2.05.2009

100 Things About Me

Okay well since Leigh did it (which actually means she's blogging for a change!) I figured I'd do it too!

1. I am saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior in April 2006, and was baptized (with my husband) in May 2006.

2. I am involved in every aspect of singing at church: choir, Praise Team, Vocal Ensemble. I feel like that is where I can really minister to others.

3. I have a three-year-old who I thought for a long time would be an only child by choice.

4. I am currently pregnant with my second child and due in August 2009.

5. Both of my children were planned pregnancies. If I felt like my husband and I were not on the same page about having children, we would not have them.

6. I am a germophobe to the nth degree – avoiding sick people, washing my hands constantly, using hand sanitizer when hand washing it not an option, avoiding public restrooms, etc.

7. My co-workers make fun of me because of my germophobia. I even wipe down the phones/computer keyboards/calculators on a DAILY basis with Clorox or Lysol wipes.

8. I wipe down public toilet seats with hand sanitizer and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

9. I am lactose intolerant and have been since teenage-hood. My daughter, however, lives for yogurt and cheese. Go figure.

10. I was a size 12. Once.

11. I used to want to be a teacher or write a children’s book when I was younger.

12. I love to get my nails done every two weeks. I like how nice they look and it is the one luxury I give myself.

13. When I was a few months old, my mother let me roll off the couch and onto a hardwood floor. When Gracie was a few months old, my sister let her roll off the couch and onto the cushioned floor. I told her that Mom let me fall off the couch, and I turned out okay!

14. I am the oldest of four children. There is almost a fifteen year difference between me and my baby sister, Tina.

15. I am very close to my mother.

16. I have no relationship with my father. That was not my choice.

17. I love going to Universal Studios in Orlando.

18. Bryan and I went to Universal Studios for our honeymoon.

19. We bought tickets to a dinner theater on our honeymoon – it was called Arabian Nights and the dessert was actually wedding cake!

20. Bryan has a set of twin half sisters and so do I.

21. Bryan has three sisters. I have three sisters. We both come from divorced homes.

22. I think this second baby is a girl. Everybody keeps telling me I’m having a boy.

23. I have developed a close friendship with a friend from church. Her name is Amy and she blogs about her son, Jackson. She is my Designated Hospital Baby Picture Taker.

24. Amy and I treat each other like family and think we might have been related in a past life. We think alike. A lot.

25. I don’t want Amy to think I love her too much, so I’m going to stop letting her invade my “100 things about me”. No more about Amy.

26. I forgot to mention that Amy is the reason I am pregnant with baby #2 so fast. She rocks at ovulation scheduling!

27. I have been to the Bahamas once with my 10th grade choir class.

28. I had caviar while on the cruise to the Bahamas.

29. I would love to go on another cruise, but Bryan and I think that we’ve seen too many shows about people who go missing on cruise ships. No cruises for us, thanks.

30. We lost our home to foreclosure and were once devastated by it. That was the best thing that ever happened to us!

31. We are “renting” my mom’s house while she is working overseas in Qatar.

32. My mom and I have not been this far apart since before Gracie was born.

33. My mom is hoping she can come back for Baby #2’s birth in August. I am praying.

34. I am a huge fan of the Backstreet Boys. I have traveled as far as California to see them (and survived an earthquake!) and I’ve also met three of them on three different occasions.

35. I have pictures of myself with two of the Backstreet Boys I’ve met – one of them was when I was five months pregnant with Gracie!

36. I saw the Backstreet Boys in Georgia when I was five months pregnant with Gracie.

37. I will be seeing Jeff Dunham in March in Georgia when I am five months pregnant with Baby #2.

38. Bryan and I want a new car for our growing family. Just not a van.

39. I am not close friends with anyone I went to high school with.

40. I haved lived in Alabama, Florida, Germany, Virginia, and Alabama again because my mom was in the Air Force.

41. My oldest friend is from seventh grade and her name is Carolyn.

42. Carolyn and I are pregnant at the same time. She is further along than me, but that is a neat experience.

43. My sister in law is also pregnant. She is due in June. I think she and Carolyn are about the same term in pregnancy.

44. I just found out that one of the girls in my Sunday School class is pregnant and due in September. There is something in the water.

45. I have perfect attendance in Sunday School (not to brag). I am still waiting for my button.

46. I love Target. I would live there if they would let me.

47. I love popcorn. I have not been able to stand much of it during either pregnancy.

48. I did not have morning sickness during either pregnancy. Not to brag.

49. My friend Amy likes to brag about the people who follow her blog. I am hoping she reads this and leaves me a snarky comment. Amy likes to use the word snarky. I have stolen it from her.

50. Amy’s brother-in-law, Jason, prayed her into having a boy. She is going to talk him into doing the same thing to me.

51. Jason and Kellyn are going with us to see Jeff Dunham. So are Alli and Zach.

52. We still have two Jeff Dunham tickets to sell. Do you want to buy them?

53. It will be my first out of town trip without Gracie.

54. I am paying my sister Kayla to stay overnight with Gracie.

55. My favorite Jeff Dunham character is Walter.

56. I work for Winn-Dixie. I have worked for them since 1996.

57. I have a degree in Sociology but have never put it to use.

58. I do not regret going to school to get a degree.

59. My best friend, Kim, and I met at Winn-Dixie in 1997. She moved to New York with her fiancée (now husband) in March 2008.

