Oh, Mother!

Recently, I was given the best compliment of my life on two separate occasions by two little kids. The first one was a little girl I had spent most of the day with. We were riding in the car together when out of nowhere she said, "You're baby is so lucky to have you as a momma." My hormonal pregnant self immediately teared up as I thought about how lucky and humbled I am to be able to be her "momma."

Being pregnant has really gotten me thinking about the mom I have been so lucky to have been blessed with. When I was younger I had a teacher once ask if anyone knew what the word dote meant. Everyone else was shaking their heads, so I raised my hand and said it's how my mom treats me - she dotes on me. Even though there were six of us, she was always there to dote on each of us. I'm not sure who my siblings would consider the most spoiled (probably me!), but I think she has spoiled each of us in different ways. She has always been very conscious of our individuality and our specific needs.

I can still remember laying on the floor with her learning the alphabet and how to write my name. I remember reading in her lap and playing with her hair. I remember painting fingernails and watching her put my hair in buns. I remember art projects and baby dolls and endless shopping trips. I remember her teaching Joy School (homeschool Pre-K). I remember her going back to school for her Master's and learning about X and Y chromosomes and listening to tape recordings of her professors' lectures just so I could sit with her while she studied. I remember her never turning me away from her bed and how she would often fall asleep during prayers. I remember wanting to be a teacher because she was one, but most of all wanting to be a mommy just like her. And all of that had to have been before I was even in first grade.

Now as I am becoming a mother myself I am so grateful for the mother I have had. I am relaxed and excited about all the change that is coming with the birth of our little girl. I keep thinking about how prepared I feel and how it is all because of my mother. She taught me how to hold a baby, how to feed them, how to burp them, how to change a diaper, how to read to them, how to talk to them, how to soothe them, and how to get them to sleep. She taught me how to pray, how to love, how to teach, how to discipline, how to forgive, how to serve, and how to understand. I feel like I've been in a life-long apprenticeship with a master teacher. Her children love her and and her grandchildren are obsessed with her. Now it's my turn to be a little bit of the amazing mother she has been for me.

I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day (and birthday!)

Baby, Baby, Baby, Oooooooo

Remember that time I wanted to see what Jeff and I would look like melded together into a baby? If you've forgotten, here's a little reminder. I mean look at that 5-head! Huge! And whose complexion is that?

Luckily, this is what we actually look like:

We went for a 3D/4D ultrasound today. I'm not sure I would recommend them. Jeff says we should just wait a few weeks and see the real thing for free... I think I would have to agree. I wanted to do it at least once though, so here she is! Now who does she look like? I think it looks just like the sample pictures I've seen of other 3D ultrasounds, but she is pretty dang cute!

Every time I've tried to have an ultrasound this little babe hides her face. She completely had her back turned to us today and when we could finally see her face she covered it with her hands! I guess she's camera shy... She definitely did not get that from me!

I had to jump and dance around for a while so she would move, and Jeff tried talking to her. He's convinced that she loves to be around him and starts kicking when I get home from work because she missed him all day. (She really does move the most when it's just the two of us at home...)

When we finally saw her face she looked a bit like Voldemort. Then, they showed us her hair and those flared nostrils... So, I'm basically going to have a hairy, big-nosed, Voldemort baby! But we still love her and of course we think she's just perfect!

Oh and she smiled! That precious smile! I just love it!

Baby Voldemort

Smiling!

HAIR!


I hope this video works. It's her smiling!

Foul Ball Catch

Wednesday April 18 2012 was my lucky day. No, I didn't win the lottery. Thanks to Kyle, I got a great seat at the Braves game for free and then caught a foul ball!! Just how lucky is that? According to the first website I found while googling the odds of catching a foul ball, the chances are .12%. Not even close to a 1% chance. If you factor in the odds of someone catching a foul ball in a seat they got as a free ticket, I'm sure the chances are even smaller. This could possibly be as lucky as I'll ever get. 

We were sitting in section 208, row 1, which basically means this was our view of the field...

 I forgot to bring the camera to the game and my cell phone doesn't take very good photos so I just used the stock photo from the braves website. The game was MLB's game of the day which means its archived on their website. So I tried to find a good way to record the stream, but finally resorted to just filming the stream with our point and shoot camera. Here's the video. Basically you see the batter hit the ball, hear the crowd cheer, and then they show my catch. The announcers were pretty cool too so have the volume on. The very next pitch Ike Davis hits a home run, I left that in just for friend who is a Mets fan. The braves ended up winning the game 14-6.

