Closing Today & My Progress

Well, the day has finally arrived. We are closing on our house today. I have the cashier's check in my purse, and we are all set. We're meeting Sabra, our realtor, for lunch, then to do the walk thru, and then on to the attorney's office ( I think) where we close. This should definitely make things a lot more real. I have mixed feelings about all of this - good feelings for sure, but mixed. One, I am glad to be closing today. I am already tired of us having to make this drive on the weekends - it makes it feel like we don't even have a weekend. So...it feels like I work all week, then we travel all weekend, then I work again all week and we just do it all over again. Even though my commute to work will be significantly longer, at least when I have a day "off", it will truly be a day off. Secondly, I think the next couple of weeks are going to be a lot of chaos. Trying to get our stuff moved a few days at a time, then the big move in a couple of weeks - just feels like a lot of work...and mainly a lot of chaos. I will be thankful when we are moved in and settled with all our stuff (can you believe I'm saying this and we haven't even closed on the house yet....I need some patience!). Third, I am super excited to move in because our house is BEAUTIFUL, and a huge blessing from the Lord. I can't wait to live there and start this new phase. Fourth (and this is the last thing), I think the actual move out of our townhouse here in Woodstock is going to be a really hard thing, emotionally, for me. I've already left FBCW, which was also really hard, but I still drive by the church almost everyday and am still in familiar surroundings of what has been my "home". I think this move in a couple of weeks will be a final "tear away" from the safety of Woodstock, and mind you, I know we are super close, so I'm not being dramatic. I'm just saying...this is truly a new step. It's always been hard for me to leave houses we lived in - except Slidell, of course. Anyway, these are all my thoughts for today on the closing. Mainly, I'm just overwhelmed with thankfulness of how sovereign God is and how we waited and waited for what seemed like forever....and look here we are. And look how good it is.

Alright, in other news. I've decided to start taking my picture once a week (uh, with my clothes on - I'm not into pictures of my real body like some people are during pregnancy) so I can track my progress. So....here was last Friday, so in the middle of Week 16.
And, here's this morning. In the middle of Week 17. Okay, and my face is like crazy white in this picture. I know, I know, I am crazy white, but I think in the picture above, it was daylight outside, and Landon didn't turn on the flash. I think better with no flash...for sure. I don't know why I look bigger last week - I think it's because my sweater was tighter. And, I don't know why I have on green both times - two Fridays in a row. Funny.

I'm definitely getting bigger, which is very, very weird, but I'm very, very thankful! You can thank me for not putting my real body on this blog :) You will NEVER see that on here....don't worry.

Baby Frymire Update

I haven't had time to post since yesterday's appointment - you know, blah blah, our life is crazy, the usual excuses. I actually had a work dinner last night that Landon and I went to, so we seriously were out until kind of late. On to the dr. appt....

The doctor says everything is great. We did not do an ultrasound yesterday, but we did get to hear the heartbeat, thank goodness! I was so relieved. It was amazing how much louder it was this month than last month. Last month I had to listen and pay attention to hear the baby's heartbeat over my own. This month, I didn't even hear my own heartbeat - I only heard the baby's. It sounded louder, and that was exciting. The doctor said it was a strong heartbeat...and fast...he said, "This is a girl." I said, "You think it's a girl??" He said, "Well, don't paint the room yet." But, yes, his thought was that it's a girl because of the faster heartbeat. We'll see though...I can't wait to know for sure! It feels like he/she knows something we don't, and I just want to know too! I am 17 weeks today, and the Baby center stuff says more cartilage is turning into bone, the baby can move his/her joints, and sweat glands are developing. Also, it says hearing is developing now - exciting. So...next appointment is in one month, at the end of February. That's the update!

In other news, well, we don't really have any other news. I actually cut the tag off one of the pairs of maternity pants I bought after my appointment went well yesterday, so that's progress. I thought about what my friend said about getting the Doppler machine at my house, but I'm way too much of a maniac to do that, I'm afraid. I wouldn't do it right and wouldn't be able to hear it....and then I'd be freaking out!! I think it's probably best done at the dr. office - but that's only because I am such a panicky person!

Landon is doing a GREAT job (if I do say so myself). I am so excited for everything that's happening! We close on the house on Friday, so we are super excited about that. I have a bunch of lists started - one list of Thank you notes for Bethabra members (they gave us an AWESOME reception on Sunday for lunch and helped us with Lowe's gift cards so we can better afford to put blinds in our new house!), a list of things to cut off, a list of things to set up, a list of things to check on, and a list of places we'll need to do address changes. Yikes. It is a lot to think about. But, I've got it written down, so it's under control!

