Best picture EVER

This is a picture of my new baby girl, Ryland, holding her big brother's finger...how perfect is that? I'll post more pictures and the full story soon, but I just had to share this in the mean time.

I just ran across this picture of my babies from Halloween...it was too cute, had to share it.

That is all,
E

prayers yall

My prayer requests are two fold....first for the exciting one:

Guess who's getting induced tomorrow morning? Guess!!!!! Yep, it's me. My doctor was kind enough to agree to induce...and I didn't even have to bring my kids with me to the appointment. My plan was to let Hunter and Cierra do their thang right there in her waiting room so I could show her what my life was like...I was then going to remind her that Kevin would be here to help me out until May 4th so maybe she would draw her own conclusion that it would be beneficial to have him here with the baby as long as possible. But after she did her little check (and stripped my membranes...yowza) she said she would induce me "if I was ready"...was I ready? YES. So Wednesday morning at 5:30 am it is. She said if we don't get there on time they'll give my bed away...so we'll be there at 5:00, just to be safe :)

How weird is it to know the exact day you're going to have your baby? It seems weird to me. A little un-natural, but I'm all for it. April 23, 2008...that's a good date!

This seems a little familiar...I was scheduled to be induced with Hunter as well. 5:00 on Monday morning, November 18. That was 11 days after my due date of November 7th so I was R-E-A-D-Y. I was also F-A-T. I gained 90 lbs with him!!! I was just sure I'd give birth to a toddler. I'm not a small person, I'm 5'9" and proportionate...my ex was a big dude too, 6'3" or something and a big ol gut (but I'm not bitter) so I just KNEW I'd have a big baby with all that weight I gained. So Sunday before I'm ready to finally have my baby girl, Sophie Claire, I had contractions all day and they decided to go ahead and admit me that evening since I was being induced in the morning anyways. Well I went into labor that night and had him bright and early Monday morning...and he (who we didn't know was a he until he was born) weighed in a 7lbs 7oz. That made the other 83 lbs all me...boy was it a journey taking off that weight!

So my Mom is pretty sure I'll go into labor tonight and have a repeat performance of Hunter's arrival. I'm pretty sure it'll include a penis as well. I'm just sure I'm having a boy again. Every dream I've had about this baby it's been a boy...and every stranger who stops me to make a comment like, "my, you're pregnant" (really?) tells me they think it's a boy...plus I just can't trust an ultra sound prediction of a girl. Regardless of the fact that many friends have had girl ultra sounds that turn out to actually be girls, I'm still skeptical.

Anywho, so my prayer request from yall is simply for a healthy baby (boy or girl, induction or not)...I know I can handle the pain, I mean I'm not looking forward to it per say, but I can do it. I just want a healthy baby...and I really want to be able to nurse this baby. I know it'll be a struggle in the beginning, so please pray for my patience and stick-to-it-edness with nursing!!!!! Hopefully we'll all be home in a few days with lots of exciting pictures to post :)

On a much more maddening/terrifying/helpless feeling note...I also need yalls prayer for an impending court battle. I can't get too much into it, which is soooooooo unlike me...I'm normally an open book who reveals too much, but since I have a public blog on the world wide web (which means other parties involved can read said blog) I can't get into details. But for prayer purposes it involves the custody of Hunter. So while I'm trying to let go and give this up to God so my family can welcome "baby chister" I am plagued with this gut wrenching fear that having a new baby will mean I could lose my first born. Ya, trying real hard to keep it together while I even type this.

So if all eleven (I may be stretching it there) of yall reading this can take the time during the next few days to lift my family up, I would really appreciate it. A healthy baby, a patient Mommy with peace in hear heart and confidence in the Lord would be most appreciated.

Will update with baby news soon :)
E

Nothingness

I am warning you in advance, before you invest the next 3-5 minutes of your life in the blog...there is absolutely no point to this post. No underlying theme, there will be no moral of the story...I may not even be able to corral my thoughts long enough for this to be comprehensible. So there, you've been warned.

