A Few Why Questions Of My Own...

• Why do I have to watch the news every night just to catch the weather to know what to wear the next day? The reality is I wear the same 3 outfits every day regardless of the weather.
• Why do we eat dessert last when it is the best part of the meal? I say start with dessert, then the main course, and then the soup/salad if there is still room. Our society really is messed up isn't it?
• Why does my hair always look best at night when I throw it up to wash my face? This is not fair. And forget about recreating the same thrown together dew the next morning, it just doesn't happen.
• Why is it that women develop mustaches as they age? It that a fearfully, wonderfully kind of thing to do to us? I mean, them?
• Why is it that 2 girl scout cookies have 10 grams of fat?
• Why is it that I don't even really care about the previous statistic?

Friendly Voting Reminders

• This is just for funsies, we have a pretty strong leaning both ways on our faves!
• If any of these are your lifelong name for your future child, then tell us after our kid comes and by the way, you have really good taste :).
• This is courtesy of Nate & Sarah, but very important and often overlooked. It has to have a nice ring when being called over the loudspeaker at a football game. (Unless of course we have a girl in which case I don't know what an equivalent measure would be? I'm sure it would have something to do with the Clinique counter, just not sure how the two intertwine).

(the poll idea was very helpful for us to buckle down and get some firm options. as great as the names my husband likes to throw out are, things like shakweeta and so forth, our list is much more reassuring now!)

Dr. Update

Today we went to our high risk Dr. He said the baby's levels that he is monitoring are in the upper part of the normal range, but they are higher than he'd like them to be (meaning the baby is showing signs of anemia because of our blood issues, but not severe enough to have to take other measures just yet). We'll go back in three weeks for our next appt. The good news is we are reaching the mark where we will deliver early versus having to do an amniocentesis (sp?) or a blood transfusion in my tummy. That is very encouraging. I may good and well go till full term. I will be almost 32 weeks at our next appt. The baby weighs 3 lbs 3 oz and it's feet are about 2 1/2 inches long. We got the best look at the face today and it was really cute. This is a great motivator for me to get my office cleaned out and get that nursery up to speed!

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

A Baby Name Post-Polls for Boy & Girl Names

This is the first time in our child naming career that we are at a loss for a baby name. We both like names, but not the same ones. I have heard that this sometimes happens :).

Meanings of names are very important to me, and we prayed over our first two boys names a lot. It is so neat, because the meaning of both their names matches their personalities and looks to a T.

I have also heard that some couples don't share the name until after the arrival because people say ugly or discouraging things about their choices. Well, all I have to say about that is that anyone who says something negative about a parents potential baby name has no tact and no southern etiquette. Everyone from the south should know that if you hate your friends name choices or have something ugly to say you just respond with some neutral statement like, "oh" or "is that a family name?"

Anyway, the list is almost ready for the blog, and I can't wait to see how everyone votes. All the names have been submitted on the list for a reason.

p.s. there is a slight possibility that my mom bought me 5 pairs of shoes yesterday. What? it was bogo at payless and 2 of the pairs were less than $4. I'm still not sure how we ended up with 5 pairs, S FLIPPED out (in the most loving way) when I came home with 5 boxes of shoes. That was not the specific shopping mission of the day. I got a pair of flip flops, black wedge sandals, brown & blue wedges, casual tennis shoe things, and a black pair of sandals with animal print straps. I may take 2 pairs back though. so, if anyone wants to borrow shoes come to my house.

Toy Rotation Pt II

I forgot to mention it, but just so you know...if you try the toy rotation thing I must warn you...you will probably feel VERY GUILTY if you try to store Buzz Lightyear, Woody or Jessie. It was so dumb, but I tried to put them in the Rubbermaid bin and I just couldn't do it. I'm just sayin'...

Fun Times on a Tuesday

Apparently I have forgotten how incredibly tired the end of pregnancy makes you. I did do a few productive things today in spite of my sleepyness.

1) Cleaned out the fridge. How do they get so dirty?! Why did I have 3 bottles of Teryiaki sauce/marinade?

2) Grocery Shopped without the boys. I'm not taking them if I don't have to because of all the crazy germs around right now.

