i believe...

1. i believe in God and Jesus
2. i believe breakfast can be eaten morning, noon, and especially at night
3. i believe that soon (hopefully) my double chin will become single, my body will stop expanding, my ribs will find some solace, and my missing belly button will find its way home
4. i believe unmade beds are just as comfortable as made beds
5. i believe that waking up on a fall day next to my 3-day bearded, shaved-headed man, a pair of baseball mitts and ball in a park, tv tuned into a college football game, a 4 mile run, night out for sushi, falling asleep to a movie next to my 3 1/2-day bearded man makes for the perfect day.
6. i believe that dessert can be eaten every day (maybe my expanding body is here to stay)
7. i believe this little girl inside me will undoubtedly surpass orange rolls, the smell of fabric softener, fall colors, a cold spot in the sheets, french toast, college sports, a pair of perfectly fitted jeans, mountain biking and running, brown paper packages tied up with strings, and all of the rest of my favorite things.
8. i believe a little humorous self-deprecation is good for the soul
9. i believe i am one happy and blessed girl
10. i believe in safety first...

give it to me straight

2 days a week i work with kids who have speech-language (communication) disorders at a middle school. while there are several students who are severely cognitively delayed and can be counted on to say/do socially inappropriate things, the majority of the students (those that i see and those who are just your typical middle school students passing by in the hallways), are fully capable of (or at least i thought) of knowing when, where, and to whom things should be said. having said that, i have had some interesting conversations and comments made to me during my pregnancy by some of these delightful students and thought they were worth sharing. (all grammatical and semantic errors were left as is to get the true flava (flavor) of the conversation).

1. student #1: "you got youself a baby in there?"

2. student #2: "ain't you getting excited?"

me: "for what?"

student: "pretty soon you be gettin' a check every month."

me: "a check for what?

student: "you know, a check from the baby daddy. my mom gets 5 different checks each month." (child support checks)

3. student to another student: "there goes that baby mama."

4. student #3: "do you know who is the baby's daddy?"

5. student #4: "dang mrs. ballard! you just keep gettin' bigger every week!"

me, giving my belly an affectionate, maternal rub: "i know, my belly is really stickin' out, huh?"

student: "not cho' belly, your legs!"

me: "(student's name), do you tell a woman that her legs look big?"

student: "i tell my mama."

me: "well i'm not your mama so next time, don't tell me."

6. at the elementary school i work at, i had a random little kindergartner come up to me, rub my belly then give it a little kiss. it sounds strange but it was actually the cutest thing ever.

as to the comment "do you know who is the baby's daddy?" yes, i do know who he is despite his unintentional absence from recent posts...

the baby's daddy

shower time

well it looks like brooke's creative and energetic juices weren't depleted after throwing jenny leigh a shower a couple of months ago because she once again stepped up and threw me a fabulous shower. thanks brookie-babe and mama b!

the shower crew!

we had a contest to see who could chug apple juice the quickest from a baby bottle.

even with cheating (cutting a bigger hole) i still didn't win.

the shower guests made these cute little applique onsies. (don't look too closely, i still need

to finish them--sewing around the edges and puting on embellishments)