going to change your blog address" to finally make the plunge and change it. But man, that was hard. I hated to let go of all the archives and memories and fun times on this address. (Not to mention the fact that it is a pain in the batootie for everyone to change the current address in their blogrolls to the new address, but whatevah.) And even though I didn't think that I would only luv my girls when Mr. Nathan came around, I succumbed to your pressure and changed the address to something that does not include the word "luvin" in any way, shape, or form...good grief, it is nice to get rid of that ridiculous web address that I obviously just put up there on a whim when I was setting this whole blog thing up two years ago.

Introducing...

The new and improved Life with the Ferrells (which hasn't actually been improved at all)...

www.lifewiththeferrells.blogspot.com

How's that for originality?

Please do come and visit. And sorry about you having to change the address in your memory banks. Speaking of...for those of you who I have changed your blog look over the course of the past year and a half: just go to your template setting, scroll down all that confusing code until you reach the part that has all of the blog addresses in your blogroll (should be towards the bottom), and manually change my address. Then click "Save Settings" at the very bottom. If you need help, feel free to email me.

Snapshots in the lives of two pregnant preschoolers

2008-02-19T13:27:00.005-05:00

Yeah, that could so be a 20/20 episode. But only after it airs on Springer first.

Abby and Emma are big time into pretend mode right now, and their new favorite game is playing the roll of mothers-to-be. They walk around with babies up their shirts all day and then head to the livingroom (the hospital) to have their babies. It's always such a joyous event.

I believe this would be the stage they call "crowning". Notice the agony on the young mother's face. Know how you feel there, babe:

What is it? Boy? Girl? Baby coming out fully clothed? Excitement is in the air!

It has been proclaimed that it is a GIRL...mainly because her clothes are lined in pink. Who knew that's how gender is determined? Her name: Percy, which just so happens to be the name of every baby doll, dog, stuffed animal, or imaginary friend in this house right now. The mother looks elated to finally meet her little Percy.
When they aren't pretending to give extraordinarily painless births, they are playing Mother/Baby where Abby is always the mother, Emma is always the baby, and I am labeled as "grandmother" all day long. After being called "grandmother" by both girls for the past week or so, my hormones finally got the best of me and made them start calling me "Mom" again today. I don't know why it was getting to me today...that's why I blame the hormones.

While watching their sweet interactions through play this morning, I had to give a talk to Miss Abigail that I never imagined I would have to give:

Me: Abby, only real mommies with real babies breastfeed their babies. Stop trying to nurse your sister when she says she is hungry.
Abby: But, she's not my sister. She's my baby. And we're just pretending.
Me: Well then, stop pretending to nurse your sister. You can feed her a bottle instead.

She was clearly confused as to why she had to stop pretending to breastfeed her ~~sister~~ "baby", but I do believe that this is one of those things that she will thank me for when she is older. And this part of the post may mysteriously disappear once she can read...that's probably another thing she will thank me for.

The girls sure have played so well together lately. I am amazed daily at their close friendship.

Hmmm, never thought of that before

2008-02-18T13:50:00.002-05:00

One of Abby's favorite past times right now is a little game called "Guess the body part" in which she probes my expanding belly until she feels one of Nathan's body parts. A couple of weeks ago as she was playing this, she ran across something wider than usual:

Abby: Is this...a knee?
Me: No, I think that's his booty.
Abby: Oh. HAHA! His booty!!
(moves hand over a little and sticks her forefinger in my belly button with a rather sly look on her face)
Abby: Well then, does that make this his booty hole?

Two the Terrible

2008-02-14T23:02:00.002-05:00

O, ye age of two. How I have forgotten the turmoil ye bringeth about.

What? What is all of this falling on the floor stuff after I have said that it is time to turn off the TV? Oh, you better have some sort of temporary muscle spasm causing your legs to give way and your body to involuntarily fall into a heap of tears and drama in the middle of the floor. I am hoping that it is NOT the way you show your distaste in my decision to limit your visual consumption of Wow Wow Wubbzy.

What? I don't understand all of this jumping up and down and flapping of arms when I tell you to give your sister back a toy you have so rudely taken from her. I hope that you are merely recreating some sort of Chicken Dance at the glorious thought that your mother is trying to instill some wholesome methods of dealing with others in a good-hearted manner. Surely you are not throwing yet another tantrum due to the immature reason of "I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it NOW!" No, not a precious daughter of mine.

When I ask you to so kindly pick up your toys or take your shoes to your closet, why must you always answer with "I not know how"? Do you really not know how to bend over at that short little waist of your's, put said item in your hand and take it to the proper destination. Because if you don't, I would gladly show you one time, and one time ONLY...when I regain the ability to actually bend over myself. I would hope that you are not just trying to play the "baby card" and get out of work. Surely you are not old enough to know how to manipulate in that way...surely, surely.

Hey! Hey, you! Yes, you...I'm calling you. Don't walk away from me when I call your name. Oh, you must be hard of hearing because I don't think you would just ignore your mother when she calls you to come hither. In fact, let me get an appointment for a hearing check right now. That must be it. No child of mine would ever just ignore their mother. They love me and want to obey and listen to me all the time. Hey, come here. Come. Here. Yoo-hoo. Hellllllllooooooo? See, I told you she was hard of hearing.

Two. Anyone want a child for a year?

A shout out to my sweetie

2008-02-14T12:12:00.002-05:00

I'm gonna get all sappy on ya here...

Man, I have the best husband in the world! Truly, I do. The Lord has blessed me with the sweetest, most unselfish and thoughtful man I know. And as cliche' as it sounds, he really is my best friend.

I was treated to my Valentines Day gift a couple of days early. Jay came home early from work Tuesday and sent me on my merry way to do a little shopping (Emma left her crocs outside and a little annoying neighborhood mutt decided to make them his new chew toy. Nice.), have dinner at my beloved Atlanta Bread Company (by myself! with a People magazine. Just me, a bread bowl of chili, and the important information on Mrs. Spears' train-wreck of a life. 'Twas a fun dinner.), and head to the local spa where I was to partake in one of life's wonderful pleasures...a massage.

It was one of those places where they call you Mrs. Ferrell and make you feel all prim and proper and relaxed and stuff. And you sit in a dimly-lit room on a pile of pillows listening to the soft plucking of piano keys accompanied by waterfalls and birds and wonder if all the other relaxers in there are wearing anything under their white robes. Then people come in and feed you grapes from perfect little clusters and fan you with those big elephant-ear leaves while you stick out your pinkies and call everyone "dah-ling".

The massage was wonderful. Seems that carrying around about 30 pounds of extra weight isn't too good for your back. Go figure. And yes, that little hour of pure bliss on my mutinying muscles was well worth our family having to live on beans and peanut butter for the next two weeks.

Thanks hun! I love you to bits and pieces!!

Poppin' Out

2008-02-13T13:02:00.005-05:00

Here's the only time I think it is acceptable to show off this much of my skin...that beautifully photoshop-altered skin of mine. Purely the best. Dear Photoshop, Meet my friend Stretchmark. You will become very close during the following edits.

36-1/2 weeks pregnant. The is the farthest my belly button has ever popped out, and that's not saying much. You will often find me curled up on the couch, watching a favorite baby show while playing with my little outie button. It's just so soft and sweet, and I'm kinda sad it will be gone really soon. We've had a fun couple of weeks, outie.
After battling the frizziness of the frizzy-headed kid for the past few months, I finally convinced myself that it was time for Emma's very first hair cut. I have been so afraid that I would cut off all of her curls and ringlets, and some days her hair is really beautiful. But other days she looks like a mini Chewbacca from Star Wars:

I mean, seriously! Does anyone else see the resemblance here? Actually, the above picture of her was right before I cut her hair as she was screaming "Don't hurt my hair, Mama! I no wanna cut!" It took some serious convincing from me and Abby that her hair would not hurt when I cut it...a few minutes into a Dora episode, and she had no clue I was even snipping away. The after-shot...not the greatest, but I love how the sunset is illuminating her hair.

And a couple I took yesterday to showcase what her new "do" really looks like. I LOVE it! Her hair is still curly, and there are still a couple of ringlets in all the mix. More than anything, it looks so much healthier and fuller. I think I cut off about 2-3 inches in all, and she was a trooper through everything. It still kinda makes me sad that I cut off her baby hair, but I do love how she looks now.The best news of all today: I got a FULL NIGHT'S SLEEP LAST NIGHT!!! And so did Emma. Granted, she woke up at the buttcrack of 6:00am, but I'll take that over being awake for hours in the middle of the night any day.

And...the hospital bag is packed and waiting by the door. And Nathan has about 6 outfits packed because I couldn't figure out which ones I liked best. Now we're ready. Bring on the contractions.

The early bird gets bags under her eyes

2008-02-12T04:51:00.000-05:00

So, it's almost 5:00am. And, I've been up since, ohhhhh 1:30am, give or take a few. Why, you might ask? Well, only because I have a child who obviously seems to enjoy seeing her mama walk around like a zombie all day long...she gets to watch lots and lots of Dora and Blues Clues during the day if she keeps her mama up all night. She's a smart one...caught on quickly in her young age.

Emma is on Night 5 of NOT SLEEPING! Which means that she will be on Day 5 of "crank butt/cry at the drop of a hat/whine 'till everyone's ears bleed" tomorrow. Wanna come over and play? The child has been waking up at random hours of the night and staying awake from 1.5-3 hours, happy as a lark. I've tried sleeping with her, bringing her into our bed, sleeping on the couch with her, and the last two nights of making her stay in her own bed and threatening her within an inch of her life NOT to wake up Abby. After a while, the Benadryl kicks in (we're praying for non-addictive qualities in that miraculous drug of choice) and she hits the hay once again. Which means that I can now quickly go to sleep...

Problem is that once I do tuck my freezing feet back in those covers and position the extra pillow perfectly under my growing protrusion of a belly, my mind starts thinking of all the upcoming craziness in our life. How will the delivery go? Is the extra camera battery charged? I need to remember to get so-n-so's phone number. Was that a contraction? What if whoever watches the girls doesn't know how to work the remote? What will they do? No TV? How do people live like that? I need to pee. Okay, lay here and don't think about anything. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Did I just hear something? What if someone tries to break in? I need to be awake to hear them. Okay, I really need to pee now.

And there goes 2 more hours. And I'm still awake.

Tomorrow should be lovely.

36 weeks

2008-02-11T15:33:00.000-05:00

Little Man is doing well. He's head down/face down and has definitely dropped...getting ready to make his appearance into our family. From the ultrasound measurements, he is still measuring a couple of weeks behind in growth, just like the girls. Currently, the little guy is about 5 pounds, so that puts him at around the 6-6.5 pound range for birth. His left kidney still has fluid on it, so it hasn't resolved on its own yet, but the right kidney looks great.

When looking at the calendar today, the Dr. isn't going to be on-call during my 38th week, so we have an induction date for March 5th. She said that taking my previous two early births and the fact that I am contracting regularly nearly everyday into consideration, he could very well come earlier than that. We'll take each day as it comes. It is amazing how much more laid back you are the more kiddos you pop out. And besides, this pregnancy has been the least physically taxing of all of them. Besides the exhausting contractions, I am feeling really great.

3 more weeks...I can make it. And that gives me at least 2 more weeks before I have to pack the hospital bag, right?

For the birds

2008-02-11T09:22:00.000-05:00

Nesting...well, I think I nested a little too early this time. I seem to be all nested out about now and am starting to embrace the growing clutter and dust that is making its home in the corners of the house that I super-cleaned a month ago. Jumped the gun on that one. Heck, I still can't seem to get the hospital bag packed (though I do have a list of things I need to pack, as of about 10 minutes ago), much less get my nest ready for the upcoming hatched egg. Plus, I don't think that mother birds have little birdlings still in the nest undoing all the "nesting" as fast as she creates it.

You know, if the birds were really as smart as some think they are, they would have copyrighted some of the everyday slogans we took from them and made enough money to be able to sit on a little nestegg for retirement. Then we wouldn't have the cute little euphemisms that making life occurrences sound cuter than they actually are:

"Nesting" would then be called: Ahhh crap! Family and friends will be coming to see this new little booger soon, so I guess I might need to throw out the Thanksgiving leftovers, try to remember to flush the toilets every once in a while, put out all of the Christmas gifts we got from them this year, and change the sheets on the bed that Aunt Melba drooled all over during her visit 2 years ago.

"Empty Nest Syndrome" would be referred to: Now what do I do with all of my time now that I'm not constantly telling someone to "clean your room" or "brush your hair", and who do they think they are by saying "I'm an adult now"? I changed their diapers for goodness sakes. I still pay for that mouth to disrespect me that way.

"Nestegg" would be: Money that you have worked hard to save up so your children can sit and ponder about what they will buy when you kick the bucket.

"Restless Egg Syndrome" would be known as: a condition that is characterized by an irresistible urge to move one's legs while at rest. Oh wait, maybe that would actually be Restless Leg Syndrome. Yeah, we've got that one in the bag...don't you even try to take it, birds.

And now you are made aware of the ramblings that engulf a sleep-deprived pregnant woman's brain while she is taking a shower. Thanks for playing.

For the dogs

2008-02-08T18:43:00.000-05:00

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the dogs in our life. And by "in our life", I mean the dogs that are owned by friends and family so that our girls can have the priviledge of being around animals without us actually having to house the hairy, stinky things. I guess I would be one of the heartless ones that isn't much of an animal lover...I have enough hairy and stinky things around me to want add one more to the mix. Oh, what am I saying? I am adding one more hairy, stinky something to the mix.

I digress...and ramble. Where was I? Oh yeah, bad time for dogs...

So, "Cookie Dog" died this week. He was the 12 year old sweet and loving (yet rather ugly) dog who lived at Wandy and Jimmy Conner's house. The girls loved him, and he (like Brody) let them do whatever they pleased to him. He was such a sweet thing.

The "talk" was given to Abby once again, and she seemed a little less distraught this time around...seems like she is getting a little more tough in her old age. She had more of a "been there, done that" mentality when I told her the news.

Abby: Mom, why do all the dogs that we like have to die? Why can't Shay the Dog (neighborhood mutt) die so he can stop pooping in our yard?

Me: Because life ain't fair, sweetie.

The side ticker says 30 days until Nathan's due date, and according to our last visit to the doctor, that leaves us a little more than 2 weeks until a potential induction date. There are times when I can't wait for him to be here and get antsy at the wait still ahead of us. And then there are days where hyperventalating seems like a very legitimate thing to do when I think of having three kids...very soon! It is during these mini-freak-outs that I just keep pushing back the chore of packing the hospital bag...if I don't pack, I won't go into labor, right? Well, after dealing with a half of a day of very regular painful contractions today, I realized that I should indeed pack a hospital bag. Tomorrow. Or the next day. Maybe next week.

Say hello to my leeeetle friend...

2008-02-07T14:30:00.000-05:00

Introducing Mr. 40D. Notice the "Mr." in that. I felt a little weird calling it Mrs. 40D...actually, a little jealous because there is no way I am ever going to be able to fill up a 40D, no matter how many tissues I put in there. Don't think I haven't tried already.

Obviously, I've been a good little wifey around here and haven't complained too terribly much about having a sack of baby snuggled soundly in my cocoon. Good things come to those who limit their complaints to one a day. The photog business has taken off rather nicely, so it was about time to upgrade in the realms of major purchases. After dealing with horrible digital noise at a couple of my recent sessions due to low lighting/high ISOs, we decided it was indeed time to invest in a better camera. Voila!

So far, I love it! It is a lot heavier, so I think I am going to start training for the muscle-woman competition a lot sooner than I had first planned. It's a more durable camera and the focus is impeccable.
I still have quite a bit to get used to with it though...going to start reading the camera manual as soon as I have a spare moment. The white balance seems to be a little different than my other camera, and the colors are editing a tad different as well. I just need to do some tweaking and we are all set. I can't wait to try it out on Nathan in a few weeks!
Emma didn't want to pause long enough for a shot this morning, so my first attempt with the camera on her isn't a clear as Abby's.
There's a new ritual through the grocery check-out line these days:

Abby: Hi, my name is Abby. This is my dog, Percy.
Emma: Ruff, ruff. (licks side of shopping cart for complete effect)

The kind of day you have to write home about

2008-02-04T14:52:00.001-05:00

It's simply gorgeous here today! February and March are perhaps my favorite months down here. The trees are starting to bloom (which would explain the gnawing sinus headaches I've been having), the sun shines bright, and the air has a distinct smell of spring. Yes, our spring starts in February. And I LOVE it!

The is the time of the year when the tables turn in our phone conversations with our families. Instead of hearing "Wish you were here...we got another 6 inches of gorgeous snow today", we say "Wish you were here...it's 80 degrees and the girls are running around in tank tops outside". Because seriously, they are! Shorts and tank tops while they make birthday cakes out of sand and use pine needles for the candles, pausing periodically to make a mad dash down the slide and across the monkey bars. I love these days.

These are the days when you open all the windows first thing in the morning and crank up the volume on U2's "Beautiful Day" and dance around the living room with your young-uns. The fresh, warm air instantly puts you in a great mood. The kind of day that makes you understand why everyone and their brother decides to move on down this way once they hit the ripe age of 65. The kind of day that makes you temporarily forget about the insane amount of taxes we have to pay to live in this state. Really, we wish you were here right now.

I wanted to post a few pictures of Matthew for Beth and Brian before I took a hiatus from the computer for a couple of days. Mr. Matthew and I had a date yesterday to take a few shots before I become occupied with another little man in my life. You see, Mattie will be 1 year old in a couple of weeks, and that is just so hard to believe. This little guy has everyone that he simply gazes at wrapped around his little finger because he is the sweetest and cutest little man ever. My heart just swells every time he reaches for me to hold him and as he nuzzles that little face of his into my shoulder. I had a blast yesterday, Matthew.

More shots are on the photography blog. And as a side note, this was my last photo session for a while. I'll update everyone when I am ready to start scheduling shoots again.

A first time for everything

2008-02-01T09:46:00.000-05:00

My girl is just growing up on me. Abby had her very first dentist appointment yesterday for a cleaning and check-up, and she did better there than I ever have. I, of course, am the nerd mother (my husband's description...not mine) who had to document this monumental occasion in her life through pictures. Duh! OF COURSE I would take pictures of her first dentist appointment. Don't you know me already?

She did so great. She got her teeth cleaned, had x-rays, and then had the privilege to have an oversized mouth piece shoved in her pie hole with a fluoride mixture in it...bubble gum flavored. The "bubble gum" of that got Emma's attention, who decided that she was going to ask for gum over and over and over for the duration of the appointment.

Technician: Oh, does she already chew gum?
Me: Ummmmm, yeah. Just periodically. (Like every time she sees Wandy and every time she breaks into my purse and eats the whole pack and every 20 minutes at church to get her to be quiet!)
Technician: Does she chew it? Without swallowing it?
Me: Ummmm, no. It's like candy to her. But it all comes out in the end. (get it? in the end? ha ha he he hooooooo)
Technician: Is it bubble gum?
Me: No, it's sugarless. And it makes her smell like pickles. Yeah, that's the puzzling part.

Anywhoooooo, Abby enjoyed her trip to the dentist so much that she actually wants to go back. A kid of mine...likes the dentist. Go figure. At $200 a pop, looks like her trips to the dentist will be, ummmmm, not as frequent as she (or they) would like. We're good for another 10 years, right? We did find out that she is definitely going to have to have braces when she gets a little older...yeah, knew that one already. Not only does she have a horrible overbite from the thumb sucking, but her back teeth aren't even close to being aligned. Who doesn't have to have braces these days? Maybe we should go ahead and put in a "braces" folder in the budget for all three kiddos...it should take about 10 years to save up for them all.

Onto more tooth news...Miss Emma is now the proud owner of 2 new teeth. She sprouted an eye tooth and a lateral incisor (the teeth that I was really worried she didn't have at all)...creating a sort of lopsided look to her mouth until the other side decides to erupt (which should be any day now). The poor child is the slowest teether ever, and she always seems to get 4 teeth at once. But these teeth weren't too bad...we have noticed an increased level of ticked-offedness and fit-throwing in her, but that should be curtailed soon.

Trying to catch up on my digital scrapbooking before Nathan is born. Here's a few more:
Jay has been gone this week, and I am now a firm believer that a 9 month pregnant woman should not be held accountable for what she says or does to her children after 6 pm. That seems to be the cut-off time for my sanity these days, so I've decided to save up all their TV time for the hours between 6-8pm for everyone's sake. Thankfully, Jay is home for a few days and has reclaimed his role as interferer between the insane preggo and her children and entertainer for the remaining time of their wakefulness in the evenings. I forget how impatient I get the last month or so of pregnancy. So, due to the above circumstances, the girls and I will be gone for a couple of days next week visiting some dear friends while Jay is in Chicago (dude, Chicago in February + thin blooded Floridian = I feel sorry for my hubby). Just wanted to pre-warn you that I will more than likely not be having a baby next week...the lack of posting will be because I will be sitting on a couch while my chillens' destroy someone else's playroom. Thanks, Tara. And this is the last of my dear hubby's trips before Nathan is born...hallelujah!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

All dogs go to...

2008-01-30T20:44:00.001-05:00

Abby had her first experience with death today...well, kind of. My parents had to put down one of their dogs this morning because he seemed to have gotten lead poisoning from something that he ate a few days ago. They had two dogs...Brody, the energetic, sweet-as-can-be and gorgeous golden retriever who let the girls ride on his back and pull his hair and hold onto his tail and do whatever they pleased when he was around...and then there is Bailey, the old, short and stumpy mutt that has been labeled "grumpy dog" because he growls and snarls when the girls try to ride his back or really even step into his 2-foot radial personal space (or would that be caninal space?). Guess who had to be put down this morning?

I got off the phone with Dad and sat down to explain it all to Abby:

Me: Honey, Brody died today.
Abby: Why?
Me: Because he got really sick and died.
Abby: Oh. (pause........) Well, that's okay. He'll be okay when we see him next year.
Me: No hun, he's dead forever. You won't get to see him again.
Abby: Ohhhhhhhh. But at least he's happy now in heaven with God.
Me: Uh-huh.

Yeah, didn't quite have the heart to explain to her about souls and heaven and animals not having souls and everything that had me thoroughly confused each time I watched "All Dogs go to Heaven" as a kid. I figured I'd add that one to the list of "things you tell your children to scar their little minds" day. "Yeah, hun. Now you know where babies really come from. And if you take drugs, they could make you poke out your own eyes. Oh yeah, and Brody isn't in heaven." (I seriously watched a documentary in school about a kid who poked out his eyes while high on something and it freaked. me. out. Who says that scare tactics don't work?)

I was able to squeeze in some good cuddle time with Abby during and after our little talk, and I thoroughly enjoyed that. That little bugger never lets me hold her...ever!, so I could tell that she was a little upset about Brody. But she seemed to forget about it after a few minutes and went about her day of destroying the playroom and pestering her sister.

