Dear Rebecca,
                     It's getting late and I am missing Daddy. We both are. This is an odd perdicament for us, we have had him with us for so long. I should be studying but my eyes just won't let me focus on the papers. I am so fatigued from the pregnancy and being sick and cramming in work and school that all I can think about right now is sleep. I'll try to study a bit more tomorrow; maybe even some on the way down there. I know the material and the skills- I just hope that I don't freeze when I get in front of the test moderators.
                  I took you to daycare for a couple of hours today so that I could study. You didn't stay very long but when I asked you if you wanted to go you said "NO! They pull my hair! Kevin!" I thought, what in the world? But when we got to school I asked about it, and sure enough on Friday a little boy named Kevin pulled your hair. I told you before we left that the next time Kevin pulled your hair you need to beat him up. You told me you didn't want to beat him up. I guess you are just too sweet for that.
                     After you got home from daycare Aunt Mary and Papoo Lawrence were here. You ran around wildly displaying whatever you could do for kicks to them and then Blues Clues came on. You jumped up and down and ran in circles yelling "Coos Coos! Coos Coos!" Which actually means Blue's Clues. Aunt Mary and Papoo thought you were hilarious. You were extremely tired and I put you down for a nap after they left but you never went to sleep. I finally got you up and we saw Daddy off to work. It killed Daddy having to leave you in the afternoon and you didn't like it much either. He left his wallet here and was going to come back and get it but he said he was almost at work so I told him to keep on going because I didn't want to see you whine after your Daddy again.
                     After Daddy left we watched some TV together and did some laundry and then we went to Kmart. You behaved like Becca the Bandit at Kmart and I had to put you in time out and even spank you once. I had picked up several items to purchase for you and I had them in my hands so I couldn't really hold yours and I kept telling you to stay near me but you kept running off. At one point you told me that you were going to run away and so I handed you all of your stuff and said "Bye! See ya! Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!" and you took off walking tentatively through K-Mart. You turned and looked back at me and I said, "Oh yea, by the way, you don't have any money, so how are you going to pay for that stuff?" You ran back to me and said "Ok, I stay!" You are such a funny monkey sometimes.
                     We had dinner at K-mart and we had what you kept calling a 'picnic' in one of the booths. You had a hot dog and french fries and a cookie and I had a hamburger. I couldn't stomach down all of my hamburger because I have been having icky morning sickness ( I don't know why they don't call it morning, noon, and night sickness) and so we got up and did a bit of shopping. I had came there to find a matching top for my royal blue scrubs, but it appears I was out of luck. I am just going to wear the white one that I have, even though it is old and worn out, it still fits me quite well because it's really big. I am already getting a baby bump. You are convinced there is a baby coming out of your belly too. You told Daddy so tonight on the phone. You also told him I spanked you, you little tattle tale. You didn't bother to tell him I bought you new socks and shoes and clothes and everything else - including smarties when your really didn't deserve any. I love you anyway, though.
                  Before I close I want to tell you something you said to Daddy that I thought was extremely funny. He told me about it yesterday. He said while I was napping one day you wanted to open a can of play-do and play with it. Daddy told you that you already had all kinds of play-do open on your table. Apparently it was all dried out and you whined and said "But It's all DEAD!" You are so funny sometimes little girl.
                  Well I wanted to stay up and wait for Daddy tonight but I just don't think I'll make it. I miss him a lot. I know you do, too, Mommy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
                  It's early Monday morning and normally at this time I would be sound asleep in bed but as you already know, I have to go to second shift for four weeks starting tomorrow so I am sitting up to get into the routine. My body seems to do better on second than first shift because as you well know, I am more of a night person than I am of a morning person. My body may like it better but as a whole I like first shift much better. I get to help Mom put you to bed and I love that more than you will ever know. You have me wrapped around your finger because when I hug and kiss you good-night you will latch onto my neck and I will stay hugged up to you for the longest time because I know that when I pull away you will cry and I can't stand to see you cry. I will miss that so much the next month.
      We all went to China Town Buffet today. I was starving and I ate like a horse. I had crab legs, crawfish, rice, stuffed clams, shrimp, beef pastry, honey chicken, peking duck, chicken with broccoli, pork skewers, sweet rolls, pudding, cheesecake and a fortune cookie. Your Mom didn't eat nearly as much as I did because nothing seemed appetizing to her and you didn't eat much either for the same reason, I reckon. Your Mom had a funny fortune cookie though. Her fortune said that she would be hungry again in an hour; it was funny because Chinese food has the reputation of only sticking to your ribs for an hour. Your Mom and I both laughed at that greatly. We then went to the Movie Gallery so I could rent some films to look at in the truck using your little portable DVD player while your Mom took her test in Louisville tomorrow. I got Mission Impossible 3 which is the second sequel to the movie version of an old television show from the seventies and the new movie version of Miami Vice which is based on an old television show from the eighties. I was too young to watch Mission Impossible in the seventies but I was a regular viewer of Miami Vice in the eighties. Miami Vice dictated a whole lot of the fashion trends of that era.
      Well, I moved my toiletries from mine and Mom's bathroom and moved it into your bathroom so I wouldn't have to wake your Mom up when I take a shower when I get home from work at one o'clock in the morning. I think I will now go take a shower and look at some television until three o'clock and then go to bed. I don't want to stay up too late because I would like to see you and Mom a little before I have to go off to the place I hate the most, General Electric. I don't think until ten, where I will be working, will be nearly as bad as unit eighteen or unit one which are the units that I usually work on. Still I'd much rather be independently wealthy or at least in a career that I enjoyed. That's why your education will be so important to your Mom and myself. We both want better for you than what we have.
      It's time to go hop in your shower and fight with your 498 toys that you keep in the tub to play with as you bath. Daddy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
               I took a huge leap of faith this morning regarding the viability of our current pregnancy. I realize that I had previously made a big deal over not getting too excited about having a new addition to the family because things could possibly go terribly wrong but I now know that there is no way to hold back the excitement over having another daughter or a son. Both your Mom and I are beside ourselves with anticipation and trepidation over the prospect of another pregnancy and ultimately, hopefully a brand spanking new baby. There's no dialing our emotions back now because we are full bore into this wonderful and terrifying journey that we have embarked upon.
      As I was saying, I took a huge leap of faith this morning and did a huge overhaul of the blog template. It's basically the same template only I have added another column to the left side to accommodate your new little brother or sister. I also put your pictures below the archive because since we have had the archive since December of 2003 it is kinda long and you had to scroll down too far to get to your monthly pictures. Plus the new baby's monthly pictures will be to the top left with no archive to push him or her down the page and I didn't think that would be very fair. I also took one of the safety pins off of the top of the page because with the new column there wasn't going to be enough room.
      It's been a long time since I have had to use cascading style sheets, which is an advanced website programming code meant to work hand in hand with hyper text markup language or html, and I wasn't exactly sure of the particulars but I remembered enough that I knew kinda how to play around with what I had already written to get the desired results I needed. It seems to work out okay. I haven't tested in any other browsers other than Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. I need to check to see if it looks okay in Opera and Netscape Navigator. Explorer and Firefox are the most commonly used browsers these days so I suppose it will work out okay. We will have to wait until we have a number of pictures of the new baby to see if it will work in the long run but so far I am rather proud of my work. I'll probably do some more stuff when we find out what gender the new baby is but until then it will stay the way it is unless I decide to play with it some more.
