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Hi all. No excuses. It's been a while. This post will not be for the
quick and hurried, I've got a lot of filling in to do.

First thing: Happy Holidays!
I've been in the least holiday mood (however I should word that...) I think I've ever had in my whole 27 years. The shopping, the C-mas cards, the decorating... I must admit that it's made me cringe instead of giggle with glee. I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a scrooge b/c I have had Josh Groban's version of little drummer boy on repeat for about a month now, but admittedly, we're the only very dark little house in our kid-run subdivision and just yesterday I switched out my Halloween/Thanksgiving wreath for my C-mas one and called it a day. Yep, big beautiful prelit tree in the closet that won't make its debut until 2008 and I'm okay with that. ;-)
I had presents that I needed to wrap (especially the ones for children) and I seriously considered just sticking a bow on them... wouldn't need a name tag b/c the "mystery" will be staring us all in the face. Gift giver and gift receiver... but I didn't think the kiddos would understand and I am above robbing them of their C-mas joy, so I wrapped a few and then had my niece and youngest nephew do the rest (for the adults, and I made them promise not to tell what was inside, although my nephew did manage to write "love, and then his name" on a few, but hey, he's 6 and I'm so impressed with his writing that I'll let the fact that he big-boyed our gifts as though they were from him, slide).
Dirty secret #1: I hate wrapping presents. Birthday, Christmas,
random... I'm very thankful for the gift bag. And honestly, I'm not all doom and gloom although I think that's how that intro might read. We officially started our C-mas tour of Alabama on Friday afternoon(we've done/will do lot of traveling between then and the 26th) and I'm excited about seeing friends and family.

KJ's family does dirty Santa with the big extended group (Aunts, uncles, cousins) and I wanted to take a bunch of Auburn stuff, especially one of those 6-0 t-shirts,
but I'm the ONLY Auburn fan and when I mentioned my idea to KJ, his mom and his sister, I was told that I'd be banned from the festivities. shame. So I let KJ just pick out 2 gifts, and we're going to roll with those, even though the thought of seeing his family pass around an AU t-shirt that's destined to come back to me, still makes me smile (a wicked smile, but a smile non the less).
Lastly on the subject of Holidays: Looky looky what ole St. Nick
brought to my house a little early. hehehe


It's the wall paint! Mom, Daddy and KJ all went in on a collective gift/effort to get my living room/dining room/ kitchen painted for me and really it's a better gift then I could have even thought to ask for. I love it! I feel like I've made progress in my home and I didn't do a single thing. The painters came and did a fantastic job and KJ and my nephew put everything back in it's place before I came home from work. It didn't even smell like paint. The people who love me, love hard and the find the best ways to express it! (disclaimer: for those of you who check out the backgrounds in pictures... I know I do, I'm so curious... please disregard the shoes laying by the barstool and the lack of wall decor, everything hasn't found it's home just yet)

The little mini:
She's doing great! We hit the 26 week mark last Thursday which translates to about 6.5 months. She a strong kicker and tends to really get going early in the morning (I think she gets that from me) or while I'm driving. She generally kicks in the same area and earlier this week the sonagram tech showed me that our little mini likes to push her head up against my womb down toward my hips so that her feet are angled upwards. I'm scared she's going to have the worst crook ever in her
neck. Here's her latest pic (sorry the second one is just a foot, but the tech wanted to show my oldest nephew the 4-D technology {he spent the week with us}and since her face was all squished in my side, the best thing she could get were her toes). I've been told she has long legs (no doubt from KJ's side) and I think her feet look like KJ's. I'm a little concerned about her having man feet, they look pretty large... hehehe



Me:
Pregnancy has made me a little weepy lately. The other morning I had to take a moment and remind myself that misplacing my black camisole was not causing me physical pain and that the amount of tears I felt the need to shed was ridiculous. Really. Over all I'm very conscious of trying not to be an overly emotional pregnant lunatic, and I think I hold up pretty good, realizing that sometimes I just need a moment to myself so that I can be all sad and whiney without anyone having to see that. I've also become quite the klutz, breaking the lower level of glass in our coffee table and spilling my juice being my two most recent episodes. Both were pretty minor and undramatic so no harm was incurred (the coffee table glass broke when I lifted the top level to clean underneath and it titled and broke the glass underneath. KJ
cleaned it up while I sat crying and shaking my head in disbelief and neither of us got cut so no biggie), but still, little things that I think push me to the weepy edge.

Physically I'm doing really well. Can still wear my wedding/engagement rings, can
still shave my legs, can still see my toes...need to paint them, but hey it's winter time, and even in FL you can wear closed toe shoes in the winter. I've experienced a few "growing pains" where little miss mini is getting larger and my body's stretching to accommodate, but no worries said the doc, so no worries it is.

I get tired a little quicker and am having to remember not to push myself to get things done. This became a funny thought to me as I was in the mall on last Wed for about 2 hours trying to finish up some C-mas shopping and almost suddenly while shopping for KJ's dad a sweater in Sears, I thought, "Okay, sit down, you're over doing it" and I proceeded to sit in the store floor hidden by the clothing racks for
about 15 minutes. It made me remember how we used to get in trouble playing in those racks when we were kids and how thankful I am to be 27 and old enough that someone would think twice about reprimanding me for just sitting there. They may think I'm crazy, but they wouldn't dare fuss.

