The Upset and The Great Dog Switch

So, the Vanderbilt game didn't go as well as we hoped. Yeah, we lost. And it wasn't a nice loss. Not a "oh-what-a-close-game! We-should-have-won- loss" It was quite possibly the worst game I've ever witnessed, and we certainly didn't deserve to win. We were sacked 7 times, there were like an additional 15 almost-sacks, our offensive-line had 5 false starts, we threw 4 interceptions, and had multiple fumbles (some that we recovered, thank goodness). We had two things fall our way the entire game, and ironically, both happened when my sister, Stephanie, had gone to the bathroom. Vandy missed a field goal in her first bathroom stop, and then we intercepted the ball, preventing a touch down, in the second bathroom break. We joked that maybe she should go sit in the car for the rest of the game, but considering they drove 6 hours to see it, that wasn't going to happen. To make things even more wonderful for the Gamecock faithful, Clemson always has their biggest win of the year on the day we lose... Maybe we'll get to play Central Michigan High School next year. Anyways- it's just a game... I guess. Argggg. Should it make us feel good that Vanderbilt hasn't beaten a team ranked as highly as we were (#6) since 1937, or should that make us feel even worse?! Worse!

Ah! Tackled again! 4 on 1. That makes perfect sense!

We had to kennel Sadie while we were gone for the game. I went to pick her up Sunday morning and almost went home with the wrong dog. The girl went and got "Sadie" for me when I went to get my checkbook out of the car. I came back inside and this black dog was jumping all over me, going absolutely nuts. She was moving so crazylike that I couldn't get a good look, but she seemed too fat to be Sadie. Her ears looked too short. She was too much of a spaz. So the girl was like, "She's so happy to see you! Do you need help getting her to the car?" After hesitating for a second, I was like, "Umm. This isn't Sadie." The girl looked at me like I was absolutely crazy, which made me doubt myself for a second, and then I was like, "Yeah, this definitely isn't Sadie." So the chick, who looked absolutely mortified, took faux-Sadie away and went to fetch the real one. The guy sitting at the desk was very apologetic, like I was going to sue them or something. I explained that it wasn't a big deal at all.... He continued apologizing saying the girl who fetched Sadie was new, and that perhaps he had made the mistake and not her...He told the girl to try looking for Sadie in Maggie's crate. So the girl came back with our real Sadie, and she and I went on our merry way. But... then I realized. If they switched Maggie and Sadie the previous night in their crates, that meant that Maggie, the spazo dog who originally greeted me, received Sadie's heart medication, not once, but twice. Yikes. No wonder she was going so crazy... "Get me out of this d$#@ place! They're forcing pills down my throat against my will!!"

"How could they possibly mistake fatso Maggie for cute little me?!"

Family Time

We traveled to Charleston last weekend to see family. D hadn't seen his family since July and we hadn't been with my family as a whole since June. Steph and Ev were in town at Seabrook celebrating their 10 year anniversary! Mom had their kids, so we got to spend some time with them, and stayed with Robin and Kevin so also got to spend time with them and their kids.

We ate dinner and hung out with D's family Friday night at his mom's house. It was so good to see them and spend time with them. We will see them all again at Thanksgiving...possibly at Aunt Myra and Uncle Kenny's in Georgia.

Mom, and D and I took the kids to the beach on Saturday morning, and then we celebrated dad's birthday and watched South Carolina almost lose to UNC. What a stressful game!! My family is meeting up tomorrow for the Vanderbilt game, and I really hope we play better!

This really wasn't a posed picture until I asked Lexie, who wasn't originally in the picture, to sit next to Salley Kate and then they all caught on to what I was up to. At least they cooperated!

Meet Katy-Did, the Townsend's new horse, and Weekend Monkey, Mairin's kindergarten monkey who gets to go home each weekend with a five-year-old, who then share's their weekend adventures with the class on Monday.

D captured this shot of the girls.... too cute!

So, what's up in pregnancy land? Hmmm... I'm feeling pretty good, but this hunger thing is pretty obnoxious. The other night I ate a sensible dinner, had a granola bar an hour later, had a bowl of cereal two hours later, and then went to bed. I then woke up at 3am and had another bowl of cereal. I woke up at 8am and instantly had a bowl of oatmeal, and then picked up 3 pancakes and a fruit and yogurt parfait on my way to a 9 o'clock meeting, at which I had a muffin. I was then starving by 11am. Ridiculous! I think I may need to drink a protein shake in the morning...maybe that will last longer. Other than being tired and hungry, I can't complain! My next appointment is a week from today...two days shy of week 13. Wow.

"If you don't slobber on the new baby, I'll sneak you an extra treat every now and then...Deal??" "Deal."

Move Over Week 9

Week 10 has arrived today, and I welcome it with open arms, and finally, a big ole appetite. I had some kind of stomach bug earlier this week that brought on thoughts like, "HOW do women do this more than once?!" and "We are adopting the rest!!" After a steady diet of saltine crackers for three days, I just knew I was going to wither away and/or give birth to a big cracker (which, when I shared that with Kelly Keever, she thought that was quite humorous considering that my baby will NOT be a cracker, racially speaking).


