Happy Birthday, Brad!

Brad turns 30 today! He is now officially old. ( Whereas I remain a spring chicken at 29.)

We just celebrated our fourth anniversary a couple days ago and now we have crossed the milestone of being married longer than we courted. So, naturally, along with this season of our anniversary and Brad's birthday comes a time of reflection. The more I get to know Brad, the more I like him. Not just love him, but like him. I know everyone says that having children changes everything, and I'm sure that's true, and that our relationship will evolve and go through transitions ... it's inevitable- children or no children. But I know that the changes aren't ALL bad ( thankyou to those of you who have reminded me of this) ... and I am looking forward to getting to know Brad as the father of our children. He is one in a million - a man I respect and enjoy. He's a good listener, very patient, understanding, unselfish, funny, a hard worker, devoted to his family, and intelligent in a wide range of areas ... just to name a few good things about him. And he's my friend.

Prince Philip

Just wanted to make you aware that if you go to my profile page, you will see a link at the bottom to another blog called "Philip's writing." ...which for now, I will just link to from here...and perhaps at some point I will get around to putting up a link on the side...or rather, I will pester Brad to get around to putting up a link on the side...Whatever. ANYWAY- this is a blog that I created for my student and recently we have started posting to it. Feel free to check it out. In the last couple days, he has written some picture-inspired posts and it is a BIG DEAL to him, his parents, and me to see the results of his efforts up on the blog. It's very exciting to see him succeed; he is doing some great work. (If you choose to leave a comment, please mention that you are a friend of mine. Unless your name is Miss Penny, in which case, he already knows you.)

Not the last laugh.

Last fall, Mama gave Brad a couple of rolls of film to develop. One roll was about five or six years old, the other roll about two years old. She said that Andrew had bugged her over and over to get the pictures developed because apparently, there were pictures of him dressed up in his tux, going to his senior banquet. She wasn't sure what she would find.

So Brad brought them home one day, and I got a chance to see them. Sure enough, on the five year old roll there were a lot of pictures of Andrew- mostly around the time of his graduation from highschool - no cap and gown pictures, but a lot of the graduation party, and several of Andrew posing in his tux. We all felt a little sad because he had wanted to see these pictures and never did. It was odd because it wasn't the most recent Andrew we knew- he was a little younger in these pictures as they were taken in 2001. But it was interesting because there aren't a lot of new pictures of him anymore.

So I was flipping through the pictures and suddenly came upon a very bizarre photograph. It showed the following individuals sitting on or next to the living room couch: Daddy, me, Liane, Keith, Andrew, and Mama. But the weird thing was, we were all wearing ugly, old-people glasses, with strange, goofy looks on our faces. I had no memory of this event. But I was in the picture! What was going on? Why were we posing like that? It was the strangest feeling - seeing myself in the picture and not remembering it being taken. And then, as I talked to Brad about it, I remembered. My parents had recently cleaned out Grandpa and Grandma S's house, full of a lifetime of accumulated belongings. They found a box full of my grandparent's glasses, which they had stockpiled over the years. So we decided to each put on a pair of their glasses and be silly and take a picture. Looking at these pictures hit my funny bone in just the right way and I laughed and laughed over this forgotten moment.

There were two pictures of the same event- one in which most of us are sort of making idiotic, toothy faces and another one in which we have these dumb grins on. But Andrew had the same spaced out, moron face on in both pictures. Classic Andrew.



It was a strangely bittersweet, and yet oddly comforting feeling as I thought, "I'm having another laugh with Andrew." It had been such a long time since Andrew made me laugh; it was almost like he was sitting there with me. It felt indescribably precious to rediscover an old feeling that I thought I would never experience again. I mean- sure I've smiled over old memories of him. But to actually laugh aloud over something new- I thought that was beyond my reach. I thought my life held nothing more in that department. And it reminded me that there are more laughs to come - someday. And it won't be through an old picture, but in person.

Happy Birthday, Andrew. Miss you more than I know how to say...

I feel DUMB.

Okay- I told a bazillion people that I was going to have an ultrasound this morning and that we might find out the gender of the baby. WELL...I was mistaken. The appointment this morning was not an ultrasound. Fortunately, I found out in time so that I didn't drag Brad along for nothing...I was SO disappointed and annoyed with myself for crossing those wires; the ultrasound is NEXT month. ARGH. And the doctor was stuck in surgery and was more than an hour late. Fortunately, I was the first appointment. I am SO curious to know the gender - I feel like I just can't wait until next month to find out. I REALLY don't feel like calling everyone and telling them all that it didn't happen this morning, so I'm just hoping that everyone will see this and not ask me about it...Rargh.

Preparing for big changes...

Before someone else announces it to the blogosphere, I think I'd better go ahead and tell those of you who don't know...the biggest, blogworthiest scoop I've ever had to deliver. ( no pun intended) ...I'm tired, my appetite is all over the place, and my clothes are getting smaller. Or I'm getting bigger. No, I'm not pregnant. Oh- wait- yes, I am! I've been qualifying things on this blog by saying: "No, I'm not pregnant" for so long that it's very strange to finally say the opposite...

It's been so hard for me to not write about this, seeing as how it has monopolized our lives for the last three months...and will most likely monopolize it for years to come...You may have noticed I haven't really written much at all recently because, I mean...what else is there to write about now?! The awesome responsibility of having a child thrills, terrifies and generally overwhelms me. Seeing the baby on the ultrasound last month was the most mind-blowing miracle I have ever experienced. Thankfully, I have not had to endure much sickness to speak of...Pretty much just tiredness and general aversion to food, but now that I'm moving into my second trimester, my energy and appetite are starting to come back. That is a wonderful gift because food did not appeal AT ALL for a long time and cooking was very un-fun.

The baby is due in December - the 22nd, to be exact. I was not thrilled at the prospect of the birthday being so close to Christmas, but I'm sure when we get there, I won't care that much. And Andrea assures me that being born in close proximity to Christmas is GREAT. We can't wait to find out whether it's a boy or girl. I'm already shopping for STUFF, but can only do so much, not knowing the gender...so I've got a lot of neutral stuff.

So, anyway, that's our big, earthshattering news. We are so thankful for this answer to our prayers.

And tomorrow, Grandpa is leaving on a multi-week trip to California! I am looking forward to a break from cooking (mostly) every night...Leftovers, here I come!