Blog Challenge: Day 30

Day 30: A Picture Now

I know, this was supposed to be here yesterday, but plans change. I had planned to have Kev take a picture of me all prego when he got home, but I was unable to pose for any pictures. I have been experiencing bad muscle spasms in my low back area during this pregnancy and yesterday was the worst it's been. The pain is usually gone by the morning, but it's still there today. The worst part is that it makes it quite difficult to sit on the floor and play with my little man. It makes me very sad when he's trying to pull me off the couch to play on the floor so I try to play for short periods of time when I can stand it.

So since I don't have any recent pics of me that I haven't already shared, I will have to share a picture of Wyatt. However, I don't think any of my readers will mind!

Wyatt likes to pull the DVDs off the rack and look at them like books. We generally don't mind because he's not destructive with them. Last week, he decided to look at them like this! We were quick to grab our cameras and capture him being so precious!

Blog Challenge: Days 28 & 29

I totally forgot to do yesterday's blog challenge. Kev and I went to the UGA vs. GA Tech game Saturday night so we were exhausted yesterday. Let me just say, "GO DAWGS!" I was a very exciting game and we had a great time. I did, of course, have to go to church Sunday morning to teach my little 4 & 5 year olds, which was just brutal since I was so tired. Luckily, there weren't very many present, so it was a fairly easy morning. So since I forgot, here is the make-up post with today's scheduled post.

Day 28: Something That Stresses You Out

I think the thing that stresses me out the most is my indecisiveness. I think it's a youngest child trait that I've always had. I can't stand that I don't know what I want and I can't make up my mind about a lot of things, especially the little things, like what I want for dinner! I don't think it helps much that Kev is also a youngest child and is pretty much just like me when it comes to making decisions. So that's probably one of my biggest stressor these days. Maybe one day, one of us will get better at this!

Day 29: 3 Wishes

If I had 3 wishes, I probably wouldn't be able to make up my mind as to what I should wish for! So here I go:

1. good health for my family
2. financial security
3. a thousand more wishes...and when that doesn't work, maybe the ability for Kev and I to be able to make decisions!

Blog Challenge: Day 27

Day 27: Pets

I don't technically have any pets right now. My dog lives with my parents because it would've been too much to transfer her to a new home when Kev and I got married. Plus, she views my mom as her main owner because Mom is the one who took care of her when she was sleep training as a puppy. I still consider her as my dog, but I don't keep her here. :( We hope to be able to afford and take care of our own dog one day, but it's not really feasible right now.

Blog Challenge: Day 26

Day 26: Picture of Your Family

Okay. I had this post all ready to go with a different picture and I think it actually posted this morning. However, I had forgotten about a trip we took to a local dairy's corn maze a couple weeks back. This picture is more recent than the other and I haven't shared it yet, so I decided to change the whole blog post. So here we are; all 4 of us hanging out on this tube-swing thing. We had a good trip to the maize, but I think we'll try to go earlier in the season if we go in future years. Since it was so late in the season, the corn stalks were all brown and dried and the maze wasn't quite as attractive as it probably had been weeks earlier. It was fine though and we made do with what we had. Wyatt had fun looking at the animals and playing on the swings so that was the most important aspect for me!

Blog Challenge: Day 25

First and most important of all: Happy Thanksgiving!! Make sure to enjoy your time with family and thank God for every moment with them! Oh yeah, and eat some turkey and my personal favorite: dressing/stuffing!

Day 25: Put Your iPod on Shuffle, First 10 Songs

My iPod battery is dead so here are the first 10 songs if I shuffle my iTunes:

1. Permanent Vacation--Aerosmith
2. Spirits (Having Flown)--Bee Gees
3. For the Love of You, Parts 1 & 2--Joss Stone
4. A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes--Linda Ronstadt
5. I'm Comin' Home--Robert Earl Keen Jr.
6. The Old Rugged Cross--Alan Jackson
7. Symphony No 5 in C Minor II--Ludwig Van Beethoven
8. Rock Your Body (Paul Oakenfold Mix)--Justin Timberlake
9. Feel It--Black Eyed Peas
10. La Primavera III--Antionio Vivaldi

Talk about a wide range of tastes here. Here's a small explanation because some of the stuff might just seem a bit random. Aerosmith and Bee Gees came from Kev's music when we got married. The classical music came from the CDs I had to listen to for my humanities class in college (but I enjoy some of it because it's very soothing). #3 and #8 came from free mixes I probably got from the Apple page on facebook. #4 came from a CD I got at Disney World when I was in middle school and it has a bunch of Disney classics by some great singers. The country stuff is mine...especially Alan Jackson's old hymns CD (love it!). #9 came from the Take the Lead soundtrack I borrowed from a friend (great movie for those who haven't seen it).

