5 Texans: This one's for you, Tom!

My brain is fried.

I don't know where to begin. There has been so much to blog about and now that I'm sitting at the computer, I can't think of one thing.

But, threats have been issued and so I can no longer put off the task of blogging. (I would hate for you to have to make a comment, Tom :)

I guess I'll begin with the most recent and work backwards and then, I promise, I won't wait forever to blog again.

Blogging Before Boxes! Blogging Before Boxes!

I had an appointment with the baby doctor today. It was a grueling appointment filled with bloodwork (that didn't work the first time - I can still feel pain shooting down my arm into my fingertips!), talking with the doctor, an ultrasound (and, no, we still don't know!), and - I've saved the best for last - talking with the financial coordinator to confirm that this child will be the financial death of us.

You're on your own for college, Kid! Bringing you into the world will cost us a small fortune!

We did find out some encouraging news though. It seems that couples with more than one daughter versus more than one son are 50% more likely to remain out of a nursing home because daughters are more likely to take in their parents. (I wonder if I could've thrown in another "more"?!) The doctor shared that tidbit and I looked at Bryan and proclaimed that I could so see Addi being the one adding on to her house to make room for her aging, senile parents. Libby will be the one who moves far, far away. Kind of like us...No, not like us at all :)

Addi really wanted to stay home with Meme and Papa (my grandparents who came over to watch the girls for me), but only after she made sure Bryan would be at the appointment so I wouldn't have to go by myself. Her sweetness melts my heart.

[Ashley and any other first-time pregnant readers should probably skip right over this next paragraph]

I have about 12 weeks to go and I had a mild anxiety attack on the way home from the appointment. 12 weeks will fly by and, at some point, I am going to have to get this baby out of me! I've done that twice already, so this is not a Fear of the Unknown thing. It is most certainly a Fear of the Known :) Bryan asked if it would help me to realize that there isn't a thing I can do about it, at this point.

And, he, obviously, has never given birth - I'm actually wondering if he was present the other 2 times I did! The realization that nothing can be done about it is exactly what scares the pants off me! But, thanks for your attempt at encouragement, Babe. It really warms my heart :)

In other Baby News...my old friend, Becky just had her second, a little girl this time. Funny enough she and Steve lived in Fayetteville, NC when they had their son Cade. A week or so before her due date with Cade, Addi and I drove down to visit. That night she went into labor.

I moved back just in time to do it again! Our other old friend, Ashley (who is also pregnant...her first), the girls and I drove to Belton, TX last week to see Becky (and Steve and Cade, of course) while we were all still pregnant at the same time. She went into labor the next day!

If I could figure out a way to sell that service, I would be very rich!

Man, if I could just figure out a way to do it to myself, I'd be very happy :)

What else is going on? Well, we've decorated the inside of our house for Christmas. Actually, I'm pretty sure we're missing a few boxes of decorations, but we've got the trees up. I don't think the outside is getting done this year. There are too many things I want finished inside that I need Bryan's help with than to send him outside to stake lights along our front walk. I didn't hear him complain too loudly about that decision. In fact, it took about 30 seconds for the "Outside Christmas Decorations" boxes to disappear into the attic after I made my wishes known.

Both girls really got into decorating the trees this year and they both seem really excited about Santa. We'll see if that lasts when we get in line to have their picture taken with the Jolly Old Man.

Besides that we've been really busy. I'm not sure with what though! It even seems like going to the park near our house has been something we've wanted to do more of, but other things have taken priority. The girls and I did take a walk Thursday morning and ended up at the park. You can literally see it from Addi's bedroom window. It is closer (and much better) than our neighborhood playground. The girls played until I almost froze and forced them to leave. We should have gone back today since it was warm again, but, honestly, I couldn't have any sugar until this afternoon when I was finished at the doctor (gestational diabetes screening), so I spent the late afternoon hiding out in small increments of time. I think I might've eaten an entire bag of cookies and washed it down with a cold Dr. Pepper. Fine, I ate the whole bag and I don't feel a bit guilty about it! Don't judge, my doctor just told me that my weight gain was great! Besides, I made a Cooking Light supper tonight.

There's probably more, but I need to save that for the next post.

I'll end with a few visuals to aid in my extremely ~~verbose~~ painful catch-up post!