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 Christmas gift suggestions from Oren Arnold: "To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect." "The Christmas spirit - love - changes hearts and lives." -Pat Boone "My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?" -Bob Hope "Take Christ out of Christmas, and December becomes the bleakest and most colorless month of the year."-A. F. Wells  Elf (for a good laugh) It's a Wonderful Life (for a good cry) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (for another good laugh) :) Holiday Inn (ya' gotta' watch some Bing Crosby at Christmas time, right?) Miracle on 34th Street (the original one) Polar Express (for the kids) :)
All I Want for Christmas (Mariah Carey) |
January 1, 2006, 12:44 am Happy New Year everyone! I had an extra energy spurt today (after sleeping rather late - but I had an excuse, contractions kept me awake late, then Darby's ear hurt so she kept getting up (she's feeling better today), and *yay* Andy called and woke me - so sleeping late was okay after all that). It was so good to hear from Andy!!! He had been on patrols all week so I hadn't heard anything since last weekend. I love him!!! Also, he said he doesn't need phone cards - they aren't charging them to use the phone there (they just have a time limit), so I took that off the list from yesterday's post. So, my energy spurt today - I got a little cleaning done, then went out to the shed to go through some of Andy's military stuff that he needs me to send, and I brought in the storage containers for all the Christmas stuff (we'll take that down tomorrow). I then (after dinner) took all the kids (Trish wasn't feeling well, so she stayed here and rested) to Target and we all spent our Christmas gift certificates we got from Andy's sister, Theresa and her family, then the kids and I went to see "Cheaper by the Dozen 2". It was cute - for the boys' sake they could have left out the scenes with the teenage girls in bikinis!!! But other than that (and those scenes weren't really that bad), it was a good movie. :) We got home about 30 minutes before midnight (late movie), and Brittany and Justice were still awake enough to watch some fireworks through the upstairs window with me at midnight. (The boys' bedroom window looks out onto the city of Killeen). So... I'm HOPING this energy spurt is my *last* nesting energy before I go into LABOR!!! I'll keep you posted! :) On a more serious note...
[Read Comments][Make Comments] December 29, 2005, 10:36 pm Suggestions for care packages to send to Andrew:
and to end Andrea's 18th!!!! birthday... a. a. a few summers ago, me, Andrea, Timberly, and my friend Ali, went to a scrapbooking convention in Nashville. We signed up for an evening crop, and it turned out the crazy women that had planned the crop thought it would be fun to hire male strippers(???) to pass out the prizes - we were all like "wow, these women need help", but some of those older and larger women really seemed to get a kick out of it (the men weren't even attractive! LOL). Anyway, so since Andrea was only like 15 or 16 at the time I thought it would be funny to take her photo with the stripper walking around behind her (the "strippers" kept their pants on - they were just walking around shirtless so it wasn't TOO bad, but still). LOL b. a photo Andrea sent to me when she had her hair dyed black. :) c. c. okay, this was funny. I was going through some older photos and found this one, purple face and all. We went to some food show in Knoxville, and it wasn't a very good photo of mom (a.k.a. Grandma a.k.a. Candy), so I gave her a new head before I shared the photo with others on my ofoto album site, and when I came across the photo tonight, it still had the purple face. Haha! d. d. Andrea and I have taken a camera with us on MANY shopping trips?!?! e. getting highlights in Louisville - Andrea came to work with me one day and I took a long lunch so we could get our hair done and eat - then we wrecked my new van (in a parking lot - nothing major). Fun day! :) f. f. Andrea has had her hair many different colors. :) g. g. When Andrea and Darby both had their hair short when we lived in Knoxville, people would always stop Andrea in the stores or wherever and say "your daughter looks JUST like you" - and Andrea, not wanting to bother to explain anything to strangers would just reply "thank you". LOL h. h. Andrea