The New Little Beekeeper~

Today was the ultrasound!!!!!

I woke up this morning after a not so pleasant night of a bad headache and throw up session last night, but that couldn't keep my spirits down. First let me say that we had the BEST ultra sound nurse who explained every single thing to me without me even having to ask!!!!!! That is a big deal for me ya'll, because I want to know it all. She dimmed the lights and Brent and I got a front row seat to the first appearance of the babe. The first thing I saw was the little heart just a beating away, and I started crying a laughing like a mad women, but I was so very amazed by this little miracle and seeing him/her for the first time, seeing a beating heart and a growing baby inside of me is the most amazing and most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

One shocker though, was finding out that I am not 9 weeks, nor am I further along. I am only 6.5 weeks!!!!!!!! Can you believe that? The crown to rump measurements showed how far along I am and I was shocked. I got over it though, I'll have to do a little back tracking in my books, but I don't want to rush it, and I'm going to try to stop being such a worry wort and just enjoy my first pregnancy, morning sickness and all. She told me that everything looked perfect, and she took the time to show me what and where everything was, and most of all she gave me the sense of comfort that I was looking for. I can't tell ya'll how amazing this lady was!!

On a pretty funny side note, she said I had an anatomically correct uterus that's picture could go in a text book, and then she turned to Brent-Boy and told him he should just keep me pregnant all the time because this is what I was made to do!! We had a good laugh about that, of course I can't think about another babe until this one gets through "cooking" as my mama says, although Brent-Boy has brought it up several times.

So that is about it ya'll. I am going to get Brent-Boy to convert the video to DVD or the Internet so I can post it in the next couple of days and you all can watch this little blessing from God. I feel so so blessed and I am so so thankful, words almost can not explain how I feel!!!!!!

And as Willow says, here is the new little beekeeper!!

(The top of the picture is not an alien head, thank goodness, but the yolk sac. Underneath that is the babe, crown to rump.)

Big Ol' Babe In The Belly~

Okay ya'll, I know you want to know!!

Brent-Boy and I went to our first OB appointment today!! After being poked and prodded by needles, which was not very fun due to my gag reflex lately, we had the exam. Now there has been some question about just how far along I am, Brent says 9 weeks, and I say I don't really know. We concluded that my expected due date is March 03, 2009. And this makes for very interesting news, after the exam, the OB told me that it was possible that I might have a 10-12 Ibs. baby!!!!!! What?! I about jumped off the table. Ya'll I am not very big at all, how am I going to have a baby that big? She told me to watch my nutrition, but it's not like I am eating like a football player before the big game here. She said I could push a baby that size out though, I'd rather not push a 12 pounder out though, maybe a 9 pounder. As far as that though I will have more information and pictures and a video tomorrow, since we are getting our first ultra sound tomorrow at 12:15!!!!!! I think she wants to see how far along I am, and make sure everything is A-Okay in there. Brent-Boy and I are super excited, we've bought the video tape that he will convert into DVDs for the family, and we just can't wait!!

Thank you all again for all the sweet comments, and all the baby blessings!!!!!!

Oh Savannah How I Love You, But You Are So Very Hot!!

Our air conditioning is yet again on the fritz, and Savannah is terribly hot in the summer. I mean hot hot, steaming hot. I love Savannah but in the summer I could probably do with something along the lines of the Swiss Alps, or Antarctica. We get bugs here to, big ol' scary bugs. In fact I am sometimes amazed by the bugs we get here, and the mosquito's are awful. I layer to do laundry. But I have to say in the summer here, just like in the dead of winter, their is a rough beauty that makes Savannah what it is. Without the heat and the humidity, we wouldn't have our giant elephant ears, our magnolia blooms, or our azalea bushes that almost bloom all year here. Summer is when the wildlife in Savannah comes alive, and when the tourists really come rollin' in. If you make a trip out to the islands, people are catching fish and blue crab by the bucket, and the toughies are catching black fin, bonnet head and sand sharks. I've seen sea turtles the size of a large dining room table take fishing line, and jelly fish caught in cast nets. Summer thunderstorms roll in, and if you are lucky enough to be on River Street when it happens, it sets the stage, it is truly amazing. Summer here is hot and it can and will I can guarantee you be miserable if you are outside in the middle of the day. The mosquito's will swarm, the cicada's will sing, and the Spanish moss with blow calmly in the humid breeze. All you can really do is kick back, make sure you have a good fan, good bug spray, an ice cold drink, and you might just find yourself falling in love yet again with this strange old city.