Hello, Baby!

Have you read The Hunger Games? Oh, you have! And you saw the movie and cried and loved it! Me too!! (Actually I'm lying... I didn't cry or love the movie... but I'll tell you what I did love. Liam Hemsworth!)

Honestly, he wasn't that amazing looking in the movie... I prefer him with a bit of scruff. For example, this face!:

I mean have you met my husband? I like a man with a beard! (See what I'm saying?) And recently people have been comparing my Brawny Man husband to Liam. Let me tell you something, I don't hate it!

Anyways, back to Liam... Well, being a huge fan of the books, Jeff told me about an event that was happening at the mall near us. There was a meet and greet with about 5 cast members and Liam was one of them! My sister-in-law/bff Kynslie (also loved the books - who doesn't?) just so happened to be coming for a little visit the very same day. So, after a day of filling young minds with knowledge we headed over to Lenox Square for some face time with Liam.

We were a bit confused as to what was happening because there were a trillion people outside the Microsoft store. There was also a tent outside with the local radio station truck and a small crowd gathering. We found out that the meet-n-greet was going down at that very moment in the Microsoft store and that you had to have been there in the morning to get a wristband to go... Nobody told us! The tent was for a Q&A session after the meet and greet.

We were slightly bummed (Kyns may have cried for a second... until she got these free posters) and just propped up on some guard rail near the tent. We thought maybe we'd see them come in or something. We stood there for a while and people started to pack in around us. After an hour or so a black SUV finally pulled in right in front of us. It was the cute little actress who played Rue (she nailed Rue btw). She got out and went to the stage... Then came the girl who played Glimmer. Same routine. Nothing spectacular. We were thinking of leaving because it was so uneventful.

Just then a third SUV pulled up and it was carrying Liam. The beautiful handsome statuesque pulchritudinous (seriously this is a word?), Liam. He stepped out and that's when things started to get out of hand...

SIDE NOTE: Let me just say that as I relayed this story to my husband, I could feel the fire in my cheeks the entire time. I'm actually pretty ashamed to share what happened next....

At first we thought he would just walk the carpet to the stage with the girls, but then we realized he was coming toward us. This is when we turned into prepubescent girls. I was holding both of our posters and Kyns had the camera. As he started to walk towards us (looking RIGHT at us!!!!! - my heart is pounding thinking about it) my hand became it's own entity entirely and began waving him over. Literally waving. Waving him towards us. In the air. Like I was causing his approach. Worst of all, people could see me.

When I realized I was a freak I turned to Kynslie and noticed she was completely frozen, wide-eyed, open-mouthed holding the camera! I screamed at her to take a picture (which is the first one in this post - just delicious!). I also got her to take one of me leaning over with him in the background... Not flattering at all!!

Then all of the sudden it was our turn to share his air. His delicious air. And you know what I did? I mean really? You cannot imagine because you would never be so weird, awkward, creepy, and childish. You wouldn't. I held my small belly (which looked more fat than pregnant), stood on my tippy toes, and placed it on the guard rail and said, "My unborn child wants you to rub my belly." REALLY!!! REALLY? THAT'S WHAT I SAID!!!!! THOSE WERE THE WORDS I CHOSE?! I thought my mother raised me better than that. I guess not. I am just a loser who says weird things to celebrities.

He totally ignored me while he signed one of our posters (I geniusly forgot to give him the other one). I felt my face go completely flush and looked at Kynslie; pleading her to kill me! I was mortified! But then Beautiful Liam redeemed the situation when he said (in his Australian accent), "You're unborn child? HELLO, BABY!" I mean he shouted it. He shouted it to let everyone know he was talking to my baby. MY baby!

That was all I needed. (Just look at that face.)

Baby Swag

So, I've been thinking about what my little babe is going to need when we bring her into this world. I've realized I haven't nannied an infant since my little cousin London was a teeny preemie! And look at Miss Fancy Nancy now! Obviously it's been years! I have forgotten about all the baby things that I love!


So, now I need to know, Moms, what are your must haves? What can you not live without? Do you cloth diaper? Do you love it? Hate it? (Poop stories are welcome!) What do I need the first year? What are the best pumps? Strollers? Diaper bags? Basically what else do I need besides my baby-carrying Snuggie vest?

