Happy Birthday Grandma Rosa Lee

Today is a day that I knew would make me sad. It would have been my Grandma Rosa Lee's 88th birthday. I knew that one day she would not be with us anymore, but I had hoped it would be longer than her 87th birthday. I hoped that she would get to hold all of my and my sister Tara's kids and tell us many more times that we needed to lose weight, cut our hair, or see a doctor about our teeth. She was such an honest person, but she knew how to be honest and caring at the same time. Many of us think we are doing the World a favor by being honest or "blunt", but she really had a way of being honest in a kind way.

Grandma Rosa died last year on November 14th. She did celebrate her 87th birthday with her family, but just a week later she went on to be the Angel she was always meant to be. I could go on for days about how great she was and how much she did for me and my family, but most people who will read this also know how great she was. She touched so many people's lives outside of her closest friends and family. She was a generous giver, caretaker, volunteer, and she had a sense of humor that stayed with her until her last breath. I credit my Grandma for so many of the wonderful things in my life. She was a person that I could talk to about certain problems and she would give very wise advice and I never felt like I was being judged. She was positive, Christian, and selfless.

Although I am sad that I can't call her and tell her Happy Birthday and ask her if she is going to go party (she would always say yes), I am so grateful that I had the chance to spend 27 years of my life with her and have her as my Grandma. Having a heartache and feeling so much pain when you lose someone might not seem like a gift, but to love someone so much that it hurts so bad is a gift. I miss her everyday, as I know many of us do, but I know she lives on through me, my sister, Dad, cousins, aunts, uncles, and now through my baby, Sallie Rose. I always knew that I could never tell her thank you enough or do anything that would ever amount to what she has done for me, but naming my daughter in honor of her is one way of trying. I just hope that I can be half the person she was and now I hope that Sallie Rose has inherited her Grandma Rosa Lee's heart and soul (she didn't get her red hair which I had hoped for too).

Grandma, Happy Birthday to you and keep us all in line as you watch over us and guide us to be better people to everyone in our lives. I want to make you proud and do wonderful things for other people without recognition, just as you did. I miss you, I love you, and I will never go a day without thanking God for you.

Pearl, Santa Claus, and Grandma Rosa Lee

Baby Room Finished

I finished her room one day before her due date. Every picture is hung, all the storage containers are in place, the monitor is hung on the wall, and the diaper caddy is ready. What a relief to have all that in place. I hope my baby girl loves her new room and how much thought and love we put into it. The only thing left to do is put pictures of her and her family in the frames. The room is just waiting on her and so are her Mom and Dad

Scatter Brained

I guess I have been a little scattered brained waiting on my baby to arrive. I just realized that I missed posting a Happy Birthday to my oldest sister, Suzanne, on September 8th and my "other mom's", Patty, yesterday. I also haven't been very good at calling people back or getting done what I need to do for the day. I feel a little overwhelmed with small things and forget to take the time to do other things. Scatter Brained!

So, Suzanne (who is probably working too hard and too much to read my blog) I am sorry that I didn't post you a Happy Birthday blog. I hope you will forgive me and that you know how much you mean to me and how great you are to everyone in your life. You are definitely one of my role models, not only as a woman, but as a mother, sister, daughter, and friend. I am not sure I know anyone else that can put together a great party, raise a beautiful child, and run a successful business the way that you do. Oh, and you are extremely beautiful and carry yourself with such great confidence. I love the way you interact with people too. You are always so charming, polite, and attentive to everyone you speak with. I respect the way you kindly listen to other people's idiotic ideas and never tell them they are wrong or judge them. However, you also know when the time is right to say how you feel and when you disagree. You edit yourself and I strive to be like that. You are extremely wonderful and I am so proud to call you my sister.

Patty, Happy Birthday to you, one day late. I refer to Patty as "my other mom". We used to say step mom, but that really isn't what she is. She has been married to my Dad for 14 years (I think) and she has become a very important person in my life. I am very fortunate to have been born to a wonderful Mom who raised me and who I am most alike in many of my characteristics, but I was also blessed to have a woman marry my Dad that loves him and loves us too, as her additional children. Families are so complex now and mine is no exception. For a long time I would not accept that my family had changed and that it was not my Mom and Dad who would be married til death do them part. In the end, I think all parties have found their happiness and we are all making the best of a pretty damn good situation. Life is what you make of it, it can be good or you can sit around all day and bitch about how it should be different. I finally accepted the changes in my life and thankfully in time to realize that it is ok to have one more really great woman in my life.

Back to Patty. Patty is a great mother. She has two children that she has supported and loved throughout their entire lives. For the past years that I have known her, she has done the same for me. She has never once pushed her ideas or opinions on me or my life and she is respectful to the decisions I make. I honestly can say that I am not sure that I have ever heard her join in on conversations of bad mouthing people. She always seems to be the one to try and put out the fire before someone's feelings get hurt. She loves to give without recognition. Christmas is a big deal at their house. We are all grown adults, but we still pretend like Santa brings all of our huge bags of stocking stuffers and gifts. Patty just likes to see how excited we get about all the neat gadgets and toys we find on Christmas morning. She makes it fun and takes an enormous amount of time to put everything for us kids together. She will be anywhere that any of us need her and will drop her duties in her life to make it happen. Now she is a Grandma and will be able to unconditionally love more kids and do a damn good job at it. All her grandkids will be so lucky to have her as their Grandma P, Mayme, GiGi, GaGa or whatever Grandma names the kids come up with. So Patty happy birthday and thank you for all you do for your family.

