blogging...not my strong point.

Okay, I realize I stink at this, but maybe I can use the summer to my advantage and catch up on things.

Things missed since last blog:
Its a boy!

I felt little flutters one night while I was sitting at the computer late at night.

His name is William Fischer Bragg. My grandfather's name was William Carl Coggin, so that is where William comes from. Fischer is just a very sweet name that we love and EVERY time I say it, I like it more.




Zach's parents got us our furniture for the baby room- for that, we are extremely thankful. We brought it home from Target and got it all set up that night...it was great :) Maebe even helped...for the most part, she just got in the middle of everything and lay on the floor looking really sad. I think she knows something is going on in that room because when I go back there, she follows and just lays on the floor. She's so sweet, I can't wait for her to meet Fischer :)
I am sad that my mom and dad live so far away and won't be able to visit with Fischer nearly as much, but Zach's parents living in Jackson is going to be great. This is their first grandchild, so 3 hours isn't too far to drive to be spoiled by sweet, loving grandparents. We've been tossing around their grandparent names...these are names that will have to be explained, but...here goes: Ditsy and Duke. Zach's mom used to joke around and call the Dixie Chicks the Ditsy Chits---then we started calling her Ditsy and...well- okay, this all sounds much better in person rather than on paper. Either way, her name does not in any way reflect her personality or intelligence. Daryl is Duke because he loves Duke basketball and Ditsy and Duke sound so wonderful together! I am in love with it, and the world will just have to deal. However, those names are not concrete. More to come on that later.

My parents already have names from my brother's kids- my mom is Mamu and my dad is Pops. I love both. My mom was originally supposed to be gamma, but thankfully, Celia changed it to Mamu- which I love :) While she was here on her visit, she came across too many cute outfits for our Fischer and I can't wait to dress him up in them- she also got the rocking chair that you see zach's resting in in the next post :)

We got the room painted- we initially had 3 options...light green, light blue, or light yellow. Yellow was looking pretty fantastic, until we put the samples on the wall and green was the lucky winner. There is so much more to do with the wall space- a painted letter, book shelf, wall hangings, etc. I got a really cute painting at one of my showers and I LOVE the cute little cartoony giraffes...I was thinking of using that as my inspiration of making the guest bathroom transition to Fischer's bathroom. I realize he won't be using it for a long time, but I am going to cutsie it up now while I can and it will be perfect for when he gets old enough to use it! :) At school, the sped department threw a shower for me, and I had a friend one here at Ed and Carolyn's for my bunko friends and my mom and mother in law came to that one. Then my Aunt Kim threw us one on the coast with family and friends from their time living on the coast. I have almost all of the thank you cards done for that one- so far, I am pretty caught up on the cards...I have to get a new pack so I can finish them off.

He moves ALL over...at first it was just funny because he would kick and I could see him bounce around in my tummy. Now, its like he's having a party in there...I really wonder what all the commotion is about sometimes- he flips and flops and sometimes causes me pain, haha- but with a little push here and a rub there, he moves and gets settled :) I keep forgetting to play him music...but I have done that a couple of times. Maybe if I do it more, it would be soothing for him and he won't freak out so much....really, though- I don't mind it. I know that when he gets here, I will be so excited to meet him, but I am going to miss the sweet times we have together when its just me and him (and his foot all in my ribs..:)). I love when Zach feels him move- every time, its like the first time for him...he gets so excited- its really very cute. He's going to be an awesome daddy. btw, zach got employee of the month at NMMC...kind of a big deal.

Going to Pennsylvania next week...leaving Wednesday, returning Wednesday. REALLY praying that Fischer stays in there safely during the trip. I mean, I know they have drs and hospitals here that are great, grand, and wonderful, but...home is where I want to be when this all goes down. I will turn 32 weeks while I am there- I'm sure everything will be fine, just continuously praying! :)

I am going to make my next post ALL pictures since I really can't figure out the whole picture/writing deal. you can match the pictures with the writing yourself. :)

sweet baby Bragg. :)

so much to say, so much to say...

