Absolute Last Call on Shirts!

Here's the final design - don't you love it?  Shirts are available with a donation of $15, made payable directly to me, and I've got to have your order by 5 p.m. CDT TODAY.  I'm compiling and sending the order in tonight!  Leave a comment with your size(s) and an e-mail address, and I'll get back to you!  Thanks!

Bits and Pieces

I feel like there is a lot to update you on, but my mind is not at all organized at the moment...so you'll get bits and pieces.

First off, I am now 17 weeks and 4 days.  17 was a bad, bad week for us in Becca's pregnancy.   In fact, it's the week that they told us she was going to die.  So even though we weren't scheduled for a visit this week, I called the doctor to see if we could come in and get a glimpse to make sure everything looks good.  Fabulous doctor that he is, he worked me in, and we saw him on Wednesday. 

I am beyond thrilled to say that this week 17 is going much, much better than our last one.  The baby is measuring right on target, though the head is a little bigger than the legs (which just makes the baby a Hill - have you met my short genius of a husband?).  At this point, Becca was already 2 and a 1/2 weeks behind.  There was a 4 cm fluid pocket already; when we went for our amnio with Becca in week 18, they couldn't even find a 1 cm pocket and almost weren't able to do the amnio.  Dr. Sizemore said that they could amnio this fluid all day long; I told him that I'd prefer that he not.  The baby was moving - dancing, really, which was adorable.  And we think we saw some bits and pieces...

...as in, little boy bits and pieces!  It's still pretty difficult to tell on the office's super basic ultrasound machine, but we're pretty sure we saw his little penis, and when he started grabbing at it, we decided it was definitely acting male...already sticking his hand down his figurative pants.  But - we're not painting the nursery blue yet or anything (actually, we're not painting the nursery at all because when we moved in and painted we went with a gender-neutral green, smart kids that we are), but the doc is 85% sure it's a boy.  We ought to know for sure at our full anatomy scan (at the high risk doc with the better machine) the Tuesday after Easter. 

So that's that.  I feel so so so much better after this appointment.  Oddly, it's nice to be where things started to go wrong.  I had thought that my anxiety would only increase as we got further along, and I'm sure it will some, but it feels great to be at this point and be reassured that what happened last time is not happening this time.  I'm still at high-risk for complications, and there is still a very good chance that I will develop pre-eclampsia, but whatever happens now, I know we're not experiencing a total repeat of last time with the double whammy of super-severe IUGR AND severe, early-onset pre-eclampsia.  Again, the kiddo could stop growing at any time, and my blood pressure could shoot up, particularly as pre-e is an unpredictable disease, but we are ahead of where we were last time.  Phew.  In CPE terms, I think it's helping me differentiate this pregnancy from my first one.  I really am starting to believe that things might be different this time.  Like I said, it feels good. 

[Sidenote: as I talk about my first pregnancy, I want to be clear that I don't regret a minute of it.  Of course I would have chosen for it to go differently, but in the end, we got the best kid in the world, and I love her just the way she is.  I would do it all over again in a second to have her.  Or to have this itty bitty boy.  But we're open to an easier ride for everyone this time.]

Okay, I got so busy writing about the little boy booger that I forget what the other updates need to be...so...um...don't forget to donate to our March for Babies team and/or order your t-shirts (I'm sending in our order on Monday!)...and if you want to buy some Usborne books AND save some babies at the same time, shop at www.myubam.com/HOS216155.  I'm giving my entire commission on purchases made through this link to our March for Babies team.  And I haven't forgotten about the second Disney post.  It will come.  Eventually.  :)

Oh, and some adorable Becca sayings as of late:

• I'm da wine weader!  (while running to get in front of everybody)
• Her name for the baby: Kolkai Booger
• I'm Madewine!  I'm Madewine!  I'm tall!
• Actuawawy... (translation: actually)
• I want to go on adbentures!  Yet's go on [pauses while she counts her fingers and raises them] five adbentures!  (Adventures = errands or anything else we can come up with to do away from home or church)
• Awl da something or other (As in, who was your favorite character at Disney?  "Awl da charawcters!"  Who do you want to invite to your birthday party?  "Awl my fwiends!"
• I will give you a kiss to feel you better, Mommy.  (and)  I'm sorry you're sick, Mommy.  (and) I'm gwad you're better, Mommy. 

