Thanksgiving 2010. Oh, and the Iron Bowl.

In the tradition of alternating major family holidays, we spent this Thanksgiving with the Moss/Barry family in north Alabama.

Our first stop was Birmingham on Thanksgiving day. We spent the day with Big Mom, Debbie, Nonna, Poppa, and Lydia. Leslie, Grant, and Xan showed up later that evening for dinner. During the day, we were introduced to a version of Golf that we had never seen before. You place one golf ball in the leg of a pair of panty hose, then tie the other leg around your waist so that the ball is hanging toward the floor. Yes, it looks as gross as it sounds. Using only the movement of your hips and legs (no hands allowed) you have to swing the hanging golf ball so that it hits another golf ball (sitting on the floor) toward the "hole" (a plastic cup). To create additional pressure (as if gyrating your hips in front of your in-laws isn't enough), the whole event is timed. Of course, Barry ended up winning with some time less than twenty seconds (athletes stink!). I was happy with my first try of 50-something seconds and refused to try again.

It appears that Leslie might be cheating!

On Friday, Barry, Leslie, Grant, and I left the babies with Nonna and Poppa and drove to Tuscaloosa to attend the Iron Bowl.

One word immediately comes to mind when I think about that game . . . freezing! Oh, and there's another one . . . wet! The real kicker here is that on this cold and rainy day in November, Barry and I did not have tickets to the game we were so desperate to attend. Barry's thought was that we could find one on the street for a "responsible" price and have a blast at the game. My thought was that we would be watching the game in our friends' tailgate tent. Either option sounded fine to me, but I knew I was right.

Why do I ever doubt that man?

Just before kick-off, Barry set off in the quad looking for a pair of reasonably priced tickets. He came back less than ten minutes later with sixth row seats on the 35-yard line behind the Alabama sideline. Perfect!

Let me backtrack here to another perfect moment in Barry's day. Our friend, Robert, lives in Tuscaloosa, so Barry left me for awhile to go visit him. Robert took him to the stadium where the Alabama players were unloading the bus before the game. Barry said there were thousands of fans in the area, screaming and cheering so loudly he couldn't hear himself talking. He said it was one of the most amazing things he's ever experienced, and that no player got off the bus feeling like he was worth less than a million dollars. There's no way a person can stay humble in that situation.

So back to the game. As we all know, though Alabama dominated the first half, Auburn won 28-27. Though I usually prefer watching a televised game so that I can see close-ups and replays, this game was really so much fun to watch live. It seemed that all of the major action happened right in front of us. The many sacks of Cam Newton! Most of Julio's phenomenal catches! And, of course, the fans around us made for some additional entertainment. A little boy and his mother sat right beside Barry. The boy, probably about six or seven, was the only Auburn fan in sight, but he endured the obnoxious cursing of the Alabama fan directly across the aisle. Poor guy!

After the game, we met up with Barry's old boss and his family before heading back home to the babies. By this point, Nonna's family had arrived in Winfield so we spent the remainder of the evening with them. Our second Thanksgiving event is kind of a blur. I know we ate a lot and got to see some Winfield friends that we haven't seen in awhile. We also got some exciting news from our friends Hill and Amanda. They are expecting their first child in June! We also took lots of family pictures. My favorite is this one of Poppa, Barry, and Canon playing the piano. I hope that's a skill/hobby that continues to travel through the generations.

At the end of the weekend, we headed south again to get ready for our regular lives to begin again. Maybe we'll teach South Alabama how to play our new Golf game.

Barry Put Up a Good Fight, But . . .

I'm finally allowed to tell everybody that I'm pregnant! Baby #2 is due May 29, 2011. I'm already known as the Good Little Teacher for planning it so well. The truth is, I didn't really think about when the birthday would be. I just knew that I was ready to keep the family growing. Once Barry jumped on board, it all worked out this way.
This pregnancy has been much like the first. I haven't had any morning sickness, though I did have a stomach virus for a few hours recently. I'm tired a lot, much like the first time around. I think some of this is due to the fact that I haven't been exercising like I should. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day, but . . . excuses, excuses. I definitely have less self-control. I've let myself eat pretty much whatever I want. While I try to sneak in some variations of health from time to time, it's mostly a cereal and snack diet these days.
Another similarity to the first pregnancy is my delay in finding out. With Canon, I went in for an ultrasound at six weeks, only to find out I was actually nine weeks! With this pregnancy, I was monitoring things much more closely so that I wouldn't make that mistake again. I found out I was pregnant on October 1, and because I knew I wasn't very far along (I had taken a few tests in weeks past), I decided to wait until my Fall Break to go to the doctor. I thought I remembered from my first pregnancy that they won't do an ultrasound until six weeks anyway, so I didn't feel there was any need to go in just to urinate on a stick. So, I waited out the next two weeks.
The first Sunday of my Fall Break, I had a major scare. I started bleeding. It seemed heavy at the time, but thinking back on it now it wasn't that bad. It was enough to scare me, though, so Barry called my doctor for reassurance. Of course, there's not much he could tell me over the phone. I went to his office the next day expecting the worst. We had the ultrasound first. For some reason, Barry was held up at work, so I went in alone. He showed up a few minutes later but not before I found out that everything was absolutely perfect! And better yet, I was not four weeks pregnant like I originally thought. I was seven weeks! I had done it again. I promise I'm not a complete idiot. But apparently, my body is!
So Baby #2 is on the way, and my nearly Terrible Two-year-old is completely unpredictable at this point. He changes from day to day, so there is no telling what he will be like in May. I just have to remind myself that thousands of women (including my own mother, mother-in-law, sister, sister-in-law, and two grandmothers) have done this and survived. I will survive!