Worth a Thousand Words*

Our little one at 12 weeks

I think the ultrasound is one of the greatest things ever invented. I don't even know how to describe seeing my baby for the first time while he or she is still growing inside me. Since I'm only barely showing any outward signs of pregnancy at this point (and even then, you'd only notice if you already know), I was getting impatient to see this little one for myself. There's something special about seeing that live image of my child that no amount of imagination (or first-trimester fatigue) can quite provide...the wonderful reality of it is so exciting and overwhelming.

Taras came with me to the ultrasound, so it was a very special time for both of us. The very few times that I took my eyes off the baby were when I looked at Taras' face to watch him watch the baby. It was really sweet. We were both amazed at how much detail we could see...like the spinal cord and brain and fingers, and the little heart beating fast. Taras said the baby was really cute, like him. :-)

Taras also thought the baby looked like it was praying, which was kinda funny in light of the fact that the technician could not get the baby to change positions for anything. Apparently it did not want to be disturbed. She needed to get one particular measurement, and the baby had to be lying more straight...ours seems to like being curled up. She pushed and prodded and jiggled my belly and had me cough a few times, but the baby always went back to the same position. Finally she stopped and did some blood tests on me, and when she tried again the baby was lying on its back (still curled up). She was able to get what she needed after some more poking and shaking, but I couldn't help thinking that maybe our little one has already inherited a certain stubbornness from one of its parents. :-)

Although we went to bed fairly late and were both very tired, even Taras couldn't sleep for all his excitement about the baby. He really wants a boy (though of course we'd be thrilled with a girl, too) and we spent about half an hour talking about baby names and trying to imagine what our little one will look like 6 months from now when we finally get to see it face-to-face. We both fell asleep thinking about our baby. What a sweet and special day!

*Well, OK, so you got a picture and 416 words. I hope you don't mind. :-)

Tuesday's Child

*UPDATED on Wednesday, October 29 (see below).

Monday's child is fair of face.
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is full of woe.
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving.
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

I've decided Tuesdays are good days for trivia. I'm not suggesting that Tuesdays are trivial, but I can't think of anything else to post. So, here goes...

Tuesday Trivia: Only one of the ten members of my immediate family (on the American side) was born on a Tuesday. Can you guess which one? (I’ve listed everyone below in age order.)

Mama (Vicki)
Daddy (Brian)
Taras
Kelly (me)
Katie
Joshua
Caleb
Alyssa
Bethany
Nathan

*Trivia Answer: Josh! He is the only one (so far) who was born on a Tuesday. (Congratulations to Alyssa for getting it right!)

Bonus Question: How many famous—or infamous—Tuesdays can you name? (I'm thinking of events of national or historic significance, not the day you lost your first tooth.)

*Possible Answers:
-October 29, 1929: Known as "Black Tuesday," this day caused widespread panic as the stock market crashed at the beginning of the Great Depression. Interestingly, it was also exactly 79 years ago today (at the time of this update).
-June 6, 1944: Sometimes referred to as "D-Day," this day marked the landing of Allied forces on the beaches of Normandy during World War II.
-September 11, 2001: This one I remember well. It was the day terrorists attacked the World Trade Center towers in NYC. I was in my Freshman history class at the time, but I watched the towers fall on live news in my dorm room afterward. We call this one 9/11.

Confession

OK, so I caved. Mondays are just tough. And these are SO good. And only 99¢, too!

Besides, Taras and I did hike about 2 miles in Edwin Warner park after church yesterday. Doesn't that kinda balance things out a little? Just a teensy bit?

Sweet Victory

As part of LifeWay's efforts to encourage their employees "Toward a Healty Lifestyle," a freezer filled with various Blue Bell Ice Cream Snacks has appeared just a few steps from the salad bar in the LifeWay cafe. The treats are moderately priced, ranging from only 99¢ for various yummy ice cream bars and sandwiches to $1.99 for a whole pint of delicious creaminess. I'm not talking about plain vanilla or chocolate either—the first two flavors I spotted were Caramel Turtle Fudge and Pistachio Almond.

I had intentionally avoided the little white treasure chest when I passed through the cafe earlier, on my way to heat up the canned soup I'd brought for lunch. Sitting down to eat outside in the lovely October sunshine, I focused on how luxurious it can be to eat grapes from a plastic food container and bask in the cool breeze sweeping across the parking lot. I believe almost any kind of lunch could feel luxurious on Friday.

As I unhurriedly began the walk back to my office, I paused for a minute or two by the freezer just to see what sort of selection it offered. Soon I found myself trying to choose between the Chocolate Chip Country Cookie (one of my favorites) and the Double Banana Bar (which was slightly cheaper). I do have some change in my pocket, I thought, and it IS Friday, after all. Why not pamper myself a bit?

Suddenly the image I saw in the mirror this morning popped in my head, and I decided I'd take a little glance at the Nutrition Facts on the back. Hmmm...would the low-calorie soup, wheat crackers, and grapes balance out the 12 grams of fat in my favorite cookie sandwich? Probably not.