And almost every time I scolded her for something, she got the saddest look on her face, poked out that little lip and said "Well mom, I'm just so sad about Brody." That stinker...exploiting the poor dog for her own good. She's a smart one.

One More...

2008-01-29T18:19:00.000-05:00

I was finishing editing the session of the Mizell twins and decided to give this picture a little different editing treatment...you know, to have a little fun. Like many other things, photography is pretty trendy. Poses, props, lighting effects, editing styles, color schemes...all of these are set by certain photographers to be "in" at that moment. One of the big things "in" for some photography styles right now is a textured look to the picture. Texture is something that you can add to a picture to give it a unique look, but it only really "works" for certain shots. For this picture, I used more subtle color tones and added a little texture...it seems to give it an old-timey feel. I don't know what it is, but I instantly fell in love with this one...so I had to share. :)

Voting Day

2008-01-29T12:10:00.001-05:00

I'll give you one guess to figure out who I voted for today:

We have received up to 10 calls a day every day for the past week from the Romney and McCain campaigns wanting us to vote for them. I'm flattered that you would want my vote...really, I am, but we are in the midst of trying to teach our 4 year old that pestering is NOT a good thing. These calls have not helped us get that point across. So needless to say, I'm glad that voting day is upon us and we can go back to our daily routine of getting 10 calls a day from solicitors and not candidates.

I pulled up to the voting precinct and parked beside a van that was covered with colorful bumper stickers...the majority of them read along the lines of "Impeach Bush!", "Don't blame me, I voted for Kerry", and "Proud to be a Liberal", but right in the middle were two bumper stickers that said "Neuter is Cuter" and "Share the road with bicycles". I may be completely wrong, but I am thinking that he is probably an angry democrat that hates little puppies...and he is probably so angry because he constantly has a skinny bicycle seat stuck up his rear. But you know, I'm totally guessing here. Abby LOVED his van because it had stickers all over it, and she asked why we didn't have stickers on our van. "Because we aren't raging lunatics, honey." She was satisfied with that answer.

So, we have voted. The girls enjoyed their "I voted" stickers. Emma loved her's so much that she tore it, threw a fit, and immediately got thrown in bed upon our arrival home, thus missing the photo-op (pics taken with the point and shoot camera...she still comes around periodically). Abby enjoyed getting her first lesson in politics and why we vote, and she even told the sticker-giver-outer that she can say that Pledge of Allegiance. My little ~~performer~~ patriotic child.

I no longer get embarrassed

2008-01-28T17:05:00.000-05:00

Creating the scenario here for your mind: Mother and two young daughters are standing in the checkout line directly behind Mr. Cool who was sporting a some long wavy hair and a black leather vest. We're assuming that his Harley was parked soundly in the parking lot...but that may completely be a typical stereotype.

Emma: Is that Pawpaw? (Sorry, Dad. I really don't know what was going through that brain of her's when she made the correlation between you and Biker Dude.)

Abby: No silly Emma, that's not Pawpaw. That's a woman!

I had my 34 week appointment today, and Mr. Nate-man's heart rate was hanging around in the 120ish range. He was sleeping, but it is still funny to me how much lower his heart rate is compared to the girls'. I get to take one more peek at him through ultrasound at our appointment in a couple of weeks to see about how big the little fella is going to be. The best news of all was that our OB said that she really wanted to deliver Nathan herself, so she asked how I would feel if we induced between 38-39 weeks. Heck yeah! You don't have to twist my arm. Being able to induce would help eliminate the craziness of aligning last-minute care for the girls and everything that that entails as well. Abby was born at 38 weeks, and Emma was born a few days before 39 weeks, so a small part of me is hoping that he makes it long enough so she can be the one to deliver him. I would just love that! So, depending on if my cervix is "compatible" at all at my 38 week appointment (let's hope for compatibility!), it looks like we will be holding our son in about a month.

Holy Toledo! Did I just say a MONTH? As in a month? As in 4 weeks? As in 30 days? As in a month? That thought sunk in on my way home as I tried to remember all the things I still needed to do before his birth. I calmed myself down with a succulent Quarter Pounder with Cheese and a red box of greasy wonders dipped in ketchup...you know, since I only gained a couple of pounds since my last regular appointment. A sort of reward for being able to somehow conceal all that wonderful potlucky goodness that I consumed at church over the weekend. Maybe a month away...I can't wait!

Quite the weekend

2008-01-27T22:42:00.001-05:00

We had our January meeting at church this weekend, and it was just wonderful. We are always exhausted after these meetings, but it is a good exhaustion....we are rejuvenated once again and ready to tackle the daily grind of life. I do miss our church families and friends terribly after these meetings though.

I also had the privilege of having a photo shoot with the cutest little twins I have ever laid my eyes on...the adorable Mizell twins. Their mama and I used to run around the cemeteries together after church meetings in South Georgia, and I really treasured our friendship growing up. We lost touch as we grew older, but you can never really "lose touch" completely in the Primitive Baptists, and I have been delighted to rekindle that friendship with her over the past few years. Her little family is simply a joy in the lives of those around them.

These two precious little-uns were born 2 months premature and had quite a stay in the NICU. We are so thankful that they are doing exceptionally well now...and did I mention how cute they were? I have followed their progress and stories on their blog, but it was a special treat to actually get to meet them in person. I have to say that it took everything in my might not to snatch them up and bring them home with me...they both had personality coming out of their ears and would just smile and talk to me the whole time. Being with these two sweethearts made me so thankful that I am going to be bringing my own little-un home in a few short weeks.
There are a few more pictures from this shoot on the photography blog.

Just to throw a kink in the plans

2008-01-24T20:52:00.000-05:00

Let's say that you have a busy day planned...no, make that a busy week...better yet, make that a busy month. What is the one thing that you do not plan on fitting into your schedule when you have a busy month planned? I'll give you a hint: it involves making a visit to the one place that you absolutely positively can not stand! A place where their employees are decked out in cute little smiley-faced scrubs and you are strapped down and forced to listen to 80's love songs for the duration of your visit. Enough hints?

Since I am a little young to be making appointments for mamograms these days, the only other option would be...the dentist. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, run and hide under your bed. The dentist...the one profession that I actually allow my children to be afraid of...because come on, it's the dentist. The one who puts a drill mere millimeters from your blood-filled tongue. Who sticks sharp hooked structures into your gum "by mistake". Who gives you the grim news that candy is actually bad for you. The dentist...the mere mention of that name makes you remember that you haven't flossed since Reagan was president...and makes you actually feel a little guilty about drinking all those lattes (mmmmmm, latte). Too bad dentures aren't considered "in" for 2008 'cause I would soooooo get me a pair of 'em...probably in white (is that okay after Labor Day?). I'm just tired of messing with teeth. Who needs them anyway? Ovaltine is a drinkable meal, right?

So, yes, the dentist. Sadly, I have not been to the dentist since I was pregnant with Abby, and I'm really not ashamed about that. I mean, I drink milk. I brush my tooth. I floss...every 20 years or so. Who needs a dentist every 6 months?

It's the cereal conspiracy that did it...they are putting rocks in the cereal boxes these days and disguising them as "nut clusters". Puh-lease. Everyone knows that they are honey-flavored rocks. Especially since they can BREAK TEETH! Well, fake teeth anyway. The cereal rock broke my one lonely crown. Oh, the humanity.

2-1/2 hours. That is how long I sat in the long patient chair that looks a whole lot more comfortable that it is. I read through 5...FIVE magazines. And although I love me some magazines, 5 seems to be a few too many to read in one sitting. Every ounce of liquid in my body turned to a slushy ice mixture because dentists obviously need to keep the thermostat set on 53 degrees, and I didn't wear any socks...because I can't seem to put on socks (or tie my shoes) these days. So now I have frostbite. And a broken tooth. But, I was able to eaves-drop on some pretty juicy gossip about one of the hygenists named Amanda who obviously wasn't sick on Monday like she had said because so-n-so saw her walking with a guy at the mall that afternoon. How dare she!

2-1/2 hours...and then the dentist finally came in my little cubicle with the nice view of moss-covered Live Oaks and squirrel families. And she spent a grand total of 3 minutes telling me that my tooth was completely fine being all broken and schtuff until after Nathan is born. And then she told me that purchasing my new crown will cost the exact same as giving birth to a human being...give or take a couple of dollars. Nice. Thanks for the great talk. Now, I leave you with a broken tooth, frost-bitten toes, and an empty wallet...oh, and an appointment for Abby's first dentist appointment next Thursday. You know, because I didn't spend enough time there today.

I leave you with some digital scrapbooking...I haven't scrapped in ages, so it was nice to sit down and create some layouts a few days ago.

The other happenings over the past few days

2008-01-23T12:29:00.000-05:00

Emma's birthday was a lot of fun! We had planned to take her to the zoo last Saturday, but the incessant rain squashed those plans. We got her a play kitchen for her birthday, and Jay put it all together the night before so she could play with it as soon as she woke up. Good thing I am married to that good man because you would seriously need a PhD to put that sucker together...and a lot of patience...2 things that I lack seriously. The girls loved the new kitchen and played with it all day long, while Jay and I sampled all kinds of plastic dinner preparations throughout the day.
Emma LOVED her cake (Abby and I made it during Em's naptime). She was pretty disappointed when we gave her a slice of cake since she thought that she would be able to eat the whole cake by herself. So we gave her the whole cake. I mean, you should have seen her pitiful face when looking at the little slice we gave her...and we didn't take her to the zoo like we had said. It was unwarranted guilt that made the decision to give her the whole cake. We took the thing away after she had licked off half of the icing, finger track by finger track. Cake schmake...just give the girl a tub of icing and she is good to go.
Oh, and would you think that I learned anything at all from our makeup experience at Christmas? Apparently not! I thought that these cute little Dora chapsticks were the perfect accessory to our Dora party. Emma obviously thought they were a wonderful accessory as well. The girls' doctor appointments went well yesterday. Abby is 35 pounds and 41-1/2 inches tall...50% for weight, 75% for height. Emma is a whopping 23 pounds and 31-1/2 inches...5% for both. It still amazes me how differently they are shaped! Our pediatrician was laughing at Abby because she said that it looks like she is forming a preschool-sized six pack on her abs. It doesn't surprise me a bit...that kid is so muscular (must take after her mama...hahahahaha...yeah, uh-huh).

The girls are both doing great...they LOVE our pediatrician and were bringing all of the tricks out of their bags to show her what they were capable of. Abby went through her list of "Did you know that I can spell my name? Did you know that I can hop on one foot? Did you know that I can say the Pledge of Allegiance?"And Emma would always reply with "Me too!" after Abby's displays of attention and applause. After pushing her to perform in front of others for the first 4 years of her life, I think it is about time to teach her not to perform so much. HA! How's that for consistent parenting?

The girls each received 2 shots in their thighs and Abby also had to have her finger pricked for the hemoglobin test. Abby said "I'll go first, Emma, and show you how brave I am"...sure enough, she didn't flinch for any of it. So Emma obligingly hopped onto the table when Abby was finished with the "no big deal" mentality and excitedly said "MY TURN!!" She said "Owww, dat hurt me." for the first shot and cried during the second shot...and she didn't let us live that experience down for the rest of the day. She would routinely drop her drawers and show us her bandaids while pouting "I got shot. It hurt. I cried, cried, cried." I treated them to a tub of cotton candy each after the appointment for being my brave little girls...and put a mental note in my head to make Abby a dentist appointment before Nathan is born.

I was finally able to sit with our pediatrician and discuss the tests we have had so far on Nathan, and that was so great. She is an incredible woman, and we are so blessed to have her as a regular doctor for our children. She confirmed that he would indeed have to have an ultrasound after birth (that was reiterated at yesterday afternoon's Level II also). If he still has excessive fluid on his kidney during that ultrasound, we will have to follow up with a VCUG test to rule out reflux. Fast forward to yesterday's Level II...his left kidney is measuring fluid in the 7.2-7.9mm range. The cut-off for normal is 7mm at this stage in gestation, so he is right above that. But, the fluid on his right kidney is only at around 2mm right now, so that one corrected itself since the last ultrasound. We are expecting that the left kidney will do the same, but we will see for sure at the ultrasound and be more aware of any further testing at that time.

It was a wonderful day yesterday...a physically and emotionally taxing day, but a wonderful day to say the least. The Lord has truly been merciful to us.

Good news

2008-01-22T17:09:00.000-05:00

Today has been a whirlwind of a day with Dr's appointments literally all day long...the girls had their 2 year and 4 year well checks this morning, and our second Level II ultrasound was this afternoon. So pardon the delay in writing here...I'm just a little worn out right now from all the running around. I know some of you were expecting tough news again because of my lack of returning phone calls and emails before now, but the opposite is true.

Nathan is doing well. He still has hydronephrosis (fluid on the kidney) on one kidney, and the fluid level is about double what it was at the last Level II, but the Dr. said that it is still on the low end of being high in fluid. His right kidney looks completely normal right now. It looks like the only testing he may have to have on it after birth is a renal ultrasound. So far, it looks like it is not a reflux problem, and thy are expecting it to clear up within the first few months of his life. We are thankful!

Second, his choroid plexus cysts have cleared up entirely. We expected this, but we are still very thankful for this finding.

Third, they finally found his nasal bone. They have not been able to accurately identify if he does or does not have a nasal bone in the previous two ultrasounds, and not having a nasal bone is one of the key markers for Down Syndrome. When they checked for that marker today, it was clear as a bell that he does indeed have a nasal bone. I choked back tears the moment I saw it...and thanked God with everything in me.

Everything else looks wonderful on him. His heart is still looking strong with no defects in it. His femur bones are not undersized. He has no evidence whatsoever of a echogenic bowel...all of these are major Down Syndrome markers.

The Doctor we saw today was absolutely incredible...a much different experience than the Dr. we saw at the last Level II. He was thorough and talked us through absolutely everything. His explanations of everything were gentle and comforting, and I am truly truly thankful that God sent this man our way today. He told us that from what they can tell right now, our chances of Nathan having Down Syndrome is a little more than double what they normally are at my age...a 1 in 450 chance. That's a far cry difference from what we have been told previously. He also continued by saying "Your chances of having lost him in miscarriage from doing an amnio are double the chances of him actually having Down's. You did the right thing by not having the amnio." God was watching after us...we didn't make that decision a few months ago; God put that decision on our hearts.

Yes, there is still a chance that he could have a chromosomal problem, and we are still aware of that. We are still prepared for anything. But we are not scared. We are not nervous. We are rejoicing in the fact that we are going to have a baby boy in our arms in a few weeks, and we are rejoicing even more in the fact that God has evidently carried us through this pregnancy in His hands. We are in complete comfort in His hands...it's such an incredibly peaceful feeling.

Nate's prognosis is so much better than it was a few months ago...it isn't completely clear yet, but it is better news than we were given a few months ago. The Dr. today said that he really thinks that all we are looking at right now is a mild kidney problem. We'll know for sure after he is born, but that surely is wonderful to hear. And he is INDEED a boy! I have the clearest ultrasound picture I've ever seen that showcases some real boy parts. It was such a clear definite "shot" that the resident froze the shot, printed it out and showed some of the other residents how great it was. HA! There's no doubt whatsoever that our little Nathan is a BOY!

We are thankful. We are thankful for today...for the news that the Lord has blessed us to receive, for the people who have been praying for Nathan, for the Dr.'s who have been with us along this journey, for peace, for comfort. We are thankful.

2 years

2008-01-20T07:28:00.000-05:00

My dearest Emma,

2 years ago at 1:30 in the morning, I held your teeny tiny body in my arms for the very first time. You had the longest toes I have ever seen on a newborn and the biggest cheeks and conehead. You were so tiny that the blankets around you seemed to weigh more than your actual body, and the top of your paci would cover your little nose. You stole my heart when you would stop crying each time I talked to you and when you would ball up like a turtle in its shell each time I laid you on my chest. I remember all of it like it was yesterday...because it feels like it was just yesterday. That is what makes it even more difficult to realize that you are a big 2 year old now.

You were the easiest, most content baby, so it was a bit of a shock to us when you all of a sudden became a more difficult kiddo at around 15 months old. I have to admit, this year wasn't the easiest with you...we had to learn how to parent and overcome the whiny and demanding traits that seemed to plague your attitude a lot of the time, and this resulted in a lot of head-scratching and fervent prayers on our part. Thankfully, we have seen a dramatic turn in your personality over the past couple of months, and you have turned out to be such a happy and delightful little thing. You still have hard moments periodically, but they are few and far between and usually only occur when you are exhausted.

When asked "who is your best friend?", your response it always "Abby!" Watching you and Abby bond and start to develop an incredible friendship was one of my favorite happenings over the past year. The two of you are inseperable. You play with one another all day, every day...you share the same room, sleep in the same bed, and share conversations that are wonderful for a mother to hear. You love Abby so much and mimic every single thing she does. I pray that this relationship with her continues to grow as the two of you grow older.

Up until the past couple of months, you have always been the serious one of the family...the one who was more reserved and slow to warm up in new situations. I was incredibly surprised when you started coming out of this little shell and becoming more outgoing and less reserved. Your humor is the thing that has surprised me the most...girl, you are hilarious! You are fitting right into this crazy family with your own little antics for getting laughs...your unique quirks that you purposefully do with a sneaky smirk on your face, just to get us rolling on the floor in laughter. I really never expected these things from you, the serious one.

You are delightful, Emma. You wake up happy to be alive! You give the best hugs and butterfly kisses, and you are constantly aware of the emotions of the ones around you. You will often sit right beside Abby when she has to visit the time-out chair just so she won't sit there alone. When I tell you to move and let her be, you always say "But Mama, Abby's sad." You love to read and be read to. You eat ketchup like your life depends on it. You still stick random objects in your mouth just to see what they taste like. Your hair is absolutely gorgeous, and I love to put my fingers in those ringlets of your's. You are still a little thing, measuring about 2-3 inches shorter than all the other kiddos your age, and your cheeks are starting to slowly slim down as you get older. You always have to have shoes on at home, but you will take them off the moment we get in the van. You put the sound of "y" on the end of a lot of your words: "Travel Doody" (travel doodle), "chocky milk" (chocolate milk), "soccey ball" (soccer ball), "rocky" (rock). You love anything with sugar in it. You absolutely positively will not call yourself "Emma", but rather refer to yourself at "you" and "me" and will argue with us until you are blue in the face that your name is not Emma.

You are a joy, my Emma. Since the purchase of our new glider rocker, I have gotten into the bad habit of rocking you for your nap every day. I know that this is creating a problem for after Nathan is born, but I just love being able to soak up the closeness of rocking you to sleep as my baby for another month. And you love it so much...you are a huge snugglebug and will often curl up in my lap just to be close for no reason at all. You are growing so fast, my girl, and you will suffer some intense changes as your roll in our family changes over the next couple of months, but you will always be a baby of mine. I love you, Emma. You are such a joy in our family! Happy Birthday Sweetheart.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Beacuse nesting seems to happen earlier with each child

2008-01-17T16:40:00.000-05:00

I have been spring cleaning for the past 2 weeks...something that I have to admit that I've NEVER done. And it is quite addicting. Abby is quite traumatized by all the stuff we have given to Goodwill, but she'll get over it as soon as I can fork up the money for her therapy sessions again. "Hi, I'm Abby. And I'm a hoarder."

But since I have been elbows deep in "getting rid of crap" for the past few days, I have run out of things to say that do not pertain to using the words "getting rid of" and "crap" multiple times in the same sentence because good golly you should see all the crap we have gotten rid of over the past few days. Seriously. It's been fun.

But I did manage to take some shots of Abby this morning while Emma decided to be locked in her room until "cranky butt" changed into "sweet butt".

This was my attempt at trying to get the shot of her and "Nathan a'la utero" without it being blurry. My synopsis: it's quite hard to do that when you aren't behind the camera. But this will do.

Cold, Rainy Days

2008-01-16T12:28:00.000-05:00

The girls are about to go nuts cooped up inside all day long. Since it is cold and rainy, they can't even go outside and play in the sandbox with the new sand in it...turns out that if you leave the lid off the sandbox, the sand will turn a moldy shade of green (more than likely from the mold growing in it. Yummy.) We made a trip to the grocery store today to get out of the house and thoroughly wiped down the grocery cart upon arrival...you know, so they won't get sick. Funny enough though, I didn't even think to wipe it down again after the girls got out...here's to spreading germs this season. Cheers!

Thankfully, Emma is the only one who has snotty goodness flowing right now, and she seems to be taking it all in stride. Periodically, cranky-butt comes out in her, but it is usually short-lived with the threat of having to go to bed. Night time is still a bit of a struggle as she has announced that it isn't bear-bear that is causing the problems with her self-soothing, but her thumb that is broken and causing the brawls between breathing and sucking. The pitiful middle of the night greetings have usually consisted of "My fumb is broken! Hold me peese, mama." to which I have serious pity and do as she says.

She's a stinker, that one. Abby asked her to help pick up some toys yesterday and Emma's reply was "I can't, Abby. I just a baby." Another moment between them that made me chuckle was when Abby was trying to get the folded-up tent out of the closet and said, "Emma, could you help me hee-ho this outta here? Ready? Heeeee-Ho. Heeee-Ho." They are quite the pair these days.

Emma will be 2 on Sunday. {Sniff} When did that happen?
Little Nate is doing well. He's hanging in there but trying so desperately to break through my belly button. His room is painted and put together...minus some wall decorations that I am still searching for. I am in the home stretch and just realized that I haven't read nearly as much about pregnancy and breast feeding and whatever during this pregnancy than I did with the girls, so I am trying to cram for finals by watching as much TLC and Discovery Health shows about women giving birth as I can...while turning down the volume as much as I can when a screamer comes along to prevent nasty looks from my husband (who hates hates hates those shows and would actually rather sit in the waiting room during my labor if I wouldn't strangle him for doing so).

I am now feeling more and more excited about giving birth and meeting Nathan than apprehensive about it all, thankfully. I still get a little nervous when thinking about holding him for the first time and finding out if he has Down Syndrome or not, but I am actually more excited about seeing the little man who has mistaken my womb for a dance hall than anything. I am more at peace about meeting him than I have been since we learned that there could be a problem. This peace is definitely God-given, and I am truly thankful for it. But please continue to pray as his birth nears.

"Franklin" is now over, so that means it is indeed time for a little nappy-poo for me and the girls...one of the perks of being pregnant and waking up multiple times in the middle of the night to empty a bladder and hold an almost 2 year old. {sigh} I just can't believe she is going to be 2.