My body also chose Week 9 as the week to reject any type of prenatal vitamin. The one I've been taking this whole time with NO problems, my body is all of a sudden treating like arsenic and sending it back up, much to my dismay. I also tried a new one, but that was worse b/c it was like regurgitating battery acid. SO... I now am taking Flintstone Vitamins (the gummy kind) and Folic Acid (thanks, Ellen). So far, so good.. and look how cute they are!

Dino, Pebbles, and Fred.

All though the pre-historic gummy gang taste good (and stay down), I'm kinda concerned about not getting enough iron. Supposedly, that's something you need, but go figure, it's supposedly the culprit in sending my lunch back up. So, I'd like to try and get it through the foods I'm eating, but considering anything "healthy" these days is completely revolting, it will be a challenge. So what foods contain iron? Isn't that why Popeye ate spinach? I guess I should do some research online, but if you have any suggestions, please let me know! (I really hope candy corn contains iron).


So, yes, I have a life beyond pregnancy. Donald and I went to go see The Kingdom on Friday night, and we both highly recommend it. Just make sure you don't get up to go to the bathroom anytime in the last 25 minutes. Donald got to play paintball yesterday with a bunch of high school guys...he had a blast, and I had to sit this one out. Instead, I enjoyed a wonderful meal at Cracker Barrel with Ellen, after which we checked out some furniture stores and discovered the prices at Wood You are a fraction of the cost of Pottery Barn (and it's real wood!). I'm talkin' 1/4 the cost. You just gotta have painting/staining skills since it's unfinished.
We will be traveling to Charleston next weekend to see family, which we both are looking forward to. My niece and nephew, Salley Kate and Rhett, will be staying with my parents, so it will be great to see them, and it's been eons since we've seen D's family. Kevin is having a huge Redskins party on Sunday, so that will be fun.


Okay, back to pregnancy for a second. There are a few things I want to remember about this time in pregnancy, so I will jot them here: waking up at 3am absolutely starving!, the rubber band trick on your pants (Thanks, Andrea!), wanting to sleep forever and ever (which is quite the opposite of my non-pregnant self), and wanting to eat pancakes for every meal.
Does anyone know of any websites that tell you what size your baby is, week by week? I know that Jenn had one that compared her baby to fruit, but I can't find it (you know, from a grape, to a plum, to a lemon, to an apple, to a grapefruit, to a watermelon). I think right now we are somewhere between a large grape and a medium-sized strawberry.

The rubber band trick pictured below.
Give yourself another inch before buying new pants!!

A Precious Heartbeat

Our first ultrasound was Friday, September 28th. I just knew that the doctor would say, "There's no baby in there! You're crazy!" but she didn't! She said, "There it is! A beautiful baby. With a precious heartbeat..." Of course this made me tear up, and of course I was ecstatic, and of course I wanted to fast-forward 7 months and have the baby safely here.

Proud mom and dad with first ultrasound pics and
first baby gift (from Mema and Granddaddy, of course).

I haven't figured out the rest of the acronym for PREGNANCY, but the P definitely stands for "paranoia." For example: "Is the cigarette smoke coming through my vents from the guy in the car in front of me, going to hurt the baby?!" "Are the fumes from the Sharpie I just used for .05 seconds going to harm the baby?" "The book says don't eat soft cheese that's not pasteurized. Do you think this cheese at the Mexican restaurant is pasteurized?!" I know - I know-- a little ridiculous. I'm hoping this is a first pregnancy thing, and I am sure it is a "Mary Beth needs to give this to the Lord" thing. Fortunately I haven't reached obsessive paranoia (Donald wouldn't let me get away with that), but even subtle thoughts show my independence from the Lord, and how greatly I need to depend on Him (which, ironically we are studying at church right now). Not that dependence is a magical formula for a perfect life, a perfect baby, but relying on the Lord for everything and praising Him for everything is the way to go. Today the teacher at church, Alcides Fuentes, from Nicaragua, said that we need to handle the possible and let God handle the impossible (well, I think Ruth Graham said that), and this baby is definitely my "impossible." A miracle that the Lord can totally take care of. My job is to not smoke the cigarette, not inhale the Sharpie on purpose for like a long time, and do a little research on cheese.

The Secret Month(s)

Knowing that you're pregnant and not being able to shout it out to the entire world is quite agonizing. It was official for us on September 7th, the day upon our return from California, 5-6 weeks into the pregnancy and 4 weeks before we started telling "the world." Of course our families knew, which was super exciting, but keeping it from everyone else was hard.

