36 Weeks

So here I am at 36 weeks...big, tired, and ready to pop!

A Brief Update

I am now 35 1/2 (every little bit counts!) weeks along and I had another check up today. The baby is still head down and ready to go. I'm also 1 cm. dialated. Of course I know this doesn't mean anything, since last time I got my hopes up in vain. Peyton's doctor told me, "Oh, I think you'll go early, blah blah blah". Yeah right. So, this time I know better, but it does mean that there's a baby in there who is GOING to come out and that my body is slowly preparing this exit. YEA!!!

A Picky Eater

Peyton used to be the best eater. She would try anything and eat everything...avocados, asparagus, sweet potatoes, potatoes, meat, etc. As she quickly approaches two, she has become so picky! For example, she won't touch meat, but give her cherry tomatoes and she eats them like candy. She won't eat mashed potatoes or potato wedges, but give her a bowl of green peas, and she will eat them like M &M's. For supper last night, I fixed crescent rolls and chicken and fried squash. She wouldn't touch the chicken dish, but she gobbled up the squash. So maybe I've just got a vegetarian. I try to get her some protein through peanut butter and beans because she will eat peanut butter sandwiches and she LOVES beans of any kind. But it's so baffling to me, because I LOVE meat. I'm the one who will order the steak at the restaurant while Arnold gets the chicken (well, sometimes). But she used to would at least try meat and other foods. Oh, and if we go out to eat now or to someones house to eat, she won't touch anything. Maybe she's too distracted, or like I said earlier, maybe it's just a two year old trait. I want her to be exposed to a variety of foods, so I guess I just need to keep trying. How did you (do you) get your child to eat?

Sweets

I am normally a sweet-a-holic. I LOVE sweets and any kind! Cakes, pies, candy, cookies, etc., I'll eat it all. I have always loved sweets. When I was little, I remember that I liked looking at my little books that had pictures of cakes in them, like my little book that had a boy whose mom cooked a bunch of goodies or my Dick and Jane book where they went to the candy shop (By the way, why don't we have candy stores anymore???). I don't feel like my meal is complete unless I've had something sweet to eat, regardless of how full I am. Well, apparently this gene runs in the family, because Janna, my sister who is staying with us this summer, always wants something sweet to eat too. But since Arnold doesn't really enjoy homemade sweets, I don't generally make too many desserts. NOT THIS SUMMER! I have made Cake Balls, no telling how many batches of cookies, a Red Velvet cake (that I screwed up and had to throw away), Chocolate Delight, Hershey Bar Cake, Chocolate Chip Cake, and two batches of brownies (one that had icing, and one that we threw icecream and hot fudge on top of). This is also not including all the boxes of Debbie Cakes, Chips Ahoy, and Oreos that we've devoured. Maybe this isn't a lot to you, but I'm averaging almost a new dessert every week, and Arnold usually only eats one piece and leaves the rest to me and Janna. I guess my excuse is that I'm pregnant??? Well, not really, because I have always loved sweets and now that Janna is here, it gives me a sweets buddy to encourage me. How about you? Do you love sweets? What are your favorites?

Red Lights

Do you see the shiny, gold Buick behind the bright yellow school bus? Yeah, that's Arnold in that classy Buick boldly running a BIG HUGE RED LIGHT.













And here is Arnold a few seconds later. Jefferson and Orleans parishes have set up cameras at some intersections when you run a red light or speed. It instantly takes several color pictures and a video of your offense. Then they send you the color pictures in the mail with a nice ticket of $110.
Now in Arnold's defense he couldn't see that the light had changed because the bus clearly ran the red light too. But he did admit to being on his cell phone, so he probably wasn't paying as much attention as he should have been! Either way, Merry Christmas Arnold! I hope you enjoyed your present early! ;)

Recipe

The other day I fixed a chicken casserole and had a lot of chicken left over, so I decided to make this recipe. To my surprise, it was really good (you never know what you're going to get with a new recipe...and while I was making it Arnold was like, "It has yogurt in it???") Anyway, below is the recipe. Hope you enjoy it too! By the way, it's really quick and easy, and I even tripled the recipe because I had so much chicken.

Chicken Salad Croissants
2 c. cubed chicken
12 seedless red or green grapes, halved ( I used red)
1 medium apple, chopped
1/2 c. mayo
1/3 c. chopped walnuts, toasted
1/4 c. plain yogurt
3 T. cider vinegar
1/8 t. salt
dash pepper
16 mini. croissants split

Combine ingredients and spoon into croissants.

