THIS AND THAT

Here’s one of the pictures of Mallory from the ultrasound this week. The picture itself isn’t great, but I still think it’s pretty special. We’re loving being able to talk about her like a real person with a name and everything. No more “it” and “the baby”.
She got her first shoes this week. My friend at work, Mary, asked long ago to be the "local practice grandma". On Wednesday after we found out Mallory was a girl, Mary bought her a pair of oh so sweet pink ballerina slippers and a pair of pink Ugs. I’m sure she will need the Ugs quite a lot during the long cold south Texas winter.

Now a picture of my growing belly. Don’t worry, I don’t plan to show any skin belly pictures. You might never read my blog again if I did that. My trip to Old Navy was very successful this week. I found several things, plus I even got some more pants with belt loops. Thanks for all the suggestions on what they’re for. I think Ashley’s idea of suspenders might be the best and could actually be useful in the not quite big enough for maternity clothes stage.

Now for something funny…we had a lot of rain yesterday thanks to Tropical Storm Erin. The south and east were the heavier hit areas. When Matthew got to work he was told that they would be driving “high water vehicles”. If he were a cop on TV, I’m sure this would have been a decked out Hummer or something equally as cool. In real life, it was a DUMP TRUCK! While Nathan thought this was pretty cool, Matthew did not. He did say that after driving it all day, he felt like he was driving a Ferrari when he got in his Civic to come home. I hope he didn't drive it like this guy, but Nathan would probably think this was cool too.

I might be crazy, but I'm thinking of battling the mall and the tax-free weekend shoppers. I heard a commercial that Foley's (I can't get used to calling it macy's) has a buy 2 bras get 2 bras free deal. It might be worth it. Besides, how many of the tax free shoppers are going to be in the ladies lingerie department.

I was watching 90210 this afternoon, yes its one of my regular shows, and I caught Brandon call Dylan Steve. Good job 9 0 folks. Yes, my sister and I just call it 9 0...the 2 1 0 is just too much and these are our "old friends".

THE SECRET IS OUT!!!!!

Today was the big day. We found out that our baby is a GIRL!!! We are just thrilled. So far, she is a very lady like little girl. She had made herself very comfy this morning with her legs crossed and was not interested in showing anything. Thankfully, the ultrasound technician was able to get a good shot after several minutes to confirm that she is a little girl. The pictures we got aren't great, but I'll try to scan and post them tomorrow.

Now, the other thing that you really want to know... Her name is Mallory Joy. There's no big story behind how we came up with this, its just something that we liked and both agreed on.

Everything else looked great! She's growing and is right where she should be. Seeing her heart beating on the screen this morning was so great. All I could think as I watched my baby's heart beating, was that God is so amazing!

We celebrated the day with lunch at Pappasitos and then a trip to the mall. We had to buy something for our baby to mark the big day. I was good and only bought one outfit for her.

Tomorrow, its my turn. I've got to get myself some clothes. Hopefully I can pull together something to wear to work for one more day.

GROCERY GAME

A friend at work recently let me in on a secret, its called the Grocery Game. There is a website where you pay a small fee (i think $10 for 3 months; i'm still using a free trial) and in exchange it lets you in on the best grocery deals for the week. You select the store or stores in your area and it gives you a shopping list. The Grocery Game folks go through the ads each week and tell you which are the best deals to buy that week and how many to buy to get the most value. Then they even go one step further and tell you which coupons to clip and use to save even more. There are a few items each week that come out free. I've noticed big savings on my grocery receipts since I started. OK...that's enough of my commercial for now. If you want to join the grocery game, let me know and I can email you a link. Yes, I do get credit for people I refer that sign up.

IS IT JUST ME?

I was trying on clothes last night figuring out what would fit to wear to work today. I decided on a blue jean skirt. Somewhere during this time I noticed that the skirt has three belt loops on the back! What is the point of that? Are the designers just trying to be cruel? What pregnant woman is going to wear a belt? What belt will fit around a pregnant woman's belly?

