Better than a Hallelujah

If you haven't heard this Amy Grant song.....take a listen....It's GREAT stuff!!

Better Than a Hallelujah



It reminded me that even when we are complaining and ridden in sin, God just hears a Melody and thinks we are still Beautiful even in the mess we are! :) As we are his children! It makes me smile!
And maybe the very first lines start to ring a little true to me, as I know I'll be singing through tears some nights! But I smile thinking about it! God is Good!!
*also, you savvy bloggers, anyone want to tell me how I could have attached the actual video into my page? I'm still slow with this stuff. Thanks!
Thanks Morg!! I think I got it!

Let there be Light!

How often do you clean your windows? I mean really clean your windows? Windex inside and out, wash the screens and window sills inside and outside. Well, in this house it isn't all that often and it showed. I will windex the inside of the windows and clean the window sills inside, but next to never outside. I made a mention of it to J that we should do it before Fall so we don't have to look at the dirt in the sill when we open the windows up.
Well, a little nerves before a big Sat football game is all it took and that man was on a mission! YAY! My windows are sparkling! Now I open all my blinds wide open and just stare out my "barely there" looking windows, they are so clean! YAY! Now, come on Fall!! I'm ready for you!

Big win for the Tigers!! War Damn Eagle! It is great to have wins against Clemson and USC when you live in SC. :) And Alabama pulled it out against Arkansas. Maybe it put them back in their place a bit, even though they won that they are a beatable team. But the win made for a happy hubby!

We had a Kamikaze Squirrel!! We heard the trap Friday evening as we were getting ready to head out for dinner. Our friendly Trutech man came over....and we had caught a squirrel! It was in the Raccoon trap though, so he transferred him to a squirrel cage and took him to a park to be released. Crazy squirrel was acting all kamikaze style in the cage when he brought him down, it was pretty funny. Today he came back...still nothing in the other traps. He is thinking the Raccoon might have gotten scared and actually left the house, so we might be in the clear.

We had a great weekend of date night, dining with friends and football, and a brunch with friends on Sunday. I'm not complaining anymore, so let's just say, I only flushed a little money on meals but fortunately not all. :)

Happy Monday!

The Killer First Trimester

OK, so I just need to get this off my chest. Please don't take any of the following as me being ungrateful for this tiny blessing I'm carrying because that is NOT the case. I'm just being Honest. If you have a weak stomach or don't want to really know about the gruesome details of pregnancy than read no further. I warned you..... :) But, you're curious, aren't you..... :)
Also, another disclaimer....everyone is different and everyone has a different experience, this is just mine. I envy those that have it easy!
I decided I would document this just in case I forget about how I felt and do something crazy like go for 4 kids or something! J/K, Erin!! :) I want to try to remain positive, but I just need to vent, hopefully this once......no promises though, I am moody!
I'm also documenting for my future book, I'm going to write. Erin and I decided we'd go in together, as my dear friend who is pregnant with #4, has also been sick with ALL of hers! It MUST be worth it, if she keeps going back for more every other year! :)

