Facebook

So I've had this conflict for a long time about joining Facebook. My problem with these sites is that they take up too much time. I have to have one friend I want to check in on each time I go on, or it would take a million years to see what everyone is up to.
Then there is the fact that you get a million invites to be friends with folks that you've never really been friends with to begin with. If you're one of my 38 friends right now, don't take that to mean I don't like you. It's just that many of you know we can call each other friends and plenty of you know we just simply have known each other in the past or know each other through a mutual friend.
Plus, I worry about the ex-factor. I know that I wouldn't want Geoff on there chatting with girls - especially old girlfriends. So our condition to my joining (and his if he ever decides to) is that we will clear friends of the opposite sex before accepting invitations.
Then I wonder how folks will feel if I reject them. I mean, there are certain folks out there who should understand being rejected (ex-boyfriends for example), but what about the folks I never particularly even knew all that well or the ones I can't remember. I'm already running into a little trouble with this one.
However, there are certainly advantages. I have several family members on Facebook, including cousins that I have never really contacted through other means and am happy to have this new connection to. Also, finding old friends is great - there have been several that I am so desparate to reconnect with that I still haven't found online - so this is a start. Others I have reconnected with and it's been wonderful.
So all of this is an excuse post to say I haven't been posting on my blog because when I get online, I've been trying to figure out this facebook stuff. Hope noone minds, but of the few of you who actually read my blog, most of you are either already on facebook or you talk with me so regularly it doesn't hurt your feelings when I don't post.
Don't worry - come August we are going to be turning out the blog posts faster than you'll be able to keep up with. I seriously cannot wait for this baby to get here!

Registered

So I spent the afternoon registering online for a bunch of things you can register for without knowing your baby's gender yet. Geoff and I saw some Crime TV show about a scam involving online baby registries that almost got a girl killed and her baby stolen, so we marked our target registry as private. I don't know if you'll have trouble accessing it by our last name at the store or not. If you do, please let me know so I can fix this.

You can go straight to it through this Target Registry Link:
http://www.target.com/registry/baby/014149900000184

I've also registered at Babies R Us, but I think for that one you just put in our last name to locate it. Again, let me know if you have trouble with it.

And hey - I'm a first time new mom, so I may be missing things that you think should be on there or may have things that you would advise me not to get - if that's the case, feel free to let me know, and I'll feel free to heed or not follow your advise as I see fit. :) Just know that I've already got a ton of what we need - our nursery is nearly complete and I intend to borrow from siblings and hit consignment sales once again before baby comes.

More Prayers for Rosemary

Rosemary called me yesterday from the hospital. I don't remember how much of her story I've posted here, but after she was acquitted for murder, my former neighbor discovered that the pain and urinary problems she had been having in jail were cancer. The cancer was in her kidney and had passed through to some of the surrounding lymph nodes. Over the past several months the doctors have removed the kidney and tried unsuccessfully to remove the lymph nodes.
In the midst of all of this, she's managed to get pregnant, with baby #5, who I helped to name Omari. Yesterday I had a call from her. They did an MRI because she continues to have severe pain in her lower back that is not baby related. Her cancer doctors found that the cancer on the lymph node which they can't remove is too severe for them not to treat it immediately. They also found that a spot they'd been watching on her liver has grown significantly, from about the width of a pencil lead to over 3 cm.
The doctors decided that the baby, now 29 weeks, would have to be c-sectioned out of there so they can begin the cancer treatment. So they shipped her to B'ham last night via ambulance and performed the c-section. I'm waiting to hear how that went. The baby will obviously go straight to the NICU and Rosemary to the cancer treatment center. The doctor gave her a 50/50 chance of making it through treatment. I plan to visit this weekend if I'm well, so I'm sure I'll have more news later.
For now, I just ask that we pray for Rosemary and Omari.
Thanks.

Tagged Twice

Summer tagged me asking for 10 random things on blogger, and Shelby tagged me for 25 random things on facebook. So I'm making it easy for myself and re-using material. Don't bore yourself by reading both posts...

1. I have about a million and a half pet peeves. No one in the world knows this better than my husband who makes sure to hit on at least one peeve a day so that he can hear me say, "that drives me nuts!" Among my peeves are leaving cabinet doors open, exiting out of a door marked entrance and chewing anything in my general presence.

2. Sometimes I have weird urges just to say words out loud for no reason other than that I think they sound funny - like Budapest. Heck, I don't even know if I spelled that right, but seriously, say it. It'll make you smile.