FUN FUN FUN!

This weekend I got to go to Ft. Worth to see most of my college friends when we had a shower for Tiffany and Baby Caroline. It was so much fun to spend a few hours laughing, reminiscing, and catching up with everyone. I didn't get a good picture of the group, but here's one of the two pregnant gals. Too bad our husbands had to stay home fighting crime.

When I wasn't with my Red Raider friends, I was with Anita, Clay, Nathan, and Abby. Abby was just as sweet and cute as ever. Every time I turned around, I heard her sweet little voice calling "Parsh! Parsh!" Nathan was his usual funny self too. Clay got him a scooter. He got to ride it for the first time on Saturday and loved it. Sunday morning after church and at lunch he kept saying that when we got home he was going to ride his "electric scooter". Clay finally told him that he didn't have to say it was electric every time. Nathan replied, "But what if people don't know what kind it is." Here are a couple shots of the little scooter. I'm guessing that's chocolate all over his face in the first one.

On another note, we're getting closer to the big day. Its 5 days until we find out the sex of the baby! I can't wait.

Now something I'm not terribly excited about. Matthew and I came to the decision yesterday that I will be going back to work full time after the baby is born. This was a very tough decision for us. It was not what we wanted to happen, but we both feel we're making the right decision. Thankfully, I'll get to stay home for 12 weeks and then Matthew is home 3 days during the week so one of us will be with the baby most of the time. We think we'll only end up needing a baby sitter for 1-2 days and maybe for just the afternoon those days. Anyone know someone good?

IT WASN'T POPCORN!

Today was an exciting day in my pregnancy. I felt the baby move for the first time! I had thought maybe yesterday I felt something, but wasn’t sure. This morning I was been sitting at my desk for a while working when I felt a few little “pops”. When I felt them, I just knew it had to be the real thing. It was very exciting. I guess the baby liked the Starbucks (decaf) I had for breakfast.
Now, only 12 more days until we find out if it’s a boy or a girl! Any guesses?

WHAT A NIGHT!

Last night I didn’t want to cook dinner and Matthew and I were not wanting to spend much money on dinner either. So, we grabbed our handy Entertainment book looking for a deal. I saw a buy one get one coupon for Blimpie. I asked Matthew if there was a Blimpie around anywhere. He said the only one he knew of was in the Shell station by 290. I remembered eating Blimpie in college in the UC on campus and it was always good, but since we don’t normally dine at gas stations we kept looking. Unfortunately nothing else caught our eye. So you guessed it, we grabbed our coupon, got in the car and headed to the gas station for dinner.

When we got there things didn’t look too promising. But Matthew had his mind up, he said he we’re going in! When we walked in, the Blimpie side looked very clean…but too clean. There was no bread or meat insight anywhere. Within a few seconds the man working in the gas station informed us that Blimpie closed at 4 pm. How can a sandwich shop in a convenience store close at 4?

I was starving and reminding Matthew that it was time to feed the baby at this point, so we ended up at the closest fast food place we came to, Sonic!

This night totally took me back to college when Matthew and I were first dating. Back then, we probably ate a fast food restaurant almost every night. Sonic was my favorite by far and there was one less than 5 minutes away from Matthew’s apartment. Every Tuesday they had half-price burgers so we would get Sonic and then watch Felicity. This was after all our studying was done of course…

Here’s a picture of what we looked like back then. I saw this picture recently and wondered “Where did the kids in this picture go?”

This was on Matthew's 22nd birthday at Joe's Crabshack in Lubbock, right around when we started dating. This is the same night that Matthew put on a Batman costume and pink tutu and ran around the restaurant doing the donkey. Don't know about "the donkey" then you obviously didn't go to college with Chris Horner.

Hope you enjoyed my random rambling trip down memory lane.

So what's been going on around here?

Not much...

