The Ten Things

Ten Things you may or may not know about me....
Tagged by Shea


1. I play Mario Party on Adam's DS every night before I go to bed.

2. I love Starburst Jelly Beans. But I like to eat them in a certain color order. First the yellows. Then the pinks and oranges. Then the greens and reds. I don't really care for the purples. But I will eat them.

3. This one is kind of gross... I love for my golden retriever Charlie to lick my feet. He knows this. It is kind of a afternoon ritual.

4. In the mornings I listen to The Opening Drive. Its a sports talk show. I do this so I can sound like I know what I'm talking about when discussing sports with Adam and my Dad.

5. Three out of five workdays I wear maternity pants to work still. This is partly because I am still carrying twenty extra baby pounds. And partly because they are comfortable. I really like no zippers or buttons.

6. I have had gray hair since I was twelve. Pretty much everyone who sees me will know this now because since I have been back to work I haven't had time for cut or color. I have pretty gray roots. Esp. for a twenty seven year old.

7. I am a terribly light sleeper. I wake up at Adam's every move. I enjoy sleeping in king sized beds where he is far away. Or taking NyQuil or a glass of red wine to fall asleep. But that is not responsible when you have a baby in the house who depends on you.

8. My driver's license expired a month ago. I should probably get it renewed.

9. I am not good at finishing projects. I have so many unfinished crafty things in the closet. I love to start things but in the middle of something I'll get distracted or run out of steam. Sometimes I get frustrated because I can't cut straight. I blame Mrs. Hickey. She was my Kindergarten teacher. She got frustrated that I was left handed and took a long time so she always cut my stuff. I say to myself this summer when school is out I am going to finish....

10. I am lonely. I have an amazing husband and good friends here in Tuscaloosa. But since Noah has been born I don't have a lot of friend time. It makes me feel isolated. I wake up, I get Noah up, I go to school, I pick Noah up, I feed him, I eat, I get him ready for bed, I put him down, and I crawl into bed. I might talk to Adam. I might call someone during the commute. Most of you who read this know I am not the best at maintaining long distance friendships. It is one of my worst personality traits. I will not usually initiate contact or getting together. It stems from insecurity and shyness leftover from high school. I feel like I bother people if I call them, or she is too busy for me, or she has new friends she likes better, or if she really wanted to talk to me she would call, or they really don't like me as much as I think they do. Or I am embarrassed I let so much time lapse since last calling or emailing the person. Silly but I convince my self nobody likes me and it becomes a I 'm going to the garden to eat worms mentality. Its a self esteem issue that I pray through everytime I get into this funk. Usually God puts someone in my path to knock me out of the funk and show me I am being silly.

That's the ten. I will tag Emily C. and Jana.

The First Easter

Since Adam works the weekend editor's shift on Sundays I decided it would be great to hold Easter at our house on Saturday and invite all the family that could make it. I didn't know I would have major cold or have spent the day before at the First Round NCAA basketball games with my dad when I made this plan. So the festivities were not quite as Martha Stewart as I would like, but it was a sweet time with our parents. Both sets were armed with cameras. Adam, Noah and I dressed up in our Sunday best to pose for Easter pictures. Much easier said than done with a four month old.

On Sunday we went to our church here in Tuscaloosa. It was a beautiful service and reminded me about our obligations to Christ in light of his sacrifice for me.

Then we came home and ate some of the Honey Baked Ham we bought. In fact I've had it everyday since. It was a big ham.

Here are some of the pictures. Hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter and that God used this celebration to speak to your heart!

The Typical Day

Noah's Aunt Robin lives far away in Texas. She misses Noah a lot. She requested some more videos. So Noah and I talked about and decided to document his typical day. I fiddled around with the new camera and I think I figured out how to convert the video files. So this is for Aunt Robin and others who want to know what Noah does on a typical day.