Okay, that's all the randomness I can reign in at the moment.

2012 March for Babies T-shirts!

Are you ready for it?  Really?  Our dear friend "Miss Sanelle" (also known as Shanelle by folks whose language skills are more developed) has been hard at work on a t-shirt design to go with our 2012 March for Babies theme...and in honor of our family's dream-come-true trip to Disney in the middle of March for Babies season, here is a draft of the design!
 The shirts will be red with 2 colors printed - probably black and white (the castle will likely be white instead of blue).  We're making a few final changes to Becca's outfit, etc. but you get the gist of the idea. The back of the shirts will be printed with a quote from Walt Disney ("It's kind of fun to do the impossible!") and the names of our team sponsors - those small businesses that have donated $150+ - let me know if you want to get in on that!  We are taking orders for the shirts now - if you'd like one (or one for each member of your family :) ), leave a comment or e-mail me at MacaroniAndSpeas(a)gmail.com.  The cost for each shirt (available in 2T through XXL - or probably bigger if you need it) is a $15 suggested donation - but you'll need to pay me directly, and about $9 of each shirt's donation will be considered tax-deductible.  (I'll send you a receipt for that portion.)  You can PayPal me the money, marking it as a personal gift, but I'll have to give you our PayPal e-mail address - or you can send a check.  If you need our address, or even if you don't (so that I can track everything), please leave your e-mail address in your comment, along with the number and sizes of the shirts that you'll need.  I'm happy to mail them for the actual shipping cost - last year, it ended up costing about $2.50 per shirt.  Okay, I think that gets us through all the details.  So let me know how many you're in for! 

Oh, and so that we can get the shirts printed and back to us by the walk, I need all your orders in by NEXT SUNDAY, APRIL 1ST. 

I know that's only a week, but you guys are smart people who have your acts together, right?  I don't have to have received your check by then, but I do need the details of your order.  And if you order a shirt and don't pay, I will smite you.  Okay, not really.  But we'll have to eat the cost, and I'd much rather use that money to eat, oh, real food.  Please let me know if you have any questions!  Thanks!

Of course, if you don't care for a t-shirt, we are still taking direct donations at www.marchforbabies.org/BeccaHill !

Our Happily Ever After

Okay, this time I have an excuse to go nearly a month without posting.  I didn't want to put it out there in the blogosphere before the trip, and all my energy (other than that spent fighting one helluva sinus infection and, oh yeah, growing another human) was spent on preparing for our trip to...Disney World!

That's right, folks, the little miss, Super Dad and I took a rare family vacation with just the three of us and went to see Mickey Mouse live and in person (in mouse?)!  We had an amazing time, and I'll regale you with tales, bargain tips, and lots and lots of pictures later...but first I want to take a few minutes and tell you what it meant to us to be able to take such a trip.

I am 15 weeks pregnant now.  15 weeks and 2 days, actually - almost exactly as pregnant as I was four years ago when we first learned that something was wrong with our first pregnancy.  The doctor called with abnormal results from an AFP screen - the same test that I will be having done at our appointment on Wednesday.  The elevated numbers indicated that there *might* be a higher risk the our child would have spina bifida. 

Spina bifida, huh?  Not what you want for your child.  You want a beautiful, perfectly closed spinal column with no mysterious bumps or openings.  You want your child to learn to walk naturally, unimpeded by such a significant disability.  When you dream about the 10 perfect fingers and the 10 perfect toes and say that you don't care what gender the baby is, "as long as it's healthy," you don't dream about spina bifida.  Those test results were a blow.  But that was just the beginning. 

