The 4am Curse

Did you know there was a curse on the 4am hour? Well, there is if you are 8 months prego. Tonight, or today - it has finally gotten me.

Probably for the past week I have woken up every 2 hours - usually a trip to the restroom and repositioning pillows and flipping to a different hip to sleep on will put me right back to sleep.

Except at 4am - it's a bit more of a battle. I'm typically wide awake and my mind starts wondering from things of Adler, to trying to figure out my last dream, to what I plan to eat when I get up.

I've usually been able to fall back to sleep, but this morning, I just couldn't. Adler loves to sleep high up on my right side. His butt feels like a little softball poking out. It's really uncomfortable and keeps me from being able to breathe deeply.

So, here I am watching "Builders Surplus" slashing prices and Disney's sad attempt of a cartoon by recreating "The Emperor's New Groove", but with really bad cartoonists - it's kind of Beatle Juice like. What ever happened to good cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Garfield, The Smurfs, Bugs Bunny?

Sadie is good company and I am showing her my appreciation for her sympathy by letting her up on the couch with me.

It looks like Christmas morning in our living room. Stephen and I spent our Saturday going through the Babies R Us Guatlet, Target Challenge, Lenox Marathon, and the Trenches of Ikea. We did it all - returned, exchanged, purchased mostly all things Adler. Stephen got a new outfit from Banana Republic, I got some nursing outfits, even the dogs made it out with new doggie bowls.

So, there are all kinds of boxes and wrappers and new items laying about. We got a fireplace screen, which I'm really excited about because that means we can actually have a fire in the fireplace this year. It will be so fun to cuddle up on the couch with Adler while the fire is glowing.

MTV is actually pretty good at now 5am. They actually play music videos - imagine that. Don't get me wrong, I've definitely got Two-A-Days tivoed and haven't missed an episode and I love that Tina described punching Beth as hitting a "frozen piece of pig", but it's nice to see some Old School MTV - even if it's at 5:23.

I'm hoping that maybe some of my rambling here will allow my brain to feel somewhat unloaded so maybe I can go back to sleep. Stephen and I actually planned on going to the 9am service and that means getting up in less than 2 hours.

So, thanks for participating and sorry if this was really random and boring, but isn't that what Blogs are for?

Flashback

Just been thinking lately about where we're headed and rarely take the time to reflect on from where we came. Here are some of my favorite pics I happen to have on my computer.

This picture is at one of our favorite places on this earth, Young Life's Frontier Ranch. This was the summer after our freshman years in college. We went with our high school Young Life as leaders. One of my favorite days of the week at Frontier is when we hike to the top of Mt. Crystalite. Fun times....










Here we are, on our way to our honeymoon in St. Thomas. I look at this pic and love our wide-eyed 22 year old faces. What adventures ahead...




A year in Arkansas, a move to Atlanta, new jobs...and we bought our first house in 2004.







We wanted to take fun pictures Christmas 2004, so we had the talented Ryan Booth meet up with us at The Market in The Woodlands




We took a small group from Riverwood HS to Frontier Ranch the summer of 2005. We had a great time even though we were completely exhausted when we got back. But it was worth every second.




We went to Aruba last Thanksgiving. It's crazy to think that at the time, we had no idea that we'd be parents in a year! Our 5 year anniversary is this summer and we are hoping to take another similar trip. It was so good for us!


The sunsets in Aruba were amazing. One day, we rented a jeep and drove it all over the island. It was so much fun!


This past summer, we went to London with Stephen's family. We went to Wimbledon for a couple days and took a train to Belgium where the Huntons lived for a few years. While walking around the main square, we came across this bar named Adler. We thought it was pretty cool. I was only 5 months at the time..look how little I was!


Now, here we are 8 months prego with only 4 weeks to go! It's amazing how time flies! God is so good to us!

Adler's future soccer teammate, Colby

Not only did we have a great b-day weekend celebrating my oldness, but we also were pumped to meet Colby, who joined us on Thursday the 5th. Colby is the son of our good friends Cameron and Jamie Clayton, but more significantly a future best friend of Adler. Adler can't wait to meet him, in fact they've been introduced as Kristine held Colby on Friday night, ultimately giving Adler the up close belly "hello" from setting Colby in her lap.

Colby is so cool, and he's blessed to have the parents he has (as you can see, he takes after his Dad who obviously loves him a TON). So, get our your video camera, orange slices, and Capri Suns cause we're headed to the soccer field in T Minus a couple years where Colby and Adler will start what can only be described as a junior soccer dynasty.

A couple pics:

We gonna sip (Trappist Rochefort) like it's yo birthday

I am officially 27. As of Oct. 7th at around 6:35am I turned a year older, but unlike last year, I don't feel too old at the moment. I'm particularly excited about this year and the next, as my friend Cameron gave me some words of encouragement on being 27 (these were his favorite years). Plus, I will be a Dad in mere weeks, so I'm excited at the coming fountain of youth that will constantly have me on my toes.

The birthday was great, Kristine always does a great job of making me feel special. We headed out Saturday morning after some much needed sleeping in and went to a great breakfast spot near Piedmont park in midtown Atlanta called "The Flying Biscuit". They have the best breakfast food (I had the "Egg-ceptional", which is two eggs on black bean cakes w/ grits and a biscuit)

We spent most of the morning walking around the park and taking pictures with my new camera as we went along, then saw a photography exhibition in the park and went home to watch my Razorbacks whoop up on the Auburn Tigers/Eagles. It was a great day.





I must be too old to climb! I used to be able to get up on this tree, but alas I failed in my old age.
That night we headed out to Decatur with our friends The Fountains. It was so great to spend time with them. We ate dinner at Taqueria Del Sol and then went to my favorite bar in Decatur "The Brick Store Pub". They specialize in Belgian beers and have such a great atmosphere (you feel like you're in Europe). We tasted some awesome beers and had a great time talking/catching up. Overall, a great night! Thanks Kristine for a great b-day!

The miracle of birth ain't so pretty when it's a VHS from the 80s

Ok, wow...Kristine and I went to our baby class last Saturday. It was informative, exciting and scary at times. Our nurse "teacher" lady was really smart, and actually pretty entertaining, but I do fault her for one thing. She simply did not provide enough...what's the word I'm looking for?..."warning" as we stared toward the first video of the class with eyes wide open, searching for knowledge in the vast confusion that will be first time parent-hood. There we were, gazing at the screen, learning about the three stages of labor, the coming pain of the "pushing" stage, And (insert sounds of car tires screeching/turntables scratching/etc)....then we get the "money shot" of the baby's head entering the world for the first time as the scary looking stranger on the 80s VHS smiles/pants awkwardly in her pain to say "it doesn't look like a baby"...wow. I mean, the nurse told us that there were some parts that were graphic, but I didn't know that "some parts will be graphic" meant..."Hey Stevo, get ready cause you're about to see what only this poor woman's husband has seen, and even he might not have been able to stomach this..."

However, kidding aside, it was interesting and I felt like we learned alot from the class. I learned that nurses and DRs know a lot, and thank God, because I don't and I could drive myself crazy with all the worry for Kristine and Adler. I also learned that I am a pansy compared to Kristine (I kinda already knew that), and that she will forever have my respect for taking on such a huge task and giving birth to Adler. I can't wait to be there with her when she does. She's so tough and an inspiration to me and is going to be a great Mom.

One thing is for sure though...I think the reason that second time parents do not go back to baby class is not that they've heard it all before, but that they just don't want to see 80s lady's money shot again. I know I don't.