Guess who's coming to town?

No, it's not "Santa" I'm speaking of (although my mom DID inform me that he's coming this Saturday to Brownwood Wal-Mart by helicopter- hooray). I learned that Casting Crowns- my current favorite Christian band- will be in Abilene on February 1st @ 7pm. Whoo hooo! AND the tickets are very reasonably priced. Anyone want to go with me??

I mentioned this wonderful bit of news to my precious husband, and he seems to think (probably practically) it's not such a good idea to go one day before our son is due. RATS. What do you think?? Hey, I'll be up for it, I'm quite sure. I can't think of a better way to spend a day, actually. So, I "made" Jody say maybe. And he did.

I mean, they sing the song I want played at my funeral (And now my lifesong sings). It's beautiful! I told Jody that if I died giving birth, they could sing it LIVE at my funeral since they'd be in town. He didn't seem to think that was as cool as I thought it'd be;) Oh well.

Am I being unreasonable?? Please say no! :)

Oh, it's good to be home

How was YOUR Thanksgiving vacation/time?? Ours was a most enjoyable time, to be sure! SOO much to be thankful for. While in Louisiana the 10 week countdown officially began. So, now we're at less than 10 weeks before my due date. WOW. I. am. stoked. And I'm having the heartburn to prove it! (as if that really "proves" anything)

Being with the Dodson side of the family this year was a big change. I think it's the first Thanksgiving that I didn't spend with my parents. I was happy it worked out for all the families to (eventually- sorry, Laura!) show up. The Lord was merciful in granting us a safe trip. I ate lots of good food and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with family and watching Mikayla's cousins keep her entertained. PRECIOUS. They were all so kind and patient with her. :)

I'm off to catch up on blogs that I haven't gotten to read in about a week. Now that's a LOT of catching up to do! how fun. Good night, dear friends.

Everyone together now

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're in Denham Springs, La, and we're haing a superb time together. This is a pic of all the cousins on this side of the family. We had a fun photo shoot with good attitudes from EVRYONE! Whee! :) More pictures soon!

Maternity Fair

Yep, tomorrow is the big day. My life is loaded with activity, doesn't it seem?? :) Tomorrow evening from 6-9pm, my dear husband and I will be attending a maternity fair @ the hospital. My willing mother will be watching our ball of fire. Oh, I'm so excited. I guess the best news is that I don't have to cook; they'll provide supper for us. YES! Not that I don't enjoy cooking, (I DO!) but it is nice to get a break from it sometimes. AND, I don't have to do dishes (something else I enjoy doing- seriously- I think it's b /c I don't have a dishwasher). Did ANY of that make sense?? Sorry, ladies.

Today Mikayla and I had a nice time @ the park. We walked around a bit, (which she did not especially enjoy b/c she was in her stroller) then she played while I took pictures with my mom's 10 mega pixel camera! I thoroughly enjoyed that, and I almost lost sight of Mikayla while trying to get a good shot of a squirrel. Actually, I did lose sight, but only for a few seconds b/c she ran off. I could still hear that sweet voice though.

I'm nearing my 29 week mark!! It's hard to believe. Sometimes it seems to go by s l o w l y, but other times it seems quite reasonable. I told Jody this evening that I'm concerned that my tummy's not growing. He looked at me and kinda smirked. Hmmm... I wonder what he was thinking;)

Grace is coming soon!!!!!! I know I've said that before, but it bears/bares (???) repeating. I'm glad you want to walk with me, Grace!! :) I'm (almost)always up for it.

Take care, sweet ladies. Thanks for your comments. I do like reading them!

Swollen fingers

Today was the first time in this pregnancy that my fingers swelled. We were taking a leisurely family walk this evening (doesn't it get dark EARLY??!) when I looked down due to a tingly feeling in my hands and noticed that my fingers were larger. I guess it's all part of the fun of it all:) Baby Joseph moves a BUNCH, which I obviously love. In fact, he's moving now. ahh.

Is woot a word? Seriously, if you have any insight on this, let me know. I'm seeing it around a lot. (example: I passed my glucose test! Woot Woot!) I don't get it. Can you help me?

I see I'm not the only fan of Anne of Green Gables, and rightly so! It's good watching, and very CLEAN. I'd highly recommend it for anyone.

