Monday Daybook

Outside my window... might as well be the dead of night, because it's pitch-black. I really hate the "falling behind" portion of daylight savings. I would so rather have daylight on the back end of the day rather than at 7:00 in the morning!

I am thinking... about several blog posts that I'm itching to write. I'm also thinking about finalizing all plans for November and ways to celebrate Christmas at home. That's right, we're staying HOME for Christmas this year! Marty and I decided it's very important for our children to wake up in their own home on Christmas morning, to run down the stairs in their footed jammies and rejoice at the sight of presents while Mommy and Daddy snuggle on the couch, sipping coffee and enjoying the lovely chaos of it all...sigh with me now -- "ahhhhhh."

I am thankful for... a young college student named Jessie. Who is my new day nanny, who starts tomorrow, Hallelujah! She is a doll, this girl, and she singlehandedly helped me go from worried like crazy about having a "stranger" in my house, caring for my son (even while I'm here) to stoked-excited at having some quality help. Jessie genuinely loves children and has excellent experience and credentials. Plus, we already dished on how much we love the Twilight books...I think this one's a kindred spirit. (My other favorite thing about having a nanny? I'm this much closer to actually living like Tori Spelling. HA!!!)

I am creating... a budget. Still. And at the advice of my dearest Kate, we bought Quicken, and may I pass the recommendation on down the line? It's a fantastic program; I especially love being able to hit the "Update" button and get current balances on all checking and savings accounts, plus credit cards. It's so cool, it seems magical.

I am going... to keep the kitchen clean daily. It's like a new obsession of mine. I refuse to go to bed with a single dish on the counter. Let's hope this obsession sticks!
I am reading... The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. It ties in with what I mentioned last week; there's a big ole blog post on this topic coming soon; I'm already drafting it.

I am hearing... "Jeopardy." Marty and I are self-admitted senior citizens when it comes to pre-primetime TV. We truly love a good episode of "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy," even though Marty can't stand Alex Trebec's attitude (I think it's funny).

Around the house... are baskets of clean laundry. I need to clean out my dresser -- I'm sick of piling clothes I use on top of clothes I ignore. It's time to purge!

One of my favorite things... Mrs. Smith's frozen pies. We've been enjoying Dutch apple and it's going to disappear tonight. I wish I could make a homemade fresh pie, but at this point in my journey of (still) growing accustomed to motherhood, in addition to my other roles, who am I kidding? It's going to be frozen pies for the Conways for a few years to come.

Pix and tales from our Easter weekend

So I know my sister is ready to shoot me if I don't put up some belly shots soon, so even though the latest pix of me aren't my greatest, one has to appease one's sister. Here are a couple shots from the doctor's office at our 26-week visit (read more about that here):

Notice the bandage? I honestly don't know why they do blood draws at EVERY visit. And is it just me or am I looking swollen?

Our appointment was on Tuesday the 7th and by Thursday the 9th, we were on the road to an Easter weekend in Mississippi. We decided to stay in Memphis the evening of the 9th, and Marty was thrilled to take me out to his favorite BBQ joint, the famous "Rendezvous." Marty almost had tears in his eyes eating his ribs, but I was actually disappointed in mine. I think I'm just a Yankee, tried and true. Memphis BBQ is seasoned with dry-rub and smoked, resulting in an almost tough texture, whereas BBQ where I'm from means it's dripping with sauce and falling off the bone!

Anyway, the next morning we set off for Greenville, Mississippi, where Marty hails from. When we pulled into the driveway, my sis-in-law Melissa was...what else?...barbequeing!!! Her boyfriend, Keith, had parked his enormous smoker/grill in the driveway and I think they had at least 3-4 animals cooking in there. It smelled amazing and after lots of hugs and belly rubs from the sisters and nieces and nephews, we feasted. I called it "Meat-a-palooza." Then we went to a Good Friday service at the church that Marty and his siblings grew up in, and where Marty's dad was the officiating vicar before his passing last May. The new pastor gave a meaningful and somber message, and we refrained from speaking in the sanctuary. My aunt-in-law Linda sang the "Via Dolo Rosa" and it was very moving. Easter is my favorite holiday and it's so much better when you get the opportunity to observe the entire Passion week.

