it's no secret that i LOVE dr. suess books. i've never come across one of his books that i didn't like. i originally wanted to do my baby's nursery in dr. suess and have a whole suess library ready for when she is born. my favorite book (BY FAR) is "Oh The Places You'll Go!" but today i received in the mail a completely different kind of suess book: "Oh Baby, The Places You'll Go!" a book to be read in-utero. now, usually i am not sappy like this, but when i got this book and read it, both my mother and i were completely in tears!

it's still sinking in that this is happening. my life is completely inundated with baby stuff - whether i want it to be or not! between the physical symptoms (indigestion, lack of sleep, utter exhaustion, etc) and then the other stuff that other people bring into play (wanting to know everything that's going on, wanting to touch my belly and feel her move, etc), i am literally in baby world! it's just still strange to me that this is happening to ME, not one of my friends. MY child will be here in about 4 months and MY world will be rocked with sounds of crying, dirty diapers, and sleepless nights. (well, that's already the case!) but i am overwhelmed with the idea that i am about to be a mother and that i will soon be holding my baby girl. it blows my mind!

anyway, here's the cover of the book:

Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid

ONE
Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets.
'We don't have half dozen nuggets,' said the teenager at the counter. 'You don't?' I replied.
'We only have six, nine, or twelve,' was the reply.
'So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?' 'That's right.' So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets

TWO
I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those 'dividers' that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the 'divider', looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me, 'Do you know how much this is?' I said to her 'I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today.' She said 'OK,' and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.

THREE
A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM 'thingy.'

FOUR
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. 'Do you need some help?' I asked. She replied, 'I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?' 'Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm, too?' I asked. 'No, just this remote thingy,' she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, 'Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk.' (she had no clue either!)

FIVE
Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, 'I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do?' 'Just use copier machine paper,' the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five 'blank' copies.

SIX
I was in a car dealership a while ago, when a large motor home was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in dire need of repair and the whole thing generally looked like an extra in 'Twister.' I asked the manager what had happened. He told me that the driver had set the 'cruise control' and then went in the back to make a sandwich.

SEVEN
My neighbor works in the operations department in the central office of a large bank. Employees in the field call him when they have problems with their computers. One night he got a call from a woman in one of the branch banks who had this question: 'I've got smoke coming from the back of my terminal. Do you guys have a fire downtown?'

EIGHT
Police in Radnor , Pa. interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message 'He's lying' was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the 'lie detector' was working, the suspect confessed.

NINE
A mother calls 911 very worried asking the dispatcher if she needs to take her kid to the emergency room, the kid was eating ants. The dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and it should be fine.The mother says, 'Okay, but, I just gave him some ant killer..... ' Dispatcher: 'Rush him in to emergency room!'

Here she is! I was completely shocked that she is a girl!! I was convinced that she was a boy! But I was wrong! And I couldn't be happier!!!

Alright, so I have gotten BLASTED for not adding anything else about the appointment yesterday except for that she's a girl! So here we go:

Everything is great! My doctor is very pleased with how she looks as well as how I look and am doing. I have only gained 7 lbs to date. (I didn't gain anything between my last 2 appts.) My blood levels are good. The baby is doing great. She is weighing in at 1lb 6oz. During the ultrasound, she didn't move a lot -- she just sat there kinda balled and scrunched up. She had her arms crossed over her chest but was more than happy to show us that she's a girl! (go figure....)

I hope that helps everyone!

Bible Conference was good. But I am glad to be home! Got to spend some time with some people that I miss terribly (Amanda!) and got to see some other people that I haven't seen in a while. Also, quality time with JoJo is never a bad thing! It was crazy hot up there, which really got to me. Until Friday night I was staying with mom at a bed and breakfast which did not have air conditioning. I had a hard time with that. My feet swelled like mad in the heat!!!