went with me, Andy and the kids when we rented a cabin in the smokies one spring break - we were trying to capture the mountains in the background, but I don't think we really succeeded. :) Hope you had a good birthday Andrea! I love you!! :) [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 29, 2005, 3:02 pm HAPPY BIRTHDAY SMANDREA!!!!!! [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 27, 2005, 1:15 pm Warning: disturbing mental images to follow... Jarvis got "March of the Penguins" for Christmas from G-ma. We watched it Sunday night, and it was pretty good. Interesting and fascinating. Okay, so if you have seen this movie, and you have seen the fat penguins waddling around while they hold onto their eggs, you will have some picture of how I look when I move around right now. I just caught a glimpse of my reflection in our back door as I was coming in and wow... I waddle more than I realized. How sad. :) Speaking of the pregnancy, I lost my "mucous plug" last night, and more of it today. I'm sure those without children are thinking "gross - TMI!!!", but those WITH children are thinking "oh yay - it won't be long now!". :) Thor came down yesterday afternoon, and will be able to stay until Friday morning. He and Trish are happy to see one another (she has been here for over a month), and they are out spending some time together right now. Thor, being the only one still awake at the momentous occasion of me "losing my plug" last night, got to hear of the news right away since there was no one else to tell (I was very excited). Then I called Andrea, because she was the only one I knew would still be awake, and I think she was slightly disturbed to hear the news. :) I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Ours was wonderful - the kids got way too much stuff (well, I'm sure THEY don't think so), and it was a blast watching them open all their gifts. We took our time and opened one at a time so everyone could see each gift being opened. The kids all spent their own money and bought gifts for me, for Trish, and for each other. They are very generous and sweet. Okay, so did I mention that I lost my mucous plug?!?! Typically that means labor should arrive in the next few days! I'm hoping!!!! :D :D :D [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 25, 2005, 2:23 pm
[Read Comments][Make Comments] December 23, 2005, 11:34 pm Christmas anticipation... Is everyone ready for Christmas? My children cannot wait! They are so hyper and just DYING to open all their gifts. :) I had a little fun with them last night and let them each feel one gift and then ask me twenty yes/no questions about it. None of them guessed it, but it just made them THAT much more ready. Haha! Some of their questions were hysterical - Darby didn't even come close to guessing hers because she just turned into Mrs. Silly and started asking things like "Is it eyeballs" and "Is it cereal". :) Tonight we all sat around and sang Christmas songs out of a Family Songbook Andy's mom made for us when Andy and I first got married. It was great fun, and the kids learned some new ones they didn't realize they liked. Jarvis had us sing "God rest ye merry gentlemen" and "The little drummer boy" SEVERAL times each - he loves them both, and Justice really likes "Silent Night". Darby's favorite is still "Santa Claus is coming to town" - she sings it year round. :) Haircuts... We took the boys to get a haircut tonight - their first time at the barber. Andy has always cut their hair, but he didn't get a chance before he left last month, and they were looking VERY shaggy! They wanted their hair cut short, and Jarvis (who I thought wanted his to grow) decided he wanted a buzz cut. So they got it done and it looks good. Jarvis always looks like a different kid when he gets his hair cut short. I forgot to bring my camera to the barber (to which Justice was VERY relieved - haha!), but I took some photos when we got home. Just have to get the film developed - I do miss having the digital camera, although this camera does take much better quality photos. I'll post some pictures when I ever get them developed. :) Update on the diabetes... I started testing my blood sugar and started on my diet yesterday. I'm eating MORE food now (most of the people they put on this diet have to cut back because they are overweight - the dietician seemed a little challenged coming up with the proper amount