Quick, before I get Sidetrack'd

For the last few weeks my BFF, Lindsey, and my wonderful SIL, Lu, have participated in Ten on Tuesday at Roots and Rings. It looks like fun, and I like this week’s questions, so I thought I would play along. (seeing as how I’m blogging semi-regularly again and all)

1. If you could open any type of store/place of business (money is no obstacle), what would you open?
A used bookstore would be an option since we don’t have a good one in our area, but the only real business idea I’ve had is for Lindsey and me to open a stroller and baby carrier “rental” company where new moms and moms-to-be could try out different kinds of carriers and strollers without having to make the financial investment that is generally involved in these purchases. We would also rent carriers and strollers for people who were traveling or only needed them for a short time for whatever reason. Our husbands laugh anytime we bring it up.

2. If all jobs paid equally, what occupation would you want? Why?
Right now I’m perfectly happy as a stay-at-home mom. At some point in the future, however, I would love to train as a lactation consultant or doula (or possibly both).

3. If you could be any animal in the world, what would you pick? Why?
I have no idea. Can’t say that I’ve ever really thought about it.

4. If offered one “service” free of charge, which would you choose? (chauffeur, maid, personal shopper, chef, etc.)
Absolutely, positively, no doubt about it, it would be a maid! I’m good with cooking, laundry, shopping, etc, but I cannot stay on top of cleaning these days (could, just possibly, have something to do with having a newborn, but still) and it’s not something I enjoy most any time.

5. What is one habit, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to break?
I actually have 2: popping my knuckles and biting my lips. I’ve tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to stop doing both

6. What is one thing that no matter how many you own, you still love to buy all the time?
If I had the money, this would definitely be baby carriers, as it stands right now, I’ve gotta say cloth diapers.

7. Out of all the game shows (past and present), which would you want to be a participant on and play?
I would love to be smart enough to be on Jeopardy.

8. If you could play the lead role in any movie that’s already been made, which movie would you pick?
ooo…I don’t know. Probably either Jo in Little Women or Elizabeth Bennett in the BBC Pride & Prejudice. I think I’m enough like both of those characters to pull it off (if I could act).

9. Name 5 things on your bucket list (things you want to do before you die).
I’ve never made a bucket list, but I would like to buy a house 100% cash down (which would only happen if we were totally debt free), see my children find their God-given purpose in life, travel Europe with Matt, move back to East TN or western NC, and drive an Audi TT turbo (6 speed manual transmission and convertible would be nice). Wow, that was much harder than I thought it would be.

10. Which one of your birthdays was the best? What did you do that day?
I can’t remember very many of my individual birthdays, but my 19th birthday is definitely pretty high on the list. That year my Mom, brother, sister-in-law, and oldest nephew (who was 9 months old at the time) came to Montgomery (where I was in college) to celebrate with me. It was the first time my family met Matt.

I saw this meme at Stephanie‘s the other day and thought it would be apropos since we are in the midst of playing the baby-name-game. It’s all about our children’s names.

1. Do you have any cultural or religious naming traditions?

Not cultural or religious. Little’s first name is just a name I’ve loved since hearing it years ago; although, after we decided on the name we found out that Matt had a great-great-aunt (or something like that) with the same name. Boo’s first name is a family name (on Matt’s side) that has been in every generation dating back to the mid- to late-1500s.

2. Did you or your partner come to the marriage with pre-selected names?

We came into the marriage both with names that we liked individually and names that we both liked; however, none of those names show up on our children’s birth certificates.

3. Did you consider the sound of the first and middle and last names together? Did this make any sad eliminations?

Oh my goodness, yes. I make a huge deal (it could possibly be called OCD) about the flow of names. The first test for any name is how it sounds with our last name. We also consider how the first and middle sound together and how the three names sound as a whole. I’m quite particular.

4. Did you have veto powers?

Veto powers are held and very frequently used by both parties.