Being with Territorial Band was, as always, great fun! Got to spend some time with Jamie and Wendy which was nice. And of course, the Barrington's always bring tons of fun! I had Anthony, Ella, and Talitha all weekend which was a BLAST! I took them gem mining which was hilarious! There's nothing like watching a 9 and 5 year old think that they have struck it rich! And really, who am I to burst that bubble?!?

Andrew was dedicated while we were there. I cried. I know, I'm so sappy. But I couldn't help it. It was a nice private ceremony and I felt so honored to have been invited. Pictures of that will follow. Like a complete idiot, I forgot to bring my camera so I have to wait for Erin to email me pics.

Tomorrow we go to the doctor to find out if we are having a boy or girl. I absolutely can't wait! The baby has been moving a lot and is getting so much stronger. I feel the kicks much more clearly than ever and it's easier for other people to feel now, too. I can't wait to see!!!!!!!!

Enjoy the pics from last week!

i was reading around on the internet and came across this chick who has the most hilarious site i've seen in a long time! i thought this was quite true (and funny):

Once I started “showing” a little baby belly, there were certain things, such as downing a pitcher of beer, skateboarding and pole vaulting, that I decided to stop doing in public.

You see, many people view that belly as a way to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do. I don’t know how many times I walked into a coffee shop only for them to ask me if I wanted my drink “decaf.”

Uh, no. If I wanted my drink without the “good stuff” in it, I would have told you so. Also, why are you looking at me strange? What? You don’t allow cigar smoking inside Starbucks? Okay, fine.

All kidding aside, it really chaps my hide when I see people telling a pregnant woman what to do. Even better is when the advice is coming from someone who has never been pregnant.

I know that the 16-year-old making my mocha thinks that all caffeine is bad, but it isn’t. That is because she hasn’t studied up on what is okay during pregnancy.

Instead, she listens to what she has heard and assumes that any woman that dare drink a cup of joe that isn’t decaf is going to have a five-headed baby.

Even if the baby does have five heads, I’ll make sure to teach those heads not to give unsolicited advice to pregnant women.

so here we are at 19 weeks. we went to register at Babies R Us today and I was completely wierded out! Robert was more comfortable and okay with it than I was. I've registered with Erin 3 times now but doing it for myself was just too wierd. it's becoming really real. this is for real. and i'm almost half way done. crazy. (sarah -- thanks for the shirt!!! LOVE IT!)














so after our "registering fun" i decided i needed to relax a bit so i got stuff to set my fish tank back up. amber will be so happy!!!

Spent the day with Erin and the kids today. It was great!!! Here are a few pictures...

Leavens Family Reunion

Faour Family Reunion

hello all.

yes, it's been a while. and to the "anonymous" comment: yes, i am okay. just very busy! i just got back into town after nearly 3 weeks gone. tmi and 2 family reunions will do that. (pictures later.)

we spent the first family reunion in chattanooga with robert's family. that was good fun. a GREAT pool in the backyard always makes get-togethers more enjoyable! especially when there's 114 people in one house!!! (literally 114. no exaggeration there!)

then it was off to camp tomahawk for me to go to my side of the family's reunion. robert had a trip to costa rica for work already scheduled so he couldn't go. it was nice to be with my family...again, with a pool! but even with that, a week with them is tiring! i was ready to come home. we did a day trip to DC where i almost passed out from walking in the unbelieveable heat. the next day everyone went to philly. i opted to stay home with my cousins who are 2 1/2 years and 8 months old. that was great fun.

at some point in all of this i have started feeling the baby kicking for real. no more of this "fluttering" stuff. it's actual kicks! very cool! and, much to robert's dismay, mom felt the baby first!!!

speaking of, i have my ultrasound on aug. 28 to find out what we are having. i know (some of) you are waiting with baited breath!

amanda -- EXCELLENT picture! it totally made my day! i miss you like mad! i SOOOO wish you were here!

alright. it's off to bed for me. i'll post pictures of my past few weeks later.

7 years ago today. it was hard flying home...

night.