of calories for me). Anyway, apparently when I wake up after not eating a while, my blood sugar is really low, then after I eat, it skyrockets (no wonder I've been exhausted). I have to keep track of it, then when I go to the dr. next Wednesday, I guess they'll see how the diet is working. So far I've been above the normal mark every time I test (by quite a bit - oops), but tonight after dinner, it was only a little above - so maybe it's starting to work already. I'm hoping it's not still super high when I go to the doc - don't want them to feel like I have to do anything drastic like give myself insulin shots! :| Or maybe they'll just induce the baby - that would be okay with me! I'm totally ready (plus, I think he is getting HUGE, and uh... yeah... I like delivering my little 5 1/2 pound babies? I don't have to have episiotomies when they're that small?!?!). :) Andrew... I got to talk to Andy this morning!!! He only had 20 minutes, but it was so nice to hear his voice, even if it was just 20 minutes! He is very busy already with missions, and of course, is in a very dangerous place - so keep praying for him and his guys! He's already had a couple of close calls. I do trust that God will take care of him though, and bring him back to us in one piece, but the MORE people praying regularly for him, the BETTER! :) We sure do appreciate all of you that are keeping him in your daily prayers. He would love to receive any letters and/or care packages, so if you haven't written him already (or even if you have), send him a note - he'd love it. If you need his address, or need ideas of what to send in a care package, please email me - petracarden@yahoo.com. I miss him so much, but am so glad we have such a good marriage and relationship. A lot of the guys over there do not have that, and this is really straining their already hurting marriages. I thank God that we don't have to go through that this time (last time was a different story). We are very blessed and I just can't imagine having to be this far apart if things weren't so wonderful between us. I love him! :) [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 20, 2005, 10:44 pm Shopping, more about gestational diabetes, & Target's mistake... I finished my Christmas shopping tonight! Yay. I decided that I'm close enough to the end of the pregnancy and since the baby is over five pounds now, that I'm done lying down. Done. Finished. No more! So I went out and did my shopping Friday, Saturday, last night, and tonight (not quickly mind you - you should see me walk - talk about WADDLING - it's so sad). It took that many trips to get it all done, but at least it is done. I didn't last long on one or two of the trips before I had to just stop and come home (someone was always with me since I can't really function on my own at this point), but thank the Lord, I had the strength to get it done tonight because I don't think I could have done it again - wow. I'm worn out! Especially after being so lethargic for the last couple of months and then just all of a sudden I'm a marathon shopper. My body is like "uh, hello - what are you doing?!?!". Haha. I'm hoping that getting a little exercise now will help with an easier labor and also help me bounce back a little more quickly once Jacob is here. I think it'll be harder to find energy once he comes when I have not been exercising on a regular basis - as opposed to the other kids where I recovered quite fast since I had been active during each of those pregnancies. I'm completely determined to get in awesome shape as soon as possible though!!! :) I got my prescription filled for my glucose monitor (the thing I have to use to prick my finger 4 x's a day). On Thursday afternoon I have to go to the hospital and talk to some chick who will show me how to use it (which, how difficult can it be that I have to have someone SHOW me? Isn't there instructions?) and I have to talk to the nutritionist about my diabetes diet (and anyone who knows me well knows how much I LOVE being careful what I do and do not eat - haha). Thank you all for the well wishes and prayers on my comments page. Lord willing, it will end with the pregnancy, so I'll only have to deal with this for a few weeks. :) Oh, one more thing... [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 19, 2005 Well, I'm diabetic. I have to go talk to the nutritionist (don't know when - am waiting for the hospital to call me), start a new diet, and check my blood sugar 4 times a day (by pricking my finger - fun!). I'll let you know how it goes. I'm just kind of glad that I didn't find out until the END of the pregnancy, even though I probably would have been feeling better. I just don't care much for having to count carbs and that sort of thing (eating shouldn't be a hassle, you know?). [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 18, 2005, 3:05 Christmas shopping, giving, good company, and "Is Santa real?"