Children, Train Up Your Parents

I know that I will have a lot to teach Emmeline one day. The inevitable day will come when she learns to talk, and in addition to all the I-love-you-Mommy's come the you-can't-make-me's and the i-do-it-myself's and of course the simple "no". It may be short, and sweet, but oh, so much rebellion comes packed into those two little letters! However, these days, even though I am supposedly bigger, stronger, and smarter than little Emmeline, I find more and more that it is she who is teaching me.

She teaches me to be a morning person. Every day I get her out of bed and she is happy, alert, and has a huge smile on her face. She did not get that from either of her parents! Speaking for myself, I almost always wake up grouchy--at least I used to. In order to keep up with her, I am learning to get up earlier and with a better attitude. It's still a struggle, but that is when Emmeline most wants to have quality time with me, and if she can give me her best at 6:00 am, then I should be able to give her my best as well.

She reminds me to keep my priorities straight. This is also one of the blessings of being a working mother. If I have to choose between dishes, or family, I've decided to choose family every time--or at least until we run out of dishes. I have 30 minutes in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening, and she is growing up fast. Life is too short to spend it all on chores. Our house may be a disaster, but please excuse the mess--I'm making memories.

Emmeline shows me joyful contentment in action. Emmeline has been blessed with a closetful of clothes and toys, but how is she happiest? In her diaper, being held by Mommy or Daddy. Instinctively, she knows that people are more important than things. This is something I could do well to remember the next time I grow dissatisfied with the items in my closet. I pray this is something she doesn't grow out of--or worse, something I train out of her with my tendencies towards materialism.

Emmeline also demonstrates childlike faith to me. She can't talk yet, but the way she looks at Josh and I says, "I trust you completely." If that isn't proof enough, then watch the way she tries to climb, leap, or roll out of our arms. She has no fear--she knows that whatever happens, Mommy or Daddy will catch her. It's both an awesome blessing and a huge responsibility to be on the receiving end of faith like that.

I have to admit I sometimes wonder at the idea that I'm supposed to be the mature one. There I stand, pettily complaining about rude customers at work, or the lack of sweets in our pantry, and Emmeline cries out to be held. She just wants her mommy, and she is satisfied. If only I longed for my Heavenly Father the way she longs for her parents, maybe I would be more content too.

9 Reasons Why Emmeline Makes Me Smile

1. Big, open-toothed grins
2. Funny faces galore
3. So much to say for someone who can't talk
4. Giant-sized determination in a pint-sized body
5. Warm, cuddly snuggles every day!
6. Big, curious eyes that want to see everything that's going on
7. Looks of joyful, contentment whenever she knows her mommy and daddy are watching her.
8. Dainty fingers and toes
9. Pink dresses, ruffles, and bows!

Who makes you smile, and why? Make that the 10th item on my list!

New Layout

The last one didn't have enough pizzaz for Emmie and me.

You're Never too Young for Read Alouds

This Little Piggy?

Motherhood does some funny things to your brain cells. For instance, here is the version of "This Little Piggy" that I have so sweetly been reciting to Emmeline recently:

This little piggy went to market.
This little piggy had none.
This little piggy had roast beef.
This little piggy had none.
And this little piggy went wee, wee, wee--all the way home.

She's Irresistible!

Josh sent me this picture at work yesterday. It's from Emmie's afternoon nap. She loves silky things. She loves to rub her face in them (this includes--in addition to the blanket pictured--a pair of Mommy's silky pajama pants, and the underside of her lovey). Is this girl a princess, or what? She has very cultivated tastes for an 11 week old. I'm looking forward to mommy-daughter spa days when she gets older.

I'm going to have to get a picture of her doing her new favorite sport: walking. No, not on her own (she may be a genius, but she's not THAT advanced!). She gets so excited when you stand her up, and she loves to try and take steps. I love watching her wobble around on those little bowlegs while she tries to figure out what to do with her feet. She always has the most excited look on her face when we help her stand up. I'm pretty sure we have an independent, strong-willed daughter. I don't know where she could have gotten that from! I'm thankful for it though--it might make disciplining hard later on, but if she keeps this attitude up, she can conquer anything she sets her mind too!

