World Series celebration! (In our Halloween costumes as Dog & Beth the Bounty Hunters)

Friday was such an INCREDIBLE night!!  If you haven’t figured it out by now, we’re huge St. Louis Cardinals fans.  It’s kind of a given when you grow up anywhere in the STL metro area like we did.  We’ve had so much fun the past couple of weeks watching the Redbirds ride the roller coaster of a season ending that led up to them capturing the World Series championship Friday night.  My mom’s just a wee bit superstitious and insisted early in the playoff run that the Cards were a shoe-in since they’d won their last World Series in 2006, the year we got married.  So this year, having her first grandchild would surely mean another World Series title.  We’re glad she was right!  On Thursday, Floyd and I stayed up past midnight watching the tooth and nail game six (which if you don’t follow baseball–the Cards were down by two TWICE in the 8th and 9th innings, came back to tie it up, then won in the 11th with a solo home run by STL native David Freese, who went on to capture the World Series MVP title.)  We high-fived, hugged and grinned ear to ear with each victory.  It was so fun.  As in my blog GO TEAM!–it’s so cool to share these moments of unity with your spouse–to get excited about something together and enjoy the moments of cheering the team on.   To cap off the big win–Floyd & I also won first place in the mini Halloween costume contest hosted by one of our friends.  We looked ridiculous and had fun doing it.  We decided to go as Dog and Beth from “Dog the Bounty Hunter”.  My extra large “assets” pretty well camouflaged my 9-month pregnant belly.  But let me tell you what–walking with those things was no easy task!    All in all– Friday=a great night with lots of laughter and fun.     

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Floyd has always been so sweet about tossing compliments my way.  A lot of times we’ll just look at each other, and I’ll say “You’re so cute!”  and he’ll say,” You are!”  We kind of make people gag sometimes!  ha.  I’ve always appreciated these little anecdotes, but I’ve become even more appreciative of them lately.  The other night we were just hanging out in the living room watching TV and he looked at me and said, “You’re beautiful.”  And I said, “Thank you.  You know, I appreciate that even more these days.  Sometimes I look in the mirror and see my ever-expanding girth and the stretch marks and I don’t always feel so beautiful.  So it’s really nice to hear that.”  I think every woman has her days where she feels less than pretty.  So guys–you can’t underestimate how much a small compliment and showing your affection to your partner can really mean.  It can be just what she needs to brighten a day!

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Halloween is just around the corner!  I used to love dressing up as kid, whether I had a reason to or not.  My friends and I would pull out old dance recital costumes and make up “shows” to entertain each other at slumber parties.  As adults, Floyd & I have only dressed up for Halloween if we have a party to go to.  It’s always a challenge to decide how to dress up and to think of something you’ve not worn before.  I thought in the spirit of the upcoming holiday, I’d share a few of our Halloween photos for fun!

Halloween 2008–theme 1980s!

     

 

Whether you love or hate this holiday–it can be a fun chance to get out of your comfort zone and just have fun being silly together.  I can’t tell you how many laughs we got on the “nerd” themed Halloween party at our church that year.  Every time a new couple came in, we’d burst into laughter at the crazy get-ups they were wearing.  And those are the kinds of memories are things we’ll be thinking of many years from now.  So what will we be this year?  We’re narrowing it down–so stay tuned!  It’s a bit more challenging to be creative when you have to plan your costume around a baby bump.   But we’ll have fun– no matter what!

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I could easily write a half-dozen or more blog entries about all the incredible things related to my baby shower this past weekend.  But I’m doing my best to condense it all down into one! 

First of all, I have to say how thankful I am that Floyd agreed to be there for the shower.  I knew it wouldn’t be exactly “fun” for him– but his help hauling around packages was so appreciated!  And I was glad a lot of people back home got a chance to see him, too, since we don’t get back to Missouri that often. 

 

 

The big day:  A handful of my mom’s best friends, along with my best friend, organized and threw the shower for us back in my hometown.  The decorations were perfect, the food and cake delicious.  It was evident they’d spent a lot of time planning to make the day just perfect. 

My best friend:  God bless her heart!  She was hospitalized a few days before the shower and had to have emergency surgery to remove her gall bladder the day before the shower!  I had talked to her on the phone several times while she was in the hospital and insisted that she not rush her recovery–her health is most important.  But she kept insisting that even if she had to walk in with an IV bag attached, she’d be there.  Again, I said not to worry about it and that we’d make arrangements to see her sometime during the weekend before heading back to Iowa.  About halfway through the shower, she and her boyfriend and son came in with my gifts.  She’s crazy, but I love her!  I was really glad to see her and it meant so much to me that she wanted to make sure she could be there to personally give me Drake’s gift.  (Which was a couple of adorable outfits and a handmade baseball quilt.)

