Dear Rebecca,
Hello!! Mommy here. Daddy did a lot more work on your room today while I cleaned the house and got things straightened up. Daddy is doing a REALLY nice job on your room and he is working very hard. I am really very proud of him.

As for me, right now I am so tired I could fall asleep in this chair. I took one and a half ambien and that was more than enough to send me over the edge. I got out of bed for a bit because I wanted Daddy to be able to get to sleep. He works really hard and he has to sleep at night. I can do it during the day if I have to...for now anyway. We'll have to see how things go when you get here.

Today when I was cleaning I had to pee ..and it had been an hour or so since I got the urge to go. Well finally you let out a kick and kicked me right in my bladder and sent me running to the bathroom with with a warm feeling running down my leg. It was pretty funny.

Daddy felt you move yesterday and I was so happy. A lot of times when someone comes up to feel you move, you stop. I wonder if you might be afraid of them!?!?! I hope not, all they want to do is touch you... they can't directly do it but they want to feel what I am feeling on the inside. They all care for you very much. Especially Daddy. He loves you so already. And so do I. Well I am going to get my rest now. We love you baby girl.

Dear Rebecca,
   Here we both set in the office, your Mother & I. She wants something to eat, as usual. Now her hip hurts. Ain't she just a complaining machine. Now she wants a lemon ice slushy. Now she's complaining because her belly is getting hairy. Boy, oh boy, will I never see the end of this? Now she has to go number one. Of course the real kicker is that she's always like this, even when she's not pregnant. Just kidding you there, Kiddo. I think she's getting herself a glass of ice water. I was wrong. It's a glass of milk. She drinks a lot of milk & water. You better not hate milk. Your Mom thinks you will because.......well, I don't know why she thinks that.

   I, your father, has finally felt you move in your mom's womb. This certainly has been a full weekend. We got so much accomplished in your room. I mowed the lawn, we watched Jacob practice baseball, I played with the boys a bit after Jake's practice, we made some compact discs for a few people, went to church, I treated the lawn with fertilizer, your mom had a yard sale yesterday, I played on the computer a little bit, we went to see a little 6 year old friend of your mom's, Madison, the daughter of her best friend that passed away some years ago, we went to the grocery store, we went down to Uncle Rodney & Aunt Lynn's house for Jonathan's seventh birthday cookout, I played football with the boys for quite awhile, Kristie talked with your mamaw, Aunt Louise & Aunt Lynn, then we ate, came home and tried to watch a little television but nothing was on. It's kinda late here and you won't let your poor Momma go to sleep. Settle down there, Rebecca. She's gotta clean up the house tomorrow. See a full weekend. I'm a lazy daddy as I'm sure you are aware and I like my weekends as noneventful as possible.

   I suppose I'm done for the night. I'm not on the computer as much during the week as I used to be so I may not have anything more to say to you until the end of the week. There's just one or two more things I think I need to do here on the ole' computer before I turn in. I love you, sweet little Rebecca.

Dear Rebecca,
   I think that Time Capsule idea was pretty stupid, didn't you? I mean really, current events are usually all bad news type things and this is a joyous time. I reckon since we're gonna be printing this up for you to read when you get older I suppose we'll have to quit using this for a gripe session forum and stick to just simply happy thoughts and feelings and I wouldn't suppose you want to hear about any second war in Iraq. You'll probably learn all about that in history class anyway. Of course if you have a flaming liberal teacher I would hope you would have the good sense to come ask your old man what his opinions on the subject is. As you will learn as you travel from womb to womanhood I am just chocked full of opinions.

   The car broke down again. It was in the exact same spot it did it before. Only this time I had it fixed in just seconds. I'm having a shock go out in the rear and when I hit a pot hole I bottom out and the Fuel cutoff switch gets activated. We may be getting a new car in the next month or so, so I'm not gonna worry to much about it. We hope to give the old car to your Aunt Mary. Enough about the car.

