Thursday, April 30, 2009

Pictures!

Hello all! Here are a few pictures to brighten your day. Yes, my daughter needs a haircut - we're addressing that in half an hour! Enjoy!

Definitely a shoe girl!
New face she likes to make!

Last day at Kindermusic...



Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Our Story (Part 2)

Hello all! I signed on to post some new pictures, since I've actually taken some this week. However, my camera connections are not cooperating, so I will try again later. To answer a recent question, we are working on a name. I think we have the final one, but my stubborn husband will not let me release it, nor will he confirm that it is, indeed, *the* name. I'm working on it :) I will give you two hints though: it is has been in my top 5 (maybe 3) list of favorite girl's names forever, and the initials would be AKJ. Feel free to take a guess in the comment section, but only if I haven't told you the name for sure :)

Since I don't have a whole lot of other news, I guess I'll wrap up "Our Story." Although, I hardly got any comments from the last one, so I'm afraid I may be boring you all. Sorry if I am - I'll quit babbling and get to the ending.

So, in May, I went to Hawaii with a family who I'd known and babysat for forever. The kids were older, so there was very little work involved in the trip, and lots of fun! None of us were ready to come home when the trip was over. While we were there, the mother, Jamie, told me about a really sweet guy she'd just met at an engagement party. She knew his mother, named Christa, very well through her kid's school, and his twin brother was getting married soon. I gave her permission to pass my number along, but wasn't sure if anything would ever come of it. I thought it was interesting that his mother's name was "Christa." That is the name I'd planned on naming my first daughter since I was a kid, but I'd never met a "Christa" before. I was trying to get away from thinking that every first date could lead to a wedding, so I brushed the coincidence off, and focused on the trip.

I didn't hear from Cline for months. His twin brother got married that summer, so everyone was pretty occupied. Jamie told me she'd had second thoughts about setting us up, but just felt a little voice telling her to do it. By the time my phone number got from Jamie to Cline's mother to Cline, it was late summer. We played phone tag during the month of August, and finally set up our first date for August 30.

We met in our hometown and went to see "Open Range" followed by dinner at a local Italian restaurant. He was very cute, and conversation was very easy. We stayed at the restaurant until they closed, just chatting away about anything and everything. It was a perfect night, until the end, when Cline ended our time together by saying, "that was fun, maybe we can do it again sometime."

Whhhhhaaaatttttt????? Every girl knows that is a polite way of saying, "I'm not going to call you. If I see you around, then great, but I'm not planning to make an effort." I was devastated, and called Jamie the next day, in tears, to tell her about miserable failure that was the evening.
I spent a couple of days starting to wonder what I was doing wrong, that a nice guy like Cline wouldn't want to see me again. Meanwhile, Cline was at his house, eager to call me. He was about to pick up the phone the very next day, when his "younger, cooler" brother stopped him, informing him that he would appear desperate if he called so soon. Cline waited 2 days on this advice, and I returned home from a movie with my roommate to find an encouraging message on our machine. It was late, so I waited until the next day to return the call, but we talked nearly every evening and went out every weekend after that.

One year and 8 months later, we were married in our hometown. Our rehearsal dinner was so much fun and perfect for us - a 50s sock-hop theme at the school his mother works at. There were great decorations, floats and sundaes, and even a live Elvis impersonator! It was a blast, and I wish I could relive that whole evening without the pre-wedding jitters.

The actual wedding was at a beautiful chapel at his former high school, and our reception was across town at a beautiful college campus. The flowers were in full bloom. There was a cold front that day, but I didn't notice because of all the adrenaline. My bridesmaids all look like they're freezing in my pictures, though! We took a great honeymoon cruise to the Western Caribbean - a first for both of us. It was perfect, and we hope to do another cruise one day.

