Definitely a shoe girl!
New face she likes to make!
Last day at Kindermusic...
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...
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.
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...
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!
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
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!
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