Oh I also love children's books. Any recommendations?

Too Much Chocolate Cake

I am no good in the kitchen. I mostly burn everything and sometimes Jeff prefers to cook his own dinner. I can't blame him... Especially after I burned a pasta dinner that comes frozen in a bag. I just get impatient cooking and want it to be ready to eat right then. I'll work on that.

Recently we saw a post about Too Much Chocolate Cake on our sister-in-law, Ashley's, blog. This reminded Jeff of how much he loves it and it reminded me of the cake my Granny Giddens would make for everyone's birthday, every year. We call it Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake. We usually slice it and freeze it and eat it for days!

Jeff wanted to make it so we got all of the ingredients, but then he was busy designing our blog, so I offered to bake the sweet confection he so desired. He was very reluctant. I know he wanted it to be perfect, so this only fueled my fire to show him I could!

The recipe includes a box of pudding, so the batter was basically like a bowl of pudding loaded with  chocolate chips. I wasn't too sure if it was going to turn out... Jeff had ordered pizza so I ran to pick it up and left him to take the cake out of the oven. I told him it needed a few more minutes and left. When I came back he said I had told him too long and that he was pretty sure it was burnt. He thought there was a chance I ruined his favorite cake - I was pretty nervous.

The next day we took it to the Beaver's house to watch General Conference... Let me just tell that cake was AMAHZING!! It was unbelievably moist and I wanted to eat the whole thing.

This weekend we also made two more for my three siblings who have April birthdays. I think I know what I'll have for dessert tonight! (My mom just called and said that she thinks it's better the next day. Maybe that's the key!)

Ingredients

• 1 (18.5 oz.) package Devil's Food cake mix        * Our box was only 15 or 16 oz and it still worked
• 1 (5.9 oz.) package Jello instant pudding mix     * Use Jello Brand - we've heard it's better
• 1 c. sour cream
• 1 c. vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 c. warm water
• 2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
• powdered sugar (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
2. In a large bowl mix the following: cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, and water.
3. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 c. bundt pan.
4. Bake for 50-55 min. or until the top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.
5. Cool cake thoroughly in a pan at least 1 1/2 hours before inverting onto a plate.
6. If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar

Growing a human is hard work

Let me just preface this post with stating that I am a baby. An enabled baby. Whenever I'm sick I turn into an invalid. Growing up, I would be doted on by a loving mother with all the meds and purple Gatorade you could want. Now, I have a hunky husband to take care of me... There's just one thing... He rarely gets sick and he's definitely never been pregnant, so empathy is not his strong suit. (He did take care of me through a week of strep throat and even risked his life to get me some purple Gatorade in the icy Atlanta streets while we were dating, so I knew he could handle a pregnant me.)

During my first trimester I'm sure I was exhausting with constant complaints about non-stop nausea and fatigue. I was also slightly emotional... and by slightly I mean I could cry if Jeff didn't look me the right way. So I basically spent 3 months in tears over trivial things.

The second trimester has been much more forgiving. The crying has gone back to its usual rarity (I didn't even cry during The Hunger Games! I thought for sure I would. I think I was too hot...). I don't wake up in a terror thinking I'm going to wet the bed, and, most importantly, I can stay awake throughout the day. My principal (and students) really appreciate that!

That belly!

Here are a few ways things have been achanging around here:

• More
• tinkle trips to the bathroom
• desire to eat
• body - just body in general
• hair! lots of tangled-mangled hair!
• weird, weird dreams..........
• water in my body (makes my ankles look like they are sprained!)
• bloody noses - not horrific, but i've never really had them before
• aches and pains
• Less
• shaving my legs (is that normal? I love it!)
• breathing - my lungs are not loving the hostile takeover
• SLEEP!!!! 

All in all, it hasn't been too rough (no throwing up) and hopefully it will all be downhill from here... I mean everything up until the actually birth! And about us getting started pretty quickly... Well, I'm a little obsessed with kids and Jeff wants at least 10 so it seemed like we needed to. Can you imagine all those little Nef-ers running around?!

Side-note: I'm going to be a bridesmaid in about a month... A rotund 7-months-pregnant bridesmaid! (This picture just reminded me of how engorged gorgeous I'll be...)