... Wow, four days... I'm not doing so well on updating the ole blog, huh? Well, everyone is busy getting ready for Christmas anyway. :) I left the house ten minutes before the drs. office called on Friday with my glucose test results, so now I have to wait until Monday morning to find out. Speaking of leaving the house - I seem to have done a lot of that this weekend. I was completely wiped out on Wednesday and Thursday after the sugar test, but Friday I felt a little better. Trish and the kids got up and cleaned the house, and I was even able to help a little, then we all went and did some Christmas shopping. Brittany went to a church youth activity where they separated into small groups and each group went shopping for a poor family. Then they wrapped the gifts and brought them to the family. She had so much fun doing it, and came home with some wonderful, heart-warming stories! Her group had something like $280 to spend on this one family (a single mom and three children) and it just sounded like they had so much fun. Giving can be SO much more rewarding than receiving, you know? Right before we picked Brittany up from her thing, we picked up Theresa (Andy's sister) from the aiport. She had a business trip to Dallas, then flew here for the weekend. We had a really good time with her visiting (I like that I get along so well with all of Andy's family - most people have such horrid "in-law" stories, but I LOVE my in-laws!!). Saturday, we did some more shopping and Theresa took us all to lunch. Then, last night, we went to a Christmas lights thing at the lake. It was so pretty. Crowded, but pretty. It was worth the long wait in the car. The kids loved it - it was Trish's idea to go and she paid for us to get in. It was 5.5 miles worth of lights, and they had a "Santa's Village" about 4 miles into it. That was a little lacking (Santa was there and a few booths of people selling trinkets), but Darby wanted to see Santa. We had seen Santa at the mall earlier in the day, but they wanted like 14 bucks just for one small picture so I said, "uh, no" (what a rip-off), so she just saw him from a distance. So we waited in line to see him at Santa's Village, and she was excited, but a little apprehensive, but after seeing other kids do it, she decided it was okay (and it was only 5 bucks here - much more reasonable). :) None of the other kids wanted a picture with Santa, but she did, and she was very excited about it. She keeps asking me if Santa is real, and I tell her that no, it is just for fun, etc. - that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus. But when she saw Santa, and we were waiting in line, she asked me again if he was real, so I said my same old schpeal about how it was just for fun, and she was like "uh, mom - he is RIGHT THERE!" So she's not quite sure what to think. LOL I figured I'd find the origin of Santa on the internet today and read it to her so she'd understand better. We have never done the "Santa brings your gifts" thing with the kids. We want them to know what Christmas is really supposed to be about, but we don't act like Santa is evil or anything (I know some people do go to that extreme), we just say that it's a fun thing for some people to do, and we always told them not to go to school or church and ruin it for the kids whose parents want them to believe in Santa. (Which, in my opinion, it's like lying to your child - why would you want them to "believe" in some story where some fantasy gets the credit for all the gifts that YOU bought with your hard earned money, and when the REAL story of Christmas is about something so much more beautiful - the birth of Jesus). :) Trish and Brittany drove to Austin this morning to take Theresa to the airport, and made it back a little while ago. It was fun having her here to visit. I wish she could have stayed longer! Here is Darby's Santa photo for all to enjoy :)...