One Nervous Nelly Makes A Break For The Movies.

So I have to tell ya'll, I have been one nervous nelly lately. I don't know what it is, first mommy thing and work probably. We've recently had some serious changes at work, and we decided to start a home office and work for one company after being jostled around between several companies for the past four months. So work has been on unstable ground, which will always put you on high alert, especially if you are in sells. And then just waiting and waiting and feeling like next Wednesday will never come, and wanting to know so much, (one of the biggest things is just knowing the baby is A-okay hanging out in the womb), and wanting to ask all the questions that I have, well more like grilling the doctor on the next eight months. I don't know if it is first time mommy stuff that I am just going to have to go through or not. Ya'll tell me?

So this nervous nelly made a break for the movies tonight. Now generally you couldn't drag me to the movies. If something interesting is coming on the History, National Geographic, of Discovery channel, I would much rather curl up on the couch with the dogs, a steaming cup of hot tea, and King Tut if I had it my way, but Brent-Boy is a film major, and going to the movies is a must around here. And the new batman it was, The Dark Knight, and I have to say I was very very impressed. Especially for one girl who has never really gotten into the comic thing. Now I have to say I liked the first one with Christian Bale alot, it was very good, but this one takes the prize, amazing. And I know it's been said before but Heath Ledger did an awesome performance. I was blown away by it. In fact I walked out of the theater saying "my he played an awesome crazy mad man, and he was scary." It was sad though watching the movie knowing that we won't be able to see him in a movie again, knowing that not only did we as an audience lose a great actor, but also lost a great person I am sure. So seeing this movie was enough to take my mind off, well, my mind. And I got a little break from driving myself nutty, and Brent-Boy got a break from me wandering around the house obsessing about every little thing. That is by the way my favorite thing to do when I am nervous or stressed.

So if you haven't seen it yet, and if you are like me, take a break from the History Channel or put the book down just for a little while and go see this movie. Hey it helped one nervous nelly.

Baby Update

(This is the babe at 7 weeks!!!!!!!)

So my first morning of feeling queasy, usually it's in the afternoon, I got to wake up to a doggy accident in my living room. Brinkley, our English bulldog decided he couldn't hold it, and went to town, thank goodness we have hardwood floors, or I would still be scrubbing. Ya'll can imagine what that did for my upset tummy, it turned circles.

I have my first OB appointment July 30th, and I am so excited!!!!! I can't wait. Of course they will probably be shoving me out of the building after a couple of hours, due to all the questions I plan on asking. I am a dork, I am going to write every thing down.

My mom and I are starting to think that I just might be further along then we thought. I already have a belly!! It's not very big, but you can see it, and it's very firm to the touch. Brent-Boy felt it yesterday morning, and I thought he was going to crawl out of his skin, because he said it felt so weird!! I wonder what he's going to think when it starts to look like I swallowed a basketball?

So, I am hoping that the OB will be able to tell me how far along I am, because I really really want to know!!!!!

Oh and all I want to do is sleep, sleep, sleep. In fact I am surprised I am not asleep right now!!

I will keep ya'll up to date on the baby news, wish me luck for my first appointment!!!!!

You Might Be A Southern Gal' (of just a plain old redneck), if........

I've been thinking about doing this post for a while now. I was thinking about my family the other day, and how funny they can be, even though sometimes they seem a little crazy, and what it means to be a southern gal' born and raised in Georgia. So you might be a Southern Gal' (or just a plain ol' redneck), if..........

1. Your grandma tells you it's "over yonder," and you understand where and what she means.

2. "The cows are out again," is a normal thing to hear.