It was good while it lasted

2008-01-14T21:29:00.000-05:00

Well, we have officially ended our long streak of no one being sick up in this hood...and I knew it was coming. In fact, I kind of timed it myself. Yes, I allowed my children to do something that I knew would make them sick...I gave in to their pleas of playing on the mall playground. In my defense, they have been begging to play on it for months, but we were just too busy to "risk it". I strategically planned a fun trip to the mall last week just so they could play (score one for the cool mom) knowing that we had nothing at all planned this week...except for getting sick, of course. No amount of purell could rid them of the germs they picked up from the two snotty-nosed hooligans they immediately befriended at the indoor playground.
Don't let the picture fool you...she's sick alright. She just obviously didn't get the memo that you are supposed to lay around and watch TV all day when you are running a fever and leaking profuse amounts of fluid from your facial orifices. In fact, I don't even know who this child is. MY Emmabear refuses to leave my arms and whines and cries and mopes around from the moment the first sniffle occurs until I have to convince her that she is indeed well enough to detatch from my hip. My Emma has never run around the house like normal while periodically stopping the wipe her nose on her sleeve...until today. I am constantly amazed at how much she has grown up over the past couple of months. She was still going strong all day today, but her poor mama was dragging booty most of the day from sharing a bed with her last night. She would wake up every half an hour or so and say, "Bear-Bear not working. He's broken!" because she couldn't suck her thumb and breathe out of her nose at the same time, resulting in me holding her and sleeping in an upright position a lot of the night. All in the job title, huh? Eh, it wasn't that bad...I mean, I don't want to do it again tonight, but it wasn't as bad as I am milking it to be. Granted, I did go around the house today constantly wondering if I had brushed my teeth yet and smelling my pits to figure out if I had remembered to put on deodorant, but that's not much different than a normal day around here. So, we have a little cold bug floating around here now...sorry to those of you we unknowingly exposed at church yesterday. I promise she didn't start showing symptoms until last night. Abby started sniffling tonight, and I am just hoping that this one passes me by in this late stage of pregnancy. But if not, we can all sit around and play webkinz all day (which just so happens to be one of the girls' favorite things to do with their daddy lately).

Why mothers become hermits

2008-01-11T16:18:00.001-05:00

I have children who aren't afraid of people. Emma used to be, but changed into a friendly little sucker after watching Abby repetitively strike up conversations with strangers every day. This is all fine and dandy most of the time, but it creates some embarrassing scenes when we hit the public arena.
As we were strolling up the cereal aisle yesterday, an older man happened to be walking in our direction. And this older man happened to have a white beard and hair and be sporting some red suspenders over a flannel shirt. And he had glasses. And I even had to do a double take myself.
Emma: "Wook Mom! It's a HO-HO!!" (that just so happens to be Emma's affectionate name for the seasonal character)
Abby: "WOW! It really IS Santa!! What's he doing at the grocery store?"

As I hurried past the poor guy hoping that he was in need of some new hearing aid batteries, Emma proclaimed at the top of her lungs: "HO! HO! HO! Merry Tissmas!"
Even though it seems that the grocery store is where most of the memorable events happen, we do indeed have a few that happen elsewhere. Take the mall today... The girls and I were deboarding an elevator when we were greeted with an "underwear model" mannequin...men's underwear. Abby walked right up to it and cupped her hand over the part that was...well...at eye-level to her and in the shape of a cupped hand. In total shock and embarrassment as the on-lookers chuckled, I was literally frozen in what to do...and without hesitating, Abby said "Hmmmmm. That's interesting." and then walked on like nothing happened.
And then Emma proceeded to do the exact same thing...standing on her tippy-toes.

I'm gonna have a lot of explaining to do about "bulges in undies" when Nathan comes.

The joys of parenting

2008-01-10T14:38:00.000-05:00

Phrases that have come out of my mouth over the past few days:

"Please stop talking and let Mommy think."

"Do NOT wipe your boogers on your shirt. Not your pants either."

"Get that crayon out of your nose."

"When was the last time you had a bath? You stink."

"Let Mommy go potty in peace, please."

"Where are your clothes?"

"Have you eaten anything besides cheese today?"

"Don't push on my belly too hard. It makes me pee-pee."

"Can you stop barking like a dog and answer me in people words?"

"Did you wipe? flush? wash your hands?"

"Man can not live by candy alone."

"You smell like old-woman toots. Do you need to poo-poo?"

"What do you mean 'you're bored'? You have a gazillion new toys in here!"

"Yes, you can play outside. Watch for snakes."

"You may not color the bottom of your feet."

"When you eat all the gum in the pack, you smell like a pickle."

"Yes, when you become a mommy and have your own house, you can have a dog."

"Who's the mama?"

But it seems that the one thing I say every single day is "Hun, why do you fall all the time?" Is it clumsiness? Poor eyesight? Lack of coordination? Just being a spazz? The world may never know. Our pediatrician says, "That's just Abby." and I totally believe her because seriously, that's just Abby.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In my head, I hear a cute sophisticated woman talking...really. On video, it sounds like I can straight out of...well...the south.

Just a few

2008-01-09T14:24:00.000-05:00

I set the tripod up this morning in the kitchen to get a belly shot, and the girls decided that they wanted in on the action as well. The images aren't completely tack sharp, but I just love them all (except for the fact that I should have ironed my clothes, but oh well).
And this image was a complete snapshot of the girls (can you tell by Emma's lack of clothing?). They were playing "Mama and Baby" and I told them to look up all of a sudden. Much to my surprise, they both did. I am never able to get pictures of the two of them together like this. Again, not technically the greatest, but I just love it!

31 weeks

2008-01-08T20:30:00.000-05:00

I had my routine 31 week appointment today, and all is well. My OB looked at my chart and chuckled while saying, "Well, it looks like you enjoyed Christmas cooking this year." The weight gain wasn't too terribly bad, but it was a couple of pounds of Cracker Barrell pancakes too much. Oh, but it was so fun to eat that way while it lasted...now back to snacking on edamame and pretzels and salsa.

It seems that all those pancakes went straight to my bodunkadunk and none to the baby. Mr. Nathan is still measuring a little more than 2 weeks behind, but we're still not concerned about it too much. I did enjoy washing a teeny tiny preemie outfit the other day, wondering if he was going to be small enough to fit in that itty-bitty outfit. Emma was in preemie outfits for almost 2 weeks, and we are now using a couple of those outfits as clothes for her baby dolls...that is, if she will actually keep clothes on her baby dolls. We'll get a more accurate view of how big Nathan is at the Level II ultrasound in a couple of weeks.

I finally have a better excuse for why I have been so exhausted lately...and not just because I am carrying a child sucking every bit of energy and blood from me. I'm anemic. Again, been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. Just give me the iron pills and instructions to eat liver every chance I can get. Actually, I LOVE chicken livers. Hmmmm, fried chicken livers from KFC...wonder if they deliver.

The girls and I are enjoying these 80 degree days that we have been having. Today, we walked about a mile to a local playground. After battling contractions for the next hour, I realized that those long walks may be behind us for a couple of months, but it sure was a fun afternoon.

Oh, oh, oh, I almost forgot! The best news of all this week!! I am now the proud owner of a glider rocker. Emma let me rock her for half and hour this evening, and I wondered what I did before this wonderful addition to our livingroom. And Mr. Nathan is the proud owner of a new car seat...though the thing is so huge that I'm afraid he will get lost in it. It is one of those convertible car seats that fit anyone 5-50 pounds. You could imagine what a 5 pound baby would look in this thing. Gosh, everything is happening so fast now. His birth will be here before we know it.

Yes, we are indeed from Kentucky

2008-01-07T12:41:00.000-05:00

Abby: Mom, you see this ring on my finger? I got it a long time ago when I was married.
Me: Oh, who was your husband.
Abby: My brother. His name was Mahumaben.
Me: Ah. Well, where is your husband now?
Abby: He's dead.

We have reached the crucial age of intriguing questions in the life of Miss Abigail. We have had rather lengthy conversations lately about death and ways of dying and what happens after we die. But my favorite conversations with her have been about food that we eat...which just so happens to usually take place at the dinner table. It all started back in the fall when we saw some deer hunters on the side of the road and Abby wanted to know why they were hunting for deer. Being the honest and upfront mother that I am, I told her...and that has since sparked other conversations about where we get ham and turkey and burgers and chicken fingers (and no, they are not chicken fingers...they are just called that because they are long like fingers. No, they are not people fingers either. They are chicken. Chickens don't even have fingers. No, they are not chicken toes either.) and milk and eggs and so forth and so on.

She hasn't been grossed out by all of this like I thought she would be but rather completely intrigued and a sponge when it comes to learning about it all. She seemed incredibly content with "God gave us most of the animals to eat", but then she wanted to know if we eat cats and dogs...well, if we ever go to China...

My favorite part of this never-ending subject with her was when I asked her what she wanted for lunch the other day...her answer: A pig and cheese sandwich.

I can't think of any way at all to tie those stories and these pictures together, but I have been meaning to post a few pictures of a couple of photo shoots I had with my brother and sister while we were in Kentucky. This is Jared, who is 17 and Bethany, who is about to be 16. They are growing into gorgeous young adults now, and that is so hard to believe. I had so much fun during these shoots with them...more pictures can be found on the photography blog.
This picture cracked me up because if any of you know Bethany at all, you would know how out of place the black fingernail polish is on her. She said she got bored and decided to paint her fingernails black, but we all gave her so much grief about it all week. It's funny how much of a stigma black polish is for young adults. Bethany, my little goth sister for a day (who I am happy to say changed the polish that day to a hooker-red color). Love ya, Bethany.
And one of my favorites from Bethany's shoot...because this is soooo her.
We all seemed to be ("blessed" doesn't seem to be the right word here)...let's start over. My brothers and sisters and I all seemed to get the same squinty-eyed DNA code in our genetic makeup. That, coupled with the shape of our mouth, is how people are able to tell that we are from the Gowens family...which is funny to me because looking back through pictures, it seems that these traits came from my great-grandmother, Minnie Bass Gowens, thus being a Bass family trait(this picture was taken on her 100th birthday, about 5 years ago. She passed away before she turned 101...a couple of weeks before Abby was born). Anyway, there's your little random tip of the day.

Guess who gained some holiday weight (and other happenings from the past couple of weeks)

2008-01-04T13:30:00.001-05:00

Why yes, I did gain some holiday weight, though I don't appreciate the pointing of fingers and laughing. I am actually quite afraid to step on the scale at next week's Dr's appt, but not too afraid to make me stop stuffing my face with M&Ms each time I pass the treat bowl. I can seriously feel the stretch marks popping, for goodness sakes!

I wasn't the only one who gained chocolate-induced pounds this holiday season...Bear-Bear seemed to pick up some poundage before we came home from our trip as well. Yes indeed, Bear-Bear received an extreme makeover from the talented Nana...including more stuffing and being sewn up in areas where we didn't even know he needed to be sewn. After some questions about whether or not Bear-Bear would make it for the duration of the time that he would be a fixture in Emma's hands, I can now say in full confidence that he will indeed make it. He's a new bear with a new lease on life. Thanks Nana...from all of us.

When the realization came to me that we only had 2 short months until we would greet our darling son, my whole body (extra pounds and all) became engulfed in the sweats (and not just the food sweats). We still have SO MUCH TO DO!! But I can now sit back and relax for a little while due to all the work and reorganizing I have done over the past few days (can you tell that I am totally giving myself a pat on the back right now?).
Both of the kids' closets have been uncluttered and reorganized...creating 3 big trash bags and 2 huge storage bins of stuff to take to Goodwill (along with one trash bag of trash). I literally had no clue that we had accumulated that much crap over the past 4 years. Much to my dad's chagrin, I am a throw-awayer when it comes to stuff we haven't used in a couple of years...or to be politically correct, a giver to the needy (honestly, I don't care where it ends up as long as it isn't here).
I finished moving the last of Emma's clothes into the girls' closet and dresser this morning. I have no idea what we are going to do about that lack of space when the girls get older, but that is something that we won't think about for the next 10 years. Their shoes are all nicely lined up on the brand new shoe rack in the bottom of their closet...the closet where I can proudly say that you can actually see the bottom now. Nathan's closet is completely empty except for the pack-n-play and accessories and about a gazillion empty hangers. And while I am typing, the first load of his clothes and blankets are being washed...let's now just hope that the showing of his anatomy has been correct over the past couple of ultrasounds, for I have quite a bit of dough wrapped up in blues and browns in the washing machine right now.
Speaking of Nate-man, I seriously forgot how much stuff newborns needed. It's only been 2 years, but I really did forget about all the things you had to buy before a newborn was here. So, over the past few days, I have stocked up on white onsies, a couple of manly blankets, blue burp cloths, a couple of hats, and the cutest socks you've ever seen. And, I spent about an hour on www.diapers.com ordering newborn and size 1 diapers, various pacifiers, a start-up bottle kit, and various breastfeeding supplies. Good thing we have a "Nathan" envelope in our budget now. Dude, having kids is 'spensive! After a full week of having a frizzy-headed kid in Ohio because the lack of humidity seemed to turn her pretty curls into...well, non-existent anymore, mom showed me the magical wonders of frizz control cream. This stuff works perfectly for Emma's hair, leaving her with cute not-quite ringlet-but-crimpy curls during this dry winter weather. So now that that is settled, I need to work on keeping my child from stripping down to her birthday suit every time I leave the room for a second. I tried the logic-approach of "you're going to get cold" when she decided to run around naked all morning in this seriously cold winter weather we have been having down here in the deep south...but after her body turned splotchy and her fingers and toes turned blue, I remembered the almost-2-year-olds don't have any logic...we are their voice of logic. Ah-ha...always learning here, folks. Always learning. 3 more times of watching a flesh-colored streak race by and I realized that we needed a bit of a stern talking-to with the cold one. We'll see if that does any good.
After spending the last 3 winters continuously sick, I am quite amazed that no one in our household has gotten any kind of bug in the past few months...knocking on aluminum Diet Dr. Pepper can. However, after almost ripping Emma's precious tongue out of her mouth for trying to lick every square inch of the Target shopping cart yesterday, I am expecting symptoms to make their appearance in the next 24-48 hours. If she doesn't get sick from that little escapade, then her immune system must be made of some super-resistant stuff from being really sick for the first year and a half of her life. Oh, what else has gone on over the past couple of weeks? Oh, after 2 hours of tinkering and talking on the phone to a ~~good~~ smart friend, Jay figured out why our computer wouldn't recognize a wireless router. I don't know why...nor do I have the slightest care why, but I do know that WE NOW HAVE WIRELESS INTERNET!! Woohoo!! All this means is that the only thing you should hear after the girls go to bed is the gentle (and sweet) sound of 20 fingers on a couple of keyboards. Nah, we'll still talk to eachother...when we are waiting for pages to upload.
Yes, she still sucks her thumb. The following shot was taken of a very sleepy Abigail as the adults were opening their gifts at my parents' house. We are working on the thumb-sucking thing...a little. I'm not too concerned yet. She only does it when she is tired or asleep. Any suggestions on weaning her before she turns 40?

The Kentucky Horsepark

2008-01-02T11:17:00.001-05:00

I have said repetitively that Central Kentucky is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. There is nothing like seeing thoroughbred horses grazing or running on those bright green Kentucky hills. Abby was determined to see a horse on this trip, so we decided to take her to the Kentucky Horsepark outside of Lexington while we were there. We wanted to go on her birthday, but it was raining, so we decided that the next day (also known as the coldest day we were there!) would have to do. Despite the cold temperatures, it was a gorgeous sunny day...a rarity in those parts in the winter time.

Abby wanted to see horses, and she wasn't disappointed. We also wanted to take her on a pony ride, but they were only operating in the summer months...not what their website said, but whatevah. The horsepark was beautiful. In the 5 years I lived in Lexington, I never once toured the place...Jay said the same thing, and he only lived a couple of miles from the park. This visit was one of the most memorable parts of our trip, and I hope to be able to do this more when we visit.

Abby absolutely loved feeding the horses some hay that had fallen on the ground. They would eat right out of her hands. Emma wasn't amused...in fact, I think this was the point in the trip where she wanted to show everyone her utter disgust with being cold, hungry, tired and needing to pee. She was not a happy camper after that. It was so cold that the horses even had to wear their coats.

And this is clearly not a horse...a mule or donkey or something looking close enough to a horse without actually being one. I'm thinking it was the park's way of saving money. A horse statue must have been way more expensive than this one...a good way of cutting corners, in my opinion.
I was woken with this conversation this morning:
"Mom, Daddy at work?"
(in a sleepy-eyed stupor) "Mmmmm-Hmmmm"
"Ahhhhh, I'm sad. I miss him."

The conversation was prompted by my full-sentence-speaking-almost-2-year-old who decided to perfect her speech in the 2 weeks we were gone. I am amazed with how well and how much she is talking now. She still thinks her name is "You", but she can talk like a regular 5 year old. And yes, we are all sad that Daddy had to go to work today...we got used to him being around every day for 2 weeks...and I got used to him getting up with the girls and letting me sleep until 8:00 every morning. Now, that was nice.
On a different note, several of you have questioned when our next ultrasound is for Nathan. Shortly before we left for Christmas, we received the letter stating that the next Level II ultrasound in set for January 22 at 2:00. It seems that we are to meet with a perinatologist (specializing in high-risk pregnancies and babies) and a genetic counselor during that visit as well. After life seeming so normal for a while, seeing those medical titles kind of stung and brought us back to reality a bit. Please keep us in your prayers as this appointment nears.

You can just smell the warm Florida air

2008-01-01T12:39:00.001-05:00

When we pulled into our subdivision last night and saw a man and woman taking a leisurely evening stroll in shorts and t-shirts, we knew that we were truly HOME AGAIN! Home to that warm Florida sunshine and smell that is unique to this area...really, Florida does have a unique smell to it. We opened up our somewhat musty house for the first time in almost 2 weeks and crawled into our own beds. Ahhhhh, home.

Our trip was so great. We enjoyed the visits with our families immensely and are thankful for safe journeys along the way, but it is indeed nice to be home again. The girls were outstanding travelers this year...we were gun-shy after last year's holiday gallivanting when they were sick and cranky and exhausted, which seems to be the perfect storm for an absolute disastrous road trip. That one scarred our memories, so we were thankful for this year's easy traveling.
We now realize that something will go wrong on the way home with each trip, so we are a bit prepared for it each time. This year's problem: the DVD player broke 2 hours into our trip home. The new DVD player. We made a detour to Best Buy in Knoxville, TN and spent an hour and a half with them trying to figure out what the problem was...we did not want to drive the next 10 hours without our pacifier...I mean, what were they supposed to do all that time without movies to watch? Entertain themselves? Look out the windows and count semi-trucks? Play road trip bingo? Sing road trip songs? Live like they did way back in the 1990's? Whoa, nelly! We HAD to get that DVD player fixed! Thankfully, after an hour and a half and 2 attempts to fix the problem, Best Buy just gave us a whole new system and sent us on our way. We were back in business.
Our big accomplishment on this trip was timing our trek through Atlanta so that we wouldn't be stuck in any of their humpteen rush hour traffics...both on the way there and the way back. We are pretty proud of ourselves for that. As we made our last stop at Cracker Barrel last night, the girls were about to bounce off the walls of the van. They were good...but they were hyper! Sitting through dinner required bringing out the big guns of entertainment...otherwise known as letting our children opt for consuming condiments instead of actual food. Emma enjoyed an entire packet of sugar and about a cup of ketchup eaten with her forefinger. Abby's delicacy was Cracker Barrel butter, eaten lick by lick until gone. It wasn't until Emma started kicking her legs and flailing her arms about in some sort of Lord of the Dance trance that I realized that the packet of sugar might not have been the best idea. But like I said, it was a great trip. It was our first Christmas where the girls haven't been sick since Abby was born. That was the best Christmas present so far!! They were both in great moods most of the time and enjoyed playing with grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles. It's fun to see their relationship with extended family blossom as they get older. Emma wasn't nearly as clingy this trip...the first time that has happened EVER. And until the last couple of days, they were pretty well behaved. Those last days, they were getting a case of vacationitis (where they seem to have the attitude that they can do whatever and act however they want). We are working on that right now.
The girls enjoyed 2 weeks of having dogs around them constantly...something that proved to be quite challenging to the adults around them. For some reason, Emma had it in her brain that she was going to ride one of those dogs before she left, and I think that she would have succeeded if it wasn't for a few growls from the canines to let us know that they were about to go ballistic on her. The girls pestered those poor dogs throughout our entire trip.

This year was the first year where we committed the "what not to do" when your child has a birthday at Christmas...we forgot her birthday presents. They were in the top of our closet, and I hated that we forgot to bring them. But, she did enjoy getting to open the very last of her week-long birthday extravaganza this morning. She may get bombarded with tons of presents only once a year, but who else gets to celebrate their birthday for an entire week? Our pastor's wife has subliminally taught Abby that you can not have a birthday party without a pinata, so that is the only thing she asked for repetitively this year. But, when you buy a pinata, it seems that the party is destined to get rained out and moved to the indoors...and so is the pinata. We made it work and had a fun time watching her and Emma try to pound a hole in that sucka with all of their might. After a few minutes, Nana ended up being the one to pummel the thing...and almost gave Abby whiplash during the process, but she soon forgot when she saw all of the candy waterfalling out of the pinata hat. It was a fun night. So, we are home. We are tired and the house is peppered with Christmas gifts and clothes that still need to be put away. I have about 400 pictures to sort through from our trip, so I'll be posting more of those throughout the week. Nathan is coming in 2 months! 2 months!!! And I have a TON of stuff to do before then. It's going to be a busy few weeks coming up.

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year!

4 years

2007-12-27T22:00:00.000-05:00

My dearest Abigail,

As you were heading to bed tonight, I kissed you for the last time as my little 3 year old. I did my annual speech of "This is the very last time I can kiss my 3 year old Abby because tomorrow you will wake up as a big 4 year old", but since it was way past your bedtime after a family viewing of Ratatouille, you weren't amused. All you wanted to do was go to bed. Regardless of your nonchalantness of that moment, it made me sentimental. That last kiss from my 3 year old took me back to the very first kiss I laid upon your head 4 years ago today. That was the moment when I realized that I had no earthly idea what I was doing as a mother, but all I really knew was that I loved you more than I ever realized I would...the moment when I looked in your eyes and kissed your head for the first time ever. 4 years later, I still have no idea what I am doing most of the time as your mother, but I know that I love you more than I ever thought was possible. You have given our family so much joy since your arrival on December 28, 2003.

This past year has been an incredible year of growth in your life. You continue to blossom into a a delightful girl who keeps us in stitches and on our toes constantly. Your personality is incredible...unless you are tired, you are usually always in a great mood. You are still our little social butterfly who is capable of feeling comfortable right off the bat in every situation you encounter. You are the only one who I have ever seen who can get our Indian neighbor to wave and smile...believe me, that is a huge feat! You aren't afraid of people in the least, and while that is such a wonderful trait to have in most situations, it makes your mama a little uneasy. You want to be surrounded with people from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, and I can see you getting a little on edge if it has been a few days since we have been around some of your friends or loved ones. You love people.

This year was the year when disciplining you got dramatically easier. You are generally a well-behaved child who thrives in pleasing your parents and adults around you, and it usually only takes some gentle redirection in behavior to keep you on the right path. Now, that's not saying that you won't "test the limits" every once in a while. When you do decide to push that line a bit, you push it hard, but that isn't often anymore...thankfully.