[Read Comments][Make Comments] December 14, 2005, 10:27 pm Funny thing happened at the doctor today... I had my 3 hour glucose test this morning. I went in and they took my blood after starving me for 8 hours, then made me drink the nasty sugar drink, then they were going to take my blood at 1, 2, and 3 hours after the drink. I almost made it to the first hour okay. I was sitting in the waiting room concentrating hard on not laying my head on the shoulder of the freaky (and stinky) woman sitting next to me, but after about 45 minutes, I was seeing spots. So I ventured to the receptionist's desk, and waited patiently for her to get off the phone (while I was leaning heavily on the desk and still seeing spots and semi-blacking out). A nurse came towards me, and I THOUGHT I said "I'm going to pass out", but she just kind of stared at me. The lab nurse came through the door behind me then and I said "I'm going to pass out" (I thought it best to let someone know?), but then before she could process my sentence, I felt I was going to fall, so I just sat on the floor and proceeded to black out (I'm glad I sat instead of falling so I didn't get hurt - good job Petra! :D). Next thing I knew there were a kazillion nurses around me, fanning me, helping me into a chair, a million "are you okay"s, etc. I hate to be fussed over by anyone but my husband (now when it comes to him, I like to be completely babied, but anyone else - no). But these were all like mother hens coming to rescue their chick (although I am thankful to be in a friendly doctor's office now where they actually do care). :) So finally, once they thought I was awake enough, two nurses brought me to a room, and I was able to LIE down the rest of the time (they even turned the lights off for me), which was kind of nice - I got a nap in. They still had to take my blood three times, which sucked, but I made it through. I was nauseous and almost threw up the drink a few times, but I had an ice pack after my fainting spell so I just kept that on my neck to prevent any vomiting. The lab nurse was like, "if you need to throw it up that's okay." But I refused because (1) if I had thrown it up, I just would have had to go back and redo the test (no thanks) and (2) I hate throwing up - it's worse than giving birth! And I say that as I have an impending birth so it's not like I've forgotten the pain. I really hate throwing up THAT much, in the strongest sense of the word! I will do ANYTHING to keep from throwing up. God has been good to me in that I've only been a vomiter in ONE of my pregnancies, and I quickly figured out with that one what foods caused it and what did not (my first pregnancy). Anyway, so I will find out the results of the test probably on Friday (of course with my reaction during the test, the outlook isn't wonderful, but I've got hope still that I won't have to do insulin or anything extreme like that). I'll let you all know how it goes. :) Oh yes, and I'm 34 weeks tomorrow (or further because I still think I'm a week or two ahead of what they say), so it won't be LONG and I'll be able to go ahead and hike around causing the contractions to COME ON!!!! :D I'm so ready. :) [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 13, 2005, 3:14 On my Life's Little Instruction daily calendar, today's piece of inspiration is: Let your kids see in you what you want to see in them. How many people actually live the way they want their children to live when they grow up? Remember, your children more often do as you DO rather than as you SAY. Be a good influence. :) [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 12, 2005, 9:23 pm More tests, Company, My sweetie, Photos... Okay, so the blog updating isn't coming real often. Oh well. I got a call from the drs. office and they said my numbers were a bit high from my glucose tolerance test last week. So, I have to go in again on Wednesday and do the three hour test (fast all night, then drink twice as much of that YUMMY :| "drink", and then get my blood drawn at one, two and three hours after). Fun for me! Guess I'll get some reading in while sitting in the waiting room (I'm not allowed to leave during it either). My sister-in-law, Theresa, is coming this weekend. She is going to Dallas on business, then spending the weekend with us before flying home - YAY! Trish is going to drive to Dallas and pick her up, then Theresa's going to fly out of Austin (which isn't far). Should be a fun visit. Maybe I'll have Jacob before then so she can see him while she's here!!! :D I've been getting to chat with Andrew on the i.m. quite a bit this week. He waits in line three hours just to chat with me; isn't he sweet??? I miss him like crazy!!! (HI ANDY!!! I LOVE YOU!!!) :D Okay, I have no digital camera at the moment, and haven't been out to develop any film, so here's two older photos. I am happy that my hair is FINALLY growing out (well, it would be longer by now, but as it grew, I had a REALLY pretty mullet several times so I ended up cutting a couple inches off the back a few times to let the top catch up some :D). Anyway, here is what it looked like a little over a year ago, when I first cut it SHORT. I look like a different person!!! I definitely like my hair better long and blonde, but it was fun having it short and brown for a while. I'm sure that once it is long again, that it won't be long before I do something else crazy with it. :)
[Read Comments][Make Comments] December 9, 2005, 9:49 pm Petra's movie reviews...