I did have an ulcer on my eye that drove me bonkers for about 2 days until the eye doc gave me some "magic" drops, but it was my own fault from wearing a crappy contact for too long. Seriously, squinting one eye with the other completely closed driving 45 min to work at 50mph with the morning sun burning my sensitive retina as my eyes watered profusely on the very highway that killed my beloved Kia Sorento 2 short months ago...I've been wearing my glasses since then. Lesson learned. ;-)

Okay, I think that's about it for now.

I hope to blog again soon. Regardless, I'm counting on you all to be consistent b/c I can only comment on the same post so many times. hehehe I'm one to talk!

Merry Christmas all! Hope you have a wonderfully blessed one!

To lure you back...

I've been MIA for a minute, a lot has gone on but I feel like the update I started was way too melancholy for how I actually feel. Let just say that there's be some highs (Thanksgiving) and some lows (passing of a classmate/friend) and that thru it all I'm fully aware that I'm blessed. Thru the frustrations and the elations, God is always better than good.

My dear Colleen (and Candi, Lauren and Monica...) did this on her blog and I thought what a wonderful way for me to come back to blogging since it's been so long... let's get reacquainted, shall we?

1) My face "peach fuzz" are actual strands of hair, not just a glow of down that is seen when the light hits me a certain way, actual hair that if you stand really close and I stand very still, you can count the strands. More than likely, none of you will ever be this close to my face, and KJ and I have discussed this in depth already. What can I say, I have rich blood.

2) I have a random freckle/mole on my right hand (2nd knuckle) that looks like an ink mark. I love it! It appeared sometime in college I believe and I think it gives my weathered hands some youthful appeal. Plus it's a great identification mark should someone have to identify me from my hands only...

3) I HATE marshmallows. In every form, every existence. I don't do smores, rice crispy treats, or even cereal with the little dried up nasties scattered throughout. My daughter will never eat a marshmallow in my presence, I would have said ever, but KJ and Liz have both vowed to feed them to her at some point.

4) I love cold rainy weather. Love it. Nothing better than being under an umbrella, bundled up in a coat blowing your breath into the air to see if you can make those "smoke" rings.

5) When I was little I always said that I wanted to be an artist and I was only going to draw in the color purple.

6) My sister and I used to play Chinese acrobats when we were little (blame Romper Room) and from time to time I catch myself wondering if it would still be fun to lay on my back and balance her on my hands and feet.

7) I can't stand for my natural nails to grow too long. If I can see 1/8 of a nail when looking at my palms, I cut them back.

8) My little toes curve inward to form a "c". KJ didn't notice this until the other day at a baby appt, when he said (a little too loudly), "What in the world is wrong with your feet?!?!?!" Apparently when they're flat on the ground it's more noticable then, I don't know the 50 million other times he's seen my bare feet. ;-)

9) I have an eminent fear of my teeth being knocked out. I've always been this way. HATED having teeth pulled when I was little...

10) My core circle of friends are all girls I've known since high school (and most followed me to Auburn. hehehe). Even though I get lonely as all get out here in FL, I'm not "really" trying to make new friends. A girl at the gym gave me her number twice and I never called and eventually quit going to the gym.

11) I've been working with different church youth groups since I was 16, but the thought being a mom still freaks me out from time to time. I occasionally have the thought that I have no idea what I'm doing. Poor little mini, she's our tester baby and we're banking on learning a lot from trial and error.

12) I'm scared of frogs. Don't like that they jump. I've been known to stand outside of work and call a coworker from my cell to ask them to remove the tree frog from the front door so I could come in. sheesh, Florida...

13) KJ proposed to me when we weren't even dating. I think this increased my love for him by 110%. That man has ganas and I'm so attracted to that.

14) I'm not grossed out by things like blood or vomit. I was the go-to person for quite a few 911 situations in college. It makes me feel good that I can be counted on to wait in the emergency room with 1) someone who has a roofing tack shoved in the bottom of their foot (ahem, Colleen, ahem) 2) someone who has locked their jaw while kissing a guy (apparently alcohol can cause the muscles to relax...my little pixie April...)

15) The only time I've ever been in the hospital was when I was 10 and my mom thought my appendix was bursting. After giving blood, they determined it was just gas, and we left after 45 mins with a prescription for prune juice.

16) I've had over 7 accidents since I started driving at 16. Thankfully I've walked away from every one unscathed. Most have been when other people hit me, but there are a few like: 1) backing into a parked truck when I picked Colleen up at her dorm and we glued my tail-light back together after we got back from the party, 2) backing into my sister's car in the driveway that I remember glancing back and seeing an then proceeded to reverse anyway, and 3) hitting a curb and totaling my little eclipse on the sign that said avoid the curb, that I have to take credit for...

17) The best first date I've ever had in my life was my first date with KJ. He took me to Red Lobster (fancy fancy in those college days) and we laughed the entire night. I always quiz him on the little details like what I had on and what I ordered and he remembers, but I can't begin to think what he had on...

18) The only time I've ever seen a gun up close is when I was snuggling with a guy on the couch at his house and he pulled it from his pocket and set it on the coffee table. SERIOUSLY. Freaked me out! I started screaming that he could have shot me in my thigh. Needless to say, that ended that.

19) I've never been in a fight. My baby sister was threatening people for me when I was in 14 and she was 9. hehehe She's always been the tough one.

20) When I get really mad at KJ or my sister, I try to poke them in the belly button (gently, just to let them know that I mean business). Don't know where this came from. I once heard you can kill someone if you poke them in the navel too hard...

(Your turn Tricey...)

Happy Wednesday all. I've missed you!