Confectionery Confessions

After two months of "being good" by not eating sugar, I have completely blown it these last two weeks. And by "blown it" I mean BLOWN IT. After weeks and weeks of denying myself any sugary goodness, I have recently been indulging in almost as much as I can get my hands on. I went from snacking on almonds, avoiding sweet tea, banning sweet cereals -- even any type of granola bar -- to having a dessert of some sort pretty much every day. Argg. I knew when I started this it wouldn't be a permanent thing, and that sugar would inevitably re-enter my life. However, I was hoping that 8-weeks of sugar constraint would at least help my body "be okay" with just "a little" sugar now and then when everything was said and done. But -- apparently I'm an all-or-nothing type of girl when it comes to baked goods and the such. Tisk tisk. I have four-ish weeks left in this pregnancy and I hope to get back on track (after I eat the cupcake a friend gave me today...apparently it's the mother of all cupcakes and will totally be worth it. *well, it's now a day later, and yes, I ate the cupcake, and yes it was in fact worth it). Another hurdle to jump over (or just knock over and fall on my face) is that I have two loaves of zucchini bread in the oven right now. Mmm...zucchini...sounds healthy, right? Well, 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of oil later...not so healthy. However, I did substitute half of the oil with applesauce, so that "helps" according to the ladies on the website where I got the recipe. Yes, by adding the applesauce and subtracting oil, I am decreasing the amount of fat but increasing the amount of sugar. Fabulous. But it just sounds healthier than chocolate and ice cream (my weaknesses), so I will just pretend it's good for me. Not to mention, I just had to make the bread b/c D grew the zucchini in our garden and it was massively huge...better for baking than stir frying.

So I finally took a belly pic the other night, purposely wearing the same thing I had on when I was about to pop with Charley (well, I purposely took the picture when I remembered I had the same shirt on). My only observations when comparing the two are that even though the current pic is two weeks sooner than the Charley one, I do seem to be carrying slightly differently (but I still think it's a girl!)

37 weeks - Charley - 2008

35 weeks - Baby 2 - 2009

It's funny to guess what this baby is and when he or she will come...especially when you put it in writing and can go back and look at it. The day I went into labor with Charley, I had posted a blog and a poll about "when the baby would come." I had NO CLUE it would be within 24 hrs of that post. At this time in my pregnancy with Charley, D was in Kenya and I really wasn't very apprehensive (I credit the Lord for that). If he, Donald, had to leave today for Kenya, I'm not so sure I'd be confident that he'd make it back in time. But only the Lord knows. I may be sitting here on October 1st with no baby. We will see! I am just grateful for the miracle of pregnancy and don't ever want to take it for granted.

Bridging the Gap

We spent some time in Charleston again this past week/weekend for Donald's biannual family reunion (themed Bridging the Gap). We are very close to his family who lives in Charleston, and see them quite often, but this reunion was comprised of people from all over the country...Texas, California, New York, etc. I figured out over the weekend that Donald's grandfather's mother had 8 brothers and sisters, so it was all of their children and grandchildren, etc. who participated. The last time they held the reunion in Charleston was 1999. D and I had just started dating, so in attending the reunion, I was just trying to survive! This time I was trying to learn more and more about my husband's and my children's family and the history behind it. What a difference 10-years makes. Anyways, the week was fun...it was a four day event, which definitely puts white family reunions to shame! Here are some pictures to enjoy...

The whole group at James Island County Park...yes, I know you can't see faces, but just giving you an idea of the size of the family

Cousins Jrew and Charley, held by their daddies
Here we are in our family reunion t-shirts
Happy First Birthday, Jrew!

Here is a pic of Donald's mom, grandfather, and 7 of his 8 aunts and uncles. No, it wasn't a coincidence, everyone was instructed to wear white on the last evening. :)
From left to right: Myra, Darryl, Frenchie, Alice, Granddaddy Thomas, Andrea (Novice), Ron, Kenneth and Evelyn (uncle Leo is missing in the pic)

Here's the family after church on Sunday. The family has been members of this church ever since times of slavery. The church was founded in 1818 and is referred to as Mother Emanuel because it is the oldest AME church in the south. Remember the story in history class about Denmark Vesey? He was a founding member here, and during the Vesey controversy (planned but unsuccessful slave revolt), the original church building was burned. After the church was rebuilt, worship services continued until 1834 when all-black churches were outlawed (that's insane). The congregation continued the tradition of the African church by worshiping underground until 1865 when it was formally reorganized (after the Emancipation Proclamation, I'm assuming). Just an interesting piece of history for you. Hopefully the Lord has received almost 200 yrs of glory and honor from the people of the church.