3) Attempted to finish my BSF lesson. Just when I thought Matthew would be a fun/easy book to study, I have no idea what half the answers to this weeks lesson are. A jewelry shipment just came, so I looked through it, hopped on the computer for a minute, and will go back and attempt to figure out what Elijah and Moses at the Transfiguration have to do with the price of tea in China :) I asked God to give me insight, maybe I just need to go back and sit longer and try again.

We have an American Idol/Potluck for community group tonight. YES!!! Good food and Bad Singers! I'll take Tums before so I can thoroughly enjoy. Hope ya'll are having a great Tuesday.

Family & Friends & Prayer

This has been a hard week and I have been reminded of what a great family, parents and friends that I have. 5 days in a row, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, I got calls from very close friends and family that someone very close to them had died on each of those days. It has been a very emotional week. Death brings lots of unanswered questions. There are so many people around me hurting very badly right now, and my own heart is very heavy and consumed with grief.

I was studying last week in Matthew 15 (I think) about when Jesus fed the 5,000. The biggest thing that stuck out to me was how incredibly small and seemingly insignificant the offering was. It seemed like an impossible thing that Jesus could take the small offering and use it to feed and satisfy the masses. But he took it, blessed it, and did the unimaginable.

I'm thankful that we can bring to the table whatever we have to offer. A broken heart, failure, dissappointment, joy, fear, anger, a heart that wants to change, a heart of thankfulness, whatever it is, but that he takes it and blesses us just coming.

And a blog asking for prayer for people you don't even have names for seems like a small offering. If God moves it in your heart, I bet he would use and bless any prayer offered up on my family and friends behalf's. I guess I could just narrow it down and say prayers on my families behalf, because Shane and I have been blessed with the greatest friends, and they are just like family to us.

Toy Rotation

One concept regarding toys that we have heard is to have no more than 10 toys per kid. Crazy sounding I know, but it made some sense. Do ya'lls kids get overwhelmed with all the toys? I know mine just dump the baskets out and then grab a crayon to color on the wallls and furniture instead.

Some good criteria on what makes a good toy are: is it multi-functional or does it only do one thing? If a toy has been around for 50 years or so, it has stood the test of time and is probably really good. Leggos, building blocks, Lincoln Logs are all good examples of things that you can be creative with and help the kids use their imagination.

We tried a toy rotation system and it has worked WONDERFULLY! Our boys have three baskets of toys, and we put the other half of toys in 2 Rubbermaid tubs stored in the garage. We brought the "new" toys out this weekend, and they have been playing with them like crazy! I just thought I'd pass along this idea.

Simplicity is so great! It makes your house look better too!

Join Me Tonight

For a private showing of my new line of Premier! Every ticket will be placed into a drawing, and someone is going to win a FULL set of jewelry from the new line, retailing over $100!! If you'd like more info, please call or message me. It is from 6:30-7:30pm tonight!

For every guest you bring, you'll receive an additional 10% off your order, up to 5 guests or 50% off!

Sweet Highlights Of The Week...

• Looking in the rear-view mirror while at a stop light and seeing Moose's sweet little 2 yr old face with his chubby little chin, big brown eyes and red hair. He looked like a baby and a big boy all at the same time.
• Stinky Pete telling Moose a couple mornings ago, "Moo-Moo you special to me!"
• Standing outside their door at bedtime listening to their conversations, and hearing them tell each other they love each other.
• At Bible study, when Moose and I got to SP's class to pick him up, they gave each other the biggest hug you ever saw.
• Letting us eat chocolate cake this morning for breakfast just because it's fun and we can!
• Setting up the nursery! Working on it anyway! The crib is back up and the clothes are organized and ready to be washed!
• Getting to talk to my friend Heather for almost 40 minutes!
• Going to a Valentine's brunch this Saturday at Becke's!
• Went to a baby girl shower for my friend Heather Monday!
• Going to 2 more baby girl shower's after the brunch tommorow for Amy & Jennifer!
• Our dinner last night turned out SO YUMMY! Roast, gravy, mashed potatoes & corn! I wouldn't let the kids sit in my lap till I was done, I said Mommy needs to enjoy this!!! And I did!
• Laughing my head off with Shane last night while we watched Conan O'Brian. What a nut!
• For about 8 hours on Monday ALL the laundry was done! Like I said, it only lasted about 8 hours, but that is OK. The windows of the house were open, and the 70 degree breezes were blowing through the house, and it smelled so good!

