Guest Blogger: Uncle JJ Reporting - STATS (via blackberry) **UPDATED

8lbs 9oz
21 1/2 inches long
13 1/2 inch head circumference
4 hours of pushing!

Mom, Dad, and 'Minnie' are happy and healthy!

Guest Blogger: Uncle JJ Reporting - Saturday Afternoon Update

SHE's HERE! She's HERE! Sorry, no details yet - but as of 2:05/2:10pm this afternoon Minnie Mouse has entered this world! As far as we know, everything is good!

Stay tuned for details - Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures from our hospital visit this afternoon!

GO Country Mama MOUSE!!

Guest Blogger: "Uncle JJ" Reporting - Saturday Morning UPDATED

So... just spoke to "Husband" and here's the skinny:

No sleep for Country Mouse last night. She did get a shower this morning, during which her water broke on it's own. Now her contractions are about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes apart!

That's all the info for now. I'll try to keep you updated throughout the day as I know more!

I can be sure that Husband, Country Mouse, and "Minnie" appreciate all our prayers today!

11:45am: Country Mum just called to say that things have progressed and there will be a baby - SOON!

Guest Blogger: "Uncle JJ" Reporting - IT's TIME...

... FOR MINNIE to come!

I just got a phone call and it has BEGUN! She is at the hospital now and has been told that she is NOT leaving until the baby comes! They are starting induction tonight, "slowly", so she isn't expecting anything this evening. Currently mom and baby are not at any risk (minus the low blood sugars caused by the placenta breaking down).

Stay TUNED!!!!

Minnie's room...

The inspiration...

The before...



The after...come on into "Minnie's" Room...see Jack there on the floor? he's a family joke and has been all over the southern part of our state... including a body shop... but he's good to go now... Minnie has her very own DONKEY... What little girl doesn't want a DONKEY? :)Please note: the room is in fact NOT done... the light block shade there in the corner... ah well... I am literally OUT of time and wanted to do the big reveal before the girl herself takes over the blog :)Sorry the pics are twisted but I thought you might like to see how MANY clothes girlfriend really DOES have in her dresser...I couldn't get the pictures to straighten out.. ggrrrand here on the other side of the room... another blue piece of furniture...that is housing all the books she has been given. The majority of them by Glory and her family :) thank you very much Glory! :) (the crazy, scary, humidity breathing dragon... that's from Mama H :) Thank you very much Mama H for the scary toy :) BAH! :)and in the closet... oh yes... yet ANOTHER dresser filled with clothes, plus everything that is hung up ready to be worn.. :)ah... snuggle time... and there is no froofy, princessy, girly-girl for my crunchy hippy chick :) How do you LOVE the quilt that MIL made!?!?!?!? :) 32 different patterns of material and NONE of it matches :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE it :) So bohemiam hippy crunchy! :)but I guess... let's be real.... for the first few weeks... we'll be lucky to get her to sleep just about anywhere... so her downstairs bed...and her upstairs, in our room, bed...that was Husband's father's and all the neices and nephews before Minnie... I LOVE HAND-ME-DOWNS with history! :) I hope you didn't mind the wait, I think it was well worth it... much like she'll be right? :) at least that's what EVERYONE tells us! :) We can't wait! :)

Img credits: Dresser, Poster, Quilt, Poms, Nursery

Saturday... I love my redheads!

and I love that this guy came to hang out with "us girls" too :) We did some Christmas shopping and some eating and I LOVE that I got an impromptu Saturday with my girls!! :)

Can you TELL how happy Laura Jane and I are to have this girl HOME where she BELONGS? WITH US!?!?!!? :)

Thank YOU HB for all YOUR spoiling for Husband, Minnie and I and I can't WAIT until you come down and hold her so I can SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP! :) That's how that works right!?!? :)

Friday ~ A Baby Shower for HUSBAND :)

I think it was TIME that Husband got some of the spoiling that has been going on in MY world for the last 9 months... :) His co-workers and 88 kids at school threw him a SURPRISE shower and as you can tell he's shocked!? :) Ok, he MIGHT have figured it out but in his words... "the kids were GREAT at keeping the secret... it was the TEACHERS who blew it!" :)

all the kids went in on this little pull behind sled for Minnie to use next winter... I ABSOLUTELY love it and I am already wondering if maybe JJ and J want to try it out with the boys this year... would make SUCH a cute pic!!! :) it is adorable!!! It will also be perfect for her to haul her OWN gear out onto the ice when her Daddy takes her frozen water fishing :)

His team of teachers went in on this Radio Flyer rocking....Moose? Reindeer? Hrrmm... your guess is as good as ours :) But we don't care... it has antlers and that's all that matters in THIS house :)

The entire staff at his school also went in on a G.C. for us to BRU so Minnie will have a carseat when she out grows the "bucket" she'll be in until she's 22lbs... and hrrmm... guess we'll find out how close she already IS to that 22lbs....

