My Favorite Song

So apparently this song was written in 2003 but just released to the radio and I LOVE it! So much of it rings true. Here are the words and I will share my thoughts at the end:

You know I like my chicken fried
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up…
Well I’ve seen the sunrise
See the love in my woman’s eyes
Feel the touch of a precious child
And know a mother’s love

Well I was raised up beneath the shade of a Georgia pine
And that’s home you know
Sweet tea pecan pie and homemade wine
Where the peaches grow
And my house it’s not much to talk about
But it’s filled with love that’s grown in southern ground

And a little bit of chicken fried
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up
Well I’ve seen the sunrise
See the love in my woman’s eyes
Feel the touch of a precious child
And know a mother’s love

And its funny how it’s the simple things in life that mean the most
Not where you live or what you drive or the price tag on your clothes
There’s no dollar sign on a piece of mind this I’ve come to know
So if you agree have a drink with me
Raise you glasses for a toast

To a little bit of chicken fried
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just rightA
nd the radio up
Well I’ve seen the sunriseS
ee the love in my woman’s eyes
Feel the touch of a precious child
And know a mother’s love

I thank god for my life
And for the stars and stripes
May freedom forever fly, let it ring.
Salute the ones who died
The ones that gave their lives so we don’t have to sacrifice
All the things we love

Like our chicken fried
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up
Well I’ve seen the sunrise
See the love in my woman’s eyes
Feel the touch of a precious child
And know a mother’s love

I LOVE the chorus b/c it reminds me so much of me. I do love fried chicken, cold beer and a good fittin' pair of jeans. Most importantly I know what the touch a precious child feels like and I have experienced a mother's love and there is NOTHING better!

I also love this verse:
And its funny how it’s the simple things in life that mean the most
Not where you live or what you drive or the price tag on your clothes
There’s no dollar sign on a piece of mind this I’ve come to know
It truly is the simple things that are the most important and when you lose touch with those things you are really missing out. And a piece of mind is certainly worth more than money can buy!!

And this verse:
I thank god for my life
And for the stars and stripes
May freedom forever fly, let it ring.
Salute the ones who died
The ones that gave their lives so we don’t have to sacrifice
All the things we love
This is so true in a time of war, I am so eternally grateful to those who give up everything to allow me to have the freedoms that we often take for granted, so thank you!

22 Week OB Appt

We had a regular appointment with Dr. Madonia today and everything looked great. My BP was a little low I think at 104/61 but I guess not low enough for him to be worried. I had gained 7 pounds which just totally freaks me out. When I mentioned it to him he laughed at me b/c I told him that I had been eating Oreo Cake. He was of course not worried about the weight gain, he seldoms worries about those things! I get to do the blood sugar test at my next appointment and that stuff is SO gross!! I asked when I would get another ultrasound and he said that I could have one whenever they could get one scheduled.

The good part about being in tight with the girls that work there is that there was an 11am appt that I had 5min to get into! We got to see Kallie again and confirmed that it is still a girl! She is measuring at 23 weeks which is a little ahead and weighs 1lb 4oz. I figured out why the movements seemed so high and its b/c she is head down and her legs are up high. All of her organs looked great, her heart looked perfect as did her spine.

The only problem is that she has a 2 Vessel Cord, which means that in normal pregnancies there are two arteries and one vein and Kallie only has one of each.

Here is an explanation and details I found online:

A two-vessel cord identifies one artery and one vein, rather than 2 arteries and 1 vein, the expected 3-vessel cord. This variation is found in less than 1% of single babies and may be higher when there are twins. Most children, at least 70%, are normal. The problem with our statistics is that the reports of two vessel cords are more likely to be in association is an abnormal pregnancy: what we call, a bias of ascertainment.A two vessel cord can be associated with a variety of organ-system and chromosomal abnormalities: the reassuring news for you is that all the organ systems are normally formed.A two vessel cord can be associated with impaired growth as the pregnancy progresses: this is monitored by serial ultrasound studies to document the size/weight of the baby and biophysical profile (combines ultrasound measures with fetal heart rate patterns)to assure baby health.
The normal fetal heart rate is 120 to 160 bpm. Your heart rate and mine also vary over a wide range depending on our activity, sleep/wake, food intake, hormone surges; the same thing happens with babies.

