Yesterday I heard the most precious heartbeat I've ever heard - the heartbeat of the child I'm carrying.
I am currently in my eleventh week of pregnancy, almost done with my first trimester. And the second trimester can't come soon enough! While many women go through their first trimester unscathed, mine has been marked by extreme fatigue, nausea, headaches, aches, pains, and bloating. I finally started feeling more "normal" last week, enough so that I could actually do some cleaning and get through a day at work without wanting to crawl under a table. I'm still running to the bathroom for a bout of nausea now and then, but it's nothing like it was before.
And here's where I need to give a shout out to my wonderful husband. Garrett has been taking wonderful care of me, doing a lot around the house, and even took over clean up duty after an unfortunate incident when I didn't make it over the toilet fast enough.
Now that's true love. You know you've found a keeper when he's willing to clean up the remains of your day, so to speak, without complaining. His only comment was, "You don't know what I just went through in there." You're right, darling, I don't know. And I don't want to know unless you're willing to see a repeat performance.
But I digress.
We're finally at the point in the pregnancy when I'm comfortable telling the world about the baby we're expecting. To say that we're excited would be an understatement. I've been wanting a baby since I was 12 years old, so once you do the math you'll see that's 22 years of longing. Garrett has wanted to be a daddy for a long time, too. We agreed when we got married that we would wait a year before trying. Well, we got the baby itch sooner than that, so we were already in our seventh week of pregnancy on our first anniversary. Which meant that we celebrated a very quiet anniversary since I was absolutely exhausted all the time.
Our families are super excited, too. This is the first grandchild on my side of the family, so my parents are just beside themselves that they don't have to adopt grandchildren, after all. My brother an sisters are ready for a little niece or nephew and have already started buying little presents.
Incidentally, when my brother found out I was pregnant, he called me (which is unusual enough because Eddie, you don't write, you don't call...) and said, "So, I hear Garrett got one past the goalie." Nice.
Yesterday I went to see my OB for a little procedure to check some stuff out. She surprised me by saying that we would get to hear the heartbeat. I knew that Garrett would be disappointed since he wasn't with me, but I just had to hear it. Easier said than done. About 15 minutes, two rooms, two nurses, three Dopplers, and one very sore tummy later, I finally heard clear evidence of my little sweet pea.
What a moment. Those first couple of months of pregnancy you're thinking, "Is there really something in there?" I took three pregnancy tests and still wondered. So hearing the heartbeat was just overwhelming. I started crying, which kind of freaked out the nurse. She asked, "Oh, was I not supposed to find it?" In my head I thought, "Stop your crazy talk, woman! I've been waiting for this baby practically my whole life!" But I just shook my head. So then she rightly guessed that this is my first.
I tried to keep from crying too much so that she could get the baby's heart rate. It was 180 bpm! Pretty fast, but still within the normal range.
Next week we have our first ultrasound. Garrett and I are so ready for it. We want to see our little one and hear that everything is ok.
Then over the Christmas break I'll start cleaning out the guest room, which will be the baby's room. We need to get some painting done, but I'm not planning to buy anything until we find out if our sweet pea is a boy or girl.
Right now we're just praying that the baby is healthy and strong.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Most Precious Heartbeat
Friday, December 5, 2008
He Just Can't Keep From Singing
I've owed the two or three of you that read this blog (hi mom!) some music for a while now. In a previous post, I bragged on my super-talented husband and his beautiful voice. He had just given a vocal recital and blew us all away with some beautiful music. If I'd had a bit of forethought, I would have found a video camera and recorded it. But, due to some stuff going on in my life right now that I'll talk about later, I've been a bit scatter-brained. And sickly. But that's another post for another day.
A couple of wonderful readers rightly pointed out that I should post him singing. I envisioned a video of him singing "Bring Him Home" since it brought tears to our eyes. But we would need someone playing the piano. And I'm afraid that my piano skills don't extend much past making the same mistakes in "Fur Elise" over and over again. Considering that's a song easily mastered by twelve-year-old girls the world over, I'm not the person for the job.
And let's not forget the minor issue of not having a video camera. I thought about taking the video with my regular digital camera, but realized that it just would not do. We plan to gift ourselves with a video camera for Christmas, but that doesn't help me right now.
(By the way, if you have thoughts on a good video camera, or even a video camera not worth purchasing, I'd love to hear them.)
Now back to our story...
Garrett remembered that he had an old recording of him singing with the choir at First United Methodist in Austin, Texas. I listened to it and thought that it was real purty, so I'm offering it up to you for your listening pleasure. There's no accompanying video, but this will just have to do for now. It starts out with Garrett singing a capella, then the piano and choir come in. He comes in again later with another solo.
You can listen to the song here. Some lyrics are below, but they're not exactly the same as the version in the recording (there's a verse missing). Enjoy!