The next morning started with a big box of Shipley's donuts (quite famous in Greenville) and I can't even describe how good these donuts are...but eat your heart out, Krispy Kreme! Like Melissa says, "You can't eat just 3." :) We sat around the table and ate and drank coffee and just visited. Then we all left to go visit with Aunt Linda for awhile, and when I walked in her house, I noticed about a half-ton of wrapped presents on her fireplace hearth but looked right past it without really seeing it. Melissa said from behind me, with a giggle in her voice, "It's a baby shower!" My response was, quite literally, "Who's having a baby?" I laugh now, but seriously, I didn't say that because I'm dumb or slow (although I'm certainly dumber and slower these days), but honestly, it's because my pregnancy is still very surreal to me at times and I find myself shocked in some moments that I actually get to have this experience!

So after the initial shock wore off, Marty's lovely sisters and aunt got us placed near the gifts and I started opening. Here are a few shots!

This little sleeper says "Daddy's Champ" on it. If you don't know, "Champion" is our son's middle name and his Daddy has taken to calling him "Champ." Marty held the sleeper as if our little guy were already filling it out, and it was such a sweet moment.

We got this set of funny bibs...this one says "Being good is boring!

Finally, this might be my favorite picture. I don't know that Marty has a really strong idea of what a baby activity gym is, but he's so very much enjoying the process of becoming a Daddy. The joy on his face blesses my soul!

In all my life, I've never had a surprise anything -- party, shower, what-have-you. And I was wonderfully surprised, and both Marty and I were just overwhelmed by the generousity of our family. (I'm also overwhelmed by the fact that I can never seem to get any pictures of anybody!!!) Thank you again and again and again, Melissa and Sarah and Linda (and Keith and Nick and Mike and all the kiddos...). We love you guys sooooooo much!

We closed out the weekend with a wonderful Easter breakfast at church, an Easter egg hunt for the kids, and then a beautiful service. It was so hard to leave after all the fun we'd had, but Marty wanted to pace ourselves (in other words, pace ME) on the trip home, so we left for Nashville, where Marty had planned a little evening/day excursion for us at the Opryland Hotel! (If you haven't spent much time in Tennessee, you should know that the Opryland Hotel is like a cruise ship without the water -- it's a massive building with several hotels, restaurants, shopping, entertainment, etc.) We arrived in the evening and got dressed up to go out for a fancy-schmancy meal. Here's me, dolled-up and 27 weeks pregnant:

We knew the prices would be extravagant, but we really wanted to live it up, so we tried our best to ignore the ridiculous numbers attached to the menu items. However, we couldn't ignore that the food was really only just okay, and then it was only too easy to start thinking how we could have spent that money in other ways. Talk about disappointing! When we got back to our room, I started having a really sore throat and wanted to call it a night...which became a very LONG night, as I was up coughing and sneezing and blowing my nose, and basically just miserable because I couldn't breathe, swallow, or rest. In the morning, we ordered a fabulous breakfast tray and that I can say was really pretty good (I had cinnamon waffles with cherries in Grand Marnier syrup with whipped cream...uh, HELLO yummy!). I also got a few good shots out our atrium-facing balcony:

The hotel "exterior" in the Cascades section is done in the New Orleans French style, which of course I loved!

We tried to do some shopping in the hotel, but the bookstore I wanted to visit was mysteriously closed, so we decided our Opryland Hotel stay was a bit cursed. Either that, or we were exhausted from all the traveling and activity (I think it was a bit of both). So we headed home early, and I'm so glad we did, because by the time we got home I was in the throes of one of the worst colds I've ever had! However, small disappointments and one nasty cold notwithstanding, we had a wonderful Easter weekend. Now we're thinking about making the pilgrimage home to Missisisippi every Easter!

More pregnancy information than you can shake a stick at

Pregnancy information about me, that is. I want to start off with a few of my favorite recent interactions with people...

Interaction #1
Random lady at WalMart: *grins at my belly* "When are you due, hon?"
Me: "Oh, not 'til July."
Random lady at WalMart: "JULY???" (Please read as much exaggeration in her tone as you can imagine, and you wouldn't be far off.)

Interaction #2
Dude at church handing me the bulletin: *grins at my belly* "How are you this morning?"
Me: "Oh, pretty good."
Dude at church: "Are you sure you're going to make it through the service?" (Strong implication that he fears imminent labor. I was 25 weeks at the time.)

Interaction #3
Lady I know from church but encountered at Kroger: *grins at my belly* "Wow, you're really coming along there!"
Me: "Yeah, I know, I just really popped out!"
Lady I know from church: "Are you sure you're not having twins???"