All the love and support:  Wow!  There were over 75 people at the shower, ranging from a high school friend I hadn’t seen in at least 6 years, to former teachers, people from my hometown church, family and friends.  We had SO MANY gifts!!  It was a bit overwhelming.  In fact, there was so much stuff that my dad ended up making a special trip to Iowa on Sunday with his SUV to help haul all the loot because we couldn’t fit it all in my car.  I can’t tell you how much we appreciated that!  We had so much stuff to go through, sort out, and organize (and still do), it was good to have everything at home when we got there.  We’ve already made the big returns trip to Target for the things we received multiples of (2 high chairs, 2 pack ‘n plays, 3 extra bath tubs, and lots more!) and swapped them out for some of the things we didn’t get at the shower.  I told Floyd that putting away all the clothing and unpacking the boxes makes me feel more prepared to welcome our little guy.  Now that we’ve got all the “stuff”– it’s just a matter of putting together all the things that require assembly, and to finish finishing the basement so we can get the guest room stuff out of his room and complete making Drake’s space look cute as can be.

We’re getting really excited about parenthood these days.  We’ve got a few more baby classes left to go.  And by the time they wrap up, we’ll be at the point where we’ll be having weekly doctor visits.  It’s crazy to think that our due date is just a little more than 5 weeks away!  We feel incredibly blessed by all the love and support that’s been shown to us right from the start–including from many of you loyal blog readers!  We know our lives are about to change in an amazing way, and I’m excited to keep you in on the journey!!

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October is well known as being “Breast Cancer Awareness Month.”  Recently, I profiled an amazing woman named Nola Dohrman. 

She’s battling a rare form of the disease:  inflammatory breast cancer.  It’s in stage four, but you couldn’t tell that be her outlook on life.  She is so incredibly positive and is determined to beat the odds.  (To see the story, click here).

A personal story of fighting the disease made national headlines yesterday when E! correspondent Giuliana Rancic announced on NBC’s Today Show that she has breast cancer.  The news was devastating for Rancic and her husband, who have been trying to conceive a child for several years.  She’s had to put fertility treatments on hold since becoming pregnant could make her fight with cancer much worse.

These two stories made me think about my own brief scare that happened in 2008/09.  A couple of weeks before Christmas in 2008, I found what many women dread:  a lump in one of my breasts.  I called my OB/GYN right away, but they couldn’t get me in for almost a month.  I was way too freaked out to wait that long, so I made an appointment with my family practice doctor to get it checked out.  After a physical exam when she could feel what I had noticed, she immediately sent me for a sonogram, and sure enough a tumor appeared on the scan.  She recommended that I see a surgeon for further analysis.  So I did.  The surgeon analyzed the images and said it appeared the tumor was a specific type that is benign/non-cancerous.  But the only way to know for sure would be to have it surgically removed and tested.  Without hesitation I said, “Let’s do it.  I don’t want that fear of ‘what if?’ hanging over my head if I leave it alone.” 

I had the surgery in January 2009.  The tests came back clean–I didn’t have breast cancer.  But my surgeon advised me that these particular tumors have a tendency appear again in the future.  So since then, I’ve been more vigilant than ever about doing monthly self breast exams.  And I encourage ALL women to do that to.  You never know what you might find.  A lot of times, like in my case, it may turn out to be nothing.  But at least you can be ahead of the game if you’re checking yourself regularly.  If you don’t, something that’s not normal could get out of control.  In addition to the typical lump–if you notice any changes in the appearance of your breasts, it’s best to get it checked out.  (In Nola Dohrman’s case, her type of cancer typically shows up more like a rash.)  It goes back to that good old saying–better safe than sorry.

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Our basement finishing project hit a solid lull in August–right after Floyd resumed teaching.  We’d gone gang busters this summer getting walls framed, electrical, and plumbing work completed.  But we stalled out a little while trying to determine whether to pay someone to hang drywall or for Floyd to do it himself. 

He finally broke down and decided to do it himself, and finished that part of the project about a month ago.  But since then, there’s been kind of another lull.  Over the past two weeks, he’s taken many of his afternoons once he gets home from school to mud and tape.  Our priority has been to get the bathroom totally finished so that the plumber can finally come back and finish his work in installing the sink, toilet, and fixtures for the shower.  This week, Floyd’s been on the ball.  He finished mudding the bathroom walls, primed them, and when I came home last night– he was painting the walls!  I was so excited that he’s been taking initiative to really get moving on things.  Our plumber is now scheduled to come back and finish up next week.  Then we can tackle the bear of mudding, taping, priming and painting the rest of the basement.  We are both looking forward to having it DONE.  It will be such a nice grandparent, guest and house/dog sitter suite when it is all finished.  And it’s good to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the project– since we have just seven weeks until baby Drake arrives and turns our world upside down!