Dinner Last Night

So, Landon had church last night and didn't get home until late. I haven't been going with him yet to our new church on Wednesday nights - it's just too far for me to drive after work and then get home so late...only to get up the next morning so early and go to work again. I'm pretty tired a lot of the time, so we decided that until we get moved over, I'll sit out for Wednesday evenings. There is a dilemma for me though on any night I am home alone. I am tired....but I am HUNGRY. I always want to eat something! I had eaten at IHOP yesterday for lunch (which by the way, I did NOT get sick - thank goodness), so I knew it would be good if I had something more "stable" like for dinner - some chicken maybe or something like that. I ran by Publix on the way home from carpool and picked up a few things - including some chicken cutlets. Now, I was trying to eat something fairly healthy. I didn't know how I was going to bake the chicken, but I've tried to bake healthy chicken enough times to know that just putting some seasoning on it is BLAH, not great to me - this is when I have cooked it, anyway. I was flipping through my own personal recipe book last night (a binder with plastic pages with recipes I like in it) and came across this one. I must've pulled it out of a magazine, and it's one of those Campbell soup recipes. I decided to make it. I mean, anything that says the preparation is 5 minutes, I am all about. And, it really was 5 minutes - no lie.
So, here's my creation when I pulled it out of the oven. You add cheese last, and let me just tell you, I love some cheese - so I know I probably put a little more than the recipe intended. And, I LOVE rice. I think I could eat rice every single day. I took 4 pictures of this sitting on the stove, and each time, I thought the food looked gross. I just want to tell you - it wasn't gross, okay? It was excellent!

Here's my plate, below, ready to eat - until I realized that I wanted to have some salad too, so I threw some lettuce on the place with the corn and chicken and rice.

I will definitely have this again, and I'm pretty excited about eating it for leftovers. Guess what? Landon and I are HOME together tonight. What are we going to do? My ideal evening would be...either eat out together and then come home and watch all the American Idol shows from this week or eat our leftovers (which I'm not so sure Landon will be wild about...especially if he sees these pictures), and then watch the American Idol shows from this week.

And, let me just tell you this too. I am really struggling about my clothes right now. I have a few maternity clothes, so I have on a maternity shirt today - it's just weird. It's still too big, so it looks funny, but my other shirts are getting too short. I'm feeling some shopping come on - I know that eventually I will have to buy more clothes... my next dr. appt. is next Tuesday - we'll hopefully hear the heartbeat again, but no ultrasound. Please pray I will be calm and feel good about things...I guess because the appt. is getting so close, I'm getting worried - I can't wait to hear our baby's heartbeat in there!

New Friends and Random Other Stuff

Finally! We took a picture of the sign! Isn't this exciting? I don't have time for a long post today, but just wanted to put a few pictures up. Here's the church sign above!
This past weekend we stayed with our new friends Jason and Jeanette - they were AWESOME!! It's such a commitment to keep Landon and me for the weekend because we eat with you on Saturday night, eat with you on Sunday morning, THEN come BACK to your house after church Sunday and eat with you and stay til night church - yikes, that's a lot! Jason and Jeanette were SO GREAT. They cooked meatloaf and potatoes and green beans on Saturday night, then breakfast casserole on Sunday morning with blueberry muffins and strawberries, and then we had chili on Sunday afternoon after church. I wanted to show you how thoughtful they were though - look what I found when I got upstairs to our bed Saturday evening...

A sweet welcome sign with our name on it and chocolate! And...

Water bottles and towels and Dove soap in a pretty basket, a sweet gift for me with Babywise, some lotion, and a notepad, and then a bunch of books Jeanette thought I might like to borrow about baby stuff. They were so thoughtful. I'll tell you - we have not encountered ONE PERSON at our new church who has not been out of the way kind and generous to us. I know they're not going to like us this much forever - but we sure do love everyone - we have felt so special!

BTW, I ate at IHOP for lunch today, and on the way out, we realized they have a 72 health rating. This is not good friends - almost at the "shut you down" point. I don't know if I'll be alive tomorrow....I'll report back.

Oh, and BTW again, Landon did another great job this past Sunday. I am so proud of him!

