A Tipping Point

I'm going to share something very personal and very hard for me. Deep breath. Okay. I am poised on the brink of weighing 200 pounds.

Wince. Shudder. Gulp.

I know I'm pregnant and that weight gain is inevitable. And I'm a tall person so I carry a decent amount of poundage under normal circumstances. But let me tell you, there is something really really emotionally difficult for me about weighing 200 pounds, even when there's a good reason for it.

The heart of the problem right now is that I never lost all my Mouse baby weight. So even though I have gained less weight with this pregnancy, I'll probably end up weighing more in the end because I started off at a higher number.

And it hurts. Oh it hurts.

You Can't Say "Vaginal" in a Prayer

Okay, it's possible that the title of this post will attract all kinds of weirdies to my blog. If you're a weirdie and you're reading this, just keep on moving.

Anyways, today we (Josh, Porthos and I) had our 32 week pregnancy checkup. My time flies. Eight short weeks until showtime. We were scheduled with a new doc in the practice whom I'll call Dr. X. I had met her once before but this was Josh's first encounter.

Dr. X is sweet and kind and seems perfectly skilled...but she does have her quirks. She's known for saying things that sort of make you furrow your brow and think "should my doctor be saying that?" For example, she told a friend of mine that she couldn't describe a contraction because she'd never had a baby herself. To which my friend mentally replied -- "then how is it that the male doctors in the practice have no problem with this?"

Today, one of the topics on the agenda was the staffing shortage the practice is facing. They lost a doc and haven't replaced him and the upshot of it all is that I've been informed that they cannot guarantee that one of "my" doctors will deliver the baby. As it turns out, depending on what day he decides to arrive, I could be at the mercy of a resident at the hospital.

Upon hearing this, I bravely said -- "yes, well, but residents are real doctors, right? They're good, right?"

And she said - "yeah, they're okay. As long as you don't get one in July on, like, their first day, they should be fine."

Um, thanks. Let me state for the record that this was NOT a comforting response. The correct answer, Madame Doctor, is "yes, of course. Residents are fully trained and totally competent. You'll be in excellent hands."

Then there was the end-of-appointment prayer (have I mentioned how cool it is that my practice is faith-based?). Dr. X tenderly joined hands with Josh and me and prayed for a "healthy, happy, vaginal birth."

Oh my. Did she just say that? I mean, I appreciate the idea of specificity. It's good for God to know exactly what we're praying for. But as my husband said in the parking lot afterwards -- I'm just not sure you can say "vaginal" in a prayer...

In Kentucky...

Allow me to defend myself in the 'lay vs. lie' debate. I am from Kentucky, and I miss my home more than words can properly express. Since I am unable at this time (or ever, probably) to live in that blessed place there are things I do/say to try and keep my home alive in my heart:

Watching UK Basketball.

Saying 'fixin' when getting ready to do something. I.e., 'I'm fixin to mow the grass.'

Going to church every Sunday. OK, I'm a minister, and my dad is a minister, so maybe this doesn't count as a KY thing, but in KY everyone goes to church every Sunday.

Taking time in doing things. People move to fast in Pittsburgh. Y'all need to slow down and enjoy life.

Related to the above, being laid back about things. Just relax, it's going to be OK.

Saying y'all. We're one up on you crazies up here. Y'uns makes no sense whatsoever.

Saying 'lay down.'

In Kentucky life is different. We do not get caught up in things that, in the grand scheme of things do not matter. There are more important things in life, and we choose to focus on those, things that make us happy.

I may say the wrong word, but my blood pressure does not shoot up when the rules of grammar are not followed. Who is better off at the end of the day? Besides, when Jesus comes back, and he will, he is not going to care about 'lay vs. lie.'

Josh
<><

PS--Kate has a habit of ending her sentences with prepositions, so I guess we're even in the end.

Now I Lie Me Down to Sleep

As Miss Mouse's vocabulary expands, I'm trying to do my best to instill correct grammar in her wee brain from the get-go. From day one, we've resisted the urge to repeat her baby talk back to her, preferring to pronounce the words correctly for her. So, when she says "wa wa" I say "do you want your water?"

This has been going pretty well, but for some reason, Mousie has presented a persistent misuse of lay vs. lie. When changing her diaper, she insists of chirping "lay down" when I ask her to "lie down." I realize this is a common grammatical problem, but it was always a pet peeve of my mother's and she has passed it down to me.

Where was it coming from?? I knew she must be hearing it wrong somewhere. I initially blamed the teachers at KinderCare, but then last night I had the horrible realization that the grammatical rapscallion was much closer to home. In fact, he lives in my home.

Yes, that's right. My husband has been instructing my child to "lay down" when they play games together or need to change her clothes. Oh, the pain. To be betrayed by one so close to your own heart.

I'm trying to undo the damage, but I fear it may be a losing battle. Society as a whole seems determined to eradicate the distinction between those two words and I suspect it's only a matter of time before only we purists cling to the truth. Sigh. It's hard to be a voice in the wilderness.

And He Shall Be Called... (continued)

My sincere apologies. I have received several pieces of irate fan mail (okay, three pointed emails from friends and family) demanding to know why more clues to the "And He Shall Be Called..." baby name game have not been forthcoming.

Ask, and ye shall receive. We released the second clue to our church a few weeks ago and then the third clue is going out this week. There is a fourth clue (which is my favorite) that will be announced at the end of August, and a possible fifth clue that may appear a week before the due date, depending on how benevolent I feel.

Josh and I have philosophical differences of opinion about how revealing the clues should be. He's in favor of clues that would enable many people to guess the right name. I'm mean. I prefer to keep it hard because it's no fun if everybody wins (and yes, that is my ferociously competitive streak talking...)

In any case, your clues are:

#2 -- Baby 2 will not share a name with his father (Joshua David), nor with any other members of our congregation.

I realize this doesn't help you non-church members quite as much. But suffice to say it rules out several popular biblical names including John, Daniel, and Paul.

#3 -- Although referenced in the New Testament, the biblical character whose name we are appropriating actually appears in the Old Testament.

Happy Guessing!