   What did we do this weekend you may be wondering, or not. Well, in any case I'm gonna tell you. Friday night after work we went to K Mart and got a few more items to use in painting your room. Then we went home and relaxed then went to bed pretty early for a Friday night. Up about 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning. I was gonna play a little on the computer when your cousin, Allison instant messaged me. She showed me all the things she was doing on the Barbie website and then your mother started dragging stuff out onto the front yard for a little impromptu yard sale. So I helped her with that. It was so nice out that I decided to see if I couldn't start the lawn mower. Lo & behold, it started. It ran kinda crappy at first but it settled down. I mowed the lawn and used the weed-eater. Then I mixed up the sparkles in your paint then I put the large majority of the first coat of paint on your walls. Then we had to go and teach the Royal Rangers class at the church. We set a new attendance record. Record for lowest attendance. We had no attendance. So we went down to your Mamaw & Papaw's but nobody was home. We called around on the cell phone and found out that your Papaw & Uncle Rodney was up to the little league field watching Jacob practice so we went up there and watched too. After that we rented some movies and got some Chinese food and came home and ate before realizing we were both to tired to watch movies. Tomorrow after church and after we come home and sale and old piece of crap car that your Mom's dad gave her we'll head back down to Aunt Lynn & Uncle Rodney's for Jonathon's birthday cookout. His birthday is tomorrow. Oh, by the way, did you know that yesterday was your brother Dylan's eleventh birthday. I hope that one day you will be able to meet him. Then I hope to finish up the first coat of paint in your room. I'm gonna try to not work so hard tomorrow though. I have flat worn myself out today.

Hello Becca!!! Mommy here. Well the crazy dreams are still going strong. I read on BabyCenter where that is normal but some of these dreams - well you can clearly see that they are NOT normal. LOL. The dream that I remembered having this afternoon had my youngest nephew (and your older cousin) Jon in it. I was very far along with you, about to give birth maybe, and Daddy took he & I to Golden Corral. (That's a restauraunt that Daddy and I like to eat at, I am sure you will get to know it and know it well, lol)

Anyway I had fixed him his own plate of food and sent him back to the table with your Daddy and when I came to sit down with my food he had already eaten all of his. He said he didn't feel like going back up in line so could he just have some of mine. Now mind you he is only six. I said sure and I gave him some and he ate it- I mean every bit of it - before I could even get a bite of what was left into my mouth. He said he was still hungry so I gave him the rest of what I had on my plate and I was going to get some more. When I came back with some more, he ate all of it, too. In fact, he ate EVERYTHING I brought back to the table. The oddest thing is I went and got food like fourty times. I never even make more than two trips, for food and dessert, but I was trying to get my grub on and your cousin prevented that. LOL. Funny dream.

Well that is all I wanted to tell you about this afternoon. Tonight we are going to a Baby Gala at the Agricultrual building here in Versailles (where we live) and we are going to play games there and get door prizes and get tips about raising you & stuff. I think that maybe we will just let your cousin Jon adopt you. But oh, wait. He said he had enough kids to take care of. LOL. Just kidding baby. We love you TOO much to let him adopt you. Just yet.

Well hello Becca!!! Mommy here. You have kicked so hard today that I have sincerely considered signing you up for soccer at birth!!! It's alright though, I love to feel you move and kick and flip!!!!

Well I wanted to tell you about another crazy dream I had. This time it was me being crazy in the dream. I dreamed I had given birth to you & Daddy and I were bringing you home from the hospital and Daddy wanted to strap you in the car seat in the car and I wanted to strap you down on top on the luggage rack because I thought it would be safer. LOL. I told your Mamaw and she said it might actually be safer than putting you in Daddy's car. LOL. Daddy is not exactly a neat freak. Then again, neither is Mommy. But we are working on changing that for you, because we love you SO much. :)

Well lets see, what happened that is interesting enough to tell you about today. Oh YES! Mommy finally heard some good news from her lawyers. I am not saying what it is because I don't want to jinx it. So keep your tiny baby fingers crossed. ;)

Mommy has been hurting some lately. A little more than she usually does. I am thinking that I want to make an appt. with a pain clinic to see if they can help Mommy while she is pregnant with you. I can't take the pain medication I was on before I got pregnant with you but surely there is something I can do. I don't really mind being in the pain much though. I know the end result will be having a healthy & happy you in my arms. And I would go through any amount of pain for you. :)

Time Capsule:
On this day in 2004 a California athiest told the Supreme Court Wednesday that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance are unconstitutional and offensive to people who don't believe there is a God. His name was Michael Newdow. We don't like this man ;) We believe in this nation UNDER GOD and everything it stands for :)

Greetings & salutations, Dear Reader. From now on I will no longer be addressing you personally. From this point on I will be directing all future posts to my daughter, Rebecca. You are welcome to continue to visit and read my posts but I feel that since we know we're having a girl and she has a name and I saw her holding onto her leg during the ultrasound that I know my little girl now and I want to talk to her.