With that being said, today is Kevin's birthday....Happy Birthday my Love! He likes to refer to himself as 30. I'm not going to come on the world wide web and sell out his story or anything, but let's just say, hypothetically, if Hunt and CC were to each get him a card that had a 3 on it and they were to sit those cards next to eachother on the table...you see where I'm going with this. So I decided for his birthday I should give Kevin a baby. I have 52 more minutes to make that happen. I think his present may be late. Hopefully just a day or two.

You know who Did have a baby today? Two of my good friends, Justin & Jennifer...when I told Kevin "they" were in labor he said, "really? both of them?" silly boy. I cried like a baby when I saw the pictures of their baby girl. She looks JUST like Justin, and I honestly think I was as excited for them to be parents as I am to meet my own baby. They are amazing people and will be such fun parents. I know that for a fact. I've known Justin since 6th grade and Jennifer since 9th grade...I like to take credit for being very influential in them starting to date in high school. Weather or not I actually was is irrelevant, I like to THINK I was and they are very happily married and now have a beautiful baby girl, so that makes me feel like the world's greatest match maker...and I'm all for awards.

Back to knowing Justin since 6th grade...I had just moved to the neighborhood (and to Texas for that matter) and didn't really know anyone when I started jr. high...also known to be the worst three years of a girl's life. Jr. high is not for the faint of heart. Anyways, so I was new and on the bus to school you couldn't miss the super loud kid with bright red hair who got on the stop after me. I was fascinated, he was so cool...and so NOT shy, how did he do that? So one day after school when I hear some kid yelling in the bayou right past the tee box behind my parents house I go outside and see THAT KID holding his arm. I ran inside and told my Mom that "my friend from school was hurt"...she comes outside, freaking out of course, and finds that Justin has somehow managed to shoot himself in the arm with a BB gun. This is my Mom's favorite part of the story...so Mom takes Justin home and he's being all super brave until he sees his Mom. Then come the tears. You have to know Justin & Janet for this to be as funny as it is. They are such a neat family. Justin and I were very good friends for the remainder of jr. high and high school. He was always welcome at our back door, and at our fridge. Justin's a big football player dude so he ate dinner at my house then again at his house every night for a few years. I am really just SO happy for them to be parents....Jennifer is just as great as Justin. In high school she was captain of the drill team. I remember when she was getting stuff together for her "captain try outs"...as a joke I tried on one of her dancer shirts she was going to preform in. I totally got stuck in it. I played volleyball and I guess her and I were built totally different as 16 yr olds. Gotta love it. Congrats Justin & Jennifer...I love yall!!!!!

What else to report? Oh, the other day Sophia and I went to check out this baby / kids boutique in Cypress and I found the PERFECT coming home outfit for our un-named baby girl. The second I saw it I just knew I had to have it, Fia agreed. It was an off white cotton (blend of some sort...it was almost silky) layette down that was slightly gathered at the bottom, it had a beautiful lace / ribbon overlay at the top, sweet bows on the arms...it was so classic vintage baby girl. You want to know what else it was? EIGHTY SIX DOLLARS. This just kills me about boutiques. After looking at stack upon stack of $20-40 onesies you'd think I would be accustomed to the price tages, but it still blows my mind. Don't get me wrong, the stuff is cute but that's just ridiculous. Why do all the cute boutique finds have to cost 6 times as much as they should? I know a little something about having to charge more for a product when you're hand making things in small batches (from our brief days as coffee shop owners). I also know that if you call a store a "boutique" you're expected to over charge. And clearly people pay the ridiculous prices because there are boutiques every where and most of my friends shop at them...I mean Fia and I were there!!!! But come on now. We're smart girls here, I know it doesn't cost $50 to bedazzle a onesie to say AB/CD like the AC/DC logo...cute as it may be.

My baby is under the impression that there is much more room in my belly than there actually is. When she weighed a pound or two it was cute when she moved around...now that she's more like seventeen pounds (I'm just guessing) the cute little swimming is beyond painful. In one swift movement she can simultaneously crack a rib and break a pelvic bone. I'm all for having an active baby. But be active out here in the air where I can lay you on a blanket and say, "look how cute....she's kicking" instead of "mother of pearl my daughter is trying to kill me". Just a thought.