She also has discovered the television, and she is fascinated. Her favorite thing to watch is Enchanted. I think she likes the songs, and the bright colors. Apparently this morning her daddy leaned down to kiss her and got in the way of her movie, and she was quite put out. The other night she was watching the Wiggles during her tummy time. We turned it off so she could skype with her grandmommy, and she was not happy about it! I guess she's ready for Baby Einstein dvds now. Might be easier on our ears, too! No offense to the Wiggles, but "the Beatles for kids"? I'm just not seeing--or hearing--it. Enchanted, I don't mind so much though.

Two posts in one week? My readers might get spoiled.

Working Girl

I only have time to write because I'm waiting on Josh to fix me a hot water bottle. Sitting at a computer all day, then holding a baby all night (not that I mind the second part) is terrible on my back. Do you know, today when I got home from work, I actually heard myself say the following?

"I spend all day at work and it's still not enough to pay the bills, and I never even see half my paycheck because the money is taken out before it gets to me."

Now, I know that phrase was uttered in a low-blood sugar induced fit of passion, but still, when did I turn into Ward Cleaver? And I'm sure if my dear old dad had heard me, he would have either had a heart attack, or he would have been gleefully shouting I told you so's. If working full time has taught me anything, it's that I make a lousy husband. And, if staying at home has taught Josh anything, it's that he makes a pretty poor housewife. Some people say a role reversal helps them appreciate their other half so much more, and I guess in a sense, that's true, but I have a better way to put it: it makes me appreciate and long for my (dare I say "God given"?) role as a wife and mother. I was not cut out to be the financial support for our family. Josh, try as he might, is not cut out to be the family's emotional support, and he knows it.

In times when I find I'm longing for my circumstances to change, I always think of the Trace Adkins song "You're Gonna Miss This" (I could probably make this my life song, the way I struggle with discontentment). Am I ever going to miss working full time? Maybe. I'm sure, that one day--when I am blessed to be able to stay home full time--there will be days when I am covered in spit up, the baby is screaming, and the house is a mess, and I will sinfully start to think "Life was so much easier when I spent all day at the office." I hope I don't ever find myself thinking that way. If God works all things together for good, then here is the good that I hope to gain from my present situation:

I hope, that when I am a full time wife and mother, that I will be able to find joy on even the most difficult of days, because I am the one that gets to be there to wipe the spit up, soothe the tears, and manage the home.

I will appreciate Josh when he gets a job, and honestly (although I should appreciate him the same no matter what) I will probably appreciate him even more when he is working and I am not. Honestly, when I do get to come home, he will probably appreciate me more, too. We both know that we are not wired for this type of role reversal. Walking a mile in Josh's shoes may teach me many things, and I am begrudgingly grateful for that, but that still doesn't change the fact that my shoes fit me better.

And my hot water bottle has been ready for awhile. In fact, I think it's cold now.

It's Tough to be a Baby

Last week I started work, and poor little Emmie had her life turned upside down. I know people say she doesn't really understand what's going on, but I think her pacifier would beg to differ. Starting last monday, the paci got promoted to full blown "baby crack" status.

In addition to the new pacifier obsession, she stopped napping for a couple of days. Apparently, she had gotten used to falling asleep while breastfeeding, and the bottle just wasn't quite as soothing.

Did I mention it's a bad idea to schedule your baby's first shots in the middle of your first week back at work? Watching them get the shot is not the hard part, apparently. Holding them for the day and a half that follows while they cry inconsolably is the hard part. It was all I could to not to run out of work early Wednesday and Thursday.

Also, for the first 8 weeks of her life, Emmie had Josh and me both home with her all the time. She must have gotten really used to it, because now her favorite thing to do is sit there and stare at us while we both give her 100% of our attention. She will sit there and watch us watching her and go back and forth from Josh's face to mine. It's very sweet and funny in a pitiful way. She gets so happy and relaxed when we're both paying attention to her.

Did I mention that Emmie is too big for her bassinett? The problem is we still don't have her crib, so she sleeps in bed with us, which she loves because she gets to spend all night cuddled up next to me. Part of me loves it too, because I like to snuggle with her, and (call me twisted) because knowing that she needs me to fall asleep makes me feel needed and special, but the other part of me knows that I am not getting enough sleep because she's sleeping with me.