I think the pregnant mind might be starting to get me. One night this week Matthew was looking at the the mail from the day. Something didn't look right to me. I walked to the big trash can in the garage and just as I suspected, the movie, bill, and magazine that came that day were staring up at me. Yes, I had sorted the mail in the car and thrown away the good stuff and brought in all the junk. Do you think this could work to explain late bills?

People always ask if Matthew has any good stories being a cop. Last night he called me shortly after 11 and said, "You'll never guess where I'm going." I said, "You're right, just tell me." Well, he had just been dispatched to Barnes & Noble to cover the crowds that were waiting in line for the Harry Potter release at midnight. Yes, this was the big police need in Pasadena for the night. I told him he better come home with some good stories from this one. Unfortunately, his Sergent showed up shortly after he go there and sent him back to the station since he got off at midnight. He did say that there were lots of crazy looking folks wearing Harry Potter glasses and dressed up. Can you tell that we never got caught up in the Harry Potter craze?

Some of our friends with a pool are out of town this week, so I think I'm off to float in the pool for a while!

GOTCHA!

During their visit, Nathan was not interested in having his picture taken. Here are a few of the quality pictures we were able to sneak of him.

Hiding under the table to try and escape the camera. What else would any little boy do?

The one picture I was able to snatch of Nathan climbing at the mall.
Matthew was able to sneak this one of him. If Nathan knew Matthew was the one trying to take his picture he probably would have cooperated. He loves to play with his Uncle Maf. They spent a lot of time building a fort in the dining room. Nathan wants us to keep it up until he comes back to visit. Its still up for now, so we'll see.

FUN TIMES!

The last several days have been a whole lot of fun, and unlike last week I have pictures this time!

Saturday I got to go to the Astros game with my friends Leigh Ann, Brad, Brandon, and Leigh Ann's dad. This was a real treat because we had the best seats any of us had ever had all thanks to Leigh Ann's cousin. Here's a picture from my seat. Jealous? Leigh Ann even spotted Jeff Bagwell just in front of us in the next section. The Astros ended up losing in 17 innings, but I was on my couch by that time. We left after nine innings since 8 month old Brandon was done for the night.

Sunday was time for more fun...My sister and her two kids came to visit! I took off on Monday and Tuesday so we could have lots of fun. Monday we went to the pool at the Y. Abby had fun getting in and out and playing in the splash pad. Nathan had fun being his crazy self. Before the pool we stopped by Target to get some goggles for Nathan. I waited in the car with Nathan and Abby. While we were waiting Nathan said "There are just a bunch of ladies coming out. Its a lady parade!" This was one of many funny things he said while they were here.


Monday night we went to Target again. We go at least once every time we're together. Abby was looking especially cute by the time we left to head home. Whenever we in the car and passed a Sonic, Abby would either yell for French Fries or a Slush in her sweet little voice before anyone else had even spotted it.

Tuesday we ate lunch at Fuddruckers and went to the mall. Lunch was a little crazy. I said to Anita, "Its a good thing God gives you babies when they're tiny and sweet, because I don't know if I could handle poof, here's a 5 & 2 year old." Before leaving the mall, we had to stop at the play area for a little fun. Nathan was not interested in having his picture take at all this trip, but here's an extra cute one of Abby at the mall.Tuesday night we got to have dinner with our good friends and old neighbors the Shoemakers. It was good food, but more importantly lots of laughter and good visiting. Tuesday was also my first time to wear maternity clothes, so I made Matthew and Anita both take pictures with me.

IS IT JUST ME?

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like this week was two weeks in one? The holiday in the middle of the week really threw me off, but here's a little of what's been going on if you care.

