The Nursery Will Be...

Blue!

Today Adam woke up not feeling good at all. But I could not take another day off to reschedule this appointment so Mimi volunteered to go with me. (I didn't even have to twist her arm. Partly because she's a grandmother and she was thrilled and in part because I was hysterically crying when I asked devastated Adam wasn't going to be there. Hormones. Gotta love 'em.) I was nervous and still feeling weak and missing Adam. I was happy that my mom got to be part of the moment though. I immediately began to count all of Miller's parts. Two arms. Two legs. A brain. A spine. And then there it was... his boy parts. And my dreams of tutus, bows and ballet recitals faded for brothers, bunk beds, wrestling, baseball games and more jon jons. I am so excited that Noah will have a little brother. I can already imagine the trouble they will get into! I think Adam is excited because he thinks we already have his wardrobe done ;) Charlie is pumped because he was a little nervous a little girl would make him dress up as a princess. After the appointment my mom and I went in search of Miller's first outfits. It was fun picturing this sweet little boy of mine in sweet bitsy clothes. By the time I was on my way back to Tuscaloosa my dear friend Laura already had mJs monogrammed on an outfit! So sweet. I already have plans for adding to and redecorating the nursery a bit after Noah's car and truck themed big boy room is complete. Here are some sonogram pics. They are bad quality because they came from my cell phone. At some point I will try to scan them.
Is anybody else concerned that my giant looking placenta is going to swallow my baby?? The doctor, my dad, my mom, anyone I showed the picture to said its just the angle... but really its huge and gross looking and it looks like it might smother him. I'm probably going to worry about it a lot.

The Change of Plans

Tonight I was hoping to reveal whether I would be painting the nursery navy or bright pink. But there has been a change of plans. And I blame mostly a boy in my third period that we will call Brandon who came to school very sick and doesn't really know the boundaries of personal space. At one a.m. I threw up, Not unusual. Although I haven't thrown up at night in weeks, usually just in the morning. I didn't think much about it. Dinner just didn't sit right. In an hour and a half I thrown up twice more. Okay, maybe I'm excited about the ultrasound. By seven a.m. I had thrown up an estimated ten times and had conceded to the fact that a) I had a virus and b) I was not going to see this baby today. I had to cancel my appointment. I did want to bring this awful bug to a waiting room full of pregnant women nor could I lift my head off my pillow or imagine making it to Birmingham. Could they bring the ultrasound machine to me?? I threw up a couple more times and eventually kept down some Sprite and a Phenegren. I feel a little better just weak like I threw up a dozen or so times. I am very disappointed. This pregnancy is very real to me because it has been physically more challenging than Noah's but emotionally it is not as real. I was ready for today to put a sweet little face with a sweet little name and buy something special in pink or blue preferably with some initials on it and begin to dream about a real little person who will share our lives in a few months.

Please pray for Adam and Noah. Noah had a stomach bug about a week ago. I am not sure that we had the same one since it was so far apart. Adam has been working very hard this week on a special section for the paper and has been working looonnnggg hours, coming home to help with dinner, bath and bed and then returning to the office. Add to it little sleep because his wife kept making running trips to the bathroom every forty five minutes and we have a very tired man. A saint. But a tired saint. I really don't want him to come down with this.

I am nervous to say that we rescheduled the appointment for tomorrow for fear that I will jinx it but tomorrow is now the new day. Hopefully I will be able to tell you paint colors and share some sweet pictures of Miller.

The First Letter To Miller

Miller,
Last night I was laying in bed praying to go to sleep and I could feel you moving around inside me. Sweet little nudges you were giving me. You have been moving around for weeks but my life is busy and I haven't yet taken the time to reveal in what a miracle your little life is. For these brief months we are inseparable as we go to school, run errands, relax and chase your brother around we do it together. You hear what I hear, you hear what I say. I hope you hear love. I hope you feel in your little warm nest the love that we share in our family. And as I laid in bed awake last night enjoying your nudges I prayed for blessing on your little life. And I began to dream and plan for you. I hope you never feel second to your brother, I do hope you and your brother share an incredible bond and become lifelong friends, I hope you can look up to him without feeling that you are in his shadow, I hope you have big dreams, I hope you learn to be thankful and kind, I hope you value tradition and family, I hope you love to laugh, I hope your smile is contagious, I hope you treat strangers with generosity and kindness, I hope you have your own opinions and speak up for them, I hope you sleep well, I hope you find out what successful means to you and you become it, and most of all I hope you come to know and love Christ at an early age and that you find your security and comfort in His words and ways. I love you already as does your dad and more importantly your Father in Heaven. I hope you always remember that no matter what life may bring you or to us. Tomorrow I get my first real look at you. I can't wait to see you on the screen and count your toes and fingers and see you little face and to find out whether you are a daughter or a son. So that when I feel your little kicks and nudges I know more about my little Miller! Love to you always,
your momma

