A few Christmas pictures

I feel very overwhelmed. I woke up in a panic over all the things that I need to get accomplished. I NEEDED to blog about Christmas :-) We had a party for the team, hosted my dad and sisters and brother in law, went to my family, and then ended at the Austin's. I didn't take very many pictures, and took none at the Austin's, but here's a brief look at the festivities.

9-5

The Mustangs are 9-5 this Christmas. Not bad, not bad! Last night's game was a heartbreaker. We lost to Henderson by 4. Apparently, we were up by 1 with 16 seconds left and after some BOGUS officiating, we were down when the buzzer went off. I wasn't there, I would prefer not to go into labor during a stressful ballgame, and I just had a feeling I would either leave with very high blood pressure or having embarrassed myself after this game. I have that kind of intuition. Weird.

Husband hates the loss, but is pleased that the team played better than Saturday. We screwed ourselves over at OBU. I won't go into it...except to say that I wanted to beat them SO BAD so I knew my oersonal yearning for the win would somehow effect the outcome of the game. That's just how my life works.

We have one more garuntee (for money) game on the 29th, and then I'm looking forward to several more wins! Currently, we are ranked 6th in the NCCAA. This is our first year in the NAIA, so we can't compete in their post season. We are dual affiliated, so our post season will be played in the NCCAA (note the extra "C.")

I am not a photographer (and I have a crap camera,) but here is a link to some of my pictures from this season.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2132283&id=55006813&l=01a715beee

The Big 3-0!

Not my age...the number of weeks pregnant I am :-)




This picture was taken 12/20/09. I cropped everything else out because I was obviously disheveled, but you can definitely see the bigness!

And Her Name Will Be...

Langley Elizabeth Austin

I'm one of those people who have kept a list of potential baby names since I was something like 12 years old. I know, don't judge me :-) I clearly remember making the first list. "Mary Anne" was my favorite name for a girl -- just like my favorite Babysitter's Club character. In the past 15 years my favorite girl names have ranged from Mary Anne to Corbin to Abigayle (none of which we would ever use now,) but when real life happened and we had to choose a real name for a real child, I found the task challenging!

I always knew my first daughter's middle name would be Elizabeth. Elizabeth is my middle name, as well as my mom's, nanny's, and great-grandmother's. So, Elizabeth was already settled (good thing Josh was ok with this.) But the first name...I had a list of about 30 names that could be options. I wanted a name that had some meaning, something special about it, and not too commmon but definitley not too weird or hard to spell. I was also working around my mother who taught 2nd grade for 20 years and had several "no way" names. Who can blame her? You don't want to look at your beloved grandchild and have visions of a devil child. There were some names on the list that Josh immediately crossed off - he didnt want to picture a devil child from summer camp when he looked at his own precious off spring. So, those were a few of our challenges.

I went through the list first and crossed off names I wasn't crazy about anymore and names that didn't go with Austin. Josh went through the rest crossing off the ones he didn't like, leaving us with 2 or 3. That's it - all those years of keeping a name list and we crossed off all but 3! Then we came together and discussed the name finalists. You know, does it sound right if you have to yell it, would her initials be obscene, do we like what the name represents, etc.

Langley was the only option at that point. Langley was my maternal great-grandmother's maiden name. I love that. I love family names. I love that it was hard to even find the meaning of Langley when I googled it - it's definitley not too common. I love that you can tell Langley is a girl - at least in my opinion.

To be honest, I stole the name from my aunt. She has 2 boys, but one of them would have been Langley, if born a female. I got her blessing on using the name.

So, "baby girl" is now officially Langley. We are happy with it. I do have a boy name just in case. I do reserve the right to change my mind about Langley at any second - but she would just be nameless again, because we don't have any other options!

By the way:

• I went to the doctor yesterday and Langley weighs 3 lbs and 6 oz.
• Her weight and measurements put the due date about 5 days earlier (well the machine said it, not the doctor)
• She was not cooperative (AGAIN) during the ultrasound. Think tuck position. Both legs pulled into her chest. Perfect form. Little stinker. Doctor Martin did get a "between the legs" view, but apparently having her legs tucked could possibly cause some shadows - so again she would only say "this has to be a girl, I mean as best I can tell..." My girl is already being slightly dramatic.
• I had my glucose test, rho gam (sp?) shot, and registered at the women's center. I always leave the doctors office overwhelmed. It gets more real each visit!

Warm Thoughts

Since today would be the perfect day to snuggle under the covers or stay inside with my sweats on all day, I like to think of the beach, warm breezes, sunshine....you get the idea.

So, I thought of the US Virgin Islands - our honeymoon location.

December 8, 2006 Josh proposed. Let me tell you, the only reason I know the date is because I remembered he played Hendrix that night, so I went to their website and looked under news archives to find the date - in case you didn't know our year revolves around recruiting, pre-season, and then 4.5 months of game time. Our calendar is academic - new year really starts in August for me.