Oh, and one more thing. Kristy went with me last night to our new house to see how we're going to decorate it - it was so much fun!!! I know we can't buy much, but there are a couple of things we're going to need to get, and she is like a major pro with that tape measure. I can't wait until we get moved in. Last night was the first time I've been there when heat was on, so you actually wanted to stay in the house and look around and not run back out to the warm car. I'm pretty excited about it....(if you couldn't tell)...

The First Sunday

Okay...update with no pictures (because I keep forgetting to ask Landon to take the camera to work with him and take a picture of the church sign). I know the question must be burning in your mind....

HOW WAS LANDON'S FIRST SUNDAY???

Well, let me tell you - it was FANTASTIC!! He did such a great job! I am crazy proud of him! We drove over to Hoschton on Saturday night and spent the night with Mrs. Carolyn and her husband, Gerald. They made GREAT meals for us and Landon's favorite cookies....they even wanted us to park our car in THEIR garage and gave Landon the remote control. Is that ridiculous or what?? They have been so kind to us - I don't even have anything to say how much I can't believe it. So, after spending the night Saturday night, we headed to church Sunday morning. We had a really good time in Sunday School, and then so enjoyed the church service. I love that song Alive, Forever, Amen, and the choir sang it to open the service. Landon and I had to sing along, of course, so I'm sure we looked crazy - but we don't care. Landon preached, and I thought he did such a great job. Not because he was Billy Graham or something, but just because of his heart - and passion - and he seemed really comfortable once he got up there and got started. He told them about the baby at the end of the service, and they seemed excited for us. Landon was SO TIRED Sunday night - I have rarely, if ever, seen him that exhausted. I think it's more of a mental exhaustion (and some a physical one) from just having such a full day. And, I think it will help a lot when we get moved over there and aren't driving back and forth so much. Anyway, everyone was so kind to us, and we enjoyed (especially me since I hadn't seen a lot of the people in a longer time than Landon) just enjoyed getting to see everyone again! I had not been there since the beginning of December when we went in view of a call. So...again, let me just say, I know we are in a honeymoon period. I know we are not perfect...and if they don't realize now...they'll realize soon. I just feel like this is so what our purpose is.

BTW: I am cooking this broccoli chicken casserole tonight for dinner that I am very excited about. I'll try to remember to report back and post the recipe if it ends up being good. If it's sick...you will hear no more about it. AND, I'm hoping we are going to play Super Mario Wii tonight!! I'm excited about us being home together tonight.

A Baby Changes Everything

I’ve waited quite a while to share some exciting news with the blog world. I am having a baby! I know, I know. If you know Landon and me, you probably thought this would never happen. I don’t think this will be a shock to many of you who read our blog because we’ve tried to tell our close friends and family in person and by email. We gave the news to our new church yesterday, so we’re finally ready to post it on the blog. We are having a baby. Exciting and scary. I just finished the first trimester and am about to start Week 15. While I know that the first trimester is over, and that's a big relief, I still know that every single day God allows me to carry this baby, it's a miracle, and I don't take it for granted. I know that at any point something could happen, and you know I'm a worrier, so I'm trying to remember that God is in control. I would like to have waited until I had a healthy baby to show everyone before I told a soul, but uh, I know it doesn't work like that. I'm very excited, but I'm also afraid (this is my brokenness, you know). It's so overwhelming to think about what to share, so let me take you back to the beginning….and just know….this is going to be a very long post, friends…


I woke up Sunday morning, November 1, and decided to take the plunge (aka the pregnancy test). I knew something was up, but I just didn’t know what. I felt gross and yuck, but I just thought that was normal stuff. It’s funny because I just didn’t want to be disappointed…but then again, I wanted to know what was up. So, I took it. Well, I was completely shocked when it said “Pregnant”. It’s crazy because we’ve tried our entire marriage to prevent having children and then finally when we decide to try to have one…it’s like you just have no idea if it’s going to work or not. Landon was at work that morning so I just tried to do like normal and get ready for Sunday School – in the midst of shaking and saying to myself, “I’m way too crazy to be a mother!” When I got to church, no one was in our Sunday School class yet. I thought I might try to wait until later in the day to tell Landon because I didn’t want him to be distracted during class, but dude, I could not wait. I needed to tell someone this new news. So, I walked up to the podium where he was standing looking at the lesson…and said something like, “Well, it worked.” And, he was like, “What worked?” I was like, “We got one. We got a baby.” And then he said, “We need to sit down.” So, I can’t really remember exactly what our conversation was like that morning sitting in the front row of our class. We both were shocked (we apparently didn’t know what caused this), and just needed some time to let the idea sink in. It just seemed totally unreal. We were happy – happy that it worked – happy that God blessed us like this – but still shocked. I had a wedding shower to host that afternoon, so Landon and I did not really talk again until about 5pm Sunday. He said, “Let’s go out to eat so we can talk about this.” We do our best talking when we go out to eat. We headed to Longhorn. Basically, at Longhorn, Landon decided I should take another test so that he could read the instructions, control the taking of the test, and look at the results. We went to Wal-Mart and bought another test – a different brand than I had taken that morning. Well, right away when I got home and took the test…it was a +. That was Day 1.

