Happy Birthday Sabrina and Samantha!!

My little girls are four years old now. They are not baby anymore. I am a proud and happy Mommy. We had a tea party for the girls. We invited four generations of women from both sides of our family to the party. I couldn't find my camera, so the pictures that I took need to e scanned into the system. I will post them soon. We all wore our dresses and hats and had real tea sets to drink from. Peyton bought two little onesies today. They are yellow and blue and orange and blue...perfect for a boy or a girl. I think he starting to feel bad for me. He went grocery shopping today too. It's obvious that I am stuggling. I wanted to go to breakfast today. We all piled into the car and not five minutes after sitting down at the table, I was in the bathroom, throwing up. This is really not getting any easier yet. I'm really good at lying around in bed and doing nothing. I keep hoping for a burst of energy. I was full of energy with the girls, but really I did spend weeks in bed recovering from back surgery, so I doubt I would have noticed how tired I was.

Aunt Jenn and Uncle Neil: We really love the carseat. It's perfect.

Awake Again

It's 0600 and the sun isn't up yet. It's also a Saturday. WHY am I awake? I don't really know, but this baby seems to be waking me up every morning before the sun comes up...and I'm only 9 weeks pregnant. I'm so tired of not sleeping through the night. We had cake again on Thursday night for the girls actual birthday. Publix made the wrong cake the first time, so they let us keep the first one and gave us the second one as well. It was nice to have the small cake on their actual birthday. Peyton and Michael left for a trip to Alabama and then a trip to Savannah, before the sun came up on Wednesday. They made it back home at about 2130 on Thursday night. Just in time to blow out candles before the girls ate cake and ice cream and then crawled into bed an hour late. Samantha cut her hair again. The day after her birthday party, she wacked off all of her bangs....and this time, she took them all the way to the scalp. I'll post before and after pictures. I finally found my camera a couple of days ago. Destiny has spent the past five days at Grandmother and Granddaddy Tingle's house. Mary is really enjoying having a few days alone with her.

Aerosmith

Michael went to his first real concert last week. I bought tickets months ago for the three of us and one of Michael's friends to go to see Aerosmith. I really haven't been feeling up to doing anything after about 5pm, so he got to take two friends. He picked Austin and Alan. They had a really good time. I know that Peyton has really enjoyed spending time with his son this summer. Michael has been working with Peyt almost every day. He's made a lot of money for a fifiteen year old. Now we just need to get him his learners.

I love you....

I am feeling very nervous tonight. The first prenatal is in 13 hours. I know that once I hear the baby's heartbeat, this pregnancy will be completely real. I keep thinking about the past. About dancing with Peyton at the pub and eating at the Waffle House at 4am. I'll never forget the night we got the moving truck stuck between the fence and a tree over at Jonesboro High School. I laughed until I cried. Just before Thanksgiving in 2000, we bundled up in the back of the truck. We were snuggled up in moving blankets and coats. It was freezing. Peyton pulled me close and whispered very quietly, "I love you." I didn't react at all. I knew him well enough to know that he thought I was sleeping. A few days later, I said "I love you." He gave me so much grief about it that I reminded him that he said it first. He denied ever saying it. It was a month before he said it again. I had no idea the floodgate of emotions that would come when he was really ready to tell me how he felt. Again, I laughed and I cried. I think that was one of the happiest nights of my life. It was the day after Christmas.

A few weeks before, I tried to get Peyton excited about the upcoming holiday, but he had sworn off celebrating Christmas. I think he was spending too much time with Josh and it was rubbing off on him. Jessi Leigh and I broke into Sir Galahad, literally. We popped the lock on the front window while he was out. Thank goodness the alarm wasn't set. (I would learn years later that David Pooley watched me break into the house...twice. He said he figured I was spending enough time there that whatever I was up to, Peyton deserved it...so he didn't call the cops.) We were on a mission. We would bring Christmas to Peyton. Peyton came home from work and found this bright little tree sitting in the center of his pool table. We still put this tree up every single year. What a magical time for us.

....but nothing could be more magical than hearing our baby's heart beat for the first time. I can't wait to tell you I love you, little one.

Morning Sickness

I don't remember being sick with the girls, but I've been really feeling "green" all week. Around 10pm, I'm finally feeling hungry for more than a bite of food. I'm pretty grateful I'm not throwing up though. Strangely enough, I wanted chicken salad today. I drove across town to get the kind I like. Maybe I'm already heading past this. I'm fighting the fatigue every minute. I can't wait to get another month behind me so I'll have the energy I did when I was pregnant with the twins. I could barely sit still with those two. We are going for our first prenatal visit on Tuesday morning. They were going to schedule for this week, but wanted to wait until they had an ultrasound appointment available. I'm excited to see this baby. I don't know if I've let the odds convince me that it really could be twins again, or not. I do know that there is about a 1 in 30 chance that it could be. My odds double since I've already had a set of fraternal twins without doing any fertility treatments...and for every year I age, the odds go up. If the odds in Vegas were this good, I'd be on a plane. I've spent the day gathering my ideas and some props for the Mommy and Me Tea party next weekend. It's the girls fourth birthday. They are so excited. We are going to play dress up and have a real tea party. They can't wait. The disagreement continues on the sex of the new baby. Sabrina still really wants a boy and Samantha really wants a girl. Mema Lorelei has told them that they might get both!! Peyton is painting our bathroom this weekend. Next week we'll begin finishing the big room in the basement. It will be a bedroom for two little blonde girls in a couple of months. Their old bedroom will become the nursery. I wasn't sure about moving them downstrairs, but they are really excited to sleep with the big kids. My mom bought a swing today. It's navy and tan. She bought it for little "Peyton". She's pretty confident she's getting another grandson.

Tingle Baby

I almost can't believe it. We are going to have a baby. I'm excited and terrified all at the same time. I've really been feeling it for about a week. I had taken a test about 10 days or so ago, but it was too early to get the positive result. Peyton offered me a Corona on Friday afternoon and I decided I had better go to the pharmacy first for a test....just to be sure. He pretty much laughed at the idea since he knew I had a negative test a week ago, but I knew better. Less than 30 minutes later, I found myself saying: "So Daddy, you ready to be a Daddy again?" He was a little shocked at first, but I don't think I've ever seen him this excited. He's really wanted us to have one more for about two years now. I've been off birth control for 18 months, which is the exact amount of time that I was off when we conceived the girls. I also lost 20 lbs, which is the same amount of weight I lost before I got pregnant before. With my PCOS, it really does make a huge difference. If you change your weight by 10 to 15%, it kicks those hormones into gear. And now for the big question....IS IT TWINS again? It's always possible, but I think it's unlikely. I can handle being The Tingle 7, but the Tingle 8 is really pushing it.

So little tingle baby....your sisters are really excited about you. They have asked at least a dozen times: "When are we going to the hospital?" They're finding it hard to understand that it will be a long time before you arrive. Your Daddy finally explained that we have to have their birthday, Michael's birthday, Daddy's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mommy's birthday, Valentine's Day, and then YOUR birthday. They think that's too long to wait. I think it will take me that long to be ready for you.

You've made the Fourth of July a happy occasion again and given me a reason to celebrate.

*****If you happen to be reading this and it's before Monday, July 6th, don't mention it on the facebook page please. I want to tell some very important people at work on Monday. My boss and two of my closest friends just happen to be facebook friends too. But I should be able to post a message by Monday night.*****