Based on the fact that all of Kallie's organs look great, Dr Madonia was not concerned. He called me and said that what they typically look for is kidney issues and hers are perfect and functioning exactly right. He said that before ultrasound was so sophisticated they would have no idea the baby had a 2 Vessel Cord so when they would deliver and baby and discover that they would check their kidneys. I asked about the low birth weight and he said that it can cause that so we would have more ultrasounds to measure her weight gain and watch her closely.

I have also read that it can cause the babies to stop growing and in that case they will deliver the baby early. From what I have read most babies are normal unless there is some other genetic issue or its a problem with the organs which we know Kallie does not have. Before the tech told me about the cord I asked her if this was the scan where we would find out about any major organ issues and she said yes, that everything looked perfect and she was doing great. She also checked for a cleft pallete and that was normal as well.

It really worries me simply b/c there is something not right with her and that's alarming. However, it doesn't seem to be a major issue and one that is probably going to amount to nothing but a whole lot of worry!

So I have talked to a few girls on Fertility Friend who have said that they were diagnosed with the same condition and they all have healthy babies that had no problems. One girl did say that she delivered early and that her son had some minor kidney problems, and that his kidneys looked good on ultrasound but he has done just fine. She said that there is no way for them to know if the kidney problems and early delivery were an affect of the 2 Vessel Cord or something else. All in all, everyone has said that their children turned out just fine, they had some extra monitoring but that was all reassuring. So I feel better about it now!

Here are some pictures of our precious baby girl:

She is swallowing in this picture and you can see her tongue.


Her long skinny foot, like Kennedy Jane and me!

Its a GIRL!

Kennedy Jane's 1st Busted Lip

Yesterday she was being silly running through the house with an old cell phone and I assume she tripped and fell because I was in the other room. I went running in there and she had busted her top lip and was quite upset about it, as I would have been. Its still a little swollen today but she is doing just fine! Here are a few pics:

Refinancing our House ...

So we have decided to stay in our house, refinance and I am going to quit working. I am SO far beyond excited that I get to quit working and we can actually afford it. Things started out great when I called Coldwell Banker, who currently holds our mortgage, and told them that I wanted to refinance. He suggested using the VA Streamline Refinance which basically was really simple, no credit check, no income verification, just drop the interest rate and miss two house notes! Sounds good right? Well then I call back Saturday afternoon and they tell me that they have pulled the credit and there is a problem, I couldn't imagine what so I just let it go.

I called on Monday morning and was told that the loan was denied b/c of the credit issue. I find out that the credit issue is that Nissan was reporting a charge off for our Murano that we turned in early on our lease. However, that was paid IN FULL back in August and they were reporting this as of November.

I called Nissan and absolutely laid into them and of course they wrong and said that that they would fix it, that our credit would be updated in 48 hours and they would send me a letter stating that they were wrong and that it was being corrected.

So then the person that I originally spoke with on Saturday calls back and says, no it has not been denied, it was just simply waiting for manager over-ride and he would get back with me. I called back yesterday afternoon and was told that it had just come back from underwriting and was approved.

I called our person this morning and he called me back and left a message that he had everything he needed, he just needed me to call back and lock in everything so we could get it rolling! So it looks like after all that headache yesterday that things are going to be great, we get to skip two house notes and our note will drop by about $200. We are hoping that before we close in March that the rates will drop even lower and our house note will go down even more!!

NO more work!

Ok so we have a plan that I feel my really work. We are going to stay in our house and refinance, which should do two things, one for sure it will drop our payment. Secondly, we are hoping to refinance to the market value of the house, thus opening up a lot of cash to pay off other things that would open up enough money for me to quit working. I am SO excited, I love our house, its just too small with me working but its perfect for the 4 of us. So that's it, the plan is when I go out on leave in May I am not going back! YIPEE!! More to come later!

Selling our House

Ugh its just NO fun and so frustrating! We have gotten two calls lately from a realtor, gotten the house all cleaned up, and then they call and cancel. We dropped the price down and hoped that would help generate some interest. Our 6 month MLS listing ends in like 2 weeks and I am not sure what we are going to do after that. Part of me wants to list it with a realtor and negotiate it down to 4% b/c I feel like we would have better luck but we also really need to make that money to pay some things off to make it worth it for us to move. I am so tired of this house and the way that its set-up. If I am going to keep working I want a decent office away from Kennedy Jane's room! I just hope that things start to pick-up soon!