      I had a huge fright the other night. You are two and a half now and you love your baths. You have never even come close to anything resembling any kind of danger in the tub so I decided that it would be okay if I went and got your towel and the stuff I needed for your after bath routine. Mom was already in bed so it was just you and me. I went to check on you and you were floating in the tub. You were perfectly still and weren't making a sound. My heart leapt up into my throat and I dove onto the bathroom floor to pull you out of the tub. It was a nightmare scenario of the kind I had never experienced before in my life. As you heard me crash into the floor and slide against the tub up you popped and looked at me like I had lost my ever loving mind. I kinda got the vibe off of you that you were annoyed that I had interrupted your relaxation. Your mom heard the huge crash when I hit the floor and she wanted to know what was going on. I told her I had fallen because I was just so upset and I was afraid it would freak her out as well and my nerves were so frazzled at that point that I really didn't want to be upset her. I have never known fear like I experienced it Friday night. I know it could have happened to just about anyone but I felt like such a terrible Daddy after that. It's something that I will never ever forget. By the way, I think I did some damage to my knee when I hit the floor of the bathroom. It still hurts.
      Well, it's super late or should I say super early but I am not tired in the least. I know I should go to bed but I think I will set up awhile and watch some professional rasslin'. Daddy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
                  Hello Sweetheart, how are you? I know how you are. You are tuckered out. Right now you are in bed with your bedroll and your stuffed animals and your chocolate milk snuggled under the covers ready for the Sandman. None of us have felt very good today. Daddy has a cold, which I am getting, and you are also getting. In addition to that I have that stomach virus that has been going around at my work and of course I am pregnant so that makes me feel triple icky. Listen to me complain why don't you?? We all feel poorly. We tried to wake Daddy up to drive us to the store today and we couldn't get him to budge. We tweaked his nose, pulled on his beard, and you even jumped on his belly. He was plain wore out. I got up the first time with you this morning at six and you went back to bed around twenty after seven and then Daddy got up with you again at nine. You seem to rise very early on the weekends whereas Daddy and I plan on sleeping in and you make sure that doesn't happen. You're a good girl though and we are lucky we have you.
      We went to Kroger to join the other crazies buying milk and bread at the tiniest threat of a couple of inches of snow. It was a madhouse in there and I couldn't wait to get out. We finally got through the line and into the car and we decided we'd go over to blockbuster to rent a couple of movies for you to look at (and some for us for later) so that Daddy and I could just sit on the couch and chair and veg and watch movies with you. We ended up only getting Barnyard for you and we all three watched it in the living room. It was a really cute little movie for what it was. You kept calling it the cow movie. While we were in Blockbuster there was a woman there who apparently didn't like children very much. She looked at you rather snottily when we first arrived and then when you were walking along next to me you got your hand caught in one of the small displays on the bottom shelf and tripped over your shoes and fell down. It scared you a bunch, even though it didn't really hurt you, and you knocked over a few movies and I just knew you thought you were going to get into trouble. The woman happened to be near us when that happened and she exclaimed "Good LORD!" At that point I swung around and asked her if she had a problem with you. I won't say what I said to her after that because I am a Mommy and I am not proud of it. Lets just say she rented her movies and hightailed it out of there. I may stand for someone being rude or snobbish to me, but never will I allow them to do it to you. We rented our movies and came on home, had a couple pieces of pizza, then Daddy gave you a bath and we watched Barnyard. Then we watched an episode of Max & Ruby, then Curious George, then you washed up, brushed your teeth and went to bed. I've enjoyed the extra time I have had with you and Daddy this weekend. I just wish we would have all felt better.
      Like I said we are supposed to get a couple of inches of snow tonight and I hope we do get a little. I like the snow sometimes and since Daddy and I don't have to go anywhere of any distance until Tuesday I wouldn't mind it. Tuesday I am supposed to take my CNA test. Wish me luck little girl. I wish you could go with me because you are certainly my Good Luck Charm. I love you, Rebecca. There's always going to be a special spot in my heart just for you. I know you will be the best big sister ever. Mommy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
               Greetings & Salutations, small daughter of mine. You seem to be in good health at the moment but your Mom & I are anything but. I have one of the worst colds I believe I have ever had in my short life and your Mother is getting it as well, plus it's harder on her because she is carrying around your little brother or sister in her belly. I called in to work yesterday morning. It was my last day on first shift for four whole weeks. I have to be at work at 3:58 in the afternoon Monday and will not be getting off from work until 12:28 the next morning. I will certainly miss helping Mama put you to bed. I won't be able to see you or your Mom nearly as much as I would like during the next four weeks but I will be getting a ten percent shift bonus. I have to call in on Tuesday to take your Mom to Louisville for her C.N.A. exam. That means I will have missed three days already during the first month of the year. I have a whole lot of stuff on my plate this year and I do not want to miss a whole lot of work near the front of the year. I hated having to call in yesterday morning but I couldn't hardly breath let alone work.
      I think it was Wednesday that you and your Mom showed up at work after I got off. We had some grocery shopping to take care of but first we wanted to go out to eat. As we drove towards Wal-Mart trying to decide where we wanted to eat we passed by Professional optical where we buy our glasses. I asked your Mom if she wanted to stop to get her glasses adjusted and she said she did. It seems that between you and taking care of an alzheimer's patient her glasses have been bent up pretty bad. She was pleased with the adjustment.
      We decided to go to Logan's Road House for a steak dinner. Both your Mom & I had the eight ounce sirloin, medium well. I had mine with a side salad and a baked potato while your Mother opted for fried onions and mac & cheese. You had a hot dog with fries. You also had some of my salad and some of your Mom's mac & cheese. We all had raspberry tea to drink. Logan's is one of those places where they give you a big bucket of peanuts in the shell and you throw the shells on the floor. You tried to eat a peanut with the shell still on. I explained that we were supposed to take the shells off and eat the nuts inside and then I showed you how to do it on a peanut that I had already halfway shelled. You got a real sense of accomplishment from getting the peanuts out of the shells. We all had a very time at the restaurant. We then went to Wal-Mart and got a hundred dollars worth of groceries, pull ups, baby wipes, a pair of sun glasses for you because you said you couldn't see your eyes and you wanted us to turn off your sunshine as we drove over there, some lip gloss for you because you said you needed some more makeup, light bulbs and other assorted odds and ends. We then came home.
      Everyone had a big scare the other day with Granny. It seems that she took a spell where she wouldn't eat anything and she was getting very dehydrated from diarrhea. She seemed to be doing much better the next day so that made everyone feel much better. I certainly hope you will be able to remember Granny. She loves you so much and you love her bunches as well.
      I have been having fits with my internet connection recently. I went to look at the pictures we have on the TiVo when I noticed that our wireless network wasn't working. I did everything I know to do to get it working. I eventually had to call tech support at TiVo. They walked me through all the steps I had already tried and then they told me I might try updating my firmware for my router. I did that and the network came back online but now my internet connection is being dropped all of the time. I have to unplug the router a couple of times an hour now. I still haven't been able to fix this problem but I don't want to have to worry about it just now. I'll deal with it when I feel better and can think more clearly.