W-H-Y (The 3 most loved letters of the alphabet)

Last night as I was washing my face before bed I could hear the boys talking back and forth in their bedroom. Moose kept saying, "Why Stinky Petey?" SP kept responding in frustration, "Moose, No more asking why, I allready told you!!!" To which Moose would respond, "Why Stinky Petey?" Who knows what the toddler conversation was about, but it was great entertainment.

When I went in to give hugs, kisses and high fives one last time, it turned into a pow-wow on SP's bed with me and both boys and they were saying they were hungry. So, I brought some cheese in, and we had a late night snack. Sitting there giggling and eating cheese with 2 boys in their pj's was so cute and fun.

We have big plans later in the week to take a field trip to the Kroger Florist part of the store. Hopefully we will get a cool car buggy, drive by the deli for a free cookie, and then go admire the sea of silver heart shaped mylar ballooons that are filling the ceiling area, it is so cool looking!

Speaking of Kroger, I made a big uh-oh last night. I accidentally unloaded a full buggy into an express lane check-out. I noticed the checker looked like she might hate me, but I thought maybe she is just not the chatty type. Well, after she bagged ALL my groceries (oops!) I noticed the bag boy wasn't there to load them into my cart, then I noticed how short the space for the bags was. Then it all started comin' together and I sheepishly asked, "UH, is this an express lane or somethin'?" To which she passionately pointed to the big sign at the front of the lane. I wish the sign would have been above her head, then I'd probably have noticed. All I saw was an open lane-yeah!!

Then on top of that, I had a coupon for 75 cents of Whole Grain Strawberry Pop Tarts. I'm new to the world of coupons and forgot to use it. She said I could go to the Customer Service and cash it in. I felt like the cheapest person on the world! Hey, Uh, Can I get my 75 cents please? 3 quarters and a little ashamed later I walked out. Just so you know, it's not as much fun to get 3 quarters from Customer Service as it is to see the savings on the bottom of your ticket.

Family, Football

Here are a couple pictures our our cute little niece. She has 5 boy cousins, and she is the only girl! Isn't she CUTE?!

Saturday Dinner: Seemed like we went to Luby's, but really we just went to Nana & Papa's. Here is a list of the menu, it was out of control and so good!

• BBQ Chicken
• Roast & Gravy
• Meatballs
• Mashed Potatoes
• Corn
• Salad
• Sliced Tomatoes
• Dinner Rolls
• Sweet Tea
• Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Have I ever mentioned that being able to eat again is the most exciting thing EVER?!! Mmmm food good.

Moose: We have been in healthy eating boot camp with our family for over a month. REED ATE 2 ORANGES THIS WEEKEND!!! That ups the list of good foods he will eat to: bananas, strawberries, oranges, yogurt, healthy cereal, pototoes, & corn. We are working hard on the green vegetable thing, but for weeks we've served him oranges, and this weekend he FINALLY tried them and liked them!!!

Today is Monday, which means weekly home blessing day (http://www.flylady.com/). I'm still trying to decide if I want to do that, or load the boys up and go to the library to play. My bed is made and I am dressed to shoes, so there are 2 things checked off the list!

One more cute thing-I wore 2 turqoise necklaces to church yesterday and Moose was very intriqued with them. Every once in a while he'd stop running around, climb up in my lap, and just touch them. This morning the first thing he asked me when he woke up was, "Mom, where's your necklace?!" It seemed really funny to me.

Football: There was a big football game on TV last night. Some kind of bowl game or something. I don't really know much about it, except for the fact that it was license to eat lots of chips, dips and cookies and drink Dr.Pepper. It was fun! :) I guess I was kind of sad for the Patriots because it seemed like it would be a really great accomplishment for them to have one. I'm not loosing sleep over it or anything, after all I didn't even know who was playing until 4:45pm yesterday.