Well, I'd better run. Lots to do before Christa wakes up. Have a great day, and I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Our Story - Part 1

Hello all! Since I still seem to be suffering from a little writer's block, I thought I would share the story of how Cline and I got together. I figure that a lot of you don't know the details, and the ones who do may have forgotten. Besides, I always enjoy reading these types of things on others' blogs. So, in honor of our 4th anniversary, I give you... Our Story.

Our story starts as I was graduating from college. My life's dream has always been to be a wife and a mom - preferably of the stay-at-home variety. I never enjoyed school and thought of college as a way to pass the time while I worked on my MRS. degree. My dating efforts in
college were hinedred a bit because I wasn't a clubber. I tried to be, but I was not a night-owl, a dancer, or a drinker, which pretty much made club-hopping a miserable experience on the few nights I tried it. Nonetheless, I found a few boyfriends during my college years, and kept my eyes set on the gorgeous diamond ring that I was sure to get by the time I graduated.

My senior year of college was the worst year of my life, so far. A variety of things seemed to be going wrong, but I really felt like I was going over the edge when graduation came and I was sans fiancee, sans boyfriend, and sans any young person of the opposite sex to have regular conversations with. As I transitioned into the "real world" completely scared and alone, I had a bit of a nervous breakdown. After a few months of misery, I picked myself up and decided that I was going to have to learn how to take care of myself for a while, and I might as well make the best of it.

I focused my energy on being the best pediatric nurse I could possibly be, since I had somehow managed to land my dream job at a children's hospital in Atlanta. That seemed to be one of the few things in my life going well at the time, so I took that as a cue from God that I needed to start there. I commuted from my college home for a while, then moved in with a friend's mom closer to my work. That was a really fun time in my life, and I had some great adventures. I was single, making a little money with few obligations, and traveling as I pleased. Better yet, I was learning how to do things like pay my own car insurance and manage all of my own finances, and I was gaining confidence by the day. I prayed diligently about my direction, and a funny thing happened. I started viewing my husbandless state as less of a huge problem and more of a treasured and temporary season in my life that I should cherish and enjoy. I eventually decided that I would "celebrate my singleness." I hung out with girlfriends and did whatever I wanted to with my free time - which I had a lot of, since my full-time job only required 3 days of work each week.

I pretty much hated the whole dating process after college. In high school and college, it's so easy to meet people in class or other activities, and there are many convenient times to casually make plans to spend time together. Not so after college - it's difficult to set up and coordinate schedules for one date, and then you have to have some sort of follow-up... which requires someone to pick up the phone and make a call, and the whole set-up is just awkward. But I did have fun flirting with the medical students at work, even though I was determined not to marry a doctor - those guys do not have family-friendly schedules! However, they were the only males with whom I interacted with regularly, and I managed to score a few successful dates. Nothing serious ever materialized, but each new guy seemed to be better suited for me than the last, and although I was truly enjoying my single freedom, I couldn't help but wonder if God really did have a terrific guy for me out there.

The following Spring, I made arrangements to move into a condo with a nice girl I'd met at work (Hi Megan!). She got to know some of our neighbors while I was preparing to move into her spare bedroom, and quickly informed me that we had two young, not-bad-looking medical student neighbors. That sounded fun! I was all set to move in, right after a 12-day babysitting job I'd agreed to do in a little piece of tropical heaven known as Hawaii.

To be continued...

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

It's a Girl! It's a Girl!

Hello all! I just realized I have not personally weighed in on my doctor's appointment. Speaking of weighing in, I did not realize it was possible to gain 12 pounds in 1 month!! I'm not saying I did that... a hem... but perhaps I should ease up on the Easter chocolate :)

Thank you, Kimberly, for your adorable post with our news. I couldn't have done it better myself! Great minds think alike because I, too, was going to do something similar with a sneaky and misleading title :) Everything looked great, according to the doctor. They want to do another ultrasound in 8 weeks to get a better look at the spine because the baby was not cooperating, but the doctor said there was nothing to indicate there would be any problem at all. We got to see the baby sucking her thumb and kicking her legs hard when we were trying to determine that she was, in fact, a girl. She looked a lot like Christa, but I guess all babies look the same at that stage.