60. Kim and I love to quote lines from Bill Cosby, Himself.

61. We have seen it so many times we pretty much have it memorized.

62. I have my great-grandmother’s pearls.

63. I wore her pearls on my wedding day.

64. Someday, I will give the pearls to Gracie in her wedding day.

65. It is too soon and I am too hormonal to be thinking about Gracie getting married.

66. I love to read. I just don’t get to do it as much as I used to.

67. I am terrified of driving in the rain.

68. I am terrified of riding in the car when Bryan drives.

69. I don’t mind bugs. Except for crickets. They creep me out.

70. People think I look like my mom. Unless they have seen my dad.

71. I am my dad’s only child.

72. He has seen his granddaughter about four times and not at all since her first birthday.

73. I am the oldest of thirteen grand children.

74. My cousins think I am the favorite grand child to my grandparents. I agree with them.

75. I think my grandmother and I are a lot alike and that is why I am her favorite.

76. I was close to my cousins during childhood, but not so much anymore.

77. I am running out of things to say about myself.

78. I am addicted to Chapstick. If I lose a tube, I just buy another one.

79. I like to keep up with our checkbook and keep it balanced – even though math was my worst subject in school.

80. English was my best subject in school.

81. I just talked to Amy on the phone and told her what I said about her in my 100 things. She said in her defense, she does not brag about who reads her blog (did I tell you that Amy is a compulsive liar?)

82. My favorite color is pink.

83. My favorite food is chicken.

84. Can you tell I am running out of things to talk about?

85. Bryan makes fun of me because when we go out of town – even for a weekend – I have to make a list. For clothes to pack, maps to the places, any tickets we need, etc.

86. We took my mom’s van to Gracie’s first mini-vacation to the Georgia Aquarium last summer.

87. The battery died on the van while we were there.

88. When Bryan and I flew out to Utah when my mom lived there (2001), we left our backpacks in her van. We missed our flight because we had to get them.

89. When my mom came home in July 2008 for a month, we went to Gulf Shores and stayed at my aunt’s condo.

90. Gulf Shores was Gracie’s first official beach trip.

91. The photo in my blog header is from that trip. It is one of my favorite pictures of Gracie.


92. I would like to go on another (small) vacation before the baby is born.

93. I love to take road trips.

94. I love to cook.

95. I don’t like to dust or vaccum.

96. I don’t mind doing the laundry, but I also wash and dry it and never put it away.

97. My wedding anniversary is March 20th. I will have been married for five years.

98. I am excited about a lot of things happening in the spring/summer.

99. I am not looking forward to being totally pregnant in the middle of the summer.

100. I am looking forward to Gracie being a big sister!

That was so much fun until about halfway through. Now that I'm done, I will not be doing that again.

2.03.2009

More Updates on "Little Spot"

Sorry for the lack of posts! Life has just been zooming by us these days. Plus, our church is preparing for our Easter production of "The Sacrifice" and Sundays are pretty much booked all day now with church and rehearsals.

Anyway, last Saturday I was off work (shocking!) and Gracie and I made plans to go to Build-A-Bear at Eastdale Mall. To make a long story really sweet and simple, my mom was living in Destin, FL when I found out I was pregnant with Gracie. On a weekend visit to her house we visited an outdoor mall that had a Build-A-Bear - the first time I'd ever seen one. So Bryan and I picked out a Little Lamb we dubbed "Baby Nelson" and went through the whole process of building a bear (or in our case, a lamb). After explaining that to Gracie I told her that we just had to build one for her new baby brother or sister (FYI on those who guessed on the sex: I am still sticking to my guns that it is a girl! - more details on the gender date below!)

What's next? Why, photos of Gracie building her new baby a bear!

Picking out the bear and loving it!

Dropping in the heart...

Stuffing the bear!

Washing the bear!

More loving on the bear!

In other news I had my latest OB appointment yesterday which also resulted in me getting to leave work early! Yay! Anyhow, Bryan and I had lunch at Logan's and then headed to my appointment. When the nurse came in she asked about my "button nose" and after a look of sheer confusion she mentioned the "little angel" I brought with me last time. She remembered Gracie! Anyhow, she told us we would be able to hear the baby's heart beat today although sometimes earlier in pregnancies that is kind of difficult. But if she tried and had no luck, she would let the doctor try.
She ended up having no luck and when the doctor arrived - he had no luck either. He said something about ordering an ultrasound and making sure "everything was alright" which sent me into panic mode for a number of reasons. I have been stressed out more during this pregnancy. I've also had three nightmares about having a miscarriage, which is not something I experienced with Gracie. So while I felt like the ultrasound could be a blessing (putting my mind at ease about my worries) it was also beginning to freak me out.
So in a total fog I went down to the ultrasound room, trying to control the pounding in my head. It took two seconds of staring at the ultrasound screen before my eyes locked on the baby's frame. Right after that the tech turned on the heart doppler and you could hear it loud and clear - 155 and strong. I explained to the tech what the doctor had said, and she replied with "baby looks fine, heart rate sounds fine too. Everything looks good here!"
Feeling a thousand times better (and clutching updated pics of Little Spot in my hand) I took the paperwork back up to the doctor who agreed with the tech - all was well. We made our next two appointments (one for March 5th, the GENDER APPOINTMENT IS APRIL 1ST!!!). Someone asked me why I didn't change the gender appointment - we actually did that on purpose. Plus, it's the first Wednesday we could go - and Bryan is off on Wednesdays.

And to finish up my post.....LITTLE SPOT! (12 weeks and 2 days)