More Than Just A Handsome Face

Last night I was in a lot of pain.  I had done everything I knew how to do - Tylenol, walking, switching positions.... It was around midnight that I just couldn't take it any more.  There were tears and everything.  Don was up doing homework.  He heard me crying from the other room and came in to ask what was wrong.  He sat beside me and listened to my tearful rambling.  When I was done rambling and crying away he gentle began to massage the area on my very swollen belly that was so very painful.  Eventually he was able to gently move Rebekah and give me some much needed relief.  He helped me get back to bed and I was finally able to go to sleep. 

What a wonderful man I married.  

All this and he's nice to look at too.  Sometimes I wonder how I ever managed it....

This, That, and the other thing

Hey friends and family!  It's me again!  Little Baby Girl Walker.  Mom and daddy have named me you know.  They keep saying its a secret, then mom goes ahead and calls me by my name to other people.  Silly lady.... So allow me to introduce myself: I'm Rebekah WillaMay Walker.  Rebekah is after Rebekah in the bible, Willa is after mom's daddy William, and May is grandma Walker's middle name and also great grandma Barney's middle name.  So, there's a lot to live up to with my name, but don't worry, I've got good genes.  I'm up for the challenge.

Speaking of good genes, mama checked out my size at the last sonogram.  I'm in the 71st percentile!  4 pounds, 14 ounces - give or take, the nurse said.  Woo Hoo!  Look at me!  Mama told this to daddy and suggested they start looking at basketball camps.  Daddy said he was starting to get his "hoops" up.  Silly daddy.... Mama is also afraid that I'll be taller then her by the time I'm 7.  One can only hope.  :D

Actually, mama was concerned about my size.  Dr. says that I look good an healthy and she has no concerns.  Mama asked, "is that because YOU don't have to get the baby out...?" and the doctor just laughed.  Silly mama...

But look at THIS:  

Remember when I was this small?  

And, take a look at me now!  Here's my profile:

Here's my sweet little face:  (I keep telling mama that there's no room in here.  Now she has the picture to prove it!)

And look!  Hair!  (the arrows are pointing to my hair on the back of my head)

True, right now it looks a little like Uncle Spencer's hair line, but I have high hopes for the future...

So, that was "THIS."  Let's move on to "THAT."

Look at THAT which mama made!

 Daddy picked out the colors.  He's really good at that.  

But don't tell him... I'm pretty sure he wouldn't take that as a manly trait.  

She also made this:

They both need some buttons, 

but mama's hoping to choose them with grandma Walker when she comes out to stay.

 And daddy's friends from Mississippi, Dan and Sherry Willis got me all this!

Gonna be the best dressed baby anywhere!  I can't wait!  Thanks guys!

So what did I forget...  Oh yeah... The Other Thing:

Mama had a birthday.  The big 36!  She's old....   

She asked for some slippers.  These are the old ones:

Look at the nice new ones daddy found for her.

We love Costco! 

 But more importantly, we love DADDY!

He also got mama's FAVORITE chocolate:

SOOO good!  

When she eats one I like to kick to tell her she should eat more, 

but it usually doesn't work.

Daddy also bought mama a good birthday dinner.  He went to Red Lobster (a GREAT sacrifice for him seeing that he does NOT like seafood) and got her coconut shrimp.  Mmmm... SO good!

Grandma Walker bought her some much needed maternity clothes.  Daddy suggested mama get a sweatshirt that will be able to cover me when it gets colder.  Good call daddy.  She's already using it.

Grandma Walker also got her two other shirts that mama refuses to put in picture.  They are so big!  The dr. says mama will grow another 9 cm round.  Not much fits her anymore.  Someone suggested she wear daddy's clothes, but even they are not big enough... I'm sure I'm gonna hear about this one day....

Grandma Stirland got mama these:

Two of these books were suggested by mama's really good friend and who I lovingly refer to as Aunt Courtney.  I hear she makes good brownies.  Can't wait to test them out!

And finally, keeping with tradition, daddy bought mama a birthday plant:

And, yes, mama says the plants daddy got her last year for her birthday are still alive.  

She has high hopes for this one as well.  

Now, this wasn't a birthday present, but grandma gave this to mama the last time we saw her.  All the Stirland kids together!  It's from the wedding.  When grandma Walker gave it to mama, it made cry.  (She does that a lot you know.  She likes to blame the pregnancy, but I think she's just a sappy person in general.  Let's hope it's not genetic.)  

