Puppy Dog Tails....or Sugar & Spice?

As you may have noticed, I added a fun little poll to the right side of my blog as I would love to hear what you think this little one might be! Dan & I are split - he thinks it's a boy, and I'm becoming more convinced that I'm carrying a baby girl. We've decided to find out, so there are just a couple weeks left for the guessing game! My next appointment is scheduled for May 13, so I'll have some sort of a reveal after that.

I've heard all sorts of the "old wives tales" for determining what sex your child will be. I haven't really tried any yet, but I'd love to hear some of the methods you all know of that are floating around out there. They just make me laugh!

I'll be 19 weeks tomorrow, so these pictures taken yesterday are just shy of that mark. I'm officially in my 5th month now, which is crazy to think about! The last month has absolutely flown by (and thankfully, I've felt MUCH better these past few weeks), so I'm a little concerned that this baby is going to be here much quicker than I think! Dan & I grow more excited every day as the reality of it all continues to sink in. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures Dan took last night, after which he officially declared, "You're pregnant!"

Thank you, Dan. I think you might be right :-)

The Longest Holy Week Ever

So, obviously my whole idea to do "several posts" throughout Holy Week didn't exactly happen. I didn't even get an Easter post squeezed in to say "He is risen!"

Please forgive my lack of blogging as it has been one busy month. I'll skip all of the gory details and suffice it to say that work has basically consumed me ever since my last post. GMA Music Week began on Sat, April 18 (well, really I moved in on the 17th), and lasted through this past Thursday, which was the Dove Awards. Everything went well with even a few highlights along the way (I got to meet Amy Grant, who was extremely kind, down-to-earth, and humble. She even congratulated me on my pregnancy, which totally made my day. Oh, and I also visited with Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys who is also very nice and totally cool...and, he's a BSB, hello!). All in all, I'm so thankful it's over and that I survived without any major catastrophes.

Kelsey was able to come down for the Doves and then spend a couple days with me, which was so much fun. There really is nothing like having a sister, you know? I hadn't been in my home for a week with the exception of Wednesday evening when I basically dumped my suitcases in my room and passed out until I had to be at the Opry House on Thursday morning - so you can imagine what the place looked like. But when you've lived with a person for the majority of your life and have seen them through phases when their bedroom was decorated with "Got Milk?" ads and necklaces made of gum-wrappers, it's really no big deal to leave a key and tell her to just dig for whatever she needs. I'm such a great hostess.

We had a great time doing a little shopping and just hanging out. She even helped me find a maternity bathing suit for our vacation next week (more details soon), which is so not fun to shop for. But when you're sisters, you can make comments like "your thighs aren't that flabby - they're just really white" and it actually comes across as a compliment :-) Thanks for coming down, Kels! It was just what I needed after the crazy week.

This is probably the most boring post ever, but I just needed to get something up here to get the thing rolling again. I don't even have pictures to add to the mix. I'll update the belly-pic soon, and you're sure to see some growth as I'm nearly 19 weeks now. It's hard to believe that next week marks the half-way point!

Holy Week

I don't have a lot of time at the moment, but I decided I wanted to do several posts this week to recognize Holy Week. Now, I'm not exactly from a very "liturgical" background - I'm a Southern Baptist girl at heart - but there is something about the traditions of Holy Week that are very powerful to me. I'll write more about that throughout the week.

I love Palm Sunday, and yesterday my birthday just so happened to coincide which made it even more of a celebration. I love singing songs with shouts of "Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!" and picturing Jesus riding into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey (of all things) with the swelling Passover crowds gathering to cheer him on. How sad to think that these very same crowds would change their chants from "Hosanna to the King!" to "Crucify him!" in just 5 short days.

"When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

'Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!'

'Peace in ehaven and glory in the highest!'

Some of the Pharisses in the crowd said to Jesus, 'Teacher, rebuke your disciples!'

'I tell you,' he replied, 'if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.'"

~Luke 19: 37-40

Storms

I love storms. I have since I was a little girl. While I respect the serious damage they can bring as well as the fear others have when they hear warning sirens and such, there's just something about stormy weather that just gets me excited. Perhaps it's the fun memories I have growing up in the Midwest, where thunderstorms and tornadoes were pretty common fare.

I can remember going out on the porch with my Grandma with the intention of huddling under a blanket with a flashlight and a book - and giggling until we could hardly breathe. We'd stay out there as long as we could stand it.

I can remember my Mom and sister scurrying down the basement steps with blankets and flashlights to wait out the tornado warnings while I drug my feet, wanting to stay upstairs with my Dad so we could "keep and eye on things." I loved to stand out on the front step with him and just take it all in, knowing I was perfectly safe since he'd send me downstairs with plenty of time to spare.

I remember craning my neck in the backseat of the car to try catch every lightening bolt that danced across the sky. Then I'd count - one one-thousand, two one-thousand - to see just how close the storm really was.

I remember one scary afternoon when I was babysitting for 5 little girls and suddenly the tornado sirens went off. Fortunately, nearly every home in Missouri is equipped with a basement, so I quickly corralled them all down the stairs and distracted them with a movie.

I remember running out into the rain in college just for fun, and ruining the lawn where we created our own slip-n-slides of mud.

And right now, I am enjoying the steady drum of rain on the windows and anticipating a nice evening at home with my husband. In fact, I just suggested we grab a blanket and book and go take it all in from our front porch.

Hope you're enjoying the weather wherever you are!