Blog Challenge: Day 24

Day 24: Something You've Learned

Wow! Only one thing? I've learned so much over the years, a little more since I've gotten married, and so much more just since becoming a mommy! There is nothing more educational than becoming a wife...until you become a parent! I guess I'll go with what I've learned most recently. Monday, we went to Commerce to do some shopping (we had some vouchers for a really good deal so we wanted to take advantage if we could). When we got about halfway there and were out in the middle of nowhere, Wyatt decided to wake himself up from his nap by throwing up...a lot! Kevin found somewhere to pull over and got Wyatt out and stripped him down while I tried to figure out how to clean up the car with his blanket, some kleenex, and what few baby wipes we had in the diaper bag. Luckily, I had packed enough extra clothes for the just in case issues that might arise while we were out.

So what's the lesson? If you're going to be driving in the middle of nowhere, bring cleaning supplies to handle any unforeseen messes your child might make. Note for the next trip: Bring paper towels and clorox wipes! The second lesson? Don't put your purse in front of the baby! Fortunately, he didn't get much in the purse, but it was enough to make me grossed out.

What are your never-leave-home-without items? Did you have a nice lesson to learn that made you want to pack those?

Blog Challenge: Day 23

Day 23: Favorite Vacation

I think I'd have to say that my favorite vacation would be this one! It was our first family vacation with just Kevin, me, and Wyatt. It was somewhat impromptu which works for us and we had a great time. We went to Savannah and St. Simon's Island.

I guess if I had to choose a favorite vacation from childhood, it would be our family vacation to Canada. We took a big camper/RV or whatever you call it and drove the whole way. It was my family, my grandmother, and another family that my parents have known since before I was born. There were 9 of us driving around in the camper and it was a lot of fun...as far as fun goes for a 7 or 8 year old. We visited some of the bigger cities and we got to see Niagara Falls, which I highly recommend if you're heading that way!

What's you're favorite vacation?

Blog Challenge: Day 22

Day 22: Favorite City

I don't think I really have a favorite city. I'm pretty happy with the one I live in. Nothing too terrible happens here as far as natural disasters and such. We're very blessed in that department. We have all the stores we really need within a decent driving distance so that's pretty good too. There's not really a wide variety of things to do unless you like museums and history-related venues, but that's okay for right now. I take that back. There are lots of entertainment opportunities available to those who can afford them! My city is in a good proximity to a few other great cities so it's nice to have those options for day/weekend trips.

I would love to visit New York City one day. I want to see the sights and a few Broadway shows! However, I have no desire to live in a big city so I can't really say it's my fave.

Blog Challenge: Day 21

Day 21: Picture of Yourself

Since this blog challenge didn't specifically call for a recent picture, I thought I'd go with one of my favorites from my childhood. I was probably about 2 here. Apparently I was having a good time messing with my parents who, no doubt, wanted a nice snapshot of their daughter in her pretty little dress. This is just me: Goofy from the beginning! I haven't changed too much!

Blog Challenge: Day 20

Day 20: Nicknames

Hahahaha! Nicknames can be very fun. In high school, I had a friend whose nose reminded me of the Chiquita Banana girl's nose so I called her Chiquita Banana. She in turn came back and started calling me Chop Steak (she found it on the waffle house menu!). So for a few years, I was Chop Steak to a very small group of friends. Since then, I've never had a nickname until Kevin came along.

Kevin and I enjoy watching funny commercials and laughing together. One particular commercial debuted early in our dating period and the name just stuck. The commercial is for Twix (which I love to eat!). Click here to see it. Since then, Kev has called me Megahottie or Mega for short. It's been a lot of fun for sure!

So there's a little look into mine and Kev's crazy world!

Blog Challenge: Day 19

Day 19: Something You Miss

I really miss sleep. If what I've heard is correct, by the time I get it back, I'll be too old to appreciate it! By then, I'll want to enjoy being awake and doing things with the family I've been building! I guess that's the price I paid in order to become a mommy. Oh the things we never regret!

Blog Challenge: Day 18

Day 18: Something You Regret

I've always tried not to regret anything in my life. I know there are things in my life that I look back at and think about how I could have handled them better, but then I might not be where I am today. I am so happy with where I am today. All of the choices I've made and things I've done have all worked together to make me the person I am today. I'm pretty satisfied with who I am and what I've managed to do with my life so far. I've learned from mistakes and have those experiences to look back on and I can see serious growth over the years. So in conclusion, I have no regrets and I hope I never do!