The day we found out was exciting and surreal. I took the test after Donald had left for work, and I just knew it was going to be negative (by the way, for those who are not up to speed on pregnany test jargon, "negative" means "not pregnant"). I just knew I was "not pregnant." So, I took the test, placed it next to the sink and immediately began brushing my teeth. I looked down, and WHA-BAM it was instantly positive. As you may have guessed, "positive" means "pregnant," and I was very pregnant. My heart dropped, my eyes bulged out of my head. I was very, very excited. I immediately thought about calling Donald and saying (screaming), "it's a plus, it's a plus, it's a plus!!!," but decided I wanted to be more creative than that, which ended up not really working out. He called me, said he had to swing by the house for something, asked what the test said, and of course, when I said, "I"ll tell you when you get here," that meant, "heck yeah, I'm pregnant." Oh well. No cute little baby shoes for him to open in a cute little perfectly wrapped package, no cards, or t-shirts, or mugs that said, "World's Best Dad."


My actual plan was to continue the "bun in the oven" theme that stems from an event that had happened a few months back. You see, an actual bun (hamburger, if you need to know) had fallen to the bottom of our actual oven, and the oven being too hot for me to retrieve it and me not wanting it to catch on fire the next time we pre-heated the oven, I left him a note. "Honey- There's a bun in the oven." Cruel, you might say, but since we weren't trying to get pregnant, and therefore it wouldn't be a let down when it wasn't actually true, I didn't think it'd be too harmful to make his stomach drop for about 3 seconds. So he saw the note, looked at me to see if it was a joke (it was), and then I had fun telling people about our bun in the oven (oh, and once the oven cooled, Donald rescued the burned bun). So I was going to use that somehow in telling him that we were pregnant, but it didn't work. Next time, we will just take the test when we're both home like normal people. Next time?! Or I will just rent this hideous costume...

Looks More Like "A giant fortune cookie in the oven"

So the Secret Month(s), as I have called them, were not too bad, physically. The first several weeks I had lots of cramping, the next weeks brought on complete exhaustion and starvation. I was and am utterly ravenous. Feed me. Feed me. I need more food. Praise the Lord for this absolute miracle.

California or Bust, SC if We Must

Well, we're back from our trip to California, and it was absolutely wonderful. We had an awesome time and enjoyed viewing some of God's masterpieces, which I'll share with you below. There were some of the most gorgeous views on earth over there! The whole trip went off without a hitch, and we got plenty of rest while still seeing lots and lots of stuff and reflecting on the Lord's majesty. We also had fellowship with a bunch of great people (Bonnie (friend), Frances (old youth group friend) and her boyfriend, Greg. Herb and Helen Selby and their fellowship group who we hung out with on Labor Day). The fellowship group was very gracious while we watched the Clemson/Florida State game. They all thought it was quite humorous how we southerners get all worked up about college football. They even made sweet tea for us!

Here are some of our favorite shots:

What is that sticking out of my head?

A view of the bridge from the Marin Headlands.

The Sea Lions have taken over Pier 39 in San Francisco. They are cute!

This is what I'm talking about when I say, "most gorgeous views in the world":

Here we are at the "Lone Cypress" on the 17-Mile-Drive in Carmel.
The Sun Setting in D's Glasses

Long Beach, CA

La Jolla, CA (San Diego Area)

So, it's good to be home, but we're not really looking forward to the reality of work and busy schedules, which are quickly approaching as the weekend disintegrates before our eyes. We hope you are doing well and are enjoying football season like us, and praising God for the miracles that he performs each and every day!!

Sadie and the Cicada

Tonight I went outside with Sadie around, oh, 9 o’clock, and it was over 90 degrees outside. At 9 o’clock?! The last few days have been the hottest that I can remember. The heat index has been like 110 during the day. Crazy hot.
Well, while we were outside, Sadie discovered a cicada. You know…those ginormous bugs that have crazy fast wings and are known for the “songs” they sing out in the night. Anyways, Sadie was torturing the poor thing… smelling it, trying to put it in her mouth, and once, she even tried to step on it. Anytime she touched it, it would yelp out a loud chirp, and Sadie would jump back a few feet (me too), her ears perked in curiosity. And just for the record, I tried to pull her away from it, but pulling my dog away from any type of wildlife that she discovers is like trying to pull a post out of concrete (not possible). So the huge bug finally got away from her by flying towards our house, with its loud buzzing noise coming in my direction making me duck for cover. The stupid thing ended up on the side of our house after bouncing off the ground, the wall, and back again, like a ball in a pinball machine (I always feel sorry for bugs that do that). So of course, Sadie could not get over the fact that the biggest bug on the planet was hanging out on the side of “her” house, just a little too high on the wall for her to reach.

If you look closely, you can see the cicada on the brick. Yuck!

So the only other drama that occured with Sadie and the cicada was when Sadie leaped up as high as she could off the top step to reach the bug and then fell about 4 feet down to the ground. But, don’t worry…it didn’t phase her (or the bug). I happened to catch it on video (but the footage is pretty horrible b/c it was so dark and our dog is so black and I wasn’t expecting her to leap in the air like that!).So Dewa and Arie moved to Iowa today, so I’m going to go feel sorry for myself now as I drift off to sleep….

Meet the Greenleafs