So, yes, your mom tells you a little, and in my case, my mom let me know she puked for 9 months, but you still don't REALLY get it! Until it's YOU!! Oh, how good I felt those first couple weeks, when we had just found out we were pregnant. We were on cloud nine, and I felt great! Little did I know, how that would change in 2 short weeks! Yes, by week 6, I was visiting the toilet 6-8 times a day!! You name it, it didn't stay down! I was short of saying I was dying. I thought one day as I was lying on the bathroom floor in tears, that I truly might die RIGHT there! Whoever named it "Morning Sickness" was sorely mistaken! Mine didn't discriminate. From the moment my feet hit the floor until the moment I was getting ready for bed, I hugged the porcelain! WOW!
I did this for about 3-4 days before calling the doctor. She recommended I take B6 supplements and Unisom sleeptabs at night. OK, I'll try it! Well, the Unisom sure did help with sleeping, and the B6, well.......it made me feel better, thinking it might work, but really didn't!
I let another week and half go by. I can do this! Women do this all the time! I can power through. Meanwhile, I'm not eating much of ANYTHING! NOTHING sounds good, when you've seen it all in reverse, it really discourages you from eating it again. I ate a lot of peanut butter toast-for protein, banana's, apple sauce, and noodles. Yep, that pretty much was my diet for a month! Or, and the occasional french fries!
So came my breaking point........!!! I was weak, I was teary, I was hungry, and I was thirsty. When you throw up water, what do you do??? I had a doctor's appt on Tues and it was Monday. I couldn't wait! I called and asked for STRONGER meds! This B6 isn't cutting it, and you might have to hospitalize me soon for dehydration if something doesn't give!
Hallelujah!! Hallelujah!!! They gave me a prescription for Zofran! I was immediately on my way to CVS to pick it up! I heard it works! I was sooo excited! Relief was on the way!
I popped that Puppy and guess what! Dinner stayed put! YES! I'm on my way to bliss!
Not soo fast there cowgirl....... :( Take a look at the side effects that come with this miracle pill.....
Yep! If it's not one thing it's another, right?
So, now, I'm able to keep some food in my stomach, although, I still have little to no appetite. And aside from the now, 9lb weight loss, things are good.
Until my friends Constipation and Migraine came to play! Yep! Try not pooping for almost 2 weeks! Ouch! And the Migraines liked to come on in the evenings. Lovely side effects, but hey, I was holding down my food and could actually leave the house without fear, so I was taking it!
I won't go into details about those side effects, but lets just say, it's not comfortable, and Nothing really works for me.
I was doing much better, still little energy, but holding down most meals. I'd have the occasional "moment" or 2 a day, but much better than before.
I think I started becoming immune to the meds, the hormones around 10 weeks were raging, and even on the pills every 6 hours, I started getting sick again! Boo! Again, not as bad as the initial times, so I was going with it.
I learned taking trips aren't too fun! One, you aren't in your home, with your toilet, and you get really embarrassed. No one really understands how you are feeling, and for me, I was too emotional to tell them, without crying! Also, you feel bad bc everyone seems to be worried about you and you don't want to ruin anyone else's good time. My poor husband would just look at me after one of my trips to the bathroom and I'd break down in tears! I JUST wanted to feel good, feel normal, enjoy my meal, you name it. Yes, I threw MANY pity parties! But constantly reminded myself, how I shouldn't, that so many women would die to be in my shoes, would love to know what throwing up from raging hormones felt like. And I didn't/don't take that for granted! But I don't care who you are, if you were throwing up the sip of water you just drank for the 8th time that day for the 12th day in a row, you'd be feeling pretty pitiful too! I promise.
I have now thrown up in my toilet, in friends' toilets, in my MIL house, in a bag in the car, in a plastic cup in the car, in the parking lot of a rest stop, and in restaurants!! UURGGHH! Frustrating! The restaurant last weekend was my icing on my cake! ALL I wanted was mashed potatoes and green beans! We were on the road and decided to look for a Cracker Barrel, Piccadilly, or something, so I could get it. Jeff gets excited when I actually say I want to eat and what I want, so he was on a mission. The only thing we found close was a Golden Corral. I hadn't been to one in ages, and let me tell you! The people watching was Fabulous and Priceless!! I got my mashed potatoes and my green beans and was a happy camper! Until....my stomach started rumbling....yep!! Before we could even walk out of the place, I was in the bathroom losing everything I had just eaten!! Talk about frustrating! It didn't even have time to hit my stomach! :(
Anyway, the first trimester for me has been HE-double hockey sticks!!(My grandma used to say that, hehe) I'm 14 weeks and hoping it will come to an end soon! If I am in the lucky 2-3% like my mom and sister that gets it all 9 months......you might find me in a padded room, before this baby arrives. :)
My vent session is over now! If you have any questions/concerns please contact me. Otherwise you will find me in your closest restroom! ;)
HeHe, Have a Great weekend Everybody! I get to see my friend Mags, go out to eat 2 nights(for the first time in a LONG time) in a row(wish me luck), and watch some Auburn Football!!