5. Did the baby naming cause arguments?

No arguments. It just takes us a long time to name our children.

6. Do you think it is easier to name boys or girls?

Neither! We struggled with Boo’s middle name until just weeks before he was born, and the wee babe remains nameless with less than 14 weeks until her due date.

7. Did you eliminate names because of people from your past or present who you don’t like or because a certain image comes to mind.

Absolutely! We both had certain names that this applied to, but Matt seems to have a lot more negative name associations than I do (at least with names that have been tossed out there). He is also quick to point out crazy nicknames, etc that might arise from the name or initials.

8. Did you / would you survey your children to get their thoughts on the name?

Little was just barely talking when we were naming Boo, so this didn’t apply. Now Boo is just barely talking as we name the wee babe. However, we have asked Little about what she thinks we should name the wee babe – at first it was always Annabelle (with the first “a” being a long vowel sound) which we quickly dismissed; lately she either says she doesn’t know yet or she makes something up that we quickly veto.

9. Did you tell people the name or possible names before the baby was born or were they “in the vault”?

We’ve always shared our names as soon as we’ve decided on them. We also share our “short lists” because otherwise people would drive us crazy asking (many of them already think we take way to long to find a name).

10. Did you use baby name books?

We’ve looked at them with all three children, but never found them useful; every name either of us suggests the other seems to shoot down. Mostly we just make fun of the names that are in there.

Let me know if you decide to play along with this meme; I would love to read your answers.

By the way – be sure to stop in Friday for a kid/baby related product review and giveaway!

My wonderful SIL Lu has tagged me for a meme. The rules are really easy: write six things that make you really happy and tag six people.

1. Sweet baby giggles. There’s nothing like hearing my two year old or my eight month old laugh, I mean the big, belly laughs. They make me smile.

2. Great friends (and neighbors). I feel so blessed that God led us to a neighborhood with such great neighbors. My best friend lives two doors down. We have a ton in common and enjoy hanging out all the time (literally, we see each other almost every day); we also do things together as families since our hubbies get along great, too. Then I have my other good SAHM friends, and my best friend that I had to leave behind in Knoxville. I’m quite blessed in this realm.

3. Clean sheets. I love climbing into a bed made with sheets fresh from the dryer. The feel of clean sheets on my skin and the smell of dryer sheets on my pillowcase are delightful.

4. A really good book. Give me a well-written book with a great story and I could read for days on end. Books that meet my “great book” criteria aren’t all that common, but when I find one I relish it.

5. My family. God has blessed me with a wonderful husband and two great kiddos. My life would not be complete without them. Sometimes the kids make me want to pull my hair out, but they bring great joy to my life.

6. Christmas trees. I love Christmas. And my favorite of all Christmas decorations are Christmas trees. I own three (we only have one up this year because of the little man) and would keep them up year round if Matt would let me. I love the ambiance they add to the house, the beauty of the lighted branches, and the way the ornaments look. Just can’t get enough of them!

I’m not going to tag anyone, but if there is anyone still reading after my unintentional blogging sabbatical I would love for you to play along!

Barb posted this meme earlier this week; it looked like a challenge, so I thought I’d try it.  It’s based on the Scattergories game, and, let me tell ya, some of the questions were pretty difficult.

Here are the rules:

~Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following questions.
~They have to be real places, names, things; nothing made up!
~You can’t use your name for the boy/girl name question.
~Tag 5 people to play along.

1. What is your name? Jana

2. A 4 Letter Word: jolt

3. A Boy’s Name: Jason

4. A Girl’s Name: Jennifer

5. An Occupation: janitor

6. A Color: jade

7. Something you wear: jeans (my favorite cool weather attire)

8. A Beverage: juice (apple being the preferred type around here)

9. A Food: jumbalaya

10. Something found in the bathroom: john (you think of something in the bathroom that starts with “j”!)

11. A place: Java (you know, the island)

12. A Reason for being late: just plain lazy (a stretch I know; this one was hard)

13. Something you shout: Jackpot!

14. Now tag five others: if you’d like to play along I’d love to read your answers

Now it’s time for the second installment of the “Me and My Baby” meme.  Here is a portion of Boo’s life story…

Were you married at the time? Yes, we’d been married for almost 7 years when Boo was born.

