Hippie Mama

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

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

Overdue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Latest Doc Appointment

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

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

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

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

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

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

Must... have... sleep

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

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

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

Gotta train them early...

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

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

Goin' to the Chapel...

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

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

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

Love you guys!

CONGRATULATIONS JON & JACI!!!!

Another Ultrasound

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

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

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

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

The Great Tire Saga, Part Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maybe.

The Great Tire Saga, Part One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be continued...

Our Assembly Weekend

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

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

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

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

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

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

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