It’s happened. My life now revolves around my baby girl, Lilly. My time with blog updating will now be spent at www.lillykeith.wordpress.com
I promise to write some about my own adventures too but I have a feeling they will involve Lilly.
Come and visit………
On Sunday, I took a little trek to Chattanooga to do some bra buying, some birthday card browsing and some Babies R Us bonding. I went solo which can be lonely but sometimes, I just need to take my time, eat where I want to eat, and stare at things as long as I want to stare.
At Babies R Us, I noticed something about non-gender and gender specific attire. “They” have assigned certain items to certain genders. Boys get puppies, planes, and sailboats. Girls get cupcakes, most fruit or sweet baked goods, and snails. The non-gender specific stuff is thr worst though! It is usually giraffes, frogs, or lambs. I just wonder how they come up with what they give to which gender. Wil noticed that boys seem to get reptiles and girls seem to get sweeter things. I guess that’s about right. 🙂
Well, the cutest thing I have seen is this hooded bath towel. It is a shark mouth with dangly teeth. We already have 3 or I would have bought it.
Yesterday was a day for tornados and touching. In school, we all knew the drill. Usually, teachers had us line up in a fetal position in a non-windowed area. It was usually near the lockers at my schools. When I was teaching, we would all pile into this small passage way between mine and my mentors classroom. Of course, the students thought this was great and someone always either pretended to fart or actually farted. I never got to actually use all that training……
The sirens went off here on the mountain right around lunch. Ironically, human ears are not able to hear the sirens from indoors so most of us did not know they were going off. These sirens are so eerie sounding. If you’ve ever watched or played Silent Hill, they sound just like those sirens. I half expect the world to change in front of my eyes to death and metal linked fences. I heard the sirens here at Sewanee because I was getting out of a car. So we rushed inside to find most of the seminary hanging out in the downstairs hallway and we joined them. It was sort of “lock-in fun” and only lasted about 30 minutes. The wind was fierce and the rain was swirling around outside. I don’t know of anyone that got hurt (thank goodness) but there were definitly trees down and power outages.
So, that was that. I went to my EfM group that night and one of the other members pretty much molested baby Keith. I am totally fine with people touching the baby bump, talking to the baby bump, even had someone kiss the baby bump. This lady….she might as well have been applying body butter to it. She was all over the place with her hands, getting awfully close to things not yet related to baby. I, being way to polite, just smiled and waited for the buffing to end. She didn’t even ask! It is weird how a baby bump is seen as everyone’s property.
At the doctor’s office this morning (we went for our check up), I totally got busted! The doc was all, “Your glucose levels are kinda high. Did you eat a sugary breakfast?” Um….yeah. I had a pop tart. A chocolate Fudge Poptart. So I got a little bit of the food guide pyramid speech. Somebody sue me!
Here I am. 33.6 weeks pregnant. It’s been a good ride so far. I had the bit of nausea, a bit of backache here and there, a little out of breath but all in all, it’s been a good run. That’s why I feel totally justified in saying that the tables have started to turn. Tired, droopy eyed-ness has come on full force. Weight gain has started to find my face and has already made camp at my thighs. My belly proceeds me through open doors and food has found a new place to land besides my lap. I am awakened by baby body parts pertruding from my ever growing belly which causes a pee pee need chain reaction. I also have started to be unable to process things like numbers and words. At EfM, they told me to turn to page eight thirty and I could not wrap my head around what that meant. In my defense, they needed to say eight hundred and thirty. Am I wrong? And my patience….gone.
The Asheville baby shower was so amazing and overwhelming and quick! I blinked and it was done. We recieved so many fabulous things for baby. Wil proceeded to put them all together when we got home which I loved because that daddy stuff is pretty darn cute on him. However, one of the gifts we recieved wasn’t the one we registered for but I did not realize this until Wil had it almost totally put together. I thought I was going to get kicked out of the house when my reasoning for wanting the one we actually registered for was “it has owls instead of bears and I don’t like bears”. Yeah, that’s like the only difference but it seemed important to me so I won and the gift went back into the box and is ready for some exchanging.
As excited as we are about this upcoming addition to our family, the world is heavy right now. People are having so many problems of all different types. It weighs on me and I wish I had good ways to help but I feel so fortunate to have all that we have plus this baby in my belly….thanks be to God.