      Your Mom had a scare Tuesday with your new little sister or brother. She has been having pain in her womanly areas for the past week or so. She was concerned so she went to see Dr. Youkilis. He told her there was no cause for alarm. She got to see an ultrasound of the baby. It excited her so much. He told her that she still had four weeks until she was out of the woods concerning a miscarriage. This made her extremely nervous. She always knew this but to have her doctor who we both trust say this to her really frightened her. He told her that working wouldn't put her at undue risk but that she shouldn't over do it. She has a pretty physical job because she has to manhandle one of her elderly nuns because she can't really move about on her own; I reckon you could say she nunhandles her. That was a joke. Anyway she was concerned about this so she asked Sister Mary Virginia if she could take the next four weeks off so as to not put the baby at any risk whatsoever. Sister Mary Virginia just laughed at her and told her she wasn't going to let your Mother go anywhere. If she needed help lifting Mother Ellen then she could go get help. Your Mom is a very valuable person out there and they don't want her to go anywhere. Then the nuns started teasing her about it. The fact that they didn't want to let your Mom go made her feel very appreciated.
      I have installed a new freeware program on the computer that I kind of like. It's called tinyspell and it checks spelling on the fly in all programs, even programs that do not have spell check built in. I actually kind of love it so far. I sent the link to Papaw because he's always talking about how he doesn't do as much on the computer as he would like because he's always worried about the accuracy of his spelling. I think he would really get a lot of benefit out of this little program.
      Your new little brother or sister is due August 29th, 2007. I really want you to have a little sister because we have had pretty good luck with the one daughter we already have, you. I think I am a pretty good dad to a daughter but I don't know anything about little baby boys. I will love a son just as much as I would love a daughter but I think it would be cool for you to grow up with a sister so the two of you could be bitter enemies until you grew up and then the two of you would be fast friends. I'm sure you would be best friends with a brother as well because besides your Mother and yourself my sister, Auntie Lynn is my best friend but I imagine there is an extra special bond between two siblings of the same gender. Maybe I'm wrong but I still want a girl. I wasn't going to mention the fact that I want a girl because it might hurt the feelings of any little boy that may pop out of your Mom's tummy but I think that in the interest of full disclosure I need to mention all concerns and feelings regarding your new brother or sister.
      Well, now I am going to close out this post. I might go bask in the warm blue glow of a mindless television program on the boob tube or I may sit here and rot my brain on the internet; the internet that I can't manage to stay connected to. Daddy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
                  I don't remember if I mentioned this earlier but I am off today for Martin Luther King Day. That is why I am able to post a blog at this time of the morning.
      Your Mom finished her clinicals yesterday. I know she is glad to get that out of the way. I am very proud of her and I know that eventually, when she feels like working a full time schedule, she will get a great job and do fabulous in it. To tell you the truth she has never done so well in any of her past jobs but that is because she hasn't felt a calling for any of her other jobs. She won't have any problems getting a good job because certified nursing assistants are scarce and she has promises of references from the director of nursing at Taylor Manor, Sister Rebecca and Sister Rebecca's boss, Sister Mary Virginia, a retired physician plus she was told she will be able to use her instructor for C.N.A. course as a resume. Those are pretty impressive resumes to walk in with. She feels like being a nurses aide and eventually maybe even a nurse is where her heart lies and your Mom is not someone that can do a job day in and day out that they do not like. She looks at this path as more of a career than just a job. I wish I had a rewarding career instead of a very low level manufacturing job.
      After your Mom got home this afternoon we decided to go celebrate her finishing up her course work. The other day when we went to IHOP you saw Chuck E. Cheese and have been talking about it ever since. We decided to take you there yesterday afternoon. You kept calling it Chunky Cheese. You talked about going to Chunky Cheese all day. You told me you needed to get your shoes on so you could go to Chunky Cheese about six hours before we were to leave. You were super excited about going. The place was jam packed with kids. Some were a little too rambunctious for my taste though. One little boy came right up and sat on you when you were riding one of the little toddler rides. At first you were kind of confused but then you thought it was funny. The pizza is never very good there but we all had lots of big fun. We then went to a Graeter's Ice Cream Parlor on our way home and had us some ice cream. You had a pretty big day.
      I'm going to go look at a little mindless television now. Daddy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
               Everything is still going great with your little brother or sister. The name is still Rachel Marie if it's a girl and you yourself have come up with the boy's name. We asked you earlier in the week what your brother's name was and you said your brother's name was Jack. Kristie and I looked at each other and we both realized that you had come up with the perfect name for your potential brother. Kristie wants his official name to be Jackson Marlin Lanham; I prefer simply Jack Marlin Lanham. We'll probably go with Jackson. He'll never use Jackson on anything but official documents anyway. So congratulations on naming your potential little brother.
      Your Mom finished up her C.N.A. class work this week and she finishes up her clinical hours this Sunday. She did really well in the class. She finished with the highest average of anyone in the class. Her teacher was so impressed that she offered her a private duty position setting with her aunt on a third shift basis. Your Mom thought about it and decided that with her job at Taylor manor it would take too much time away from you and I. The teacher said that maybe she could use Kristie occasionally to fill in for the regular sitter. She has her certification exam the twenty-third of this month in Louisville. She'll do great.
      I found out some kinda bad news this past week. It seems that the week after next I am going to have to spend four weeks on second shift. I really don't want to go back to second shift. I worked second for over a thirteen or fourteen years when I first started out at General Electric. I am used to first shift now and I will absolutely hate those four weeks. I will miss helping Mom put you to sleep every night and it will be very lonely when I get home from work in the very early hours of the morning. I have a few things planned for that time frame which will demand that I miss a little time. I kind of hate that because I have so many things on my plate this year. I will make ten percent more on the hour though so it's not a totally bad thing.
      Granny came home from the hospital the other day. I was glad to hear that. She still has a touch of pneumonia but she looks to be doing much better. Mamaw has been attending to Granny these past few weeks so you have been in daycare a lot more than we would like to pay for.
      Turns out that Mamaw hasn't been offering to keep you because she thought we wanted you in daycare most of the time and we haven't asked her to keep you because we thought she was too busy with Granny. I'm glad that confusion is behind us now. Daycare is nice maybe one day a week but at $30 per day for three and four days a week can be way too expensive. You have come to really like daycare and playing with all of the other kids. Your Mom and I both think that it's good for your social development.
      I picked you up from daycare yesterday afternoon after I got off from work and we went to go rent some DVDs. You said you wanted to go eat at Wendy's but I was already too far past Wendy's to stop. You threw a little hissy fit. When we pulled into the parking lot you told me that you wanted McDonalds instead. I told you that you could have whatever you wanted to eat and that we would indeed go to McDonalds. You said that would make you happy. I told you that I really enjoyed making you happy and you informed me that it wasn't I that made you happy, it was McDonalds. We went into the store and I rented The Da Vinci Code and a football movie called Invincible. We headed for McDonalds and you decided that you wanted Wendy's instead of McDonalds so we headed off to Wendy's. You had another change of heart after you saw the McDonalds sign as I passed it by. You wanted to eat at McDonalds. I had to go turn around and head back towards McDonalds. On our way back to McDonalds you told me that you were a hungry dodo. You got a chicken nugget happy meal and I got three hamburgers with extra onions and a coke. You ate about half of one of my burgers, two nuggets, a whole bunch of fries and all of your soda and some of mine as well. You were certainly a hungry dodo.
