sweet thoughts

A couple of folks have shared some sweet sentiments since I have been pregnant. On Easter Sunday in Augusta, our pastor greeted Lindsay and I by saying, "I love your bellies. You have life in you." (I actually did not hear him say this because someone else was talking to me at the time, but Lindsay and Brad told me that is what he said later). Life inside me...the words are thought provoking on many levels.

Then the other day as I was talking with my neighbor he said, "Just think, right now He is knitting away on her." As I sat and read my devotion this morning, I read Psalm 139 where it says, "...you knit me together in my mothers womb." I love the thought of God knitting away on her. I can't wait to see God's little creation!

Creating history

So many things that happen have a great story to them. The story details how the idea or whatever was first conceived and how it lead to this or that. History tells stories that I'd like to create. I just had an "a HA" moment that I must share. I'm reading a book about epidemics and social phenomena (if that's a word). It talks about what factors set things up to succeed and what types of people cause things to take off or fizzle out. It's a great read.

So I began thinking about how I wish customers would buy my products. How do I work to create an energy that others latch onto? How do I choose which accounts to target so that the successes are magnified? How do I recognize when I'm riding a tired or dead horse? Who do I need to meet in order to set the series in motion?

As a coincidence, on TV right now (I'm in a hotel in Alabama) the History Channel has a thing on about tsunamis and how they start and spread. In a nutshell, that's my job. I am responsible for getting people to use our products. I want them to tell others who will then buy our brand. I don't want to waste my time making waves in a lake when the real waves get moving in the ocean.

Just thinking online....

Help please!

Since I have been back from Mom's house I have tried to sew by myself a few times. Need I say, I'm useless on my own! I have tried and tried but as you can see from the photos below I am not making very good progress!

Here are my multiple attempts at trying to get thread on the bobbin!

As you can see, it's not from lack of concentration! Mark arrived home after my bobbing attempts and got me started.


I know the picture below is not great but look at the pretty seam! I was practicing and so happy to see such a pretty seam!

But alas, I flipped the fabric over and this is what I found!!

Eeks! What a mess! Several people have offered to help but no one has made it over yet. At least Mom is coming to visit for Mothers Day. Maybe she can help!

It's official...

I'm getting a major baby belly. Of course, my belly has been getting bigger for awhile now but from Easter weekend until now, I really think it has doubled in size! Yesterday I was on my feet for 6.5 hours at work and my back started hurting. I rested when I got home and then went to water aerobics. My back felt fine afterwards. However, we then went to an event at church and sat for almost two hours. I could not get comfortable. I felt like my insides were going to pop out of my belly. It felt so big and stretched. It didn't hurt, just felt really big! Plus, Caroline felt really low and there was an uncomfortable pressure the whole time I was sitting. I hope that this will not be a sign of the many days to come! I went straight to bed when I got home. Mark gave me a nice massage and I drifted off to sleep and woke up feeling normal today. It's just a strange feeling getting so much bigger! I can't imagine what is in store the next three months!

In other belly news...I saw my belly move from the outside today. Crazy that she can move around so much!

motivation

Where does motivation come from? I have none and need some ASAP! Can someone please share their motivation with me or tell me where I can find my own? I have a long to do list but nothing that has to be done, so of course I'm sitting here doing nothing! I'm actually watching Celebrity Apprentice but that pretty much constitutes as nothing! Hope I can find some motivation soon!

Surprise!

This handsome man...


bought me this...

as a surprise! It's a great little camera that is perfect for me. I already know how to do some "tricks" on it. I had not been asking for a camera but he thought it would be a good idea for me to have my own camera with Caroline coming soon. I am so excited about my unexpected gift!

After he gave me the camera, he then took me on a hot date, where I could use it. First, we went to the Marietta Square and ate dinner outside at a Turkish restaurant. The food was alright but I don't think we we will be going there again. It was a beautiful night to be outside though! Afterwards Mark took his camera and I took my new camera and we walked around the square taking pictures. We had a great time together catching up! We spent last weekend with family and then he was out of town all week so it had been awhile! After our stroll, we stopped to get some ice cream and then headed home and crashed for the night.

I love living in Marietta. The downtown square is so cute...the ice cream store had a sign that read, "Open at noon and closed at dark thirty." I thought that was the greatest sign because it made me feel like I live in a little town somewhere. Mark and I have been talking a lot lately about how blessed we feel to be where we are with our family, friends, home, jobs, and all that God has provided for us.

Easter Weekend

This past Friday Mark and I headed home to Augusta to visit family, go to the Masters and celebrate Easter! We enjoyed our time at home and were really thankful for such beautiful weather. We spent much of Saturday and Sunday outside enjoying the fresh air. Sunday afternoon Mark rode home with Lindsay and Brad and I stayed behind to hang out with Mom and sew some things for Caroline.