I turned around and walked straight to my office, comforting myself with the victorious feeling of having resisted the temptation. Besides, I thought, I don't need ice cream to make me happy on a Friday. The simple promise of a weekend ahead is sweet enough for today.

Monday, on the other hand, may be a different story...

It's Friday!

It's time to start daydreaming about the glorious weekend ahead. If you're like me, those dreams aren't likely to come true unless they involve something close to home and FREE! Never fear! Nashville has several fun and interesting offers for you with no price tag attached.

For example, this weekend you could...

read the Declaration of Independence at the Nashville Public Library,

hear some free music at the Schermerhorn,

celebrate world cultures at Centennial Park, or

peruse an exhibit of Rodin's sculptures at the Frist.

If you can't choose only one, don't worry! Free shuttles will run throughout the day Saturday to take you from the symphony center to the park, and vice versa (plus, the library and the museum are only a few blocks from the Schermerhorn if you're determined to get in all four). As for us, our big dream is to sleep in tomorrow morning! After that, who knows?

Stepping Up

The other day I signed up to participate in the YMCA’s Corporate America On the Move Week. LifeWay has entered the contest, and has about 77 employees registered. The aim is for employees to “take small steps towards a healthier lifestyle.” I think there is some kind of prize awarded to the Middle TN company who logs the most steps.

The goal is for each registered employee to take 2,000 steps per day and reduce calories by 100 each day for one week. That's 10,000 steps through Friday, which sounded like a lot until I went to HR to pick up my little red pedometer during break time yesterday morning and took 238 steps on the way back to my office (no wandering around, either). Now I'm up to 5,390 in less than 2 days...not bad for a desk job.

10,000 steps ought to be a breeze! Now, about those 500 calories…

Monday Adventures

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered."
~ G.K. Chesterton

"We are plain, quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can't see what anybody sees in them..."
~ Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit

Taras and I had an…um…adventure last Monday. It didn’t hit me that we were having an adventure until we were sitting in traffic on I-65 N after a pointless excursion halfway across town…but that’s the middle of the story. Indulge me if you will, and let me tell it from the beginning.

I suppose it all started about 6 weeks ago when our dryer finally died. Our washer and dryer are both getting on in years—they weren’t exactly young when someone at church donated them to me and my brother Josh when we shared an apartment in 2004—but they have certainly served us well. We’d been holding out hope that they would live on for another couple of years at least, despite some funny noises.

Then came the day when we were forced to put the tired old dryer to rest and start using the laundry room in our apartment building. It’s very conveniently located just a few steps from our front door; we don’t even have to go downstairs. However, we do have to pay $1.25 for every load we dry.

We looked at our budget, then at Craigslist, then at our budget again…then we stopped looking at the budget and decided we needed to take the plunge and buy our first large appliances as a married couple. We found a great deal on a washer/dryer set on Craigslist, and told the seller we’d pick it up Monday evening. David* emailed back Monday morning (from his Blackberry), to let us know we should come around 7:00, since he and his wife wouldn’t be home until around 6:45. No problem, we thought, that gives us plenty of time to drive from Antioch to Bellevue, and should keep us from hitting any bad traffic on the way home.

My parents selflessly allowed us to borrow their vehicle and two of my siblings for the evening. Daddy took our Rodeo home and we headed out West with Caleb and Alyssa in the backseat of the Suburban. We only lacked one important element: the address in Bellevue where we would pick up the washer and dryer. We hadn’t heard back from David after we responded to his email that morning, but he had said he’d be in meetings all day, so we shrugged it off and started the long drive Bellevue-ward. We’ll try calling him again when we get there, we said.

7:00 arrived. We called. Nothing. We called Daddy and asked him to check our e-mail just in case. Nope. Daddy e-mailed David for us again. Maybe he’s just running late; he’ll probably check his Blackberry soon. Meanwhile, the four adventurers pulled in a parking lot and decided to walk around in TJ Maxx, just for fun.

Caleb, Alyssa, and I tried on fun hats and sunglasses and read children’s books while Taras kept trying to get in touch with David. After 45 minutes, we finally gave up and headed back to Cool Springs to trade cars with Daddy and go home.

When we got on I-65 South, Caleb said something like “Kelly, I hope you know a back way home; that traffic (going North) doesn’t look good.”

“Yeah,” I said, not even looking to see what he meant. I was singing along to Alyssa’s CD, and didn’t give his comment another thought…that is, until I was sitting in that traffic an hour later wishing I’d been listening to my little brother instead of Chuck Wicks.

Our exit wasn’t even open, so we took a detour and finally made it home…empty-handed and with a somewhat lighter gas tank. Taras got ready for bed and I went to the fridge, only to discover a nice, fat lump of bread dough I had planned to bake that evening. About an hour later, I finally slumped into bed, leaving a new loaf of bread cooling on the counter and the old washer and dryer slumbering in the laundry room. 38 minutes to Tuesday, I thought as I drifted off to sleep.