Wow, what a weekend. My folks came up (or down or sideways) and went touring in Nashville. I am not much a country music fan. I like the classics, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, but that’s about it. Well, we got ourselves out of bed ay 6am in order to make there for the bus tour. People, this is the way to go if you have interest in actually getting out into the cold or finding parking or having to plan anything on your own. We went to the Ryman which is where the Grand Ol’ Opry originated. We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and I really enjoyed Elvis’s gold coated piano and large car of somesort. We also saw some of the orginial Hee Haw costumes and corn stalks. Classic. After lunch, things sort of went down hill. The tour bus took us by the wax museum which was closed (kinda glad about that) and then over to the Willie Nelson and friends Museum and the Dukes of Hazards Museum. Um…these were hilarious! They both smelt of oldness, kinda like Mamaw’s house and had some of the most random stuff. Like, at the Willie Nelson Museum, there were stuffed cats (not real) and totem polls. It was a head scratcher to say the least. And the Dukes of Hazards thing was equally hilarious complete with bumper stickers that read “I heart Cooter” and Daisy Duke Underroos.
Wil and I on a 9 week until baby countdown. If I sit too long, my hip bones ache. It is so weird how I can feel them starting to “soften” up in preperation. Baby Keith is one active little thing and I get kicked in the ribs or the bladder atleast twice a day. I was getting into bed last night and I prop my stomache up on a pillow. Well, I was grunting and groaning with the whole activity that Wil just bust out laughing. It must have been a sight to see.
I am currently enrolled in an EfM group. What this means is that one night a week, after reading many many pages of a guide and the Bible, I go and discuss it with a group of people. [Sounds like a Bible study but it isn’t quite that]. I have learned SO much. Having never read the Bible and knowing slim to none about it, the whole experience has been challenging but I have started to make connections and have those moments where things actually make sense. We are reading the Old Testament right now which is like reading really crazy poetry at times. The more I read about the God that is portrayed in the Old Testament [very angry, very destructive], the more I question…well, everything! I am a shacky “Christian” as is so when I read all this stuff that seems impossible, it makes me scratch my head even more. I am not sure about Jesus and all that (you know what I’m saying) and have been trying to find answers even though the more I try to find answers and the more questions that arise, the more I think that’s the whole point…..that’s what faith is all about. We are not supposed to know, we are supposed to trust. That’s a hard one for me.
When I go to wear one of my five crucifix necklaces I really have to talk myself into it. In some ways, I feel hypocritical for wearing it since I am not “onboard” with all that it symbolizes. I end up making it into my own symbol. It represents the things that I believe in when it comes to Jesus and God.
Moving away from the Bible, I also was thinking about prayer and the purpose of prayer. Another barrier I have is when I want people to know someone needs their thoughts, I still have a hard time saying “pray for so and so”. Instead I say, “Be thinking about so and so.” I do not think God is this human figure that sits up in heaven and listens to our prayers and tries to “grant” them or has a list that he checks or anything like that. So what’s the purpose? Wil says it is so we can litsen to God. Okay I like that but for me, I think it has to do with energy. So if I am thinking/praying for so and so and so are you and so is Joe and so is Betty then that’s a lot of energy going towards someone. Does that energy bounce off the heavens and descend to the person? I don’t know. And that’s just the point: I don’t know.
I am so thankful for my time in EfM right now because it has me thinking. I had become spiritualy stagnant and now the juices are flowing again but in a different way then they ever have before. Something I do know is that my life is different when I am praying and my week is different when I do go to church. I also know that that’s just me and someone else is for sure to feel differently.
Isn’t America great? I can write all this stuff down and not be hunted down by crazys.
It’s official. I’m now a grumpy pregnant lady. My right knee hurts, my back hurts, the baby’s training for some sort of kick boxing event, I still have acne, I’ve begun to waddle, I’m out of breath, I have heart burn, I’m constipated, all I want is chocolate, and I am completely unmotivated to do just about anything besides be a couch potato. Welcome to 29 weeks Amanda! Well, it really does sound worse then it is. Like, my knee only hurts when I walk or stand, the baby only karate chops when I’m trying to relax, I’m only out of breath when I walk on any non-flat surface, and acne has only burdened my face.
Wil and I toured the ol’ Southern Tennessee Medical Center this week. We were first ushered into the paperwork room where I signed my name on many a line and I am still not positive that I didn’t sign away the rights to have my baby when the time comes, I might get someone elses. Then the lady asked if I needed to talk to the anesthesiologist. Is this really a question? I said hell yes. Okay, technically, I want to go all natural but the option better be there for the good stuff….just in case. Then we saw the birthing rooms and recovery rooms. It’s no Best Western (eww) that’s for sure but it will do because I don’t plan to be there long.