And yes, I know I should not be looking for ways to feel needed, that there will be plenty of opportunities so I shouldn't be inviting more of them in, but those Mommy emotions can be funny things sometimes. Sometimes, I even think that I'll be sad when she is potty trained.

Sorry that turned out to be such a dry news brief, but I'm tired and short on time these days, and that's not very good for my writing style I'm afraid.

Happy 4th of July!

Listening

Right now I can think of a million other "better" uses for my time than this blog. There's the floor that hasn't been mopped, the laundry that needs to be folded, and the bathroom that hasn't been cleaned in...wait a minute, when was the last time we cleaned the bathroom? All that aside however, I want a chance to brag on my baby girl for a little bit. Of course, every parent thinks their child is the prettiest, smartest, most athletic, et cetera, and I am no different. So, you'll have to indulge me.

Since Emmie was born, every one who has met her says they can't believe how alert she is. Now she is seven weeks old and if you hold her and talk to her--when she's awake--she will stare at you and wrinkle up her forehead and listen to every word you say. She wrinkles up her forehead lots, like she is busy thinking hard about the world. I can't believe how much she loves to listen to everyone talk. She just learned how to smile, and she smiles alot, but it's hard to catch her at it, because there are so many other things that occupy her attention. As soon as we get the camera out to take a picture of it, she is fascinated by the camera. As soon as someone holds her and tries to get her to smile she won't do it because she's watching them, and listening to them talk. When Emmeline is like that, it makes me think of what Eudora Welty said: that every good writer must be a listener and an observer. Who knows, maybe one day Emmeline will be winning Pulitzer Prizes too!

"When at length we bought our first automobile, one of our neighbors was often invited to go with us on the family Sunday afternoon ride. In Jackson it was counted an affront to the neighbors to start out for anywhere with an empty seat in the car. My mother sat in the back with her friend, and I'm told that as a small child I would ask to sit in the middle, and say as we started off, 'Now talk.'"
--Eudora Welty, One Writer's Beginnings

Four week milestones

It's just no fun to post without pictures! This is our little princess in her bubble bath. She's all ready for trips to the spa now. Her actual first bath was slightly more traumatizing for the poor baby girl, because her silly parents didn't have the water hot enough and did not fill the tub up enough, so she was freezing the whole time. Then on top of that her mommy (me) hit her head (not hard) on the side of the tub. Our poor firstborn--we are going to make so many more mistakes on her!

Emmeline is four weeks old today. She loves snuggling and tummy time, and she likes listening Billy Joel and Taylor Swift. She is 9 lbs and 1 oz. She is very expressive and she wiggles alot for a newborn! She has quite the little personality. She's a good baby and doesn't fuss much. She even stays pretty happy in spite of her acid reflux.

Everyone in this house now has their days and nights confused, not just Emmeline. We sleep from about 2 in the morning until noon. The time when we used to go to bed (10-11) is when Emmeline is usually just waking up for the night. And, honestly, even if she does happen to be asleep before 2 am, at this point I'm so used to going to bed in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes I'm not tired before 1. Everyone in this house needs to work on their sleeping schedule I suppose.

And because I love to show her off, here is a four week old birthday picture:

The blanket and the outfit were a present from her Auntie Ashley.

Emmeline

I hope this works. I wanted to share a video of Emmeline that Josh put together. If it doesn't work, just follow the link and watch it on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMBL5kXgakg

Announcing...

Emmeline Renee Krebs
Born May 7, 2009 at 2:58 pm. 7 lbs, 13 oz, 20 1/4 inches long.

Being a parent is wonderful! We are enjoying Emmeline so much. She is already 4 days old, and I can hardly believe I was supposed to still be very pregnant right now! God's timing is perfect; I can't imagine life without our sweet baby girl.

Stuck in the Middle of the Learning Curve

Before you experience the new parents' learning curve, you get to go through the first time pregnancy learning curve. I'm finding out all sorts of information that will be useful--next time around.
Here are a few things I've learned along the way:

When I first got pregnant I couldn't understand why people would ask me how I was feeling if they didn't really care about my answer. Now I know that it was because they knew how bad it was going to get. There I was telling them about how tired I felt, and they're thinking, "If you think that's bad, wait until you're still tired, but you can't even clip your own toenails to boot."