All this baby talk has decided me to include the following friendly reminders when it comes to raising your children:





Hope it helps clear up any confusion you may have.

Ok then...I hope this wasn't as painful to read as I may have made it out to be. As soon as I download some pictures from my Mom's camera I'll have a real post for you. Plus I'm really hoping to report on a new addition to our family sometime in the next few days.

Long live the queen,
E

first there was myspace

In the days before I fell in love with the blogging world there was myspace...I spent a tremendous amount of time posting "bulletins" on there, mainly filling out surveys because as I've recently come to realize, apparently I like to talk about myself. I'm sitting here on my couch trying not to get excited about the fact that I'm having contractions (because as history shows, they'll torment me all night and then stop in time for me to go to work...not labor & delivery, but work)...so I decided to go grab a survey from the space and fill it out on here. Hey, why not? If you're feeling randy copy and paste it to your blog too...but let me know so I can read it :)

1)Your ex is crossing the street, what do you do?
honk and wave...I have no ill will...then probably post some blog about how weird it was to see my ex crossing the street

2) Your best friend tells you she is pregnant what do you do?
tell her that she shouldn't have drank after me...I've been warning eveyone that they'll catch the pregnancy

3) When is the last time you wanted to punch someone in their face?
today. I am not a person blessed with much patience as it is, mix that with my pregnancy hormones and little things REALLY get on my nerves

4) What is the last thing you spent money on?
lunch, but more importantly I paid for my Mom and I to get mani/pedis on Sunday...it was so much fun and as we sat there in the massage chairs we asked eachother about 14 times why we waited so long to do this...side note, and this is embarrassing, home girl charged me $3 extra, she said my heels were THAT bad...nice...then my Mom and I went to Hallmark to hijack some Burts Bees Foot Cream (we just used the tester) so we could re-moisturize our recently exfoliated feet only to find out that A. we are NOT fans of Burts Bees foot cream as it is extremely oily B. oily foot cream on well worn flip flops makes a mess, and C. going to Hallmark to hijack foot cream testers makes us laugh REALLY hard

I'm skipping 5&6 because they are perfect examples of why I prefer blogging to the space...ick

7) Congratulations! You just had a daughter, her name?
funny you should ask...we don't have a name picked out yet.

8) Congratulations! You just had a son, his name?
Maverick Wayne Pesak

9) What are you craving right now?
labor

10) What was the last thing you cried about?
come on, I'm 9 months pregnant! I cry about most everything! I teared up after I talked to Kevin tonight. I miss him, a lot. Sometimes it just hits me more than others. Like right now, here I go again...

11) When you buy something and your change is 2 cents, you keep it or tell the cashier to keep it?
I give it to my kids...the love "monies"

12) Have you ever blocked someone on MySpace before?
yes, and yet another good reason the blog world is more fun in my book...no need to "block" anyone here!

13) Do you wear a name tag at work?
Not since high school

14) Are you happy?
Oh man, I live one blessed life...I am incredibly happy!

15) Who came over last night?
No one, but I did go to my parent's....again, they probably would love for their grown daughter to spend some time at her own house

16) Have your brothers or sisters ever told you that you were adopted?
No, I'm the older sibling...it was my job to be mean like that, but it never crossed my mind.

17) What was the last movie you watched?
Enchanted, last night with Hunter...we had to rewind the part where the prince got hit by the bikes about 15 times

18) What is in your pocket?
No pockets

19) Who introduced you to your bf/gf/husband/wife?
Erin O...my good friend. She told me her "hot neighbor" was moving back into the house he'd been renting out...she joked about setting us up and I thought, ya right...whatever. Then I met Kevin and said, ya...absolutely HOOK A SISTER UP. Now Erin O and I are neighbors. hahaha. Well we were neighbors, she moved out on Sunday...but that's another post!

20) Where do you hurt?
my bootie...it's supporting too much weight when I sit on it

21) What's something fun you did today?
laughed a lot with Fia (my brother's girl friend Sophia)

22) When is your birthday?
October 12th

23) Is there anything hanging from your rear view mirror?
yes, a former co-worker gave me this little guardian angel thing

24) What kind of milk do you drink?
skim...but I don't drink it, I just put it on cereal

25) What are you going to do after this?
Go to bed...it's 11:30!