SPOILED... SPOILED I tell yah... :) and sooo soooo thankful!!!

Sunshine Family

How do I EVEN say "Thank You" in enough ways to this family and ESPECIALLY the Momma!

On Friday night they showed up with a HUGE vat of Mac 'n Cheese and salad for us to all enjoy together for dinner... and I think an even BIGGER pan of homemade cinnamon rolls for dessert (WOW WERE THEY AMAZING!!) Not to MENTION calzones for our freezer to enjoy AFTER Minnie gets here

Momma S is very free and willing to be honest and share tips and tricks of mothering with me AND on Sunday AM after church the girl was (in a skirt no less) climbing around the back of my Scooby to install the carseat base for us and make sure that Minnie is NOT going ANYWHERE once she is buckled into that "bucket" :)

Oh how we are BLESSED with our "new" and quickly becoming dear OLD :) friends. Thank you just doesn't even CUT it Sunshine Family! We love you lots and are SO thankful for you!!!
*img credit from Momma S's private blog :) we didn't take any pics on Friday night, I think we were too busy chatting and hanging out :) not a bad thing :)

I'm dreaming of a....

Don't get me wrong... I do NOT want to just skip right over Thanksgiving. It is (other than my birthday :)) my ALL time favorite holiday...

and Husband and I also have tried to implement the NO PRESENTS FOR MINNIE THIS YEAR THE GIRL NEEDS NOTHING....

but... how cute is THIS for NEXT year? :) Oh.My.Goodness. I love me some "Little People" and I LOVE my own nativity so I can only hope she would love to play with one too... *img credit

9 Months Ago...

"Technically" seven months ago... on April 3, 2009 I didn't blog about what we did that night... I blogged about what we'd done a few nights before that (come on, you all love the pics of MuffinMan!) But what ACTUALLY happened that night... was this....

We had invited J.T. and The Dude over for MEXICAN :) We love hanging out with these two and we LOVE Mexican :) When we get together with this couple there is NO shortage in conversation. We all end up talking over each other at dinner and just having the BEST time. We all just genuinely love chit chatting and look forward to our time together SO much.

Well, Husband and I had found out just DAYS before that we were UNEXPECTEDLY EXPECTING :) and were over the moon! We had not told ANYONE. NO ONE. Nor did we PLAN on telling anyone... we wanted to make sure that things were ok and we def. wanted to make sure we got a confirming U/S which was scheduled for early that next week...

Husband and I schemed about my beverage of choice (there were no margaritas) so that I could already be sipping on something before they got there (water I think? :) and when J.T. came in I apologized for no margaritas with the Mexican but told her I had wine if she would like a glass... she looked at me and said...

"um... I'm actually not going to drink... for the next 9 months or so..." :)

I caught on IMMEDIATELY and started yelling and hugging her and the exact words out my mouth were "you have NO IDEA how HAPPY I AM!" :)

and then it got quiet... I was trying to talk in body language and CODE to Husband to get him to agree to tell our friends without J.T. and the Dude figuring out what was going on. I was kicking him under the table I was ALL CONSUMED with wanting to tell them OUR NEWS. Husband kept responding with "it's up to you"... uh... NO IT ISN'T!!!

Dinner was AWKWARD to say the LEAST! It was quiet, tense, and stressful. J.T. and The Dude knew what we had been going through for the past year and 1/2 to try and get PG and she was thinking that I was upset and sad (of course!) even though she knew that I was happy for them!

After dinner, that literally we just barely managed through, Husband helped me clear the dinner table and I caught a quiet word with him at the sink. He said, "it's ok. we can" :) So I sat back down at the table and made a comment about her due date... sometime mid-November and then I can't remember exactly but I made a funny comment about twins... Then I looked at Husband and said... "Well, we should know at our U/S on Wednesday, if WE are having twins..." and I looked back at J.T. :)

She JUMPED UP from her chair, came running over to me hugging me and YELLING at me at the same time because she was SO MAD THAT WE HADN'T SAID ANYTHING right away!!!! and because dinner was SO awkward and she TOTALLY thought I was upset... uh... nope. Just trying to talk to my Husband in CODE and finally getting a definitive answer out of him...