The one thing that we have to continually stay on you about is pestering your sister...but I do have to say that you get that trait honestly from your father. :) In fact, you are so much like your dad that it's scary. Your ability to listen to something one time and memorize it amazes me to no end...just like it does when I see your father do the same thing. You are full of energy and will sometimes just run circles around the house to burn off what ever is pent up inside of you. I often say that I now realize what Grammie and Papa mean when talking about your dad as a little boy. You are just like him in so many ways.

One thing that you seem to have gotten from me was your love of anything musical, and that warms my heart so much. I love that you go around the house singing something all day long. Sure, sometimes that same song over and over gets a little nerve-racking, but I just love that you sing. You are getting more and more interested in music other than Laurie Berkner, Raffi, and Disney Songs...I enjoy watching you pretend to conduct an orchestra when listening to Mozart or Copland or dancing around the house to Johnny Cash and Coldplay. But more than anything, I am so happy to finally listen to Christmas music with someone who loves it just as much as I do...I hope that continues each year.

You are such a great big sister. You favorite game to play with Emma is "Mommy and Baby" where she pretends to cry and you hold her and pretend to give her a bottle. I always have to stop what I am doing and watch that interaction between you two. Both of you are playing so well together right now, and I love seeing your friendship growing each day. Now, don't get me wrong...you two still bicker like the best of sisters, but we are trying hard to work through those hard times so that you can remain the best of friends through childhood and into adulthood.

4 years old, hun. Where has the time gone? This next year will be a bit different. Our family will grow once again, and your role as a big sister will increase. I pray that this year will be as delightful as it has been the past 4 years you have been in our lives. I love you, my Abby. I love you, my big 4 year old.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Video by One True Media
Music: Just Because by Scott Phillips

Where were you 3 hours ago, Christine?

2007-12-18T21:11:00.000-05:00

So, my good friend Christine wrote in a comment about the Christmas presents post:

"you are ONE BRAVE MAMA with that makeup kit!!! YIKES!"

Obviously, I need to take Christine shopping with me next time. Enter Exhibit A:Dude, such a freshman mistake...but only if it were the first time I have actually made this same mistake. No folks, seems as if it takes a few times for me to learn something. I now remember throwing away an almost full container of play makeup that Abby opened for Christmas last year because of the mess it made. What was I thinking this year? Well, I tell ya what I was thinking: "Sah-weet! Here's makeup for the girls for only $2 a pop. Yeah, I am totally putting that in their stockings!" I guess I seemed to have forgotten that $2 makeup DOES NOT COME OFF OF MY KIDS!!! So, we start this Christmas vacation off with a child who has red-rimmed eyelids that give her the utter appearance of being strung out on whatever she picked up off of the guy on the street corner. Couple that with the pink greasy streaks that are currently permanent fixtures in her hair, and we look like a couple of stellar parents here. Add in the fact that I took her to poop on the potty and just plain forgot to drop her drawers, resulting in some insane laughter from my hubby and some serious undie-washing from me...yeah, not my best couple of days as a mother. Which means that this Christmas break comes at a wonderful wonderful time for yours truly. This would be about the time that she was telling me "Mom! Too Yucky! Too Yucky!!" No kidding...maybe that'll learn ya!

I could do this everyday

2007-12-18T10:25:00.001-05:00

Yes, I need to be packing. But Emma is taking another early nap, and I figured that this would be my only chance to get on here and post the pictures from last night's present fest. Gosh, it was fun. The kind of fun that you think back on and instantly get a smile on your face. Emma "got" opening presents this year...she could open them by herself and did a pretty good job at waiting her turn. As soon as she would hear Abby shout out what her present was, she would declare "Okay! My turn!!" and head to the next Dora wrapping-papered box. Abby loved it...and it was just so much fun seeing the joy that overcame her face with each present.

Some of this year's loot:

The two hits of the night were the viewfinder (which was a complete impulse buy, but I had to get it as soon as I saw it. I loved that thing as a kid, and Abby proved that it remains one of the greatest presents ever by hardly putting it down all night.) and the My Little Pony Teapot House. Both of the girls have enjoyed that one, and Abby is glued to the front of it at this very moment...definitely a hit. So, now I guess I have to stop stalling and actually pack, huh? Stay tuned to the blog periodically over the next couple of weeks. I will have internet access at both locations we are heading to, but I know that I won't post as often at all as I usually do. I always enjoy this nice break from the computer while we visit family. BUT...My big girl turns 4 on December 28th, so there will be a special little video montage that showcases this entire past year in her life...something I try to do for the kiddos on each birthday.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year!
(Our Christmas Card this year)

T-minus

2007-12-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

T-minus 5 hours until we listen to the shrieks of a couple of hooligans pulling apart the wrapping paper on their Christmas presents. Yes, folks, we are opening presents tonight. Now Abby can finally figure out why one of her presents looks like a horse head on a stick...and figure out which one of Emma's presents she will secretly take over as her own. I can't count how many times we went shopping and she said "Yay Mom! Are you getting that for me for Christmas?" "Nope, that one's for Emma." "Awwwww, can you get me one too?"

T-minus 42 hours until we all gather in our Griswold-loaded van and make our trek into the icy north regions of the icy north region...well, to our standards, anyway. Today has been our first really cold day (it's 50 degrees...don't laugh. It's stinkin' cold!) this season and has caused me to rethinks me desire to experience some intense temps over the next couple of weeks. It sure doesn't take long to get used to the 70 degree winter temps down here and freeze your buns off when you go anywhere else. I have been holding out hope for a good snowstorm during our trip, but it looks like all we have so far is a measly chance of light snow on Sunday. Bahumbug. All Abby wants to do is catch a snowflake on her tongue...thanks to Charlie Brown.

We thoroughly enjoyed our annual church outing into St. Augustine this weekend for all-day shopping and eating and seeing the lights and shoppes of the old town area. The girls were outstanding having to suffer through our shopping for hours and hours and hours. They really are growing up on us. I really enjoy getting to do this each year right before we leave for this long trek of our's, but it does make me miss everyone at church that much more. See you all in...3 weeks, right? We'll miss you terribly.

Trying to finish up some last minute errands, I had the dreaded glucose test and some other blood work done this morning. Weirdly enough, I actually like the glucose test. I mean, the drink reminds me of my younger days of walking over the the Farmer's Market and getting the little bottles of Orange Crush. I get to sit for an hour and read a magazine without being interrupted...an hour. No interruptions. Ahhhhhhhhh. The only drawback is the intense sugar crash you feel directly after giving the blood that makes you pray like mad that you can drive home without falling asleep. And the only thing I remember about the hour and a half immediately after I arrived home was making sure that the girls had something to drink and eat and keeping the line of cartoons on until I was coherent enough to actually talk without slurring my words. But, I do feel much better now, thankyouverymuchforasking.

Okie Dokie...must finish creating my monster-long list of things I need to pack for this trip.

28 weeks

2007-12-13T13:55:00.000-05:00

The only sound comparable to fingernails on a chalkboard is the horrendous sound of pants ripping...because all this sound means is A) You have some seriously cheap pants or B) You have some seriously large bootay. Unfortunately, I think B attributed to the above sound I heard pierce through my dark room last night. Good gravy, that was my favorite pair of maternity pants...nevermind the fact that I have had to do the stretch-out squat for the past half a dozen times I have worn them. I love those suckas. And don't think for a second that a little tear is going to cause me to stop wearing them. I guess I'll just have to suffer through the periodic preschooler's finger-poke and ridicule of "I see yo' undies!" They're still my favorite.

I had a battle with a mammoth spider in the shower this morning. I caught some movement from the shower curtain out of the corner of my shampooed eye and realized that the beast was about to pounce. I tried the "kill him with scalding water" approach, but he just kept running in my direction with his fangs all showing and stuff. I screamed...a lot. I'm usually not freaked out by these house guests, but I was in a vulnerable state. I mean, picture a big naked slippery pregnant woman hopping around...

Never mind. The nightmares of that visualization will be fierce. I apologize.

28 weeks...well, almost. Mr. Nate-man is about 2-1/2 pounds now and is starting to knee the crap out of my right side. Seriously, I think he'll break the skin any moment now and start crawling out on his own. He has recently started to turn my belly into some sort of sci-fi freak show by creating the illusion of an alien taking over my insides and moving my entire belly from one side to the other like the wave at a football game. It's really quite freaky. But this dang knee of his...it's killing me. I try to push back on it, but that seems to just tick him off even more as he pushes against my hand with more even more force. This kid's getting a spanking as soon as he comes out.

Feeling the baby move has always kind of freaked Jay out with each pregnancy, so it has been fun to share these movements with Abby. At first, she would say that she could feel him, but I knew that she really couldn't, so it was fun to see her eyes light up with excitement the first time she actually felt him move. Of course every time she feels Nate move, I have to feel her baby move in her tummy...and then Emma's baby in her tummy.

Nathan seems to like it when I eat anything sweet, which seems to be quite often these days...don't think that those pants ripped by broccoli and asparagus alone. I can count on him getting the hiccups within about 20 minutes of me eating a handful of chocolate covered cherries. And since I like it when he gets the hiccups, he seems to get his share of chocolate covered cherries quite often. Again, enter in ripped pants here.

We have a problem right now though. Mr. Nathan seems to enjoy hanging upside down at a very low spot and using my bladder as a punching bag. This scenario creates the utter necessity of me having to visit the pot (ladylike, huh?) every 40 minutes or so...

Enter in our 15 hour trip to Cincinnati next week.

Nice, huh? Jay is saying "Depends". I'm saying "Not on your life!" It is to be determined as to how long this trip will actually take us.

Emma

2007-12-12T14:29:00.000-05:00

She's grown so much in the past month...not in size. No, she's still my short one whose clothes are almost always too big everywhere, causing her to showcase about an inch of crack each and every time she bends over. But the fact that she is almost 2 is becoming very real in the new things she is doing everyday.
I have to say that her whining is getting less and less, thankfully. I attribute this to the fact that she can tell us what she wants and needs now and doesn't have to whine incessantly until we all start throwing ourselves against the windowpanes. She is talking in full sentences now and adding about 10 new words to her vocabulary each day. It really is a fun time watching her. I can see her little personality forming and coming out more and more...seeing her trying to be funny and making us laugh and prompting tender moments with Abby and us at various times. Gosh, I love this age.

Since she can talk and be understood now, she enjoys showcasing this new skill everywhere, including the library, church, and the grocery store check out line (thanks to Abby's exuberant conversations with these poor workers). My current project is trying to get her to understand voice volume in church, asking repetitively for her to whisper. This was the same at our trip to the library yesterday where I asked over and over for her to WHISPER, dang it! Finally, I got down on her level and said, "Emma, show me how you whisper." She gladly put two fingers in her mouth and blurted out a loud "Phoooooo Wooooooo", clearly creating the best WHISTLE she could muster. Through harsh glares from onlookers as I tried to control my laughter, I think I was finally able to explain to her that I was saying "whisper" instead of "whistle".

One of the greatest points of growth lately has been her ability to understand and respond to what is asked of her accordingly. When we tell her to do something or not to do something, we are usually answered with "Okay Mom, I will." or "Okay Mom. I won't." Yesterday, I overheard Abby asking her if she would go and get her drink for her..."Okay Abby. I will." proceeded little footsteps in my direction where Emma asked me"Mom? Where Abby's milk?" I just love this age.

Emma has really enjoyed our periodic walks through the neighborhood at night...something that I have to say that I LOVE so much about Florida. It is so nice to be able to walk around in short sleeves at night in December here. We will often hear shouts of "My Tissmas Yights! My Tissmas Yights!" coming from the wagon. It is during those moments when I just smile and am always so thankful with the life God has blessed us with...this is happiness.
I have recently realized that she is probably going to be my artistic child. She will sit and color for an hour...an hour, people! She now can accurately identify the colors blue, red, pink, yellow, black and white, but she still loves calling everything blue every once in a while just to see our reaction. Much to my surprise, she sat on the toilet last week and proceeded to count from one to ten like she has been doing it all of her life. She can spell Abby's name...A-B-B-Y. But she doesn't seem to really know her own name. Whenever we ask her what her name is, the response is usually "Abby" or "You". Granted, she does indeed hear Abby's name often, but I don't think that we go around calling her "Hey you" all the time. My new feat is to teach her that she does indeed have a unique name...one that she doesn't have to share with her sister.

Even though she has grown so much over the past month, I am still a little worried about how she will be when Nathan is born. Emma has always been labeled as a "Mama's girl"...and I secretly love that so much. She's a clingy one for sure, and it has been proven over and over that the child does not do well with change. As I was finishing up some Christmas shopping last night, Jay called me so a pitiful Emmabear could talk to me on the phone. She had been searching the house for me so we could all participate in our nightly bedtime routine, and she was upset that I was no where to be found. It was the saddest conversation with her. Part of me wants them to stay little and dependent on me for a long time, but part of me shot up a quick prayer after that phone call last night asking God for her to grow up just a little bit more before Nathan is born...to become a little less dependent on her mama (even though I secretly hate asking for that).

I love her. She's my Emmabear. And she is growing up so fast right now.

AirDrives

2007-12-11T11:05:00.001-05:00

I was contacted a couple of months ago from a company that sends new products to people for testing. I was asked if I would test a product and write an honest review on this blog...free stuff? Heck yeah! I quickly received a set of AirDrives earphones for kids in the mail, but I wasn't able to test them out until this past weekend.

In my honest opinion, I LOVE THESE SO MUCH!! I can not say enough about these new earphones. Up until now, while the girls have enjoyed watching their DVDs on long trips, we have tried to have conversations over the blaring background noise. Abby tried out these AirDrives on the trip she and I made on Saturday, and it was so wonderful to have a trip without having to listen to Disney songs and commentary the whole way. I was even able to listen to some of my own music...it was WONDERFUL!
My favorite thing about these AirDrives is that they have passed the House Ear Institute and OSHA standards based on sound pressure level. I don't have to worry that she is blowing out her ear drums at an early age. I love that the speakers lay on the outside of the ear, rather than in the ear canal itself (see picture below). Abby was able to listen to her movie easily and still answer me when I asked her a question at a normal audible level. Also, the ear grips form to fit your ear, making exercising with these a snap.

After her movie, I asked Abby her for her honest opinion. "What did you think? Did they hurt your ears? Could you hear everything okay? Do you want to wear them for the movie on the way home?" She had nothing but great things to say about them. They were very comfortable, it seems...she said they didn't hurt her at all. She could hear fine and really enjoyed wearing them. The first thing she did when she got back in the van for the trip home was put them on again...that's saying a lot for her. The only negative thing I have to say is that they came off twice on our trip, but I think that is because I did not mold them to her ear beforehand...but, they were so easy to show her how to put them back over her ear if that would happen again.
All in all, I LOVE these and will hopefully purchase some for Emma when she gets a bit older and won't take them off every couple of minutes. They were made available at major retailers in October 2007, and are compatible with iPod, MP3 players, computers and portable DVD players. The suggested retail price for AirDrives is $99.99, and $69.99 for AirDrives for kids. You can pick up a pair at Best Buy right now for those prices. It will make a GREAT Christmas present.

A photographer's mixer

2007-12-10T00:37:00.000-05:00

I had the privilege of attending my second photographer's mixer on Saturday...where quite a few children's photographers from all over our state get together and talk shop, share ideas and tricks of the trade, and take pictures of each other's kiddos for practice and portfolio work. It is always a lot of fun, and I always come home with new friends and lots of new information. Here are some of my shots from Saturday's mixer:

One of my only ones of Abby...she had so much fun playing with all of her new friends. Four of the kiddos there were 4 years old, so she ran and played until she was about to fall over. Here, the reflection from the sky is making her eyes an even more intense shade of blue, and I love how she is biting her lower lip...something that she has just recently started doing when she is unsure of a situation. I hope I never forget the little things like this that she does.

All I want for Christmas...

2007-12-06T08:09:00.001-05:00

The last month of phone conversations with our extended family have been something like this:

"So, what do you want for Christmas?"
"I dunno. Maybe, well, I really don't know."
"Well, what does dad want for Christmas?"
"Ummmm, I'll have to get back to you on that. What do you want for Christmas?"
"Gosh, I haven't even thought about it. I have no idea. Just get the girls something. Don't worry about us."

Well, I FINALLY know what I want for Christmas!

All I want for Christmas is for my children to sleep past 5:45am...PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE! Pretty please with sugar on top. And a cherry. It's in everyone's best interest. Really.

And no, it doesn't matter what time they go to bed, they still wake up at 5:45. The only good thing about this is that they sit in the bathroom sinks while Jay gets ready for the day (and I pretend to be asleep, but I'm really just resting my eyes and trying not to stew over the fact that they wake up before the butt crack of dawn every single flippin' day) and all three of them lather up and shave their faces and smell like Daddy all day long. Little do they know that once they start to shave, they will never ever be able to leave those pesky black whiskers alone or else they will have those Amish-style beards and have to join the circus. Not saying that Amish join the circus, but I bet if the bearded Amish were women, they would make it better in the circus. Just a thought.

Yeah, these are the things you start thinking when you wake up every single day at 5:45am.

I had a very normal Dr's appointment yesterday...the first one in quite a while. I have to say that it was so nice to go through the mundane regular pregnancy appointment that lasted a total of about 10 minutes. It was the first appointment in a while where we haven't been given news that seemed daunting to wrap our minds around.

Everything looks great...Mr. Nathan's heart rate is sounding a lot like a boy now by staying in the low 130's. The girls were always in the 150's at this stage. He is measuring about a week and a half behind now in size, but that isn't anything that we didn't expect anyway. After 2 small babies that seem to dwindle down on the growth curve during the last trimester, the Dr. said that my body probably couldn't handle big babies. So it wasn't a shock at all for me to start measuring behind again...one of those "been there, done that" things. He'll probably just measure in the 6 pound range like the girls did.

The Dr. is scheduling my next Level II for sometime mid-January. As for the pre-term labor, she said that since I haven't had any problems in almost 2 weeks, I can resume normal activities. I just have to make sure I am very careful and watch the contractions. I am good to go to Kentucky in a couple of weeks with all of my medical information in hand and instructions to stop every couple of hours and walk around some. Yeah, that's going to be a LOOOOOOOONG trip. But it will totally be worth it since the girls will be sleeping in their grandparents' room and wake them up at 5:45am.

An almost 4 year old's voice

2007-12-05T13:15:00.001-05:00

Because I'm short on time today...and because I think it's cute...and because I never want to forget the baby voice she has right now...and because I want to show off what she has learned in co-op this year...and because I think it's hilarious which Christmas song is her favorite...

...but mostly because I think it's cute:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'm live!!

2007-12-04T07:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, yes, I am indeed A-live, but I am also LIVE!! As in, my photography website has gone live. After many hours and late late nights, I have finally finished building the website. So here it is...drum roll, please...

www.amberferrellphotography.com

Cleaning Day

2007-12-03T09:05:00.000-05:00

I have written before that I take off my cleaning-lady hat on the weekends...meaning that come Monday, the house is quite the disaster area. Monday...cleaning day. This is the ONE day of the week where I do not plan anything at all. The ONE day that we stay home all day long. The ONE day that the girls have to entertain themselves all day. Cleaning Day.

The only problem is that I am a HUGE procrastinator every Monday morning, making each start to the week look like this:

Wake up, get the girls something to eat.
Put the dirty bowls in the sink of dirty dishes. Okay, I need to tackle the sink first. Might as well go ahead and do it.
First, I need a cup of coffee.
Oooh, since we don't have to be anywhere this morning, I'm going to drink my coffee while I watch the news.
Caught up on the terror of the world, I put on a show for the girls and decide to hop in the shower.
First, let me check my email. And then something else. And then something else. Wait, what's the weather supposed to be like this week? Are there any sales at Oldnavy.com right now?
Dang, the girls' show is over. Running to the shower to see if I can bathe before the cartoon song ends.
Throw hair is a wet ponytail...it's cleaning day.
Set out some coloring supplies for the girls.
Okay, now to tackle that kitchen.
Wait, did I reply to that email?
Make a list of things I need to do today.
Make a list of things I need to do this week.
Make a list of Christmas gifts I still need to buy.
Make a list events we have planned for the next two weeks.
Look at calendar...Oh crap! I forgot my sister's birthday on Saturday. So so so so sorry, Ashley! I'll send your card today. Or tomorrow. Or give you a hug when I see you.
Take Emma to the bathroom.
Realize that I may need to go myself.
Walk past the unmade bed...I'll start there. Making a bed is easy and fast.
Ouch! Why does my foot hurt? Is that an ingrown toenail. Yummy! Better take care of that first...you know, before it gets infected or something.
Dig out the ingrown toenail.
Realize that I seriously need some lotion for my peeling feet. Yummy!
Almost fall in the kitchen because I have lotion on my feet.
Okay, now for the dishes.
First, let's put on some Christmas music. Everyone needs a little music to clean to.
It is supposed to be somewhat not hot today...mid 70's. Let's open the windows.
Send Emma to bed due to whininess. Mondays are not her best day.
Okay, throw away yesterday's newspaper. Good...one thing done. Making progress here.
Realize that I didn't brush my teeth. Yummy!
Might as well floss my teeth. Haven't done that in a while. Oops.
Oh, I forgot to turn on the Christmas tree.
Sit and admire the lights.
Check on Emma. She's asleep. Awww, man. It's only 9:00 in the morning.
Check on Abby. She's laying in my unmade bed and sucking her thumb. Monday's aren't her best day either. I'll make the bed later.
Since both girls are resting or sleeping, might as well do my blog post.
Well, now that that's over, I guess I need to start cleaning.

Monday's aren't my best day.
Oh wait, I need to check my email again...

100 Days

2007-11-30T06:44:00.000-05:00

A few nights ago, I had a dream that I was giving birth to Nathan. It was such a real dream...one of those that really takes a while to wake up from and causes you to think about it for days following. There was no pain during the birth (that was one dreamy epidural...sorry, couldn't resist). The nurse laid Nathan on my chest and the first thing I did was look at the palm of his hand. I didn't look at his face, I didn't care what he looked like...I wanted to know.

Many people with Down Syndrome have a single crease in the palm of their hands. I looked at Nathan's hand and there were 3 individual lines in his palm. He was fine! He didn't have it. I can not describe the relief I felt during this dream. I wanted to get up and run around the room. He was fine.

It was then that I heard another voice in the delivery room say, "Look at his other hand". I opened his fingers one by one to reveal one single crease in the palm of his other hand. Our son had Down Syndrome. At that point, I either stopped remembering what happened from then on or simply woke up, but the vivid happenings of that dream have stayed with me every single day since.

The side ticker says that we have 100 days until Nathan's due date. That sounds like a lot until you realize that it is a little over 3 months. And even more real, we will only have 2 more months when we get home from our Christmas trip to visit family in Kentucky.

100 days from today until his due date.

