It's a...

GIRL!

Well, Baby Buttercream is officially a girl! We are so excited! We were just certain that this baby was a boy, and we had a boy name all picked out. Unfortunately, we weren't so decisive about the girl names because we didn't think we needed to be. Well, Little Girl proved us wrong, and we are busy discussing possible names for this sweet baby. As I told Justin last week, it's so much easier to name a dog than to name a baby. (Dogs can't complain about it later. Dogs' friends don't make fun of them in middle school because of their name. Dogs only have to live with their name for, maybe, 20 years, max!)

I had some unwelcome excitement this weekend, as well. I woke up Saturday morning feeling kind of puny, which is not all that uncommon on an empty stomach. I ate breakfast, and it reappeared in short order. As the day progressed, I found that I couldn't keep anything down, not even water. A call to the on-call doc landed me with a scrip for anti-nausea medication, but I kept getting sick. (Even waking out of a nap twice to vomit...yuck city!) On top of things, Justin was on his way to and from Jackson to get the Comanche, so I spent most of the afternoon sick and alone. When he arrived home late Saturday afternoon, I told him I thought it would be best to go to the hospital. We trekked up to Methodist Germantown where I will be delivering, and they admitted me to get some IV fluids (because I was very dehydrated) and some additional nausea meds. That seemed to do the trick! The nursing staff was so great. After I dressed back in my regular clothes and the nurse was wheeling me out to the car, she commented on how pretty I looked. Let me assure you, this was NOT a true statement! I looked like death warmed over after being sick all day, doing nothing with my hair, and wearing no makeup. However, this woman's sweet lie compliment was just want this mama needed to hear. I spent Sunday and almost all of Monday re-hydrating and recuperating. I'm back at work today, but only operating at about 85% capacity. Fingers crossed that I'll be more myself tomorrow.

On the positive side, Buttercream has been a little gymnast all weekend. She is doing all kinds of somersaults and flips, and I can feel her quite frequently throughout the day. She usually wakes up around the time I do, and I feel her little movements as I'm still in bed working up the gumption to face the day. Last week, Justin tried to feel her move as I was standing in front of him. I told him that she usually moves more when I'm reclined, and as soon as I lay down on the bed, she was moving up a storm. The look on his face was priceless.

We can't wait to meet you, Sweet Baby Girl! You are already loved beyond words, and our love will only grow once we have a living, breathing, precious girl with us out here in the world!

Anticipation...

Okay, so I don't keep up with this blog



at all



so this is a pretty random thing to post about since I haven't posted in over a year.

Justin and I are expecting our first child in a little more than four months. September 26, to be exact. We are VERY excited. The baby has been making movements that I can feel for about three weeks, and the baby is finally big/strong enough to make some kicks and punches that can be felt on the outside, too. It is the strangest, coolest feeling. At first I couldn't decide if I was feeling baby movements or food digestion. However, one day a few weeks ago I was sitting at my desk, and it was like, "Wha-bam! Take that, Mama!" It was incredible!

We have our anatomy ultrasound tomorrow, which means we'll hopefully find out the sex of the baby. It will be nice to have a pronoun other than "it." As much as I've always wanted to be a mother, it has been a little different than expected to be pregnant. I thought I'd be comfortable talking and singing to the baby all the time, but it has been kind of strange to do so far. I'm thinking that as the baby gets bigger and it become more and more obvious that it (See? There's that pronoun!) is always with me, making its presence known, it will feel more natural to communicate with the baby.

There are a lot of exciting things in our future, and tomorrow is just one of many. I can't wait to find out if this is Baby Buttercream or Baby Flat Tire! (Although, regardless, I think my new favorite nickname is Baby Buttermilk Biscuit.)

It continues...

So I'm continuing to follow my new home organization guru, the FlyLady, and I've done pretty well keeping up with her. I've been "FLYing" since a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and I really think I'm making progress. Sometimes I look around my house and think, "Really? I still have all this junk and crap?! What have I been doing? I feel like I'm always doing a little something, yet there's still so much more to do." I might start to beat myself up for not doing more or not having time to get it all done at once.

But then I get one of my daily e-mails from the FlyLady about taking baby steps, doing one thing at a time, a little progress is better than none, the house didn't get dirty and messy overnight so it won't be all put together in a day, etc. Those little reminders are a God-send.

Case in point: we've decided to expand our family by adding a cat to the mix. Although we had bad luck with felines last year, we are trying again. Well, we needed a place for the fella to go, and especially a place for his litter box. It seemed the laundry room would be a good place, but there was a bunch of junk on the floor and everywhere. I got in there and started flinging. Old bags, a pillow case of batting/stuffing from a project from Christmas two years ago, a bunch of aprons, and a "mystery bag" of things that had been sitting on the floor since I fully moved into the house (2.5 years ago!). That mystery bag contained my rain coat (I've been borrowing Justin's when it rains), my hand mixer (I've been wondering where it was...and frustrated over the 2 sets of beaters for the one hand mixer we could find), an old and dingy bow from when C was much littler (would have been 2 years old), and a bowl of dried-on mystery food (complete with spoon stuck in there). What a relief to get that off the floor and out of there! I literally get scared to go through those mystery bags, mystery food containers, etc., but this experience shows that it won't kill me. Better to just do it and get it done!