* Name has been changed to protect the guilty.

A September Valentine

My incredibly sweet little brother, Nathan, gave me this flower to put in my office. (He's nearly 13 now, and not so little anymore, but I still think of him as my baby...and I don't think he minds it yet.) He sent it via Bethany, who gave it to me at church last night. She said he told her the flower will always make me happy 'cause it won't die. How sweet!

This isn't the first time Nathan has given me flowers. On the weekend before my first Valentine's Day away from home (my Freshman year of college, when he was only six), Nathan was was shocked to hear I wouldn't be at home for the special holiday. "Who will be Kelly's valentine if she's all alone and far away at college?" he wondered (for the record, Union University a little over 2 hours from my parents' house, and I did have friends, though no boyfriend). So, he made Daddy take him to Kroger so he could get me a dozen pink roses to take back to school with me. I thought it was the sweetest thing in the world, and I had such fun teasing all my friends at Union and telling them about my cute, blond, blue-eyed valentine! Every girl ought to have a little brother like that!

(P.S. The ladybug in the picture was from a friend in Belarus. I'll have to tell that story another time...)

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Tidbit #1:

One day last week, after studying for his Honors Shakespeare class, Taras read me the following lines from Venus and Adonis, with his own personal commentary (he does this sort of thing fairly often):

"The night of sorrow now is turn'd to day:
Her two blue windows faintly she up-heaveth,
Like the fair sun, when in his fresh array
He cheers the morn, and all the world relieveth:
And as the bright sun glorifies the sky,
So is her face illumin'd with her eye."

Taras' commentary: "He could have just said, 'She popped her pretty eyes open.' That's it."

*****
Trivia: Read the title of this post again, and tell me who said it.

Answer: "Brevity is the soul of wit" is a statement made by the character Polonius in Hamlet (which was, of course, written by Shakespeare, and is thus attributed to him).

Psalm 93

Our congregation at Grace Community Church read the following psalm together during the worship service this morning. I thought about all those in the path of hurricane Gustav.

"The LORD reigns, He is robed in majesty;
The LORD is robed in majesty
And is armed with strength.
The world is firmly established;
It cannot be moved.

Your throne was established long ago;
You are from all eternity.

The seas have lifted up, O LORD,
The seas have lifted up their voice;
The seas have lifted up their pounding waves.

Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
Mightier than the breakers of the sea--
The LORD on high is mighty.

Your statutes stand firm;
Holiness adorns Your house
for endless days, O LORD."

Inauguration

If “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” then I suppose the blogger’s journey begins with a single sentence.

And there it is. Sounds simple enough, but don’t let it fool you.

As you can see, I’ve procrastinated for quite some time on this blog. Over the last 6 months (in the spare moments between working, traveling, cooking, eating, sleeping a little, working, teaching SS, going to weddings and baby showers, working, spending time with my husband/family/friends, etc.), I have pondered a momentous question: What ought to be the content, tone, and direction of our weblog’s inaugural post? In other words, what on earth am I going to say first?

I considered leaving out the words altogether and posting a photo of a flying turtle. Then I decided that might seem like merely another delaying tactic to those of you who’ve been waiting since February for this blog to really get going. Besides, the photo is still on our camera’s memory card. Maybe I’ll post it in a couple of weeks when I run out of things to say. I certainly don't want to bore you if I can help it.

Actually, I’ve devised a plan to elude any further charges of insipidity: I have begun building an arsenal of Tidbits and Trivia, Photos, and Quotes which I hope will prove diverting during the duller days of this blog’s existence. You may expect to see some of these appear in the next week or so, as I try to get this little newborn blogling off the ground. Until then, allow me to make a few general comments:

• This is technically a joint blog for Taras and Kelly. You will notice that we are both listed as contributors. You will also likely notice that 99.9% of the posts you will see on this blog in the coming days will be posted by Kelly. Some of them will say “posted by Taras and Kelly,” but they will still be posted by Kelly. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of my husband’s writing or his ability to post on a blog. In fact, the former is quite superior to mine, and the latter is merely untested. So, if you would like to support a worthy cause, you may begin leaving persuasive comments expressing your observations, opinions, or desires—at your own discretion and risk, of course.
• At some point in the next few weeks, I will probably change the settings on this blog to make it “invitation-only”—this is not because I want to exclude anyone, but rather to protect certain information/photos I hope to post in the future from any potential circulation in cyberspace. Before I change the settings, I’ll give you a chance to get in touch with me if you want to be invited to continue reading.
• I have no intention of running for “Blog of the Year” (if there is such a thing), so I’m not making any promises.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. I suppose the second-hardest thing about posting on a blog is figuring out how to finish. Rambling is my typical recourse, so I’ll resist the temptation and simply stop.

Blog Name?

Our new blog needs a name. Any ideas?

Come Back Soon!

This blog is currently under construction. We don't know when it will be ready, but you're welcome to check back with us soon.

Thanks,
T & K