Speaking of Christa, I do have a funny story. I mentioned before how well she's doing understanding that there is a baby in mommy's tummy. In fact, every time she notices my belly she wants to kiss it. So sweet! Well, I'm thinking she doesn't quite have the concept down, because last week she started pointing to Cline's belly and saying "baby"... and then her own tummy and saying "baby"... Now, I'm pretty sure we've just confused her and she thinks all tummies are called babies!

Cline is off this week to celebrate our anniversary - 4 wonderful years! Maybe I'll tell our dating/engagement story or something on my next post. We thought about going somewhere for the week, but decided to stay here and relax instead. We're hosting a prom dinner here on Saturday for Cline's brother and a group of high schoolers, and we have plenty to do to make the house presentable. Cline agreed to my not-so-subtle hints that I wanted him to hire a Spring Cleaning service for my Mother's Day present, so I'm getting that a little early. So we're spending the week cleaning in preparation to pay someone to come clean. Hmmm... perhaps I didn't think this plan through...

Well, I guess I should go shower since it's like, 1:30 in the afternoon. Have a great day!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Boy, oh, Boy....

OK, well actually,

IT'S ANOTHER GIRL!!!

Jessica called to see if would post that they are having another little girl and couldn't be more excited about the news. We (the readers of this EXCELLENT blog) are so important that she called from the doctor's office so I could post and everyone could immediately share in their delight.

Since my words are never nearly as clever as the ever so talented expectant mommy, I will keep this short and allow Jessica to elaborate at a later date!

Relayer of news,
Kimberly

Ultrasound at 1:30...

And I promise to post results as soon as I get home if you'll promise to say a prayer that the baby will look very healthy :)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Easter 2009

Hello all! We had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather! It almost made up for all the cold and rain we're still dealing with. It seems like it's always cold, rainy, or both on Easter, so it was nice to have a year when I wasn't freezing in my clothes! We went to church, and then spent the rest of the day at Cline's family's lake cabin. We spent the day outside hunting Easter eggs, decorating cupcakes, doing crafts, and of course, eating. It was a great day! Enjoy the pictures!





Friday, April 10, 2009

Have a "Good Friday!"

Hello all, and Happy Good Friday to everyone! I have pictures, today, to brighten your day if it is not "good" so far :) These were taken the weekend before last when we skipped the unseasonably cold and rainy weather up here and enjoyed 70 degree sunshine for a couple of days in Hilton Head. We stayed at a resort with an indoor pool and discovered that Christa is quite the little fish. She has no fear of putting her head under water and would have played all day if we'd let her. On the day we left, we promised her she could swim one last time. Well, we were confused about what time the indoor pool was closed for a water aerobics class, and thought we were in big trouble, because we didn't have time to wait for the pool to re-open and still get cleaned up and on the road by check-out time. Luckily, there was an outdoor heated jacuzzi, that was not too hot, and Cline had the brilliant idea of taking Christa swimming in there instead. Never mind that it was only around 50 degrees this particular morning. Christa didn't mind freezing one bit and had a blast swimming with Daddy before we left!









These last two were taken on Christa's 21 month birthday - March 28. She refuses to sit still for cute, posed pictures nowadays, so I had to take what I could get.

We have started telling Christa about the baby in Mommy's tummy. Yesterday, when I got out of the shower, she pointed to my tummy and said "baby," then leaned up to "kiss" it. It was so sweet! I hope she likes the baby this much once he/she actually gets here! Speaking of which, my ultrasound is Wednesday, so I'll take guesses on whether it's a boy or a girl in the comment section. I have no gut feeling on it whatsoever. At first, I thought maybe it was a girl, but now I'm starting to think it might be a boy. Who knows?? We'll find out Wednesday, I guess. And if you want to send up a few extra prayers this week that everything on the ultrasound will look as it should, that would be great! I honestly don't care if we even get to find out what the gender is, as long as the baby is healthy. I have been surprisingly at peace recently, and not freaking out over every little thing like I was in the beginning. Hmmmm.. I don't think I've called my doctor since my last appointment, over 4 weeks ago - yay me! Anyway, I'm trying not to get nervous as the ultrasound gets closer.