• On Tuesday we had a "Third of July" lunch at work. It was good food and lots of fun. I think I almost gave James a heart attack when he saw my plate of dessert. I'm still using the defense that there was a lot of fruit making it appear larger than it really was.
• June 22 was our 5th anniversary, but because of Matthew's schedule we were not able to celebrate until Tuesday. We went to dinner and stayed downtown at the Doubletree Hotel. Dinner started with some yummy fried calamari and ended with some ho hum dessert. That's a big disappointment for this elf.
• Wednesday morning I got one of my favorite treats in the world...ROOM SERVICE BREAKFAST! French toast delivered to my room, what's better than that?
• Wednesday afternoon we went to the Astros game. They lost big. It wasn't so fun.
• At the game we saw Kim, Elise, and Hayley on the big screen. I hope you're reading this Kim.
• Wednesday evening we went over to our friend's house for fun times and burgers. We stood out side and watched everyone else's fireworks. That was some fun free entertainment. It was fun watching Colby (2 yrs old) get excited over them.
• Thursday I had went to the doctor. Everything is looking great for Little Britt! We'll have the big ultrasound and find out what this baby is at the next visit (August 14th). I can't wait! Yes, we'll be telling as soon as we find out and we'll probably have a name for this little one then too. :)
• Today I went to the funeral for my friend Theresa's mom. It was neat hearing about her and her life.

Well, that was my week. Its a shame I don't have any pictures, especially since I had my camera in my purse all week! I'm on vacation Monday and Tuesday. My sister and her kiddos are coming to visit. Maybe I'll have some pictures then.

On a side note...I'm watching the Astros game now and just saw a lady picking her nose. If you're sitting on the first row behind home plate you should really be careful.

Whooooo Are you? Who? Who...Are You?

No, this isn't a blog about CSI. I put a counter on my blog over the weekend. I really didn't have high hopes for the counter. I thought I would try it out for a few days and then get rid of it because it was still in single digits. Well, the last time I checked it was at 87. But, the thing is I haven't gotten any new comments the last few days. So my question is, "who are all of you sneaky readers?"

ps. In case you're wondering about my CSI reference, my title is supposed to be sung like the theme song from CSI.

Tagged!

I got tagged by Kellee to answer these questions. Thanks Kellee, I was feeling left out since Anita tagged you and your sisters instead of her own sister. :)



First memory - My fourth birthday party. It was a breakfast party at McDonalds.



First real kiss - Jason Barzona. The next day he said "That was your first kiss, right?" That made me feel real good.



First love - Aaron McCarty. My senior year of high school. I went off to Harding and it only lasted a few months after that. He tried to track me down later, but I dodged him.



First thing you think in the morning - just one more snooze.



First pet - my only pet was the goldfish, Blinky, I got at the Northland Fall Festival. Mom fed it too much one day while I was at school and it died. I buried it behind our garage.



First question you'll ask in heaven - I honestly have no clue.



First thing you think of when you hear the word vacation - I'm there!



First best friend - LaTesia Pinson...my friend from the womb. Monica Erwin came along very quickly too. Still 2 great friends.



Last time you dressed up - other than church (I don't think that rally counts) was Tiffany's wedding last March.



Last thing you ate -watermelon...more on that below.



Last CD you bought - Daughtry. It will probably the last one for a LONG time now that I buy music on iTunes



Last good book you read - The Guardian and True Believer, both Nicholas Sparks.



Last time you cried -I'm so weird about crying I have no clue. I did come close last week after Bunko when I want to come home and have a bowl of cereal and discovered we were out of milk.



Last time you told someone you loved them - this morning . . .to Matthew as I left for work. He was still sleeping. That makes me so jealous every morning...he doesn't go to work until 2pm.



Last really funny thing you did - Today work we had a office breakfast. There was a bunch of watermelon left over. We were gathered in the kitchen this afternoon eating some of the left overs. I think I ate at least twice as much as everyone else. Everyone thought it was pretty funny seeing me pig out on watermelon. What can I say, watermelon is very important in my family.


