Three things I learned this week...

while surviving the ninth week of pregnancy (and working as a PA):

1. When you feel like you're going to gag due to a patient's breath or general odor, go straight to the lung exam. You can hide behind them while listening to their back and are free to gag all you want. Just make sure they don't pass out since you told them to take deep breaths.

2. I seem to be the favorite pick for the "well woman" exam this week. So I learned the hard way (after my nurse told me my face was green and eyes were watering) to always slip on a mask and pop a super strong, large mint into your mouth immediately before entering the room to make sure it lasts the whole exam.

3.On a serious note, I have remembered this week why I feel so awful...sin. I always thought of a woman's curse in Genesis 3:16 being simply the labor process but now I realize, it starts at conception. In fact I was reading a commentary today that said the Hebrew word for conception in this verse in the New King James version of the Bible includes the entire pregnancy. I had a conversation with my friend Nan this week about this. She remembered when she was pregnant how the sickness never leaves, at least in the beginning and you spend most of your time thinking about ways to not feel nauseated. Most people realize, "morning" sickness is a stupid term because it lasts all day. I have even woken up in the middle of the night groaning lately. What a picture of sin. Without Christ, we are just stuck in this awful state, moaning in the muddy pit of sin. Thank God for our Savior. My curse is in Genesis 3:16 but salvation found in John 3:16.

Sweet Husband

I'm afraid my last post sounded like I wanted Wes to be sick. I am so thankful he's not though! He's been so sweet to me...and Haley. He just left for Publix and that's probably the fifth grocery store run he's made in the past week!

Sympathy Nausea

You know how they say husbands can have sympathy nausea when their wives are pregnant? Well I think everyone in my family but Wes has had nausea the past 2 weeks. I had to scramble Haley an egg because she has thrown up three times this week. My mom and dad both had a virus while on a trip to California and my brother was sick New Year's Day. Meanwhile we had to cancel plans with the Goldens tonight because everytime I am vertical, I start gagging.

Baby York

We're having a baby!!!!! Blakely is 8 weeks along and we just had our first appointment yesterday. We got to see the heartbeat on the ultrasound. The doctor said the main point of this visit was to make sure the baby was in the uterus, had a heartbeat, and to see how many we had. Just one this time! The doctor could already tell the baby is only in the 1st percentile for melanin concentration, so there is a good likelihood Baby York will be the third member of the Pale Force (thanks Chris!).

Our European Christmas

I have not really talked about it on our blog but Wes and I spent our Christmas by ourselves this year...in Europe! We took a cruise down the Danube River to celebrate Christmas and our fifth anniversary which is tomorrow! We flew into Munich and boarded our ship in Passau, Germany. Then we cruised in Austria to Salzburg and Vienna. Next to Slovakia and ended in Budapest, Hungary. We had a wonderful trip and will post a lot more about it as well as all of our 800 pictures we took...just kidding. Happy 2008 everyone-we are so excited about our new year~

Hip replacements and Dreidel spinning

Our weekend: Friday morning I went to GAC to hear the fifth grade band, orchestra and chorus perform. Wes and Joy did a great job and I wish I had a picture of Wes in his Santa hat! Friday night we went to a church Christmas party and unloaded a bunch of junk for a white elephant gift exchange. We by far gave the worst gift including a back scratcher, flower candles, a hat from a bar-b-que restaurant, a plastic colander and two mugs. Someone said as the guy was opening our gift, "wow, someone just emptied a drawer." I replied, "no, I emptied my trunk which was full of stuff for the Goodwill."

Saturday Wes listened to a lot of bassoons and oboes trying out for honor band which he said was pretty miserable this year. Then that night we had two interesting parties! The first was a Christmas party downstairs with some of our neighbors. We were by far the youngest people there...and I mean by about 40 years! In fact, as we were walking in, Wes had to help a lady up the small stoop and then keep her from running straight into the crystal clear storm door to the condo. She said she is due for a hip replacement. We did have one thing in common with another lady though. She had been on a cruise down the Rhine River similar to the one Wes and I will be going on soon down the Danube. She said a young couple helped her as they toured castles; they stood on either side of her as they walked. I suspect this is a foreshadowing of what we may be doing on our trip!!!

Our second party was a Hanukkah party at Joseph and Heather Kocevar's house. They are Messianic Jews -you should read about it if you have not heard of it. Heather is a friend of mine from high school and she got to know Wes well in college since they both play bassoon and are music teachers. We had fun learning some Jewish traditions at the party. The homemade latkes were awesome and Wes turned out to be a champion dreidel spinner!

Our tree and Willow Tree Nativity almost complete thanks to the Wes's parents who gave us the creche this year! Thank you!

Haley wondering why the groomer put a Christmas bow in her hair when it's 70 degrees outside

Elf Yourself

I'm sure most people have seen this and I'm a Golden wannabe by putting this up on our blog, but I have been wanting to do it by email and it's so much easier to blog. It's just too funny!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1239629510