We spent the rest of the night dreaming, chatting, and unable to believe that we were PG TOGETHER 31 years after our own mothers were PG with US at the same time.... :) It was the BEST night...

This past Tuesday night we had Mexican again... for probably the last time before ONE of us pops out a child.... we reminised about that night 7 months ago and as is the "norm" chatted non-stop all during dinner...

We have ridden an amazing journey together and I'm SO thankful for how God's timing worked it all out for us to do it for the 1st time as couples together. SO fun!

Guest Blogger: "Uncle JJ Reporting"

I think I speak for all of us when I say: "We can't WAIT until we get to see Country Mouse and Husband hold their precious "Minnie"!

What's that? Possibly less than 11 days? WAH HOOO!!!!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Party Shoes

Because I think it's worth posting...HERE

I have Beth Moore's daughter's blog listed there on my right... Her blog post today resonates with me for a few reasons... 1) I taught Sky from a very early age "modesty is beauty"

It is super cute (I think) when you ask a 2 year old... "modesty is what??" and they respond with "beauty" in their teenie tiny squeeky voice... and

2) I'm days away from my OWN daughter and I intend to teach Minnie the same thing...

Take the time... http://babybangs.blogspot.com/2009/11/future-trophy-wife.html

This Week On the Blog...

gonna be a quiet one... just giving you all a head's up... there's stuff other than BABY stuff (if you can even imagine) going on in the "Mouse House" and we need to get our minds around it... or at least try to...

3 trips to the big city for Docs and tours of hospitals are also on the agenda... seems life doesn't stop even when it seems to...

My how the body changes...

May 2008 November 11, 2009 with roughly 40lbs added on and 3 weeks from my due to HAVE A STINKIN' BABY date! :) holy COW BATMAN! :)

I found the 4lbs I put on THIS WEEK... pretty sure it is from my knees down...

18 Years Ago, This Week...

I was diagnosed with my disease... with my "thing" you could say... 18 years ago this week I was not feeling well, and had just started my freshman year of high school.... 18 years ago this week I lost 11 lbs in 2 weeks... I slept non-stop...I drank gallons and gallons of water... I couldn't make it through a 40 minute class period without going potty at least twice... and 18 years ago this week... at a Dr's appt with CountryMum the Dr said... take her immediately across the street to the hospital we are admitting her. 18 years ago this week I was in the hospital for 6 days to learn how my life was going to change...

18 years ago this week they told me to expect a CURE within 5 years... 18 years ago this week RN's showed me how to inject my 14 year old belly with needles, taught the CountryRents how to stab their child and sleep a little less soundly at night... 18 years ago this week my entire FAMILY was affected...

I did it all wrong for the first 10 years.. mostly...all wrong...and there is still no cure... don't GET me started on the conspiracy theory about how I'm making the Rx companies and medical community BOATLOADS of money off my pump supplies, insulin and test strips... but the point is...

It does not define me. I will not allow it. I love to talk about it... I love to educate people and I love to teach my nieces and nephews about it when they ask... but I will not let it consume me.

That being said... I pray everyday all day that Minnie does not have to experience it. It has always been a concern of mine (even though mine was "stress" induced) that I would pass it along to my child. Hence the reason I went so long saying I didn't want kids... I couldn't imagine doing something to my baby through my poor control or genetics that would cause them to end up with this... even though that is rarely the case...MORE often than not the babies of diabetics are just fine...

The chances are that Minnie will NOT have the disease... that she WILL be healthy and that I HAVEN'T grown a toddler (even though they think she's in the 90% for weight right now :) and I'm super proud of that... but....

she will have something... everyone does...and it is up to Husband and I to teach her to have OTHER things DEFINE her... positive things... Godly things... GOOD things... regardless of what is thrown at her or what she has to deal with.

18 years ago this week... I never thought I'd be less than 3 weeks from delivering a baby that is all mine....18 years ago this week...

You *might* be a redneck if...

Laura Jane brought wine... in a washed out milk jug. Nope. Not even kidding. :)

Just for giggles...

*img credit