Trish, the kids, and I went to see the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe this afternoon. It was very good. Justice and Jarvis had never read the book or seen any previous versions of the movie, so they were completely fascinated! The acting, special effects, and costumes were GREAT. I thought they did a good job with it - I was glad to see they didn't try to take away from the spiritual allusions either (it was extremely clear - at least to me - that it was mirroring the story of Jesus sacrificing his life for our sins - just as the book meant it - but you know how movies can take away from that sometimes; I was glad they didn't try to take that away and Hollywood-ize it). All in all, I give it two thumbs up (and I'm not even "into" the fantasy genre per se). Brittany, who has read through the books several times, thought it was excellent. As did Thor and Trish, who also have read the books many times. Thor knows Douglas Gresham (co-producer of the movie, and C.S. Lewis' stepson). He stayed with him at his castle in Ireland several years ago. Brittany has a book that is a cartoon illustrated version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that Douglas Gresham pulled off of his shelf in his castle and gave to Thor. Pretty cool, eh?
On another note... I was very tired tonight so decided to watch a DVD with the kids - one of the ones we had gotten in the mail through the video club. I do not recommend Racing Stripes. Okay, when I rented it, I was thinking it was animated. It's not. It's talking animals, which isn't always bad, but this was no Babe (by the way, Babe was an excellent movie!). I did sit through the entire thing, but wow. The kids loved it though - so I guess it's okay. There were a few funny parts, well, mildly amusing - "funny" may be overstating it. But, it gets on my nerves when they have to add the crude "humor" to kids' movies, you know? I mean, what is the point of having the animals say a few "semi" cuss words?!?! I don't get it (and so many movies do it). I guess they figured that since it wasn't the really bad words (whatever) that the adults would find humor in that??? Do those people not try to protect their children from hearing that stuff? Maybe not - maybe they just talk that way in front of their children. It would explain a lot about the type of kids I see running around nowadays! I have seen movies that added adult humor that really DID go over the kids' heads and I don't mind that - in fact movies like Toy Story did a GREAT job with that sort of thing. Anyway... I guess this goes back to Kendra and I creating our own production company (when are we starting on that one, Ken?). :) Okay, so to sum up my movie review for the day - Chronicles of Narnia = excellent, go see it, today, I recommend it for all ages (unless your REALLY young one gets spooked easily - there are a few parts that make you jump - but there is nothing 'gory'). Oh, and I LOVED the beavers - they cracked me up!!! :D Racing Stripes = only watch it if there is NOTHING else to do, and you are laid up on the couch, and talking zebras strike your fancy - even then, be skeptical! :) [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 8, 2005, 10:34 pm Ultrasound... Well, Jacob is most definitely a boy! There's absolutely no doubt. I mean, we got a fairly clear picture at my 16 week ultrasound, but there was no denying it this time - at all! And... his testicles are already descended - I'm sure that is good news to you all. :) Trish, the kids and I went to the hospital tonight for the ultrasound - my appt. was at 8:15 pm (not really a good time to be lugging kids around a hospital, but they were pretty good considering. Well, Brittany and Justice were perfectly fine, but Darby and Jarvis argued a little over a chair during the ultrasound - they were so tired!) :) Jacob is a cutie! He kept putting his hands in front of his face so we had a hard time getting clear shots of his face. But we got to see him BLINK, which was cool! And he was doing a sucking motion with his mouth. He weighs approximately 4 pounds, 3 ounces, and the ultrasound measurements are within a few days of the due date I already had (January 26th). I would scan photos, but ultrasound photos are hard enough to decipher without trying to figure out a fuzzy scanned copy of one. The pictures aren't as clear this time either, because he is bigger so it's harder to get a focused shot. Awesome... Last night right after I updated my blog, I got to chat on the i.m. with Andrew, AND I got to see him on a webcam. Yay! It's too bad we don't have a webcam so he could see me too, but I liked being able to see HIM! He tried to i.m. me again today while the kids were awake, but we were gone to Wal-Mart (wah!). Hopefully I'll