Market in Atlanta

So Mom and I went with Jackie and Rick to Atlanta this weekend to market. Jackie and Rick own a store called the Brass Brazierre in Opelika and she needed to shop for gifts and for her baby line. We had such a great time and there was SO much shopping!! I really enjoyed helping her pick out things to have in her store, I really felt like I knew what to tell her and how to answer her questions about the baby stuff. They have never had children so she doesn't have any first-hand experience with baby gear.

We picked out lots of good stuff and then headed over to the Children's part of the market. I was there to shop for bedding for Kallie and wow did I have a lot of choices. I met two girls who owned a company called Doodlefish (www.doodlefishkids.com) and they were fantastic. They had a website that you could use to select the kind of bedding you wanted and then place the different fabrics in. We came up with three designs on Sunday and I went back to the hotel to think about it. The price was half of what I would have paid for it in the store so that was awesome!

We went back Sunday morning and I changed things up a bit and it looked awesome, I could not be more excited! And the best part is they will have it to me in like a week to two weeks! That's SO fast! Jackie is thinking about carrying them in her store which would be really exciting b/c I can go on their website, design the bedding and then email it to Jackie! I really think that would be something I really really enjoyed!!

I don't have any pictures, just a print out that did not scan well but I will have it in in a few weeks and will get some pictures then!

We also got some really cute bags that were super cheap. I got some pewter serving dishes for like a third of what it would cost me in the store. They are being shipped to Jackie's store so I will get them when they come to her.

Mom and I are considering starting an online store to carry baby stuff. The mark-up in it is incredible so we really feel like we might could make it work. I would LOVE to actually open a store here and I think Jackie would be interested but I don't know if now is the time in my life to do that, with Kallie coming I can't imagine spending the long hours at a store that would take. Mom seems really excited to do something like that too so maybe it would work. Right now I think we are just focusing on the online store and seeing where that goes.

We are considering starting with Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bags and HotSlings and then seeing what happens. I am starting to research ways to set-up a website and what the cost of that will be and then start figuring this all out! It's exciting!

20 Weeks

Well I have made it to 20 weeks and I still feel great! We went to market in Atlanta this weekend, more details to come, and I was able to totally hang. I got tired a few times and needed to sit down but I bet we walked 6-7 miles between the two days! Here are belly pics from 16 weeks and 20 weeks, I can't tell a lot of difference:

16 Weeks:

20 Weeks:

Halfway point!!

I am considering today my official halfway point with this pregnancy since I will get to deliver at 39 weeks I figure 19 weeks and 3 days is halfway there! So far this pregnancy has been so much easier than with Kennedy Jane. I am feeling pretty good now, the heartburn has started to kick in a bit and I have hit another exhaustion spell but overall I am feeling good and excited to be halfway there!!

Classes at Watermelon Patch

We are having such a good time at these classes, I wish I had started them sooner. At first Kennedy Jane was a bit timid and didn't want to venture far from me, now she doesn't seem to care if I am there, unless I call her over to sit with me to do something. The moms are all really nice and there are a few I have really hit it off with. Today Kennedy Jane even rode the parachute and went under it, something she hasn't tried yet!

There is one little girl, Grace, that was born with heart problems, has had all sort of surgeries and I just adore her. She wasn't there the last class before Christmas and wasn't there today so I am a bit worried about her. I hope that everything is ok and they are at the class next week!!

Big Girl Room is Finished!!

I finally got the stickers in for above Kennedy Jane's bed. It was ridiculous trying to get them hung up today but once we finally got it done it looks fantastic and really pulls the room together!

Here are some pics of it all done:

Happy New Year!!

Wow its 2009, where did 2008 go? Overall 2008 was a great year, we celebrated Kennedy Jane's 1st birthday, we went to Cabo, Las Vegas, and St John. We found out we were expecting baby #2 and that it was another girl. Kennedy Jane loved Christmas and the fireworks on New Years Eve. However, there were some really hard times in 2008 as well. We dealt with Ali's blood clots and an extended stay in the hospital. Thankfully she is doing well and finally off Cumadin! We celebrated that on New Years Day by counting down and throwing them in the trash!! Hooray for her! And we also dealt with losing Big Smoke in a sudden heart attack. It was so incredibly heartbreaking and so difficult on mom. But we are all certain that 2009 is going to be a good year for everyone!!

And I guess it takes New Years Eve to make me realize what a loser I am these days. I was asleep by 10pm and then was woken up by fireworks in the neighborhood at midnight and was beyond irritated. Gosh where has my youth gone??

Happy New Year and here is to a healthy and happy 2009!