Second, books about pregnancy are good for cute drawings of your unborn baby, and for telling you how big they're getting and what sort of new body parts they're developing. But, for any other sort of advice, they're worthless. Apparently the people in those books live in some sort of dream world where you can miss work just to get some more sleep--because it's what's best for your baby--and you have the time and energy to cook yourself fabulously healthy, from scratch meals every night. Then again, if you really could miss work every time you felt like the baby wanted you to get some more sleep, then you probably could cook yourself fabulous meals every night, because you would be sleeping all the time.

And people tell me that every pair of new parents goes through the experience of going to the hospital for a false alarm. They may just be saying that to make me feel better, but at least I don't feel quite as embarrased about it this way.

Among other things, the trip taught me that labor and delivery nurses are not concerned about your privacy at all. Other nurses, if they tell you to undress, they at least leave the room while you're taking your clothes off. Labor and delivery nurses stand right there and watch. I finally got used to people seeing me naked, but now I have to get used to people watching me get naked. What's next?

I'll tell you what's next: I learned I don't like doctors who make guesses about things like when my child will be born. One medical expert says something like "You'll probably deliver in the next 48 hours," and of course that puts you on pins and needles, but then guess what happens? Nothing. So, to sum up, could the very highly paid medical professionals whose opinions I trust please not make random guesses about things like the birth of my child? If you tell me I will probably give birth tomorrow, please make sure you are darn sure about that first! Come on--doctors go to school for how many years? I don't think this is too much to ask of them.

I have learned how little I actually know about my own body. I've read the books and taken the classes, but it comes down to the simple fact that I've never experienced anything like this before, and honestly, I have no clue what's going on. I just hope I figure it out before the baby falls out! Okay, I actually am not worried about that. I'm trusting everyone who has said that yes, it does get more obvious what's happening when it is actually time to deliver the baby. But you know, then again, you hear these horror stories--but let's not think about that. That's why I don't allow myself to watch "I didn't know I was pregnant" on the Discovery channel.

Finally, I've learned that nothing makes you appreciate the baby growing inside of you quite like seeing your husband sitting on the couch telling you how left out he feels because he doesn't get to experience all of the little kicks and wiggle. When I see how much he would love to have that special connection with our daughter, it is a great reminder that pregnancy--even with all of its quirks--is indeed a blessing!

Belly Pictures

This is for my non-Facebooking readers. I don't want to leave you out of the fun! I just got my haircut, so I'm sorry to say I'm more photogenic than I was when I took these. Do me a favor and just try to picture me with better hair when you look at the pictures.

7 Months (that would have been March 25):

Week 33:

Molding Young Minds

I felt like taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to share with you what is probably my favorite daycamp story of all time.
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Back in my Cy-Fair Discovery College days, there was a kid named Andy in the acting class I worked in. Now, an acting class always brings an interesting variety of kids to daycamp, and Andy--a towheaded nine year old, who liked to wear sunglasses and black shirts, and who performed the worm for us in class--was no exception. He performed the worm several times actually; he got a good audience reaction when he did it, and actors love to please the crowd, you know.

Andy liked to fix his hair. No, he was not gay--more of the "metrosexual ladies man in training" type. He showed up one day with a fauxhawk which I of course complimented him on.

*side note*
I'm dating myself now--this was back when David Beckham was still a soccer player with hair, which he--like Andy--liked to fix. David Beckham was still a new commodity in America, which made him very popular, add to that the fact that he was British and "so dreamy", and it's no surprise that everything he did got copied by everyone else. When he decided he wanted the look of a mohawk but not the inconvenience of shaving the sides of his head, the phrase "fauxhawk" was born, and shortly thereafter it became a household word.

*now back to my story*
So, I told Andy I liked his fauxhawk, and he asked me, "What's a fauxhawk?" Well, I couldn't have one of my trendiest little students wandering around clueless about his own hairstyle, so I educated him. He took in the information and returned to his snack.

The next morning, Andy showed up again sporting his fauxhawk; he must have been pleased that it got a good crowd response the day before. Ruth, another daycamp worker who was not as well-versed in the ways of pop culture, unwittingly told Andy she liked his "mohawk". Andy turned to her with this jaded, worldly, "I can't believe you actually called this a mohawk" sort of look on his face, and he said to her, like she was so stupid for not knowing this already, "It's a fauxhawk." Then, without another word, he went quietly on his way.