26) Do you like pickles?
I love pickles...dill, sweet, bread and butter, home made...love them all

27) Is someone in love with you?
Yes, and it feels amazing....that hot neighbor of Erin O's looooooooooves me

28) Favorite pop tart flavor?
red?

29) What are your plans for the weekend?
have a baby...how many times can you say your weekend plans are to have a baby? I love it! Plus Kevin gets home on Saturday, happy sigh

30) Do you like the color green?
ya, sure

31) Who was the last person to send you a text message?
Kevin

32) Last restaurant you went to?
Thai place with CC Saturday night

33) How many hours did you sleep last night?
I woke up every hour on the hour, so maybe 5...at best

34) Do you yell at your parents?
Never, and the fact that I used to makes me so embarrassed...I was such a brat

35) Do you think someone is thinking about you right now?
doubtful...most anyone who would be thinking about me is asleep

36) Have you ever changed your clothes while in a vehicle?
many many times

37) Do you like your name?
I love it.

39) What do you do when you are bored?
I would love to be bored...I don't have time to be bored, so I really have no idea

40) What does your last text message say?
something really exciting about our taxes I think

41) How old are you?
27...and a half

Yep...it worked, contractions stopped...sigh.

This is me being patient,
E

recent obsessions

When I started this blog nine months ago...and when I revived it about a month ago, my intentions were to use this as a way to keep my friends and family in the loop on the happenings with my kids and sort of like an on-line memory book...well as it turns out, I seem to write much mroe about myself than I do about my seeds. Maybe I need to re-think my "vision"...with that being said, here is a list of my current obsessions and favorite things:



Arizona Sweet Tea...it is the only beverage I find refreshing that does not give me heart burn so bad I feel like I'm going to blow fire ala the dragons in fairy tales (TMI? sorry, it really is that bad). So I've been buying this tea like it's nobody's bidniss...the guy who works at the corner store by my parent's house chuckles when I waddle in because he knows exactly what I'm going to buy...and when I come in an hour later for another can he just smiles at me, he must suffer from reflux, I think he feels my pain.






Kerri Russell





Why you ask? Because the last two movies I rented and absolutely fell in love with were August Rush







and Waitress





Oh man, if you haven't seen those...go rent them. They were tear jerkers but with happy endings and I just loved them. Both movies are totally far fetched, but whatever...I don't watch movies for the reality of them, I want to FEEL good and they both accomplished that. So Keri Russell...she's my girl. Plus I think she's so cute. Love her. Moving on.

Was is my pregnancy hormones? Did this make anyone else cry? I just love this song and I love that they played it on American Idol, I don't care what their motives where...it was nice to hear a "church song" as Hunter calls it, on prime time TV.

**Quick side note....my love of AI on Wednesday was challeneged on Thursday when Michael Johns got the boot. It reminded me of when Chris Daughtry got elimnated and I quit watching for the remainder of the season. I've since decided that not winning was the best thing that could have happened to him and I'm hoping the same for MJ...I LOVED his Dream On preformance and I love his accent. I'll buy his CD when it comes out, and I'm sure it will**

This is a Mini Donkey...I want two when we move to Montana. I want them BAD, it'll be like having horses but way better...because they're MINI. My friend's sister has a few minis at her little ranch in San Marcos and she says they're a lot of fun. Plus Hunter's a cowboy and unfortunatley his Mom is terrified of horses and most other animals, large or small, so a mini is about the best he'll get.

3 Muskateers Mint...it needs no explanation, it's delicious

The beauty sitting next to my in the green shirt is my great friend who's also named Erin, I like to call her Erinly...she lives in CT (by way of Tomball) and I LOVE her, if she lived closer we'd probably be joined at the hip...

Anways, I was admiring this tote bag from LL Bean she'd gotten as a bridal party gift, so what did I find on my door step this morning? THE TOTE BAG...in red, with my name on it...and a sweet note that said Mommy needed a gift with all the things people were buying for baby. It was so thoughtful! Totally made me tear up. I put my purse inside it just so I could carry it around today!

