Baby Kicks and Baby Names

While we were in NY, I thought I felt the baby move but I wasn't sure. Having nothing to compare it to, I thought the baby kicking. But last night while I was in bed, the baby started kicking up a storm after I finished off the last little bit of Ben & Jerry's. The kicks were so soft that I almost ignored them until something in my triggered..."IT'S THE BABY!!!" I put the tv on mute so she couldn't only hear my voice and called E into the room. She stopped for a while so I started patting my belly like a drum and talking to her. Sure enough, she started it up again. Everytime she would stop, I would beat my belly and talk to her again and she would start back up again. So amazing!! E was disappointed that he couldn't fell them but he is able to stick his ear up my belly and listen to her. That's something I can't do. Since I knew she was awake, we tried to get Maggie to talk too. Of course, she was too obstanate to cooperate.

Btw, we did pick a name...at least a first name. We are still going back and forth about a middle name and haven't decided on that one yet. But we have decided to call her Rachel. We have been talking about Hope or Leigh for her middle name but both don't seem to fit yet so we are still brainstorming.

NY Recap

Me, Kimberly and Laurel had such a good time in the Big Apple! We couldn't have asked for better weather or better company! We ate lots of pizza and walked around until our feet were bleeding!! Here is the recap:

Saturday:

We met up at the hotel and then headed to dinner with my co-workers. We stopped at a few places in Times Square on the way back.

Sunday:

We had breakfast together and then headed to Chinatown to buy knockoff purses, jewelry and other crap. (this was the first of 4 trips to Chinatown for the other girls) We took the subway back and then had lunch at Grand Central Station. I had to go to work for a while so they walked around town a bit and then we met up for dinner. On the way home, we stopped at Rockafellar Center. It all made me wish it was Christmas and the big giant tree was already lit. They ice skating rink had just opened and everyone was on the ice showing off whatever skate moves they had.

Monday:

I had to work all day ...I still can't figure out why I had to go on the trip in the first place...I literally did nothing!!! We went to Columbia University and toured a little bit of the campus and then started the session. I read a book the entire time or did the Sudoku puzzles out of the USA Today. We headed back and then I took the girls sightseeing. First, we hit the Empire State Building. We took the elevator to the 80th floor and then walked up the next 8 flights of stairs to avoid a 30 minute wait for an elevator. WHAT A MISTAKE!! I need to realize my limitations these days! I am just too pregnant for that anymore. We then we and had some pizza and I let the girls try tiramisu for the first time. Then we got lost!! We learned all about the subway by mistake. We tried to go to the Staten Island Ferry but somehow ended up in Chinatown again!! I still don't know how that happened. But we finally made it and honestly, I am glad we got lost because we got to see the Statue of Liberty all lit up at night. It was great and free and so the girls were super happy about that!! On the way back there was an imperative ice cream hunt where we searched several venues but ended up at an all night market pulling butterfinger ice cream pops out of their ice cream freezer.

Tuesday:

The girls got up early and headed to the Today show set at Rockafellar Center, but not before calling me at 5:30am to ask directions...twice!!! They had the best time. I was really worried they wouldn't like it since Laurel didn't even know what the Today show was, but they stayed all morning and didn't come back until 10am. They saw Meredith Viera and Cosmopolitan Magazine's 50 hottest guys too. They came back on Cloud Nine after taking pictures with all of the guys. They were the only young girls there that day and so the guys naturally wanted to take pictures with them rather than women old enough to be their mothers and grandmothers. I worked that morning but got off early. We all met up for lunch and then headed to the World Trade Center Memorial. It was so moving to see everything the museum had in their exhibits. They also had a place where you could view the new WTC towers that are currently being built. I am really glad we went. We made, yes, another stop in Chinatown for last minutes gifts for loved ones back home and then headed back to the hotel early for frozen yogurt, godiva chocolate truffles and chocolate strawberries, then to change for the Broadway play we had tickets to. It was their first Broadway play and I enjoyed experiencing it with them. We went and saw Wicked. OMG...it was such a good story that put a different perspective on the Wizard of Oz. Amazing talent too...the lead girls had such beautiful voices. The baby was craving late night pizza on the way back from the play, so who was I to deny her. We stopped and pigged out for a few minutes before heading to bed for our last night in the city.

Wednesday:

I got up early and went to pick up breakfast before our last session started while the girls slept in and then went shopping for the last time in the city. We all piled into the limo and headed off the airport for home. My 3 hour flight turned into an 8 hour flight due to weather in Houston. Then because of the weather, there was flooding everywhere and car accidents at every intersection. Our hour and a half trip home turned into a 4.5 hour trip home. We finally got home at 1:30 am when I realized I had food poisoning from our stop at McDonalds on the way home. What a wild ride!!!

New York, New York

Hello New York!! Here I come. And just in time too. I am allowed to fly for a few more weeks. And yes, I have to go for work!!

Lots of fun plans while we are there. First off, my cousins Laurel and Kimberly are staying with me. Whew!! Thank goodness. I asked E but he had no desire to go. I asked my mom but she wanted to save her days off for when the baby comes, but Kimberly jumped in like a champ and roped Laurel in too. This settles my nerves GREATLY as I really didn't want to go alone only to hang out with the people I work with. Blah!!

World Trade Memorial, Statue of Liberty, Grand Central Station, Columbia University, Times Square, Rockafellar Center and Chinatown...be on the lookout for these chicks!! We are even planning to hit a Broadway show while we are in town. I am so excited that we got ticket (and cheap tickets at that!!) to go and see Wicked on Tuesday night. I have been dying to see this show ever since it came out. And it had just left the Houston Theaters when we moved to Texas. SO CLOSE!