I was so proud of him.
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We do non-baby related things too!

Josh has been painting some furniture for me, and I wanted to show you some pictures of his handiwork, but I always forget to take pictures when I get home, so I'm giving up and writing anyways. He really has done a very good job--he made me a headboard for our bed (he took a picket fence and painted it barn red--it's very cute!) and he painted our desk green (he's going to stencil flowers on it for me too). It pays to have a handy husband. We realized that the only two pieces of furniture we own that we paid more than $100 for are our couch and our bed. Of course, we haven't bought curtains yet either (probably because they will cost us more than $100--are you sensing a trend here?).

It was a beautiful day here last Saturday so we went on a spur of the moment hiking trip at Percy Warner park. Everybody was there with their labradors, german shepherds, and golden retrievers. Yes, Percy Warner park is no place for yappy dogs. Josh said when we were through with the 3 (?) mile hike that I can now tell people that I hiked a 600 ft peak while I was 6 months pregnant wearing flip flops. I don't think I'll brag about the flip flops. That was an accident--I didn't know we were going to be hiking, so I didn't put on sneakers--and I started to regret my choice of footwear about halfway through.

And because I seem to enjoy writing three paragraphs at a time, here's some more news for you. I've had to cut back on the amount of news I read. I started paying alot more attention to current events when I started working, because I had the time and I was always sitting at the computer with internet access. Unfortunately, this hasn't exactly been good for me. Really, not everyone can handle being well informed. The more and more I know about what's going on in the world, the more pessimistic I get. Then, one day I read an article about some Russian scholar who said predicted the U.S. would fall apart by 2010 and Russia and China would become the new world powers. Now, every piece of bad news I read is just more evidence that we're all going to hell in a handbasket and pretty soon Russia will take over and no one will have clean towels anymore.*

It's a good thing I didn't marry a politician, because I am going to have to find some other way to fight the culture war--a way that doesn't involve me needing to know very much about current events and public policy. I know! I will have more than two children and I won't put any of them in public school. Yes, that will do for a start at least.

In the meantime--why doesn't anyone write about good news anymore? It's all death, dying, and despair. Journalists must be very unhappy people.

*I don't know how in my mind communism became equated with dirty towels. You can hazard a guess if you want to, but I think it might be safer to leave that one untouched.

3 Months Left!

I can hardly believe I'm on the last leg of the journey now. I'm encountering new obstacles and new blessings the bigger I get. I can no longer comfortably (or safely) shave my own legs. Josh offered to step in and help, but we're both pretty busy, so I'm wearing a lot of pants these days. Sitting in a folding chair is torture, which makes listening in sunday school much more difficult. On the other hand, Josh has become a very sweet mother hen: he does most of the housework at night and makes me lay on the couch and rest. For some reason I fight him on this almost every night--maybe the hormones are making me irrational. It's also fun to be pregnant enough so strangers notice. I get lots of attention now when I go out in public. And no, no one has touched my belly or told me their labor horror stories--that's probably why I'm still enjoying the attention so much.

Josh and I went to our first childbirth class last week. Most of the people in the class are yuppie couples who work for Vanderbilt (apparently it's a fluke that so many Vandy employees signed up for the same class). There was one hippie couple--he was a former wrestler and she looked like her clothes could have been made from hemp (I'm sure it was a natural fiber). The highlight of the class was the lady who said that the most wonderful thing about being pregnant was "the power of creation." I guess for her pregnancy is the ultimate power trip. There was one couple that was nice and down to earth, of course, Josh already knew them from work. "Ms. Cecil" (she is not even 30) teaches 5th grade at West End.

And...we registered for gifts. I'm very proud of how we did on our registry. We tried very hard to make sure it wasn't very long, and also had a wide variety of prices featured. Baby stuff is so expensive, if you're not careful you can end up with a registry where there aren't any presents under $50, and I'm not exagerrating. Whether we get any presents or not, I think just the act of registering for stuff is fun and special. One of the best parts of being pregnant (I think) is getting to plan for the baby. Josh may have a different opinion next week when we organize his things to make room for Emmie's clothes. Poor guy--he is already outnumbered and our baby girl isn't even here yet! He's very excited I know, but I'm not sure what he's going to do with two women in the house.