Thanks to Facebook and word of mouth, those who are close to me didn't have to wait for my blog announcement to know that I am going to be a mommy :) I am 14 1/2 weeks, over morning sickness, but closing in on some serious food aversions. All totally worth it...yes there will be sleepless nights, poopy diapers, screaming, rocking, screaming, rocking, and maybe even a little medication...but between the times where there is so much unknown, there are sweet smiles (gas or not), giggles, times to be able to watch-feel-listen to baby Bragg sleep, and all other manner of sweet memories. I am much looking forward to being able to see baby Bragg grow- from gaining weight at every dr. appointment to eating puree carrots and puffs and from learning associating the word and sign for milk with the actual cup of milk to learning how much love Jesus has for the baby that He knit together in my womb. Praying every day for wisdom in raising baby Bragg knowing that if I ask for wisdom, God will give it!

On another note, spring break is in 13 days. 13 days of school left until I have a whole 9 days to myself...AND I get to babysit Gray a few of those days- I am not 100% sure of how to post pictures, but in an effort to catch you up on my life between time machine and baby, I will post as many pictures as I can. Since we don't have baby yet, we are super enjoying our time with our Maebe- Zach has been taking her for walks on the trace and I even got to go on one Saturday AM after he got off work- it was wonderful! As for spring break, there aren't any super big plans, but I am trying to plan a special 1 or 2 day trip for me and zach...we are having a lot of baby-moons planned....much like a honeymoon, but just time to spend with each other (or ourselves) before the baby gets here! Zach with be going to Bonnaroo in June, and my mom will come to stay with me for that time, and the last week of June, we are taking a trip to Pennsylvania for the family reunion and spend time with family and we will even get to go to a Phillies game. I am so excited about all of our plans and I can't WAIT to start working on the baby room. I have a lot to do to clean up, but then painting and furniture are next and baby Bragg will be here before we know it :)

That's all for now, I am going to try to post pictures shortly, though :)

jkb

needed: time machine. will accept time pauser machine.

This week has FLOWN by. I was so excited to get out of school on Friday, then the next thing I know- its Saturday night and I am desperately trying to suck time back into my watch.....to no avail. One way of doing this: stay up late and wake up early...get the most out of the day. Recently, I have been in recovery mode.
Let me start from the beginning. Friday was reserved for being excited about not being in school for 9 days straight. Saturday and Sunday....who am I kidding. I don't remember what happened back that far. I can tell you what I did...ish. I spent MUCH needed time with Zachary Bragg (we played video games, watched movies, ate sushi at Sho Gun, and ate breakfast together), watched Dead Like Me, The Office, The Taking of Pelham 123, Unstoppable, walked Maebe at all hours of the night, went to a birthday party for a 1 year old and get a fancy camera on loan to take pictures at that party, cleaned (kind of....not *really* cleaned, like I had planned), ate candy canes, ate breakfast with my MIL- Tammy, shopped with Tammy and my SIL- Whitni, played Super Mario Brothers and Mariokart on my Wii alone and with Mindy-Emily-Erin-and Adam, stayed awake all night on Friday night to buy an LCD screen tv from walmart (success!), skyped with my mom and dad, skyped with Katrina, called old friends to talk, decorated for Thanksgiving, went to Ed and Carolyn's to spend delightful time with the family, peed my pants because of laughing so hard, made new friends, spent time with old ones, watched MSU win the Egg Bowl, I didn't eat too much, but that will happen when we visit his parents for Christmas, planned on starting the "Couch to 5K program" to start running again, stayed up way late every night, never once slept past 8:30 (well....technically, when I woke up at 8:00 on Thursday morning, then I went to sleep at 8:00 on Friday morning, I didn't wake up until 3:00 that afternoon...but it was still only 5 hours of sleep- which by no means constitutes sleeping in), loved my dog, I didn't take ANY pictures ( just realizing this), bought tickets to attend Prairie Home Companion at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN for our anniversary in March, drank hot cocoa, DVRed the Macy's Day Parade then watched it with Mindy until 3 am, and used the "homesharing" feature with iTunes to get all of my music from our old computer to our new computer.
*sigh* if only all of our days could be so careless.
I do realize I could quickly tire of that, but for now, I daydream.
JKB.

a break.

Zach called me on my way to work this morning, this is how our conversation went:

J: what are you doing?

Z: Just leaving work to go home, what are you doing?

J: Just leaving home to go to work.

such is life at the Bragg house.....but not next week.

