I'm up before Scout, and that's a rarity. I should be doing something a little bit more productive than organizing pictures on my computer and blogging. I did empty the bathroom trash when I got up this morning. Good enough.

Scout in a new outfit she got for Christmas:


Posing with her teething buiscuit:


Another new outfit from Christmas (well, they are really jammies, but I turned it into an outfit by adding the sweater and some cute shoes :)


After her bath yesterday:

One of the things I would like to do with my blog in 2008 is to write more about my spiritual journey, a la Wendy's blogging resolution. It's always at the forefront of my mind, but I normally just keep it to myself for some reason.

I'll start now.

2007 was fantastic. DH and became parents to a gorgeous little girl, so obviously, it was a great year. But it was also a year of spiritual laziness for me (and for DH, I presume). It makes me sad when I think that it has been 5 years since DH and I had a major life/heart/soul change, quit our partying ways and stumbled into a church. (not necessarily in that order) It makes me sad because I feel like I should be leaps and bounds ahead of where I am. I am still a selfish bratty baby (ahem, spiritually speaking, of course :) when I should be a selfless woman of God, a rock for my family, always seeking good, always looking for ways to help others, (and most importantly) always talking to and hearing from God the Father. I'm not expecting total perfection from myself, but I know that I am capable of much more than this. I am tired of not living up to my potential.

I am technically a "leader" in our church, since I am on the praise & worship team and used to lead the song service on Wednesday night. I feel like such a poser. I put on a show, because I know others are depending on me. But in reality, I don't even WANT to go to church most of the time. Something that used to be a joy and a passion has become a burden and obligation. Something has to change.

Labels: church, deep thoughts, dreams, general complaining, pics of scout, spirituality

I don't have to babysit at all this week.....which is nice, but means we will be short on money.

I need to go grocery shopping today, stop @ Target & Walmart to edit/add to my gift registries, and clean up the kitchen. Then I'll hopefully have time for a nap, make dinner, and then go to choir practice.

I haven't mentioned much (if anything) about Christmas choir practice. Mostly because I want to spare you from having to read a long rant about how much I dislike it and wish I didn't have to be a part of it. Yep, I HAVE to be in it. I have no choice. I'll just say that it's taking away from, not adding to, the little bit of "Christmas spirit" I might have had. I'll be glad when Dec 25th has come and gone.

On a positive note, I am 22 weeks along today. Woohoo! I enjoy being pregnant. Yeah, my hips and back bother me, and I'm exhausted for no reason all the time.....but it could be SO much worse. I love the excitement and anticipation of knowing that we will have a new addition to our family in just a few short months. It's tough to gauge DH's excitement about the whole thing. I know he's happy about it, but I'm sure it won't become REAL to him until the baby is actually here and he's a daddy.

Last week at church, he was holding our friend's 3 month old baby and it looked odd to me. I realized then that I had never really seen him holding a small baby like that....or if I have, I've never had a reason to take notice. It was sweet. He looked uncomfortable, like he was wishing someone would come take the baby from him....and I wondered what it will be like when he has to hold a baby on a regular basis.

But I then I got to thinking about it and realized that I also feel like that when I'm holding a small infant. Unless the baby is in a deep slumber and not wiggling around at all, I usually feel like a big clumsy oaf that has no idea how to hold a baby. Don't get me wrong, I have no worries about it, I just thought it was an interesting observation. I know that DH and I will learn together, and somehow holding our own writhing, slobbery, head-wobbling little dear will be unthreatening and natural. (patting tummy) It's amazing how much I already like the little booger.

Labels: church, general complaining, pregnancy whining

I'm like a little kid @ Christmas.....I woke up at 5:30am and couldn't go back to sleep because this is the day my parents get here!!! I got out of bed at 6:30, took a shower and got dressed, and now I'm about to go to the grocery store to pick up some stuff for us to make dinner this week. My mom loves coffee, but it has to have fancy flavored creamer, so I have to pick up some of that. I don't think they like crazy hippy health-food type stuff, so I bet they won't like the cereal and other food we already have in our cupboards....so it's off to buy some "traditional" super processed ingredients :)

It is storming here and I'm really hoping it dries up soon because our church is having a Bike Rally (as in, motorcycles) today and it is supposed to be outdoors. There will be a bike show, a swap meet, a greased pig race (yep - they are greasing a little 15lb pig and letting people try to catch it for a prize!), lots of delicious southern barbeque, a Krispie Kreme Doughnut sale, and like 5 or 6 heavy metal bands playing on a big stage made up of a bunch of flat-bed trailers. I really want to go to it, but my parents will be here around 11 or 12 and I still have cleaning and stuff to do.....and I don't think my parents are fans of heavy metal, so I bet they won't want to go to the festivities :) We might go down there to eat some barbeque if they're not too tired, though.

Labels: church, family

Our Pastor announced our great news to the congregation yesterday morning. Everyone was really excited. A couple of our pals even treated us to lunch. Hooray for free food! There are now 6 pregnant women at our church, so our kiddo will have lots of friends to play with.

I am at 6 weeks(LMP) today. Had my first tiny wave of nausea that could've just been a result of drinking some strong Green Tea on an empty stomach. I love my 2 new $5 bras from Wal-Mart. They're almost like sports bras, but a little bit more flattering. You know how sports bras give that lovely "uni-boob" look? Ick! These are definitely not as attractive as fancy bra, but I am going for comfort at this point.

I am still alphabetizing the records and probably will be for the rest of the week. I'm tired of bending over a million times - that's the worst part. It's also difficult to arrange things in bins and shift things around, as I'm trying not to lift anything heavy.....and believe me, a bin full of records is heavy! When my little guy comes over, I can't really organize the records because I know he would definitely try to "help" and end up mixing up all of my alphabetical piles. He had a great nap today, so I was able to do some organizing when he was sleeping. Here is our messy record-strewn room:





I'm beginning to dislike the musty attic smell of records that I used to find endearing. Touching hundreds of records at a time is like touching a bunch of money or newspaper - your hands end up dry and black in about 5 minutes. If I never see another record again, I will be happy. Okay, I'm making it sound a lot worse than it is. I'm just stalling because I know as soon as I'm done with this post, I'm going right back to alphabetizing.

Labels: church, home business, pregnancy