At work on Thursday the Fed Ex guy brought me a box from 1-800-flowers. My hotness sent me a bouquet of tulips that was so big they almost didn't fit in the vase that came with them! They are so beautiful and it was so unexpected...the note said, "See you soon. I love you". You're jealous aren't you? I don't blame you. He's amazing like that. AMAZING I tell you.

Anyways...I could go on, but it's 12:28 and my girl wakes me up at 7:15am on the dot...so there are a few things I'm in love with right now. I know you didn't ask, but I thought I'd share anwyays...I'm thoughtful like that :)

Good night,

E

Fashion Fiesta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Party time!!!!!

There is not one thing exciting about seeing all three shirts and one pair of maternity jeans that still fit me, so for my version of the Fashion Fiesta here is a smattering of things I can't wait to wear...in no particular order.

OK...well this one is in order. I am absolutely in love with Lucky Brand Jeans, they are my go-to brand, they are long enough, they fit me...or well they fit me 9 months ago, I'm sure they will again soon!

For the first seven months of my pregnancy the only maternity clothes I wore were some bellow the belly jeans from Gap (and that was only after I retired my Lucky's...they were cut low enough to fit under my bump for a long time) so I'm going to try really hard to steer clear of any shirts / dresses that could be worn by a pregnant chic, which this one could be...but it's just so summery and fun, I'd wear it with some fun flat sandals (with the Lucky's of course) and gold filagree earings oh and maybe this...my vision also includes a tan and the sudden loss of all baby weight, so it may be a little far fetched...but this is a FIESTA people, let's have a little fun!

I pretty much only shop for clothes at Target, Old Navy and Forever 21...I can't justify spending that much money on my clothes, plus styles change so often and I get sick of things pretty quickly.

I LOVE dresses, I think they're the easiest thing in the world to wear...and you can dress them up or down with your shoes and jewelery, plus they hide imperfections much better than jeans and a tank top! A few dresses I have my eye on for this summer are as follows: this super cute yellow one (which also needs the tan I have left over from my previous vision). This one I'd wear to a wedding Kevin and I are going to this summer, it's all his college buddies and I kinda NEED to look smokin hot...it's an overly ambitious thought on my part because I'll be about 6 weeks post partum, but a girl can dream :) Oh this one, super casual & comfy looking...love it. I can see this dress with some strappy heels OR flip flops, that makes it pretty much perfect in my book. Cute. Love it. Are we noticing a trend here? I love this style of dress, I just always feel like they make me look pregnant though, and I can promise you that I will be running like the wind AWAY from anything that makes me look pregnant this summer. I need to move on from Forever 21 and their dresses now.

I'm sure this would have been much more enjoyable had I taken the time to upload the pics instead of making yall click on links...but you know what? It's my first fiesta, cut a sister some slack.

I've also been looking and looking for a picture, but I have these jeans with holes in them that are beyond comfy, I LOVE them and I wear them all the time with tank tops and fitted t-shirts, I just can't demonstrate that right now in my late stage of gestation...but just imagine them, they're amazing.

So I guess my "style" is casual / comfortable...nothing too complicated because it stresses me out. I'm excited to see if anyone else did this and what their "uniforms" are!!!!

Kiss,
E

Major Announcement

Hey..all six of yall reading my blog...I think I'm going to pretend I'm a real blogger and participate in Big Mama's Fashion Fiesta this Friday.







The idea is for everyone to show what their "uniform" is...show clothes from their closets that represent their style. Well my style as of late has been anything that will fit over my ginormous belly, so I'm going to participate in the second part of the fiesta...the part where I show yall what I can't wait to wear when I'm no longer eligible for line backer tryouts...sounds like fun huh?

So do it too...or if you don't have a blog just leave a comment with pics of your uniform or your dream outfits. Come on, it'll be fun, everyone's doing it...if you love me you will :)

And while I have yalls attention...I soooooo thought I went into labor last night. I was up from 3-8am with contractions, good ones too, but before they got predictable or painful enough for me to justify waking my Mom up with a phone call, they stopped. So there's nothing REALLY major to announce.