3 years ago today I was in major wedding mode! Seems like forever ago. Today I'm in baby mode. The thought of having to wear beach attire, or shorts for that matter, is frightening! My skin has never been whiter, my ankles (and other things) have never been larger - so summer can take it's time.

So think warm thoughts on this lovely December day. Family and friends, weddings, new babies, the beach, and Christmas!

My Traumatic Kroger Experience

It has been such a Monday...so maybe for my enjoyment only, here is what happened to me Saturday evening in my local Kroger:

Let me preface by saying that I rarely go to Kroger by myself because I always have some sort of minor incident and I usually start sweating. What is the deal with me and Kroger you ask? I have no clue. Walmart and I get along just fine, but a trip to Kroger ends in "are you kidding me?" "I'm never coming in here again." "Did that really happen?" It is important to note that I really enjoy Kroger's selection and produce and I wish I could shop there more. But I can't.

So, I enter Kroger at 5:05 pm and immediately stop at the bananas. Bananas are the very first item you encounter in my Kroger. I get my fruit, check said produce off my list, and then my cart gets rammed into. What the? A lady with her 2 teenage sons is apparently so engrossed in the weekly ad that she rammed into my cart, never looked up from the ad, never even acknowledged the ramming of my cart occured. I gave her a crazy look, said "excuse me" and headed away from the weirdo cart lady. So, at 5:06pm I take a deep breath, chuckle to myself and go on my way to finish crossing off my list.

As I criss cross the store, I pass several employees and managers who greet me "how are you, can I help you find anything?" Maybe they were trying to distract me and the other shoppers from the ridiculously long check out lines.

Time to check out. The self check outs are all open. I have far too many items for that. There are 3 normal lines open - with at least 5 carts in each line. You know how grocery stores are on weekends, 1 cart equals at least 3 people with at least 1 of those people in a foul mood. I am alone, 1 tired pregnant girl with 1 cart in the midst of this chaos. I was next in line, and then it happened. A motorized wheelchair cart rammed into ME. Not my cart - my butt.

I turn around, mouth and eyes wide open. I see a woman who is not old, not large, and appears to be fully functioning and not in need of a motorized cart. She apologizes, blames her 3 year old daughter, slaps the fire out of said child, and makes the child apologize. I'm sorry, did this just happen. Yes, to me. My big pregnant self. Where are the managers now?

Note to grocery store managers: open more checkout lanes. If you yourself have to scan my freaking items, please do it. I'll appreciate it. The child who got blamed for reaching over and pushing the button on a motorized cart that ran into my big pregnant butt will appreciate it.

I manage to check out and be kind to the overworked checkers and baggers. I get outside, already dialing Josh and start crying. I mean it didn't feel good to get rammed into by a motorized wheelchair cart, but I was not injured, but this was definitely something I needed to cry about. Josh was driving back from St. Louis. He was like 6.5 hours away and apparently my words were not accurately describing the situation, because he was not as concerned as I needed him to be. I was just stunned and a little embarrased and pissed that only 3 checkout lanes were open because I'm pretty sure if they were all open, this would not have happened. Ok, who am I kidding? This crap was going to happen to me.

I replay the situation to Josh and my mom, even saying "you know how I had a car wreck that was not my fault and it totaled my car? I was completely stopped and the car ran into the back of me. Yeah, exact same thing just happened between me and motorized wheelchair cart." Bless their hearts. They didnt laugh immediately. Just reading it now is hilarious to me...

That is my traumatic Kroger experience. Do these things happen to anyone but me? Do share...

Sing, Sister!

Dad and daughters


I didnt get any pictures of her solos, but her she is with the choir.

Me and Heather before dinner

Again with the choir...

Brooke's skit. They were a string of lights...

Not a great quality picture and I look tired and pale, but it's always good to get a sister pic!

My baby sister is a senior this year. I got to go to a Christmas program Har-Ber's music department does each year. It was a great evening, and ya'll the sister can sing! She has been all-region and all-state choir every year.

The rest of the weekend has been low-key...naps, errands, finished Christmas decorating, church...but I have a hilarious story to tell later. Let's just say I won't ever be going to our Kroger alone again.

As Seen on Channel 7...

Sully showed some CBC love last night on KATV at 6:00 and 10:00...here's the youtube version of what you missed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKpqO-aH7eQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shkmK60H_Dk&feature=channel

7-3...Basketball Update!

The Mustangs won Tuesday night! The record is now 7-3! It was a tough trip to Iowa over Thanksgiving and December's schedule includes Harding, Ouachita, Henderson, and Arkansas State....tough might not really describe it. Remember, small schools gotta get paid sometimes!



You can get caught up on the season here: http://thecabin.net/sports/college/mustangs



CBC has been doing some website updates, but you should be able to access the schedule and roster here: http://www.cbc.edu/athletics.aspx?id=402