Look Out! Here comes Mr Smooth!

Last Tuesday, Luke came home with a sliver of paper in his hand.  He immediately handed it to me.  When I looked down at it, it said "Ashley" and had a phone number.  I asked Luke, "What's this?"  He said, "Oh, Ashley just wanted me to have her phone number.  She told me to call her."

Oh.

Have I mentioned lately that the boy is 6?

6.  Not 16.

I'm just sayin'.

So, he comes home Thursday with another piece of paper in hand.  This one reads "Rachel cell" and has a phone number.  (This being the same cute gap-toothed Rachel that Luke danced with in the first grade play.)  So, I asked him how he got this number.

He just smiled.

He laughed as he said, "Well, Mommy, I told her, "Rachel, I lost your phone number.'  She said, 'When did I ever give you my phone number?' So I said, 'Uh, at the beginning of the year.'  So she wrote it down and told me not to lose it this time."

Oh.My.WORD.

Paging Mr. Smooth.

So, if you know any single guys, I would totally recommend this as a pretty good pick-up line.

Oh, and to my knowledge, he hasn't called any of these girls yet.

I'm not holding my breath, though.

Introducing...

Anna Beth!

Anna Beth should be joining us in May of this year.  She looked perfect on the ultrasound, which was a huge relief considering that we got off to a rough start.  To go from expecting to miscarry to seeing a healthy baby tumbling around and waving on ultrasound is nothing short of a miracle.  God has blessed us so much!

It has been really nice to finally be able to call her by name, instead of it, the baby, or (my favorite) your probably sister. 

So, yeah, we will have not one, but two weddings to pay for.

At some point, I will have one child at the elementary school, one at the middle school, and one in high school.  Sometimes I wonder if we really thought that through.  

  

 

It's A ... COOKIE!!!

So, I'm still sitting in the doctor's office waiting to find out my baby's gender right now. I just wanted to share a story from Luke's bedtime last night.
I reminded him that today was the big day for the ultrasound. He said that he hoped that the baby would be a girl. When I asked him why he wanted a girl, he surprised me with what he said:

"Well, Mommy, if it's a girl, it will be special. That way, it will be like an Oreo cookie. With one girl older and one girl younger, I'll be the cream in the middle of the chocolate crackers. Everybody knows the cream is the best part. I will be extra-special if I'm the only boy."

Pretty deep, huh?

4:00 p.m. Update: We finished our OB appointment, glided through our dental appointment, and are currently stuck in the mayhem that is Chuck E. Cheese. Our ultrasound went very well. The baby was NOT shy and was eager to reveal that it is healthy and it is a...

GIRL!!!!

Let the buying of all things pink commence!

Emma has a slightly different take on the Oreo analogy. She said:
"If Luke is the cream, we are going to be the cookies that smush him."

That seems about right.

Diary of a Crazy Pregnant Woman, part one

As you all probably know by now, I am expecting a baby at the end of May.  We will mostly likely find out if the girls will outnumber the boys in this house on Monday.  (I think so.) 

Emma says since Tootie dog is a girl, it has already happened, but I digress.

I have decided to periodically (which means whenever I feel guilty that I haven't blogged about anything in a long time) write an installment of the Diary of a Crazy Pregnant Woman.  This doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to be graphic and discuss uteruses and other girl parts I'm not especially inclined to talk about or anything.

Guy readers (all 4 of you, I think), you are safe.

Sorta.  As safe as you ever were here, I guess.

Anyhow, this was the conversation between Luke and I at bedtime last night:  (He always waits until I tuck him in to haul out the heavy questions.)

