Tuesday, November 3, 2009

October.

I'm so disappointed in myself. I had very good intentions on updating this blog with every crazy thing that happened in October. I kept telling myself, "I'll do it tomorrow," and now its November. I'll give a brief rundown on what happened in October 0f 2009.

October 4. My dad's birthday.
October 11. My brother Chase's birthday and also the first year anniversary of he and his bride.
October 15 & 29. Doctors appointments. Clark is healthy and happy, staying busy practicing his ninja moves, making faces, taking naps, sucking his thumb, etc. He weighs in at almost 4 pounds and about 18 inches from head to toe. My due date of January 1 is still right on. Doc doesn't think I'll be a day early or a day late.

Letter to Clark:

Son,
I'm going to try really hard to make you the first baby of the year. If you are, you'll enjoy luxuries such as free diapers for a year, free college education, lots of gifts, etc. If you are at all interested, try to help me out a little bit. See you soon.
Love,
Mom

October 15. Aaron and I attended our first childbirth class. And yes, we had to watch a live birth. Every single detail of it. And by we, I mean everybody in the room EXCEPT Aaron Rice. Out of the 30 or so people in the room, I was with the only one who refused to accept reality. Yes, Aaron, I'm going to have a baby, and you're going to be there. If you would have watched the video like all of the other respectful and attentive dads in the room, you would be well prepared for this historical event in our lives. But no, you are going to pass out and hit your head on the way down to the floor, and the doctors will have to focus their attention on you instead of me and Clark. So thanks for that. We love you.

October 17. Hannah and Daniel's PERFECT and BREATHTAKING wedding. Wow, I could never begin to adequately describe the absolute perfection that was their wedding. I think about it all the time and smile. The love that these two people have for each other is the sweetest, most refreshing, and contagious love that I've ever seen.

The wedding ceremony took place in a tiny historical chapel in Raymond, MS. Watching beautiful Hannah walk down that aisle with an impeccable smile from ear to ear was priceless. Watching handsome Daniel watch beautiful Hannah walk down the aisle was priceless. They chose a wonderful hymn for the congregation to sing, Let Us Love And Sing And Wonder, and Pastor Mike Howell, as usual, gave a great sermon that I am still thinking about today. The best way to describe all of the wedding festivities is that it was very Hannah and Daniel. Their creativity was splashed all over the weekend.






I'm so mad at myself for not getting pictures of the fabulous decor, the bridesmaids dresses/groomsmen's suspenders, and the beautiful bed and breakfast where the reception was held. The food was incredible (cheese grits!) and the music selection for dancing was superb. We got to spend some great times with family and friends that we rarely get to see anymore and I was hoping all night that we would never have to say goodbye. Cheesy, I know. But when you only get to see the people you love a couple of times a year, if even that much, you understand. I can honestly say that their wedding was the best I have ever attended. We are so unbelievably happy for the new Meigs family. I can't wait to see them again.

October 20. Another childbirth class. Aaron and I learned how to swaddle a baby and change diapers. Our swaddling baby happened to be of African American descent, which made for some great pictures.



As it turns out, swaddling a doll is not that difficult. I have a feeling that a moving, squirming little newborn might be a different scenario, but I'm convinced that we'll figure it out. Changing a diaper is also not rocket science. More than anything, I enjoyed watching Aaron try his hand at it. I was amazed at how intensely focused Aaron was as he carefully and gently swaddled this baby doll. I didn't want to make fun of him because he was trying his best and looking so cute while doing it, but trust me when I say this: if Aaron takes as long trying to swaddle Clark as he did trying to swaddle our black baby doll, we're going to have to have a chat. Anyway, it was fun, and now we can check swaddling and diapers off of our "we can do this" checklist.

October 28. Pumpkin carving party!! Our good friends, Liz and Madison, had some people over to carve pumpkins and hang out. We had a great time seeing these folks. It seems like lately, life is getting in the way of times like these. This is certainly not going to get any easier once Clark gets here, so we're trying to take advantage of carefree nights like these. As for the pumpkins, well, you decide:


Aaron is convinced that his was better. I'd have to disagree. Mine has cool glasses, and his looks kind of gooby. Be honest in your assessment of who's pumpkin would win a contest.