Dearest Rebecca or Becca or Becky but definitely not Beck,
   Hello Baby Girl. You are so new to us both, your mother & I, but our love for you know no bounds. There's so much I want to say to you. So many things I want to know about you. I suppose that in the years to come all questions will be answered but I am impatient to see you and hold you in my arms. Already you have become my life. I can not believe the level of love I feel for you.

It's Tuesday night here. You are 23 weeks in your Mommy's tummy today. The car broke down this weekend. Our old crappy Ford Escort. The blue/green one. I hope and pray you never know that car. We plan on getting another as soon as the settlement money from your Mom's accident comes in. Anyhow, I was getting your room ready to paint Saturday and Kristie was spending the day with some friends on account of the chemicals I was using. We didn't think you'd like them to much. I had finished up with your room and I was on my way to get your mom when the car just quit running halfway there. I assumed it was the fuel filter. The car had been running crappy for a little while and I assumed that was the problem, but what do I know. I'm lucky to know where the gas goes into the car. It was raining Saturday so Dad, your Papaw, decided to wait for Sunday morning to take a look at it. It was cold Sunday morning. We loaded it up on the trailer and took it down to your Mamaw & Papaw's. The fuel filter was fine. So we tore the fuel tank off to get to the fuel pump and then realized there was an access panel under the back seat. I spent all day Sunday down there. Your Mom did too, she played with your cousins. We never figured out the problem. I rode to work with your Papaw the next day. On the way home from work I bought a book on the car and we had it fixed in no time. It was the fuel cut-off switch. We, and when I say we I mean Papaw & your Uncle Rodney, also fixed the muffler I had break on me and changed the spark plugs & plug wires. What an eventful weekend. Also we watched the wildcats get beaten in the NCAA tournament but the less said about that the better. We never even got to go grocery shopping this weekend. We went yesterday. This blog just gets more & more fascinating as you go along doesn't it? I'm nearly done.

I have decided to include little bits of current events in each of my posts so you will know what was going on in the world just before you joined us and what we thought about it.

Time Capsule:
   The Passion of the Christ is newly released now. We saw it when you was four and a half months in the womb. We liked it.
Also on this day in 2004 your cousin Jon made his theatrical debut in the Southside first grade production of Bugz.
Actually it was a Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd grade production but Jon is in first now. He was a chorus boy so we're not exactly dusting the mantle for a Tony Award.

Hello Becca! Mommy here. Wow, that's wierd. Hehehe. MOMMY. I like it. (BIG smile) The reason I am addressing this to Becca is because Danny (Daddy) said we are going to start treating this like an open letter to her. And in this letter I would like to address the fact that the roast beef I fed us both last night (and I can't believe I actually ate any meat at all, I am not fond of it these days) cost me $3.56 for a half pound. My Goodness, that will not be happening again.

Also, Becca, I wanted to tell you about some of the dreams I have been having. The most recent one being me going into labor with you and Daddy rushing me to the hospital and when we get there it is a huge circus tent and the hospital bed is a trampoline and all of the nurses AND your Daddy and I are dressed in clown face. Big Top Music is playing (du nu du nu du du nu nu nu nu) and there are trapeze artists and baton twirlers readying the delivery tools. A baton twirler comes twisting a pair of forceps like it is his best act right at me. The real kicker is, though, instead of the doctor delivering you, your little newborn self winds up delivering the doctor (Bradley Youkilis). Yep, you are standing there, newly born (oh dear me, what is in those prenatal vitamins?) delivering a grown man. That is kookie. The worst part is, the dear old doc ALSO comes out in clown face. What a crazy event.