***for any of you still reading that might be curious about the Raccoon.....last night, we did hear the trap shut, so today the guy came by to check it. It was shut, but nothing in it. Either the Coon is a big one, and hit the top of the cage, the door shut and it was able to back out, or it was something smaller that hit the trap and set it off. Regardless, we now have 4 more traps up there, and this booger is Going DOWN!!!

It's a Raccoon??!!??!!

OMG!! I'm about to wet my pants! We have a Raccoon in our attic! AAAHHHHH!!!
So, yesterday Allison stopped by for lunch. I had gone to the bathroom and we heard a crash. I said, "Was that you?" she said "No, but it came from back here", as she walked toward the bathroom and bedrooms. Then we heard it again......"Was that you?" "NO" "OMG, something is in the wall, it's in the closet, no, it's in the attic!" Something was scuffling around, we heard claws, we heard a bang, we heard scampering! EEKK!!! It Sounded BIG!!
I freak out and called Jeff!! I ask him, what to do? Something BIG is in our attic, and I'm NOT going up there! Thankfully, Allison was here to witness the noises or he would have thought I was a hallucinating preggo! B/C of course when he got home and looked up there, there was nothing and we didn't hear any more noises!! Of course!
Well, he called our pest control people anyway, and they were sending someone out today.
Soooo, this morning, 7am! Jeff has left for work, and thump, thump, thump!! AAHH! Seriously! Why can't it happen when he's home!??! I remembered that months ago Jeff had put some sticky traps up in the attic in case we have any rodent friends. He nailed them down, so they didn't hop off and get lost in the walls or beneath the insulation. Well, something was on one! I could hear it hopping around trying to get off the trap! GROSS!! What do I do?? The guy wasn't getting here until 11am!! UURRGGHH!
I HATE Rodents, bugs, insects, you name, I loathe them!!
By about 8-9, I'm not hearing much noise anymore. Either the "thing" tired out, or worse case, it got OFF!! 11am, and the "Wildlife Animal Services" guy is at my door!! Thank Goodness! Hey, mister, there is something Big up there....Have fun! I tell him, where the trap was and that I knew something was on it this morning. He went up, and straight to it, and......NOTHINGS there, but gnawed wood and hair! It was a RACCOON!!! He could tell by the hair, and it had gnawed on the wood in the attic by the wall trying to get loose. EEEWWWW!!!
We have some mesh wiring in the eves on either end of the house for ventilation. One side has a hole in it, and he assumes he got in through that. Also, he thinks squirrels have been up there bc he sees nuts. After he tells me he is going to charge me an arm and a leg, he sets traps in the attic. He had me close him in there, in case the "thing" decided to attack, it couldn't come into the house! Instead would be trapped up there with him! Brave Soul he was, Mr. Ryan!
Bless this poor guy, who was soo nice. He said when he graduated with his bachelors in Animal Biology/Wildlife Science, he didn't imagine this is the job he'd be doing, but non the less he seemed very thankful for his full time job.
He comes back every other day to check the traps, unless we hear something, then we call! Hopefully, we catch this thing! Then they fix the eves, then we fork over a couple thousand more for new insulation!! Oh, the JOYS of home ownership! Doesn't someone want this house? We are about to give it away!!!
O'well! Here's to Catching us a Coon!! :) He said actually they are kinda cute, and I will be sure to take a picture of the thing when we catch it. In the meantime, my attic will smell like Sardines(they put a can in the trap)! yuck!

This is what I picture this Thing looking like, and it will EAT me!!

We're Having a BABY!!!