Last thing you watched on TV - Just finished up Little House. I'm a huge fan just like my sister! We can both thank our ability to type to our love for Little House. Our dad decided one summer that if we wanted to watch tv we had to spend an equal amount of time practicing our typing with Mavis Beacon on the computer. I think he made us a deal for Little House. 30 minutes with Mavis got us 60 minutes of Little House.

I tag Erin, Tara, and Tiffany. No sisters for me, but Tiff was my Phi Lamb big sis.

MONEY WELL SPENT

I got to have lunch with my friends Kim and Tina before my doctor's appointment on Wednesday. Kim wanted to make sure I blogged about our lunch since she doesn't think she's been in a blog before. It was a great time for some good food plus fun and laughter with friends.

Kim brought me the copy of To Kill A Mockingbird that's in this picture. You can see from the picture that this is a VERY well read book. Kim was returning it to me because it started out as my sister's book. Since Anita read it, it has been read by myself, Anthony, Laura, Tara, Elise, Haley, Lara P, and some girl named Cynthia Sanchez. Everyone's names are written on the book somewhere except for mine and Anthony. I guess Anthony was too cool to sign it and I was only #2 to read it so I didn't realize the significance at the time. I don't know who Cynthia was but she wrote a note to Anita inside the back cover saying "Best damn book I ever read."

I'm sure my mom didn't spend much money on the book 15+ years ago when she bought it, but I think we got her money's worth out of it.

12 WEEKS

We went to the doctor this week for the 12 week nuchal translucency screening (I think I got that right). We could see the baby's arms and legs moving around, it was so amazing. Everything checked out perfectly! I don't expect to have another ultrasound until 20 weeks when we will FINALLY find out if its a boy or girl. So until then this picture will have to to. Enjoy! I think the baby must have Matthew's nose because if it had mine it probably wouldn't be big enough to show up on the ultrasound.

We had to wait a while to see the doctor. I think she was doing an emergency c-section. Matthew was getting a little bored while we were waiting. Here's a picture of him amusing himself with his camera phone. He calls the picture "Oh My!" I call it "Do something about the glare off your bald head."

I MAY HAVE BEEN HALLUCINATING TODAY

It's June, so its really hot in Houston. Today I ran to Kroger on my lunch break to get some groceries. As I was driving off, I saw a lady get out of her car wearing jeans, a sweatshirt, and and turtle-neck! Either she's CRAZY or the heat was causing me to see things! That get up would be overdressing for some January days in Houston.

Not 5 minutes after this I was on my way to take my groceries home. When I turned the corner onto one of the streets going into our neighborhood, there was a truck coming straight at me. (He was on the wrong side of the street not me). I stopped. He kept coming, but with a weird look on his face. I honked. He slowed down, but still kept looking at what I'm sure he thought was the crazy lady in the street. When I started waving my arms and pointing to the other side of the street, he finally clued in and back up so he could get on the right side of the median. I think the craziest thing about this is that when I told Matthew, he had no response. Like trucks drive on the wrong side of the street all the time!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

God has blessed me with the best sister I could have asked for. We may have had some rough patches growing up (Cry, Marcia, Cry), but now that we are grown we couldn't be better friends. Tomorrow is her birthday, so here are a few pictures of us over the years.

Baby Anita sometime when she was "living peacefully" with our parents before I was born. She actually wrote this in a school project once.

This was sometime when we lived in Holland. Maybe me grabbing at her swim suit was what disturbed her peace.

When I was a junior and going to the prom for the first time, she made she was home to help me get ready for the big day. Were we really this skinny back then?

The next year when she got married I got to serve as her maid of honor and help her get ready for her bigger day. Five years later when I got married she was there as my matron of honor for me on my big day.

This was the only recent picture I could find of the two of us where we weren't putting up a Christmas tree or floating in the pool in our swim suits. Since Mom never was too happy about our two pieces I didn't put that picture here on the internet for all the world to see.

Happy Birthday Anita! I love you.