Mikayla is doing SO MUCH BETTER at her bedtimes. She used to cry (A LOT!) whenever we'd put her down. I feel like she's kinda maturing, and it's so nice! For both her nap and this evening's bedtime, she didn't cry. :) I used to think that was the only way she'd go down. This new way is so much nicer. There IS an end in sight!

I'm reading in the book of Job right now. I get a little nervous when I do read it. Is that CRAZY or what?? After Job lost his possessions and his children, he said he wanted one thing. And that was for the Lord to destroy him, b/c then he could have comfort. WOW. I can't imagine 1/100 of what he went through. There were lots of good lessons for Job in it all, as there are many good ones for us. More on this later. I hope you all have had a blessed day. God is good. He is.

ps. my mommy made broccoli salad today. YUM ME!

Anne of Green Gables

My Joseph and I (and Mikayla, kinda) are watching the series of Anne. It brings back such memories. I think the first time I watched them, I was was about 7 (?). I LOVED them back then and still really like them. It's funny that we get so caught up in the romance (or lack of) of Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley. Fun times!

My brother Mike and family are in South Dakota, and I believe today they moved into their new home. I do feel for my sweet sister-in-law Misty leaving her family and friends and moving to a totally new (lots colder!) place. I wish so badly that I could visit them. sigh. My parents are planning a trip there the beginning of December. I'm slightly jealous:( Jody is saving his vacation for when the baby comes.

I got an invite for lunch tomorrow at my parents' house. And I've accepted. :) Should be a fun day.

On the menu for tomorrow evening?
Jerry's Burgers (special on Tuesdays 1.99)
Baked Steak fries
Whoo hoo!

Off to read Grace's new post??? I'll believe it when I see it!

over 70 percent there!

I'm so excited. I'm now 28/40 weeks along in this pregnancy. What a delightful one it's been! HEARTBURN is a huge thing now. I used to only get it at night, but now it can hit at any time- no matter what I eat. Thankfully, popping a few rolaids temporarily brings much relief. :) Also I'm trying to do better about exercising. I'm having to walk much slower (due to pain in my tummy if I go too fast). But I know that some walking, even if slow, is definitely better than none. It just makes sense to me.

How was your weekend? Ours was quite nice. Mikayla and I LOVE having Daddy here on Saturday mornings when we awaken. There's nothing quite like it. Although she does get VERY distracted and instead of drinking her milk in a few minutes, it takes a LONG time and she usually doesn't finish when Daddy's around.

I must go shopping tomorrow! We need milk, not to mention TP! Two very essential items for a household, esp. ours.

Grace is coming to see us this weekend!!!!!! Oh, we love that girl!! and her family, too, of course. :) She's truly a delight to be around. AND, she's coming on my dear mommy's birthday. I think we'll find something fun to do...

More later! Good night!

And then it happened

What? you ask. That I have to stand sideways now to do dishes b/c my tummy is so big. HA! I chuckled to myself:) I just wonder when my feet will do that swelling thing.... I remember that most vividly with Mikayla- doing dishes standing sideways and having my feet tingle from the swelling. Fun stuff here!

We attended the petting zoo today. I was not extremely impressed. Thankfully the admission was free (and rightly so). The highlights?

~Christy came with us
~the weather was gorgeous
~Mikayla liked the tiger
~the camel didn't spit on us

That about sums it up. Then we came home and had some banana bread together with chocolate milk. and talked.

I took my glucose test today. And I was mistaken about something. The drink was NOT orange, it was red. Go figure. The lady poured it into a cup and told me to drink it as fast as I could. I got a little nervous and then gulped it down. Then I waited for an hour. And read most of the book of Esther. Oh, it's so good! The power of fasting. Read it sometime. :) Then the lady after some needle maneuvering (sp??!) finally got the blood going. Phew! All in all, a good experience. It's interesting the conversations you hear from people about to get stuck:) (I have GOOD veins, my veins roll, etc.)

Good night, my faithful friends.

The sweetest thing

Tonight I felt very privileged to witness what I did. My dear husband almost always gets Mikayla ready for bed (teeth brushed, diaper changed, pajams on, etc.) I've asked him before if I can just be in the room when he puts her down and he has told me no b/c (something like) it's their special time. So, I decided to give it another try, and tonight he said YES! Oh, it was precious!! They prayed together and he sang her a song and then hummed a lullaby. I think my heart may have melted tonight. sigh. I LOVE MY HUSBAND. Pure and simple. :) He's exactly the daddy my children (!) need.