Part of me is ready to meet our precious son. Part of me is ready to find out if he does indeed have Down Syndrome or not. But most of me is scared when I think of his birth. I know that the first thing I will want to know is "does he have it?". The first times I held both of my daughters were incredible times of sheer happiness in my life. I am sure that I will be happy when I hold Nathan for the first time, but will the experience be the same? Will I allow myself to enjoy that sheer happiness, or will I be so concerned with whether or not those eyes looking back at me are almond-shaped or whether or not he has the correct number of creases in his hands. That is the part that makes me frightened when I think of his birth. I want the experience to be the same as it was with the births of his sisters, but I know that it will be a bit different.

100 days.

A post of pictures

2007-11-29T09:38:00.000-05:00

Not the cutest view of a bulging belly, but it is the view from my vantage point each time I look down. And yes, I can still see my toes. Painting them is getting a bit more difficult these days but not yet impossible.

About three times a year (I just made that number up. I actually have no idea how often this happens.), I have so much going on that I don't even know where to start. Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, Christmas parties, cleaning the house for company (reminder: wash behind the toilets today), photo shoots, Christmas cards, shop for Abby's birthday, clean out the van, finish creating the photography website, mail the bills, work on Emma's inability to share, weed out the crappy toys the girls don't play with, go through the bags of clothes for Nathan that a friend just dropped off, make a homemade ornament for an ornament exchange party (good grief people, just go out and buy a $2 ornament from Target!), break up the girls' fights, take a shower, and for goodness sakes, shave your legs!

Somewhere in there, I am supposed to be taking it a bit easy. Taking it easy...that's something that seems nearly impossible to do at any time of the year, much less at Christmas time. The deciding factor is that in order to keep Nathan cooking a bit longer (and thankfully, I haven't had any contractions since Sunday), I have to take it easy some of the time. Trying to balance the two is frustrating, to say the least. But we are trying.

I have a ton of pictures that I have taken over the past couple of weeks and wanted to share. We had our annual "try hard not to yell at your children" fest last week...otherwise known as "try to get a picture for the Christmas card" day. It went as expected...we got one mediocre picture for the card. And neither of these are it:
I did get to try out my brand spankin' new tripod and remote that I got as an early Christmas present. It is sah-weet! The girls and I posed for some pics to test everything out, and I realized once again that Emma is looking so much like a Gowens these days. It's those enormous cheeks and squinty eyes that give her away. Abby is so much like her dad that it is hilarious. She does look a bit like him, but her personality to dead-on his. She cracks me up constantly.
Emma has finally figured out how to scale the side of Nathan's crib. I can totally see her throwing him overboard in the future in a fit of one of her bad attitudes that she seems to be plagued with from time to time, so we'll need to watch her when he is born and tend to her accordingly. She's a stinker, that one. She can be so loving and sweet one moment and want to claw her sister's eyes out the next. Help me, someone!
Abby ran into my room earlier and proclaimed, "Holy Gamoly! I haven't brushed me teeth yet. They are going to rot out of my head!" It amazes me how many of our sayings she picks up from day to day.
After talking to a friend on the phone this morning, Abby approached me with a serious look on her face.
"Mom, I heard you say 'hate' on the phone 2 times. We don't need to say that. It's good to say 'don't like', not 'hate'."
"Oh, I'm sorry Abby. Mommy didn't realize that I said that."
"That's okay, Mom. Just try to be more careful next time."

What needed to be a teaching moment of why little girls don't treat their moms like children by telling them what and what not to do (also known as my "Who's the mama?" speech), was instead just met with the inability to control my laughter. Dang, I hate it when she catches me.
I need to video tape the girls' reaction when Jay gets home from work each day. That is something I will always want to remember. One of the hard things about being home with them all day everyday is that we never get that type of homecoming welcome.
Miss Candy Cane Phene has successfully eaten all of the candy canes off the Christmas tree that are within reaching level of her. She has now started to gnaw on the yard decorations in an attempt to taste the sweetness of peppermint again. I went against my normal pattern today and tried to blog as the girls were playing behind me with toys. Because of this, I am now holding a little girl in my lap who is asleep with nothing on but a tiny see-through tutu. The playroom behind me is a land mine of toys that will put a hole in your foot in a heartbeat. And Abby has decided to redress herself in her new Christmas pajamas. I knew there was a reason why I didn't do this when then girls were awake. Now, off to put my naked ballerina in bed and tackle the long list of never-ending things to do. Enough taking it easy for the morning. :)

A little late for Halloween horror

2007-11-27T12:50:00.001-05:00

Oh yeah, this could totally made a great horror flick. Headless naked barbie dolls prance around the house searching for the child who beheaded them. Child is positioning each head on the tips of her fingers and chasing her frightened baby sister around the furniture. I'm thinking of selling the rights of this idea to the horror flick guild.

When you gather these headless dolls with the board games missing half of their pieces and the princess shoes that are missing their princess jewels and the easel that will never see the color of paint again...well, let's just say that we have created our own little Isle of Misfit Toys. Now, if she starts blowing up G.I. Joes with fireworks, we may have to have a little talk.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to erase from my brain the image of headless naked barbie dolls prancing around our house at night. Gives me the heebee jeebees.

Look what the artificial Christmas tree dragged in

2007-11-26T13:20:00.000-05:00

dragged, drug, drugged, drigged, draggen, drigged...what would the correct term be in this instance? The 7th grade English class sensor in my brain is misfiring today.

Anywho, welcome to Florida...where reptiles, amphibians and arachnids share our abode. We teach our younguns to squish spideys at an early age and release frogs and lizards back into the deep dark spooky forest beside our house. It's all part of life here in the jungle.

I don't think Mr. Hop-along made it too long after I threw him overboard. He was pretty dry and lethargic...probably from all the squishing by two curious girls who shrieked every time he hopped out of their hands. And thanks to the cool macro lens that captured Mr. Hop-along, I am now indeed aware of the fact that my coffee table is in dire need of a dusting.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and long weekend...it was nice to catch up on sleep and spend time as a family for a few days. We spent Thanksgiving with Wandy's family, where the girls played until they were about to fall over and we ate and ate until our eyelids could no longer stay open. The girls looked like little rag-a-muffins at the end of the day, but they had so much fun playing with the Conner grandkids and riding the golf cart around all afternoon. It was an all-around wonderful time.
We put up our Christmas tree and decorations on Friday. Abby thoroughly enjoyed putting the ornaments on the tree this year and pushing the buttons of all the musical snowmen we put out. The musical items have since been banned to being played more than twice a day for the sake of everyone's sanity. Emma enjoyed finding the candy canes and hiding behind the furniture as she tried desperately to taste the sweetness of peppermint through the plastic wrapping. Due to the fact that we do not have dental insurance, the candy cane consumption has been limited to one a day. And besides, I think she was tired of me trying to brush the candy cane-induced tangles from her hair.

Since the girls have found my rather obvious hiding place for their Christmas presents (our closet), we have already wrapped them and put them under the tree. Are we insane? I predict that the following questions will be asked every single day leading up to Christmas:

"Mom, can we open presents today? When can we open presents? Can I just open one present? Can Emma open a present? When can we open presents? When? Why? How? Where? Presents? What were you thinking putting all of these out and figuring that we wouldn't ask these questions every single day? Are you nuts? How about now? Now?" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Abby is already deciding what each present is by the way it is shaped and how it sounds. Dang it, that girl is good at that game! Emma has already opened one of Abby's presents and proclaimed "My Pocky Pocket!!" (Polly Pocket) Actually, it was a mini-My Little Pony, but it was kind of fun to see a preview of Emma's excitement for when we do cave in to all the questioning and let the girls open their presents.

Have I mentioned that I love this time of year? Now if we can just get little man Nate to stay in for the duration of this Christmas season, we'll be in good shape. I had another bout with contractions yesterday and last night, but after a lot of water, some nice couch-potatoing and a tasty ole' glass of wine, the contractions stopped before I made the call into the hospital. No rhyme of reason to them this time...just glad they stopped again.

Now, can you believe that Christmas is less than a month away?

Giving Thanks

2007-11-21T12:43:00.000-05:00

I try to do this craft with the girls every year at this time, and I really enjoy hearing their answers to the question "What are you thankful for?" Abby's answers this year:

~Eating a big turkey
~John-John (our pastor's son...she recently told the grocery store check-out girl that John-John was her boyfriend. After I coughed back up my tongue and asked her where she heard the term "boyfriend", she looked puzzled and said "Well...he is a boy and he is my friend, right? He's not a girlfriend, so he's a boyfriend." Phew. She loves him dearly, that's for sure!)
~My stuffed animals
~My house
~Nathan (She makes a point to come up and talk to Nathan a few times a day, and she always concludes the conversation by sticking her finger as far into my belly button as it will go...much to my painful dismay. It's kind of her lifeline to her baby brother, so to say.)
~Going to Disney World
~Emma, when she is funny (she does indeed seem to have a bit of humor to her these days)
~Going to school (I didn't realize she liked the co-op that much.)

Emma's only answer:
~Chocky Milk

But I think that if she really knew what she was talking about, she would be thankful for the lonely 2 teeth she has on her bottom gum. Because seriously, it must be a crime to have so much hair and so few teeth.

(Yeah, dude, seriously! What's up with that?)Each Thanksgiving, there seems to be one thing that stands out in our minds above the rest that we are most thankful for. A few years ago, it was the impending birth of our first born. The year after that, we were most thankful for Jay's new job and our first house. That followed by being very thankful for the impending birth of our second child. There didn't seem to be one thing that stood out in my mind from last year's Thanksgiving holiday for which we were the most thankful...the Lord had indeed blessed us with so much and we were such a happy family with wonderful friends. We were thankful for the life we had been given. This year, we are indeed thankful for the gift of a son that we have been blessed with...an unexpected gift who has continued to surprise us with unexpected news along the way. Again, we have so much to be thankful for...the Lord has truly blessed.

But there is one thing that I am most thankful for this year. Yes, I am truly thankful for Nathan being added to our family, but this thanksgiving even surpasses the addition of our child: I am thankful that God has revealed to me how sweet heaven will be. This is something that I have been taught since I was the age of my girls, but I have never understood the sweetness of heaven until the past few weeks.

Growing up, I would often hear my dad proclaim "Well, maybe the Lord will come back before then." when I would talk to him about upcoming tests and events that seemed overwhelming at the time. It was a wonderful thought about the Lord coming back, but my sinfulness caused me to think "But I haven't gotten to go to that birthday party at the skating rink yet. But I haven't had my first kiss yet. But I haven't experienced what it's like to be married. But I haven't had a child yet." Sadly, I wanted to experience major milestones in life before the Lord came back. I didn't understand His glory. I didn't understand the magnificence of our Lord and how incredible it would be to see His face and be in His presence everyday.

As I grew older, I started to understand more and put away childish thoughts, but I can honestly say that I never did truly understand how sweet heaven would be until we were given the news that our son could potentially be born with Down Syndrome. While this wasn't a death sentence for us or Nathan, I felt like our lives were caving in on us. God has since given us the grace to march onward and meet this potential obstacle head-on, but we still feel the heaviness of this news on our shoulders every day.

Each day, we see incredible things coming from this trial we have been given. But the most incredible gift I have been given is the realization that heaven...that life with Christ will be more incredible that words can ever begin to describe. There will be no more pain, no sorrow, no fear of what is to come, no wavering in faith, no more weight from our burdens, no heavy-hearts. We will only praise and glorify our God. And that sole thought brings tears of joy and utter happiness to my eyes in a way that I have never experienced.

And for that, I am the most thankful this year.

Em-meh-nem

2007-11-19T10:35:00.000-05:00

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What can I say? I love hearing her say "Em-meh-nem". And I totally believe that a little bit of candy bribery is completely okay for these things every once in a while. Oh, and her knowing her colors...well, don't let that fool you. The only color she knows is blue, and I wouldn't really say that she knows that one too well because she calls everything "blue".

So, just got back from labor and delivery...

2007-11-16T11:51:00.001-05:00

I think we have had our quota of drama around here for a while. Can I get an amen on that? I'm definintely ready to be back into the swing of our mundane daily life...don't want anything too exciting for a while. HA!

I woke up yesterday morning with some horrible cramping...horrible, as in "taking my breath away". I even told Jay on the phone that someting just didn't seem right, but it was probably nothing...you know, just a third baby thing. Everything is more pronounced with a third baby, more cramps, more braxton hicks, more everything. I shrugged the pain off and went about our very busy day.

Tara and Jolee came over and we headed into town for Jolee's photo shoot. During the shoot, I kept noticing these intense pains...I'd just stop and grab my belly for a few seconds and they would leave after a while. I never noticed my uterus tightening...just the intense pain associated with these incidences. Never in my life did I think that they were contractions or that I could actually be in pre-term labor. I'm only 24 weeks along...that wasn't supposed to happen for another 3 months.

Tara finally convinced me to call my doctor when we got home. I thought it was still nothing (though I was in some serious pain), but the doctor was quite a bit concerned and told me to come in immediately. When I got there, we found out that I had blood in my urine, signaling an infection somewhere. We also found out that what I was feeling were indeed intense contractions, consistently 5 minutes apart. Thankfully, I wasn't dilated at all, but the doctor was very concerned with stopping the contractions so I wouldn't dialte any.

I was admitted into the labor and delivery ward of the hospital and started on antibiotics and a shot of terbutaline to stop the contractions. Almost an hour later, the contractions were still strong and 5 minutes apart, so another shot of terbutaline was administered. After that shot, the contractions weren't as consistent...some were 5 minutes apart, others 3, a couple 2 and a couple 7 minutes apart. But, they never stopped. They weren't nearly as intense or as long, and I could finally talk through them again. They wanted to watch me overnight to see if the antibiotics taking effect could help stop the contractions and then reassess this morning with a potential IV drip of magnesium sulfate if the contractions hadn't stopped through the night.

Thankfully, I woke up this morning with no more contractions. They gave me an ambien to help me sleep through it all and relax...oh, what a wonder drug! I had such a great night's sleep. The nurse said that my contractions started to taper off through the night and finally stopped all together. The antibiotic had worked. Turns out, Urinary Tract Infections (what they think I have) can sometimes reak havoc with pregnant women. I guess I just happen to be one of those pregnant women that can't handle a UTI too well.

I was released this morning with instructions to take it extremely easy today and to gradually do more and more over the next few days. I also have a big round of antibiotics to finish up. I also need to figure out how to take it a little more easy for the rest of this pregnancy...obviously, my body isn't as young as I still think it is. HA! I say that tonuge-in-cheek because I know a lot of you are totally rolling your eyes at me right now.

All in all, everything is fine now. Again, we are so thankful that the contractions have stopped. The doctor on-call said that it was usually difficult to stop them this early in the pregnancy, so the Lord has blessed our family incredibly once again. Tara and Jolee stayed with the girls all day yesterday and spent the night with them last night...I am amazed and once again thankful that she was here for all of it. We didn't worry about the girls a bit, and that was a blessing. I feel fine now...no more contractions all day. I am tired...I forgot how exhausting battling contractions can be, but the girls are being so good, and we are all loving the Noggin Network on TV today.

The doctor said that we run the risk of this happening again since my uterus seems to be irritated, but I am definitely paying a lot more attention now and not going to "put off" getting checked out like I did yesterday. We just want this little buddy to stay put and bake a bit longer...he definitely isn't ready to be born yet.

We are taking the drama hat off of our house now...we are ready to be boring again. :)

Trying to surrender

2007-11-14T23:09:00.000-05:00

The past few days have been a wonderful array of "go, go, go, go, go". We have been so busy with the girls and with life in general, and we haven't done nearly as much "reading" on Down Syndrome as we did last week. In this time, I have started to have thoughts like "Maybe Nathan really is fine. Maybe we are looking too much into this. Maybe we are worrying ourselves over nothing." We received a message from a lady who said that 9 years ago her son had the exact same definite markers that Nate has, and he wasn't born with Down Syndrome. Granted, that has been the only one out of the few instances like our situation that we have heard turn out the way it did, but it still made me shrug my shoulders and go "Maybe Nathan will be like that too."

This hasn't been the first time that I have tried to persuade my mind to believe that Nathan is (for lack of a better term, although I hate to use this term) "normal". Even though I know that God is in complete control over this situation and knows what is going on when we don't have a clue, I still find myself struggling with the emotions of trying to "figure out" if Nate has Down's or not.

Some days, I'll picture him running around with his older boy cousin shooting bulls-eyed targets at Grammie and Papa's house. He has freckles (like me) and hair a little bit longer than Jay likes it. He's fast and can keep up with Daniel, even though he is 7 years younger.

The very next day, I catch myself picturing him with those classic Down's features...the almond-shaped eyes, the flat profile, but with a smile that lights up the darkest corners of the house. He has a hard time talking and expressing himself, and I'm really not sure what toys he likes to play with. Will he like the same toys that I have previously envisioned our son playing with? Of course, I don't see him going off with the guys to target-shoot...but is that a misconception too? Will he even be able to do those things? I don't imagine he would...but I don't know.

So, the past couple of days have been busy, but with a whirlwind of pent-up emotion. I haven't been able to sleep well. I'm exhausted, but insomnia has shown its ugly head. I had officially claimed to myself a few days ago that I am all cried out! I joked with Jay about having to drink extra fluids to stave off dehydration from all the tears. I have repetitively declared that I am no longer scared about finding out if Nate has Down Syndrome or not when he is born...but deep down, I am still frightened. I swing back and forth between having complete peace with whatever the outcome is, to being scared to find out the outcome. Is this normal? Is this right?

But I do know this...God has given us grace that I can not even begin to describe to deal with the knowledge we have so far. I truly, with all my heart, believe that he will continue to settle our minds and hearts. I just need to completely release my emotional struggles over to Him...something I found so easy to do last week, but so difficult to do this week. I just need to "surrender all" to Him.

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.
~J.W. Van De Venter

The girls and I met some friends at the park this week, and the moms were asking some questions about the markers we have found on Nathan, what appointments we have coming up, how we are handling it...you know, all that jazz. As I was talking, I noticed a young mother who was feeding her baby a bottle and inching ever so closely to us and trying desperately to hear what I was saying. A few minutes later, she apologetically interrupted to show us the baby she was feeding...her 8 week old son...who had Down Syndrome.

I don't think I've ever seen a kid with Down Syndrome living in our city. Granted, I haven't been looking, and it may be one of those things where once you are in a situation, you see so many others in that same situation. Like you never realizing how many women you saw on a daily basis who were pregnant until you are pregnant yourself and looking for it. But I was comforted with the fact that not only is there at least one other kid in our city with Down Syndrome, but that it is a little boy who will only be 6 months older than Nathan...what an incredible blessing if Nate does indeed have DS.

The mom and I exchanged contact information, and she informed me of a message board for families of children with Down Syndrome that live in our city. Did you read that? That means that there isn't just one other kid here who has DS...there is a message board devoted to the families of these kid(s). She also shared information on the types of therapy her son needs, how often, and where she goes. She told me about the insurance coverage on these therapies...a whole array of information that I have been wanting to ask, but didn't know who to ask.

Did God send this woman my way on Tuesday? Well, I'm not going to ask those questions anymore because those are the questions that get my head spinning with whether or not that means that Nate has Down Syndrome or not. And frankly, I don't know. We will continue to read about Down Syndrome so to not be caught off-guard with the events that may happen after birth if he has it. I will continue to look into what he will need for the first few years after birth if he has DS. But I will try so hard to "surrender all" to God so that the burden of trying to "figure out" if he has it or not is lifted until he is born.

Perception is key

2007-11-14T13:45:00.000-05:00

I always think that the days are going to slow down sometime or another, but they just keep speeding past without me fully knowing what is going on. This week is one of those super busy weeks of photo shoots, editing, playgroups, and my week to teach in our co-op. I just don't know when I'll get the Christmas shopping done...one of these days, Alice.

Our focus in school this week has been the letter F, so today was the day that we talked about f-f-f-families (that's how it must be said each and every time, say the 3 year olds). We had our own little session of "kids say the darndest things" when I asked them about the rolls of dads and moms in the f-f-f-family.

Question: What do Daddy's do?
Answers:
~They mow the yard.
~They watch shows.
~They watch football.
~He swings people really really high.
~He plays all the time.
~When something is really stuck, he gets it out. (That one came from Abby, and she actually probably should have said, "When I am really stuck, he gets me out." because good golly, that kid gets stuck if there is ever a place to get stuck in.)
~They work.
~He scoops the neighbor's dog poop out of the front yard. (Guess who said that one? Dang that stupid neighborhood dog!)
~He puts fire in all of our fireplaces. (I find this one completely hilarious since it only gets cold enough for fireplaces about once a year down here.)
~He cuts the plants and they grow and grow and he cuts them all over again.

Question: What do Mommy's do?
Answers:
~Ummmmm, I don't know.
~She sees her friends and daddy has to make dinner when she is gone.
~She vacuums. A lot.
~She lays down because she has a baby in her tummy. (Yeah, not denying that one. In fact, I'm about to do just that as soon as I am done here.)
~She plays a lot.
~They go shopping and buy lots of things.
~She doesn't do that much. (Thankfully, that didn't come out of my kid's mouth. Although, the next one did...)
~She works on the computer. (Thanks, Abs. Thanks.)
~She waters the plants and they grow and grow, but she doesn't cut them. No, daddy's do that. But she does water them. (Taking the dead plant in my room into account, my child obviously didn't say that one either.)

So, why are the dads the fun ones and the moms don't do all that much? Is it because they are around us all the time and are just used to the mundane everyday tasks that we do? Regardless, it sure does make for some interesting conversations when the moms come to pick their kids up at the end of co-op. I am beginning to see these people more clearly now, and I'm sure they are thinking the same way about us. Oh, the joys of having a 3 year old!

Words from the wise

2007-11-12T19:16:00.001-05:00

Actually, that title should read: Words from the town idiot. Just clarifying that before I start here.

You know, we haven't given any hypothetical situations in a while, so I think we are all due one. Let's say that hypothetically you have a child who sometimes mixes up her potty language. "Pee-pee" usually means that she needs to go pee-pee, but it could also mean that she needs to go poo-poo on the rare occasion. Same thing goes for when she runs through the house yelling "poooooooo-pooooooooooo!" You never really know what you are going to get.

Okay. Now lets say that hypothetically it was your turn for bath duty, which you really don't mind all that much because it means that you get to curl up with a magazine and periodically peek over the side of the bathtub and dodge flying water particles that blanket the floor. But let's twist things up in this story a bit...let's say that hypothetically your child utters out two important words to you: "Mama, Pee-pee!" to which you casually peek over your magazine and reply with that 5-worded redneck phrase that you now wish you could take back: "Just go in the bathtub."

But remember, "pee-pee" usually means pee-pee, but it could also mean...

Picking up soggy poop out of the bathtub is never fun, regardless of if it is hypothetical poop or not.

