A little memory between 6am and 8am.

This morning I woke up at 6am to pee for the fifteen millionth time that night....but I could NOT go back to sleep. Somewhere between the bathroom and the bed I started to worry and I just couldn't stop.

I thought about all the things I need to do before this baby is born.
I thought about all the things that could go wrong during a birth.
I thought about all the things that could go wrong after a birth.
I thought about those sweet people who have said they'd travel long distances to see us after Ransom is born...and then all the things that could make their visit no fun.
I thought about lack of sleep and hormones raging ( Ironically what was happening right then...)
I thought about Brett going to Ranger School.
I thought about all the things that could go wrong at Ranger School.
I thought about how much I was going to miss Brett during Ranger School.

It was a nasty deluge of worry.

But, somewhere in the midst of that fog I was reminded of a song...


Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure....


When I was little I remember there where times when Papa would just "randomly" tell us all that we were going to sing this hymn and so we would. Our little family all driving in the car singing, or sitting around the dinner table.
At the time I didn't think much of it, but now looking back and knowing that there were, quite possibly, any number of things going wrong in my parents grown-up world at that moment....that all of us singing together, this particular hymn, was actually rather significant and important.

Sometimes it is just good to let the Devil know that we remember....we remember who our Help is, who our Defense is, and just where our true Home is....

Sometimes its good to sing. Or, if you're lying in bed with a sleeping husband its good to think the words really loudly.

Continuing on...

Its official! I've got a cold...which is kinda funny because usually every time my sister and I see each other, one of us is sick and then the other of us gets sick because I guess we're sensitive to each others germs...well, now that she's got a daughter I guess we passed on that little trait and I must have caught poor Kilsyth's cold. :-(
But, if there was ever a person who I do not begrudge for giving me a cold its THAT adorable little girlie ( I miss her).


And on that note, I'll continue with what I started yesterday...and today we'll be looking at the bedrooms of our home as seen through my iphone:

First, Ransom's room...please take note of the mobile. I think it turned out pretty great ( Thanks again, Katie and Thomas! I get so many comments on it!!)






Here's the guest room, my favorite thing is the duvet cover:






And finally, the master bedroom, which my favorite thing there is probably all the windows ( though you can't seen some of them in the picture, you get the idea..it use to be a sunroom...)

the new toy

So, I got my iphone4 in the mail yesterday...and since I'd just prayed against distractions ( at the time I was meeting with my friend Keri to plan a workshop that we'll be leading at the Navigators Fall Conference), it was TRULY a miracle that I was able to "put it away" until today...but today I've been enamored with my new toy. The best part? Most DEFINITELY the camera! The pictures are awesome! And I looove having the option of a flash! YAY!
( The worst part is indeed the poor reception. I'm going to definitely have to get a booster...bad job, apple, bad job.)

But it was a good day to have a new camera at my finger tips since it was J-Money's ( jaymon) 30th Birthday party...and so I needed to have picture taking abilities at every turn. Good times.

But, since the boys are still partying it out in the living room right now ( watching Dumb and Dumber on the movie projector big screen) I'm going to celebrate my new toy by showing you a couple of pictures I snapped this afternoon of our house.

We'll start with the dining room...
my favorite thing in the dining room is most definitely our Hall of Fame picture wall.


Then head on into the living room...
My favorite things in the living room are the built in bookshelves and the decision to put a large mirror in front of the fire place.

What I've been doing....

So, for the past four days I've been preoccupied by this...



That's right!! Brett and I got to hang out with Anna, Ryan and Kilsyth...my adorable adorable niece. It was so much fun having them come visit and letting Kilsy try out Ransom's baby room and getting to see what our house will be like with a baby in it! Of course, its particularly great when you're not the one having to get up and feed the baby in the middle of the night...haha! But it definitely made me more excited about finally getting Ransom here in person.

In other news, we're officially two weeks away from my due date, and while its hard to say what "progressing towards labor" actually is...I have been feeling totally queasy for the past two days and according to google that could mean my body is getting ready for giving birth...we'll see!!

The horrors of Christian Peer Pressure

So, I have three weeks until my due date. That's right. Three. And I'm really starting to feel it in every bone, muscle, ligament and acid reflux-y part of my body.