Something that concerns me is that I have no questions. The nurse tour guide was like, “Any questions?” and I was like, “Nope”. Wil did ask if he was able to be with the baby the whole time after delivery which got a yes response and I asked about shots the baby would get after it was born and if the epidural has degrees of strength but beyond that, I am clueless.
As I wait for Wil to come and get me so we can go eat ( and I do mean eat, likes lots and lots), I ponder what we will do once we actually have this baby. It’s a head scratcher really………….
Okay people. I usually stay out of discussing politics because I can’t hold my own but this new “controversy” over Rick Warren saying the prayer at Obama’s inaguration has me dumb-founded. So let me get this right: the majority of America wanted someone in office that would change the way things are but when change means trying to get along with people that have different view points then we get our panties in a wad? Boo hiss. First off, there should be division between church and state. But, when we elect a Christian into office and it’s their ceremony, they should be able to have a blessing and whatever else they represent in their ceremony. I think it is kick ass that Obama is having someone he disagrees with saying the blessing. It shows maturity and open mindedness that hasn’t been present in the White House in at least 8 years. What do we want, another puppet that will give us exactly what we think we want to hear? With that said, I know little about Rick Warren. What I do know, I don’t agree with but I respect that he has a right to believe whatever the heck he wants and I doubly respect a president who feels the same way.
What does it mean when you can actually feel life getting more complicated? The past few weeks have brought an avalanche of thoughts and issues. This past weekend, a girl I knew back in the day passed away from breast cancer. She was/is my age, 29. It just blew me away. I instantly gave myself a breast exam and realized that I barely even have time to admire my own breasts much less give ’em a good feel. Cancer is just the crappiest crap ever. It leaves me with one question: why? People should die of old age not painful diseases that they don’t deserve.
I also know someone that it seems drama follows and someone else that their relationship is falling apart so soon after being married. I hugged Wil last night and thanked him for being so understanding and so patient. Now, if I could just get him to wash a dish every now and then 🙂
Christmas is always an interesting time. We have so much anticipation for what’s to come. Most groups go out of their way to help a fellow human in need. The earth is dying, the leaves have fallen, no new life is coming forth. And it always seems like life’s troubles are amplified during this time. The winter is harsh on many levels. Sometimes I think that things climax, that everything comes to a head, ready to explode so that the newness can make its grand entrance.
Which brings me to Baby Keith. Things are going great. Every check up goes smooth, I feel pretty good except for being out of breath and having less agility. I had to squeeze myself into a tight bathroom stall last night and after my belly rubbed against every surface in the small cubicle of a rest area, I decided I needed to burn my maternity shirt in a ritual I will call, “My belly is big but not from beer so let it burn, let it burn.” But I know that the honeymoon phase is ending. I’m at 25 weeks and only a few weeks away from the dreded third tri-mester (which needs it’s own scary organ music). The doctor is starting to fill my head with stress: “have you thought about this? have you done this? are you going to do this?” My answer is “No, I prefer not to think, thank you very much.”
This time in my life, on the cusp of being 30 years old, is bringing interesting challenges and new wrinkles. I pray I stay young at heart and worry minimally.
Economic Crisis my boo-tay! Well, that was my thought as I waited for 30 minutes to make my way off the Nashville Highway in order to make it anywhere near an entrance to the Opry Mills Mall. Saturday, I met up with Matthew, Anne and Phoebe in order to meet up with Catt at the mall since she was in Nashville for a conference. There was no indication before coming to the massive line of cars that there was going to be trouble. I had stopped by Target earlier in the day and it wasn’t that crowded, normal Saturday stuff but the mall was insane-o. After shopping at the one maternity store, we proceeded to go into many other clothing stores and I just started to get depressed. Every cute skirt or holiday blouse called to me but then took one look at my massive belly and slinked into the corner with that “trick photography” choppiness that we have all grown to love. Shopping when you are pregnant is depressing unless it’s for baby clothes (which, by-the-way, usually include little ears on any winter garment with a hood and I am totally fine with that. Actually I am more then fine with that, it induces an “Awwwwww” response each time and never gets old) and I haven’t ventured down that road just yet. Each mirror I passed seemed like a carnival fun house, mocking my compensating butt as it tries to out weigh my belly. It came to a point where I just wanted to eat Cinnabon and/or Auntie Ann’s pretzels all evening and watch others swipe their credit cards. To go to a mall from Sewanee is a huge deal. You’re looking at an hour minimum travel time and after that thought had circulated enough, I have decided to do online shopping or baking for the rest of my holiday thrills.
Turning the Pages 