Tuscaloosa Baby Shower

Well, Mrs. Mary Jacque and Angie Pugh threw us an unbelievable baby shower, and we were just tremendously blessed by all the ladies in our church. More than I could even imagine!

     They made us a cute cake table, and door wreath, and even a special pregnant lady rocker for me to sit in :).

 It was  really wonderful. I guilt tripped my wonderful husband into coming, only to find out that boys don't really go to baby showers... haha. Not even the daddy! But I'm new, I didn't know. LESSON LEARNED. Just everything about the shower made me feel so special and loved. I sat between my grandma (an excellent organizer and recorder, so you can thank her when you get a very concise thankyou note!) and my sweet mother in law,and opened so many presents I worked up a sweat! Granted, I get the baby sweats pretty easily, but the point is... our family and our daughter were majorly blessed this Sunday. I find myself being jealous of her adorable new wardrobe. After church, I went home and put EVERYTHING away. I just couldn't stop! It was like this baby high I was on, and am still on, when all I wanted to do was organize and put away and write cards and baby decorate.

AND, last night, TJ and I did some major interior designing. We put up shelves and put up picture frames and mirrors... it could have been and HGTV special. It feels like we are getting so close to having this wonderful new little person in our lives! Never have I ever seen TJ excited to decorate a room or discuss room layouts and color schemes, but last night he turned into a carpenter, handyman, and a decorator. He looks good when he stretches his daddy muscles! And when we had done all we could possibly do, we just sat in the floor in our baby girl's room and marveled at how excited and blessed we are for whats to come.

Madi's room pre-shower...

cleaned for the most part and ready for fantastic baby things

Guess What?

I don't have diabetes. My fantastic doctor texted me the day of my test and said "I passed with flying colors."

FLYING COLORS!

YES.

What a relief! Its like I lost 400 pounds when I found out. And I learned the very important lesson not to ever eat ANYTHING before a glucose test, because if you do, the doctor's office may force you to endure very terrible tests only to tell you everything is fine.

And guess what else? I am so in love with my precious little girl. I'm starting to feel so anxious to meet her. And hold her. AND just love her to death for the rest of her life. Madelyn has moved from this very abstract distant idea of "pregnancy" at the beginning, to this extremely intimate and real part of my life... and my heart. The Lord has just knit my heart so closely to hers. As I write this, my belly is jumping as my sweet little girl wiggles around. She's getting pretty strong in there too. And its also getting a bit crowded. She'll never be closer to me than she is now, and I find that both wonderful and very sad.

Pregnancy Pictures with Michelle!

   Michelle Taulbee, one of my best friends from Mobile, who happens to be an amazing photographer, took these pictures on the quad for us. 

SOOO CUUUTE!

Thanks Michelle!!

I know what your thinking. What an adorable pregnant woman.

#PregnancyWoes

     We had an appointment with Dr. Ray today! I had to take my blood glucose test (which takes a very long time, btw) so I went alone, for the first time. As far as Madelyn goes, things are "about as perfect as they can be," according to Dr. Ray. I measured 27 cm on our 27th week, which is perfect. Madi's heart rate is 145, which is perfect. She's healthy, growing well, and I'm 38 pounds heftier.

     But back to the glucose test. For some irrational reason, I have been stressing over it. More than is necessary or reasonable. So I go in today, a little stressed and anxious, and take the test. They make you drink this sugary drink, wait exactly an hour, and then prick your finger to check your sugar.

I hate getting my finger pricked.

     And they pricked me. And I failed the test by 6 measly points. My sugar had to be 140 or below, and it was 146. Stinking 146. SO, I'm going to the outpatient lab tomorrow to have the 3 hour test done. Its the exact same test, but it takes 3 hours. Obviously. And they will check my sugar every hour. If I fail this test, I  officially have gestational diabetes and I have to go to the diabetes place in the hospital and learn how to change my diet and prick my finger 5 times a day to check my sugar. I hate getting my finger pricked.

     More than just discomfort and finger pricking, failing the test scared me. Like really scared me. Don't you agree that theres something about having an irrational fear come true that is terrifying? Even when the sane part of yourself knows it will be ok and its not that big of a deal. Its more about how I feel than the actual reality of things.

     My momma has diabetes. She was just diagnosed a few years ago, but I hate it. I always looked at her sugar monitor thing as this mean ugly gremlin that comes out all the time to prick her finger and squeeze her blood out. I know thats gross, but its how I feel. She's totally cool and awesome about it, and I actually think it hurts me more than it hurts her. But I don't feel like a grown up like my mom. I don't want to be one either when it comes to diabetes. I don't want to have it. I"m not brave like my momma. It scares me. And I can't even pinpoint the exact reason why.

National Championship

ALABAMA -21

LSU-0 

ROLLLLLL TIDE

Praise the Lord that Alabama won. For my school's sake. For my marriage's sake. For the ride home's sake. PRAISE THE LORD.

Now let me tell you why Alabama was guaranteed to win tonight...

because Alabama always wins National Championships on years that major events in my life occur, and subsequently overshadow them. For example, the year T.J. and I were married, Duke won some basketball thing and Alabama won the National Championship, and T.J. made this glorious statement:

"This is the best year of my life."

Wouldn't that be sweet if he were referring to me and not sports team victories? Now that our first child is being born, this can once again be one of the greatest years of his life. Because Alabama has won another Championship!

Haha, I know that sounds very cynical and unhappy, but I'm actually very excited. Me and Mrs. Mary Jacque watched from the hotel in New Orleans and the boys went to the game. I know that even as I write this, they are hugging complete strangers and re-living especially interesting moments in this magical game. If I am completely honest, there are times I become very jealous of this game T.J. loves so much, because I want his undivided attention and love. I've recently come across the term "football widow." But at the end of the day, when it all comes down to it, I love that the Joy boys (my husband included) have something they can get so excited about. And I love that they love it. I'm learning to synthesize my own "love" for Alabama football because they are soooo into it. 

Roll Tide Thank God