I am probably not going to be posting on this blog for a while (cuz I do it so very regularly....) I am obsessed with pregnancy right now, so I decided to start a pregnancy journal. If you're interested it's at

http://www.babycrowd.com/jr/online/dramamama/

I'll post things like thoughts on pregnancy, how things are going, ultrasound pics - maybe some belly pics later. I'm not going to get into all the yucky details, I promise!

Fun Names!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: ( first pet and mother's maiden name)
Blizzard Riddell

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your moms side, your favorite candy)
Audrey Skittles

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of last name, first three letters of your middle name)
W. Ann

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Red Monkey

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Anne Grand Rapids

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name and first 3 letters of the town you grew up in.)
Wesch Riame

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite band, favorite drink)
The Moxy Fruvous Diet Coke

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first name of both your grandfathers)
Jack Gerald

9. FUTURISTIC NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne and the name of your favorite shoes)
Chanel Payless

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother/father's middle name )
Elaine Alan

I am so, so, so excited!!! In my job as a Christian Ed Director, it falls to me to plan Vacation Bible School each year.  We are going to have the coolest VBS next summer because I rock! No, really! I totally rock! Why, you ask??? Because, I chose a theme that is really cool - "Lift Off!" - it's a hot air ballon theme. But (and this is why I rock) the really, really, really cool thing is that I just got off the phone with a guy who owns a hot air balloon and he is going to fly said hot air balloon to my church parking lot during  VBS and do a whole demo hot air balloon thing. Did I mention that I am really, really excited? The thing that sucks is I am really excited now... and it's November. I have to deal with the anticipation of how psyched the kids are going to be until the end of July!!! Yikes! Anyway.. sharing my excitement with the blog community because I can't let the cat out of the bag to the kids too early!

I started my American Lit class last night. It's the first class I have taken in 5 and a half years. It was so much fun! I am a freak. I want to stay in school forever.

So my best friend from middle school is getting married tomorrow. I am twiddling my thumbs waiting for work to be over so that I can leave to get up to Traverse City for the wedding. I decided to use my blog to try to get some thoughts in order before I have to give a toast at the rehearsal lunch.

JH and I have had a really interesting roller coaster of a relationship. We met at auditions for choir at the end of 7th grade. We got to know each other a little bit in those last few weeks of the school year, but not well enough to really hang out over the summer or anything. That summer the new Junior High was completed and in the fall the student population split in two. We had just moved to TC a year before, and literally every good friend I had made went to the other Jr. High! I sat miserably through 1st period, thinking that this was going to be a repeat of the previous year.  Then... I walked into 2nd hour...evil, evil Algebra... and there was this crazy, goofy, fun girl that I had met at the end of the previous year. It turned out we had both 2nd and 3rd period together as well as the same lunch hour. We were instant best friends. We went through a lot of ups and downs. It seemed like at least once a month we weren't speaking to each other. But it never lasted long. When we got to high school, we drifted a bit. I had a new group of friends that I spent a lot of time with. She had a new group of friends as well. We were both friendly with the other's friends, but we didn't hang out quite as much. Even through all of that, she was still the one person I knew I could go to if I really needed a friend. She had a tendency to be a little judgemental (the impetus of many of the aforementioned fights) and I had a tendency to be flighty (the impetus for the rest!) but we still leaned on each other more than I realized at the time. Then, we both went off to college. We kept in touch a bit - emails, occassional phone calls, but we definitely drifted. Then, one weekend, she came to visit me at CMU. I don't even remember why. But I remember walking with her on Washington Street in Mt. Pleasant, and for some reason, that sticks in my head as the moment we came back. Nothing special happened that I remember, but all of a sudden, after that visit, we called each other more often, we emailed more often, and we grew closer and closer, even though, geographically, we moved farther apart. She is still the one person I think of to call first when something happens (OK, after my husband, of course). When I found out I was pregnant, I called Jessica. When Daphne was born, I called Jessica, And when my cousin was in a near-fatal car accident, and I was driving from Midland to Flint as she was being airlifted from Midland to Flint, I called Jessica. I am so honored that she asked me to be her matron of honor. I hope this day is as special for her as she has been to me over the past 14 years. 

