Today

Dear Teeny-Bear,

I was supposed to meet you today. I was supposed to be too excited to sleep last night, or hurriedly packing a hospital bag while Cline called a grandmother to sit with Christa. I was supposed to be teaching Christa that you do not actually like to have your eyes poked, and it would not be a good idea for her to push you around in her doll stroller. I was supposed to be taking pictures of the two of you together and teaching Christa how to give her little sister sweet, but gentle kisses. I was supposed to be terrified of going to the bathroom and unable to climb stairs today. I was supposed to be dependent on prescription strength Motrin for the next week. I was supposed to drink my morning Coke with a fear that it might cost me a couple of hours of precious sleep later on. I was supposed to be deciding how much you did or didn't look like Christa.... or me... or your Daddy. I was supposed to be fanatically reviewing my books on newborn care and sending relatives to get last-minute necessities. I was supposed to be acutely frustrated that we do not have a Babies-R-Us nearby. I was supposed to be e-mailing friends and posting pictures of you on this blog. I was supposed to meet you today.

I am not doing any of the things that I was supposed to be doing today.

You, sweet baby, were supposed to be in heaven today. You were supposed to be held by arms that love you even more than I do. You were supposed to be listening to lullabies sweeter than anything I've ever heard. You were supposed to be in a place without any tears or pain or anything bad at all - a place where you won't be poked and prodded all day. You were supposed to be so captivated by all of the wonder around you that you don't even realize your mommy and daddy are missing. You were supposed to be praising and glorifying God in person today.

You, little one, are doing all of the things that you were supposed to be doing today.

So, I will cry a few tears today, and then maybe try to do some other things that I am supposed to be doing. While you are praising God up there, I will praise him as best as I can down here. That's one thing we can both do today. And one day, we will praise Him in person together. On that day, after He places you in my arms, maybe I will know the reason why things were supposed to be this way today.

I love you,
Mommy

I'm Technically Still On Time :)

Hello all! Here are the promised pictures. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures while our Augusta friends, Ruth and Dave, were here. I took the camera planning on getting some cute ones at the water wheel at our local, large, beautiful college campus, but we couldn't find the water wheel, so there were no pictures. Here are the pictures we took at our dinner in Atlanta last week with the Miller family. We were not brave enough to attempt a large group picture with 3 little ones, so we just took individual family pictures.

We have a busy weekend planned. We are picking Cline's brother up from the airport tonight, and then Christa and I will travel to Lawrenceville for a birthday party tomorrow. Tomorrow night, Cline's other little brother is in his school play, Bye Bye Birdie, a dinner theater, so we will go to that.

Sunday would have been our due date for Teeny-bear, so we have a couple of ideas on how we plan to commemorate that day. Teeny-bear has not been far from our minds this week as we have often thought about how different our life might have been right now. But we have had a good week, nonetheless, and plan to have a good day on Sunday, even though she will be missed. I will have an extra-special post on Sunday morning, but it might be a tear-jerker, so consider yourself warned :)

I'm off to get a quick nap before we head to the airport. Have a great weekend!

This Should Be a Good Week For Blogging

Hey guys! Just wanted to say hello and let you know that I am still feeling much better compared to a few weeks ago. I had a great doctor's appointment on Thursday, and we were even able to hear the heartbeat with the Doppler, even though I was only 10 weeks! (I made the doctor try, because I just couldn't enjoy feeling better until I had confirmation that everything was OK. I warned him I was a worrier when he took me on as a patient, but I don't think he fully realized what he was getting himself into :)

Anyway, we have been spending the weekend reconnecting with Augusta friends. We met the Miller family at Ted's Montana Grill in Atlanta on Friday night, and had a blast! We even got to visit a little, even though we had 3 children under the age of 4 with us! It was great to see them, and I have some pictures to post later in the week. Today, some other Augusta friends are coming to see us at our house, and we can't wait! We plan to take them to the cute little 1-red light town that Cline grew up in and eat lunch at a local restaurant there, and then grill out for dinner tonight. We haven't seen any of these friends since we moved last summer, so seeing them both in the same weekend is a real treat!

We didn't do anything terribly romantic on Valentine's day. We exchanged gifts early due to some logisitics (i.e. great bargains and the fact that we do not have a Dick's Sporting Goods here, so we had to travel to Atlanta for Cline's gift). Cline sent me some beautiful red roses, and we had dinner with his family since his brother and family were in town from Atlanta. Cline has been the most romantic I could ask by helping soooooooo much around the house while I haven't felt up to doing housework.