She LOVES the picture!

(Oh, and daddy says the yellow M&M can stand in honor of Uncle Michael....)  

Mama wants me to be sure to say thanks for all the gifts and birthday wishes and thoughts.  She sure feels spoiled.

Well, I think I covered This, That and The Other Thing.  It's time mama feed me.  Bye for now....

How could I forget....

GENE'S ROOTBEER!!

This is a place that Don grew up with.  Don's dad use to take him here all the time.  

As you can see, it does great business.  Apparently it's seasonal though.  Stop here in the winter time and you can purchase your Christmas Tree!  It has quite a big facebook following as well.  People who lived in Anderson, Indiana and moved away always come back to Gene's Rootbeer when they are in town.

Don't worry, this isn't all for Don.  I'm here too, with Paul and Mom Walker in the back seat.

Mmmm.... good food.  :D

Ode to a Pregnant Belly

Early this month I wrote the following:

Enormous and Large, all stretched out of wac
Just like I ate a ginormous Big Mac
But it's not 'cause of food or something I ate
That made my poor belly gain so much weight
It moves and it shakes, pokes high and pokes low
Sometimes it's like that Alien show
But it's for a good cause: a baby! How neat!
I'm hungry again... must be time to go eat....


To which my brother Michael replied:

I'm certainly glad that some time in November
You will be adding a new family member
My advice while you wait for your baby to come
Is do what I do: pat your gut like a drum


Got to love family poetry....

First Hurricane

Hi, it's me again.  Little baby girl Walker.  Mama and Daddy do think they have my name down but they don't want to spoil the surprise....

I wanted to tell you about my first hurricane: Irene.

First, there was wind.

Then there was rain.

Then there was more wind.

I was really nervous and started moving around in mama's belly a lot, but daddy said it was okay so I tried not to worry too much.  The hurricane was suppose to hit Sunday morning around 3 am.  Mom gets really tired these days so daddy sent us to bed (I wanted to stay up... Sheesh...) and he stayed up to watch the alerts and make sure everything remained okay.  He takes such good care of us.

The wind was still blowing when mama got up at 7 am.  It was pretty strong.

Power went out about 11 am.  That's when the news said "the eye" was suppose to be over us.

The wind remained really strong until about 3 or 4 pm.  Then it went to a calmer wind in the evening.

A few days later, mama took some pictures of the damage around the apartment complex.

This is a tree that came down right as you drive into the complex:

Pretty big winds to blow down a big tree like that....

Another downed tree.  If you look close, you can see the stump and how it pulled the grass away from the curb.  The clean up crew already started breaking down the branches on this one:

Another downed branch (and daddy's truck in the background):

Another downed branch and the limb where it broke:

The power was out from Sunday evening on.  We ended up taking our frozen food supply over to a ward members home who had power.  We had bought ice but not enough:  it was basically melted by Monday evening.  Besides the lack of fridge privileges, being without power wasn't so bad.  Daddy came home one night with books!

Three for me:

And only one for mama....  (but I did my best to persuade mama it was okay 'cause her one book was much bigger then my three...)

Actually, mama says Charles Dickens is one of her favorite authors 

and she is really looking forward to reading this book.  She was very excited to get it.

One book daddy bought for me was his favorite book: "Go Dog Go."   Mama read this to me that night.  She got to this page and she turned to daddy and said, "Getting up that tree must have been RUFF" (get it?  'cause of all the dogs in the tree...?) Daddy tried his best not to show mama how funny she was, but she knew.

On Wednesday mama did her best to find more ice so I could have some milk and eggs and other good things again.  She came up empty handed.  When daddy got home, mama was very discouraged.  The power outage was rumored to last until Friday, possibly as long as Monday!  So, daddy went out and found ice.  He came home with 3 big bags and milk and eggs and other good things.  My daddy can do ANYTHING!  (But don't bring that up with mama.  She spent all day and went to two different stores with no luck and daddy was able to get it in less then 30 minutes....)  

We all went to bed that night and were tucked in, almost asleep (it was about 11 pm), when mama heard a click, then a light flashed.  You could hear cheers coming from outside.  The power was back on!  Daddy was so excited he got up and turned lights on just 'cause he could.

And that, my friends and family, was my first hurricane.