Which is why I decided to choose today, of all days to get up and go to Friday Morning Prayer. Which, incidentally starts at 5am on the dot ( which, if you're counting and I most CERTAINLY am...means you have to get out of bed in the FOURS). Now, up until this point I've used my "pregnancy" to not get up at this unholy hour and do holy things...but then, at our Sunday Night Bible study the girl that had HER baby a month ago ( THAT'S RIGHT! A MONTH!) said that she was going to be going...and so, it was then that I felt the Christian Peer Pressure strongly upon me, and I knew that I could no longer use pregnancy as my crutch. I mean, if this sleep deprived woman could do it...why couldn't I?!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm really glad I got up and went to prayer. Group prayer is one of my favorite favorite things in all the world. And yet, by seven am when I was going on my walk with my walking buddy I could feel my decision weighing down upon me....and then when I got home and spilled lemonaide all over our bed and had to strip the sheets off to wash them...I could feel 4:45am grinning at me..and then, when I was taking a third load of laundry out of the dryer and carrying it down the hall...my back could feel it. And then, when I went to the commissary and shot evil, evil glances at the women who had illegally parked in the ONE expectant mother's parking spot ( OF ALL DAYS!!! THE ONE DAY I WAS GOING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS SPOT!) my lack of sleep knew the reason why my temper was so short...and then when I got home and had to walk up and down our very steep stairs FOUR TIMES carrying bags of heavy, heavy groceries up to the kitchen it became even MORE apparent...and then, when I spilled soup down my front while eating lunch...well, actually, that happens almost every day so I can't really blame my early prayer call on that one...but ANYWAY.

The point is, I don't do well with little sleep and I have a very strong suspicion that this blog is going to take on some green eyes and pointed horns and possibly some nasty claws in the next few months. I would appreciate it if my readers did not take any rants seriously...
Thanks.

And in other news, I am waiting with baited breath for my iphone 4 to arrive in the mail...that would make this sleepy giant pregnant girl happy.

Blessed Up

So, Brett and my third anniversary was a success...and don't worry, you won't have to wait too long for a continuation of Our Story that I started yesterday...however, it just won't be today.

In fact, it was suppose to be yesterday, because I thought I would have plenty of time to sit and reminisce while Brett was at work...but then the night before our anniversary I was getting ready to bed and I said, "I'm going to ask your boss if you can have the day off tomorrow..."

And so I texted Brett's boss the following text:
"You know what a REALLY great Anniversary Present would be?! Giving Brett the day off to spend with his awesome wife."

And his boss texted back:
"Done!"

And then he texted Brett and told him to take the day off....

Now before you totally freak out and either A. Think that is a totally made up story. or B. Think Brett has the greatest boss in the world and that you wish this would happen to you...

Let me just tell you that the answer is most definitely B. at the moment.

You see, Brett is currently "between" jobs-basically he's waiting around to go to Ranger School in August ( after Ransom's born and all...) but that doesn't mean that the Army doesn't periodically task him to do various jobs. And currently he's working for one of our really good friends...which is handy when it just so happens to be your anniversary and your wife decides to take it upon herself to get involved.
Normally I would NEVER do such a thing. And I'm pretty sure normally a boss would never reply like that either.
So yeah, it was a really nice surprise.
A nice surprise that I'll try to remember and savor while Brett is gone, suffering in Ranger School/hell.

So we had a lovely Brett/Abigail style day which included the following activities. Incidentally I'm going to tell you about our day in detail like this because I feel like soon its going to be a relic that we look back upon and wonder how we ever had such lazy relaxing days?!? Ahhh...children. Such a blessing.....such a shock to your system.

Anyway, our day:

We woke up early ( because no matter how hard you try, your internal clock will still wake you up when you normally get up). So we took this opportunity to exchange Anniversary gifts. I got a squeaky toy and Brett got an Espresso Machine.
And before you think that seems mighty one-sided, Brett actually got me an iphone4 ( YAY! this blog is about to get videos!!!) but it hadn't arrived yet...
And then we had breakfast with Jaymon and then we did our quiet times. After which we were very tired and took a two hour nap.

That's right. A nap. In the morning. AWESOME.

Then we woke up, and since lately I always wake up hungry, we headed to our new favorite restaurant, Thai House ( not as good as Lemongrass in Olympia WA...but I'll take what I can get...) and then we went and bought Espresso beans and headed home to try out Brett's new toy.

After playing with the Espresso Machine ( its AWESOME by the way...although I have yet to really sit down to master the steamer as of yet...but since its not like I could actually drink the latte right now...I'm not in a huge hurry).


And then we read Harry Potter out loud to each other, followed by watching two episodes of Star Trek: Next Generation....

Yes, friends. This is how we spent our day. And it was lovely and perfect. And it can very much be concluded that we are very nerdy sedentary people.

The Meet Cute

So, tomorrow is Brett and my three year wedding anniversary. And in honor of this auspicious occasion I thought I'd give the blog a little "How we met" story action. I've spent the last few days trying desperately to find a blog post about how we met, because I feel like I had to have written such a thing at SOME point. But, alas, no. ( or at least I can't seem to find it) So, I'll give it to you now in all its full blown glory...

However, if you'd like to jump the gun a little than I think you should really go read my full-blown account of Brett's proposal which I DID write about at the time...