How Can I Keep From Singing
My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth’s lamentation
I hear the real, though far off hymn
That hails a new creation:
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It sounds an echo in my soul —
How can I keep from singing?
What through the tempest loudly roars,
I know the truth, it liveth.
What through the darkness round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of Heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
I lift mine eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway clears
Since first I learned to love it:
The peace of God restores my soul,
A fountain ever springing:
All things are mine since I am loved —
How can I keep from singing?
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Natalie Grant - Wow!
Tonight was the Casting Crown's Christmas Celebration concert at the Berry Center. It was a blast from start to finish. All the performers knocked it out of the park.
Although everyone did a great job, the stand out performance was by Natalie Grant. Let me tell you, that woman can sing! If you haven't had a chance to hear her, you need to look her up and add her to your playlist. People who know me are probably in shock that I am so impressed with a particular performer because I am like Mikey from the Life cereal commercial; I don't like anyone. I think my professional career as a soloist, producer, and director has made me so darn picky.
This was my second time in the past year to hear Ms. Grant sing. What makes me so impressed with her is that she brings pure emotion to her voice. I can feel the Holy Spirit flow through her and into the crowd. There is no doubt that she is a genuine servant of God. Listening to her arrangement of "O Holy Night" brought tears to my eyes. I felt as if I was literally kneeling at the manger and looking into the face of God.
"O Holy Night" is a song that has been recorded by many artists. In my humble opinion most of the time it's done poorly. Up until tonight, there was only one person that could do that song justice. Congratulations Natalie, you are sharing the top of the hill with my mom. You both sing from the heart and with Christ as your center. I can't wait for your next stop in Houston. Have a merry Christmas everyone!
Monday, November 3, 2008
In Which I Brag About My Super-Talented Husband
In one of my favorite YouTube videos, we see Paul Potts audition for Britain's Got Talent and blow away the judges and audience with his talent. When he walked on stage, no one expected what they were about to hear. But in the end he ended up winning the entire competition.
We had a similar experience this weekend.
This past Saturday, we had a new advisor party for Garrett. My sweet husband recently changed careers and became a financial planner for Waddell & Reed. He spent the entire summer studying for his various licensing exams, passed them all with flying colors, and has been in training the last couple of months as he works to build up his business. One of the things that Waddell & Reed encourages its advisors to do is to have a party to announce the career change and to encourage friends and family to refer his services to others.
Because we need to pay the bills, y'all.
As a thank you for those that attended the party, Garrett decided to hire a piano accompanist and give a little vocal recital of some of his favorite songs.
Because the man can SING.
And I don't mean the "he has a really nice voice" kind of singing. These days anyone with a guitar and a decent voice considers himself a musician. No, my Garrett is a bonafide college-trained professional singer. He has a degree in Music Education from the University of Texas and was a choir director for 12 years. (He was encouraged by his professors to change his major to Vocal Performance, but he wanted to make a living, you know?) Besides his musical training, Garrett also helped start a muscial theatre company when he lived in Austin. He directed and acted in many productions and got great reviews. So his great voice is backed up with great showmanship.
Let me put it another way: I love Chris Tomlin, buy his CD's, and have high respect for his talent and giftedness. But I think we would all agree that Chris Tomlin is no Josh Groban. Right?
Garrett is my own personal Josh Groban. Except Garrett is a tenor and not a baritone. And Garrett's hair is short and straight and not long and curly. And come to think of it there are many more differences than I could possibly communicate, but since this paragraph is already way longer than I'd originally intended, let's just move on, shall we?
Anyhoo...
I've told my friends and family about how talented Garrett is, but they've never had the opportunity to hear for themselves. We've been married for almost a year and were together for a year before that, but funny thing is that life doesn't typically give you an opportunity to break out into show tunes. So they were all a little curious. I think that they may have expected the "he has a really nice voice" type of musician, but boy, were they in for a surprise.
He sang seven songs, starting out with "Love Is Here to Stay" and "In the Still of the Night". One of my favorites was "Bring Him Home" from the Broadway play "Les Miserables". Take a look at Colm Wilkinson's rendition of it.
By the time Garrett finished, everyone was in tears. Such a beautiful song.
Garrett also sang "It Had To Be You". Here's Harry Connick, Jr. singing it, although the version Garrett sang was less jazzy.
Garrett's final song was "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat" from "Guys and Dolls".
Garrett's musical theatre experience was obvious in this song as it displayed his showmanship. I actually think he did a better job than the guy in the movie. But I'm a little biased.
I was so proud as I watched him singing. He was in his element, and as I was watching him I had the distinct impression that I was watching a man do what he was made to do. If I had my way, Garrett would have many more opportunities to share his voice and entertain others. Maybe in the future. Right now we're just doing what we have to do to build a foundation for our family.