The Weekend of Nephews and a Niece

Wow. What a busy week capped by a busier weekend! Prom is a short three weeks away. It is not nearly as stressful as last Spring. We have scaled things back and our location does not require much decoration. I think my lower stress level might have something to do with my intern Brandi who is doing a great job! I don't worry about much which allows me to work on prom and other extra responsibilities at school. This week's afternoons and evenings were filled speaker's forums, meetings, baseball games, Mom's Night Out, and preparing for our weekend. (My blood pressure remained pretty reasonable during the week and I kept my feet up during the down moments.) Saturday we had a full schedule. On the calendar were a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, three birthday parties, and a shower for my sister Jenny and my niece Lillie which I was helping to host. We had to pick and choose what was possible for us. We had to go to Birmingham for the shower, so the Easter Egg Hunt and one of the birthday parties we sent regrets to. I went to the shower while Adam and Noah attended the 1st Birthday Party of this little cutie. I was sad to have to miss out. But I loved getting to celebrate Jenn and my Lillie! Later that evening we went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate my nephew Michael's 8th Birthday.Before that crazy adventure I managed to squeeze in a thirty minute nap on the hammock with my sweet nephew Xander. He is a sweet little cuddle bug! Then it was on to Chuck E Cheese where we waited in line for an hour to get in. Mike of course had a blast. Noah took a little bit to warm up but pizza and ice cream cake were all he needed. Then he was on to the rides and Ski Ball with Mom and Dad. Noah even earned enough tickets to pick out a race car prize. Then we went and rested up at Nana and Puddin's. We had a great weekend with family and are gearing up for a wonderful spring week of celebrating our Savior!!

I had so many pictures from our weekend and they are in reverse order! Enjoy!


Noah helped me out with the Ski Ball. Interesting. Ever tried to beat your husband at Ski Ball with a two year old as a partner? Please notice his ball :)

Noah did not enjoy his train ride with Barney. He quickly vacated his turn, it wasn't wasted there was an opportunistic four year old who hopped right on.

Noah could not wait to eat the pizza!

There is the mouse himself.

The birthday boy enjoying the day!

Noah being a little overwhelmed

Jenny is not enjoying Chuck E Cheese as much as the kids.

My afternoon napping partner!

Gerber Daisies and monograms to celebrate Lillie!

Food set up and cupcake tree

This is the diaper cake I made. I was really nervous about it but it turned out better than I thought!

Adorable presents for Jenny and Lillie!

Hope everybody enjoyed their weekends!

The St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes

Since I am trying relax and lay low I didn't have big St. Patrick's Day plans for Noah. But I did think it would be a good time for our first cupcake endevor.
Noah was a big helper! (Don't call DHR, we use Coke Zero in our cake mix, no raw eggs!But in the intrest of full disclosure, brownie mix is probably my favorite food.)
I have chocolate on my face? Where?

My boys in their green waiting for the cupcakes to get out of the oven.

Gotta have green icing! Let's ice those babies.
He's doing a pretty good job.

Adam takes his job very seriously. Charlie really really loves cupcakes.
Happy St. Patrick's Day !

The Things I Haven't Been Talking About

This morning I was re-reading past entries and noticed there were a couple of big things and small things that I didn't mention on the blog.

#1- Last month I turned twenty-nine. You can guess why I didn't dwell on this event. My family and friends were all really sweet but Miller and I had a really bad day together. I threw up five times. Twice at school, which I NEVER do. Maybe it was just the fact that I don't really relish the idea of being twenty-nine. Or thirty. What I did love wass how special Adam made me feel. Gifts aren't really his love language but he sent flowers to school, brought me my favorite take out, and gave me relaxation themed gifts that included a spa gift card. You can't really ask for more. Well besides keeping down my birthday meals :)

#2- The gun at school. Yeah, you read it right. Two weeks ago a student brought an unloaded gun to school. It really wasn't as big of a deal as the media made it to be. He had it in his pants. He bragged about it to the wrong friend who told our school resource officer and within five minutes (seriously, I am not fibbing on that one) he was in custody. Not until he was wrestled to the ground by three officers and knocked over my overhead, projector and computer monitor. Don't worry I wasn't in my room. I was testing in another part of the building and didn't even know about it until afterwards. Then the adminstration put the school on lockdown to sweep for other weapons. None were found. I never felt unsafe and most of the kids were unruffled. Of course it landed us on the front page of the paper. Not really the way we wished. A couple of days later a student was caught at another high school in the community with a gun, cartridge, and drugs around lunchtime (not 8:05 like us) and they got a blurb in the middle of the paper. I was more upset by that than the gun itself. It is concerning that these youths feel that a gun is their only resort to solve issues or protect themselves. It is another peice of evidence that our youth are in trouble and need our serious prayers! It seems to be more and more common.