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 5 onservative, 95iberal

Social Issues: 0 onservative, 100iberal

Personal Responsibility: 0 onservative, 100iberal

Fiscal Issues: 0 onservative, 100iberal

Ethics: 0 onservative, 100iberal

Defense and Crime: 25 onservative, 75iberal

So, my daughter slept in a twin bed last night. The crib is disassembled and relagated to the basement. I can not put into words how weird this is. You bring this impossibly helpless creature into the world. She is completely dependent upon you for every little thing. She can't even support the weight of her own head! Then, in what seems like seconds, she is no longer a baby. She still needs me. I am aware of that. But the sheer number of things she can do all by herself (and insists upon doing all by herself in spite of the fact that it takes about 10 times as long as if I did it for her) is mind-boggling. And now, she has her very own "Big-Girl bed".

Watching your child grow up is an amazing thing. I remember looking at her when she was first born in utter disbelief, thinking "We made this. How is it possible that two seriously imperfect individuals could come together into this perfect, tiny being?" As she grows older, I see more of myself and more of my husband in her. But...I also see more of her. She is no longer just this crazy amalgamation of him and me. Yes, I still see his eyes, and my nose. His shyness and my tendency to be a drama queen (I know that seems counterintuitive, but if you know Daphne, you know it's true!). But, there is this whole new person emerging. She has her own opinions (And she is very adamant about them). She has likes and dislikes that have nothing to do with either of us. She has friends. She's only 2! What am I going to do when she starts expressing her opinion on political issues?

Be prepared for occassional Mommyblogging. I know those who are not parents sometimes get tired of hearing about other people's kids. But, those of us who are parents know that it is the most baffling, fascinating, frightening, and exciting experience to watch your baby grow into a person. 

On to the next chapter...

So....

My friends tell me I should start blogging. Many of them blog. Apparently blogging is the "cool" thing to do. Who am I to resist peer pressure - right?!

On top of that, I figure it can't hurt to have a place to get some thoughts out of my head where they simply run around like crazy two year-olds until they crash into each other and dissolve in a fit of endless tears. (Yes, I often make metaphors involving 2 year-olds...it's my one area of expertise)

So...what are these thoughts telling me? That I need to figure out what I want to do with my life. I was just reading a friend's blog. He was talking about a quarter-life crisis. Sounds weird, but definitely true. All of my friends who are in their twenties either have gone or are currently going through some sort of paradigm shift. Whether it's relationship stuff, career stuff, family stuff, or all of the above, most everyone seems to be going through this "I'm reevaluating my life because I have yet to find my bliss" period. (This includes me, but more about that another time) My question, though, is this...Are we expecting too much? Our parents' generation and many generations before were perfectly happy working the same job for a million years until they finally got to retire. Do we really believe that a guy with "Bob" stitched on his shirt found personal fulfillment in screwing caps on tubes of toothpaste? Or that a woman with big hair found the perfect life working in the secretarial pool until she found a man? No. But they did it just the same, because that's what you did. Don't get me wrong. I am thrilled that we have choices and we can seek whatever will truly fulfill us. The question is, is it possible to have a truly fulfilling life 100 percent, or even 50 percent of the time? Or, should we give up on the quest for the perfect job and be grateful for the fact that we have a job at all? Should we constantly pursue a career we can be passionate about, or should we shut up, punch the damn time clock, and take our paycheck to the bank every other week?

OK. I did not know that was going to come out when I sat down to start this blog. Kinda jumping in with both feet, huh? Isn't your first blog supposed to be like "Uh...I don't really have anything to say...I like music." Anyway, I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this.