As for the reactions of those that had never heard him sing before - they just couldn't believe it. My mother informed Garrett that he would be singing at family weddings from now on, my father wants him to sing "Bring Him Home" at a Veteran's Day event, and one of my sisters wants us to get a karaoke machine so that Garrett can sing for us whenever we feel like it.
Maybe one day he'll sing for the masses. For now, I'm honored to be an audience of one, enjoying all his funny little made up songs. I look forward to the days that he'll sit at the piano with our children, teaching them their scales and hand signs. And to evenings of family talent shows where I'll serve as the adoring public.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Being A Newlywed Isn't All About Romance
Garrett and I have been married for less than a year and have already experienced our fair share of Major Life Experiences. Shall we do a quick recap?
- November '07 - Wedding (aka 101 Ways To Drive Yourself Insane), started sharing a bathroom with one sink.
- December '07 - Traveled to Dallas for sister's graduation, traveled to Austin for recording job, hosted a Christmas get-together.
- January '08 - Bought a house (aka Take All My Money, and Some That I Don't Even Have).
- February '08 - Got the house ready to be lived in, traveled to San Antonio for conference, traveled to Austin for recording job.
- March '08 - Moved into new house.
- April '08 - Traveled to Vegas for cousin's wedding.
- May '08 - Garrett finished his last year teaching, Garrett sang the National Anthem at an Astros game, traveled to Austin for recording job.
- June and July '08 - Garrett hit the books and studied for his Series 7, Series 66, and Life and Health exams.
- August '08 - Garrett finished taking his exams and started a new job as a financial advisor, traveled to Austin for recording job.
- September '08 - Experienced our first major hurricane together and a disaster situation in Houston.
It's been a week since Ike visited town and disrupted our lives, so it seems like a good time to consider what we did right and what we did wrong in this hurricane situation.
- Right - We filled huge buckets with water for flushing the toilet, even though we ended up not needing it.
- Wrong - We waited too long to get plywood to board up our windows. By the time we made the trip to Lowe's all that was left was the really expensive stuff and the not-quite-thick-enough stuff. We ended up going with the latter because we're cheapskates. We got lucky and had no window damage.
- Right - We gassed up my car before the hurricane hit.
- Wrong - We didn't gas up Garrett's car.
- Right - We had plenty of bread and PB&J.
- Wrong - PB&J got old after two meals. Should have bought more snack (comfort) food.
- Right - We got plenty of cash out of the ATM before the hurricane hit. And it's a good thing because Walmart only took cash afterward.
- Right - We had candles.
- Wrong - We used the candles and set off the smoke alarm. But hey, at least we know it works!
- Right - We bought a hand-crank emergency radio that received radio stations, the audio of television stations, and even had a light and emergency siren built-in.
- Wrong - We listened to the radio for far too long and heard the same old information over and over and over again.
- Right - We hid out in our pantry during the storm, along with the dog and cats. Safety first!
- Wrong- We hid out in our pantry during the storm, along with the dog and cats (not in cages) and kitty litter!
- Right - We began our self-imposed seclusion in the pantry with prayer, leaving everything in God's hands.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Hunkered Down
Hunker. What a word. It feels thick in my mouth, chewable. I just looked it up in Merriam-Webster and it's defined, "to settle in or dig in for a sustained period." That's us.
We spent yesterday and this morning preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Ike, an unwelcome visitor. When Ike arrives, he can expect to find our back windows boarded up, our patio furniture in the living room, and us hiding in the pantry if he gets good and mad.
Right now Garrett is in our living room taking a nap on the mattress pad that we brought downstairs for a little extra comfort. He wants to get a few hours sleep in so that he can stay awake tonight when the hurricane arrives. We're nothing if not hospitable.
We're pretty far up in northwest Houston, so we should be ok. This website says that we can expect maximum sustained winds of 86 mph. Our major concern is flying debris. And doing without electricity. What's a curly-haired girl to do without her flat iron???
But many are in a bad situation. Some waited too long to evacuate the coast and can't get out now. Others don't understand the seriousness of the situation and refuse to leave. They need our prayers. Reminds me of Psalm 91. This will be my prayer during this ordeal.
Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge-
10 then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
5 Reasons Why You Need a Financial Planner
Hey folks,
I am up and running at my firm. After learning so much, I want to help each of you with your financial planning. In today’s world, a plan for the future is key for success.
5 reasons why you need a Financial Planner
5. Social Security isn’t that secure anymore.
4. Got kids? You need a college savings plan.
3. Help with maximizing your savings.
2. Easier transition through life stages.
1. A financial roadmap that is tailor made for you.
It doesn’t matter where you are in your life. Now is the time to get serious about your future. Let me guide you to your dreams.
Garrett Maddox
Financial Advisor
(281) 893-6020 ext 117
(281) 224-7464