So far being pregnant has made my appetite almost completely disappear. A lot of things I usually like just haven't sounded good to me. This could explain why I've lost a few pounds rather than gained any so far. Well, I just found something that could change this. I just had the most delicious bowl of blue bell homemade vanilla with fresh strawberries and hot fudge! It was the best thing I've eaten since I don't know when. I wish I could share a bowl with all my friends that might be reading this, but I finished off all our ice cream. Don't worry, there were only about 2 scoops left. I WILL go to the store tomorrow for more ice cream, so come on over.

When I was on Blue Bell's website I saw a list of all their flavors. I had recently been remembering one of my favorite flavors, Chocolate Decadence. It was so good. Dutch chocolate with chocolate chips and whipped cream I think. Sadly, its not on the list. :(

I saw this on Holly's blog and it looked like fun.

The rules: grab your ipod, put it on shuffle, use the title for each song to answer the question. No cheating. Whatever song comes up, you have to use for the answer.



How do you feel today?
One of These Days - Tim McGraw



What's your outlook on life?
Dancing Cheek to Cheek - Frank Sinatra (I don't think there could be a more opposite description for my life)


What does your family think of you?
Fly Away - Sugarland


What do your friends think of you?
What More Do You Want from Me? - Diamond Rio


What do your exes think of you?
Swallowed in the Sea - Coldplay


How's your love life?
Don't stand So Close to Me - The Police


How will your love life be in the future?
Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae


Will you get married?
In My Place - Coldplay


Are you good at school?
I Thought I'd Seen Everything - Diamond Rio


Will you be successful?
That's the Way - Jo Dee Messina


What song should they play on your birthday?
I'm Ready - Tracy Chapman


What song should they play at your graduation?
Day In, Day Out- David Kersh


The Soundtrack of your life?
Mountain - Steven Curtis Chapman


You and your best friends are?
Speed Of Life - Sugarland


Happy times:
No One Loves Me Like You - Jars of Clay


Sad times:
I Don't Even Know Your Name - Alan Jackson (it would definitely be sad times if this were my life)


Every day:
Steal My Kisses From You - Ben Harper


For tomorrow:
Fields of Grace - Big Daddy Weave


For you:
Do You Believe In Love


What does next year have in store for you?
Walking in Memphis - Mark Cohn


What do you say when life gets too hard?
Jesus, Take The Wheel - Carrie Underwood


What song will you dance to at your wedding?
Another lonely Day - Ben Harper (good thing we didn't have a dance if that's what we would have been dancing to!)


What do you want as your career?
God of Wonders - Caedmon's Call


Your favorite saying:
Wild Angels - Martina McBride


How will you die?
Song of the South - Alabama



Please play along! Let me know if you play. Its good for a few laughs.

IF THIS IS A PREGNANT THING...

I have been having the CRAZIEST dreams the last few nights. Two nights ago I had a dream my mom and I were at Target. Her total came up to over $10,000. I told her that maybe she should have them check over her receipt, she didn't think that spending 10K at target was a problem

The same night I had another dream that started with me being back in high school. It ended up with me driving my car from college while sitting in the back seat and getting pulled over by a cop on stilts. Since I was so low and he was so high I had to open up the sun roof to talk to him. He told me he had gotten several complaints about me driving recklessly while talking on my cell phone. I pleaded with him to look at my phone because I hadn't been on it all morning. I woke up with my heart racing at this point.

Last night I was in some sort of alternate universe where I was spending time in Iraq as some sort of exchange program. Saddam was still in power. My friend Monica was there with me. Our job was to plan a outing for Saddam when he came to visit the US. We also tried to to escape into the forest in Baghdad, but there were too many guards and dogs. It was insane. I woke up this morning thinking that there probably aren't any forests in Baghdad or all of Iraq.

I just woke up from a nap that involved some sort of crazy dream with mountain bikes and selling real estate.

I just want to sleep without these insane dreams!!!!!!!! If this is a pregnant thing, it better not last another 31 weeks! Did anyone else have this problem?