She's got Rhythm

Baby girl and I are still cruising along over here. February 25 is the six month mark. Lately, I've found myself thinking more and more in terms of "how much time do I have left to buy a car seat?" instead of "how much longer until we will see our baby girl face to face?" This is either a funny result of the pregnancy hormones, or just another example of me needing to get my priorities straight. I suppose it could be both.

Also, all of those comments I made about her "dancing" are really not far from the truth. She starts kicking whenever fast music comes on. She kicks in the middle of Sunday morning worship, or just yesterday she was getting quite a kick (pun intended) out of that Jose Cuervo song when it was on the radio. You know the song; it goes: "after 1/2/3/etc. rounds of Jose Cuervo..." and it's all about this guy that goes to the bar and gets drunk on tequila and acts ridiculous. I don't like it, but Josh thinks it's funny, and apparently Emmeline has chosen to side with her Daddy on this one. She makes me laugh. I don't know what it is that makes her start kicking, but I guess she hears something she likes.

I also caught her punching her daddy in the hand this morning--over and over again. Josh slept through it, but I could tell.

People keep asking me if I've had any cravings since I've been pregnant. Josh is probably the better person to write about this since he's the one that's had to put up with all of it, but I can tell you it's been a wild ride. During the first trimester I decided I didn't like sweets, but during this second trimester my sweet tooth has returned very much in full force. There was the week I wanted wildberry skittles everyday (until I made myself sick on them), and the week I wanted gummy bears everyday (until I decided I only liked Haribo gummy bears) and then there was the sudden, inexplicable desire for wedding cake. Yes, it was very late at night. Yes, I walked up to Josh, deadly serious, and asked him to get me wedding cake. No, I did not get any wedding cake that night. :-) My latest kick has been cherry coke icees. I can't pass them up (they're available in the Wal-Mart and the Target closest to us). I do share my large icees with Josh, but only with the understanding when I share with him it's to be considered a down payment on a future icee. Right now I'm thinking how nice it would be if there was an icee machine at Lifeway. Maybe I should call my local congressman and ask him to make provisions for that in the stimulus package.

Oh yes, there was also a phase when I hated meat, and another phase when I hated whole grains. Both of those have passed, but now I don't like jelly anymore (except sometimes on biscuits). It's all very complicated. Josh does a good job of keeping up.

Babymoon

Never heard that word before? I swear I didn't make it up. Google it and see for yourself! A "babymoon" is a romantic getaway which is taken by an expecting couple. You see, since your life is about to change completely, you go on vacation and take some time to cherish each other (and your freedom) before the baby comes. Josh and I went to Louisville, KY last weekend and had a fabulous time. And now...pictures!

For breakfast on Saturday morning we went to Lynn's Paradise Cafe. It was featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay and on Oprah. If it's good enough for Bobby and Oprah, it's good enough for Josh and me! It is crazy in there, and I'm not just talking about the crowds--there are legs growing out of the ceiling, pants made out of used tea bags, oh, and our table had a train set underneath it. While we were waiting to be seated we browsed in the World of Swirl gift shop, which is mostly full of items from FredFlare. Among the crazy merchandise was a hat section. I sensed a photo opportunity!

I like to call this, "A wolf in Josh's clothing"


What an egghead!

Oh, and the food at Lynn's? Worth the wait. It was amazing! I had smoked sausage frittata with tomato cream sauce, served with a side of the best cheese grits I've ever eaten. Josh had french toast (which was sliced at least an inch thick). His french toast had a crusty layer of cinnamon and sugar on the outside, and it was not soggy--the mark of a good french toast.

After returning to the hotel for naps (when you're five months pregnant, what could be more romantic than sleep?) we got spiffied up for our evening out. We started the evening with an early dinner at The Melting Pot. It took us 2 1/2 hours to eat, and it was good. We were so stuffed! We decided that The Melting Pot made a very nice, romantic dinner, but it's a lot of work. It may be a while before we want to go back. Oh yes, our favorite course? The cheese course. The bread was our favorite thing to dip, but I surprised myself by also loving the Granny Smith apples dipped in the cheese sauce. Here we are with our dessert course.