Luke:  "Mommy, where does the baby come out of?"
Me:  "Uhhhhh."
Luke:  "Does it come out of your nose?  Your ears?  Your hair?  Your shoulders?  Your feet?  Your armpits?"
Me:  "Umm.  No, none of that."
Luke:  "So, where, then?"
Me:  "You know how you have boy parts that are different from girl parts?"
Luke:  "You mean, like my pee-pee and my bootie?"
Me:  "Yeah, umm, yeah.  Sorta.  Babies come out of their mommies' bellies out of their girl parts."
Luke:  (With a disgusted-incredulous look)  "Ewww!  Do they poop them out?"
Me:  "No!  I mean, not like that, no.  It's different."
Luke:  "Gross."

So, I have a feeling the next few months are going to bring LOTS of questions that I don't know how to answer.

What Makes For a REALLY Great Day?

The stage was set.  It was frigid outside.  Clouds rolled in.  Snow fell. 

Not a lot--this IS Alabama, but just enough for all of us to have some fun.

Well, everyone but Tootie.  She is not a fan of snow or temperatures below 80 degrees.

 Luke throws a pretty mean snowball.  Repeatedly.  Don't worry, Emma retaliated.  Repeatedly.  I just wasn't fast enough to get a picture.

This is one of the pictures I sent in to James Spann (our favorite weatherman) per Luke's request.  He put this one and the one of the kids with the snowman on his blog.  He showed this one on the news twice!

 And while we are on that topic...
You might think that the reason Alabama won its 13th National Championship last night was because we have the Heisman trophy winner, a great defense, and/or that Texas' quarterback was injured.  Well, you'd be wrong.  It was because of this:

This is Jason's LUCKY SHIRT.  He has worn it for every Alabama game this season.  (Including the one we were in Disney World for.)  It was originally my shirt, but it somehow made its way into Jason's t-shirt drawer.  He is a big sucker believer in football game superstition, so he now thinks this is the luckiest shirt on earth.  It will, no doubt, be worn until it is nothing but shredded strings.

Hopefully we will have some more really great days soon.  I sure did enjoy this one!

An Open Forum for Griping

Don't get me wrong. I am grateful to get gifts. To know that someone thought about me and thought that I would like something is very meaningful.

BUT...

Sometimes you get a gift SO BAD that you have to tell somebody.

This happened to my husband and I at Christmas this year. Due to extenuating circumstances, I can't tell or show you just what we got here, but I will gladly e-mail you a little show-and-tell if you're interested.

Consider this post a safe haven. Tell me what you got that was just awful. I'm not talking about gag gifts or funny Dirty Santa gifts. I mean, the real deal. Did you get a animatronic fish that sings Christmas carols? A harmonica for those who are not musically inclined? (That is a real gift my very musically inclined husband got one year.)

Just let it all out. I need a good laugh!

What are you looking at?

Do you remember when you first learned to drive a car?  If you were anything like me, you were a precision-guided driving machine!  I kept my eyes focused straight ahead and did my utmost to lock out all distractions, whether inside or outside of the car.  I didn’t touch the radio dial, the air conditioner, or dare lift a finger off the steering wheel to wave at a passerby.  No way!  I was completely and utterly devoted to the task at hand—being a safe and attentive driver.

Fast forward to the present day.   I am a driving multi-tasker extraordinaire.  Now, I’m not one to put on make-up while driving, but I have been known to eat a meal, change the radio, adjust the temperature, window shop, talk on the phone, and be the instigator of backseat peacekeeping (“Don’t MAKE me come back THERE!”), all while safely cruising down the highway.

Somewhere along the way, I got comfortable, maybe too comfortable in my journeys in the car.  The same can probably be said about my Christian journey, too.  I know that when I first became a Christian, I was totally Jesus-focused.  I was locked-in, ready to do whatever He needed me to do.  I was not about to let the world get in my way!  But as it happened, I got distracted along the path.  I got so focused on trying to do so many other things that I forgot to see all the blessings around me.  I got so busy with the unimportant things that I lost my focus.  As I ran my race, I forgot to do what Hebrews 12:2 says:  “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” I realize now how essential it is to keep my eyes on Jesus and both hands on the wheel!