Ok, so now for the story.

Brett and I first met in high school. And usually I like to pause at that point and let everyone think ( wrongly) that we were high school sweethearts. And then I like to say, "but we weren't friends". I say this for affect because its so very opposite of "high school sweethearts", but in actuality we were friends. Or at least we had the SAME friends...which in high school is kinda the same thing. But basically I remember meeting Brett my Sophomore year in high school, and he remembers meeting me my freshman year. The reason for this discrepancy is because Brett had really long hair my freshman year and he wore a weird necklace with giant beads on it. So it doesn't take a genius to figure out WHY I don't remember him. ( *sigh* I was shallow). But, anyway, back to when we became friends ( in my book), we had quite a bit in common. We were both a part of Generation J ( a Christian club at our school), we both hung out with the "theatre people" but we weren't in theatre ourselves, and in my Junior year in high school ( Brett's senior year), we were on the Newspaper Staff together....and by this point he'd cut his hair...and it was really, really cute.

I remember being pretty psyched when I realized we were going to be on staff together. I mean, he was cute but I hadn't gotten to spend much time around him so I figured this was my chance to get some one on one flirting action in...but, as I wrote in my high school journal.

"I'm SO glad I joined the newspaper staff, because now i know for sure how LAME Brett Wilson is...."

Now, one cannot actually trust high school journals. In actuality I found out rather fast that Brett Wilson was not amused by my Sarcastic Wit ( pretty much my ONE way of being...I was sarcastic ALL THE TIME). And therefore I did not know what to do with this Brett Wilson character. When I was funny or charming or whatever, he would just kind of growl and give me a disapproving look. Burn.
And so my "love" went quickly to dismissal and thus we ended our time in high school together....

But, that's not the end of the story, because we would continue to see each other at mutual friends houses over various Christmas holidays throughout our college years. I remember always taking note that he was there and still thinking he was pretty cute-but my life had gotten quite a bit fuller at this point and most of my thoughts revolved around New Zealand and my life there...
And then I graduated college and moved back to the USA and spent a really crappy year in my home town. No matter how hard I tried I was not particularly happy to be there and part of me wondered why I was even there... But, finally the end of the year came and I somehow found myself at a New Years Eve party of a friend of a friend.

And that's where Brett and I really met.

Here's a picture from that night:



As in, we met as closer resemblances of the people that we are today. People that had a whole lot more in common than mutual friends. It was at this party that I actually talked to Brett as a person ( and not just a head of really cute hair).
I remember being impressed by his relationship with Christ ( which had recently taken off after meeting some pretty sweet people at a Bible Study at Fort Benning...incidentally, the Bible Study that we are currently leading today.) , and I was also struck by how we were both dealing with the sadness of not being around our college friends anymore....to be honest I don't remember that much of our conversation just that I was really impressed and at the end of the night when the topic of New Years Resolutions came up I mentioned I wanted to do better at corresponding with people ( at the time my job left me sitting mindlessly in front of a computer for most of the day-plenty of time for emailing) and I remember saying something about "adding Brett to my list".

But, when the time came to actually write him an email...I found it incredibly difficult to come up with the words. It was like a little part of me knew it wasn't just a "casual" email among friends.

And it wasn't.

And thus began the romance that was based almost solely through the written word for almost year...but that's a story for another day.

Fried Pickles

So, I'm super tired. Which I usually am after Bible Study. Because I'm one of those people who is an extravert but who does NOT actually get "energized" via other people...go figure. But, Bible Study is always so awesome and exciting ( getting to see God work in people's lives is pretty much better than cupcakes...and we all know how much I love cupcakes) and therefore I'm always in this state of tiredness/excitedness that leaves my body confused about whether it wants to go directly to sleep or whether it wants to stay awake for hours and hours....

And so while laying in bed I will ponder why I have heart burn ( other than the baby that believes my ribs are some sort of toy to be punched and played with) I remembered the FRIED PICKLES that Brett and Tabitha and I ate this afternoon ( I mean, what better food to send Tabitha back to Canada in her stomach?!? )...that's right. Pickles. Fried.

Only in the South people, only in the South.

And speaking of the South it was well over 100 degrees outside at 7pm. And thus the contributing factor to why I had to take THREE SHOWERS yesterday. THREE.

However, our thermostat is set on 68 degrees. That's right, friends. 68. Its gloriously chilly in this house. And I suggest that those that come visit us for any length of time ( oooh, saaaay, a few days) should bring sweaters for themselves and blankets for their babies. Because I'm NOT TURNING IT UP FOR YOU. I love you and all, but honestly, I'm already taking three showers...I don't have time for any more.