This picture above really makes me laugh. Out of the six girls in this picture, two of them are 30 weeks pregnant. I'll give you a hint as to which two. They are in baggy sweatpants, baggy t-shirts and baggy sweatshirts. They don't have a lot of make up on and have pretty much given up on cute outfits. They come home from work everyday and throw on their husbands clothes and could not care less what other people think. Yes, that would be Amy and I. Amy is also the wife of a second year law student and will have her baby one week after me. This is great for us, because we have already agreed that we will take turns watching each others babies so we can have date nights. God is so good.

October 29. Another childbirth class. This one focused on yoga, breathing, and concentration. Another way to describe this class would be "drag your husband along and we will teach him how to give you a good massage." Naturally, that is what I did. Me and 15 other hugely pregnant women plopped all over our yoga mats and let our husbands just massage away. It was very nice. Aaron quickly picked up on the irony of the situation and started cracking jokes, which made me laugh, which made my abs hurt, so I probably didn't enjoy the "me" time as much as I should have, but it was memorable.

October 30. I drove to Jackson and got to shack up with Nikki. I just can't get enough of that woman.

October 31. Baby shower! Clark totally racked up. So much so that I got kicked and jabbed the entire time I was opening presents. One kick was so hard that I had to gasp for air, but I don't think anybody noticed. More about the shower....it was so much fun. I got to spend time with my best friends in the whole world, family, and even extended family who I never ever see anymore. My cousins, Kristy and Rachel, and my sister-in-law, Adrea, hosted the shower and they did a fabulous job. For example, there were petit fours that were not only the most luscious things my taste buds have ever experienced, but they donned Clark's initials. How cute!

I'm not going to disclose how many of these things I ate, mainly because I quit counting after about 4 or 5. They were delicious, as was all of the food. Take a look at all of Clark's presents!



Clark is going to be one stylin' and profilin' little dude. He got clothes, diapers, toys, blankets, pacifiers, a good swing, stroller, car seat, a bathtub, hooded towels, and other totally awesome baby gear. More than anything, I enjoyed having my closest friends and family in one room for a couple of hours. That never happens anymore.

Mississippi State girls.

Jackson Academy girls.

Me with the fabulous hostesses.


Clark's mother, grandmothers, and great grandmother.

Mother/Daughter picture.

Apparently, the next step after receiving all of these incredible gifts is to transport them into the room we have designated as Clark's and try to make sense of it all. We couldn't move anything into the room until the carpet was cleaned, and that was not an option. To put it nicely, Jake completely ruined the carpet in that room. We borrowed a steam vacuum cleaner from a friend (the same friend who bought our office furniture from us), and Aaron went to work.


He's so cute. And sweet. He cleaned the entire room out. As you might be able to see from the picture above, the deer heads sticking out of the wall are apparently staying. "Clark needs to learn who the enemy is," is Aaron's defense. Whatever. The carpet is clean and we are one step closer to having the room ready. That is, until we unloaded the car and moved everything into the room.



All of a sudden, the room is much smaller. The room is going to look exactly like this until about December 16, which is when Aaron takes his last exam and can devote all of his attention to this room. I would say I would do it myself, but clearly that won't happen as long as I have a baby the size of planet earth in my belly.

That's about it for October. November will also be eventful, but I won't wait until its over to write about it. I'd like to end this post by saying thank you to the woman at Walmart who checked me out. And when I say "check me out," I mean it in two ways. She walked all the way around the baggies to check my belly out, and then went back to the cash register to continue checking my items. Thank you, Rhonda, for letting me leave Walmart after having the following conversation:

Rhonda: Girl, you big! How much longer you got?
Me: Two more months.
Rhonda: Girl, you big. When I was seven months, I was nowhere near that big. I was tiny!
Me: Well, that's nice.
Rhonda: Girl, you need to watch yourself. Your baby gone be too big.
Me: Thank you. Have a nice evening.

4 comments:

Chase and Adrea Maxwell said...

Rhonda is clearly a classy lady. That being said, this could be my favorite post you've ever written. PS- I don't think you're big... you looked mighty precious Saturday!

Megan said...

Walmart always has the best conversations! ha! I'm glad you had a great October! Don't wait so long next time! Love ya roomie!

Liz said...

If Aaron wants to practice his diaper changing and swaddling on a real baby I'd be happy to let him come practice on Taylor!

Anonymous said...

Way to go Rhonda! What a nice thing to say! If you're not already, you will soon get to the point where you'll probably come back with extremely smarty comments when people tell you that you are getting big as well as when they try to touch your belly. I did anyway!Cayden and I are coming to let you guys practice!!! He he he!

Love ya!
Jennifer