Now, I guess, since I'm almost at Week 15, I am about Day 105 :) About 2 months ago we went for the 9 week ultrasound and got to see our baby....Here he/she is....

Now, I know you cannot tell much about this, but let me tell you - it was so neat. We could clearly see the heart beating, and where the arms and legs were starting, and you could clearly see the head. It was crazy awesome. I went back about 3 weeks ago, and didn't have an ultrasound, but we did get to hear the heartbeat. The doctor says everything is going great. I'll go back in 2 weeks and we'll hear the heartbeat again...and then the next month...we find out boy or girl. The baby is due July 7. We didn't have enough going on in July with both our birthdays and our anniversary, so we thought we'd add a baby to the festivities that month.

Ah, uncharted territory. I don’t think I realized how much this whole thing crazy affected your body. I just thought it was kind of like putting a baby doll up your shirt.

We've had a lot of changes at once. A new church, a new baby, and we're getting a new home. We just thought we'd do it all big and all at once! Because none of those things on its own is stressful at all!

You can expect lots of baby updates and news now that we are totally "out". I'll try not to give too much information that is unnecessary, but hey, we are talking about ME here.

Like I said at the beginning of the post, I am just thanking God for everyday that we get past. My tendency is fear and worry, so I'm trying to just relish in it and not worry so much. I thought the worrying would start once he/she was born! Please join us in celebrating our exciting news and please pray for a healthy baby!!!

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful

And, the fire is so delightful when Landon says we can afford to turn it on :) It snowed here last night...but not much....unfortunately. It looked like it was going to be more, but what a shock, turned out to be not as much as they thought :( The main problem today is ice, which has (wisely) kept most people at home. Here are some pictures in our neighborhood.

From out the front door of our house...

Still out the front left...

Out the back...

Out the back...

One final picture. Landon's day off is today. He had Eric over for breakfast. Landon likes his milk cold - so do I, but it's not as much of a "must" for me. I look around this morning, and Landon is putting the milk out on the deck so it can get cold....yes, I'm serious. Funny, huh?

Smoke Assassin

Ya'll, this is the most interesting thing I've ever heard on the radio. I heard it on the way home from work today. This is called the Smoke Assassin. The picture speaks for itself, but I'm not sure if you can read the words. Here's what they say:

Smoke Assassin™ is an exciting alternative.
You may now satisfy your oral fixation with our water vapor device.
Smoke Assassin™ - Featuring realistic tobacco flavor, look and feel.
No more smoke smell on your clothes, in your home or work.
Each Smoke Assassin™ Starter kit comes with 4 Filterette™ cartridges.
Each cartridge is the equivalent of smoking about a pack and a half of ordinary smokes.


I think this is the most interesting alternative to smoking I have ever seen. I'm not a smoker, but if I was, I would buy smoke assassin just because it sounds cool. Who thinks of the word "assassin"?

Frymire/Thomason Trip

I've put so many pictures on this post, that I'm not really sure if it's going to let me publish it. We'll see, I guess. You know that we are really good friends with Eric and Kelli - they are like our very favorite people! For FOREVER, Landon has been wanting to take Eric and Kelli on a trip home with us. That has been very hard to coordinate for many reasons - we are so busy, they are busy, anytime we go home we really want to spend time with our families, we don't go home that often. Well, all the stars aligned (just kidding) for us to take a trip together. We had just been home a week and half for Christmas, so we'd spent a good amount of time with our families. Landon had to go back the next week to pick up our part of the cow, and Eric and Kelli could go with us, and I was off from work because of New Year's Day. Things just fell together.