3. You sleep with a shot-gun next to your bed, and it's usually loaded.

4. Riding four wheeler's through cow pastures on a Sunday afternoon with your cousins is your idea of a good time.

5. Your TV is always on the Outdoor Channel.

6. You ever got a spanking with a fly swatter, flip-flop, or other random object.

7. You call you mama, "mama" and your daddy, "daddy," and you are over the age of eight.

8. One of your favorite foods is corn bread.

9. You can't cook, but you sure can pull together a supper of black-eyed peas, cornbread, homemade macaroni and cheese, collard greens and sweet tea.

10. You love to fish, and Bill Dance is one of your hero's.

11. You have at least one aunt that looks like she bought the whole cosmetic aisle at the drugstore, and you are pretty sure she wears it all, at once.

12. The first thing you ever learned to drive was a tractor.

13. Your jungle gym when you were little was an old magnolia tree in your grandparents yard.

14. When you were a teenager, you tried to rebel and become a "vegetarian." When you looked at your grandpa and told him "I don't eat red meat," he looked at you like your were crazy, told you you were crazy, and then piled a big ol' steak onto your plate.

15. You are probably related to more than half the town you were raised in.

16. Your uncles all carry guns in their trucks.

17. Your uncles all carry around spit cups for chewing tobacco.

18. You have fond memories of laying out in the sun on your grandparents roof with you grandma and aunt when you were four.

19. You still have to use steps to get into your grandparents bed, where you still take naps.

20. Everyone in your family speaks with a slow southern drawl.

21. Your step-daddy looks like a character from Gone With The Wind, and he always has a cigar sticking out of his mouth.

22. Your mama made you pick your own switch when you were bad.

23. Your aunt and uncle used to ride the tractor to your parents house when you were a kid.

24. You sit on your grandparents wrap around front porch with them, rockin' in the rockin' chairs, and watch the late summer thunderstorms roll in.

25. Your mama told you that the two night birds that come out in Georgia say "Bob White" and "Whipper wheel."

26. You've ever blasted by a deer stand in the middle of hunting season with a golf cart, and thought you just might get shot.

27. Your brothers wear fish hooks on their hats.

28. Your mama drives a truck.

29. You've spent many a night in a honky-tonk with your sisters, watching a women sing Crazy by Patsy Cline.

30. Your grandparents use well water.

31. You have an alias, and it's "Tammy."

32. Your best friends daddy shots microwaves, VCR's, and old toilets out in his front yard.

33. You say "ya'll" all the time.

34. You say words like "dag gum, blasted, and for the love" when you get mad.

35. You say things like:
"He's got more nerve than Carter's got pills."
"I'm trudging through."
"She hung the moon."
"You need to have a come to Jesus meeting with him."
" The blasted thing just fell apart."
" He sure did slam on brakes."

36. Reenactments of the Civil War or The War Between The States is a day to day activity where you come from.

38. Your parents got stuck in the snow on a mountain when you were a baby, and you all had to sleep in the camper bed of the truck.

40. Your mama calls you just to gossip about everyone in town.

41. The majority of the women in your family are crazed Southern women, think Steel Magnolia's (Weezer).

42. Your whole family is very superstitious.

43. Everyone, including your grandma is a preacher in your family.

44. Your grandma stills scares the living daylights out of you.

45. You've ever eaten chicken mull from the church across the shoals.

46. Your grandpa eats pickled pigs feet, frog legs, chitlens, peanut brittle, canned meat, sardines and drinks his coffee black.

47. Your grandpa gets up at 5am every morning, and wakes everyone up with him.

48. One of the first songs you ever learned was Amazing Grace and it is still one of your favorites.

49. When your family gets together for the holidays, all of them bring their shot-guns and rifles and you all shoot skeet in the middle of your grandparents pastures.

50. You've ever harassed a cow, because you thought your grandma was lying, got charged, and then got stuck on a barbed wire fence.

Tick, tock go see the clock......

I was just popping around to my favorite blogs like I usually do late at night when I can't sleep. And I stumbled yet again upon something amazing. Rima from The Hermitage,
has gone on another adventure, this time clock making, and I am in awe. Take a look at her amazing new website dedicated to her clocks Once Upon A Clock,
and make sure you have your speakers turned up!! It inspired me to write this little children's poem. I haven't written a poem in years, not very good, and just a little silly to. (I am blushing)

Tick tock go see the clock
You may find yourself upon a strange and mysterious walk
Don't be afraid
Don't look away
Join the circus of fairies and old tales
join the strange parade
The clock tells the time
The time of the day
But if you look closer
And don't look away
You just might see
What the world is really meant to be
And you might find
another clock
not just a clock of time....
So tick, tock go see the clock
Look and find
And to you, my dear friends take this little rhyme.