I promise you, I invented none of this. In fact, wherever Marty and I go about town, whether we know the people or not, we get comments. All. The. Time. Another example...this past weekend we decided to start stocking up on diapers. We stood in the diaper aisle for quite some time, debating this brand and that brand..."honey, does that one have a slot for the cord?"..."but honey, this one's cheaper"...you can imagine. Anyway, we were actually enjoying getting our feet wet in this tiny area of new parenthood when a lady (who'd been debating paper towels and obviously listening) couldn't help but say aloud, "Gee, you can really tell first-timers!" Her tone was humorous but because from the time I started showing, and I became the target of well-intentioned but rather lame comments, my outward response has always been a smile and a little nod of the head, but inside I can't help but be slightly irritated. Marty always wants me to take it positively, because he sees people who generally just smile at my belly and look at us with an "oh how cute" expression. And I suppose I'd miss some of the comments (ie, attention), but the comments concerning my size...well, I'm just about OVER those.

Anyway, moving on to our Week 26 visit with the good doctors at JC OB/GYN. This time we saw Dr. Pickler, who tends to be my least favorite, but we had a really great visit with her featuring a pretty long Q&A session about labor and delivery. The answers from our session revealed I might need to have a C-section (I need surgical records from a hospital stay from about 5 years ago so they can make that decision). I'm not thrilled with that prospect at all, but from what we were told, a scheduled C-section would be so much preferable and safer, just in case my uterus has been "compromised" by previous finaglings in there (for lack of a better expression!). I would very much like to deliver vaginally, and I was given so much reassurance from Dr. Pickler regarding the practice's general rules for administering episiotomies (only in case baby is in danger, otherwise, patience is the rule!). Big sigh of relief there.

In other news, my BP is excellent at 105/65 and perhaps the greatest news of all, I've only gained 13 pounds my entire pregnancy thus far!!! The average is 16-22 pounds by this point in pregnancy, and I love that I'm staying under the curve. Not that there's anything wrong with gaining the average (or more), but kids, I'm five-foot-two. There's nowhere to hide any extraneous poundage. And who knows, the pounds might pack on yet, so for right now, I'm just going to be very grateful. The shortness of breath is bad enough with the weight I'm already carrying!

My under-the-curve weight has not affected my sweet William, though. The fundus measurement of my belly was 29 cms at 26.5 weeks, which means, good-sized baby who's right on track. There for a minute I got excited, because I know that your gestational weeks and fundus measurement in centimeters should roughly match up, but Dr. Pickler gently burst my bubble by telling me that yes, they generally match up, but with a rule of plus or minus 3 cms either way. Pooh. Will's heartbeat was his usual 148 bpm; I had to giggle because he is so incredibly consistent with his little heartbeat. In fact, I could have guessed 148, because he never wavers out of a range of about 3 bpms!

I also did the glucose test; I had to drink "Hawaiian punch"-flavored glucose, and honestly, it tasted like Hawaiian punch found in a A-bomb shelter from 1962. Nasty, nasty stuff. I had to brush my teeth immediately afterwards to get the taste out of my mouth, but even then, my stomach rebelled and wanted to reject, but I fought it hard. Because if it comes back up, you just have to repeat the darn thing!

Other than these little tidbits from the doctor, not much else is new with me and Will. Except I'm going through a new stage of fatigue, almost reminiscent of early pregnancy. I fall asleep at random times (with a TV blaring and people talking around me!) and tend to need naps in the early afternoon. This might also be due to the fact that my little boy seems to think midnight is the perfect time to wake up and play with Mama. Several nights lately, I've laid in bed begging my son to go night-night so Mommy can get some sleep. It's really hard to be irritated about it, though, because his movements are just so cute -- very intense and purposeful. He's just very wiggly and tumbly -- I think he's bored in there, poor little guy!

Well, I think that's it for now (whew, right?). We're off to Mississippi for a long-ish weekend to see Marty's family. I'm not exactly up for a roadtrip but Marty's made some plans to break up the trip a bit and he's even thrown in something really fun for Monday! I'll share pix of that when we return. Happy Easter, everyone!

On behalf of Cupid...

In the 21st century, Cupid has decided to rely on more efficient means of matching lovers...

I don't know if I have any readers who are single, but I couldn't resist a plug for eHarmony. The site is hosting a free weekend in honor of Valentine's Day, and this special is going to run from Friday (today) to Monday. If you're looking for Mr. (or Miss) Right and you've never tried it, just make a quick visit and look around -- read some of the stories!

Not only did it work for me and my Marty, but also Marty's best friend Preston and his new wife, Misty. eHarmony matched them in the fall, and they eloped on New Year's Eve -- how romantic!

I love you Marty, my forever Valentine!