Since I was on a roll (and it is the zone room of the week), I set my timer to declutter the entry/dining cabinet for 15 minutes. I put things in Justin's car that needed to go there, threw away maps of hunting spots around Starkville (Justin hasn't been in probably 3 years or more), tossed lemons that had dried up beyond recognition and shoes that have needed to be repaired since I first moved to Memphis (3 years ago!), and generally got rid of junk!

Sure, there's still plenty more that needs to be done around the house, and I need to get the Christmas decorations put away this week, but what a relief to have these two scary things taken care of! If I can go through and toss things that have been lurking for 2-3 years, I can definitely take on the new stuff in the house: little by little.

Glad to be making some sort of positive progress...

FLYing now

I haven't posted in forever, so I really should post a more substantive blog. However, I only have a minute, and I want to capture this before it leaves my brain.

About 2 weeks ago, I discovered the FLYLady. I first heard about her in a book that I perused in a bookstore in Starkville, and then I read about her again on the blog of a friend from high school. I decided to check out her site, and it really rang true for me. Some other time I'll go into all of the connections between her site and recommendations and my background in psychology. It all fits together quite nicely.

But for now, I will just say this so I won't forget it! Last night, I made soup for a co-worker and her husband because the husband had surgery yesterday. I was home along because J was out of town for work, and I get really lazy when I'm home alone. I ate a ridiculous supper, just out of laziness. But in any event, since I've been FLYing with the FLYLady, I've had a nice, shiny sink for two weeks. After cooking the soup, I filled the soup pot with hot, soapy water. I was so tempted to leave it overnight and just get to it this morning. However, my habit of cleaning out and shining the sink each night has taken hold! I had to wash that pot and put it in the dishwasher before I could go to bed! I guess those baby steps really do build up into a habit over time!

More later!
CBR

Why I won't be adding it to my WW Points Tracker for today

I think if you walk up AND down 3 flights of stairs to buy a Snickers bar from the vending machine, it totally cancels out the calories of consuming the Snickers bar.

Spoiled

I am trying feverishly to get everything done at work before heading out of town for a whole week for a much-needed vacation. And what am I doing instead? Writing in my oft-forgotten blog, of course! Duh!

Justin, his family, and I are going to Florida for some R&R next week. I've never taken a week-long vacation to such a relaxing place (well, I've taken week-long trips to Maine before, which my mom says completely restores her soul, but this is different because I'm a grown-up now), and I'm really looking forward to it. Before we can go, though, I have to finish up three reports, start a new therapy client, and do countless odds and ends both at home and work. Let's hope I can get them all done in time!

Yesterday, Justin informed me that our travel plans have changed. We're still leaving on Saturday and coming back the following Saturday, but our mode of transportation has changed somewhat. At first I was a little bummed, but then I stopped to think about it and I said, "Hey, lady, you're going to the beach for a whole week. Don't go complaining about how you're going to get there!" That's when I realized how quickly I've become spoiled by the luxury of traveling often and quite comfortably. I need to step back and examine all of the many blessings in my life and show the appreciation that they deserve (rather than pouting - however briefly - about things not being exactly what I had thought they would be).

Well, I suppose that is all for now. I really do need to get some work finished before the end of the day. Perhaps I will start to post more once I re-charge my battery on vacation.

Trust

So, I don't really write in this blog very much, but I have become completely addicted to other blogs. Google Reader is the devil for making so easy and convenient to waste hours on end reading about people you don't know or things you could never afford to buy. However, I think it can be amazing to hear about other people experiencing things that I also experience and exploring how they cope with them. Must be the psychologist in me...

Recently, I've read some blogs by some people who have a very strong and deep faith about trusting in the Lord and His plans for their lives. I know not everyone has that same belief system, but my faith is very important to me. Over the years, I have come to see that God DOES have a plan for me and it is WAY better than any plan I would have for myself. When I try to make plans that don't jive with God, you better believe that they don't work out. When I try to have a relationship with someone who is not right for me or try to force something before its time, no dice. I never thought I would end up in Memphis - here I am. I never thought I would STAY in Memphis after some rough patches during internship - here I am. I never thought I would TURN DOWN Emory to stay in Memphis - here I am. I never thought I would meet someone so amazing and funny and handsome and smart and kind who actually loved me back - here I am. I have no idea what the future holds - when things will happen, in what way, shape, or form. However, I have complete faith and trust that God will make the way for me to have the desires of my heart if I continue to have faith in Him.