Career Strong

When we went for our ultrasound I walked into the room and told the tech straight off the bat "we want to know, so whenever you see anything please feel free to share, seriously, we want to know." I'm sure she thought I was nuts. Especially when a few minutes later after labeling several perfectly developed body parts she said "oh look, can you see it?" I couldn't see a penis anywhere so I was very confused.  Then she said "It's a girl." I literally popped up my head so fast the wand on my belly bounced. I still I can't believe it! For some reason I thought I would only have boys. Obviously God and Darren's sperm had other plans. Right after the tech left the room Darren said "whatever she wants she will have, if she wants a unicorn she will have a unicorn."  I find this funny because when we (I) thought we were having a boy Darren talked about how strict he was going to be and how he was going to raise little men.  Hone...

We sold our house! We got an offer last Sunday, countered, and we are now moving November 16th. Hooray! On the downside we are moving November 16th with no new house in sight.  I know, this sounds like a new show on MTV called Homeless and Pregnant. We have been frantically searching for a new home but we haven't been happy with anything we've found.  So, today, after going with our realtor to view another property at 9AM, we decided to rent until the dream home shows up. This involves moving twice though....not ideal.  But it's better than buying a home just to move within the timeline.  After making this decision I met my friend Jamie for lunch (she's so fun!) and went grocery shopping (not as much fun).  When I got home Darren had found a vacation rental on the lake! I hadn't even thought about vacation rentals!  We are able to move in when we want and don't have to bring any of our furniture because it's fully furnished. Also, if we e...

I've been reading a ton of pregnancy and parenting books about how to raise healthy, emotionally well-adjusted children.  Dr. Oz claims that by eating certain foods, when pregnant, you will bring out good and bad traits in your children. I'm pretty sure my brother is a pain in butt from time to time because my mother drank diet coke while pregnant with him.  When she was pregnant with me she loved ice cream which caused my need to correct other's grammar and talk incessantly.  This should tell you how much stock I'm putting in all this research.  I don't believe any of it. If my kid is screwed up I'm not blaming it on the chicken fingers I ate. Now the french fries, maybe. What is the dumbest parenting/pregnancy advice you have heard?  I would love a good laugh, please share. I'm going to go eat some chocolate covered pretzels.

As I was leaving work yesterday I decided to look up the dream house again. I found that it was already off the market. It felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. I immediately called Darren and he immediately called our real estate agent. The real estate agent let us know it was indeed under contract. Sometimes I like my long commute home.  I of course cried like a 5 year-old for a little bit and then realized I was being a completely spoiled brat and resolved myself to continuing to search for the dream home. This time we would be ready with our preapproval. If we liked something we would make an offer within 12 to 24 hours.  I also got a few kicks from the baby on the ride home. I'm pretty sure he/she was telling me that they were way more important than any silly house ever would be. I got home and Darren had already found 2 other houses that were awesome and he too had the same plan about making offers. While the "dream home" was nice, it wasn't the...

I went up to Knoxville this weekend, my hometown and also the college where I got my undergrad.  When I started at UT we were National Champions.....now, not so much.  But I am still a huge fan! My parents have had season tickets since I can remember and there's nothing quite like these seats. I think I grew up in these seats. A view from our seats. This guy kind of ruined my picture but oh well, I'm sure someone was in front of his picture too. I sat with the coolest man in the world (except for Darren) my Dad. We had the best time talking and trying not to cry from the loss.  After I had the girl in front of us take this picture I of course looked to see if we looked decent and that's when I saw it. The fat girl sitting next to my Dad! Who is this person and why is her arm around my Dad? Does my Dad have another child I don't know about? Oh, no, it's just me. I'm apologizing now for any and all that have to look at me everyday (Coworkers and Darren). If yo...

As of yesterday afternoon our house is officially ready to hit the market again! It's been almost a month but, in the end, well worth it.  We got beautiful new floors, cleaned out our basement and um, I'm sure there's something else.  I have included a picture for those of you interesting in a lovely North Georgia home. We lowered the price, it's pretty much free at this point. In pregnancy news my short term memory is GONE. Poof! If you tell me something, there's a good chance I won't remember it in the next 5 minutes. I have always prided myself on remembering details so this has not been an easy adjustment for me. I realize it's completely normal to experience in pregnancy but I'm going to have to be honest and say I thought this was another one of those things women made up.  Over the course of this pregnancy I've gained so much more respect for my fellow women, and I didn't even have morning sickness.  (Those women deserve a medal or at lea...