Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Things I've learned in Miami

We have been in Miami since last Thursday. Josh is recruiting at the Junior Olympic Championships which is being held at the Miami Beach Convention Center. My list of observations are by no means comprehensive, but just a few of the things I have noticed while I have been here.

1. Miami is HOT and HUMID. I know people in St. Louis and Alabama think they have a corner on humidity, but Miami wins hands down. It is usually in the mid-80s by 7:00am with a heat index in the mid-90s. I literally feel sweaty the moment I walk outside. The forecast for the summer months is pretty much identical from day to day... hot with a chance of thunderstorms.

2. Miami is very international. There have been times over the last week where I have felt in the minority as an English speaker. I have heard Spanish, French, and Italian spoken with regularity as I have ventured around the city and Miami Beach. The fashion, food, and lifestyle has an international flavor unlike any metropolitan area I have been in before.

3. Miami reflects East Coast attitudes. By this I mean that most people in Miami drive aggressively (I've heard more horns in the last week than I have in the last year) and they don't go out of their way to be nice or pleasant.

4. The people watching in Miami and Miami Beach is second to none. Seriously. I can't communicate this point effectively without pictures, so you just have to trust me.

5. Women who choose to sunbathe topless may NOT stick to the nude beaches. Enough said.

6. Vacation is a misnomer when Josh is recruiting, even when it is in a place like Miami. This is really not a new revelation to me, but I have been perpetuating a myth by referring to this trip as a vacation. Josh usually recruits for 12+ hours a day at these tournaments... all inside a convention center. And my plans to hang at the pool while he is pounding the tournament floor has been foiled by overcast, rainy weather as well as a nasty cold that struck me on Saturday afternoon. Oh well.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day

Noah was a lucky little boy to have such a great Daddy.
His little brother or sister will be, too.
Happy Father's Day, Josh! I love you!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The nitty gritty

My intent was to start with the BIG announcement and then begin to post a little more regularly. That hasn't exactly happened.

I have tons of thoughts floating around in my head... but I can't seem to get them out in a post. So let me start with the nitty gritty and see where that leads me.

We found out we were pregnant on April 12... Easter Sunday. In some sense, this was the arbitrary day I decided to pee on a stick. But, in other ways, it was the perfect day for us to find out about the life inside me. We had been walking in the valley of the shadow of death for the previous 8 months, grieving and aching the loss of Noah. This discovery brought a little respite from that valley... as though we were able to stand in the sunshine on a hilltop for a little while and see beyond the valley.

We are due on December 10... this is cutting it a little close to the end of Josh's season for my comfort, but what are you going to do? If Alabama makes it to the NCAA tournament, they will be traveling to play in the first round on December 4. That is only 6 days before my due date. Yikes. I would LOVE for the team to make the tournament... I would HATE for Josh to be out of town when I go into labor. The tentative plan is for my family to come into town for Thanksgiving and then my mom will just stay until the baby is born. Other than Josh's potential absence, I am thrilled to be delivering during the Alabama "winter" - the heat index today was 105 degrees and it is only June!

Our next ultrasound will be July 8... I would love prayers for this ultrasound as well as for my peace of mind in the next few weeks. We have decided to forgo any of the genetic testing... the quad screen that is offered to all pregnant women (we also opted out of this test done during our pregnancy with Noah) and the amniocentesis that is offered to me due to my "advanced maternal age" (aka 35). The risks simply outweigh the benefits. We are trusting God with the life of this child... or at least doing our best to do so. But the ultrasound will definitely reveal any major abnormalities and will potentially reveal indicators of Down's Syndrome. I don't think either Josh or I are particularly worried about having another child with leukodystrophy... but there are so many more common disorders that I worry about, especially because of my age. So, I am anxious to see a picture of a beautiful, healthy baby on the 8th... and, of course, to find out if it is a boy or a girl.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Six degrees of separation from Kris Allen?

A perfectly meaningless story about the crazy world of the internet:

I knew announcing our pregnancy might draw back a few of the readers I had lost during the last few months of writer's block and I figured posting a facebook status that led people here to discover our exciting news might result in a few more hits.

But yesterday's stat counter recorded many more hits than I expected... when I checked it before heading to bed last night, it had recorded 448 hits in the last 24 hours when previously we had be averaging only 64 per day.

I was curious. So I did a little internet sleuthing.

The stat counter I use allows you to see the last 100 visitor's entry pages (the main page or a specific post) and will also let you see what page referred them to the blog (someone else's blog, my facebook profile, etc).

The log of entry pages yielded the first clue. A large percentage of visitors to our blog were going directly to this post. A very inspiring video... but one I had posted months ago. Why the sudden interest?

So, I dug a little deeper. The log of referrals showed a large number of these visitors were arriving at this post from Twitter. I will be the first to admit that I do NOT understand twitter... it baffles me. The only person I know on twitter is Josh so I asked him if he had posted any kind of link to our blog on his twitter account. Nope. One twitter address seemed to show up more than the others... a twitter page belonging to someone named Rick Bezet. Turns out, Mr. Bezet posted a link to the video on my blog yesterday...

Fair enough. So what in the world does this have to do with Kris Allen, 2009 American Idol winner? Turns out Rick Bezet is the pastor at New Life Church in Conway, Arkansas ... the church where Kris Allen supposedly goes and that rallied support for him during the American Idol competition. I also think that Mr. Bezet traveled to Los Angeles as a guest of Kris Allen for the season finale.

Small world.

I have NO idea what brought Mr. Bezet to our blog in the first place or if he read anything about Noah while he was here... but I thought it was an interesting story nonetheless!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Wordless Wednesday (aka the rumors are true)


Sunday, June 7, 2009

A fly fishing primer

After a whirlwind trip to Indianapolis for Caleb's high school graduation (which included a 24-hour stop in St. Louis because it was so much cheaper to fly through the Lou), we landed in Connecticut for a little vacation time with Josh's family.

The trip originally began as a fly fishing trip between Josh's brother Nick and his step-dad, Eddie... then Nate wanted in on the action... then we decided to throw our hats in the ring as well.

The weather wasn't exactly warm... but pleasant enough. The guys spent two days out fishing and the rest of our week was spent simply relaxing. We managed to escape with only one day of rain and ample enough sunshine on a few days to give one or two of us a slight toasting.





We also took a side trip up to Providence, RI to see one of Josh's best friends from college and his wife. Michael and Onalee had a baby girl, Alia, who we had never met and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see her while we were so close. They surprised us with a delicious surf and turf meal... the lobster and steak definitely made our trip to see them worth the drive!!


Here is the Lauer/Glowacki clan on the beach during the last morning of the trip...

Might I recommend?

I really can't describe how delicious these are... you are just going to have to find out for yourself!