Well, I'd better go finished getting dressed, so I can be fully prepared for our guests! Since our house is clean at the moment, and our taxes are almost done, I should have lots of time for blogging this week :)

Have a great day!

Family Update

Hello everyone! We're doing great. I have been feeling much better since the end of last week! It's great, and I am enjoying the newfound energy and regular showers again. But of course, being the paranoid freak that I am, I have to constantly push back thoughts that maybe I'm feeling better because something is wrong. I do have a doctor's appointment on Thursday, so I am hoping to get official permission to relax and fully appreciate feeling human again. I am now understanding why Tom Cruise bought a home ultrasound machine for Katie. Four weeks is a loooong time for someone to go without visual confirmation that everything is working as it should. I was all proud of myself a couple of weeks ago, because I thought I'd figured out how to conquer my constant tendency to worry about everything. I had a whole post about "how not to worry" mentally written, and was about to declare myself an expert on the matter. Now I realize I just felt too sick to care much if stuff went wrong, and I'm back to my old ways. I guess I'll keep working on it.

We are loving the warm weather that showed up over the weekend. It's been in the high 60s, and we've actually taken a few family walks lately. I'm definitely ready for Spring - January and February are the only two months of the year I don't care for much. They're too cold and dreary.

Cline is off most of this week, so we are looking forward to that. He's been working a lot, so we're all ready for a break. Hopefully the weather will stay nice for us.

Well, that's all for now. Have a great day!

I Must Brag on Myself

I just scrubbed my bathroom for 2 hours!!! I am beyond proud, since this is the first housecleaning effort I've made in quite some time. I even got out a toothbrush to scrub in between the tiles, which I never do. My philosophy is if it doesn't come off with a regular sized scrubber, it's probably too small to be harmful. This time, however, the bathroom was getting beyond gross, and I had an unexpected burst of energy, so I went for it.

Also, I ate an egg roll for dinner, and it stayed down! Small victories - I'll take them where I can get them. It was a refreshing change from soup and toasted sandwiches.

Also, we took Christa on her first train ride at the mall tonight. She's definitely at that age where she expresses her opinions on what she wants to do. As soon as she saw it, she pointed and gestured, and wouldn't calm down until we sat down in our car. It was a pretty neat little ride, but they charge for the adults too. I would probably let her ride more often if I could ride for free to ensure her safety. But they didn't ask my opinion when they set their pricing.

Wow - this is the latest I've been up in weeks. I'd better go to bed soon, or my body won't know what to do when Christa gets me up in the morning and I haven't gotten the full twelve hours of sleep I've been accustomed to. I shall sleep proudly, knowing that I wasn't a completely lazy bum today :)

The Long Awaited Pictures

Hello again! I will graciously accept the kudos for having 2 posts in less than 24 hours, thank you very much :) I got a good night's rest last night, and my good friend, Jamie, is helping with Christa at the moment, so as promised, here are the pictures from the last month or so. Enjoy!


Here are Christa and Riley at their play date a few weeks ago. They were quite cute together!

Having a great time!

Hands up touchdown!!! Christa is enjoying her junk food at our Superbowl gathering on Sunday!

And here is Christa soooo excited to have all of her family together. She greeted each guest quite enthusiastically.

We had a little fun with some static from the floor cushions.

Ahhh, my bulimic baby. This is what Christa thinks toilets are used for, as she must take a moment each time we pass ours. I'll take responsibility for setting the example for her :)

Alright, I'm off to take a shower while I still have the help. I'm considering this a highly productive day :)

I Finally Took Some Pictures...

... but I'm too tired to post them tonight. Soon - I promise :) I was happily sick most of the day today (that's what you say when you're just so thrilled and grateful to be pregnant, but really feel awful 80% of the time and don't want to complain about it :) I did get some pictures of Christa at our family Superbowl gathering (that's what you call a "party" that your husband wanted to have and did all the work for, but feel a little guilty talking about the Superbowl "party" you had last night while you're simultaneously not complaining about feeling awful 80% of the time).
Soooo, I will do my best to post these pictures tomorrow! In the meantime, have a great day, and know that we're doing just fine!