A pictorial day in the life

2007-11-12T13:49:00.001-05:00

Saturday was Abby's last soccer game of the season, and ironically enough, it was the only game where she didn't cry...mainly because there were about 15 kids on the field and the game was dominated by 2 of the best soccer players I have ever seen, never mind the fact that they were only 3 years old. So Miss Abigail didn't even touch the ball, which was surprisingly okay with us since there were no tears involved in the entire game...what an accomplishment!
Yes, it seems that our darling first born has been the victim of her own mother's anxious antics to push her to grow up a little faster than need be. "Sure. She can play soccer. She needs to run off her energy anyway. Put her in, coach." Granted, the kid is athletic...everyone sees that. And by "everyone", I mean her mother who was the quintessential athlete-wannabe who was constantly described as "having a lot of heart" and "a great hustler" but never "a good athlete". Clearly, my husband is going to be the voice of reason when it comes to our children and sports because I can already see myself wanting to push them more to enjoy this whether they really do or not. Great motherly trait there (totally rolling eyes).
So yes, Abby is indeed athletic. It just seems that her emotions haven't caught up with her athleticism quite yet...that may be in part that she is indeed 3 YEARS OLD, for goodness sakes. One of our good friends have a picture of Abby scoring a goal with tears streaming down her face...that pretty much sums up our soccer season this year. Abby loved the practices where she got to kick around a ball and score and play games, but when the games started and people were yelling at her from the sidelines to get the ball and take it to the goal, her tears flowed rather freely. She said she loved playing and she was excited for each game...her actions seemed to prove otherwise. She was one of the only girls who could take the ball all the way to the goal as soon as it touched her foot. She was just never able to do that without snot flying and tears streaming.
Her last game came as a relief to all of us. Ahhhhh, it's over. The pain of seeing our child cry on the field and not really knowing what to do had ended. Oh, and did I mention the trophy? The trophy that she hasn't hardly let out of her sight since the coach placed it in her hands? That was the best $6 we have spent in a long time...she has played with that thing more than she ever thought to play with the humpteen toys that lie in the playroom. It's a magical trophy...one that I am predicting with be broken within the week.
So, our first soccer season is over. We don't plan to put Abby in soccer for at least another year, maybe even 10 years...or whenever she can kick a ball into a goal without having to wipe her eyes on her shirt sleeve. And considering Emma's complete lack luster attitude when it comes to anything that involves running or kicking or sweating or really doing anything other than lying around sucking her thumb all day, I am guessing that we will wait a bit longer before we throw her into the world of sports. After the soccer game, we attended our local art festival where we were exposed to art...and the artsy crowd of people who kind of go hand in hand with it all...and festival food. Cotton candy, egg rolls, kettle corn, sausage links, barbecue sandwiches, gyros, needIsaymore? The art was great, but the food was what we really came for.

Our evening was concluded with a family dinner making adventure, where the girls thoroughly enjoyed "making biscuits". Little do they know that this is only a once a year thing they will be allowed to do because it will take me an entire year to forget the mess they created (I am still getting flour out of Emma's ears). But they sure did love it, so we just let 'em at it. And yes, that is an "eye" in the middle of my child's forehead. "It helps me see better, Mom! Please don't take it off for the picture." It was a wonderful family weekend...one that created memories that will last a long time from now. Those are always the best weekends.

Something light to end the week

2007-11-09T08:16:00.001-05:00

This week has been a "heavy" week on the blog, to say the least. I do have to say that it has been incredible therapy for me to be able to write about everything that is going on, so this blog has been a blessing to me through this time. But, I feel like we needed something light to end the week. :) So you have pictures, of course.

All of these are from last weekend...in between services Saturday, we were able to cruise around the beautiful Georgia land and take some pictures. I desperately needed to practice on harsh lighting conditions and taking pictures in the sun, so Abby and Dawn (one of my best friends in the world) helped me out with that.

It was a fun afternoon...minus the two times that Dawn almost killed us on that four wheeler. Oh, and you know that you are getting older when you finally admit the fact that four wheelers do not seem safe. I used to LOVE riding on them, but now, frankly, they are death traps. Abby loved it so much though and is still talking about riding it again. Sheesh. Oh, and I would recommend that pregnant women do not ride a four wheeler on rough terrain. Obviously, that probably wasn't the brightest idea, and I am just glad that Nathan didn't pop out and greet us after that excursion.
The acres and acres of dried soybeans were gorgeous...very fall festive.
At one point, Dawn said "I bet you don't have hardly any pictures of you and the girls. Do you want me to take some?"...to which I immediately launched the camera into her hands and started posing. Thanks for these, Dawn. I will always treasure them. And I did tell Dawn that I wouldn't post any of the pictures of her on the blog, but I lied. She has been such an incredible friend for such a long time, but she has been especially wonderful over the past few days. Thanks for being there, Dawn.We were able to snap a few pictures of Dawn and David's son, William, who is by far the cutest little thing ever! The girls loved playing with him all weekend...and watching Dora and Diego all lounged together on the bed (I wish I would have gotten a picture of that). You can see more of this adorable little guy on the photography blog.

James 1:3-4

2007-11-08T14:12:00.000-05:00

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

I was a young teenager when I knew in my heart that I loved Jay Ferrell...really young, 14 to be exact (not to scare any of you moms of teenage girls). As I have mentioned on this blog before, that was a painful experience. I tried so hard not to love him, but it was so deep in my heart and scared me to death. It scared me because I knew that Jay more than likely did not have these same feelings, and I knew I was just setting myself up for heartbreak. Strangely, I have thought of that tumultuous time in my life multiple times over the past few days...I didn't know why those moments kept popping up in my head.

I hated loving him so deeply during those years. I hated not knowing what my future was, and I would beg and plead that God would just show me a glimpse of who I was supposed to be with for the rest of my life so I could just know. Of course God didn't allow me this, and I am truly thankful that every time I would beg for mercy, he would say "Trust me. Trust me."

My faith in God grew exponentially through that difficult time, and I rejoiced in the relationship I had with Christ. It was still difficult not knowing who I was meant to marry, especially since that love for Jay just wouldn't cease, but I was comforted by the fact that God knew the outcome. Yes, those were some hard years, but they were also enjoyable in my walk with God...in leaning on him completely for guidance and strength. God did not want me to know my future at that time...he wanted me to grow in faith.

You all are aware of the rest of this story: Years later, Jay and I sat on the deck of his parents' pool holding hands for the first time with many questions circling in our heads. "What does this mean? How do we continue? What do we do?" (Included in those line of questions was me going, "OH MY GOSH! I am holding hands with JAY FERRELL!!!) 8 years later, we are tackling those same questions on a different front (and I still periodically think, "OH MY GOSH! I am holding hands with JAY FERRELL!!!). God has truly blessed our life.

We have been counseled several times on getting an amniocentesis to tell us for sure whether Nathan has Down Syndrome or not. Yesterday, our OB summed it up with "Amnios are safer now than they ever have been, but yes, there is still risk to having one performed. If you are going to fret and worry for the remainder of your pregnancy, have it done. If you can take a deep breath and relax for the next 4 months, don't have it done." Sounds simple enough, huh? It isn't. I have hated the risks of the amnio since day 1, even though they are indeed slim. But when we realize that we will KNOW for sure what part of our future is for us and Nathan if we have one performed, it is so tempting. We kept going back and forth and back and forth in our decision.

We decided that we needed to pray specifically for God to lay on our heart what he would have us do. In the lack of faith that I still have, I didn't think that God would just lay it on the table like that for us...tell us whether to have it or not. I thought that was still in our hands, and I was so perplexed in what to do. But I did pray earnestly that God would show us both what his will was in this situation, even though I honestly didn't believe that would happen. Isn't it incredible that in all we have been through over the past few days, I still lack faith that everything is possible with God? I'm ashamed to admit that.

This morning as I was enjoying the last few minutes of our quiet house before leaving to pick up the girls, I was once again reminded of those tough years I had as a teenager and how much my faith grew in that time. That is when God laid everything out on the table for me...it hit me like a ton of bricks:

God doesn't want us to know what our future is at this time...he wants us to grow in faith.

Tears of joy and happiness flooded my eyes, and I finally felt so peaceful about this decision. I didn't want the amnio...for sure this time. Tears of happiness: I still can't believe that I have tears of happiness during this difficult time in our lives, but I am indeed happy! And my faith is continuing to grow.

All the way to pick up the girls, I prayed so hard that Jay would feel the same way. I was afraid that he would still want to know the results so badly, and I begged God to comfort his heart in not knowing. I called him on the way home and told him my thoughts, and he said that he woke up this morning with the same thoughts. Again, my faith is growing.

God knows what the future holds for Nathan and our family. And we will also know an extent of that...when we are holding our son in our arms.

Nathan

2007-11-07T19:25:00.000-05:00

I wanted so desperately to name him Luke. I just love that name and wanted our son to be Luke. Other circumstances caused us to decide on a different name, and after multiple names had been thrown out and vetoed, Jay and I decided that we both liked Nathan more than anything else we had mentioned to each other. So, that's what it was...Nathan. We started calling him Nathan as soon as we found out he was a boy, and it just felt perfect for him and us.

For some reason, we never thought to look up what it meant. I had always researched what the girls' names meant before deciding on them completely to make sure that they didn't mean something like "causer of trouble" or "from the muddy pits" or something bizarre, but I had just guessed that Nathan meant something okay since we were going to use that name if Abby were a boy. Someone had even commented on here what the name meant, but I just didn't pay attention to it...I don't know why.

Yesterday, a friend told me that they had named their first son Nathan, as he truly was a gift from God. That's when it struck me. Could it be? Could that really be the meaning of his name? I immediately pulled my baby names book off the shelf and thumbed to the N's...Nathan: Gift from God.

It is amazing to describe the grace that God has blessed us with over the past couple of days...the sheer peace we now have for our situation. Realizing what Nathan meant is just one story out of many of God speaking to us in special ways lately. Another would be the dear woman who called me yesterday and gave me some information and accounts of raising her now 22 year old son with Down Syndrome. I still haven't been able to tell her how much God used her to touch me in a way and at a time when I needed it most. I will never ever forget our conversation. Or the emails a good friend sent me this morning about their struggle with understanding and coping with their daughter's disability. It is so wonderful to have people who know the exact feelings and emotions you are going through. God has truly blessed.

As we were making dinner together last night, I asked Jay if he knew what the name Nathan meant, and he shook his head no. I told him, and we both wept in each other's arms...not from sadness this time, but from joy in seeing God's grace so abundantly. God knew his name before we did. And our son truly is a gift from God.

The appointment with our doctor went well. It was so good to see her face after seeing so many unfamiliar faces at the last visit. She hugged us immediately and joked about the doctor we had at the hospital for that Level II. It seems as if she is notorious for being an excellent scientist and doctor but with horrible bedside manner...that was definitely our experience. Then we went over the results of the ultrasound. She gave us the numbers for the fluid on his kidneys, and while they are high, they are on the low-end of high. She said that it isn't uncommon to see Choroid Plexus Cysts on the brain, and it isn't uncommon to see Renal Pyelectasis (especially in boys), but it is uncommon to see them together.

What does this mean? That seems to be the question we have asked everyday for the past couple of weeks. The answer is that they just don't know.

Sure, they could be completely unrelated and just so happen to both occur in Nathan, but she said that we can not deny the fact that it does indeed raise the risk of him having Down Syndrome. We asked about the high 75% chance that those 2 markers mean that he does have Down's, and she said that she doesn't know (she doesn't specialize in high risk pregnancies) but that number seems high to her. She said that in her gut she feels like the chance of him having a chromosomal problem is under that. Some of the major markers are still absent, like the femur bone length being small, and his heart being affected...but we still haven't been able to get a clear picture of his nasal bone in the two recent ultrasounds we have had, which would be the additional major marker.

So basically, we still don't know any more than before. But you know what? That's okay with us now. I would have had a lot harder time saying that a couple of days ago. We have another Level II ultrasound being scheduled when I am about 30 weeks along to check for all of the markers all over again...and to keep a tight check on his kidney function. This time, our doctor is personally scheduling it with one of the top ultrasound guys around (so she says) and keeping us away from incredible smart and talented doctor who knows a lot but doesn't say a lot and kind of freaks you out.

All in all, it was a good visit. We love our doctor, who is a huge support and strength to us at this time. She hugged us repeatedly, and her lip quivered a few times when talking to us. I actually held it together very well...until she said, "this is your son, and a very loved and wanted child". She couldn't be more right about that.

Tonight, Jay and I browsed around the mall for a bit, ate dinner at 4:30...you know, because we are seriously old. Instead of going to a movie, we decided to partake in the relaxing sport of walking the aisles at Target and then visiting Barnes and Noble. We laughed and enjoyed each other's company so much. We talked about the girls and Nathan all night, but we had so much fun. It was definitely what we needed.

A new day

2007-11-06T09:40:00.001-05:00

We sat down for dinner last night and Abby asked if she could say the prayer. She never asks to say the prayer, but will only oblige if we tell her she needs to...and that has only ever been at bedtime. We bowed our heads and she prayed...for Nathan. She prayed that he would be born when he is ready and that they could play together after he was born. We haven't told her what was going on. All she knows is that we are having to go to the doctor a lot and she gets to stay with her friends. She still wakes every morning and immediately exclaims "I am soooo excited that we are going to have a baby brother!" And she still stops people on the street to tell them the good news.

Her prayer for him was so heart-felt, and it started off a tearful dinner for us.

We have another doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon to see our doctor this time. We'll discuss the findings on the Level II ultrasound performed last week and hopefully get to discuss what the other doctors wouldn't discuss with us. We have a lot of questions about what they have found and what they haven't found, whether or not he will need surgery after birth to correct the kidney problem if it doesn't resolve on its own, chances of him having a heart condition even if we haven't seen a problem so far, and the such. We know that she won't be able to give us the numbers and percentages that we crave, but it will be nice to talk to a doctor who knows us and can be frank and sincere with us.

From what we have been able to tell, the sensitivity rate of a child being born with Trisomy 21 when they have more than one marker detected by ultrasound is between 75% and 85%. Part of me wants our doctor to disprove that information and tell us that the research that we have read on the subject is faulty...and then part of me feels a bit ashamed that we are just hoping for the normalcy in Nathan. I am ashamed that I feel so uneasy about Nate when others have lost their children in death, when parents are currently sitting with their children through rounds of chemotherapy uncertain of the whether or not they will be able to hold their child in a year. We are gaining a child into our family. God has chosen Nathan for us, to love him and teach him and cherish him regardless of how he looks or acts, and for that we are truly thankful.

Our beloved "Wandy" is taking the girls tomorrow and overnight for fun on the farm where they will no doubt be spoiled for the entirety of their stay so Jay and I can go to the appointment by ourselves. We then have plans for dinner and a movie...a shoot-em up movie, per request of my husband, so definitely not something like "The Pursuit of Happyness" that I chose for us to see on our last date (yes, it was almost a year ago since our last date). The girls have been such a wonderful distraction over the past couple of days, but it will be good for Jay and I to spend some alone time together.

In the meantime, we still have a direct line of prayer to our God. It is amazing how something like this can make you feel closer to God than you ever have been...what a blessing and wonderful feeling. We are crying less and less with each day and laughing more and more...like when Abby came to me this morning with a pumpkin pail filled with candy and said, "I have a good idea Mom! Wouldn't it be sooo sweet if Emma just gave me all of her candy?" and then flashed that mysterious grin she has perfected over the past 4 years.

We are humbled and thankful for the countless emails and messages of encouragement from you all. Before Sunday evening, we had only told a handful of people of the additional findings on the last sonogram, yet we have heard that our family was mentioned in prayer in many church services Sunday morning. (That PB network is a fast one, for sure.) Thank you for your prayers...words can not describe what they mean to us. I apologize for not responding to the many emails we have gotten, but I want you all to know that each one has been received with love and tears. Thank you.
And thanks to one of my best friends, Dawn, for snapping this picture of us this past weekend. Don't the girls look so excited to have a family picture taken? HA! That's what Emma looks like when you hold her hands down to prevent her from sucking her thumb in the only family snapshot you have had taken in a year.

We beg for your prayers

2007-11-04T23:21:00.000-05:00

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1

It was a wonderful weekend, and we are so thankful that we went to the meeting at Mt. Gilead. It seems as if God used Brother Bradley to preach sermons of comfort and faith through trials directed to our little family. It was a blessing to us unlike anything I can describe. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with some of our closest friends...a couple of days to somewhat take our minds off of the unanswered questions that currently plague us.

We had our Level II ultrasound of Nathan last Friday morning. The ultrasound tech was talkative and assured us that most cases of Choroid Plexus Cysts were cause for no concern whatsoever, just like we had been told before. We fully expected everything to turn out okay...the odds were in our favor going in. She showed us the 2 cysts still on Nate's brain but said that they should go away in the next few weeks. She then proceeded to check other measurements and such, and we were so excited to see our darling boy flip over and over and jab continuously at the ultrasound wand.

A few minutes later, she started to measure a black spot on the screen...a spot located in his abdominal region. And then she asked if we desired to have an amniocentesis performed. I knew something was wrong at that point. They don't usually offer amnios if cysts are isolated...the risks of miscarriage or other complications are just too great. We told her that we did not want to have an amnio.

Along with the Choroid Plexus Cysts on his brain, Nate also has Renal Pyelectasis...fluid on his kidneys.

Another doctor came in and confirmed the finding. She then suggested that we undergo an amniocentesis. We again declined. There is nothing we could have done to cause or prevent these problems with our precious son. Complications, all-be-it slim chances of complications that could result in miscarriage, were not what we wanted to risk. Another lady came in and made us sign a waiver stating why we did not want an amnio performed. And that was it....they told us that fluid on the kidneys was another marker for Down Syndrome, but they also told us that it could be a few other things as well. We were as confused when we left as we were before we had arrived. What did this mean? They wouldn't tell us since we wouldn't do an amnio, probably because they didn't know what to tell us without the cold, hard facts.

Confused and bewildered, we did some research ourselves. Isolated Renal Pyelectasis could be caused by an obstruction in the ureter, or it could be caused by vesicoureteric reflux (where the ureter allows urine to flow back into the kidney from the bladder). It is also a marker for Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome), but that hasn't really been found to be prevalent unless it is teamed with at least one more marker for Down Syndrome.

Nathan now has 2 markers for Down Syndrome. The chances of him having this chromosomal abnormality are quite a bit greater. The two, coupled together, are no longer "soft" markers.

It is amazing how one event can change your life forever...your outlook on everything. Trials and problems that used to seem so monumental are minute in perspective now. We all of a sudden feel older, a little more worn out. It is hard to answer the phone. Your messages and emails of encouragement are only met with tears, as it is hard to know the words to write back. We are heavy-hearted and scared. Scared...something you never expect to experience when thinking about the birth of your child, an event that is usually thought of with complete joy. But we are scared.

But in all of this, we are also thankful. We are thankful that the fatal Trisomy 18 has pretty much been ruled out. We are thankful that Jay and I have each other to share our deepest feelings and concerns with...someone who is going through the exact same emotions and thoughts at the same time. We are thankful and comforted with the fact that we have no control over this whatsoever. We have no idea what will happen...we don't even know for certain if Nate has Down Syndrome, but there is one who does know. God is in control. He knows what is in store for our little family. He knows the mind and heart of the child I carry inside me. He knows Nathan already through and through, and we don't. God knows what is in store for our future. Now, isn't that the most comforting news we can get?

And you know what is even more comforting? God can give us strength and grace to get through this seemingly impossible trial. Only He can.

We know that He can hear our individual cries to Him, but we plead that you would lift our precious son and our family up in your prayers. Pray that Nathan will be healed of all of his infirmities. And also pray that if that is not God's will, that He give us the strength to endure through this life-changing experience.

Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
when we shall be forever with the Lord,
when disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
~Katharina von Schlegel

A Beggar's Life...for a day, at least

2007-11-01T13:10:00.000-04:00

Every kid's favorite holiday is over...the day when they play dress up and parade through the neighborhood holding onto the 5 pound pot of cavities and beg for more and more and more until their parents drag them home again. Doesn't that just sound like fun? It is, believe me. But dang, it's exhausting. Halloween is a blast, but the day after...the day when the sugar high has crashed completely and all you have are whiny and cranky kids...well, let's just say that November 1st is not so "happy". It seems to be a bit more "halloweenish" around here more today than it was yesterday.

(Somebody couldn't maneuver their own fluff around all that well and decided to bite the dust the moment we walked out the door. It was actually quite pitiful...though a bit hilarious as well.)
Would you believe that I forgot to buy a pumpkin to carve into a Jack-O-Lantern this year? Forgot...as in "didn't think about it until the day before Halloween" forgot. Plain forgot...as in "doesn't have it all together like she thinks she does" forgot. I knew I should have bought that $15 pumpkin from the pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago and watched in disintegrate into pumpkin mush within a couple of days in that Florida heat. (She's totally posing for me here. I just love it...she never poses for me.)We started off our bash by attending our local zoo for Boo at the Zoo, which has become a yearly tradition for us. It was HOT, and the girls had sweat pouring off their temples, but neither one of them would take off their costumes. Not even the Chicken Stripper who has forever HATED wearing her costume the entire time we have had it. I even came prepared and dressed her in cool clothes underneath the fluff so she couldn't run through the park screaming "I nakey! I nakey!". She even only kept the suit on for a few minutes when I was snapping pictures at home yesterday...I was literally amazed that she kept it on during Boo at the Zoo and through trick or treating last night.

Abby "got" Halloween this year, which made it so much more fun. She loved seeing all the other trick or treaters and telling everyone "Happy Halloween". Her costume was perfect for her...I mean, doesn't she just look like a monkey? Emma followed Abby's lead all day long, piping up with her soft "Tick or Teat" and kindly shoving her pumpkin pot in their faces until they gave her the right sum of candy she was looking for. Periodically, she would stick those chubby cheeks in her pot, take a big whiff and say "mmmmmmmm". Halloween is the night when you really get to see what your neighbors are all about. We met the guy who gave out individual bags that included a box of raisins and a marketing campaign to buy some kind of JuicePlus pills. I am guessing he's probably aware of the lack of fiber the kids get for the next few days and wanted to help save the world from constipation. Then there's the lady from England who gives out whole candy bars...like big Snickers and stuff. In return, she gets hugs and kisses and the least amount of eggs thrown at her windows. Who cares if she never mows her yard...she gives WHOLE candy bars, people! As one of the neighbors had handed out 2 little tootsie rolls and was closing her door, Abby piped up with "Mom, why does her house stink so bad? It smelled like a stinky dog in there." Next year, we will work more on talking after the door is closed and less on why we do not ring the doorbell 6 times if they don't come as fast as you would like. Emma taught herself how to unwrap candy without making a sound and alerting her parents to the goings-on as we walked around the neighborhood. I am waiting to see if she can expel the entire pack of Juicy Fruit gum she consumed last night...along with the 3 half-eaten tootsie roll pops (this kid needs more teeth). Of course, we inspected the huge pails of sugar and rid it of anything that looked suspicious...you know, like the kit-kats and BIG candy bars (no one gives big candy bars away...it must be laden with drugs or something) and Almond Joys and Reese's Pieces. You never know about people these days. But don't worry, we left the mustard colored chewy things wrapped in the black and orange wrappers for them. I mean, those were the candies my parents used to always leave us, so they must be safe.