Dear Aunt Robin,
Mom told me today that you wanted to see and hear more about how adorable I am. So I thought I'd tell you about my typical day. First mom wakes me up really early at 6:30. She changes me and talks to me. Then she hands me to Dad who feeds me and gets me ready for school. At school I flirt with all the girls in my class. Miss Betty and Miss Melissa love me the best. At least that is what mom says. Mom picks me up from school and we have play time. We might take a walk if mom rembers to get the stroller out of dad's trunk. Or I play in the Jumperoo. It is really cool. Wanna see?





Then after a little cat nap, playing in the Jumperoo makes me really tired, it is time for rice cereal. This a new addition to our routine. I really like it because mom sits on the floor with me and makes funny faces. The cereal tastes okay. But I like to keep it on my face for later.





After dinner I spend some time acting really cute for mom and dad. They really like that. If I'm real cute they'll get out the camera and take lots of photos.
Then comes the best part of the day. Bathtime!!! I don't know about you but I really love the bath. Dad says I'm a great swimmer and that I can be on the Auburn swim team.




Taking a bath wears me out. It's a lot of work learning to become a champion swimmer! So mom and Dad (Charlie helps too sometimes) wrap me up and put my p.j.'s on.


Then I get a night night bottle and lots of stories. Mom and Dad both like to read to me so sometimes it takes awhile. I look at the pictures and try to read with them. They love that.


After all the stories and prayers. Mom will hold me close and sing to me till I fall asleep. She tries really hard to sing pretty but between you and me she could use some work!

That is my day. I have it pretty well figured out. The more you smile and do cute stuff the more excited mom and dad get. I've got them wrapped around my little fingers.

I hope everything in Texas is good. I miss you and Uncle Chris. And I love you!!

Love,
Noah

The Students

Being a teacher at PWBHS is hard work if you set out to treat it as a mission to love the kids with God's love. It is heartbreaking. I have kids come to me and ask, "Should I break up with my boyfriend if he got another girl pregnant while we were dating?I think I should stay with him because boys will be boys and I know he loves me." I overhear conversations about kids who don't know where their mother is, haven't seen her in a couple of days. I hear conversations about kids who have never met their father. I hear more cuss words and degrading comments about girls bodies and sex than I ever thought I would. I've seen photos of the kids guns. I've had conversations in class with kids trying to argue the point for killing a schoolmate if they make fun of them. I want to stand in the middle of my room and scream,

"No! This is not love. If he loved you he would have eyes and thoughts of only you. Hold out for it. It is worth it. No! Waving a gun around is not courage, it is fear. Being brave is backing down from a fight that isn't worth dying for. You don't have to wear that, drink that, smoke that, say that, sleep with that to make someone love you. Open your eyes! Look at what God has done for you. He loves you. Stop turning your back on him! Let him love you and show you what real love is. Don't waste this oppurtunity to learn and leave all this behind you."

Instead I say, " Okay class! Marie Antoinette married Louis XVI in 1770." I say it with a smile. I hope the smile communicates God's love. That maybe it speaks to them and they don't even know it. But sometimes it gets hard to smile, it gets hard to try to love them unconditionally. But then I remind myself of all the times God has stood in the middle of my life and screamed, "Carrie I love you!" and I didn't hear or choose not to listen. So I pray instead of giving up because in college when I decided not to teach Kindergarten and do high school instead it was because I thought I heard God say this would be my mission field. I just didn't realize it would be a battlefield too. What makes it so hard is that sometimes I don't get to know if I one the battle or not and I know that I alone will never win the war. But I will fight for God because He asks me to. I will walk into this school everyday I am able and try to love on these kids. But I will also count down to summer's refreshing and renewal. Nine weeks to go!