#3- Lately I have been feeling very crafty. I got out my sewing machine and my mom gave me a strater lesson. This weekend I am going to make some cute dish towels for practice before making Noah some shorts and then hopefully I will work on making dresses for my two neices this summer. And a dog bed for Charlie. And some pillows. And maybe curtains for Noah's big boy room. I have also been saving EBay gift cards and I am now the owner of a Cricut Create Machine. It should be here soon. It is an awesome machine that cuts out letters and shapes from .5 to 11.5 inches tall and up to 6 inches wide. I am hoping to use it to finish up Noah's baby book, making some cards, some decorative accents for the house, and maybe some holiday garland and banners.

#4- I love March Madness!! I have been looking forward to it for weeks. I am so happy it has started. I am actually on the couch (with my feet up, swelling and BP) watching basketball! I have two brackets one I call safe and one that is risky. So far I have already lost one of my elite eight teams and a second round team and they have only finished three games. (I didn't say I was good at it, jist that I enjoyed it!)

There you go. Now you know everything!

The Age?

Noah is really Jekyll and Hyde these days. One minute he his throwing tantrums and the next he is sweet as can be. He will throw his plate on the floor and then say please and thank you for more juice. He will be skipping through the kitchen happy as a clam and then throw himself on the floor heartbroken because Charlie looked at his ball. Through it all he remains adorable in is mother's eyes. Today I have just fallen more in love with the little boy of mine whose personality is growing and growing. A few stories:

We were in the car and he began pointing out cars and trucks. There were too many and he started singing, "car,truck,car,car... too many mommy. Where are they going? To see their families? To the store? To Target?"

At nap today I said , "Night night Noah I love you." He answered, "Okay mommy. I love you too Mommy."

I bought him a bubble wand at Michael's and gave it to him in the car because it would pacify him but I knew he couldn't open it without my help. "Mommy we need scissors please."

Driving in the car Noah pointed out some blooming trees and said, "what do those trees look like mommy?" To which I replied, "They have little white flowers." Noah said, "I want to eat those flowers. Can I eat them mommy?" "No. They are yucky. They will make your tummy feel yucky." To which he replied, " Cookies don't make my tummy feel yucky. Cookies make my tummy feel good. They have cookies in Target Mommy."

"Guess what Noah?" "I love you?" I guess I say that a lot!

The Spaghetti Night

My boys really love their spaghetti! Good thing since it is super easy it makes frequent appearances at our house. I like to think that because I add garlic and seasoning to the jar sauce that makes it special. Noah +spaghetti =mess.A simple bib is just not enough coverage. We must use a napkin bib. Noah did not want to wear his last night so Adam and I donned ours in support. Noah had some salad as well and I think he really enjoyed it! This maybe a very boring post but I couldn't resist his adorable little spaghetti face!

The Blood Pressure

This past Friday was the start of my Spring Break. Adam and I had plans to take Noah to Parents Night Out and enjoy a date night. When I was getting ready I noticed my feet were pretty swollen. It made me a little nervous. Seventeen weeks is a little early for swelling. Most people know I almost died giving birth to Noah.... apparently I use that story a little too often, and he isn't even a teenager yet :) I had complications with my blood pressure late in my pregnancy causing me to go on bedrest and then to deliver early. Anti-stroke out medicine and induction medicine don't make the best mix for labor. They work against eachother and kept me in a fog. They kept me alive and Noah too so I don't complain too much about it. But swollen feet and face were part of the first warning signs there was a problem. So Friday night I was a nervous about my feet and hands. After a fun dinner we went to a drug store to check on my blood pressure. It wasn't pretty. And I got really scared. My dad did manage to calm me down and said it wasn't so high and the bottom number was not in a dangerous range. It makes me really nervous to start the swelling and variable blood pressure game so soon. I really want carry Miller to term. For many obvious reasons. I also want to spend every minute I can playing with Noah while it just the two of us. My dad is not at all worried. I am drinking lots of fluids and watching my salt. I am trying to rest when I can. I borrowed my Dad's blood pressure machine for a couple of weeks. I get Adam to take it at different times to watch it. I see my doctor in two weeks and I am sure she will reassure me too. Meantime I am just praying that I can let go of worry and that my face, hands, and feet will return to normal.

The Birthday Party for Mimi

Saturday we celebrated Mimi's Birthday here in Tuscaloosa. It has been a long time since Adam and I have entertained. We loved having Mimi, Papa, Emy, Grifin and Xander over for dinner. It was Xander's first road trip and first time at Aunt Carrie and Uncle Adam's house. We made pork tenderloin BBQ sandwiches, loaded mashed potatoes and salad. For dessert we helped Mimi polish off her polka dot chocolate cake from Edgar's. Noah was particularly interested in that endeavor. We had fun celebrating Mimi and surrounding her with he family big and small. Mimi, Noah, Charlie playing race cars!

No table setting is complete until you have the perfect racecars to compliment the setting!


Xander in his Bumbo sitter.

Isn't he adorable?

Uncle Adam and Xander bonding!
Noah and Xander bonding on the playmat. But I don't think Xander wanted to hold hands!