Mom is such a good seamstress and I have stayed far away from the sewing room at home for many years. It's a scary place! However, as I am getting to be an old lady I have been trying to open my mind. There is something about having an abundance of free time and being pregnant that makes me want try these motherly things! Mom taught me a lot over the past couple of days and I started working on my very first, very SIMPLE dress for Caroline! I did not finish it while in Augusta because we were too busy working on other projects. I'm hoping that I will finish it now that I am home though....that will be the true test to see if I learned anything! While I did not finish the dress, Mom and I made Caroline's quilt, bumber pad, and crib skirt. The bumper pad and crib skirt still have a few finishing touches that need to be made but both are about 95% complete. I brought them home anyway and have already put them in the crib and taken pictures but will probably wait a little bit to post them. I'm really happy with the way everything has turned out! Mark also completed the changing table/dresser and has moved it into the room. It looks awesome!! I will let him post the final pictures of that soon too!

I did want to post a couple of pictures of things I had when I was a baby that Caroline will now enjoy! The first is the cradle that I used when I was a baby.

The next picture is Miss Piggy! My mom took a ceramics class while she was pregnant with me and painted Miss Piggy, the piggy bank, for me. Miss Piggy was in my room for longer than she should have been growing up and now she will sit in Caroline's room! :-)It's really a treat to have some of the things that I had when I was a baby now being used in Caroline's room. Of course, not everything that has been saved is worth being used again! Mark and I have to pick and choose carefully!

The Chandelier

Tonight's tasks were two-fold. I had to take down the ceiling fan and install a chandelier. Both were relatively straight-forward. Here's the result of my labor:

And yes, we plan to replace the half-painted wooden windows.

Pictures of the newly poly'd changing table will follow whenever I pronounce it "done".

Sleep

My sleeping has been on and off for several weeks now. A few good nights in a row and then a few nights where I wake up wide-eyed at 3:00 AM wondering when the day is going to start. I have not been really annoyed by this, mostly because I don't have much of importance to do during the day so if I'm tired, it's alright. People continually tell me, "God is just getting you ready to be up at night with a baby." Last night that thought became more real in some strange way.

I was sleeping peacefully when all of a sudden at 3:00 AM I wake up to my dog staring at me with big, happy eyes and a wagging tail. She never wakes up in the middle of the night. In fact, most mornings she sleeps longer than I do. For some strange reason, she was wide awake in the middle of the night and so happy! I woke up immediately and took her outside, thinking that may be the problem. She played outside for about 15 minutes and then decided she was ready to come in. We both went back to bed but I lay in bed for the next hour wide awake and reading a book. I eventually fell back to sleep. I realize that most nights, Caroline will probably greet me with crying as I retrieve her from her bed. However, it was funny to see Sophie's wide, happy eyes and wagging tail. I felt glad to wake up and take care of her. I can just imagine waking up to care for Caroline in the same way.

Being pregnant makes me think of things in a way that I never thought I would...like comparing waking up with a dog to waking up with a child. :-/

Baby Name

We have officially decided on a baby name....Caroline Dawn. Caroline is a name that both Mark and I like. Dawn is Mark's Mom's middle name. We wanted to name her after someone in the family and his Mom is so generous with her time and resources. She is also a very joyful person. Some of my first memories are of her singing with her sisters and laughing. I hope that Caroline has the same joyful spirit. Yesterday was his Mom's birthday so we decided to call and tell her about the little girls name. Of course, she was overjoyed but she also told us a good little story. She is the oldest child from her family. Her parents named her "Dawn" because she was the beginning of their family. Caroline Dawn will also be the beginning of our family!

This morning as we were waking up, Mark put his hand on my belly. He said, "Hi Caroline" and she kicked! He said it two more times and both times she kicked! Of course at 24 weeks she is already a genius...she knows her name and knows her daddy's hand and voice! :-) Very sweet!

Goodbye job

I have been wanting to quit my job at Ann Taylor Loft for months now and today I finally turned in my two weeks notice. Don't you think it was nice of me to turn in two weeks notice to such a silly little job!? I'm just really glad that I finally did it. I may be sitting around bored for a few months but at least I don't have to feel like a loser with a graduate degree working at a clothing store, being told when to greet clients and how to "sell" credit cards! Whew...the pain is almost over. On the other hand, our wallet may experience a little more pain since it will be minus a very small paycheck and I will no longer receive a monstrous discount on my clothing! However, it's a trade off that I willingly accept!