After dinner we went to see Wicked! at the KY Performing Arts Center. Josh and I have wanted to see it for a long time, and it was the main reason we wanted to visit Louisville this January. It was wonderful. The seats in Whitney Hall, however, were some of the most uncomfortable seats I've ever sat in. Puny armrests plus no cushioning, they definitely failed the sore butt test.
Here's proof that we were actually at the theater:


I realize I look drunk in this picture, but I promise it's just the poor quality of the photo. We had to take it ourselves. Of course, it could be the sugar high from that super sweet chocolate fondue we ate.
Here's our view of the stage:

And Emmeline kicked whenever an especially loud song came on. Now, it could have been that she was on a sugar high too, but I think we have a little Broadway baby!

On Sunday afternoon we went to go see the world's largest baseball bat.

Pretty impressive, huh? Oh yes, I'm also exactly five months pregnant in this picture.


Josh, sensing the imminent danger posed by the leaning bat, rushed to save the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum from certain doom.

Don't worry, he can fix it!

We decided that while we were there we should try to find me a good baseball glove.
Remember, when you're looking for a glove, it's essential to find one with a good fit.

This looks about right!

In case you were wondering how big the giant glove is, my sweet, obliging husband climbed inside of it to show you.

We bought Emmeline a couple of souvenirs from the gift shop. After all, she is half the reason why we went on the trip in the first place.

You'll never guess who wanted to buy her the little bat. :-)

Baby is kicking--I think.

Josh and I have found something new to get excited over: we can feel Emmeline kick now! Well, at least we think we can. It's very possible that we're "oohing" and "awwing" over a gas bubble or a muscle spasm. But, considering the fact that these mysterious little interruptions are occurring more and more often, and always in the same general area of my belly, I've decided it must be our future Rockette practicing her eye-high kicks.

I get to feel her kick more than Josh, which I think made him a little bit jealous at first, but then one night he was talking to her and she kicked him a couple of times, and he was over the moon about that. Also, little Emmeline's favorite time of day is first thing in the morning, apparently. The alarm goes off around 6:30 am, and then it's like a mini version of A Chorus Line until I get up to take a shower. I guess Josh and I should start bracing ourselves for life with a morning person.

It's a girl!!!

We're going to have a daughter!

Halfway done and counting...

It seems that time has been getting away from me. I'm halfway through my pregnancy and I haven't written anything pregnancy related on my blog since I made the first announcement. The baby will be here before we know it and my poor blog readers would be none the wiser. I can hardly believe it, but I'm four and a half months pregnant. Time has been speeding by so fast I feel like I just found out yesterday. The first trimester didn't have any newsworthy events, unless you consider some extra pimples and more exhaustion newsworthy. Granted, I did have acne on my neck that kind of looked like vampire bites--maybe I should have posted about that, eh? My back did bother me more than usual, and that meant I had trouble sleeping at night, so I was pretty tired all the time. However, I was so grateful to not have any morning sickness to deal with that I felt like I'd be whining if I complained too much about my little problems. And therefore, the blog went ignored. And now that I've caught you up on the last three months, let's move on to the good stuff, shall we? Now that I am actually visibly pregnant, I have to admit that I spend alot of time staring at myself in the mirror, because I can't believe it's really me that looks like that. The fun part of that is now I get to wear maternity clothes! After over a month of nothing fitting (I had two pairs of pants and a couple of shirts that I wore ALL THE TIME) it's nice to have cute clothes that are actually comfortable to boot. I think part of the pregnancy "glow" is just sheer relief that I have outfits in my closet to choose from! My mom took me shopping for maternity clothes when they were in town and I had a great time picking things out with her. The weird part about actually having a belly now is that it gets in the way! It still feels so early to me, but already it's harder to do things like bend over, sit on the floor, or roll over in bed at night. I have to admit, I feel ridiculous. Call me naive, but I thought it was only the women who were "really pregnant" that had trouble doing those things. I figured that gave me at least a couple of more months. And oh yes, I got a prenatal yoga dvd, and it's really funny to see those pregnant women in their unitards doing all of the yoga poses. At least I thought it was funny until I was really sore after I did the workout the first time! I guess I have alot of progress to make before May 25 gets here! That's all the news for now, but we find out the sex of the baby tomorrow (YAY!!) so you can expect another post pretty soon. And here's my week 20 picture:

My project for next week is to find a better backdrop! That white wall would wash anyone out.

Thanks for reading!