Almost 28 weeks. Unreal. Tomorrow morning I'll go do my glucose test. My dear mommy is watching my girl while I drink some orange soda and give out some blood. I get an hour of quiet. Imagine that! Then I'll pick up Grannybear and we'll head back to my mom's and sometime after that we'll all have lunch together. Sounds like a plan!

I'm off to get some breakfast/lunch ready for my husband so I don't have to wake up at 4.

ps. I'm getting HUGE. Serioulsy. I spotted the transition today. phew.

You do the math

So I was in the mood for some Italian food today and thought maybe Mikayla and I could share a small cheese pizza from Prima Pasta (one of the BEST restaurants EVER) and go eat it at a park or something. I called and they informed me it'd be $8.65. WHAT??! I thought that was a bit overpriced, so I opted to go inside with my daughter, and enjoy a meal together. We shared some delicious HOT bread with butter, a salad with house dressing, and a super yummy pasta sampler for $5.49 (+ tax/tip). What a deal, eh? We both were quite satisfied and I got to just enjoy a quiet lunch with my girl, while someone waited on us and cleaned up after us. Think I made the right decision? I sure do! We even shared a green mint afterwards just IN CASE we happened to have garlic breath.... which I'm pretty sure we didn't :)

And I discovered that my tastes have changed. I think I'm growing up a bit. I no longer like ... sixlets! Can you believe it?? I kinda can't. Then Grace told me it's b/c it has wax in it. Makes good sense to me to put wax in cheap chocolate. right? wrong. It did take eating about 14 of the little guys to realize what exactly took place with my taste buds. NOT good anymore. I actually threw the rest of them in the trash. (I used to LOVE those things! and Wendy's, too, but that's another story).

Later gaters. or is it gators? I have no idea.

I've entered the 3rd trimester!

Is this exciting or what??! 27 weeks out of 40. Wheeee! I had my appt today, and all looks good:) A good heartbeat, and I guess I'm measuring right on schedule (he never does tell me, but that's ok). I did gain 5 (gasp!) pounds. It must've been those pancakes from last night at church. Ugh, they gave me the pancake blues. The ladies who made them poured VEGETABLE OIL on the skillet EVERY time they put more batter on. NOT my kind of cooking. But, all in all, a good time was had:)

I was talking to Grace about this tonight. Don't know why I chose to spill it all out on her (sorry, Grace). The words we say, the holidays we celebrate, what we watch, etc! have MEANINGS. ("Keep thy heart with all dilligence, for out of it are the issues of life") They have origins and mean something. I'm seeing the attitude that if we don't mean it bad, it's not. Hmmm. I think it's good to know what we're saying/supporting/watching or whatever. If you're not sure about something, do a wee bit of research, and I think it will help you make a good decision. A bit scattered, but just thought I'd throw that in. I'm sure I'm not going to scare away my readers with this rant. (Grace, Mom?)

We had an EXcellent dinner with my parents and Kevin tonight. Homemade egg rolls and rice. Yummy. yes, they were fried, BUT somehow it seems different than those pancakes. THANKS, MA!

Good night. Should be getting a cold front tomorrow. :))))))))))

3 months away

Lord willing, I'll be meeting our son in 3 months (or so). Is this exciting or what??! Well, for me it is;) I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing Mikayla interact with and love on the new baby. As much as she likes our silly cat, I think she'll do quite well with little Joseph Daniel. I can just see her kissing on him! Sweet times ahead, I think!

We had a pretty yummy supper this evening, if I do say so myself.

~Baked Bacon wrapped chicken breasts
~Baked seasoned potatoes
~Corn
~Grape salad (wish you could've been here to share it with us, CC!)

And I know, I shoudn't have capitalized the "b" in Bacon, but I think it deserves it:)

My brother Mike and family are heading to South Dakota in the morning. I had a nice, LONG (always long with him) talk with him this evening. What an encouragement he is to me!!! How I love that brother of mine.

I know it's not the most exciting post, but I don't like having the same old one every time you check;), so this is what I came up with.

Happy payday tomorrow!

Sweet dreams!