What were your reactions when you found out that you were pregnant? We were a bit surprised but very excited.

How old were you? 29 when he was born.

How did you find out that you were pregnant? About two months after Little weaned, and a couple weeks after her first birthday, I began to suspect that I might be pregnant again.  There were a few days here and there where I didn’t feel all that great, and I was feeling a bit more tired than usual.  I decided to take my temperature a couple of mornings (as in FAM); the first morning it was up and I just knew that I was pregnant.  I picked up a test while I was out running errands.  When I took the test it immediately turned pink; there was no doubt it was positive.

Who did you tell first? I called Matt at work to tell him.

Did you find out the sex? But of course.

Due date? April 19.

Did you deliver early or late? A few days early.

Did you have morning sickness? Yes.  Not as quite as bad as with Little, but I threw up regularly and felt bad for most of weeks seven through sixteen.

What did you crave? Chick-Fil-A waffle fries.

Who irritated you most? I’m sure it was Little or Matt just because they are the ones I’m with the most.

What was your child’s sex? It’s a boy!

How many pounds did you gain throughout your pregnancy? About 30.

Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? So far I’ve been blessed with smooth pregnancies; no complications with this one either.  I did, however, have three stomach bugs during my pregnancy (including one the day before he was born, but that’s another story) which was not fun.

Where did you give birth? in a hospital.

How many hours were you in labor? My doc inadvertently broke my water during my weekly visit.  That was about 4:30 or 4:45 in the afternoon and he was born at 12:12 am, so about 7.5 hours.

Who drove you to the hospital? I drove myself.  I was at the doctor’s office, which is directly in front of the hospital, when my water broke.  Matt was on his way home from work (had just left the office when I called), and my mom was at my house with Little, so I was on my own.

Who watched? Matt was the only one in the room through the whole thing; my mom was there until I started pushing.

Was it vaginal or c-section? The old fashioned way again this time.

Did you take medicine to ease the pain? I was bound and determined that I was going to deliver without medication, but they started a pit drip (b/c of my water breaking) and I gave into the pain and asked for an epidural.  The epi was wearing off in a major way by the time I started pushing, so I felt much more this time around than with Little.

How much did your baby weigh? He was exactly 8 pounds.

What did you name your baby? His first name is a family name (he’s the latest in a long line) and his middle name is biblical.  We called him Boo in utero before we found out his gender and it stuck as blogging name.

How old is your baby today? He’s five months old.

I saw this meme on my SIL’s blog the other day.  I haven’t yet written out the kids’ birth stories, so I thought this would be a good way to record some of that information.

Were you married at the time? Yes, for 5 years.

What were your reactions when you found out that you were pregnant? We were so excited; we knew we were ready to add a little one to our family.  I was also a bit nervous as I think all first time moms are.

How old were you? 27 when she was born.

How did you find out that you were pregnant? I had been charting my temps (using FAM), so I knew that having a higher temp for more than 16 days probably meant I was pregnant.  I tried to wait 21 days before I took a test but only made it 18.  The first test must have been defective because it only made part of a plus, the second test registered positive almost immediately.  We found out on Nana’s (Matt’s mom) birthday.

Who did you tell first? I called Matt at work and then my best friend, Nicole.

Did you find out the sex? Yes, I think it would have driven both Matt and me crazy not to know.

Due date? August 7.

Did you deliver early or late? a week early.

Did you have morning sickness? that would be a yes.  I threw up every morning and felt terrible the rest of the day for 8 weeks.