I also dreamed that you came out a boy, and you came out biracial. No big surprise there, as by now you well know that your half brother, Dylan, was A. a boy and B. Biracial. It was just kookie that I dreamed that, lol.

I have also had a dream that our cat, Samson, attempted to eat you because he thought your lotion was tasty. I screamed at him in anger to get away from you and he looked right at me and said, very plainly, in a voice that was so clear (he almost sounded like James Brolin) "I am sorry, but she smelled rather tasty with that creamy baby lotion on." When I was about two and a half months along with you I bought some baby lotion to use on myself and he would squeeze it from the pump with his paws at night and lick it up. LOL. Crazy crazy.

Well that's all I have to write to you today darling, except I love you and can't wait to meet you face to face (instead of foot-to-belly). I am going to sleep now. I doubt you are, but I have to. Goodnight.

Hello again. Danny here. It's Saturday morning here today. We did a little baby shopping yesterday. Okay we did a ton of baby shopping yesterday. First we went to "Babies R Us". There we got border, crib sheets, a lamp, a cute little dress to bring Becca home in, some matching shoes, a matching bib, a little pink teddy bear, a pink special occasion baseball and maybe some other stuff I can't think of right now. After that we went to Rafferty's and had a burger. Then off to Lowe's for paint & stuff. There we got two gallons of American Tradition pale sunlight paint, two rollers with pans, gold sparkle flecks for the paint, a stick for the roller, a corner brush, a narrow roller, refills for the brushes, some heavy duty wall cleaner and we picked up a couple of free stirring sticks and a free lid opener. Walmart was next. Didn't get much at Walmart. Kristie got some maternity clothes and I picked out a little sleeper. After that we went home. You may think that would be it, wouldn't you? Well, not quite. Amazon.com is sitting in my office. That's where we we next visited. There we got a dust ruffle to match the crib set. Then we were done. We were both much to excited to sleep so we watched Maury and, I am almost ashamed to admit this but then we watched Jerry Springer. Hey, it's like gawking at a terrible accident. You really know you shouldn't and wish you wouldn't but you know you're going to stretch that neck to see everything you possibly can. We still have to get a stroller, a dresser, a crib, a changing table, a crib mattress and Kristie wants a rocker for the nursery and probably a thousand other things we haven't thought of yet.

I am planning on cleaning the walls today. Kristie is going to have to find somewhere to hang out today because the cleaning solution I am going to use is really very strong. She shouldn't be around that stuff. The kitty has curled up on my arms as I am typing this. He was quite upset that I wouldn't move the keyboard so he could lay down on the desk. He seems comfortable though so He's happy that he is next to me and I am happy that he is next to me and I can still type.

Just found out friday that our late June - early July vacation has been set back a month to late July - early August. That works out great. The baby will be here by then so I can spend time with my daughter. Wow, that still sounds so strange to talk about my daughter. I'm gonna be the daddy of a precious little girl. We looked for some kind of clothing that said Daddy's Little Girl. We found one item but it was way to big. There was loads of Daddy's Little Boy stuff, but no girl stuff. Hey, those of us that are the fathers of little girls love our kids too. We'll find something I am sure.

Well I had a good nap on the couch, but now I wish I would have avoided it. I woke up and I can't go back to sleep now. I am so very happy that we got to see our LITTLE GIRL on screen today. That was the most priceless moment of my life, I will never have anything to match it again. I was overjoyed at Dylans ultrasound to see how healthy & beautiful (he, even I though I didn't find out with him, obviously I know it now, lol) was, but I knew ultimately Dylan was going to be someone else's child. This is our baby; our little girl. She belongs to the man I love most in the world. And I know he will be a WONDERFUL father.

The tech did just what we asked, whispered it to Allison and she was the very first to ever know. I am sure she will never forget that. She then asked if we were ready and we said yes and she said "It's a girl." My MIL, Milta, was very pleased as well. Lynn, Danny's sister, has two boys, (Jacob & Johnathan) and one girl (Allison), so kinda needed another girl! Danny called me motor mouth today lol, but he just said he thought it was cute, and I was happy GOSH DARNIT! Praise the Lord for this gift!!! All I can say is Thank you Jesus. I don't care about anything else right now, I know that will change but I am still on top of the world!!! Woohooooooooo... bye for now!