That is all,

E

Baby Update

I was so busy being deep last night I forgot to post all the exciting news about my check-up yesterday! Apparently I'm going to have a baby any day now. She's grown a LOT since my visit last week and I've "progressed nicely". If anything the doctor is worried she'll get too big, so IF I'm still pregnant on the 21st we'll set an induction date. I was so "deer in the headlights" when she told me I could have a baby any day that I didn't ask her many details...but all I know is I'M ABOUT TO HAVE A BABY....yes, that just sunk in. Nine months later it hits me :)

George Strait vs. a Cheeto

I'm pleased with my blog title...

I LOVE our pastor. He is someone you just enjoy listening to, he has a great voice...and you can tell he is passionate about Christ so he's just very...engaging I guess you could say. I genuinely look forward to his sermons every week, he always speaks to me and this week was no different. In fact his sermon stuck with me so much I just have to share it with yall.

Pastor Chris has a great sense of humor and he always starts his sermons out with a video clip of some sort and usually some funny pictures on a slide show...just a way to get you hooked in the beginning, he's smart like that. This week he showed us pictures where people had seen the likeness of Jesus in the wood grain on their door, or in a cloud, the smoke from 9-11, etc...my favorite was the Methodist Pastor who saw Jesus in a cheeto...he called it Cheesus. I'm sorry, that's just funny.

Hi point was that we all get so wrapped up in our day to day that we forget to see God in our everyday lives...we don't see him in the simple blessings but instead we look for these huge parting of the seas signs, like Jesus in a Cheeto. It reminds me of that George Strait song, I Saw God Today, where the guy in the song / story (I like to think of him as George himself) sees God in a flower growing up from a crack in the cement, a couple newly pregnant and then in the birth of his daughter...it totally makes me cry, but the idea is right on with what Pastor Christ was saying. How many miracles do I over-look every day because I've just stopped noticing?

Today I saw God in my 37 week checkup...I'm still pregnant at 37 weeks! Thank you LORD!!!! Every day my baby spends growing inside me is a day she needs in there, and what a miracle that is! I've never had to experience the heartbreak of giving birth to a baby who wasn't "ready" yet, or go through the agony of infertility. It really is the MIRACLE of life, I mean my body is growing a baby inside of, it...and it knows just when the right time will be for her to be born, come on...it doesn't get much greater than that!

Last night as I was falling asleep I thought back on this weekend and all the ways I "saw" God...the list is just endless. It's more than I can wrap my head around. I feel so undeserving sometimes; I've spent the last 10-11 years making one bad decision after another and here I sit with blessings all around me that I just flat out do not deserve. I have been given so many second chances and I never saw them for what they were. All along there was a forgiving and patient God who was waiting for me to see in myself what he's seen in me forever. It was a long and painful road but I feel so unbelievably thankful that I'm at a place to see that now. It'll probably always be a struggle for me to feel like I'm worthy enough, but I know that if I take the time everyday to acknowledge his hand guiding me through my journey it'll make it a lot easier...just the thought that I'm not doing this alone make me feel more at peace.

I guess the thing that's stayed with my since Sunday morning is that God is all around us everyday, dropping little reminders that he has our back...we just need to open our eyes and see them for what they are.

random things overheard at my parents house

Shout out to double digits on my site meter...woo hoo, ya I said double

Like every Friday, we're over at my parents house...I'm laying on the couch enjoying the free time I get when my kids are playing with Grandma and Grandpa when it just occured to me to take note of some of the things you can overhear in this living room:

Grandma to Hunter, "it makes Jesus happy when you share with Cierra"...if you throw Jesus in the mix you can get my kids to do most anything.

Hunter to Cierra "eat it, it's cowgirl food"...if you call anything cowboy food Hunter will eat it and I guess he assumed the same for CC, he was right...she ate it.