What did you crave? pineapple pizza from Papa John’s during the first trimester, anything spicy the rest of the time.  I went through 2-3 jars of salsa per week.  I also had a major aversion to the smell of coffee until about 17 weeks; I almost threw up one night in the cereal/coffee aisle of Target.

Who irritated you most? I can’t recall one person in particular that irritated me, but I’m sure everyone irritated me at one point or another.

What was your first child’s sex? she’s a girl.

How many pounds did you gain throughout your first pregnancy? 24.

Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? not a single one, thank God.  I didn’t even have any swelling until the very end.

Where did you give birth? in a hospital.

How many hours were you in labor? my water broke at 1:45 p.m. and I hadn’t had a noticeable contraction yet.  They started a pitocin drip about 4:00 p.m. and she was born at 10:33 p.m.  So labor was just under 9 hours.

Who drove you to the hospital? Matt.  When I called him at work to tell him my water broke and he needed to come home he didn’t believe me at first; I think he was in shock.

Who watched? Matt was there the whole time and my mom made it into town about the time I started pushing, so she got to see her first granddaughter come into the world.

Was it vaginal or c-section? she came out the old fashioned way.

Did you take medicine to ease the pain? I had an amazing epidural when I got to 7cm; I didn’t feel a thing after that.

How much did your baby weigh? she was 7 pounds 1/2 ounce.

What did you name your first born baby? she has a beautiful name that I love, but we call her Little around here.

How old is your first born today? she’s two years old.

Little was born on her Pops’s birthday.  Matt called Nana and Pops while we drove to the hospital to let them know that Little’s arrival was imminent.  They were at Nana’s college registering for her Fall semester classes, so Pops had to call us back when they got somewhere quieter so he could hear Matt.  I think he thought we were calling to wish him a happy birthday; he was quite surprised to hear that his granddaughter was on her way on his birthday.  It’s pretty neat that she shares a birthday with her Pops.

Apparently I’m starting a new thing around here; this is my second Friday in a row to post a meme.  I saw this one at Lu’s the other day and thought it was pretty neat.  You plug your answers into Google Image Search and choose a picture from the first page of your search results.  For what it’s worth…

That was fun; now let me know if you play along.

I’ve been tagged by Lu for the 6 Random Things meme.  Randomness abounds here, so let’s see what I can come up with.

Here are the rules.

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
Let your tagger know when your blog entry is up

1. When I was younger (high school and college) I would have a “random thought of the day” just about every day.  It was usually something bizarre or unanswerable, and always had absolutely nothing to do with what was going on in the world around me.  It still happens from time to time.

2. I’ve always been a bit of a smart-aleck.  As a very young child (3 or 4) my Mom told me to put my toys in my room.  I took everything I had out and put it just over the carpet line between my room and the hallway.  Mom learned that she had to be more specific when she requested things of me; Little is much the same.

3. I love to read.  There are usually several books on my nightstand to be read, my “to-read” list is always very long, and it is rare for me not to be in the middle of a novel.  

4. My brother and I used to fight over who got to read the cereal box at breakfast because we both liked to read all.the.time.

5. I learned to cross-stitch when I was probably 6 or 7 years old.  I still enjoy doing it when I have time, and would love to branch out into embroidery.

6. If my toilets haven’t been cleaned it drives me crazy. I like to clean my kitchen and bathrooms at least once a week, but it just ain’t happenin’ right now.

And there you have it, more than you ever wanted to know.

And now I’ll tag…

Lauren at Baseballs and Bows

Leah at Love Grows Best in Little Houses

Kelly at The Craziness We Call Life 

Lisa at Sunny Side of the Street

and anyone else who would like to play along.

I saw this meme posted at Lu’s the other day and thought it would be fun to play along.  This one is all about the kiddos; here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list the rules on the blog.
2. Share 7 facts about your kiddos on your blog…random, weird, funny…whatever you want!
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post
4. Don’t forget to let the tagged people know!