Greetings one & all. It's a girl. Yep, we had the ultrasound today and it's a beautiful little girl. She was wiggling around in the womb like a little jumping bean. Wow, that was probably the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. She was holding onto one of her legs. They wanted to get a profile shot of her but she kept putting her arm in the way. The ultrasound tech jostled Kristie's tummy and she moved her arm and we got the profile. I am so excited. We're going to have a girl. Little Rebecca Lynn. Kristie & my sister, Lynn want to call her Becca. I like Becky but I think I'm out voted.

Kristie is worn out this evening. She's in the living room right now sound asleep on the couch. She's had a full day. When we found out she was just a buncle of energy. Talked her head off to everyone. She was so cute. I love her so much. She's had insomnia lately. She mentioned it to the doctor and he prescribed her some ambian. We thought that ambian was to strong for her with the baby but the doc said it would be fine. I suppose it's because she is so far along right now.

Wow, That was cool. To see my daughter move around like that. God, I hope I am going to be a good father.

Well now I know the true meaning of getting your biscuits burnt! This morning the ultrasound lab called to ask if I could come in early - I mean like, this MORNING early. I told them I couldn't because it was really hard to schedule things around Danny's schedule and get a ride for me to meet him in Lexington for things like this. She was like okay, thanks, and hung up really quick.

Well I started to get worried. What if this woman flaked out and left? I don't want to have been looking forward to this for months - literally -and then show up and them not be there! So I called Dr. Youkilis' office, and Rachel (receptionist) answered the phone and I asked her about it and she said my ultrasound was YESTERDAY, I was like OH NO, it was TODAY, that lady just called me and told me so, and I have the paper right here in my hand! Well she argued with me for a minute and then said "Oh I see what happened, we accidentally had you wrote down for HIM yesterday" and I was like !!!! I said then, all I need from you is to make sure they aren't going to flake out on me on this and leave and then I will have made this appt. and all of these plans for nothing! Grrrr! So she called over and they said come on in. Ultimately everything worked out fine, and I am still going, but don't they know not to be doing this stuff to a pregnant woman!!!! We are emotional anyway.

I am too mad to type any more right now. More after visit.

Howdy! Kristie here. Well I am sure you all enjoyed listening to Danny prattle on about absolutely nothing. And just think, I am married to him. LOL. It is not easy sometimes. Well I wrote a couple of poems last night, One for the baby from us and one for his/her Daddy from the baby. I can't wait until we stop saying that. I want to say he or she alright already and not "him or her". Well I wanted to share these poems with you, so in the words of the great ROCKY from ROCKY & BULLWINKLE, "Now for something you'll REALLY like." LOL. I hope so anyway.

So anyway that is the first one to Baby Lanham from Me & HIS OR HER (sigh) Daddy. The second one is the one the baby & I wrote for Daddy (lol, the baby helped a WHOLE lot). Here goes nothin'.

For Baby Though we've not yet met, We are so glad that we know you, We know we won't forget, Everything we've been through. From the moment we knew you were there, We loved you beyond measure. Nothing could ever compare To this special, priceless treasure. We've prayed for you, and sang to you, We've read to you, and we've worried. Whenever things went askew, To the doctor we would hurry. We've felt you flutter, and kick, and move, So hard sometimes we'd giggle, As you grew, so did our love, We can't wait to feel you wiggle. Though we've not yet seen your face, You are the most beautiful thing we've known, In our hearts you'll have a special place, That you can call your own. We're so glad God sent you, On us, how He has smiled. Wherever you go, whatever you do, You are - and always will be Our Child. From Mommy & Daddy March 15, 2003

For Daddy Daddys are so special They are big and strong I will love my Daddy forever, And I think that's very long. Daddys can play catch, And teach you how to ride a bike, Have a wrestling match, And take you on a hike. They take you to the zoo, And buy you cotton candy, And any Daddy half as good as you- Well he would be just dandy! Daddy's remember your birthday, And buy you lots of stuff! They know lots of fun games to play! But they are never TOO rough. Daddy's give great hugs, And lots of kisses, too And they let you play with bugs! I don't think Mommys do! There's lots of special Daddys, And I am sure they're lots of fun! But I really think MY Daddy, MY Daddy's Number One! From Baby Lanham March 15, 2003

Anyway that's it for now. Thanks for putting up with Danny & I enough to read this site.