In other news, I had to go and buy new clothes for the trip. First of all I needed jeans that actually fit. I am so in between sizes right now that it is aggervating. I really thought I would be bigger than this by now and would actually fit into my own clothes but, of course, that's not the case. (Why am I complaining that I am not fat enough??? Weird!) So I had to go spend more cash I could have been spending in New York this weekend on maternity jeans, comfortable walking shoes, scarves and gloves, and long sleeve maternity tops. (Yep, that's right, I am fitting into my maternity tops just fine...Thank goodness!) Here is some of the cute stuff I got!! (It's all Gap Maternity or Piperlime in case you see something you like)

We are Having a Girl!!

The ultrasound was yesterday and we got the shocking news that we were having a girl!!! I honestly couldn't believe it! I have been thinking it's a boy this whole time so when she said we were going to have a girl...well, I was a little floored. Almost speechless. Even the last ultrasound we had 8 weeks ago said she thought it was going to be a boy. I couldn't believe it! Not that I wanted one sex over the other. We didn't care what we were having but I still wanted to know. E is a little shocked too. He has no idea what to do with a girl. This is going to be an interesting ride!

So we are excited. We started talking about which room would be the baby's and automatically people have been volunteering their bedding and hand-me-down clothes. That's great news to me! Free Stuff! But the one thing we haven't talked about is girl names. We haven't even discussed one...only boy names. I guess it's time to get moving!

20 Weeks Marks Halfway Point...and other updates!

Whew! Halfway done. And as the Dr. said yesterday "You are looking ripe." I guess that means I am starting to get fat. I asked E yesterday if he would still love me when I was fat...his response was that he would still love me and that I was ALREADY fat! Thanks E! Your the best!

We went to the Dr. yesterday and had some blood work done. The heartrate is good, I have gained a total of 13 pounds, he is 6.5 inches long and we go today for our ultrasound. SO PUMPED!!! I feel like once I know if it is a boy or girl, I can finally start getting ready for him to come home. (Sorry, still using the pronoun him...I still think it's going to be a boy) So I will post pictures tomorrow and let you know what we are having. I feel like a kid trying to sleep on Christmas Eve. I can't wait to see him.

E has 3 weeks of school left and then we can get the house ready. He also said that I could get a housekeeper to help me out too. Hallelujah!!! I have past that point where I can clean the bathrooms and load the washer and dryer. This was mostly a charity act as there is a lady who cleans houses that lost alot of customers after the storm and is trying to pull her life back together. However he does it, I am just thrilled to have help finally.

The plumbing is finally fixed however, now we just have to replace the subfloor where the leak had ruined the floor. Turns out, the previous owners used a straight lead pipe (bent into an L-shape) instead of a PVC L-shaped one. And of course there were SEVERAL holes where the pipe was bent. I think E had to fix the plumbing 3 times. Everytime he thought he completed the project, he would find another leak. Luckily I was out of town.

BSF

I finally got back into a bible study this week. Of course I will be out of town for the next 2 but at least I have a place to go once I get back. I really felt like I had a much closer relationship with God when I was involved in a Bible Study last year and I really need that again. I have so many worries on my mind that I am ready to completely give away and trust the Lord to take care of. Lack of sleep, epsiotomies, epiderals, raising a child, future moves, working after I have the baby...I feel like they are all just causes to worry about but I am ready to give them up and live knowing that someone else has a better plan for my life than I do.

Erika invited me and Kristi along this week and it was a little different than I thought it would be but at the end of the lesson, I needed to hear everything that teacher had said especially at this point in time in my own life. So it's all uphill from here...at least spiritually.

Luke's Birthday Party

Well, in all of the insanity that occurred last week, I had almost forgot about ourlittle friend Luke's birthday party. His mom, Erika, sent me an invitation and I quickly read it and thought it was a Star Wars party. I was ...kinda off. Turns out it was a Wall-E party.

But before I knew it was a Wall-E party, I had already bought a Star Wars gift. I actually got a little excited about buying a Star Wars gift to be honest. I am a big Star Wars fan. I guess I can thank my dad for turning all three of us girls into Star Wars fans/geeks but it all worked out. I married a Star Wars fan/geek so I guess the good Lord had a plan after all!

I found this Star Trooper Spud at Target his weekend and knew Luke (3) would have to have it! It was just too cute! (And just in case you are wondering, my kids will be subjected to all 6 six movies in their lifetime...however, I will not make them sit through the animated movie "Clone Wars" like E made me do while we were out of town for the hurricane evacuation...LAME!!!)

One Step Closer to Being Debt Free

2 and a half years later, (a year and a half early) we finally paid off our car. Ahhhhh One less payment to worry about! Yes, we will end up buying another car later on but for the next year or so, I will be such a blessing to drive 2 cars that are paid for in full.

So now that we have paid off the car, my student loan is the next bill we are tackling. For those of you that are reading this with a confused look on your face, here's a little bit of background. After me and E got married, we decided that we wanted to live debt free. E had been to a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University event and really wanted our life to reflect what he taught. We really didn't stick to it for the first few years. We still used our credit cards and then bought a car, and boy, have we been paying for those years of anti-discipline!! We finally attended FPU together last year and have worked really hard to pay off everything before the baby comes. While I don't think we will make it in time, we will be SOOOO close.

We want to be able to put money away for our kids college, buy a car without having a car payment, invest heavily for our future and give away as much as possible. We don't feel that we can do that if we still owe student loans, car payments and credit card debt. If you are interested in living debt free, Dave Ramsey has a podcast on iTunes and several books. I highly recommend "The Total Money Makeover."