3.I have a love/hate relationship with rules. I drive the speed limit and exactly the speed limit and when I'm in a car with someone who isn't doing this, I let them know constantly that they're breaking a law, that a car is not a toy, and that laws are there for our protection. However, this little thing I'm filling out right now has a set of rules at the top which I will be disregarding. I had no idea I had 25 people I could tag, but come on folks, if you want to do this do it, if not, I'm not going to impose on you.

4. I have read the Harry Potter series, all seven books at least a dozen times each. Every time I finish book seven I feel frustrated for days because I'm missing reading them. So I always know it will only be a matter of months before I go back and pick up book one again. However, these aren't even my favorite books. If I had to list my faves, there would be a tie between The Once and Future King by T.H. White and A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving.

5. I cannot get a feeling one way or the other about whether I"m going to have a boy or girl in August. One night I dream of Everett, the next of Claire. Meanwhile I'm getting anxious to know so I can sit and talk to him or her while he or she grows inside me!

6. On the topic of babies - my stomach looks like one serious war zone! I am so sick of the constant injections but I know why I have to do them.

7. Here's a random fact about my husband, Geoff. He has these giant jars - one of which is the largest test tube ever from the biology department surplus at Auburn. He goes out to swamps periodically and picks up fish and plants and shrimp and snails and puts together these self-sustaining ecosystems. They're pretty interesting, but no one loves them as much as our cat, Irving, who sits and watches the fish all day long.

8. I cooked and ate brussels sprouts for dinner the other night and they were not that bad. For those who know me best (Kevin, Gini) you know that I used to be the world's pickiest eater. So it's a miracle that I even tried the things. And that I thought that I could eat them again - well wow!

9. My husband is sitting here beside me making faces while I type this list.

10. Anybody already bored with this list, because I'm having trouble coming up with things to write?

Nursery Sneak Preview

For my birthday which is tomorrow, mom and I continued our tradition of checking out a new Cirque du Soleil show. This year we saw Kooza in Atlanta. We also spent some time shopping for maternity clothes and I am so excited about all that we were able to get!

When we came back to my house, mom spent a few days helping me pull together my nursery. I've been working some on my own for a bit as well, and I'm dying to show everyone how cute it is turning out! For some reason, my digital camera was totally out of battery power, so I had to settle for pictures from my phone. I'll update the pictures in a few days with better ones from the digital camera.

So from the doorway, the picture to the right is the view into the nursery. Above the bed is the verse "Every good and perfect gift comes from above." Our "theme" if you will, is mint chocolate chip ice cream. We needed an accent color to go with the green and white nursery rhyme toile print that I chose about a year ago.

I kept thinking I'd just use pink or blue when I found out the sex of the baby, but the brown is great! Note that the wall hangings (nursery rhyme prints) are all in blue. However, I have the exact same prints in pink in the closet. So we're ready whether it's Martha Claire or Will Everett. I put the blue up first, though, because I know how much Geoff is hoping for a boy.

So above you have the changing area and the reading nook. We're still going to have to work on covering the rocker, but I found some fabric that I already had that's a good washable neutral. Add some brown piping and we're in business!

And finally - for the main event! This beautiful crib turned out so much better than I dreamed! I can literally sit all day in there and just stare at all the beautiful things and just wait and wait for this baby to come!

Be Careful Little Eyes...

I heard this song on the Christian radio the other day - "Slow Fade" by Casting Crowns. The lyrics were so powerful, the song so powerful, that I sat and listened to the whole thing. When it was over I turned off the car and just thought about these words:

Be careful little eyes what you see
It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful little feet where you go
For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade

Be careful little ears what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day

The journey from your mind to your hands
Is shorter than you're thinking
Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day

Oh be careful little eyes what you see
Oh be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love
Oh be careful little eyes what you see

So often lately I've been reminded of what an amazing responsibility Geoff and I are being given to parent this child growing inside me. The second line of this song was just overpowering "Be careful little feet where you go, for it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow." I keep thinking of the book "Hinds Feet on High Places" by Hannah Hurnard and praying that God will continue to guide my steps, since it is indeed the little feet behind me that are sure to follow.

As silly as this sounds, Mary had a little lamb also makes me think of this amazing responsibility. My little lamb will go where I go, will do what I do, will say what I say. I hope that I am practicing now the type of habits and behaviors that I want my child to mimic in the oh so near future.

Anyway, I would encourage you to check out the Casting Crowns song above if you're not already familiar with it. Even if you don't have children, the song has a powerful message about how easily we slip and fall off of this narrow road that leads us to God's kingdom.