Emmaisms

2007-10-31T14:01:00.001-04:00

"Chocky Mick": Anything that is in liquid form. Usually refers to Chocolate Milk, but other forms of liquid can apply here as well. Mostly, it means that she is dying of thirst.

"Nigh Nigh Pohoh": Said at times of sleepiness or after she has just gotten in trouble. Usually means that she wants to go night night on her pillow.

"Rocky": The art of a big-un holding a little-un and moving back and forth in a rocking position, usually while sitting in the most uncomfortable recliner known to woman.

"Hey hey hey hey": Said if she wants you to break out into the popular pirate single of "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me." Usually accompanied with her hand covering her eye in the shape of an eye patch.

"Elbow": Pointy connection of bones at your mid-arm? Not a chance. This refers to the red furry creature on Sesame Street with the big mouth and funny voice. Loved by many.

"Big Peep Peep": Elbow's friend on Sesame Street. For some reason, the child refuses to call him "Big Bird".

"I nakey! I nakey!": To be said over and over while running through the house and slapping your bare skin.

"You weady?": The question of an impatient toddler as she stands at the door waiting to go "Bye Bye".

"Be Fweet!": Usually directed at her older sister, or mocked at herself after she has been told numerous times to "BE SWEET!"

I'm sure there are many more Emmaisms to come, but I had to write these down before she changed the way she said some of them. I love this stage of communication.

The girls and I went shopping for Nathan yesterday and scored some Ca-Hute little outfits for him. I wanted the Cowboy stuff, and Abby wanted the Monkey outfits, so we compromised and got both of them. The girls wanted to get him the Horsey (or the "Neigh" in Emma-terms) just from them, but I think it was only because they wanted to fight over who got to hold it during the remainder of the shopping trip. Needless to say, Mama held onto the Neigh shortly after he made his debut into our cart of goodies.

This is going to be one spoiled little boy.

Monday Madness

2007-10-30T13:33:00.001-04:00

I take off my hat of "cleaning lady" on the weekends. Sure, I'll load the dishwasher and pick up a few toys, maybe make the beds, but everything else gets left to be cleaned on Monday morning. Come Monday morning, the house looks like it exploded from the inside out. Mondays are cleaning days around here...everything gets picked up, bathrooms get cleaned, laundry gets washed, and the kitchen counters get declutterfied. It makes for a full day of cleaning, but it is so nice to have a clean house the rest of the week...until my "cleaning hat" comes off once again on the weekend.

Mondays have also been labeled as "Go and play by yourself" day for the girls. Or better known as "What do you mean you don't know what to do? You have a whole toy room of toys!" day. Or "Mama will play that game with you tomorrow unless you want to help me pick up these cheerios that were mysteriously swept underneath the couch cushions" day. It has become sort of a cleaning day ritual around here over the past couple of years, and the girls actually do a pretty okay job at entertaining themselves for one day. I realized this last Monday when the playroom didn't have one clean spot on the floor, and I decided that I needed to get some snapshots that chronicled this weekly day in our lives:

We received the call yesterday for our Level II ultrasound appointment: this Friday at 9:00. I have a good friend who is keeping the girls for us that morning...thanks to all of you who offered to keep them for us. Unfortunately, I won't be able to update the blog about the appointment until Monday because we are leaving right after the appointment and heading to the great city of Tenille, GA for a church meeting. Please do keep us in your prayers for that appointment though. The ultrasound will determine if Nate's cysts are indeed isolated, and if so, there is less than a 1% chance that he has Down's Syndrome or any other chromosonal problem (Trisomy). If they find any other markers, the percentage is quite a bit higher. They found no other markers in the last ultrasound, but this one is more in depth so to give us a clearer picture. I can't wait to see his darling face again on the screen.

Quite a few of you have asked about the girls' reaction to finding out they were going to have a little brother...Emma could care less. HA! In fact, we have seen more baby qualities pop up in her over the past week or so, and she has been a lot more Mama-clingy lately, so she could be realizing that her time in the spotlight as the baby of the family is coming to a close. Abby is beyond excited. For the past few mornings, she has hopped into bed with me proclaiming "I am so excited that I am going to have a baby brother!". She makes sure to tell any stranger she runs into that she is having a brother, and she routinely tells me what she is going to do with Nate when he is born. She refuses to call him "Nate", saying that "Nathan" sounds better. Suits me...we'll call him both, more than likely. While getting situated to watch their morning cartoon while I hopped in the shower this morning, she said, "Mom, I am getting way too big to sit in my Elmo chair now. (tear my heart out, will ya?) I am just going to sit on the couch from now on. You know mom, I am becoming a grown up like you and can babysit Nathan all by myself when he is born."

So, yes, she is excited. And so are we.

Pumpkin Patch Day: Florida Style

2007-10-26T13:54:00.000-04:00

Nathan Andrew will be his name...it doesn't take long for us to decide on these things. We just need a few minutes to sit down together and talk about it without being interrupted 5 million times. Nathan Andrew...I like the way that sounds together. Nathan was what Abby was going to be if she was a boy. Emma was going to be Luke. It's funny that this one changed back to Nathan. I likey!

The girls and I took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch last Friday. After almost 4 years of being here, it still doesn't seem right to go to the pumpkin patch in shorts and a t-shirt. Man, it was a HOT and sunny day!! We did manage to have a good time, pick out the baby pumpkins we let them buy (the big pumpkins are way too expensive there. We buy that one from the grocery store.) and sample some homemade pumpkin bread to which Abby turned her nose up to like she does every single other edible object that she isn't accustomed to. That child will be the death of me at mealtime some day.
The girls were so sweaty and red when we hopped back in the car. Regardless of the heat and filth to it all, I really do love that we have started this tradition year after year.

And the answer is...

2007-10-25T13:34:00.001-04:00

If you have the some serious eagle eyes, you can clearly see the answer to our question of the week at the top of those ultrasound pictures. Or you can see the protrusion coming from the middle of our son's legs on the right ultrasound pic.

Yes, my friends, we are having a BOY!! A son! A little Nathan (who still doesn't have a middle name, though we have narrowed it down to 2 different ones, we think). A boy. Our boy, our son. I am still amazed and so incredibly thankful.

You see, both Jay and I have gone through this entire pregnancy hoping that we were having a boy but not wanting to get our hopes up to be disappointed if it was another girl. It wouldn't have mattered either way, but we did want a son. As I felt his first kicks of the morning a few days ago, I automatically said "well, good morning little man" without realizing what I was saying. I have had dreams that we were going to have a son, and Jay said that he was pretty convinced that it was a boy...but neither one of us would show our true feelings along the way.

A boy! A son! It was the first time that the sonographer has had to hand me a tissue during a sonogram. I was pleasantly surprised and elated. While we waited back in the waiting room for the visit with the Doctor post-sonogram, I couldn't hide the smile from my face. Excitement just doesn't seem to describe it completely.

But that excitement and elation was clouded a bit by the Dr's words of "well, everything looks fine, but there is one thing I do have to talk to you about"...

Nate has 2 Choroid Plexus Cysts on his brain. (Click on that term for more information.)

You know, I have said (as many others has stated) "It doesn't matter if it is a boy or a girl, as long as it is healthy". You just always expect that last part to be true. What if there is a chance, an ever so slight chance, that your baby might not be healthy like you expected? It just never really occurred to me that we could be having a talk like that with our doctor.

You see, CPC is a soft marker for Down's Syndrome. Down's Syndrome is one of those terms that no parent wants to hear. It is one of those things where you say "Well, that'll never happen to me. I'm too young. There's no family history. I mean, what are the real chances...", so it is somewhat of a blow when the doctor utters those words when talking about your baby.

All of those emotional issues aside, the outlook is good right now for Nate. So far, it looks like he has Isolated CPC, meaning that there are no other markers for Down's. His head shape is normal, his heart is normal with 4 pumping chambers, his arms and legs are normal length, and he has three good blood vessels in his umbilical cord. If any of those were abnormal, his chance for actually having Down's would be dramatically higher, but as it stands right now, it is a less than 1% chance he has it. Those were good words given by our precious doctor.

Other words of encouragement from the doc were the fact that in 20 something years of practicing Obstetrics, she has never seen a baby born with Down's that had a detectable isolated CPC during an ultrasound, and she said that she has to give this talk to some unsuspecting parents about once a month. She told us not to worry, as hard as that may be, and she was incredible encouraging about everything.

Honestly, I'm not worried...a little frazzled and rattled, but not worried. I mean, there is nothing we can do about it. We didn't cause this to happen, and even if the very slim chance that he does have Down's occurs, it's okay. In times like this, I couldn't imagine not believing that there is one above who knows all things, who controls all things. All that we can do is put this in God's hands and pray that little Nathan will be alright, regardless of the outcome. Of course, we are praying that God will heal this abnormality, but I am also praying for peace and understanding if it isn't in His will to heal Nate.

The next step is to get a Level II ultrasound at one of the big hospitals here. Our OB is setting that appointment up for us now and will call us with the date and time later on. The Level II ultrasound is a more detailed exam that specifically detects fetal abnormalities, and it is then that we can really tell if the CPC is isolated or not. I will definitely keep everyone updated on when that appointment will be.

In the mean time, please keep little Nathan in your prayers. Keep our family in your prayers. And give me all the pointers you have on raising a boy...we are going to need it. :)

Question of the week

2007-10-24T12:04:00.000-04:00

As our big ultrasound has neared, I have found myself really realizing that we were going to have another child. Another baby. Another little Ferrell. It's becoming very real now. Sure, the kicks and jabs are making me realize more and more that we are indeed adding to our family, but when you put a name to those kicks and jabs, it seems to sort of seal the deal.

Kids...we have had them around for almost 4 years, and it is hard to remember the times without them jumping into your arms and wrapping those tiny fingers around your hand. I tell all young couples that you are never fully prepared to have kids until they are here. You just truly don't know what to expect until those little eyes look up at you and call you "Mama" in only a voice you can hear in your heart. I remember the moment my eyes locked with both of my daughters' eyes for the first time...moments that have been seared into my brain. It was then that I realized that no matter what, I could do this. I could be a mama. I could hold them 'till my arms felt like they would fall off. I could stay awake for hours nursing a high fever. I could go on the merry-go-round even if it made me sick. I could love them with everything I have in me...because I am their mama. All of those emotions flood your heart the moment your eyes lock with their's. And the world around you comes to a halt for that moment.

What I didn't fully understand was that there was still a lot of learning along the way. A lot of readjustments in your attitude as their parent, and a lot of prayers asking for wisdom and begging that you don't do anything to "screw them up" along the way. And amazingly enough, I am still learning new things about parenting every single day...and I suspect that trend to continue until I am old and gray. For instance, I am still learning that...

...a 6:00 wake-up time never gets easier, even if you are awoken with a kiss and a giggle. Cute as it may be, it is still 6:00am.

...popsicles are only supposed to be eaten in the bathtub. And chocolate pudding pops turn the bath water into a nasty (yet tasty) shade of nastiness.

...Dad's dirty socks are to be worn on your hands and made to talk. Let's just call them the cheapest form of 30 minute entertainment.

...mosquito bites and skint knees take weeks to heal, mainly because their scabs will be picked over and over and over again until you threaten to put some horrendous painful medicine on the boo-boo if they pick it again.

...children will unexpectedly strip down in the most inopportune times in the most inappropriate places, say...at a soccer game, in the grocery store, or right before you open the door for the UPS man.

...you and your husband contain many more "mutt" qualities than you realized. Well, at least we do. We never know what the child will look like when it pops out. Mutts, I tell ya. That's what we procreate.

But more than anything, every single day, I am learning that my love for these little boogers grows exponentially. And I never thought I could love them more than I did when our eyes met for that first time.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Stayed tuned to tomorrow's post where we will hopefully learn the answer to the question of the week. Send lots of OLV of the baby my way...that is "Open Leg Vibes" in weird computer mom lingo, to which I laugh at every time I see it. Appt. is at 10:30, so the post probably won't come until mid-afternoon.

Carnie Central

2007-10-22T11:55:00.001-04:00

The other day, I asked a friend if they planned on going to our county fair this week. I was really asking "when" they were going to the fair because everyone goes to the fair, right, and I was utterly shocked with her response that they have never been to the fair. She said something along the lines of "Why go to the fair when Disney is right down road?"
Why go to the fair? Why go to the fair? Because that is what we must do. Where else can you experience such a slice of Americana? (Don't really know if it truly is a slice of Americana, but it sure did sound good there.) Where else can you hands-down win first prize in the "best dressed" category of the day? Where else can you walk around bug-eyed at all the things you will only experience at a county fair? You must go to the fair. It is truly an experience.Why go to the fair? Because where else can you see your share of wife-beater apparel and prison tats and still feel relatively safe? Where else will you see barefooted carnies manning squeaky rides you trust will keep your young-uns from flying out of, all while they (the carnies, not your kids...well, at least not our kids) suck on a good ole' stoggie while gathering tickets from the hands of babes. Where else can you see a man ride the biggest Brahma Bull you have ever seen? Why go to the fair? Because it is educational. Because your city-dwelling children will learn about life on a farm...where dogs can jump through rings of fire and chickens actually do lay eggs and like to snip the fingers of those who carelessly put them close. They learn that a goose is a bull's best friend, a goat will butt against its cage, and dogs really do eat poop. At the fair, they get to experience that popping a balloon to win a stuffed animal costs all of $5...which in return, teaches them how to share because there is no way their parents are going to spend that kind of money again for a stuffed animal that will most likely get forgotten under the bed in a matter of hours. And eating a gigantic $7 bag of cotton candy is worth the money and the pain it will ensue on your poor tongue. You can not go to the fair without buying cotton candy...it's in the rule book. No matter if it truly is only a $7 bag of sugar. But where else can you also see a travel trailer selling candy apples, elephant ears, caramel corn and funnel cakes next to one selling won tons, friend rice, egg rolls, and General Tso's chicken next to one selling friend twinkies, root beer floats and friend pickles (where they really spelled it "pickels" on their sharpie on poster board professional sign). The fair...the only place where you can go through a chewing tobacco sampling booth, but only if you are 18, of course. Or are sporting at least 2 prison tats. Or are wearing your stellar "going to town" camouflage overalls over your Daleheart Jr. muscle man shirt. Or have less than 6 teeth. Or just look smokin' hot in a redneckish "smokin' hot" way. Yeah, obviously the 18 or over rules don't apply to those situations. Those automatically seem to deserve a taste of redman. Why go to the fair? Because you will be more excited that you got your child the chicken costume for halloween since her favorite part of the whole evenings where the "bock-bocks". And you will enjoy the FREE entertainment of the farm animals since every other thing costs an arm and a leg...or some of your teeth, at least. Looks like most everyone opted to sell those to purchase one of those arm-bandy things that let you ride any jerky ride you wanted until your neck pops back into place.
Why go to the fair? Because where else can you have a stand-out child in the crowd of kids and get chosen to partake in the magic show? Seems that they were chosen because they were the only ones wearing shoes, but I could be wrong. But more than anything, this gave her parents wonderful memories to share with her about how she made a handkerchief disappear with the wave of a broken magic wand. And how we were glad that we decided to put her shoes on before we got out of the car...cause you never know when you are going to get a chance to be part of center stage. Poor thing, looks like her 15 minutes of fame is already over at the ripe age of 3. So why go to the fair? Because it creates memories that will last a lifetime. Because you will NEVER see anything like the people who show up at a fair, and you will be very thankful that you live in the sheltered little world of suburbia that you call your neighborhood. Because that is what we are supposed to do. That's why.

The worst fair-weathered fans ever

2007-10-19T13:26:00.000-04:00

In the past decade+, we have had the privilege of being part of 3 SEC colleges. And by "being part", I mean giving them lots and lots of money and time and money. And with that, we have been able to take advantage of being some of the worst (or best) fair-weathered fans alive. In those 3 good schools, there is always at least one that is great at football and/or basketball each year...and that is the team who we root on from our living room chairs each year. That is the team whose shirts we wear throughout the season, showcasing who we are backing that year.

So, how 'bout them Cats? Last week's Kentucky win over LSU was one of the best games I have seen since Florida beat Ohio State for the Championship last year. I mean, come on, Kentucky hasn't been good at football since I have been alive...we have to root for them this year. It is in our blood...which happens to bleed blue right about now. Everyone with me now...Gooooooooo Wildcats!

We are wearing our Kentucky shirts tomorrow to Abby's soccer game, just so you know.

A whole new meaning...

2007-10-17T22:52:00.001-04:00

Giving a whole new meaning to tasty lunch time faire:

Okay, for the new news. I won a photography website last night worth $400! I have been putting off getting a website for a good while because the ones that I was wanting are more expensive than I want to spend right now and because I had a couple of more lenses on my list of wants before I invested money into a website. I desperately wanted a website, and I have had numerous people ask for a website (why I started the photography blog), but I just didn't want to put that much money into one right now when I am not bringing in that much money from photography.

So, this was the second contest I have entered with the winnings including a photography website. With each contest, I have entered it with the prayer of "Thy will be done". I figured that I could at least try to win one of these websites, but I also prayed that if the Lord did not desire for me to have a website right now, that I wouldn't win.

Thankfully, I placed third in a big contest last night and won the website! The theme was to take a picture (during a couple of weeks span) that pertained to the acronym for fall (fun, animated, light and lively). Since we don't actually have fall time in Florida, I was glad that they specified that it didn't have to be an autumn theme. And I had by chance had taken the photo below during the time frame for the contest. It seemed to fit the acronym perfectly.

So the plans are finally in the works for a photography website. It takes a lot of time and work, so it should hopefully go live in a couple of months. I will definitely let you all know when that time has come.

The story behind this picture: it had been raining for days, and I had told Melissa that I would take some pictures of her new product for her website. In between rain showers, we headed out for a mini shoot. Abby was immediately side-tracked by a puddle in the driveway, so she hiked her dress up and jumped away. She later told me that she did that because she didn't want to get her dress wet...I just love her innocence of it all. If this doesn't scream "childhood", I don't know what does.

Jay has been gone this week, so that is what has prompted our rule change from earlier. You don't realize how much you rely on the break Daddy gives you when he gets home from work until he is gone for a while. But tonight made the day end perfectly when the girls and I laid in bed and took turns giving each other butterfly, Eskimo, and fish kisses for 20 minutes. Their giggles were contagious. And then Abby prayed that this baby would hurry up and get out of my tummy so she could meet it. And we ended with more fish kisses because those seemed to be their favorites. Yeah, that was a good ending to a hectic few days.

Sometimes you just have to set new rules

2007-10-17T13:14:00.001-04:00

Every once in a while, you need to reevaluate how the house is being run (or actually WHO is running the house) and set some new rules. Here is our new list of rules:

~Shoes do not belong in the middle of the kitchen. Neither do socks, underwear, Happy Meal toys, or anything else that is not related in any way to petrified food stuck to the floor.

~No food or drink in the carpeted areas for at least 24 hours after mom shampoos the carpet. Carpets should be clean for at least one day. It is in the carpet-taker-care-of handbook...you would know that if you could read.

~Moon sand is prohibited from our premises. If someone gives it to you as a gift, kindly say "thank you" but know that it will be regifted to some unsuspecting family at the very next party we have to attend.

~Finger Painting is only allowed on special occasions...meaning that you need to do a lot of sucking up and seriously incredible behavior before I will even consider it. Counting out your pennies to have enough for an hour-long massage for mom is a good start. I will break your piggy banks for you if need be.

~Polly pockets are not food, no matter how fun they are to chew on. Keep them out of your mouth.

~When you turn 4, you will be required to consistently wipe your own behind. Might as well start practicing those arm extensions now.

~The next time I hear "But I'm just sooooo tired" when I say that it is time to clean up the toys, you will be required to stay in your room until you are asleep...you know, since you are obviously sooooooo tired.

~You have had your hair brushed every single day of your life. Your scalp should be tough enough now...stop complaining!

~If mom looks like she is about to blow a gasket, it is probably best not to run, jump, or accidentally bump into her. In fact, that may be a good time for you to just spend some quality quiet time in your room chewing on polly pocket clothes.

I also have some pretty exciting news to share (well, exciting for me anyway), but blogger is having picture-uploading issues right now and I can't share the news without showing you a picture. You know me. :) Better luck tomorrow.

Soccapalooza

2007-10-15T09:13:00.001-04:00

Somebody forgot to tell Abby that the other team was going to try to take the ball away from her. Yeah, that little tidbit of information might have been a little more helpful for her emotional well being during Saturday's game. I mean, her team mates had never taken the ball away from her before...why should the other team? The final score...Abby's team: 7, the other team: 1. So we aren't as bad as we first thought, right? The other players on our team have pretty much quit on us, meaning that only 3 girls showed up on Saturday. And that meant that they had to play the entire game without any subs. Running for 30 minutes with only one little water break and no substitutes wasn't that great for their emotional well being either. The other team had 6 players...if one of them started crying, they could just sit on the sidelines for a while. Our poor girls didn't have that luxury.
Abby scored 4 goals during the first half, and our coach rightfully told her not to kick the ball anymore unless the other team had it so her other team mates could have a turn at it. We can't tell if this ticked her off or hurt her feelings, but that was when she first hung her moping head and started wiping tears as she ran up and down the field. When the other team brought out their boys against our girls, Abby was able to try to take it to the goal once again...but there was one problem: boys are tougher than girls, it seems, and they like to steal the ball away from you. After a little sideline instruction of "well, go and take it back from them...oh yeah, and have fun!", she started chasing down the ball while wiping more tears of exhaustion and frustration. It was really quite pitiful, but the girl never gave up.
After a little rest during a water break and a promise of ice cream after the game for her doing such a great job (aka: making yourself feel better for allowing her to cry on the field instead of swooping in and rocking her back to comfort on the sidelines), she got back out there and finished the game with no more tears. Here she was telling the other players on her team about going for ice cream after the game: She ended up scoring 2 more goals during the game, putting her total at 6. The little brown-haired girl also scored a goal, but the jury is out on whether or not we should count it, taking that she couldn't get it where she wanted it, so she picked it up with her hands and placed it right in front of the goal before she kicked it in. She was so excited about her goal, so we decided to count it for good measure. Abby's best friend refused to play the last bit of the game unless she could hold Abby's hand (these girls were exhausted!). Abby happily agreed, so they ran hand-in-hand for the remainder of the game...in a sort of 3 legged race sort of way. But like Madison's mom said, "it was a good handicap for Abby". When a ball would come her way, she would kick it and then pull Madison as hard as she could to help her keep up, then kick the ball, rinse, lather, repeat. I wished I would have gotten video of that exchange, but Madison's mom and I were doubled over in laughter and couldn't possibly film it. It was perhaps the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. Abby is telling me now that she wants to play another game today. And she says that this time she won't cry. HA! I think the ice cream worked...and the promise that there will be at least one more of our players show up this coming Saturday. Emma enjoyed lounging in the make-shift soccer net hammock after the game...and eating everyone's snacks. It was definitely an eventful morning. And for those of you who are curious about 3 year old soccer...it's a hoot. There's a lot of confusion, a lot of crying, and a lot of proud parents on the sidelines rooting their kid along. In other words, it's a blast!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Pumpkin Pie, here I come!