get to talk to him again soon. I'm hoping the phones are back on sometime soon. I miss hearing his voice! I'm on here tonight hoping he gets a chance to get on the i.m. again, but he only gets a short amount of time each day and has to wait in a long line just to get that. I miss him so much!!! Scary ice... The front page headline of the newspaper today read "Ice storm hits Killeen" and the subheader read "Fort Hood shuts down as snow and ice cause gridlock". Wow! Seriously - I did not see ONE snowflake, and there were a few 2 inch spots of ice here and there (mostly on the sidewalk though - not the road). The photos that they had to back up their dramatic "storm" story was some kids wearing coats (with green grass behind them), and a speed limit sign with some one inch icicles hanging off of it. I will admit I saw some icicles on signs and trees, but uh... that's IT! There were 18 accidents in Killen by 6 pm yesterday... due to the TERRIBLE storm. That is totally insane! These people would DIE if they were to face any REAL winter emergencies. LOL It is very comical to say the least. :) [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 7, 2005, 9:50 pm Movies, the doctor, my Andy Pandy, and blizzards... Trish, the kids, and I just watched 'Polar Express'. It was very cute. I think we'll probably add that to the list of movies we buy. We joined the Blockbuster monthly rental thing for the first month, then we'll probably cancel. But for 9.99 we will probably be able to rent at least 9 movies through the mail and 2 in the store, so it was worth it (the price goes up a little the 2nd month and on; we'll see how much we use it to see if it's worth keeping the membership). The other two we got are 'Garfield: the movie' and 'Racing Stripes'. Movies are so raunchy lately, that there is rarely one anymore that I want to rent for myself. Oh well - the kids are benefiting from me raising my standards because they get more movies for THEM! LOL I went to the doc on Monday - he didn't check me so I don't know if anything 'new' has happened. They did discover that I had managed to get out of the glucose tolerance test up until now and made me go in this morning and take it. Ugh. The worst part of that was having to be there first thing in the morning. The drink wasn't too bad - they updated from that nasty orange syrupy one they used to have. This one was just like thick kool-aid. One poor girl there that was taking it threw it up and has to go back and do it again later this week. I'm glad I didn't! My ultrasound is tomorrow night - I'm excited to see the baby again! I'm still hoping they say "oh you are actually 37 weeks now - let's just induce you right now". ;) I heard from Andrew again (in an email - the phones are still down over there). I miss his voice, but I'll definitely take some emails. I also got a letter from him today. He is so sweet! I LOVE HIM!!! It seems like things are going well for him. Continue to keep him and his guys in your prayers. :) On a wintry note , we had a little bit of ice today - shock of all shocks. The temperatures were in the 20s and all the Texans are FREAKING out (they think this is the coldest it EVER gets ANYWHERE). There are a few sporadic icy patches and they are driving 2 miles per hour for fear of slipping on one. It's pretty hysterical. We are supposed to have some more ice tonight and tomorrow. They have been calling for some *gasp*... flurries! But so far we haven't seen any. It'll probably be back up in the 60s by next week. Maybe not though. It was cold when we moved here last Christmas, even though that just lasted a week or two - so maybe December is the cold month. :) I'm almost finished signing and addressing Christmas cards (that was more time consuming than I thought - of course with 85-90 cards, DUH!). I should be mailing them out soon, so look for yours (and if I missed you, it was not intentional. I must not have your address! So send it to me). ;) [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 5, 2005, wee hours of the morning because I'm a pregnant insomniac... This was taken a week ago, at 31 weeks and 3 days along (and sans makeup for those who were wondering where my usual black eyeliner was :D):
I'm so enormous. I feel like I'm going to explode. I mean, I know compared to a lot of pregnant women, I'm not that large - but I'm ginormous for ME. :) My baby (a.k.a. Andrew) commented on my blog tonight. That made me smile! He's so sweet. I got an email from him too - it was good to hear from him!!! I miss him!!!!!!!!!!!!! I go to the doc again on Monday afternoon. Then I have another ultrasound on Thursday evening (I guess they are so overbooked they have to schedule evening ultrasounds). It will be nice to see the baby again (and hopefully confirm again that he is indeed a boy!), and I hope they can tell how much he weighs. If he is big enough - then I'm going to start going on mountainous hikes to try to get him to come OUT. No - I'll stay down as long as they are telling me to rest - but seriously, I AM ready!!! :) I can't wait to see Jacob... I LOVE having a newborn baby. It's my favorite! I will be taking lots of photos like this one of Darby's little baby feet (I think she was around 6 months old for this one):