       We finished up and headed for the house and when we passed Wendy's you decided you wanted to eat there too. I pulled into the Wendy's drive through to get you a frosty and you had a fit. You wanted to go inside. I asked you what was so important inside Wendy's and you told me food. I didn't back down this time. We got your frosty and went home. I sat you on a rug we have set up in the living room. Whenever you eat in the living room you have to stay on the rug with your food. We call it your picnic rug. I sat you on your picnic rug and gave you some of your frosty in a bowl and you ate it up. We had just started to get you undressed for your bath when Mom got home from work. You and I took a shower together and then the three of us played in the master bedroom for a good long while and then you watched a few minutes of The Little Mermaid and then we put you to bed.
      Well, that's all for this morning. Daddy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
               What do you think of the most absolutely best news we could ever get? We just might have another baby! You would be a big sister to a little brother or sister. I know for a fact that you would love that. We asked you what you thought of having a little brother or sister and you kept telling us all the things you were going to share with him or her. You would let your new sibling push your new Wal-mart cart that Santa brought you and you want to watch Arial with your new sibling. You would be a great big sister, I just know you would.
      Mom seems to be a little more hormonal than she did when she was pregnant with you but she says that when she was pregnant with you she wasn't working and she got plenty of good rest. She may have something there because in addition to her working she also spent the week before and after Christmas going to an express course to be a certified nursing assistant. She still has a number of hours that she needs to make up because she had to go to the doctor during class a few times. She's been real good with you but everyone else is feeling the wrath of an exhausted pregnant woman. Even the nuns where she works have been giving her a wide berth lately. She knows that sometimes she can be trying and she always apologizes for any crazy outbursts but of course I get another one minutes later most of the time. Maybe as things settle down in her body her moods will mellow out. She might even get angry with me for writing all of this; we'll see.
      This pregnancy has already been memorable. First your Mom took a pregnancy test and it came up negative. A week or so later she took another and it was positive. She took two more and both of those showed no results whatsoever and then finally she took one last one and it was positive so we were pretty sure that she was great with child. She started hurting some so we went to the emergency room at Central Baptist where she was told that she had a cervical pregnancy which is a pregnancy in her cervix. We did some research on it and that is extremely rare. The odds of something like that happening are 9,000 to 1 or some such outlandish number. The E.R. doctor wanted to do a D and C on her which would have ended the pregnancy right there. He phoned the ob/gyn on call for Dr. Youkilis, Your Mom's ob/gyn and he said to wait so they could see her at the office. We went home and spent a tense holiday season waiting to relive the pain and frustration that we had just gone through this past August. She finally had the appointment and when she got home she was not in tears as I had expected but she was instead walking on air. It turns out that the doctor in the E.R. had been wrong and the spot they saw in her cervix was not a baby at all but swelling from the August nightmare. At this point we felt reassured that it wasn't a cervical pregnancy but we still worried about another tubal or something else being wrong. Your mom had to wait a week or so to go back because we had to wait for your brother or sister to get big enough to see in an ultrasound. She went back this past Thursday and sure enough she saw the tiniest little spot in her uterus that the ultrasound technician had located using the tiny but quick heartbeat of your brother or sister. So now we knew that the baby had made it to its home for the next eight months. We are all starting to get excited. There's a hundred other things that could go wrong and we are living in fear that something will happen but on the bright side, whenever your Mom has gotten this far in a pregnancy she has had a baby. You and your brother, Dylan are proof of that.
      We have been tossing around some names. We are set on the middle names. If you have a brother his middle name will be Marlin, like Papoo's name and if you have a sister her middle name will be Marie which is a derivative of Mary, as in Aunt Mary. The first name is what's giving us fits. Ryan is out because we had chosen that name for the baby we lost in August and your Mom felt sure that it was going to be a boy.
      Rachel has always been our girls name of choice since even before you were born. You were almost Rachel but we decided that you would be Rebecca Lynn Lanham and if we ever had another daughter she would be Rachel Marie Lanham. That name was favored and then your mom thought maybe the August baby was a girl so Rachel was out. Reagan Marie Lanham became your possible sister's name for a day or two and then it was Emily Marie Lanham for a minute or two and even Zoe Marie Lanham for and even shorter stretch of time. I think that now we are back to Rachel Marie because even your mom says that that name feels like the right one and I agree with her.
      The boys name has been giving us even more of a hard time. We have so many great girls names to choose from but we just can't come up with a boys name that we both like for more than a day or two. As I said before Ryan is out and Caleb which we tossed around before we knew you were a girl hasn't been mentioned. Your Mom came up with Isaac or Elias. We both thought that Elias Marlin Lanham was the better of the two. We would call the child Eli for short. My pick has been and always will be Ethan but your Mom doesn't like that name at all and never has. I think it's way too popular right now anyway. It was the third most common male baby name in 2006 of course Ryan was the fourth. Just for your edification Aiden and Jacob were number one and number two respectively. I like Joshua but your Mom doesn't like it for her own reasons. She says all the Joshuas she's known have been gay. We will have to think about a boy's name a whole lot more I am thinking.
      Your name was the sixtieth most popular name for a girl in 2006 as it was in 2004 when you were born. It dropped to sixty-first in 2005. I'm getting these numbers from Babycenter.com and they get their numbers from registered users of their site of which your Mom is one.
      We are very excited as I said before but we have a long way to go; 180 days to be exact. A lot of things can go wrong in 180 days but I'm feeling pretty confident. These are all of the same fears and emotions we both had at this stage of your own gestation and you turned out as right as rain. I don't think we will be addressing the new baby in this blog until we are much further along than we are at this point. We didn't address you directly in this blog until we knew your sex so I think that's how we will do it with your new baby sister or brother.
      Well, it's getting late and your Mom has a full day of griping at me ahead of her so I had better start thinking about getting some sleep. Daddy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
                        Hello Monkey. Right now you are tired so that means you are buck wild. You had a big day at daycare today. After that you went with Daddy to see Granny at the hospital. I met you and Mamaw and Daddy and Papaw at Long John's Silvers for supper. We all had a good time eating supper there. You told Papaw he was losing it. You are a funny monkey little one.