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Most people who first meet Floyd & I now have a tough time believing that he used to be a major shy guy.  He still has his moments.  But for the most part– he’s come WAY out of the shell he was in when we first met and started dating 10 years ago.  I even remember getting mad at him at one of the first weddings we went to together because he refused to get out on the floor and dance with me.

But being around me for 10 years has apparently rubbed off–at least a little bit when it comes to his social outwardness.  Yesterday, two teachers he works with got married.  We attended the ceremony and reception.  And he was out on the floor with me for everything from the Cha Cha Slide to the Electric Slide and Cubit Shuffle.  And of course, we “slow danced” a couple of times, too.  It made me smile, and we had such a great time.  It naturally reminded me of our wedding reception.  We had actually taken ballroom lessons for a couple of months before the big day.  We strutted out stuff with the waltz, triple swing, and rumba.  While I still have a tough time convincing him to do any of *those dances with me when the occassion arises, I’ll take an electric slide with him any day.  It’s nice just to cut loose and not care what anyone else thinks–and just have fun, for goodness sakes!

 

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Throughout this pregnancy, when there’s a conversation of any length with someone who is already a parent, they are sure to say something to me along the lines of, “Your life will totally change…Your priorities will change overnight…You will love that little person more than you have ever loved anyone.”  And I have no doubt that all of these things are true, and I look forward to experiencing all the wonderful rush of emotions that will come when I get to hold my baby boy Drake for the first time. 

But I think I got a whole new idea of just how significant a mother’s love is recently.  This past weekend, I talked with a family I first met last year.  This family lost their son Drew in a car accident in 2009.  Since then, both parents have endured some significant health problems.  I covered a benefit their church held for them this weekend.  It’s amazing to see the complete resolve this family has demonstrated through such difficult times.  I received a very sweet email from the mom, Janet, on Monday, thanking me for my support through news coverage.  Here’s just a little of what she had to say…that really demonstrated that sense of “a mother’s love”.

“We are so extremely happy for you as begin the BEST part of your life with Drake.  There is NOTHING better then being a mom, nothing!!  I truly believe that.  I would give anything I could to have Drew back, but am so thankful for our daughter Mallory! 

Please make sure you tell Drake how much you love him everyday (even when he’s a teenager and may roll his eyes) and always give him hugs!  Remember every single moment with him, you never know what the future holds…

Will be thinking of you often!!”

All I could think was WOW.  It put a smile on my face, and was truly touching and humbling.  This family has been through a mountain of difficulty, but continues to see blessings in life.  And that certainly will stick with me.

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As you know by now, Floyd has an affinity for sports.  He loves to play just about any sport, and he loves watching them (especially our native STL sports) on TV.  While I still enjoy going to see a game in person way more than watching them on TV, over the years, I’ve come to enjoy nights of watching games at our house–especially when it’s playoff season or “our team” is going for an “important” win. 

This past week, the St. Louis Cardinals were in a heated race to win the National League wild card spot to secure a place in the play offs.  It came down to the wire:  we had to win and the Atlanta Braves had to lose in order to avoid a one game playoff of STL vs. ATL to determine the wild card winner.  In our game, we killed it:  score 8-0.  It was so fun for Floyd and I to watch the game and give high fives every time we’d score a run.  It was getting late after the Cards game was over, and there was still no result in the ATL game yet.  So we went up to bed and watched that game go into extra innings.  We were rooting for them to lose, and it worked.  The game didn’t wrap up until after 11 p.m., and we proceeded to watch the “celebration” coverage of the Cardinals learning they’d secured the wild card:  there were champagne baths for everyone in that Houston locker room.  Just to look over and see Floyd’s face grinning and how excited we both were was pretty awesome. 

It’s cool to be “united” in team spirit with your spouse.  Somehow sports have the ability to do that for us.  For years, he watched me be a cheerleader at high school and college basketball games.  I’ve cheered for him every summer on the softball teams he’s played on.  And we’ve both sat on the sidelines of many volleyball, football, and basketball games at the schools where he teaches.  That excitement and feeling of  “we’re in this together,” win or lose, is really a reflection on marriage itself.  NO MATTER WHAT, we stick it out, learn from mistakes and know that for our teams, there’s always next year if it doesn’t  happen.  And for us, regardless of the outcome of  life’s events, we’ll be there for each other, rooting each other on, supporting each other all the way.

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