Blog Challenge: Day 17

Day 17: Something You're Looking Forward To

I am so thankful to have several things to look forward to. If you have nothing to look forward to, then what keeps you going, day after day?

First, I am looking forward to having Kev home all week next week! We have a couple plans in the making, so we'll see how they pan out! Second, next week is Thanksgiving! It's probably my favorite holiday after Christmas. I just love getting to spend time with family and enjoying all the yummy goodies abounding in every direction!

Third and Fourth are a couple of movies coming out. The new Harry Potter comes out this week and, even more exciting than that is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia) coming out next month! I've really enjoyed these series' of movies. We don't go to the movies much because we can't stand to pay to see something that we're not sure we're going to enjoy and most of the movies are just too dirty and filled with potty-language for our tastes. Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia have been great, clean movies with good messages.

I found this site that has some little clips and teasers to hold me over while I wait patiently for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!

Blog Challenge: Day 16

Day 16: Dream House

Wow! My very own dream house! This could get very exciting! My dream house would be very similar to this Smart House! It wouldn't go crazy or anything like that, but it would cook and clean for me and my family. I would have a giant room with a ceiling like in Harry Potter (it changes to whatever you want it to look like) so I could gaze at the stars, watch the rain fall, sit in the sun (without getting burned), and whatever else I was in the mood for that day. In this giant room would be a big play house--similar to the indoor play areas at some fast food restaurants these days.

I think I'd also like for all of my kids' rooms to have a secret door in their closets that lead to my room so we could have fun meeting time. Of course, these doors would lock from my side so they can't come in without permission!

My bathroom would be a full-service spa with massages (prego massages!), manicures, pedicures, facials, and the like! I would have an exercise room...for my friends to come use. I'm sure we all know how much use I would get out of an exercise room! Hahaha!

Last, but certainly not least, there would be a 20 ft. perimeter around the house that zapped all bugs/pests when they tried to cross it.

What a cool world this would be if my dream house really existed in my price range!

Blog Challenge: Day 15

Day 15: Bible Verse

I guess the bible verse that comes to mind most often these days is Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it.

This is my daily prayer, that I will be able to train up my children in the way they should go. I love this site that I've been going to from google whenever I'm trying to remember a verse. It gives all the different translations and has commentary from different sources. If you scroll down, I highly recommend reading a few of the commentaries. It just gives different insight into the meaning and history behind the verse.

Blog Challenge: Day 13 and Day 14

We have had a pretty rough time lately. Wyatt has been sick (his allergies cause secondary infections and he currently has a little bit of a wheeze) and is currently on his second round of antibiotics. This time he got some steroids with it! I barely got any in him Friday night when he threw up...a lot! Lucky for this prego, I have a fabulous hubby who took care of it all! I don't know what I would have done without him here (other than call my mommy!). He threw it up Saturday too. So I called Dr. B and she gave me a new prescription yesterday at church. He seemed to manage it okay yesterday--one day down, four to go! Needless to say, I've been a little stressed and very tired, so I didn't blog this weekend. Here goes the make-up days!

Day 13: Your Goals

My goals are pretty simple. I want to be the best mom and wife that I can. I strive to follow God's plans and desires for my life and to raise strong Christian children who will glorify God in their own ways as they grow and, prayerfully, develop their own strong relationships with God. I want to support my husband and find ways to tell him and show him how proud I am of him and all that he does for our family. My family is my first priority. After them, I want to serve God however He calls me. Currently, I am leading our new junior children's church program at our church for 4 and 5 year-olds. This is quite an exhausting task, but so rewarding as I am constantly amazed by their questions and actions that show me how God is already working in their lives!

Day 14: A Picture You Love

Is there any question as to why I love this picture? There is nothing sweeter than the first picture of a father and his child! Kev was "wrapped," as one might say, from the moment we saw him on the sonogram and saw his heart beating. Wyatt was only a few minutes old when this picture was taken. I hadn't even seen him yet and it was a few more minutes before I was finally able to hold my sweet baby. My heart melts when I see the way Kev is gazing at our precious little man!

Blog Challenge: Day 12

Day 12: What You Believe

***Warning: I am a rambler! Do not read unless you want to know how rambly (I know rambly is not a word, but I couldn't think of one that fit my point) my mind really is!

Hmmm...where to begin. I guess I should start with the first thing that comes to mind: I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and that He died for my sins on the cross. I believe that I would be nothing and have nothing without His love. I believe "that if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

When I was about 5 or 6 years old, I began my life as a Christian. Some people may say that when you're that young, you can't possibly make an informed decision as important as that. I believe that children have the most pure souls and when they make a decision that big and important, they do so with all of their being. It is much harder for an adult to make a decision like that because it requires so much faith and adults have generally experienced more let-downs and disappointments than children.