Now, perhaps before you look at the pictures, I should explain what in the world I just meant when I said "to pick up our part of the cow". And, let me just put a disclaimer before I even try to begin this story that I barely have any idea what I'm saying - so if I say things wrong...just know, I'm trying to say them correctly...I just don't know. Landon's family raises cows, and every couple of years, they butcher some of them and we all get meat from them. At first, I thought this was extremely bizarre because I didn't know anything about that - not my world, you know. And, the first year I was privileged to this experience, Landon's family actually butchered the cow themselves and cut it up and wrapped it up and all that stuff...and I helped (I think I put the tape on the packages). This was quite an experience. Since then, we have paid to have someone butcher it and cut it up and package it. This is well worth millions of dollars to me - not that it costs millions, I'm just letting you know how thankful I am that it goes to the butcher shop :) So, about every two years, they butcher a few cows. Well, this year it was 3. One for Landon's parents, One for Wendy's family (L's older sister), and one for Landon and Olivia (L's younger sister) to split (Olivia and Landon have families with no kids yet, you know). Well, the meat was ready last Saturday. So, we loaded up the Murano with us and Eric and Kelli and lots of empty coolers and headed to Crestview. We knew it would be an interesting experience for them to come with us - lots of country you know. I told them I hoped they knew us well because if someone took me out in some crazy wilderness woods, I would be afraid. They seemed to trust us though :) I totally forgot our camera, but here are some pictures Kelli gave me :)

Here's me, right as the trip is beginning. Okay, I bring snacks like water, cheezits, grapes, stuff like that. Kelli and Eric bring snacks like hot tamales, swedish fish, AND BIG LEAGUE CHEW. Excuse me, who in the world even thinks to buy big league chew anymore now that we don't go to elementary school field day? I mean, these jokers are like the coolest people I know. So, here I am, showing that I cannot believe someone has big league chew, and I can't wait to eat it.

Another piece of this story is that Krista and Matt just got married and are living at my parents' house for a while. So, they offered to stay with Matt's parents for the two nights we were there - so that Eric and Kelli and Landon and I could have beds to sleep in. I really appreciate them doing that - and I know it was a major inconvenience and not great timing on our part....but thank you, Matt and Krista!!! We found this in both of our rooms. Matt and Krista went on a cruise for their honeymoon. Look how fun! They made elephants for us!

That night, we ate at Hideaway (should have taken a picture of the pizza!) ,and then we played the game Apples to Apples. That is one fun game. Krista and Matt played with us for a while, but then they had to leave to go to Matt's family's house. Here's a picture of Mom and Dad and me and Landon. We had a great time....although I was so tired!

Then, here's a picture of us and Eric and Kelli. Don't we look like we're having fun?

Alright, so I mentioned above that I was tired. Kelli took my picture and I was making a face trying to show how tired I actually was. I know it looks crazy...but authentic.

I hesitate to put up this picture of Landon because I think it's super crazy. I just want to show that while I was sleeping, basically, Landon was full of fun and craziness and could not stop laughing. Lan, if you want me to take this one down, I will - just let me know :) I always try to show you at your best, you know. :)

The next day we headed to the Frymire's to eat GOOD lunch (I'm trying the chicken and rice tonight!!) and see the land - tour for Eric and Kelli, you know. First we went to see the cows where Eric and I asked a lot of questions and I sometimes asked the same question twice.

Here's Landon with the bull.

PawPaw's chicken house was next on the tour.

Finally, the next morning, it was time to pick up our meat. We headed to uh, was it Geneva, AL? I can't remember. I think it was though. Anyway, we headed there to pick it up. I am always interested (I mean, most of the time) in getting the full experience of things, so I went inside Nevel's when we first arrived....but I couldn't do it. The smell - I just couldn't. They had all our meat ready and were super nice.

Here are Landon and Eric...loading the meat in the car...in all the coolers. Oh yeah, the coolers that we put all our actual stuff - clothes, pillows, etc. - in on the way down - I have no idea how in the world we got back home with everything...well...minus Eric and Kelli's air mattress, that is.

And, that's it! It was a fun filled weekend - I am glad to be home though for a while. We've got a lot of excitement going on here. Landon's first day at the church was Monday, and it seems to be going great. I know he must feel overwhelmed with so many new things - but I have no doubt he's going to be an awesome pastor. I can't wait to be there on Sunday and get to see everyone! And, guess what? It's supposed to snow today! I'll update later to let you know if it actually does snow...