32 Weeks 2 Days and Thanksgiving

I am doing this VERY RELUCTANTLY. Don't expect another one. If you can imagine, this is the last of 15 attempts at a picture and this is as good as it got. My lower half is deliberately cut off, my arms are strategically placed away from body to look as thin as possible (I told Craig not to cut off my elbow, that's my best feature right now), my hands are covering my love handles, and a face can only look so chubby from the side,right?! The unhappiness on my face is no act.

On a lighter note, Happy Thanksgiving! This is our Thanksgiving picture, I'm not sure what happened. I think someone said, "Craig, how do you feel about having a baby in a few weeks?"

In all seriousness, we have so much to be grateful for. We have been so blessed throughout our marriage, and in our lives, that I'm a little paranoid of something going wrong. Life cannot go this well! Of course we've had our trials and struggles, but nothing that can overshadow all the blessings. We are so thankful for our families and I for my husband and we cannot wait for this little guy to get here. I'm pretty sure we have no idea what we're doing or what we're getting ourselves into, but yet we can't wait!

I was thinking to myself...

How am I supposed to concentrate during exams when someone keeps punching me in the stomach? Then I saw this picture of what a baby should look like at 31 weeks, and I knew in fact he was punching me. Does he really have his arms in a boxing position??

Sorry if fetus pictures gross you out...they kinda do me too.

Do have a simply marvelous day!

When I go to school and work I park at the commuter lot at UF then take the bus to where I need to go. (For our nonFlorida friends...UF's campus is quite large.) I frequently have the same bus driver and every time someone requests a stop she says, "Please gather all your belongings and exit through the rear door and do have a simply marvelous day. And all that good stuff" Without fail, every day, every stop she says this and in such a chipper voice! However, I ride the bus enough to know her dark side. There are three things that quickly change her friendly mood: 1) eating on the bus, 2) putting your feet on the seats, and 3) trying to exit through the front door. These things make her very angry and she will call you out over the microphone. If you try to exit through the front door (even if no one is getting on the bus and you are sitting right beside it) she will yell at you, hold out her arms to block you, and refuse to open the door. I don't like to get in trouble so I always follow her rules. I even sit in the back of the bus so I don't forget to use the rear exit.
Tonight I was getting off the bus and she yells, "Miss, Miss! Please come to the front of the bus." I was sooo scared! As I slowly walked to the front I kept wondering what I could have done wrong and I couldn't think of anything. Everyone else was off the bus by this point. Our conversation went like this:
Me: Yes mam?
Bus Driver Lady: I don't mean to be nosy, but I noticed you rubbing your belly. Does it itch?
Me: Yes, a little. (My belly didn't itch, I think I was just rubbing it- he probably kicked or something, but I was scared so I went along with her)
Bus Driver Lady: Do you put lotion on?
Me: Yes, I've just been at school all day and haven't since I've been here.
Bus Driver Lady: Crisco. Put crisco on your belly.
Me: Oh! Well, I have this belly butter that basically is the same consistency.
Bus Driver Lady: Yep, use that and you won't have no stretch marks. I don't have a one. Is this your first?
Me: Yes.
Bus Driver Lady: Well, have a good night.
Me: Thanks, keep the tips coming! (sucking up)
I then turn to go to the rear exit as I am well trained.
Bus Driver Lady: Go ahead and get off right here.
Now this may not sound like a big deal, but I see this lady fight with kids every day sending them to the rear exit and she told me to use the front exit!! There was no greater privilege she could give me.
I can think of a lot of things to complain about right now and I'll never put Crisco on my belly, but you know what? At the end of the day I got to exit from the front of the bus. And it was a simply marvelous day.

Happy Birthday George!

Yesterday was my father-in-laws birthday. I'm not sure how old he is, he wouldn't say, but I would guess around 70. :) I've included a few of my favorite pictures of him.

In all seriousness, we have a great father and father-in-law and are so blessed! We are assured to always have a good time when we are with him. Quiet- no, safe- possibly not, but fun- always!

Louisiana/Texas Roadtrip

3 or so weeks ago Craig and I made the journey to Texas to check out some dental opportunities and we made a few stops along the way...

While driving in Louisiana we saw some cotton growing on the side of the road and Craig had never seen real cotton before. He thought it grew on trees so I was driving and stopped to make him go pick some cotton! (This is what it looks like for the rest of you who have never seen cotton- it just looks like cotton balls growing on a plant!)

Conveniently, the time we were able to go out to Texas happened to be the same weekend as the Florida/LSU game so of course we had to stop for that. Our friends Trent and Amelia came too, we were sad we had to ride in separate cars since we wouldn't be headed back to Florida for another week, but we still had fun!

Sometimes things get heated during this game.

But we managed to pretend we liked each other for the camera.

We left Florida Friday evening after work and school and drove to Baton Rouge, getting there around 3 AM, we got up around 6 or so to make it to College Game Day.

I'm smiling in this picture, but the reality was 8 hrs in the car, 3 hrs of sleep, standing for 3 hrs in a crowd, 26 weeks pregnant, not to mention LA humidity! I was not doing well by this point! I spent some time that morning crouched over trying to breathe and not pass out!

I tried to get a picture of Mike the Tiger, but I couldn't get a good angle.

Amelia took this picture, but I thought it looked really cool!

After Baton Rouge, we headed north 3 1/2 hrs to my parents. This was our stop off point between destinations. These pictures are all mixed up, but when we stopped on our way back to Florida my mom and other family threw a baby shower for me.

They played a game where everyone wrote down how many inches they thought I was around. I'm posting this picture since it shows how big I really am!

I have to include this story...it's an inside joke kind of but I don't want to forget it! Amber, the girl in the bottom left corner, was (is) my best friend growing up. We were inseperable from kindegarten on. So somehow we came up with this game of sorts. We both had really long hair when we were younger and we would collect the hair from our hairbrushes and roll them into hairballs (if this is completely grossing you out- skip ahead). So once we made the hairballs we would hide them throughout her house for her mom to find. We put them places like the bathroom faucets so when she turned the water on a hairball would come out. Other times just in drawers and stuff. We thought it was SO FUNNY. I don't even know how many months/years we did this. So, when I opened the gift from her mom out falls two hairballs! Amber happened to be sitting next to me and saw it and we were dying!! We hadn't thought about that for sooo long and it was so funny her mom thought to do that. I could NOT stop laughing and it was so awkward because it wasn't really something you could share with all the other people watching me open gifts.

Green and brown are the colors we're doing the nursury so everything at the shower was green!

My mom made this diaper cake and I thought she did an amazing job! Super cute!

Somehow I didn't get any pictures with my mom or anyone else for that matter. I have pictures of everyone else and pictures of just me, but no groups! :(

During our few days in Dallas we crammed in a lot. Craig had an interview and several dentists he was meeting with and talking to. Overall it was a very successful trip and we've pretty much decided Dallas is our next home and probably forever home! We're really excited, but REALLY sad at the thought of leaving Gainesville.

While there we did cram in some fun things, like a U2 concert in the new Dallas Stadium. The stadium might have been more impressive than U2.

Also, while we were there a dentist friend of Craig's took us out to this resturaunt. The reason I post about this is because it was the most amazing food we have ever eaten. EVER. Of course we won't be able to pay for a meal there for several years...but WOW.

We also got to spend some time with Cameron (Craig's brother) and wife Anne and their family. As well as Todd and Abby and their little boy. Abby is pregnant right now too and we took some pictures together, but I don't have those yet. I'll have to do another post later of all the things I forgot!