YEP!! Finally I can break my silence!
We are soo excited to announce we are expecting a little one March 31, 2011!!
I have been about to bust at the seams to announce this, but we were waiting until after we got the first trimester "all clear" appt out of the way! YAY!
We had our doc appt yesterday, and got to have another ultrasound. It was so fun to see the little Nugget! It was just bouncing all around. Unfortunately, we didn't get yesterday's images digitally but did get ours from a month ago, so I'll share one of those. We took a video yesterday during the ultrasound and once I figure out how to upload it, I'll share that.

It is still crazy and surreal to me that this little baby is living inside of my belly! It's just amazing!
Some fun facts from the appt and where our Nugget is today.
-3inches in length
-measuring right on target
-little arms and legs just moving all around
-it was arching its back and squirming during the ultrasound
-settled into a spot and put one hand behind its head and the other up to its mouth, relaxing
-had it's little legs crossed
-has a heartrate of 156

This little Booger is also making Momma VERY sick! :( More on that later. But if you haven't already put it all together, this is why my husband has been soo fabulous and I have been so under the weather!
Now, that I can actually voice what is going on in my life, hopefully, I'll blog some more! :)

****I'm off to remove a large animal from my attic......yes, you read that correctly!!! Wait, I'm not actually doing it, but having someone come and check it out! Something is up there, and NOT happy about it! EEeeewww!

A trip home...

Last weekend we were in AL for the long holiday weekend. We were fortunate enough to not have bad traffic at all. VERY surprising considering we were hitting Atlanta at 5pm on Friday of a holiday weekend. I guess not many people were traveling this year, or they were well on their way out of town before 5. Either way, it was a welcomed surprise for a smooth trip.
We made it to Tuscaloosa by 8, in time for a late dinner with Sally(MIL), Amanda(SIL) and Mike(MIL, boyfriend). Yummy Chicken Rotel!!
Enjoyed a Sat morning of shopping downtown Tuscaloosa at all the Campus bookstores, and Jeff undoubtedly had to get more AL gear. One piece being RED pants with white Elephants embroidered all over them!! YES, you read that right!! I'll admit it was a little bit of an overload for me of Crimson, but I was a good wife. :) Although, I did threaten to wear my cute blue dress and orange scarf I brought to wear for the AU game. I told Jeff he would witness first hand how ugly the fans could be if I did. For my own safety I opted for a neutral outfit while on campus. :)
The weather was Beautiful on Sat. There was a nice breeze and if you were in the shade it actually felt very nice out.
We met up with friends Chris and Kristi Thomas to tailgate. Then off they all went to the game, and I took Kendall(Chris and Kristi's 2 yr old) with me over to my sister's house. I opted out of the game. :) Chris and Kristi got to enjoy the game kid free and Kendall and Mollie are the same age and got to play. AND I got to watch my TIGERS play!! WAR EAGLE!! :)
Sunday, we celebrated Parker's 6th Birthday!! He was too cute and so were all his little friends. It is so fun to watch him so grown up, and sweet Mollie just wants to be just like all the Big kids!
We gave Parker some "real" football pants!! He was Soo excited! Of course his mom helped us by telling us what he wanted. He also got new cleats and a Jersey and immediately stripped down and put it all on. He was outside having Uncle Jeff tackle him, when he came in and told us..."I just saw a wishing star. I wished that I would get some shoulder pads......Maybe it will come true tomorrow!?" It ranks right up there with when he said, while at the beach jumping in the waves...."Mom, I just talked to Jesus!!" You did, what'd he say? "He said, he made these waves SOO BIG just for me to jump in!!" with the most excitement ever in his sweet voice, as he ran back to the waves!! I love such sweet innocent moments like that! It makes my heart smile!
On our way home, we stopped in Bham to visit with Jeff's Grandmother. We had a nice but unfortunately quick visit. She is such a cute little spitfire. She acts half her age!
We had a great trip and visit with family. We are fortunate to be able to see both our families at the same time when we are home, although it does make for busy trips making stops back and forth.
Now, here's to Football Weekends and hopefully the beginning of cooler temps!!
****Pictures to come....when I download....sorry, I'll get there....