~Lady Em~

Thank You!!

Thank you all so very much for all your sweet comments, blessings and prayers!! I am so happy that I can share such wonderful news with such wonderful friends. I look forward to looking at every one's daily posts, and reading comments and such, and just sharing with some of the most warm hearted women that I know. I am proud to call you all my friends. Again thank you so much for everything!! I send my love, prayers, and thank yous to each and every one of you!!

Please Take A Peek....

Please take a look at my sweet friend Ramsey's new blog. She hails from North Carolina, and is one spit-fire of a southern gal. Last year at this time she was soon to be on her way to Australia and then New Zealand, and I am so glad she is back now!! She comes to visit me in Savannah all the time, where we go ghost hunting, drink chai lattes, and dream of living in Harry Potter land. So ya'll take a peek and give her a big welcome!! I am so glad she has come to blog-land!!!!

No More Sushi For You..........

So I have had the strangest craving for spicy tuna rolls, I mean I am dreaming about them!! And guess what no more sushi, none, nada, zip. I love sushi, and I am a cravings type of girl anyways, so it's driving me nuts, at least I can still have my miso soup though. Another strange thing, very itchy hands and feet. I thought I was just imaging it, so Brent-Boy told me to Google it. Looks like some pregnant women get itchy hands and feet from the hormones that are running like mad through you body when you are preggers. So imagine me sitting here typing this covered in pink calamine lotion, because that is what I look like right about now. What a weird symptom of being pregnant. Did any of ya'll get any strange happenings like this going on when you were expecting?

Oh, Baby!!!!!!!!!

Oh, baby....
That's right ya'll I am pregnant. Six and a half weeks to be exact!! Brent-Boy and I just found out last week, and I have to say we are excited and shocked, but we feel so blessed that God has given us such an awesome, wonderful gift. I am almost speechless. Every moment of my days and nights now are filled with baby thoughts, I am so excited!! I am amazed by the miracle of this little babe growing inside me daily. I can't wait to meet him or her!!
My due date is March 01, 2009.
And I hope to have my first OB visit next week.
I will keep all of you my dear friends posted on all the updates and news.
I am thanking the good Lord daily for this wonderful blessing that has come into our lives!!
~Lady Em~

I recieved this wonderful award from Betsy at My Five Men. I have to say it means the world to me when I am picked for an award. I feel like I some how, some way have made a difference. My Five Men is one of my favorite blogs that I haunt on a regular basis. Everytime I visit, I feel like I've pulled up a chair and been handed a hot cup of tea, to sit down and enjoy the newest news, a great story, or an awesome recipe. Thank you so much Betsy, I really appreciate it!!

Here are the guidelines for this award~~

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving

of this award for their creativity, design,

interesting material, and also contribution to the

blogging community, no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author

and link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award

and put the name and link

to the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4) The award winner and one who has given

the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico"

blog so everyone will know the origin to this award.

So here are my Five:

1. The Feathered Nest

2. Hippy Chick

3. Willow Manor

4. The Urbs

5. The Little Yellow House

~Friends~

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? Thought I was the only one."
~C.S. Lewis~

I've Been Tagged!!

Okay so I am supposed to list seven songs that I have been listening to this summer on a regular basis. I really listen to these songs and artists all the time, not just for summer, I hope that still counts!! And a lot of these are my favorite songs as well. So hum....let me think.

1. Mother Revolution-Tori Amos

2. Tupelo Honey- Van Morrision

3. Into The Mystic- Van Morrision

4. Moondance-Van Morrision

5. LOVE- Nat King Cole

6. Rocketman-Elton John

7. Alison Krauss- Oh, Atlanta

So that's it!! Those are my seven songs that I love. Now I supposed to tag some of ya'll to pick your seven, so if you are reading this, you are tagged!!