                     What I really sat down here to tell you was that the ultrasound went wonderfully. We got a fetal heart rate of 110 bpm and saw a fetal pole - which just means we saw a baby forming. That's great news little girl; it seems you are having a baby brother or sister after all. You don't care what it is as long as it will watch the Mernaid Movie with you. If it's a boy you just picked out his name: Elias Marlin Lanham. We had our hearts set on Rachel for a girl but I believe we are now leaning toward Reagan for reasons unmentioned. I am really tired little one and I will let you go for now. I just wanted to share the good news. Mommy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
                           Apart from Daddy getting sick this morning, we've all had a pretty good day together. Daddy didn't go to work and my class was cancelled. Therefore, you did not have to go to daycare today. We took you to McDonald's after we all got feeling a little more perky and let you have lunch. At first you were the only kid there and you were having fun but you weren't having a 'blast,' so to speak,just yet. You could only get so far up the steps that led up to the slide before your little legs were too short to make it any further. You had some good helpers when the kids arrived though because they all made sure you got where you were going. You loved going across the enclosed swinging bridge. You weren't too keen on the open swinging bridge so you went across it on your butt. You can be a little scaredy cat. But you were sure brave when you went to go down the slide because you just plopped right down and slid on and while I was busy looking for you at the top you'd already made it to the bottom. After you slid it was time for us to go to the Unemployment Office and get Daddy's unemployment for his Christmas layoff filed. You threw an ever-loving filt but calmed down when I told you that we could go to Wal-Mart. We needed toilet paper and such. You finally came along, albeit unwillingly, but you said you had fun and you wanted to come back.
      Daddy had to wait a bit so you and I went over to the Family Dollar nearby and got some toilet paper and stuff for the house that we had ran out of because of Daddy's minor illness. That made the trip to Wal-Mart unneccasary so we just went to Best Buy. Daddy lost his camera and he needed to get a picture taken of you today. I have no idea where that camera could be but if we ever come across it I know just what we will do with it; We will put it away in a locked cabinent I plan on buying soon and very soon for just such an occasion as this. Daddy got his camera. He didn't really get the one he wanted, but he got one that I think he already likes better. We also bought a huge memory card for the camera so now Daddy will never have to worry about that either. And we got all that for less than the camera he had his heart set on. Your poor Daddy gets one thing in his mind and that's the way it has to be. The only person I've ever seen convince him otherwise is you. Daddy settled on that camera because today is the 3rd and he needed a picture of you, and I believe thtat with all my heart and soul. However, it's a very nice camera and I think he will be doubly pleased with it and all of it's features- and it's memory.
       After we went to Best Buy you voiced that you still wanted to go to Wal-Mart and look at toys. Daddy and I weren't really in the mood for Wal-Mart and being as how Toys-R-Us was right there we decided that it was the best bet to let you look at toys there. After all, it is a toy store, is it not? Anyway, you had a ball, hollering and whooping and playing with every toy tricycle and power wheel and and baby bouncer and baby doll that was within your reach. I bought you a little outfit to put on you after I cleaned you up there and Daddy just loves it. It says "I Love Daddy" just above a rainbow and a cloud on an Aqua blue long sleeved shirt with black three quarter length pants. It's super cute and you looked adorable in it. It was on sale for seven bucks so that is good, too. I had to bribe you out of Toys R Us with a Belly Washer lollipop so that we could hurry up and go get a copy of your immunization certificate for the day care. You have gotten to where you love that day care. When you first went you were petrified of being without Mommy or Daddy but I always see you having fun and laughing when I come to get you and you hardly cry at all when I drop you off. It's very good for you to interact with kids your own age. It makes you the outgoing and sociable toddler you are. We got the certificate with no fight at all (unexpected for me, I always expect for them to put up a fight or ask me for money every where I go for any reason) and then we made our way home. We were all pretty tired from our not so restful day off so Daddy and I plopped down in the living room and you headed straight for your room to lay down and watch Ariel. I watched a show on Court TV and Daddy played with his new gizmo. You spilled a yogurt drink on yourself and came to request a bath so I obliged. Now Daddy is in there with you snapping away at you and you keep telling him not to look at you. You are an extremely funny monkey sometimes, little one.
            It's about time for you to get rinsed off and get out and so I suppose I will let you go. I am dropping you at day care tomorrow and hopefully all will go well at my doctor's appointment. If so, there may be a new baby brother or sister for you. Keep your fingers crossed! Mommy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
                  Happy New Year! This is the very first blog of 2007. I've spent most of the year looking for our camera. I can't find it and it's, as you like to say, making me crazy. I reckon it has to be around here somewhere. Maybe it's in Mine and Mama's bedroom; I certainly hope so.
      Your Mom & I had planned on having a mini Lost marathon last night while we waited for the ball to drop. You woke up and announced that you couldn't sleep. You were bouncing off the walls you were so tired. You are a whole lot of fun when you are like that but if one tiny thing doesn't happen the way you think it ought to happen you throw a tizzy fit. Mom got sleepy so she went to bed and you and I stayed up. Mamaw & Papaw called and you talked to them forever. You took the phone into the kitchen to show them the new kitchen that you say Santa brought for you. In fact it was actually Mamaw & Papaw that got that kitchen for you. Anyway, you held up the phone to the kitchen and told them to look at it and then you proceeded to fix them breakfast. You fixed Papaw watermelon with butter, biscuits and butter milk. You fixed Mamaw something entirely different but I was too busy looking for the camera to get a picture of all this to know exactly what it was that you were fixing for her. They eventually had to go and you threw you a little fit. I eventually got you calmed down with an episode of Spongebob Squarepants.
      By this time it was extremely late. Your plan was to wait up for Santa Claus but since Santa doesn't come for another 358 days I didn't think you would make it so I told you that you could stay up until the next year. We were playing a new game that you like to call Freda. Freda is a character from Oobi who is portrayed by a foot. You set up your brand new doll house and I ring the door bell with my foot and you answer it and it's Freda the Foot at the door. You simply love that game for some reason. So right up until about one minute until 2007 you and I were playing Freda. When the big ball began to drop I got your attention diverted to the television. You thought the ball was so very pretty. We counted down the seconds and we both yelled out "Happy New Year" and I gave you a big kiss. I think you had fun ringing in the New Year. After that I informed you that next year was here and it was time for bed. You didn't fight me as hard in 2007 as you did in 2006.
      You and I went to see Granny in the hospital this afternoon. I packed all of your doctor tools that Santa brought you so you could make Granny feel better. We got there and you climbed up on her bed and took out all of your tools and went straight to work. You are a wonderful doctor. After we visited Granny you and I went to Frisch's for a late lunch. We each had a burger and fries and we shared a tossed salad and a hot fudge cake. After we ate we went to Kroger to get some milk and some batteries for your flashlight. You were extremely excited about getting the batteries. We then drove toward the house. You fell asleep on the way home so I drove around for a little while and then when we got home I sat in the driveway listening to talk radio while you slept for another half an hour.
      We cam in and I started giving you a bath when Mama showed up. I fried up some bacon and made a grilled cheese sandwich for your Mom and she fried up some eggs for me and you shared our late supper with us. You also had some peaches. And that was what the last day of 2006 was like.
      Well, I want to look for the camera some more before I have to go to bed. I have to get in bed relatively early because I have to go back to work Tuesday morning. I know I am going to miss spending time with you but I think maybe I am ready to get back to work for awhile. Daddy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
                  Well, it's the last day of the year. Granny is doing a little better. Her heart attack didn't do much damage but she is still in renal failure and she still has pneumonia. I hope she can come home soon. I had planned on the two of us visiting her yesterday but it got to be so late that we didn't do it. Maybe we'll try earlier in the day today.