A Brief Update

A Brief Update: Yesterday I had another ultrasound for baby no name. Everything is looking good. She weighs a whopping 4 1/2 pounds, which is a medium size. She is in the head down position, way down there, and ready to go...hopefully sooner than later. And what is amazing is that she held up a sign that said, "I love you mommy and daddy!" Wow! We have a cool child.

Sundays

Do Sundays wear anyone else out? I'm not sure why, but I ALWAYS want/desperately need a nap on Sunday afternoons. Pregnant or not, I still need that Sunday nap. Even in college, when I started taking naps for the first time, I always needed that Sunday nap. What is it about Sundays that make you so worn out?

Some Things Going On

Some things going on at our house lately:

1. Peyton repeats everything you say now. I am learning that you have to watch what you say, because she keeps saying, "Gosh" and I never purposefully taught her to say that. She's also giving sweet kisses, but then she wants you to kiss her stuffed monkey fifty times.

2. Me and Janna have watched every movie known to man this summer. Right now, we're making our way through Australia with Nicole Kidman. I only have about an hour a night to watch a movie, so we watch a little bit at a time if it's a long one.

3. Janna has been a big help...unloading the dishwasher and loading it, helping me with laundry, picking up toys, and yet the apt. is still a huge gigantic mess. How does this happen?

4. Next week I'm having another ultrasound so the doc can check the baby's weight. I am excited about seeing little nameless baby again.

5. Speaking of the baby, why must she do belly gymnastics at 1 in the morning and 3 in the morning? And I don't enjoy her having hiccups for twenty minutes at 1:30am. Looks like we may have a little night owl on our hands.

6. Can anyone else believe that we are almost to the middle of July? I am so sad that the summer is flying by. I LOVE summertime.

A Comparison

I don't know about you, but I am absolutely sick and tired of all the coverage on Michael Jackson. You may disagree with me. I know he was a great singer, entertainer, dancer, etc., but he is in the news, magazines, newspapers, and internet 24/7, and every little detail. Enough already! This Thursday, he will have been dead two weeks, and yet we still can't stop hearing about him. He had some great songs, and I will admit to owning a greatest hits album, but he was also extremely weird, a possible pedophile(whether you think he was or not, his "sleepovers" with young boys were odd), and probably on some type of prescription drugs when he died. Not to mention the fact that he mutilated his body with plastic surgery and looked anoxeric and just sick. I think he probably was sick, emotionally, physically, etc. But most of all, he just needed Christ! Compare him to this...

Arnold's grandmother Susana (and I wish I had a picture of her on the computer to show) passed away a few days ago, July 3rd. She was 99 years old. This beautiful little lady died while her family was around her singing hymns and praying. She was married for many years to Arnulfo Lopez(whom Arnold is named after...Arnulfo is the Spanish translation of Arnold), and they were missionaries in Mexico with the Foreign Mission Board (IMB). They served there and also served in several churches throughout Texas. Susana had ten kids (all girls, except for one boy...#9!), and loved planting flowers and taking care of her yard, singing hymns, and praising the Lord. In fact, when we visited her in 2006, we all gathered around her bed and sang hymns while she lifted her frail little hands to praise the Lord. I didn't get to know her very well because of distance, but I do know that she loved the Lord and served Him for many years. What a beautiful picture of a godly life that was filled with hope, peace, and promise of the life to come. We definitely know that she is now in heaven and still praising the Lord!

I think we're safe to assume that Michael Jackson was probably not a Christian (his family are Jehovah's Witnesses). If anything, his life, from my point of view, was a tragic display of emptiness, heartache, and void of any true peace and joy. It is sad to think of how he might be suffering now, though people on earth are still praising him like they would an idol. And then you have Susana who has received no outpouring of support, sympathy, and grief from millions of people all over the world. No one is passing out with the news of her death. The Today show has not reported her death for two straight weeks. And no one is paying thousands of dollars to Ebay for a ticket to her memorial service. But today they are celebrating her life at a little funeral home in Texas, and the life she now has with Christ for eternity. Could anything compare to this?

If you haven't heard already, the serial killer that was terrorizing Gaffney and the rest of SC and NC was shot by police yesterday. It's nice to know that he won't be terrorizing the whole town anymore! I was praying that this guy would get caught, as I'm sure many others were too. We can thank God for this!

My Hometown

Gaffney, SC, my hometown has always been famous for one thing....



The Peach...a huge water tower that sits right on the interstate.

Now, my poor little hometown is infamous for a serial killer that is terrorizing the whole town! Have you seen the headlines? It's been on local, state, and national news. I saw a five minute clip this morning on the Today show. He's murdered five people in a week, and no one knows who he is. They seem to not have any leads either. Please pray that this man gets caught!