Hunter busting out in random song lyrics, "I heard the door slam, I couldn't tell, was it just the wind or was she mad again? oh yeaaaa, she's gettin in her car"

my Dad, after eating a few packages of Zingers, "I need to go to some sort of rehab for sugar, step away from the Hostess..."

me to Hunter, "I can fit both of your bootie cheeks in one of my hands...that's amazing" Hunter hates it when I demonstrate this fact to people. I love his narrow little hiney.

Hunter, "it's Marshall time...but I'm not the Marshall, I'm Wyatt Earp" taking off his pirate dress up clothes to put his brown suede vest with fringe on instead,"I'm going to use my six shooter, I need to practice for when I'm six and get a REAL six shooter"...ummmmm

My Mom and Hunter, "it's not a kitty, it's a whale" "oh ya, it could be a whale"...um, how can something be a kitty or a whale? those aren't even close!

Me to CC, "oh good job sew-er girl" (she's playing with this little pretend sewing thing) CC: "I not sew-er girl, I sew-er Paul Scheidt"...Hunter's middle and last name are Paul Schiedt, CC is Cierra Grace Pesak but right now everyone ends in Paul Scheidt to her..it's hilarious.

Cierra to Grandma, "I trouble...I trouble Paul Scheidt", I rest my case.

Hunter, "Oh the horse's name is Lilly? Scooby Doo would say it Rirry"...he likes to translate words into Scooby talk

Cierra to Grandma "look, I got BOOBIES"...she's a little obsessed, for her third birthday she got a Barbie and the first thing she noticed was her boobies...oh here we go again, my Mom to Cierra "are you going to sew this kitty?" CC "ya, I sew kitty boobies"

I love my family...

Labor?

Today I had my first, "could this be it?" moment...since I'm online posting a blog, it clearly was NOT it.

Off topic...CC likes to make up songs and right now she's singing, "Daddy not a girl....Daddy not a girl, you not a girl, why you not a girl? peecause you not, you not, you not a baby, baby...you not a baby, ok you not a baby, you a girl"...while she's sitting in the toy box. The toy box / ottoman that Kevin and I made together a few months after we starting dating when I convinced him that, suuuuure I knew how to build and upholster an ottoman...I'm crazy domestic / handy / good to keep around like that. I've seen more attractive ottomans in my time but it's one of my most prized possessions :)

Anyways, so as I've mentioned before, I'm insanely and ridiculously busy at work these days....and my natural instincts to want to please everyone and accomplish everything have taken their tole on me. Even if I wasn't 36-1/2 weeks pregnant I'd be exhausted. At around 1:30 I started feeling BAD so I figured I was hungry and I ran up the corner to McDonalds (french fries are the one thing that sounds good when nothing else will do)...by 2:00 I reasoned it wasn't hunger and I still felt awful. I was having horrible back pains that started increasing in frequency and even began radiating around to the front. After about 30 minutes I couldn't concentrate anymore...I was hurting! So finally at 3:00 I decided to go home and try to lay down, see if I could get them to stop by changing positions. So I came here and passed out, it did help, the pains stopped as soon as I laid down but when I got up to get the kids from school they started again. Even now, I feel pretty crappy...random practice contractions and back pains but just over all feeling like poo, feeling like someone 3 weeks away from giving birth I guess.

Tonight is clearly one of the nights I would do most anything to have Kevin home. Besides REALLY being able to use the help with the munchkins, I just want him here when I don't feel good...I guess he's my 6'4" ridiculously attractive security blanket. Him or my Mom (but she has plans tonight for the first time in ages...the audacity, I kid). Since asking Kev to make a 2,000 mile trip just because I don't feel good is a little out of the question I guess I'll find comfort in Blue Bell instead...can't hurt :)

Getting closer,
E

I had no idea...

I pride myself on knowing a LOT, I mean there is a ridiculous amount of knowledge in this head of mine...I'm incredibly worldly (I'm hoping everyone can pick up on my sarcasm here) but I had NO CLUE that:

1. one of my dearest friends was married to a man who could speak like this
2. that human trade / slavery was still this prominent
3. that I could sit here on my couch and be so moved by something...I'm pleading with everyone who could be reading this (all four of yall, ha ha)...I mean it, find 45 or so minutes, open your hearts, mute American Idol (you can find out who gets voted off tomorrow) and just take these words in. It's some beautiful honesty...a God who is begging for us to just be ourselves and be real when we come to worship...AMEN brother.