Words Can not Explain

Sometimes there are no words to explain how grateful I am to God for the loved ones in my life. It is unimaginable how I got so lucky to be blessed with so many people who I love so much. I would do anything for their happiness and I know they would do anything for mine as well. The best part is that when you get married, you receive another group of people who love you just because they love your husband/wife.

Now, my baby girl (name coming soon) will soon inherit these people as well. She is already so loved just because she is her mommy and daddy's child. I pray for her that she will also make friends throughout her life to add to her list of loved ones. I also pray that God will give her sisters or brothers to share her life with. The amount of time a person spends with their siblings creates a bond that is unbreakable and unique.

She's a big girl!

Yesterday was our 36 week checkup and we got to see the baby again on the ultrasound. The machine estimated her weight at 6lbs 11oz! She is making her way up the scales with 3 more weeks to go. Oh my goodness. I know that sometimes those estimates are not accurate, but we are still prepared to have a healthy baby girl that might be a little bigger than we expected.

They also said that she has long legs, big feet, and lots of hair. Kevin never fails to ask if her hair is red, and of course every time the lady says she can't tell. The ultrasound lady doesn't have much of personality when she is working. Everything looked good and she was practicing her breathing, her heart was beating, and she has all her toes, fingers and other limbs.

There is her big foot

This one is the front of her face with her arm coming over

This is a shot from under her chin, showing her mouth and under her nose. What a cute button nose.

Thank you God for our baby girl and for all the joy she has already brought her parents, grandparents, aunts, and cousins. I can't get over what a miracle this all is and how blessed we are.

Last month

Wow, I can't believe that we are in our last few weeks of pregnancy. I say we meaning me, the little baby, and of course Kevin. Kevin has been a wonderful husband and awaiting dad. Don't get me wrong I still feel like I have definitely gone through more than him, so I will still have that to hold over his head, but at the same time he has done his preparing in a different way. He has waited hand and foot on me, listened to me complain about not being close enough to my family, and let me nag him a little bit about the things that I feel have not gotten done fast enough. I only have 3.5 more weeks to be needy, tired, and hog the couch in order to put my swollen feet up. He is going to be so happy to have the couch back.

Overall, it has been a great experience and I really have no major complaints except for the usual pregnancy symptoms that every woman goes through. I will miss her moving around inside my belly and wondering what she is doing and what she is thinking. When she moves all I can do is stare down and wait for her next move. I love watching her play and get so frustrated that no one else gets to see her when she does her big jumps. I am already so proud of her and can't wait to show her off to everyone I know. I guess its time to admit that I am a Mommy. Oh my goodness, that is so BIG!

I just pray that she is healthy, happy, and that Kevin and I can be as good of parents as both of our parents were and are. We are so blessed with all of our families and I know this baby girl will be spoiled rotten with love from her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She already is, really.

The big question now is: What will she look like? I am so excited to see her face and to see if she will have bright red hair like her mom, Grandma Rosa Lee, Aunt Melanie, Aunt Glenda, and Aunt Sara. The odds are pretty good, but if she comes out with crazy brown hair like her Dad, that will be fine too. The suspense is just killing me though! I am sure she will look a little bit like me and a little bit like Kevin. We will know soon enough. How can she be anything other than adorable, I mean, take a look at me and Kevin when we were little. Precious lil ones!

Staycation

Today is Kevin and my 3rd wedding anniversary. I can't believe it has been 3 years since we had our amazing wedding in the Caymans. I think for our 5 year anniversary we will invite all our friends and family back down to Grand Cayman and do it all over again. I think everyone might show up again.

So for our anniversary we decided we needed a weekend vacation; however, Kevin was a little weary about leaving town with his wife 8.5 months pregnant. I am not sure he knows that they have hospitals in other towns, but I appreciate his concern and care. So, we decided to stay here in Savannah at the Mansion on Forsyth Park. It is a beautiful hotel with a really nice restaurant, rooftop bar and spa. We had massages on Saturday afternoon, had a great dinner that night, and then drank coffee on the rooftop and enjoyed the nice weather. Sunday we layed by the pool and then went out to the beach for the first time all summer. It was really nice and relaxing. Sunday night we ate at a nice restaurant downtown and I had my first glass of Riesling since I got pregnant. Oh my my my! It was so good, I could have drank the whole damn bottle, but I stopped at a half a glass.

Monday we slept in (well I slept in and Kevin went to the house to let Casey out), checked out of the hotel, drove around downtown for 10 minutes, and went home and took naps. It might not have been our most exciting vacation ever, but we enjoyed being away from the house and not worrying about what we needed to do for our chores.

Oh, and I wore a bikini for the first time. Very hard decision, but I felt so free and liberated. There were only a few people at the pool and they were predominately older guys. In fact, one of the guys had on a swimsuit that was yellow, tight, and see thru. This was no small guy either. It was pretty funny, and made me feel less likely to be judged. One of his friends was wearing a speedo too, so it was a great day to let my baby belly hang out and get a little sun.

It was a good time and I can't believe I have been given such a wonderful husband and now the gift of a child to share with him. This was definitely a very special anniversary for us both. We are so blessed and grateful.