      That's about all I have for right now. I'll close this out. Daddy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
               I Know it has been a very, very long time since I posted a blog to you. For that, I truly apologize. Life has been crazy for the last couple of weeks, what with me going to school and Christmas day and the situation your father mentioned at the very end of your blog. I really wish he hadn't said much regarding that issue but there you go, that's what's been going on. I was going to wait and tell you one way or another after I had another Ultrasound this coming Thursday. I'd be thrilled for you to have a little brother or sister to play with.
      I don't have much time to post a blog this morning either, unfortunately, because I have to go to work today. I want you to know that I had a FABULOUS holiday with you. Even though I think Santa Claus brought you Way, Way too much. You warm my heart on Christmas Day and every day and I want you to know that if I never have another baby, I feel so very blessed to have you in my life. I thank God for you every day and I love you more than life itself. I am looking forward to a Happy New Year with you and a happy year to come. Mommy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
               Christmas is over and has been for five days now. The Christmas tree is down and packed away, our new portrait of Santa reading a bedtime story to a little girl is down and our new decorative plates of Santa are off the wall and safely tucked away in the big green tub we use to store our inside Christmas decorations. The outside decorations are still up for the moment but soon will be coming down and even though they are still up they went dark at midnight the day after Christmas and haven't been lit since. We are still in the process of finding places to put all of our Christmas goodies. Your favorite toy thus far seems to be your play-doh table. You also love your Little Mermaid DVD; in fact you seem to love just about all of the gifts you received this Christmas. I am having a ball with my new printer and your Mom hasn't had a chance to decide what she likes the best yet because she has been so busy with school and visits to see the doctors.
      You spent the day at daycare on the 27th and really loved it. You didn't want to leave. You are at a stage in your life where you want to interact with other children so we are happy that we can expose you to that kind of atmosphere.
      Poor Granny had a heart attack early in the hours of the 27th and is still in the hospital. She also has pneumonia and she is experiencing symptoms of renal failure. We went to see her after we picked you up from daycare. You were excited to go see Granny. We told you that we were going to see Granny but we didn't head for her house and you got kind of upset because you thought you weren't going to see her. You gave Granny a big kiss when we got to the hospital and told her that you love her. Granny was just as happy to see you as you were to see her. This is a very grave situation with Granny and everyone is nervous about her health. I sat you down this evening and told you that you needed to try very hard to remember Granny if something should happen to her in the near future. You initially told me that you couldn't do that because you had a tootsie roll in your mouth but when I asked if you could do it after you finished your tootsie roll you said that you could. I hope you do have some kind of fond memory of her. Maybe you will remember sitting in her lap sharing a fish dinner from Long John Silver's or helping Granny around her house by pulling on her walker or maybe the time you sat up in her chair with her and the two of you colored pictures. Maybe you will remember how excited you were to sneak her Christmas present, a lightweight hand vac on a stick, on her. I hope she will live another ten or more years so there will be no question of whether you will remember her or not but I honestly don't see that happening. I hope and pray I am wrong.
      Your Mom had a doctor's appointment with her ob/gyn Wednesday. She has had a pretty miserable Holiday because of the bad news concerning her cervical pregnancy. She took it harder than I had realized. After the tubal pregnancy in August we had both agreed that we wouldn't become too emotionally invested in any new pregnancies that may come along. I failed to realize that any time a woman becomes pregnant there will automatically be an emotional investment. I chalk it up to the ignorance of the male species. I wasn't as understanding and patient as I should have been and I feel like a huge jerk for that. Anyway, your Mother went to see her ob/gyn regarding her cervical pregnancy and after a new ultrasound was taken and read by experts in the field of obstetrics it was determined that the pregnancy is, with 95% certainty, in her uterus, exactly where it is supposed to be. Dr. Youkilis, the ob/gyn for your Mom when she was pregnant with you, is cautiously optimistic regarding the viability of this pregnancy. I am still trepidatious regarding this pregnancy but also cautiously optimistic. This is the same doctor that told us to consider her ectopic pregnancy an ectopic pregnancy even before he knew for sure. So he is a very cautious physician and the words he spoke to your Mom gives us hope. However, I hate to think what it would do to your Mom if problems occurred after she was told that a certain miscarriage was actually a potentially healthy pregnancy. I'm sure it would be devastating for her as it would be for me as well, but I am sure that your Mother would adjust to the reality of it and get on with the business of raising you in the most excellent fashion she has from the very beginning of your life in her womb.
      Well, it's getting late and you and I are going to go see Granny later today so I had better get in bed. Daddy loves Rebecca!

Dear Rebecca,
               Merry Christmas one last time for 2006. I always hate to see Christmas Day slip away. Your Mom & I had an absolutely exhausting Holiday. Neither one of us slept very well with the crazy sleeping conditions. I love having your Aunt Mary & Papoo Lawrence visit with us but from now on on Christmas morning it really should be just the three of us. It just feels right when it's just us three sharing the the joy and warmth that is Christmas Morning.
      Your Mom & I are going to have to have a little chat with Santa Claus next year about the shear volume of stuff he brought you. You had over fifty Christmas presents from the jolly old elf. It was way too much stuff. We had to take a break halfway through opening the presents so we could all take a nap. You know you have too many presents when you have to take a nap in between opening them.
      What all did you get from Old St. Nick? Let me see if I can recall some of the gifts. You got a brand new tricycle, a stuffed Mickey Mouse, a stuffed Spongebob, a stuffed Curious George, a pony on a stick, a broom and dustpan, foam letters for the bath, magnetic letters for the fridge, an angel, a mermaid, The Little Mermaid DVD, a Bambi DVD, March of the Penguins DVD, a DVD player, Little Mermaid cups, a Little Mermaid nightgown, Disney Princess pajama set, Disney Princess clock, a stereo trimmed in pink for your room, playdough and a playdough activity table, a whistle, a train, a doctor kit, a magic writer, accesories for the kitchen Mamaw & Papaw got for you, two Barbie dolls, a Vtech television toy, big girl panties, mega blocks, a princess tiara, a Spongebob ball, brushes and other hair care products, a new tooth brush and some new tooth paste, a Spongebob bath mat, a spongebob stool, a stuffed dog in a purse, a Wal-Mart shopping cart, an aquadoodle for the house to go along with the aquadoodle you have down at Mamaw & Papaw's, a cabbage patch baby, a dollhouse with two sets of furniture, three tickets to see the Doodlebops in concert in April, a wall climbing Spongebob and Patrick, and probably a bunch more that I am forgetting. MAry and Papoo Lawrence got you some stuff that you opened Christmas morning as well.
      Of that entire long list of wonderful items that Santa brought you the thing that you had the most fun with Christmas Morning was a massager shaped like a lady bug that I had gotten for your mother. I think your absolute favorite thing though is your tricycle. You also had a ball with the doll house later tonight after I had taken it out of the box and put it together. The magic writer and playdough table were also big hits.