Dinner

I made one of my favorite meals tonight for dinner, salmon with orange & soy, pretty much not expecting my kids to eat it...I mean if it's not fruit, pizza or able to be dipped in ketchup I don't hold out too much hope...but to my surprise, not only did they eat it, but they liked it!

Little background info, when Hunter was little one of the first things he ate off my plate was salad with Dorothy Lynch dressing. My Grandpa in North Dakota has eaten it for as long as I can remember and it's easily one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted, if you can find it in your store...try it, please...for me, try it, you won't be sorry (I sound a little pathetic begging like this, but it's really in your best interest). Anyways...so when Hunt was little (little as in he hadn't mastered walking yet) he'd pull himself along the couch to where I was sitting and sit there with his mouth open like a little baby bird wanting a bite of my salad, as long as it had Dorothy Lynch on it. At first he wouldn't even chew the lettuce, I'm sure there is some rule about not feeding babies lettuce...but I'm not big on rules, especially when it comes to food...so he'd pretty much just suck the dressing off the lettuce, but eventually he moved on to actually eating the entire salad. To this day, "salad" (it's really just lettuce) with DL is one of my son's favorite foods. He's even gotten his sister on the bandwagon...she likes her "salak" too.

**side note, "salak" is one of the few words that Cierra will actually pronounce the "s" in...she goes to "leep" she likes to "wim" when she gets hungry she wants a "nack" she goes to "chool"...you get the drift"

Well if you remember Cierra's and my infamous trip to HEB last Friday, one of the other things we got (besides the aforementioned salmon) was a huge head of romaine and a Tuscan Melon. I made myself an awesome salad with green apple, Gorgonzola crumbles and glazed walnuts in an easy vinaigrette to go along side the fish and I thought I'd make the main course seem more appealing to my offspring by serving them a salad with DL along side...I even cut up the Tuscan Melon as more bribery (my seeds prefer fruit over anything else on the planet). The rule in my house is that they at least need to take one bite of something before they decide they don't like it. I fully expected them to take the obligatory bite and call it a night, but they took one bite...then another one, and one more...before I knew it, my kids ate all their salmon. It warmed my heart. I love the idea of kids that will eat more than chicken nuggets...so it may be baby steps, but they're branching out. Hunter even put some of the green apple from my salad on his lettuce!

Not that I blame them, the fish really is that good! I marinate the salmon in orange juice, soy sauce, minced garlic, dried oregano, fresh parsley and lots of black pepper....throw it the oven then under the broiler and you'regood to go (unless I'm eating it in a sushi roll, I like my salmon cooked through, so if you don't I'd skip the baking and just broil it).

I'm so happy about the food eating incident that I have half a mind to go get my kids chocolate shakes to celebrate...and it's not because I want a chocolate shake, it really is for them...I swear ;)

love in an elevator,
E

AHHHHH it's April

Today is April first so I can FINALLY say "this month" when people ask me when I'm due!!!!!!! It also marks the start of the longest month of my life. To anyone reading this who's been pregnant, you feel my pain. It's a mix of "I can't wait to meet her / I can't wait to not be pregnant / and oh crap, I'm having a baby in four weeks...or less!"

So yesterday I had my doctors visit which marks the beginning of my once a week visits...the baby is in position, my cervix is soft, my bp and proteins are good, not dilated at all yet (is this TMI?) so I guess I'm progressing as I should be. Kevin and his Dad swear I'm having the baby on the 20th or 21st because of the full moon...and for some reason I've always thought the 20th or 22nd, so maybe! I guess we'll see in a few weeks!!!!! My due date is April 28th and I'm just praying that she stays in as long as she needs to do develop fully, and not a day longer...I'm ready man! Hunter was 11 days late, so I guess there's the possibility I could even have her on my Mom's birthday (May 6th), and while that would be special...I'd prefer to have her closer to Kevin's birthday on April 18th :)

waiting patiently,
E