The first house pictures

Here are pictures of the house. I know...cement blocks and dirt are pretty exciting!

So far they've dug and poured the footings and layed the blocks. This week they should do the plumbing and electrical then pour the slab. Kerry said a convoy of dump trucks were out there this morning waiting to pull into the driveway, so I'm sure they did more. We didn't have a chance to get out there after work before it got dark.

YEA!

What it must be like

As soon as I heard the music start this morning, I felt tears rising. My dad has been gone almost 6 years now. "I Can Only Imagine" played at his funeral. I don't feel sad about him not being here when I hear the song. Although it is a trigger that brings up lots of memories of that time. But, it's not what brings tears. When I hear the words of that song it really paints a picture for me of what I think he must have experienced when he met Jesus.

I can't imagine my dad "dancing" for Jesus - that kind of makes me laugh because I picture him dancing at Kerry's wedding. I think maybe Jesus decided dad would be one of the ones who is standing still in awe of Him!

I worried so much about him right after he died. I kept feeling like he was alone and wouldn't know what to do or how to take care of himself. (Crazy, I know). He was so quiet and kept to himself...and he relied on my mom so much. She was his voice. She took care of him. Cooked his breakfast every morning, packed his lunch, did his laundry, cooked his supper, paid the bills...everything. He wasn't one of those people who could just walk up to anyone and talk. In fact, most of my friends would tell you that they never heard him talk. He didn't even talk to me that much. When I would call home from college, I always hated it when he answered the phone becuase we didn't have anything to talk about. He'd always ask me how my car was running - that's all he knew to ask. He only got to meet Chris one time - about 2 weeks before he died. We went and ate dinner at a little Mexican resturant in Greenwood. My sister asked him later what he thought about Chris and he said "He don't talk much". Funny stuff.

It's still hard for me to imagine how he's making it without my mom. I used to have this huge desire to find out as much out about heaven as I could. I think I just wanted the assurance that he's being taken care of. I want to know what it's like - that he's ok - that he's not alone. It's hard to wrap my mind around something so amazing.

I'm back

I'm back among the living. Very sore from all the puking, but I'll take sore from puking over the actual act of puking any day.

Our 25 week appt was today and everything looked good. He just checked protein levels, blood pressure and Eli's heartbeat. Next month is my last 4 week check-up and I'll do the glucose screening. Doesn't seem possible to be at that point but I guess it is. I'll probably kick myself for revealing this, but...I've gained 16 lbs (which would have certainly been more had I not spent the previous 48 hours not eating) I was terrible about writing this stuff down (or remembering) when I was pregnant with Carlee. And, since this is the only place I'm "writing" anything down with Eli, I'll tell it.

Speaking of...if you've seen my sister lately (Kerry) you've probably noticed that she's lost an impressive amount of weight and looks really great. So, a couple of Sundays ago at church, we were walking down the hallway together and as we approached a lady at the end of the hall she says "This is the first time I've been able to tell you two apart". So, before I thought about it, I replied with "um, yeah, becuase I'm fat and pregnant and she's not". She, of course replied with a nervous laugh and "no, that's not what I meant" (or something along those lines). I'm pretty sure I made her feel bad and shouldn't have said what I said. But, I'm also pretty sure she was commenting on the fact that I'm a little tubby right now and Kerry looks good. So, I think there were two of us who didn't think before we talked. A perk of having a twin who looks a lot like you...weight comparison. Love it.

Not again...

Sunday was such a beautiful day. So, Chris and I drove around and looked at open houses - trying to get ideas for our own house. Carlee went to church with my mom, so it was just the two of us.

By the end I was getting tired and feeling a little strange. When we got home I started having some pretty severe stomach and back pain. It almost felt like contractions. Chris rubbed my back and I fell asleep, but woke up at about 2 puking...Another stomach virus! Puked all day yesterday - until about 9:30 last night. Eli continued to kick and flip, which made me feel a little more nauseous. Unbelievable...I usually get somthing like this about once every other year. But I've had it twice in less than 3 months. Since I know you want the details...It was so severe last night that I busted capillaries in my face - so now I've got little red dots all over. Nice.

But, I woke up feeling better this morning. Feel like I've been run over by a truck...but no more hugging the toilet. I stayed home from work, so I think I'll spend the rest of the day sleeping this off...and praying that Carlee doesn't get it.

Tomorrow is my next check-up, so I'll update how Eli is doing then. By-the-way, do you think that since the Giants won the Super Bowl everyone is going to think I named him Eli becuase of Eli Manning? Not that it matters - but we figure there are going to be lots of little boys named Eli this year.

Eli woke me up this morning...remember being a kid in the swimming pool seeing how many underwater flips you could do in a row...I'm pretty sure that's what he was doing. I woke Chris up to feel it becuase it was pretty impressive. We're at 24 weeks today. More than half-way there - but the house isn't more than half-way there! That's ok though. We'll make whatever happens work. I'm thinking that the interest rate is going to drop quite a bit around July, so it may be a GREAT time to lock it in on our home loan. If it's no that, I know there is some reason(s) for this timeing.

Our Saturday Morning

We're having a relaxing day of hanging out at Memaw's house...doing laundry, cleaning, organizing. Sometimes I enjoy doing that stuff.

Today Carlee gets to go to her first "real" birthday party. Other than her cousins parties, she's been to two others before she was 2 - but had no idea what was going on and had no interest in playing with anyone. Today, she's excited.

I took some pictures of her this morning...she's a thumb-sucker. A guy at work said he sucked his thumb until he was 9. He remembers telling himself "I've gotta stop this". He didn't do it in public - just when he was going to bed. Oh my...I hope that doesn't happen in our world.