It should also be mentioned that we now have LESS THAN A MONTH until Ransom is born. So now, pretty much everyday, I have a moment where I think about getting out books about feeding/sleeping/other infant related things that I need to know and don't know...and then I push it out of my mind because, I'm sad to admit, I'm scared that once I get out the books there will be no going back and I will finally know without a shadow of a doubt that I know NOTHING about babies.
And so I continue my procrastination.
In the end I may have several of my blog readers on constant speed dial once this baby comes because I am NOT GOING TO BE PREPARED!!

Which bodes the question: Why aren't there more MOM classes and less Birthing classes?!? I mean, birth is gonna happen whether I want it to or not! PARENTING on the other hand is TOTALLY not something that's just going to happen...*sigh*

Ok, this blog post is causing me to have more heartburn. Off to take more tums...

Thoughts from the last few days

I was SO homesick for Puget Sound on Saturday night when were were watching really lame fireworks from miles away in a sad parkinglot where a street light turned on evert 15 minutes and stayed on for 5 minutes before turning off....seriously. It was sad.

Just as a reminder for perspective of what this year REALLY REALLY didn't live up to... last years fireworks were here:



We've been having lots of fun having Tabitha around this week....luckily she's had a pretty crazy work schedule of late and so the "Pregnancy Days" schedule ( i.e. the reeeeally slow pace) hasn't bothered her too much.

On Sunday, we did entertain a couple of Airborne School girls with a showing of Independence Day on our projector ( that's right, we have our very own projector so we can watch movies on the "big screen" when the mood strikes us) in honor of the 4th....Abt family tradition.


Today we got Pedicures...Tabitha tells me this was her first. That's hard to believe. They are an important part of life.



And then I took her to get her very first Snow Cone. Which, if you live in the South, is very important. There is nothing quite like flavored sugar syrup over shaved ice to make it really feel like summer!

The Story Teller in me

Early on in our marriage, Brett and I would have minor ( read: major) arguments about how I told stories. It turns out what I called "exaggerating to make my point" Brett called "lying" and would therefore correct me in mid-story-telling-mode...which, you know, totally cramped my style.

Recently it came up in conversation and we realized that this argument hadn't come up recently which means either Brett has relaxed in his opinions on the "facts" that surround our lives, or I've gotten more boring in how I tell stories...who's to say?

Anyway, my story telling nature is not new information. In fact, I've been telling stories before I had an audience to tell them to! In fact, and this is kind of embarrassing to admit, when I was little I would sit with my picture books and make up stories about the pcitures...totally different stories than what the book was about, but that didn't matter much, I would just go with it-whatever struck my fancy and yes, I would totally tell these stories OUT LOUD, TO MYSELF.

One of my favorite, favorite books to go through and make stories about the pictures was the Brambly Hedge Series, adorable little stories about some mice who lived in various trees and stumps in a place called Brambly Hedge-and here's what some of the pictures looked like ( sorry its so small):



I know, totally freakin awesome, right?!? I mean, they were SUCH incredibly detailed pictures of all the little rooms and alleyways and such of these houses that the stories I could come up surrounding these pictures were ENDLESS...

But, then I grew up and I lost my imagination or a less depressing alternative is that I just got too busy and my imagination got covered up by other things that are more important. But, then, the other day my friend Katie sent me a link to this blog which take pictures from Catalogues ( why didn't I think of THAT when I was little?!?) and makes up a story about a particular couple who "lives in the catalogue" based on the pictures. It is hilarious. Beyond witty. And I've been laughing about it ever since!

So go check out Catalogue Living, aka the blog that the me of today and the me of 20 years ago should have collaborated on and written years ago ( but I'm glad SOMEBODY had this bright idea!)

Sad but true...

So, I took my walking buddy friend out for a birthday lunch and then visited some of her favorite stores ( PierOne and Hobby Lobby) and my feet are now so tired that when I got home and found a giant box from Target sitting on the front porch...a box that MOST DEFINITELY has my baby bedding in it...I was too tired to open it.

That's right. I'm too tired to open the box I've been THE MOST excited about getting....seriously. Sad.

hahaha!

But, don't worry I'll rest up and once Tabitha arrives this weekend I have a feeling between the two of us we're going to have the Ransom Room whipped into tip top picture worthy shape. In fact, I've been thinking that I have yet to post pictures of our house since we moved in almost two months ago! How have I lost track of time! So, I'll have to go around and make everything look "catalogue worthy" and then quickly take pictures so that you can all get the crazy notion in your heads that I'm neat and tidy all the time ;-) It'll be our own fun little game that we play.

And yes, I'm excited about this weekend Tabitha is coming to visit for until the middle of next week, and also the 4th of July celebration is this weekend...honestly, I don't even think being pregnant is going to be able to stop me from enjoying one of my FAVORITE holidays...fireworks, plus grilled foods and yummy deserts ( ice-cream)...I'm a fan.