Next week, I will sleep until 7:30, when he comes home to wake me up and we will spend all morning together until he has to go to sleep and I can clean the house and cook dinner to send off with him to work that night. Thursday is Thanksgiving, and since he has to work, I will be spending the day with Ed and Carolyn eating delicious turkey and spending some much needed time with the Earnest family. I will stay up late. I will go to the mall. I will browse the crochet section of Barnes and Nobel. I will rest. I will clean...like, *reeaaallllyyy* clean. and I will play with my dog.

What am I thankful for? Thanksgiving break.

rambling. (with a happy ending)

I am just sitting here waiting for my wonderful friend neighbor, Mindy, to finish her nursing school paper that she has been working on for M-O-N-T-H-S now so that we can go roll a friends house...nothing personal, just revenge. I was just at this particular friend's house watching the State game and (as it became clear that State was NOT going to pull out of the nose dive they were in) we began playing Bananagrams- (a lovely game that resembles the ever so popular "Words With Friends" for iPod, iPad, and iPhone). Basically, you make your own little scrabble board in front of you with letter tiles and as you (or another player) uses up the letters you drew originally (21 or 15 depending on the amount of players), you-one tile at a time- draw from the pile of letters to ultimately finish an entire scrabble board of your very own...if you're lucky (that's the best explaining I can do without the visual aid of the actual game). SO, the rules in Scrabble apply: you can't just ask "is this a word?" because that would defeat the purpose of even playing the game. we might as well just give you a dictionary and let you have at it. ONE girl in the whole game *constantly* asked "is this a word? is this how you spell this? is this right? can this count???"- oh.my.back. Even after repeatedly stating my position on the whole asking questions thing, she kept on. So what did I do? I quit. I feigned exhaustion and flipped my tiles over to put them into the draw pile and quit. Was I being childish? I don't think so.....I was only helping myself hold on to my value of self control. Under other circumstances, I might think this would be a childish move, but if you only knew the girl....my,my,my. Not that being home schooled is such an awful thing (because its not...if you do it right), but I think she may have been, which could account for all lack of regard for social cues. This isn't going to turn into a bash this girl blog, just something I had to release.
While on a subject.....any subject, really- that just seems like a good transition...I wonder how much marriage affects how one interacts with colleagues, friends, co-workers, administration, or otherwise. I would like to think it has a positive effect- not just because I'm married, but because I have seen evidence of my position on this issue. I have met single person after single person (sometimes young single, but mostly older single) that have not yet learned the ebb and flow of life...if that makes sense. The natural give and take that comes with your day to day relating with other people- not just a spouse, but a friend or co-worker. People that don't *have* to be sensitive to the needs of another so that they can live happily in a marriage...simply aren't. Since they don't have to put it into practice every day with someone they love and want to make happy, they don't see the value of it in other aspects of their lives. I am not saying that every single person ends up a curmudgeon, cursing the world for not sending their prince charming sailing in to save the day, and despising every married person for the happiness they have in life....but this does seem to be the trend in older single women. As for older single men, you just don't see many of them out there anymore, so they don't count...but if they did, I don't think this would apply as much for them.
Having said all of that, I DO know some very pleasant older single people (by single, know that I mean never been married...or briefly previously married) - and I love them dearly. I'm sure its not easy being older (by older, I mean my age) and single...it gets lonely and such- I am not going to pretend to understand all that goes on in a situation like that, but for the sake of every relationship that you should hold dear : learn how to relate, socialize, give/take, converse- all without feeling the need to dominate, be right, or especially look at me or talk to me like I am a total idiot that isn't smitten with every word that falls out of your mouth. Help me help you....be kind, rewind. wait...maybe that last one doesn't apply, but you get the basic gist. To end on a happy note:
something else I love about cold weather:
-this is when pomegranates come out to play...mmmm...I will never forget tasting one for the first time in Mrs. Squire's history class in 3rd grade...that's a big thing, because I don't remember much, but I remember those pomegranates every year when its time to buy one.
I really enjoy having a blog...even if I am the only one who will ever read it (with the exception of my wonderful bff, Pat E. and maybe a few lucky others-yes, I said lucky with a sarcastic tone..blast this expressionless text.)
jkb