2007-10-12T13:28:00.000-04:00

We have consistently been moving further and further south through our marriage, and it has taken me a while to adjust to the climate change with each move. We have lived in Florida for almost 4 years now, and I am finally able to enjoy what people down here call "fall weather".

I made a comment the other day about how I would love to take some pictures of the girls playing in a big pile of leaves and bundled up in warm fall clothes as we visit the pumpkin patch. Jay counter commented with, "But I bet a lot of other people would love to be able to go to Disney or the beach whenever they wanted." Point taken. Score one for the hubby.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't miss those Kentucky falls when the leaves changed to the golden colors everyone associates with this time of year. We noticed last year that our leaves change too...in January. And although everyone else gets to experience that crisp football weather right now that just makes you smile all day, we get 70 degree days in the middle of January and February when everyone else is being treated for cabin fever. Oh, and we have a family tradition of taking walks after dinner during the Christmas season to see all the neighborhood Christmas lights...and sometimes we even wear short sleeves on those walks. So it all weighs out in the end, and I can just suck it up for the time being.

All that being said, we have had a nice taste of Florida fall today...our first "pants" day. I even put jackets on the girls before we headed to school this morning. Of course, I had to promptly remove them as we were exiting the van because in the 10 minute ride, the temperature had risen 10 degrees...but they started out with jackets. That counts, right? And the windows are open today. Yeah, we are having to run the fans on full blast to keep it cool enough for us to stay in pants for the day, but the windows are remaining open, meaning that we are getting some relief from that insane humidity. Fall in Florida...I am starting to enjoy the days that we deem so fallish.

Okay, off to change into some shorts...I'm melting in here!

Someone didn't want to wear their jacket this morning:

I think I am going to have to tie a rope around all of Emma's pants to keep them up. They fell to her ankles twice as we were walking around the mall this morning.
Oldie, but goodie...and it shows how long her hair is getting. At this point, it is longer than Abby's, though you can't tell it because of all the curls.

All that drama

2007-10-11T14:29:00.000-04:00

I ended yesterday's crazy day by waking up in the middle of the night with the start of a head cold. I knew something was up. Thankfully, today has been one of the rare days that we have absolutely nothing to do but sit around have little tea parties all day...and rest. It has been a nice change from our crazy busy schedule.

I was going through some old videos a few days ago and ran across this one of my and Emma's conversation about bear-bear needing a bath. Giving that bear a bath is like pulling teeth, I tell ya. This shows her true dramatic side...one that we'll laugh about for years to come, I suppose. The video after that is proof that you learn a lot if you just talk to your kids.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What preschooler doesn't like to talk about poop? Heck, what 80 year old doesn't like to talk about poop? Further than that, what mom of kids doesn't like to talk about poop every once in a while?

This much I know

2007-10-10T12:06:00.000-04:00

If you leave a whiny child in their room for a good amount of time, they will either A) tear the back off of a picture frame, B) pull the letters of her name off of the wall, C) pull all the underwear out of the underwear drawer, or D) all of the above. And you are rather foolish if you think that all that alone time in her room made her any less whiny.

Elmer's School Glue does not adequately fix the back of a broken picture frame.

If you potty train a child early on in age and you actually think inside your head that they are fully potty trained because they are no longer having any accidents, they will reward you with many days of regression. And you will slowly go crazy...and keep reminding yourself that it will all end someday...until they are pregnant and completely incontinent once again.

If you look at the clock and realize that you have a lot more time than you originally thought before you have to leave the house, that clock is probably wrong.

Right as you are shuffling everyone out of the house and hoping that their shoes are in the van because you are late because of a stupid wrong clock and you don't have time to look for the shoes elsewhere, the regression child pees on herself.

Now really late, your strap everyone in with urgency and a bit of anger...and can't find your keys.

Now really really late, you put on calming music to bring your blood pressure down a bit. You relax so much that you miss your turn and get lost.

You later decide that a nap is what you need to put you in a better mood, but you sleep so long that you aren't sleepy at bedtime and stay up until the wee hours of the morning. And the same bad mood cycle continues the next day, and the next, and the next...

And the house isn't going to clean itself, no matter how long you sit here and wish it would.

The year of a million dreams

2007-10-09T10:23:00.001-04:00

I write with weary sunburned eyes and tired fingers, but all the aches and pains are totally worth the joy and excitement we experienced yesterday. To sum up our day from the mouth of our preschooler as we were boarding the monorail on route back to the van last night: "Mom, all my dreams comed true!"

I didn't think Abby could possibly enjoy Disney more this year than she did last year, but she surpassed those expectations yesterday. She seemed to "get" Disney a lot more this year and the joy on her face was evident throughout the entire day. I just can't describe the joy as a parent to see your child enjoy something much. It made our day. I didn't want to lug around the big camera all day, so the point and shoot came in handy. The pictures aren't that great, but I wasn't after good pictures...I just wanted to capture moments of the day that will jar our memories in years to come.
We always take the girls in October because it is usually a lot less crowded and starting to cool down some...not so this year. Seems that half of the world had fall break this week, and half of those people were at Disney yesterday. That being said, the lines weren't terrible. The most we had to wait was for about half an hour for a couple of rides and to see Minnie Mouse, and the rest of the rides were a quick 10 minute wait or no wait at all. We chose to try out the "fast pass" option on the Peter Pan ride, and I have to say that Disney impressed me once again with this cool invention. Abby's favorite ride was the Goofy roller coaster, and Jay so graciously rode on that with her each time since I couldn't being pregnant. If you ask her, she'll show you how she screamed through the entire ride. Emma's favorite ride was "It's a small world" where she was wide-eyed and smiley through the whole thing, but that could be because it was the longest and coolest ride we had all day. Personally, I loved the Mickey's Philharmonic 3-D movie and got a kick out of Abby trying to grab all of the 3-D objects that seem to be right in front of your face. The cinnamon and apple pie smell-o-factor was a nice addition to that movie, especially since someone sitting close to us had their share of the stinky factor going on hard core. The parade was a huge hit, even though it was during the hottest part of the day and sweat was literally pouring off of us all. Abby waved at all of the characters and was especially delighted to see Mickey Mouse and Cinderella. But DUDE! It was so hot that we were all a little light headed and worn out after just sitting there against the steamy asphalt...and it is OCTOBER. I couldn't imagine going in the middle of the summer. Emma woke up at 5:00 yesterday morning and kind of dozed on and off until 6:00, but aside from being a little whiny at times, she hung in there really well. She fell asleep on Jay while we were waiting for the Haunted Mansion and took a good 40 minute nap. She enjoyed the parade and show at the castle, but the only rides she really liked were Peter Pan and Small World. She liked sitting on the horse on the carousel and dumbo in dumbo's flight, but she lost that desire to ride them once they started moving. No freak-outs, but she sure did want someone to hold on tight to her...so different from her thrill-seeker sister.We were willing to wait in one good character line (Minnie), but the rest had to be for the lesser-known sub-characters. The fairy godmother from Cinderella actually kissed bear-bear, even after my warnings that he may carry undiagnosable diseases from being carried around everywhere. Emma warmed up to her a lot easier than she did to Minnie Mouse whom she saw earlier in the day. We waited until the end of the day to see the production at Cinderella's castle...you know, closer to the exit. My non-clingy child asked to sit in the front beside some kids she didn't know, and she was spell-struck through the entire show with periodic glimpses of excitement toward us. Disney really does know how to get to the heart of a child...and her parents. After the show, we had all had about enough of the heat and exhaustion and decided to head home early. Emma decided that the concrete was a good a place as any to rest her weary body...And Abby decided to join her. The last picture of the day...and I love how the blue Florida sky reflects in Abby's deep blue eyes. Weirdly enough, the girls didn't fall asleep until we were 5 minutes from the house and didn't sleep all that well last night. But they woke up this morning with the same excitement in their voices as they talked about they favorite parts of the day. And I can't get enough of hearing those conversations.

(Click on the pictures for the larger versions.)

My kind of day

2007-10-06T16:54:00.001-04:00

It has rained nearly everyday for the past 3 weeks here, and we have gotten about 2-3 inches every single day this week. I tell you that to say that Abby's soccer game was canceled this morning. Turns out that they didn't have enough life guards to make sure none of the kids drowned on the field today. Bummer. Not about the drowning, but about no soccer game. It'll happen someday.

Instead, we took the girls to the P.E.T store today. We have to spell it around here because the mere word gets screams of joy, but we realized that our cover was blown today when Abby started asking to go to the P.T.E. store. Going to the pet store has replaced our once Saturday outings to Sams Club at lunch time to get our fill of free samples and not have to pay for lunch. Yes, we were those kind of people in the day.

Instead, we head to the pet store so our kiddos can get their share of touching stinky dogs and annoying cats and pretend for a few moments to be the proud owners of something hairy and smelly. I could really own a dog (not a cat...cats are stupid. And I always tend to kill fish. And birds are too dang loud. And snakes aren't even pets you crazy CRAZY people...ahem, Garrett.) if it weren't for the hairy and stinky part...and the poop. Yeah, we already have enough of that around here. But I do honestly feel bad that our kids haven't been able to experience owning a pet...especially when the following conversation occurs each and every time we are leaving the P.E.T. store:

Abby: (sniff, sniff) Dad, I just really really really really really want a doggie.
Jay: Well, You can get one when you own your own house.

It is then that I realize that we are indeed our own parents.
Heading to Disney on Monday...I'm sure you will be met with tons of pictures on Tuesday. Until then...

The things I want to remember

2007-10-04T13:02:00.001-04:00

Emma is talking up a storm now, and we have recently been aware of a toddler speech impediment she has picked up along the way. Abby started out turning her r's and l's into w's that is portrayed perfectly in this video where she proclaimed that "Mawy had a witta wamb" in the cute little toddler voice she once had. She has since grown out of that stage where she introduced herself as "Abby Fewwah" to anyone who would listen, and I find myself missing those mispronunciations periodically.

Emma's temporary speech impediment has been awarded to the s's in her life, for which she turns each one into t's instead. Stick becomes "tick", sock becomes "tock", snake becomes "take", and sit becomes...well, you get the picture. I secretly love it, but it drives Abby mad trying to correct her sister each time she can't say something correctly. "No Emma, sssssssssstick. Not tick!" It doesn't help matters when I go around purposefully changing my words to be like Emma's...mainly because I know that it will only last for a little time and want to enjoy the baby talk while it lasts, barring that it is discontinued once she reaches marrying age and all.

We had a brush of fall weather earlier this week that gave us the opportunity to turn off the air conditioner and leave the windows open for a couple of days. In return, the humididity caused my wee ones hair to look like this:
I love the ringlets she has and can't get enough pictures of them right now...much like my relationship was with bear-bear months ago when Emma carried him around everywhere. He is being left behind more and more these days as my child's need for that security is waning. It's a good thing really, but it makes me sad to see him forgotten in corners and under blankets.

In other completely unrelated news, our love bug season (click on that if you don't know what love bugs are) is finally coming to an end around here. It was an interesting season as Abby finally realized that the bugs were stuck together and proceeded to tear apart each one she saw in an effort to rescue them. "Ah! There you go little bugs. You can be free now!" Poor little "Public Display of Affection" pests. Frankly, that's what they get for doing that in front of the children. Who says you need to watch their TV intake? You really need to shield their eyes as they play on the swing set. Couple that with the procreation of lizards on the livingroom window and you have a lot of 'splainin to do. "Yes, honey. They are playing horsey ride. Isn't that hysterical?"

Finally (I am teaching this week, so I have to get everything I want to talk about in one long post), Melissa at love-me-knots.com is offering these awesome headbands for your bows. The best part is that you can change out whatever bow you want to go with the outfit...just fit it in the slot in the headband. These headbands are great! They are snug and stay on their heads, but they aren't too snug and don't hurt after they wear them for a while. The headbands come in white, off-white, and pink, and you will probably have to special order them by contacting Melissa (contact info on her website) until she can get them posted on her site. Let me assure you, you won't go wrong in ordering these...my girls wear them all the time now!

Whoa, here she comes. Watch out boys, she'll chew you up...

2007-10-02T12:55:00.001-04:00

Or, just when you thought it was safe to let your children run loose outside...

Or, do you really want to live in Florida?

Or, so that's what ate the neighbor's stupid dog...

There were 2 of these big mamma jamma spideys in the front yard the other night. Abby started towards them with her huge wiffle-ball bat, but she chickened out right before she knocked them out of their webs. Instead, she insisted that I cream them with the bat. The "not so skeered" of bugs that I am, I took out the first, smaller one. When the web wound around my legs and sent me into the stop, drop, and roll mindset...and then to change my britches, I decided the bigger mamma jamma could stay in his web. It was a fine creation, after all. No one needs to destroy that kind of masterpiece, right?

Dude, seriously! These things could have eaten the small gators that live in our ponds. Do you really want to move to Florida?

Weekenders

2007-10-01T14:13:00.000-04:00

Thankfully, Abby's fever broke Friday morning and she started to "firm up" so to say, so she and I were able to attend our meeting from Friday night until yesterday. Whatever she had left as fast as it came on, and I am truly thankful for that.

Our meeting: wow, it was such an incredible meeting. We were overjoyed when chairs had to be brought to the ends of the pews signaling the denominational code for "it's a packed house". I have been to meetings like that many times before, but it seems so much more special when it is at your home church. But let me tell you, hosting a meeting of that caliber is an exhausting feat...I do believe that is brought us closer together as a church, if that was possible. It was a wonderful feeling to work beside loved ones in between services to make the "behind the scenes" effort flow smoothly. I am always saddened and a little choked up when heading home after a weekend meeting like this...after spending 3 days rejoicing with those that you love so dear, it is hard to leave them for a solid week.

My prayers were answered regarding the girls having to sit through so many services back to back each day. They were very well behaved and enjoyed the new books and toys we had bought especially for this meeting the week before. Of course they were both exhausted to the point of tears yesterday morning, but that was totally expected...I don't think there was harldy anyone that wasn't exhausted to the point of tears. Emma decided to give me a humbling parenting experience during Friday night's service by peeing right in my lap. She had given me a warning that she needed to go, but she usually gives me 2 warnings before it is really serious that we find a toilet, and I thought that I could wait until the change of preachers and not have to walk in front of everyone (we were close to the front) during the middle of the service. Instead, I had to walk in front of everyone with a wet dress and pee dripping down my legs. Humbling, I tell ya. Good thing we both had extra clothes! I tried to watch her sweet tea intake a little better the rest of the weekend.

A wonderful meeting! We are rejuvenated spiritually and ready to tackle our weekly distractions. We are exhausted physically, but a couple of days of good rest will cure that. We are truly thankful. The Lord has blessed us abundantly.

In a perfect world...

2007-09-27T12:53:00.000-04:00

In a perfect world things would go as planned as we would attend the church meeting that we have been looking forward to for months as a big happy family. In a perfect world.

Is this a perfect world?

Guess who woke up from their nap yesterday with fever and diarrhea? I have been praying like mad that Abby only had a 24-hour bug of some sort. Almost 24 hours later, her fever is still high even when accompanied with Motrin and Tylenol, and the nasty concoction coming out of her doesn't seem to be getting any less. I am now praying like mad that Emma doesn't get it because we all know that weird things happen to her when she has that fever/diarrhea combo. At least there is no vomiting (knock on glass computer desktop).

So Jay and Emma will get to enjoy the first day of the meeting while I hang back and wipe a red booty all day. But I am still able to cook for the meeting...though after reading the last sentence, you may not want to actually eat what I send. Thank God for antibacterial whatevers.

Poor Abs cried last night when I told her that she might not be able to go to the meeting. She said, "But Mom, I PROMISE I will cover my mouth so no one gets sick." It's not the mouth I am worried about this time around, chica. Here's hoping and praying that the poor child gets better in time to attend at least some of the meeting.

(This would be our dear pastor kindly showing Abby how to make biscuits. He clearly knows what skills her Mama lacks.)

Third Baby Syndrome

2007-09-26T15:00:00.000-04:00

Third Baby Syndrome...one of the reasons why I was wavering on whether or not we wanted to try for a third baby. Good thing the Lord knew that we needed to experience third baby syndrome, or it may have never happened. Along with that came middle child syndrome...something that I didn't really want Emma to have to experience. See why this last baby being a surprise baby was a good thing? It's neurotic mother seems to think so.

So, it is inevitable. As much as I didn't want these things to happen, they have already. The third child syndrome is alive and well each day when it takes a good kick from the baby for me to remember that I am actually pregnant. When I was carrying Abby, she was all I could think about day in and day out, and sadly to say, I don't think of this baby much. Now don't get me wrong, I love the little bugger, but I am just too busy to daydream and ponder like I once did while being pregnant. Third child syndrome at its best.

Another problem is that I forget to update friends and family on how things are progressing. I used to have loved ones on speed dial to give the heart rate and measurements after each Doctor's appt with the first two, but it took 3 emails and a couple of comments yesterday for me to realize that I have indeed had a Dr's appt lately for this little-un and haven't told a soul. Poor child.

The down-low...baby is still great. Due to the relief of the first trimester constipation (hey, you wanted to know how things were going, right?), I am not as bloated and poochy anymore. The baby is measuring small, but that's how the road goes in my uterus...small babies make small deliveries and one happy mama. Heart rate is in the 150-160 range...yet another reason why I think we are going to have one household of girls. And for the sex? Well, we have decided to not find out the sex of the baby this time around so we can torture each and every one of you. Better yet, WE will find out but not tell anyone. How do ya like them apples?

Are you kidding me? Do you really think I could keep a secret like that for that long? Sex date (I could make some snide comment right here, but it would totally not be a family friendly blog after that): October 25th at 10:30am. But along with those third child syndrome lines, I am all "whatever" about the big ultrasound coming up. Not counting down the days, not taking all the gender predictor tests, not calling to see if I can at least move the date up a bit...nothing. Whatever. The big day will get here soon enough. Third child syndrome.

Middle child syndrome girl who never gets new clothes due to the insane amount of hand-me-downs from Oldest child who gets EVERYTHING actually had a shopping day just for her today. Our big fall meeting is this weekend, and I realized that all of the hand-me-downs for this time of year are still entirely too big for Em. She's still just an itty-bitty thing who weighs all of 21 pounds and is about 3 inches shorter than all the kids her age. Somebody finally needed new clothes...and new clothes is what she got. Signing off until next week...lots of cooking and packing to do tomorrow as we prepare for the North Florida Fellowship Meeting at church this weekend. We'd love to see you there! I just couldn't resist sharing this one:

My new favorite video

2007-09-25T12:13:00.000-04:00

It could be the crazy hormones talking, or my intense love for anything that sounds like Canon in D, but I have watched this video three times and cried like a baby every time. It just nailed the stage in life we are in so perfectly.

(Oh, and for all of you who don't know us, this is not my husband. Found this video on YouTube.)

And the little things that make me smile from day to day in the midst of the chaos of raising small young-uns:

~Watching Emma run so fast that she can't stop, so she just runs into walls and couches and people, falls down with a laugh and does it all over again.

~Hearing the same conversation every time we make our way through the check out line: "Hi, My name is Abby. A-B-B-Y. This is my sister, Emma, and this is my Mommy, Mommy. We also have a boy named Daddy. What's your name?"

~Watching Emma run the moment she hears the vacuum cleaner and hop on it for a ride.

~Seeing Abby come out of her room with her pants on her head and her legs in the sleeves of her shirt.

~Emma walking about the house looking and calling for "Bear-Bear" when he is in her arms the whole time without her realizing it.

~Witnessing the joy on the girls' faces as they run to Jay each evening yelling, "Daddy's Home! Daddy's Home!"...and realizing that I get a little bit of a break.

~Hearing bedtime prayers that consist of "Heavenly Father, thank you for Emma to not pester me and for her to be quiet in the prayer." and hearing them periodically end with "The End!" instead of "Amen."

So, about that soccer game...

2007-09-24T13:17:00.000-04:00

...it never happened. Turns out that there are 7 teams that play against each other, so one team has to sit out and practice each Saturday. Guess who had to practice the first game day? I'm not complaining too terribly bad. I mean, everyone knows that we needed it! The only poopy thing is that Abby is going to miss her first game this Saturday...we have a church meeting this weekend. No biggie though.

They did get their uniforms, and Abby was the first one to speak up (no shock there!) that she wanted to be #3. A few of the other girls didn't understand why they couldn't be #3 also..."But I'm not 2 years old, I'm 3 years old. I need a 3."

The girls are getting better and better with each practice...well, at least they are staying longer and longer for each practice. Abby only picked the ball up with her hands once on Saturday, and she received 8 smiley face stickers for passing the ball instead of hogging it the whole time. The girl is concentrating so hard on getting that ball into the goal that she often plays keep away from her own team mates (that's my girl).They are indeed having fun now. Abby's best friend's mom (got that?) brought water bottles to spray down the girls (above picture) during water breaks. Abby and her best friend snagged them later and had a water fight themselves (see first picture). They never seem to run out of energy.
The rest of the team are...well...girls. The ballet dancer of the group runs around on her tip-toes looking at the sky, the smallest one of the group runs around sucking her thumb, Abby's other best friend is perhaps the coolest of them all...she plays in shades. Cracks my junk up! If anything, we have gotten so many laughs from this team so far.
My competitive scouting abilities (read: anal-retentive competitiveness) showed that the teams that were actually playing games Saturday were nothing but a mix of mass chaos. It was really quite hilarious as teams ran with the balls in their hands and kicked it out of bounds repetitively. Even Angus' team looked like a bunch of 3 year olds...for the first time! Maybe there is hope for us after all. HAHAHAHA!! Just kidding there. But we shall know for sure in 2 weeks when Abby gets to REALLY experience her first soccer game. And of course there will be pictures. :)

As long as they are having fun...

2007-09-20T20:39:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is Abby's first soccer game. At last week's practice, 6 of our 8 players showed up and within 20 minutes, 3 players went home. The excuses were that they were hot and tired and just weren't having fun...and that they were only 3 years old. Abby, her best friend, and the coach's daughter stayed for the whole hour of practice, and those three had the time of their life playing out there. They played "red light, green light", "head, shoulders, knees, and toes", and ran around once again with glitter on their shoes.

Meanwhile on the 3 year old team behind us (the one who had all 8 of their players practicing), they were scrimmaging and kicking balls into the goal from 10 feet away...but you know, they are just 3, right? One of the kids on that team is named Angus. Now tell me that isn't a tough-as-nails name. This is what we are up against...the girls who can't go 20 minutes into a practice against the soccer savants named after grades of beef.

As we remaining parents were watching the soccer geniuses in action behind us and contemplating whether or not we needed to ask them for birth certificate verification, one of the dad's said, "Well, everything will be fine as long as everyone is having fun." It was quickly decided among the rest of us that that is only what the losers say...and yes, it is probably what we will be saying after every game. I'm am anxious to see how the whole shebangabang unfolds...and if Abby can go the duration of the game without picking up the ball.