The Father

For Adam fatherhood began the minute I called him into the bathroom with the positive test. One minute we were going out to eat. The next minute our life was changed for ever. Obviously for the better. But we didn't know that then. Adam took me in his arms that instant and assured me God's plans were bigger and better than ours. He was right. He was right there during all the sickness and blood pressure scares. He never tired of making grilled cheeses or getting milkshakes. He never showed he was nervous about this big step we were taking. And when Noah arrived he acted as if he knew exactly what to do. He was my rock and comfort while Noah was in the NICU. The whole process made me fall deeper in love with him. I love the way he misses him when he is at work. I love the way he plays with Noah and always wants the best for him whether or not its convenient. I love the way his face lights up when Noah smiles at him. He is a partner in the day to day care of Noah and loves his Fridays off at home with Noah. The are daddy/son days and he looks forward to their time together. I've never heard him complain about getting out of bed to give Noah his morning feeding. I just simply love the way he loves Noah. It is a testament of the beautiful character he has. He is an amazing father. He humbles me with the way he serves our little family with God's love and strength. Noah and I are so blessed by the amazing head of our household. And I thank God that he provided me the date I needed for fall formal in 03. My life has been so blessed by that tall Plainsman Editor. What a privilege it is to be loved by such a humble man of God.

New Camera

On Saturday Adam bought us a new camera. I spent the weekend playing around with it and learning about the settings and features. I tested it out on two of my favorite subjects. Noah and Charlie. Charlie's photos come from Saturday afternoon at the dog park. It is actually an abandoned golf course owned by the University of Alabama. It is Charlie's favorite place to go. We went around sunset and threw the ball around with him. It reminded Charlie of the pre-Noah days when we took him there all the time. Noah's shots come from his Botanical Garden photo shoot. He is eating his blanket. He eats everything you put near his mouth. The other one is in his car seat about to go shopping. I am so grateful to have the new camera and excited about all the new images and video it will capture as Noah (and Charlie) grows! Thank you Adam!!

Picture Time

Like many other moms, I decided that Monday was a great day to dress my child in a cute frilly outfit and pack up to take some pictures at the botanical gardens. My mom came with her great camera and we were able to capture some good shots of Noah. There were adorable children everywhere! Noah was so sweet and tolerate our attempts to make him laugh well. It is hard work having your aunt, mom, and MiMi cooing at you adoringly. As soon as we left he turned on the real charm and smiled and laughed like we tried to get him to for the camera. Isn't that the way it goes.

Love Abounding

I love Noah! I just fall in love with my little man more and more everyday. To open my spring break week, MiMi agreed to take Noah for the weekend. I looked forward to spending some alone time with Adam but it was really hard to leave my sweet boy. So MiMi emailed me some pictures she took of Noah and my little sister Emily. She got a new lens for her camera she wanted to try out. I thought I would share them because just looking at his sweet happy face fill my cup overflowing! Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

The Accident

Last Thursday afternoon we were giving Noah a bath. He loves baths. He likes for us to hold his head so he can lay back in the water and float. Then he started this new thing where he pushes off the side of the tub and gets so excited. So I wanted to video this for the blog. So I set the camera down to tie back the curtain to let in more light. Well with Adam and I and Charlie the bathroom gets crowded. Charlie gets excited about bath time and in his excitement he knocked the camera to the floor. Its lens broke. So there will be no video posts or photos for awhile. But I thought maybe if we started a petition for a new camera maybe Adam would let me use our tax return to get a new one. Noah grows so fast and many people can't see him everyday and use the videos and pictures to keep up with their grandson, nephew and friend. Doesn't it sound like a good investment for our tax return?

I love...

I love Spring. Even if it just lasts a weekend.
I love sidewalks, strollers, and dogs.
I love photographs of other peoples babies.
I love how Noah sticks his butt up in the air when he sleeps.
I love being completely honest and raw with your spouse and having them love you anyway.
I love porch swings.
I love college basketball.
I love stupid movies.
I love sleeping until 8 am.
I love girl scout cookies.
I love my son's smile.
I love my husband's eyes and forgiveness.
I love my mom's patient ear.
I love my encouraging friends.
And I love a sweet weekend after a terrible week!