5 lbs 9 oz

About 14 months ago, I had a post titled "5 lbs 8 oz." That was the approximate weight of Charley about 30 days before she was born at week 38. Today we got to see Baby 2, who weighs approx 5 lbs 9 oz. Will this baby be born early? Who knows. I am not counting on it (but it'd be nice to shave off a week or so).
We were careful not to look and see what this baby is at the ultrasound today. I still have my suspicions, which are based on pretty much... nothing. I guess I can put it in writing...I think it's a girl. Of course I will be just as pleased with a boy, shell-shocked, maybe, but happy. We would love for Charley to have a brother and a sister at some point, and don't really care the order. We'll see what God has in store. Maybe she won't ever have a brother...or maybe she won't ever have a sister. It's cool that the Lord already knows this.
It totally is year-of-the-boy around here, which is a small factor in my it's-a-girl theory. Not including first-half of '09 babies like Jackson, Emma and Emerson, the ratio of boys to girls that we know of this summer and fall is like 7 to 1. We have welcomed Hayes, Emrick, Liam, Walker, and Joshua; we're waiting on baby plaid-shorts Jackson and Zachary. So. I really can't imagine that we would be having boy number 8. We'll see!

On the Pot

Although we are not even close to potty training, Charley likes sitting on the pot. Her smile turned into a frown when she realized she couldn't get out very easily.


July has been a good month. It actually has been fairly pleasant temperature wise, with many days in the upper 80's, which is a welcomed change from mid-90's (which I think we are having this week. blah). Our good friends, Jonathan and Bailey, had their son on the 12th, and we are so happy he's here and healthy! Charley got to meet him when he was five-days-old. She liked rocking his carrier and trying to swipe his paci.

Charley and Emrick

We traveled to Charleston last week to have a "baby moon" vacation before the baby arrives. My parents watched Charley for us so that Donald and I could spend some time together, baby-free, and we had a wonderful 24-hrs of walking around the city, eating good food, and not changing diapers. It was lots of fun and reminded me of the 7+ years I spent in Charleston, walking around the city, eating good food, and not changing diapers. I am grateful for those times, but absolutely love where the Lord has me now. Of course I thought about Charley quite often on our getaway, but I did refrain from calling to check on her (Donald did it for me...but only once!). :)

Pregnancy update: At my last appointment, my doctor didn't act as alarmed with my condition as she did the previous time. She cleared me to travel short distances, and told me to continue to stay away from sugar. Ahh! I think she's going to do the ultrasound at 36 weeks, which I'm looking forward to, but I think we are going to have to keep our eyes closed most the time if we want this thing to remain a secret!

And Another

So we all know that I've been horrible at posting lately. Part of the reason is because I don't really like posting without pictures, and uploading pictures is an absolute chore. I have now resorted to posting pictures that have been emailed to me, which is much easier to do, and buys me some time before I have to actually go through the process of uploading ones from my camera. Please bear with me. I'm sure I will be better with pics once this baby gets here (or maybe I'll be completely horrible and not take many pictures at all, as me and Andrea, another mother of two babies, were discussing last night).
So, here's another picture of the belly. This time, it's Bailey, the day before she was induced, and me at 29 weeks. Bailey persevered through the weekend and had her little boy, Emrick, last night. He's such a sweet miracle!As for me and the no-sugar-fest, it's going well. I am on week four! However, I went to the doc last week, and I am still measuring 6-weeks ahead (35 weeks). She told me to stay off the sugar, not to lift anything over 10-lbs, and that she wants to see me again in two-weeks. My cervix is not in the most favorable of conditions right now, so the doctor is concerned about it a little, hence the no-lifting decree. I passed the glucose test thing with flying colors, so she is not sure why I have a big belly (apparently gestational diabetes could have been one of the reasons). I'm assuming she will do an ultrasound in the next month or so, as she did with Charley, to determine the baby's size and verify the due date. As for not lifting things over 10-lbs... Hmmm. My daughter weighs over twice that amount, so it's not going so well. I do try to limit picking her up by just lifting her into the crib, into the booster seat, into the car, and onto the changing table (several times a day -- each). I'm sure that doesn't qualify as "limiting" it, but what else am I supposed to do? On another note, I thought my brain was doing better this go around, as I haven't been as forgetful and horrible at spelling, however, I just caught myself spelling "weighs" w-a-y-s, and "once" w-a-n-t-s. W-o-w.
So, Charley is doing well. She was really sick last week with croup, a nasty upper respiratory virus that causes the esophagus to swell, causing bark-like coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing. It was scary! D was in New Jersey for work, but my mom was here, thank goodness. Charley is much better now, but has a residual cough that we were told may linger for a couple of weeks. Nice. But she's no longer contagious if you see me out in public. :)
So, that's it for now! The summer is flying by, as I'm sure you can attest to!