7 things about my kids:

1. Little thinks that any time we leave the house we are going to church or to see her friend David.  It’s a constant refrain of “see Daydee” and “go to church?” no matter what day, time, or where we’re actually going.

2. Little equates Barnes & Noble with chocolate milk (this is her treat while we get coffee).  If we say we’re going to the bookstore she starts asking for chocolate milk.  As soon as we pull into the parking lot she starts asking.

3. For the first six weeks of his life, The Boy would only suck on Matt’s or my finger, never a pacifier.  It took us six weeks and four types of pacifiers before he finally started taking the Mam pacifier that was the first kind we ever tried.

4. The Boy has started cooing and smiling.  He will lay on his blanket or sit in the bouncy seat and just coo away.  Most of the time he reserves his smiles for Daddy, but one day last week he was grinning from ear to ear at Little.  It was too cute.

5. Little pays too much attention to my morning “getting ready” routine.  She always pretends to put lotion on her legs, makeup on her face (using a makeup sponge, of course), and product in her hair.  She’s also been known to try and put nursing pads in her shirt.

6. Little loves music and she loves to dance.  She dances to music on TV, music we play on the computer, and music that plays only in her head.  She spins and jumps and dances all over the living room and kitchen.  I think she will really enjoy dance classes when she’s a little older.

7. Little refers to pajamas as “dubba-jays”.  I have no idea how the “p” in “pj’s” became “dubba”, but it has; in fact, she often calls them her “dubba-dubba-dubba-jays.”  Silly girl.

So there you have it, more things about my kids than you probably wanted to know.  Now I’ll tag Lauren, Sheryl, Lisa, Leah, Diane, and anyone else who would like to play along.

I’ve been tagged for the Crazy Eights meme by Lu, and so, I present you with several things (in groups of eight) that you may or may not want to know about me.

8 things I want to do before I die

1. Know that my children have accepted Christ and will be with Him for eternity
2. Go back to school (right now I’m thinking nursing or lactation consulting)
3. Travel to Europe and visit several countries via EuroRail
4. Train for and run a marathon
5. Learn to sew
6. Make a quilt
7. Know my grandchildren (and hopefully great-grandchildren)
8. Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary

8 things I say often

1. There ya go (I’m discovering that I say this anytime I do anything for Little)
2. Alrighty
3. No or Stop
4. I’m not sure what that means (to Little)
5. I love you
6. We’ll see David and Lindsey later (or tomorrow, in a few minutes, etc)
7. I don’t know; what is that?
8. I’m doing pretty good; we’re kicking along (when asked about the pregnancy/baby)

8 songs I sing over and over again

1. The Itsy-Bitsy Spider
2. Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
3. It Is Well With My Soul
4. Jesus Loves Me
5. How Can I Keep from Singing Your Praise
6. whatever we sang in church on Sunday
7. If All the Raindrops Were Lemondrops and Gumdrops
8. whatever is currently stuck in my head

8 things I’m passionate about

1. My God and my faith
2. My marriage
3. My children
4. My friends
5. My extended family
6. Nursing baby Boo
7. Babywearing Boo more than I did Little
8. Getting Boo into the world safely

8 books I’ve read recently

1. The Kite Runner
2. The Nanny Diaries
3. An Irish Country Doctor
4. Pride and Prejudice
5. The Birth Book
6. The Foot Book
7. Mr. Brown Can Moo
8. Pajama Time

8 things that attract me to my best friends

1. Love of Christ
2. Sense of humor
3. Common interests and values
4. Honesty and sincerity
5. Ability to converse (in a meaningful way, not just talk)
6. Ahead of me in life and wiser than I
7. Have fun just being together
8. Our families (husbands and children) can be friends as well

8 people I think should do Crazy Eights

1. Lauren
2. Sheryl
3. Leah
4. Lora Lynn
5. Diane
6, 7, 8. Anyone who is interested

Let me know if you decide to play along.