Waiting For Fall....

I am not a big summer fan. I don't know, I guess I just never have been. I can deal with about a month of summer, and then I am ready to skip to fall. Maybe it's because my birthday is in October, or maybe it's the fact that summer in Savannah is like living in a swamp, and as soon as you walk out the door your sweating all the makeup that you just put on off. Or maybe it's the fact that when fall rolls around, the air gets a crisp cool smell, the leaves crinkle under your feet, the fall candles are lit and smell up the house with comfort smells, and the Georgia games start. I really have a thing for fall in case ya'll didn't notice. So a couple more months of summer, the dog days are almost here, the hot hot days, and then fall will be here soon!! I can't wait to bombard the Yankee Candle store for fall scents, decorate the house, leave the screen door open for the house to get cool, drink hot chai lattes, and carve pumpkins!!

(These are pictures I found of fall in Georgia!!)

Vacation, vacation, I need a vacation!!

Brent-Boy and I are in desperate need of a vacation. A long vacation. Well maybe just two weeks or so. I have to tell you it's been stressful around here for the past couple of months. A lot of it is just the ends and outs of work and life in general. Have you ever just wanted to throw your hands up, say I'm taking a break, and go to some far off land full of magic and fairies? That is me right about now. I have been foaming at the mouth to go the England and Scotland for the past few years, and maybe one day soon, I will get to go. But I would much rather take a trip up to Atlanta to visit with Brent's parents, then go abroad right now. Visiting them is like going home. A place where we can really let our hair down, let the worries slip away, and have fun. Not to mention eating some of the best food ever, and making book store and craft store and antiques store trips with Mrs. Dawn.
I think that once we get things in order somewhat here, we'll take a little trip, a much needed mini break!!

Can I please have a cat? A big, fat cat?

When I was little, Dr. Doolittle was one of my favorite movies. I guess it stuck with me, because our house is much like a small zoo. We have three dogs, that are more like children, four turtles, a ton of fish, three tree crabs, and now baby frogs. And now I want a cat!! I grew up with cats, and I've had a ton. Brent-Boy however is highly allergic to them though. One of my very best friends has a Maine coon cat, and I just found out that my sister has a Maine coon as well, and I want to jump on the bandwagon!! I don't know if ya'll have ever seen a Maine coon but they are HUGE!! They seem to have a quirky personality to. My friend and my sister's cat both chirp like a bird, and not very often do they meow.

Basically ya'll I just want a cat, just one. Brent-Boy's mom, Mrs. Dawn over at The Feathered Nest
has two Devon-Rex cats, Thelma and Chester. They are hypoallergenic, because a lot of the boys are allergic. They have the softest fur, almost like down fur, and they to have quite a personality as well!!
So Maine-coon, or Devon-Rex, I want to complete the zoo here at the house, and finally get my cat!!

Forget the car, let's take the boat.

So if ya'll didn't know, the water and sewer systems in Savannah are ancient, along with everything else. The city will patch up one or two every couple of years, but a major overhaul would mean ripping the city apart. Now when it really rains here, several parts of Savannah flood. The historic district, Ardsley Park and Orin Heights, right in the middle of where we live. Usually it's just a few streets that flood, and that is no big deal, because no damage is done. This morning however we had some ferocious thunderstorms and we woke up to no power and our road flooded to the max. I spoke with a lot of our neighbors that have been here longer than we have, and they told me that they haven't seen it this bad in years. So of course Brent-Boy, my big bass fisherman redneck, decided that he would take a ride in our little Jon boat down our street. I have to say I was a little embarrassed, but all the neighbors got a kick out of it. So as bad as the flood was, even though it did minor damage to a few houses and some cars, we had a morning of meeting the neighbors, and some good ol' southern hospitality. It's been thundering off and on, and we've had a slight drizzle here and there, and we've been checking the weather like crazy. It looks as though some storms are moving in again, but hopefully they'll skip us. Even though we got flooded, we got the rain that we so desperately needed. Here are some pictures from this morning, and yes I was out walking in it. In fact it was like a neighborhood party in the rain.

Happy 4TH Everyone!!