Oh, and I came across these sweet photos too - of when Darby first came home from the hospital and was maybe two days old:
Isn't she absolutely adorable? And aren't her big brothers and big sister so sweet holding her? I can't believe how much they have all grown and that it has been 4 1/2 YEARS since then!!! I'm so ready for Jacob!!!! :) I'll share one more photo that I came across (I found all these while I was looking for genealogy photos for Timothy):
That's me, at the ripe old age of 17 (and with my natural hair color - haha), and Brittany - the day she came home from the hospital (this was taken in my hospital room before we left). That is absolute love in my eyes looking down at her - I couldn't take my eyes OFF of her for weeks! It's such an amazing feeling when you become a mother for the FIRST time... you don't really know what REAL love is until then. And as a mother, no matter how many children you have, you never run out of room to love them. I will love Jacob just as much as I loved (and still love) Brittany - and Justice, Jarvis, and Darby too! I already do love Jacob. I LOVE being a mother. It's so satisfying. :) [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 4, 2005, 12:41 am Happy birthday to LeRoy (on the 3rd) and to Alexandria (on the 2nd)!!! :) Okay, so I was putting together some emails with genealogy information and old photos for my nephew, Timothy, to write a paper for school, and I came across a GOOD one. It's me and Kendra in all our self-proclaimed coolness!!! Oh yeah - it doesn't get any better than this:
[Read Comments][Make Comments] December 3, 2005, 12:58 am Okay, since I'm up late anyways (but usually trying to sleep - usually unsuccessfully - by this time), I decided to go ahead and just update my blog for December tonight. Maybe I'll be able to fall asleep more easily since I stayed up later. :) I also added new quotes, movies, music, and verses for the month of December (as I do most months, but maybe some of you didn't realize that and never look?). ;) 22 days until Christmas! [Read Comments][Make Comments] December 2, 2005, 11:09 pm It just dawned on me as I started to update my blog that I haven't updated for December. Never fear... I will give you a nice Christmas-y background to look at soon. I'm sure you were all concerned. :) I heard from Andrew a couple mornings ago (in the wee hours) - he made it over there after spending 21 hours on the plane. But we could only talk for a few minutes and I haven't heard from him since, so I can only assume everything else is going well. I miss him! A lot! Happy Birthday to Michael today (Michael is my brother-in-law, not to be confused with my friend Ali's husband Michael - whose birthday is ALSO today - but happy birthday to him as well). :) I am back to using 35mm film. I sent my digital camera with Andy. I don't know if I'll survive. I do know I'll be spending way too much on film and developing (maybe - I have about 26 roles of film accumulated in the last couple of years that need to be developed? They just sort of piled up on us). Okay, so my question is - for those who still use the archaic 35mm film - where do you get your photos developed? I usually use Wally World's one-hour developing, but the quality isn't stellar. But I don't want to spend ten dollars more PER roll at some specialty shop. So let me know who you use and how satisfactory the results are. I may try the other two Wal-Marts that are here - maybe theirs will be better? Or does anyone use Target or KMart? Seems like I used KMart in KY and they actually did a good job (even though I don't care for that store and never go there). It may be a few months before I get my new digital camera (or longer), so I need to figure something out since I am such a picture freak (not as much while pregnant because I feel ugh, but once Jacob is here I'll be snapping away again). [Read Comments][Make Comments] |
 www.scrapsupply.com 2peas layouts www.shudan.com www.inspiritnews.com carden genealogy www.theprayerlog.com  What is Love? "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." I Corinthians 13:1-8 (NKJV)  email: petracarden@yahoo.com MSN messenger(NOT email): petracarden@hotmail.com Yahoo messenger: petracarden |
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