Hello one & all. Danny here with Kristie setting on the love seat in the office where we keep the computer. She's eating peanut butter M&Ms of course that seems to be her favorite past time recently, eating. The cat, Samson is lying on top of a monopoly game box bathing himself. It's nearly bedtime for me here at the ole' Lanham homestead and for Kristie too it seems.

Well, ultrasound is Wednesday. And The cat wants to lay on the keyboard now. It's hard to type. Kristie has distracted him with the false promise of a treat. We both are excited about finding out about the gender of our baby. I don't know if the cat is excited or not. I hope the cat & the baby get along because if not we'll have to get rid of one of them. I'd hate to have to decide....j/k. The cat stays....LOL.

I'm working during the March vacation so I can take it when the baby is born. Anyway, Wednesday Allison & Mom are going to the ultrasound with us. We plan on having the tech tell Allison the sex of the baby but not us. Allison can then reveal the sex to us in grand style. She seems to be excited about that.

It looks like Caleb is back as our favorite boys name. Of course if it's a girl all of our teeth nashing over the name was for naught. It will be nice to be able to call our baby either "he" or "she" instead of "he or she", or even worse "it".

Kristie bought herself a brand new pregnancy mumu today. It's so very sexy. She says it's very comfy and she doesn't care a lick what I think about it. She also bought some flip-flop type sandals today. We got all of this high fashion at the Family Dollar for less that ten bucks. And to think all we went in there for was toilet paper. Kristie says we are gonna return and get more mumus.

Well, that's all for today, friends & neighbors. I gotta go visit the Sandman. Kristie is complaining that I type to slow. Maybe I do. But I think it's quality over quantity any day. Now all I have to do is learn to type well in addition to typing slow. She just rolled her eyes at me. She asked me to stop typing all of her reactions to my wonderful post. Just like the cereal post toasties.

I better finish. She threatened to delete this post if I continued in this vein. I am done for today. Thank you for your concern.

Howdy again! Long time no speak. Well the little one is kicking harder and harder these days. I am sure his/her daddy will be able to feel it any time. As for me I am tired a lot. I don't yet have that perky *energy* that comes late in the second trimester. I am still fatigued a lot of the time. My insomnia (explaining why I am still up at almost one a.m.) may have something to do with that, too, though.

Though Rebecca is still going strong for the girl, we have begun to rethink the name Caleb. I love that name and I really wanted to name him Caleb but every time we tell someone what we are going to name the baby if it is a boy they go Oh, KAYLA? And it is rather exasperating. I guess we might just be a little too country around here for that name to be pronounced properly. Good grief, I hate to think of what my family would call him. They can't even pronounce my name...and my name is easy ...not a whole lot easier than Kristie.

I like the name Isaac. I also like the name Aaron, but not too sure about it. I like the name Grant. I want to try to keep that in there if I can. I suggested to Danny that we name the baby Grant if it is a boy and just give him a nice middle name. He said that was something to think about. He said what about Allen but Allen is his brother-in-laws middle name and my nephew's middle name. Seems like too many Allens to me. I might just give up and call him George (And I will love him and hug him and call him George.) We may not even have to worry about a boy's name. We may have a girl and it may not make any difference at all. Still, we have to think about it.... It could be a boy. It could be a girl. It could be (God help me) a girl and a boy. So I don't know.

Other than that, things are swell. The baby is getting stronger every day (feels like he/she is beating me up) and my muscles in my uterus are getting better and better. They were painful for quite a while. I am scared sometimes that I won't be a good mother, but the books that I am reading say it is normal to be scared. That it is PROPER to be scared, because if you are scared, it will help to make you a good mother. I think about Dylan sometimes. I can only hope to be as patient and kind and loving as his adoptive parents are. I never got the chance to be with him much but I know that he is a wonderful child and has a wonderful family. I can't wait for him to meet his brother or sister someday.

Well that is all I have for now. Will try to keep you more informed on a more regular basis. Going to the Ultra Sound the 17th of this month. St. Patrick's Day. :) Yay. God Bless.