© 2008 I am the Mama
I’m super bored and still in a lot of pain from my back, so I thought I’d start a guessing pool for the baby! If you’re just dying to throw your guesses out there, click on the banner below and go for it!
The winner will get…my highest esteem? Bragging rights? The chance to babysit if the baby is colicy and I need a night off? Diaper changing duties for the first week? I don’t know, but something fabulous for sure!
I grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. I loved it there, and I’d give just about anything to have the opportunity to move back. It is my home. It will always be my home.
So when I saw an RSS feed article about a church shooting in Tennessee, I clicked on it, holding my breath, knowing that it’s a big state and there are literally thousands of churches across the state. And when the article came up, and the first thing I saw was that it was a church in West Knoxville, my heart stopped. I attended a great church there and I’ve often said I wish I could transplant it every time I move, because we’ve found nothing that even compares.
I read further and was relieved to find out that it wasn’t “my” church. But it was a church I knew well…one I drove past every day on my way to work, one that my friends attended, and one that I could see myself attending if “my” church wasn’t so awesome. I am absolutely heartbroken for the congregation there. The gunman walked in and opened fire during a children’s theatrical production during the regular service, so there were a lot of kids there who witnessed everything. Over 200 people in the sanctuary at the time. When he stopped to reload, he was tackled by several parishioners and the police department was able to arrest him 4 minutes after they got the initial report of the shooting. Thank God for those quick thinking men who managed to stop him from doing more damage.
One person is confirmed dead right now. Several more are in critical condition. Please, if you believe in prayer, pray for the victims of this tragedy. There is a lot of speculation as to why he did this…the most likely reason seems to be the ambiguous term “hate” crime. This was a very accepting church and it sounds like they’ve recently had a sign up letting homosexuals know that they were welcome there. Regardless of the reasons, it’s a terrible tragedy and there’s a lot of confusion and grief in my hometown today. People should feel safe in their places of worship, no matter their beliefs.
Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
Edited to add this info: It seems that the church’s policy of acceptance was not the reason this man targeted the church. Instead, one of his neighbors says he has a hatred for Christianity. Ironically, I’d say that Unitarians are not generally considered a Christian denomination. Regardless, it was a senseless tragedy and now 2 people have passed away. So unnecessary.
A friend recently emailed me a link to this blog, which is a hilarious collection of real estate photos gone bad. What blows my mind is just how expensive some of these homes are…yes, half a million for places that look like they should be condemned! I know we’ve been lucky to live in places where we could get nice homes for less than $150k, but I am not sure I realized just HOW lucky we’ve been. Actually, this is the first place we’ve spent more than $110k on a house…we’ve even had 2 (very nice houses) that we bought for less than $100k. It just blows my mind sometimes.
Anyway, it prompted me to go looking for bad real estate photos for Sanford and I DID find them. I was actually going to post some, but I’m really trying not to be too snarky here or alienate anyone. I did find out that the house next door to us is listed for well over $200k. Really??? Maybe property values in this neighborhood are better than I thought!
And as an aside, if you’re a local Realtor and are having trouble getting good photos, (and by good, I mean *in focus* and attractive angles!) would you consider hiring me on a trial basis to see if we can get some good photos for you? I’m also willing to do websites for real estate agents. In fact, I may set up a sample site over the next few days…I was kind of shocked when I realized that most of the local Realtors didn’t even have their own sites, at least not that I could find. These can be a great source of info, especially if you have your website printed on your signs. I often drive by houses and wish there was an easy way to get info about them!
I just discovered a cool contest where you can win several types of baby carriers to try out and use with your little one. I am desperate to find some new options for this baby, so this is right up my alley…I love wearing my babies and being able to keep them snuggly and close when they’re small. So here’s the link, if you’re interested. Several of these are on my wish list already, and this package is a great mixture of the different options available for babywearing.
(Just an FYI, I do earn extra entries every time someone uses this link…I just want to be clear! But it is a nice package, especially for a new mom who’s eager to try out several different things to figure out what works best for her and her baby!)
I had my nuchal translucency scan today and all looks beautiful and perfect. I have been very anxious about trisomies and other defects this time, so it was a load off my mind to hear that everything looked good so far. So, without further ado, here is a picture of my uterus. (I won’t be embarrassed if you’re not!)
If you’re not quite sure what you’re looking at, I’ll try to lay it out for you. (If you want a bigger image, just click on it!) First of all, the amniotic fluid is the blackish stuff in the center. Inside this floats Kicky the Wonder Fetus, who moved the entire time we were trying to get measurements. Luckily s/he was still enough to get the important stuff done! To the left is the head, which is that roundish shape. To the right of this is the body, which is an oval-ish shape. On either side of the body are dots that will become arms. And that’s about it! It was amazing to see this tiny little thing moving around so much. I love getting ultrasounds and seeing the baby grow. If you are curious what’s going on at this stage and what the actual size is and what s/he actually looks like, this site is a good reference.
The midwife did make a prediction on gender, but I’m not telling yet. Not based on anything seen on ultrasound, but based on symptoms. Most of that stuff is old wives tales, but apparently there is some truth to a few of them. I still have 6-8 weeks before the big ultrasound and we do plan to find out then, so I’ll share at that point. Until then, it’s all speculation! For the record, I am happy either way. A girl would be great, because it would bring *some* balance to the house. But boys are familiar at this point. And I am not a fan of guns in the house, so my husband’s promise of buying a shotgun if we have a girl kind of makes me hope for another boy…