I also believe that I am right where God wants me to be right now. I will admit that we have been experiencing some financial difficulties lately. However, every time I start to pray and think about finding a job, God sends me signs telling me to just stay put. Do I want to go back to work and give up being able to raise my child at home? Absolutely not! I thank God that He continues to provide for us and allow me to stay home. I believe that being a mother is the greatest blessing God could have ever given me. With patience and faith, we'll make it through these tough times.

Okay, so I rambled a little, but this was what was on my mind so there it is. Man, these challenges have really made my blog a little deeper than what I originally intended. Some of my readers might be getting to know me a little more than you wanted to. Oh well! I've always thought of my life as an open book. I don't have secrets and I'll generally share my experiences with people who ask without much hesitation. That's just me!

Blog Challenge: Day 11

Day 11: Favorite TV Shows

This is a pretty easy one for me. Usually I can't pick favorites (like with the movies), but I know what I enjoy when I'm watching TV. I mostly like comedy, with a game show thrown in here and there.

Game Shows: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Wipeout, and American Gladiators (the newer one that's not on anymore. Kev and I loved watching that together).

Regular Shows: Friends is my all-time fave and I've recently come to love Everybody Loves Raymond. I also enjoy reruns of According to Jim and Yes, Dear. Current shows that Kev and I have been enjoying together include Modern Family, The Middle, and No Ordinary Family.

Kev's faves: anything sports related!

Wyatt's favorite is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He especially likes to watch it with his own Mickey Mouse that he got for Christmas last year from his Auntie Lindsay.

Blog Challenge: Day 10

Day 10: Something You're Afraid Of

I could just tell you I'm afraid of spiders, snakes, and bugs in general. That's all pretty true. If the world didn't have any of those things, I'd be perfectly fine with that! However, I figure I could probably go a little deeper and give my readers a little more insight into my life.

Here goes: I have a pretty big fear of failure. I'm not talking the kind where I "sweat the small stuff." I'm talking about the bigger things in life. It's okay if I burn the dinner or I forget to do something. Those things don't reflect on me personally. It's doing things that require me to step out and prove that I'm capable of doing something that a lot of people wouldn't do. Sometimes it keeps me from stepping out at all and I wind up missing an opportunity to do something that I would have really enjoyed. In high school and college, it kept me from reaching my full potential to be a better student. You see, I was always a pretty smart kid and I didn't have to work hard to prove it. However, when the work did get harder, I was afraid that I wouldn't measure up, so I did the bare minimum to get by and made grades that were good enough. Had I put forth a little more effort, I could have made strait A's and gotten a lot more out of my school experience. That's just one example of how my fear has affected me.

It's taken me many years to be able to fully see how I let my fear affect me and to be able to admit it. The good news is that God is continually showing me how to overcome this fear and He's working in me to step out in faith that He's always in control.

Blog Challenge: Day 9

Day 9: A Picture of Your Friends

I have been truly blessed to have these friends. I've known several of them for most of my life and they are some wonderful girls! We love to laugh and have fun and just be goofy! We've been through a lot over the years and we've had the best times together! Their all like extra sisters and Wyatt will definitely think of them as his aunties.

This is Lindsay! We've known each other since first grade and we've been best friends since fourth grade. We've been through everything together. We've laughed, we've cried, we've fought, we've made up. I was her maid of honor and she was second in line to be mine (after my sister of course).

This is Ashley. We've known each other since about 4th grade and we've had some pretty good times as well. This is us at youth camp one year after I smushed her cake in her face. I let her get me back...pay no attention to John in the background (there's something about high-school guys that makes them jump into random pictures).

This is Kim. We've gone to church together since we were young'uns. We became a lot closer in college and have had some very interesting times (many of which I can't tell you about...hehehehe)!

This is Shallon. So many things I could tell you about her. We've been friends since her family joined our church when I was in middle/high school. Shallon's one of those people that you just can't help but love. She's got more personality than anyone I know and she's one of the most amazing girls I know!

This is Abbie. We became pretty fast friends when I started babysitting for her oldest daughter, who was my flower girl in my wedding. She and her hubby, Mark, are like a big brother and big sister to me. Whenever they would go out on a date, Mark would make sure to get her home in plenty of time for us to talk and gab for an hour, since I was babysitting. She's given me so much advice and is always there when I need to vent some frustration.

I love all my friends dearly and I can honestly say that the Lord has blessed me more than I deserve with these ladies. To my friends--thank you for your friendships over the years. I would not be who I am or where I am without your love and support.