      After we finished our second round of present opening we went down to the country where we had our extended family Christmas. It was really kind of sad. The attendance was dismal and it seemed that all of the food, while tasty, was primarily leftovers from Christmas Eve. Even Allison who has long been a big fan of Christmas night really didn't want to attend. Both myself and Aunt Lynn who it seems are the biggest Christmas nuts in the whole family sgree that the time has come to pull the plug on the extended family thing. As I said earlier this month or late last month, in the future we will have our Christmas night at Mamaw & Papaw's. Or at least that is my hope. I don't know what we will be doing Christmas Eve. Maybe we will take a day trip to Hazard for Christmas Eve or maybe our family in Hazard will visit us. Whatever it will be will be wondeful and it will be the only kind of Christmas that you will ever know because you will not remember the extended family celebrations just like Allison doesn't remember when the celebration took place at Granny's house on Lillard's Ferry.
      I can't wait until next year. I think that maybe next year you will really be into opening presents. You really got into Christmas this year and it warmed my heart. You know so many songs and you even have your favorite, you love the lights, the television specials, the whole Santa and his sleigh thing and all of the wonder and joy that Christmas is all about. However, you still are not the best present opener. That would be my title. I was kinda glad that you needed so much help because eventually I took over for Mom in the floor helping you and I really got into it and it was infectious because as I got more and more excited so did you. We all had big fun today. My favorite part of the day was after we got home and we all laid in the floor and played with your dollhouse.
      Well, I already have my festive desktop theme taken down and the Christmas pictures uploaded but I am sure there are things I need to take care of on the computer to set the theme back to the default blue we use. I really can't wait until next year. I have a feeling that 2007 is going to be a great year for us just as 2006 was; maybe even better. Ya know, there's only three hundred and sixty-four more days until Christmas and I am already excited. Daddy loves Rebecca but he hates to see Christmas go!

Dear Rebecca,
               Merry Christmas! I heard Santa laying out the presents earlier this morning. It was such an exciting event. I would have loved to have gone into the living room to meet him but I was afraid I would disturb him in his work. He wasn't here over twenty or so seconds. I don't know how he was able to leave all of those presents and drink his milk and eat his cookies in such a short span of time but he is Santa so he can do anything. Aunt Mary and Papaw Lawrence are here so the sleeping arrangements are kind of skewed. Papaw Lawrence is sleeping in your Mom & Dad's bed, I tried and failed to sleep on the love seat in the office and Aunt Mary and Mom are sleeping in the living room. They originally set up a pallet on the floor but I think they switched to the recliner and sofa so as to not get in Santa's way. I really wish I could have gotten some sleep. I might try to lay down again here in a minute or two.
      We all went to Mamaw & Papaw's last night. You cleaned up as you usually do for Christmas. Mamaw & Papaw got you a huge toy kitchen and you got tons of other stuff as well. I'll give you a more detailed list of your total Christmas haul when I have the chance.
      I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas in case I don't have the opportunity to do it later in the day. Daddy loves Rebecca and he loves Christmas!

Dear Rebecca,
               A not very holly jolly occurrence took place late last night and early this morning. We found out a few days ago that your Mom was pregnant again. We were both very nervous and frightened because of the events that transpired a few months ago with her tubal pregnancy. She began to have some pains yesterday afternoon and we went to the emergency room where we were told that she was indeed pregnant but the pregnancy was not in the uterus where it is supposed to be but in the lowest part of her uterus or cervix. So in other words it's not a tubal pregnancy like she had some months ago but it still is classified as an ectopic pregnancy. You must look upon this as proof that you are indeed our miracle baby.
      I'm going to close this post out for now. Christmas is One day, twenty-two hours and twenty-nine minutes away or as your Auntie Lynn and I used to call it, Christmas Eve Eve. Daddy Loves Rebecca and he still loves Christmas!

Dear Rebecca,
            I dropped you off at Day care for a few hours yesterday afternoon while I tried to clean up the house some. I don't think your Mom was too impressed with the job I did because she told me she wasn't too impressed. That was my first clue.
      When your mom got home from school yesterday afternoon we all pile into Mamaw's van with Papaw & Granny and went to Southern Lights at the Kentucky Horse park after having supper at Arby's. You absolutely loved the lights. Even more than you did last year. Eventually we let you out of your car seat and you crawled into my lap so you could see better but my lap still didn't offer you the view you wanted so you jumped down and wandered up to the front of the van where you sat on Papaw's lap as he drove. You told us all that you were helping Papaw drive. You loved anything to do with Santa or his reindeer most of all.
      We stopped near the end of the display where they have all kinds of attractions set up. First we went to the petting zoo. We saw lots and lots of goats, fluffy chickens, a camel, llama, lazy kangaroos, wild four horned mountain sheep, miniature donkeys, a camel and your Mother's favorite, a miniature Scottish Highlands cow. You like the goats most of all. You screamed with delight the whole time we were there. After the petting zoo we all took a ride on a miniature holiday train. You love trains and you thought that was a big trick. We then went inside where the shops are located and bought a fiber optic light thing for you. It looks like a duster; as a matter of fact later that evening when you were brushing it up against the window in Mamaw's van I told you to stop it and you informed me that you were dusting the window. We then had some hot cocoa that you didn't care much for because it wasn't real cocoa like Momma makes for you. We bought some kettle corn and then we headed back to the van. Mamaw & Papaw stayed in the van with Granny because she didn't feel like doing all of the walking that was required.
      After we left Southern Lights we drove around different neighborhoods looking at more lights and then we came on home. We all had a real nice time. Allison was supposed to go with us but unfortunately she got grounded and couldn't come. The plan was to wait until yesterday for you to see Santa so Allison could be there with us. It's a good thing we ran into Santa in the mall a few weeks ago because he wasn't at The Horse Park last night. It's getting frightfully close to Christmas and I am sure he is incredibly busy this time of year.
      Your mom doesn't have school tomorrow but I am going to be getting up with you again this morning because your Mother hasn't gotten to sleep in any at all this week because of school. I had better get on to bed. Your Mother told me I had to be in bed by three this morning. I don't think I will make it but it will be close. There's two days, twenty two hours and two minutes until Christmas. Daddy loves Rebecca and Christmas.

Dear Rebecca,
               Christmas is almost upon us and everyone is very excited. However, if I have to look at The Spongebob Squarepants Christmas Special much more I will go flat batty. That's the only program you have any desire to see and it has been for the past two weeks. Occasionally you'll have a hankering for Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or as you call him, The Big Nosed Reindeer. You are quite the Christmas nut. I wonder where you got that from? You can sing along with a dozen or more Christmas songs and you can sing two, Jingle Bells and Here Comes Santa Claus all by yourself. You mangle the words or rearrange them to suit your own whims.
      As you already know your Mom is going to school this week and most of next week so I am the primary caregiver right now. That's why your hair has looked like crap all week and so has the house. I intend on really getting into cleaning up real nice tomorrow. I am very proud of your Mother. She is frightened to death that she will not pass this course or pass her state exams. I tell her she doesn't have a thing in the world to worry about because she is a very intelligent lady who has actually had experience as a nurses aid. She took a test yesterday and had the highest score in all of the class. She thinks her weakness is making beds but she came closest of anyone else in her class to getting it right. You and I know that she is doing great in her class; now if we could only convince her we'd be in good shape.