I hope everyone has a very happy, safe and fun 4th of July!!
The majority of my family is in West Virginia at my grandparents mountain house, shooting fire works off the mountain. I spoke with all of them last night, since they like to pass the phone around, and I spoke with my grandpa and told him not to end up in jail this time.....just kidding ya'll!! I wish I could be with them, but we're here in Savannah with all our friends, and we're cooking ribs, baked beans, texas toast, and lots of dip and beer (well for the boys, I stick with the red wine).
From us to ya'll!! HAPPY 4TH!!

Ebenezer Creek

So the idea for this blog came from Willow . She left a comment on my pictures of Tybee, saying they reminded her of the movie "The Gift" with Cate Blanchett. That made me laugh, because parts of that movie were filmed right up the road from Savannah in Effingham County at Ebenezer Creek. I don't know if ya'll remember the part of the movie where the creepy fiddler is playing in the swamp, or when they are dredging for the body, but that is where those parts of the movie were filmed. Brent-Boy being the film major that he is let me in on this little secret.
Now if ya'll are ever in the area I would recommend renting some kayaks, and taking a trip down Ebenezer. I would also recommend going in the fall or winter since it's packed full of big ol' snakes, gators galore, and river otters, among other things.
The first time that we ever took a trip down Ebenezer was about two years ago in our canoe. We were in hog heaven!! Brent and I had never seen anything like it. We were both born and raised around the Atlanta, Athens area, and swamps were something that we didn't know anything about. Now I say swamp because a vast majority of Ebenezer is like a swamp, but it's also a large creek as well. It's also a great fishing hole, and Lord knows we love to do that!!
One day we decided that we wanted to canoe the whole creek. It's about seven miles long. So we started off around 2pm with a good friend of ours, who was also up for an adventure. We were determined. So we start our journey, and we kept on passing this creepy guy, because that is the only way I can describe him, who was out trying to catch some catfish. We asked him how long it was to the end, and whether or not he thought we could get through since we knew we would have to go through a lot of brush from looking at the map. Well he laughed at us, in a creepy way and kept saying "I don't know." We could never get a straight answer out of him. We've since learned that a lot of people that you meet in passing in Ebenezer are a little off. So we kept on going. Well it was starting to get dark, and we were getting into cypress trees that were in the creek that the canoe could barely fit through. We didn't know where we were, we were officially lost. So of course I am about to lose it, and Brent and our good friend Miles thought this was hilarious, which of course rubbed me the wrong way. So eventually we pulled off on the shore, and the boys had to end up dragging the canoe out, and we come upon this house out in the middle of the woods. Guess what, no one was home. And I was thinking about how this would make the perfect start to a horror movie that I did not want to star in. So they drug that canoe down a three mile dirt road, and I followed holding on for dear life to my little 22 rifle. We finally got to the end of the road, stored the canoe in the woods, and found someone who could take us back to our car. He told us that at that time of year with the water low, their was no way we could have gotten through. So that was our strange adventure on Ebenezer.
But Ebenezer has much darker history. It was December 9, 1864 and General Sherman was on his march to the sea. He was only a few miles out of Savannah. On that day 670 escaped/freed slaves men, women, and children were following Sherman on his march. The army first crossed over on pontoons, telling the slaves that they would send the pontoons back for them. The commander in charge of the crossing, BG Jefferson C. Davis cut the pontoons lose as soon as the army crossed leaving the slaves stranded on the other side. Soon the confederate army showed up, which caused many of the slaves to jump into the icy December water, many of them drowned, the remaining were shot, and the rest were taken by the confederates. It was a massive tragedy that should and could have been avoided. Several soldiers and even Sherman himself admitted to Davis's anger, hostility, and racism towards the slaves. I guess what Davis didn't realize was that his name would go down in history not as a hero, but as a villain.
I have to be honest with you, every time we visit Ebenezer, we do get a feeling of eeriness, and I for one am a firm believer that the spirits of those slaves still roam the shores and haunt the water of such a beautiful place, where such a tragedy took place.

(On a side note ya'll take a look at the map we made in the sand trying to get our bearings, and the picture of the canoe pulled up on shore with all the strange like orbs around it, I'm still not quite sure what those are!!)