In other news, Cline has started working at his new job and is loving it! The 5 minute commute makes soooooo much of a difference, especially when he gets off work in the middle of the night. The staff has been great, so far, and the hospital seems to run smoothly. The pay system is totally different, so that might rock my accounting world for a little while, until I get used to the new system. It'll work out, though, and I'm so glad my husband has a job that he loves.

Well, I'm off to either clean my house or take a nap while my child is still sleeping. I'm betting I'll do the latter :) Have a great weekend and Happy Easter to everyone!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Still Here....

and will post very soon :) I haven't felt as well the last few days, so blogging hasn't been a priority. I feel another burst of energy coming on, though, and will prioritize you all ASAP. For now, I'm off to run some kids-free errands, thanks to good friend, Jamie :)

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Good Friday: An Editorial

**This is a semi-political post, so proceed at your own risk :)**

I've stayed pretty mum on all of the goings on in Washington since the election last year. The last thing I want is for this to be a place of conflict and hurt feelings, which political discussions always seem to result in, so I've tried to focus more on the goings on of our little family. I'm venturing into this dangerous world today, though, because I've been thinking a lot about how the current situations relate to the Easter story, and it's brought me a lot of comfort about many things which I can not control. Please allow me to share, if you will.

Without dwelling too much on the specifics (you all hear the news - who can get away from it these days??), it goes without saying that I share the fears and frustrations of many Americans about the lightning speed at which the government seems to be interfering in private enterprises. I know many of you who read this blog are enraged at some of the recent actions of our government and your employers. I share your concerns, and it would be very easy for me to be angry and miserable all of the time as I watch these scary things happen to a country I love. Many things seem so unfair and unjust, and I feel so powerless to do anything to make it right. I imagine that those of you facing pay cuts, job losses, and broken promises from your employers and elected representatives are feeling much the same way.

As I've spent some time trying to make sense of these feelings, I've realized that there was once a group of people who may have felt very similar emotions - multiplied times a gazillion. This Friday, we are going to celebrate the most unfair, unjust, anger-provoking act of mankind that the world has ever known. The current goings on, although they feel huge right now, must pale in comparison to the rage that I imagine Mary and the disciples must have felt as they watched their precious, innocent, gentle Jesus hanging on a cross, while an evil murderer walked free at the hands of their government and the will of their people. I've spent a lot of time thinking about how senseless that must have seemed. How the people "on Jesus' side" must have felt so powerless and so broken and so discouraged by that single injustice. How Mary must have been so confused that a world, and even a God she loved could allow such an atrocity to occur. I can't imagine what it must have been like to watch her own child die a brutal, painful death while the masses cheered. It must have felt so very unfair.

And yet, almost two thousand years later, we call the day of this most disgusting act "Good Friday." Not "Black Friday," not "Unfair Friday," not "The Friday That Should Never Have Been." Good Friday. Christians celebrate this whole weekend every year with new clothes, family dinners, candy, and toys. We are as happy about this "atrocity" as we are about the miraculous birth of a precious, perfect baby boy, which we celebrate with elaborate gifts and parties each December. Why are we so excited about this "unfairness"? Because our God, who knows things that we can't see at the moment, took the most hateful, awful, horrible, unfair event in the history of mankind and brought the most beautiful, wonderful, loving gift out of it - eternal life to those who least deserve it. I personally benefited unspeakably from this injustice, and I am quite grateful for that corrupt government that helped pave my road to heaven so long ago.

So, this week, when I start to get angry about the latest news story or broken promise, I'm going to think about the abomination that occurred so many years ago and thank God that sometimes, life just isn't fair.