      She's been studying her lessons and reading her text book so much in the past week that she has begun to miss the two of us. She asked if we could meet her in Lexington yesterday afternoon after she got out of class. We all met up at the Wal-Mart on the north side of town and then we went to The Golden Corral for supper. We all had a real nice time and you were very well behaved. We then went over to Hamburg so your Mom could do a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping and then you and I went to Garden Ridge while your Mom went to Kohls so she could get something for me. We also went to Baby's "R" Us to purchase a new car seat for you. We had originally went over there so we could finish paying for our bedroom dresser at Value City Furniture but we were all so tired that we plum forgot about it. We went back to Wal-Mart to pick up the Explorer and we all went home. You watched a few minutes of The Spongebob Christmas Special and then both you and your Mamma went to bed. I stayed up and picked up the living room a little bit, fixed your Mom's lunch and set her coffee for in the morning. I also watched a couple of episodes of Criminal Minds, that's a show about F.B.I. criminal profilers and then I came in here to sit down and play on the computer. We had fun last night but I am afraid it might have wiped your Mom out because she practically fell asleep before I could kiss her good-night.
      Yesterday morning you woke up very early indeed. Your Mom was up getting ready to go to school and she brought you into our bedroom and laid you down with me. You kept crying for her not to leave. She felt very guilty about having to leave you but she's going to school so she can get a better paying job so we can all be just a little more comfortable and for that I admire her. After she left we both began to drift off to sleep. When I was just about out you told me in your little stern voice to quit it. I didn't know what you were talking about. I once again began to drift off when you once again told me to quite and then you said in an exasperated voice that I was making you crazy. Once again I had no clue what you were talking about. I was just about asleep for the third time when you once again told me to quit. This time when I asked you what you wanted me to quit you said that I was snoring. You are such a funny little monkey.
      We heard from the insurance company this week. They decided to total your Mom's car. We want to keep the car so they gave us a check for almost three thousand dollars for the car and sold us back the car for four hundred and fifty dollars. I am shocked that we didn't get ripped off. They also gave us another check for eighty dollars and told us that we needed to purchase a new carseat and bring the carseat that was in the car at the time of the accident back to the insurance office. We got a whole lot better car seat than the one we had.
      As a result of getting this big windfall we were able to purchase three tickets to see The Doodlebops in concert in Louisville on April Fool's day. I hope you like it. You were very well behaved when we went to see Disney Princesses on Ice but you didn't do so well when we went to see Cars at the movie theatre. I'm sure you will be just fine. You'll be almost three when we go so you will be a big girl by then.
      The day we picked up the check you and I went out Christmas shopping. We went to The Dollar Tree so you could pick stuff out for everyone on your list. You didn't do so well in there. You were very tired and you got two time-outs while we were in the store. During the first time-out when you were almost done You pushed yourself away from the wall I had you facing and announced to me that that wall had germs. You got another half minute for that even though it was cute and probably true. I told you that if you got a third one you would get a spanking. We went over to The Dollar General Store because i know how much you like it there. You forgot Granny at The Dollar Tree so you splurged a little on her and bought her a six dollar smelly candle, sweet pea. Lo and behold you got in trouble for the third time. Third strike and you get a spanking. You got three little swats once we got to the car. You and I went to Fazolis for lunch and then we went to Wal-Mart to get a few grocery items and then we came home. I had fun and even though you were such a tired and grumpy little girl I think you had fun as well apart from your two time-outs and your spanking.
      Gotta go to bed because you don't know the definition of sleeping in. There's three days, twenty-one hours thirty-four minutes until Christmas. Daddy loves Rebecca and Christmas.

Dear Rebecca,
                  You're not feeling very well right now. You had an extremely high temperature last night. You were staying with Mamaw & Papaw while your Mother and I took care of some Christmas shopping. We got down there and you were curled up in Papaw's lap and just totally out of it. Papaw would go to pat your leg and you would brush it away you were in so much pain from your high fever. We brought you home and took your temperature; it was 102 degrees and you were actually screaming. Your Mom wanted to take you to the emergency room but instead we gave you a nice long cool bath and that seemed to make you feel a whole lot better. After your bath you went to bed with Mama in our big bed. That's where you are at right now. I hope you start to feel better very soon.
      Last weekend, as I mentioned we would, we went and saw The Gospel According to Scrooge at King's Way assembly of God. Sissy was in the play. When we walked through the door she was waiting on us in her costume for the play. She saw you and put out her arms and asked you for a hug and a kiss. You hesitantly approached her and gave her your most prim and proper stranger kiss. She put you down and we walked on a few steps and then you looked up at me with a look of shock and realization, "I saw Sissy!" you exclaimed. Kristie & I both enjoyed it greatly.
      This past week was the last week I had to work for 2006. I am so glad to be off for the rest of the year. I was late to work Wednesday for maybe the second time ever in almost twenty years. I got up to go to work and gathered my clothes together and went into the living room and sat down in my chair and turned on the news and promptly went to sleep. I woke up an hour later at 6:30. I have to be at work by 6:54 so I knew I was going to have to move like the wind to get there on time. I failed miserably. I thought I was driving very fast but cars were still blowing by me so maybe I wasn't as moving as fast as I thought I was. Friday the powers that be out at General Electric let me leave an hour early and that was nice. I was supposed to leave three hours early but at the last moment they changed their minds and I was fit to be tied. At least I made a few extra dollars.
      I don't think we have mentioned your Mom's car wreck. She was waiting to turn onto Berry Avenue where Taylor Manor Nursing Home is and she was rear ended by a young girl from out of town. The car looks like crap and the insurance company, both your Mom and the girl have Kentucky Farm Bureau are dragging their feet. I would love to look into changing companies but I don't believe we would be able to get comparable rates from any place else. The car may be totaled And I don't know how that would eventually play out. We'll get screwed some way, some how, of that I am sure. Your Mom was okay and thankfully you were not with her but I hated it that it happened.
      Your Mom signed up for school to become a certified nurses assistant this past week and she had her orientation Friday night. The class is in Georgetown. She was so excited Friday night when she got out of orientation. She was bouncing all over the Explorer. I know your Mom is going to do fabulous in the class. She already is a nurses assistant but isn't certified by the sate so she is not able to get the higher paying opportunities. I am very proud of your Mother. She wants to eventually go back to college when you start going to school so she can become a registered nurse. I am glad that your Mom has found a field that she excels in and enjoys. I am glad that from now on your mom will have a career instead of just jobs. There's a huge difference in the two. I make more money than your Mom does and I have been with the same employer my entire adult life but what I have is a job and certainly not a career. That's why both your Mom & I are so adamant that you excel in school and attain a college degree in a field that you enjoy and one that will be able to support you in a comfortable manner.
      Well, it's late and I want to do a few other things here on the internet and maybe watch a little television and then I reckon I will lay down on the sofa so as not to disturb you and Mamma. There's only eight days until Christmas. I have heard that Santa is probably going overboard with your Christmas presents this year but you have been such a good girl all year that I think you probably deserve everything that Santa has for you. Daddy loves Rebecca & Christmas!