Finally -- A Picture

So here it is, folks. My pregnant belly. Here I am last night with my friend, Ellen, who is 36 weeks, due with a little boy late July.
I am now 27 weeks and feeling pretty good. At my 25 week appointment, I was measuring 31 weeks, so following doctor's orders, I have cut sugar out of my diet to see if that's the culprit. Considering I have the biggest sweet tooth in the world, it has not been easy. No desserts of any kind, no sweet tea, no juice, no sweet cereal. It has been 12 days, and I have 10 more to go before I see the doctor again. I am so anxious to see if it has helped any!
The baby seems to be doing well. Heart rate in the 140's. Very very active still. Also, I felt the hiccups for the first time the other day and heard it say, "mama...what's up with this no sugar thing?!" haha. Poor thing probably went through withdrawals like I did! Other than one or two trips to Charleston to see family, we are pretty much lying low until the baby comes. We were supposed to leave this past Thursday for a 10-day trek around the mid-west, visiting friends and family in the Chicago area and Iowa, but we decided to cancel last minute b/c I am having some discomfort after sitting for more than 20 minutes and the doctor said I would have to get out of the car every hour. That would make for a very very long car ride! So, perhaps we will make the trip another time...with two children. Hmmm. Maybe.
Can't wait to meet this little baby! Only 89 days to go!

June Update

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

I totally have writer's block. So much is going on, and I have so much to say, but it's just not happening. Here's an attempt at blogging, so bare with me if it's horribly written.
We had a roommate in June, who was absolutely wonderful and so good with Charley, that I wished she could have moved in permanently. However, she went off and got married and spoiled my plan. Actually, we've been waiting on this wedding forEVER and are so happy for them, that I guess we will settle for a visit every now and then.
The second week in June was our annual beach trip with my family. We had a great time chasing Charley around in the sand, eating good food, and relaxing (although relaxing doesn't happen much when you have 8 children in the house). I may post some pictures when I get some from my mom and/or sisters, because mine are pretty doodooish.
As for Charley, she's growing so quickly and learning new things every day. One thing we are in the process of teaching is that the world does not revolve around her. She didn't have to learn this concept, she came out of the womb thinking this, just like you and me. Most of the time she's a sweet heart, but cross her, and sin will rear its ugly head. How can such a sweet little thing who has only been shown love and who has never been exposed to violence, anger, etc, etc, be so defiant and selfish? Because she was born with a huge need for a Savior, a concept that most modern day psychologists and parents, for that matter, would scoff at. However, nothing will convince me otherwise. So don't even bother arguing with me if you disagree. D and I love her so incredibly stinkin much that we hope we can teach her to love others before herself, serve them, and reach a level of maturity that she can say "no" to herself as well as hear it from others. Some books I have read/am reading/intend to read on this subject are, first and foremost, The Bible, followed by "Child Training Tips," "Don't' Make Me Count to Three" "Parenting by the Book" and "Shepherding a Child's Heart." All based on scripture. Especially the Bible one. :)
On another note, we think Charley will be walking before sisbro comes. She has three months, give or take a couple weeks, and she's pulling up proficiently, starting to cruise, and is able to walk pretty well when holding our hands. It will happen when it's supposed to.
She loves laughing and talking jibberish, although she does have a vocabulary of about 10 words. Her favorites being "ut-oh" ball" "bye" and "dada." When we take walks, she likes waving at the cars going and saying, "bye!" She loves reading books now, but has her favorites, so we end up reading the same ones over and over and over again. She's still pretty shy and stoic in public, but occasionally will ham it up and flirt with people who give her attention. Her sleeping routine is still pretty much the same... still napping twice a day, although they vary in length and if she misses one, it's not detrimental, she usually can hang in there, pretty agreeably, until bedtime (mommy is usually more tired than she is).
So that's it for now! Looking forward to seeing what she will learn and do as a 14-month-old!