Spina bifida, we decided, we could handle.  It would certainly  not be ideal and definitely not the path we would chose for our child.  But we knew and know teenages and adults with spina bifida who are spirited, determined and fully independent - even more so than many of their non-disabled peers.  Even if our child's case fell on the more severe end of the spectrum, we would work with them, love them, shuttle them to therapy and do whatever it would take to enable them to reach their fullest potential.  And besides, there was this organization called the March of Dimes that helped kids with spina bifida.  That worked to fortify our country's grain sources with folic acid so that fewer kids would have to face the challenge of a compromised spinal column.  They helped families cope with the difficulties of disabilities related to birth defects like spina bifida.  And their website was the first one I turned to when we started to consider the potential diagnosis. 

But then we saw the specialist, and what we thought was a devastating potential prognosis quickly turned into a lethal one.  You know the story; when the doctor saw that Becca was already 2 weeks too small, she told me that my little girl was going to die.  Worst case scenario shifted from a VP shunt and life in a wheelchair to...nothing.

Nothing.  That's what we came to expect for our little girl's future.  Of course, we still hoped and dreamed and prayed and sang and started this blog, but as far as actual expectations?  Nothing.

No first cries.
No first smiles.
No first steps.

No pigtails.
No kindergarten.
No graduations.

And certainly no family vacations to Disney World.

We didn't give up.  We did everything we could to give her a chance.  But we knew that whatever life we did get with her was gravy, as we like to say in the south. 

People like to say that Becca is a miracle.  I'm not going to dispute that.  But my understanding of the most miraculous part of it all is that as we didn't give up on her, this child that we had already come to know and love, neither did thousands and thousands of people who had never met her.  While we were singing our "Grow, Grow, Grow" song -- and in the decades before Becca even came to be -- doctors, nurses, researchers, fundraisers, parents, neighbors, kids collecting dimes enough to stretch to Washington were working to save her.  Our Itty Bitty.  And I truly do understand that work -- all of that work -- to be miraculous, inspired by God and brought to fruition through the gifts given to these people through God. 

Because people like President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to use their substantial power to benefit others, Becca is alive.  Because people like Dr. Mildred Stahlman care enough about the babies they would never even meet but whose lives they would save, Becca is thriving.  Because our every day heroes like Drs. Prince and Weitkamp and nurses Millie, Heather, Leigh, Stacy and Carla, who believed in the tiny fighter the had before them when it would have been easier to write her off as another non-viable fetus, Becca is the spunky, tenacious girl she is today.  And because of people like you, who take a few minutes and a few dollars to pay it forward to benefit the itty bitties of tomorrow - like the one I'm carrying right now! - Becca got to meet the princesses. 

Our family is living our happily ever after.  And we hope that continues to be our story as we move through this second pregnancy.  As with Becca, there may be challenges, but we know that whatever life we get -- all of us -- is gravy.  Our family is fortunate, lucky and blessed beyond measure by our little girl and the love and support of our great cloud of witness.  And so this year, at the Nashville March for Babies on Sunday, April 22,

We march because every family deserves their happily ever after.

Please join us, physically or in spirit, by becoming a part of Itty Bitty Becca's Team at www.marchforbabies.org/BeccaHill.

Any size donation helps, and the more who can join us on the day of the walk, the merrier!  We'll be selling t-shirts soon, and if you have a small business, leave me a comment with your contact information, and I'll fill you in on some awesome sponsorship opportunities - starting at $150!  

As loyal readers and dear friends, you have walked with us through the tumult of the past 4 years and into our happily ever after.  I hope that you will take this chance to continue walking with our family by joining us or donating to our team's goal.  Your support truly does make a difference - to me, to John, to Becca, to the little booger in my belly, and to the thousands of babies born each day too sick and too soon.  Thanks.   

Update on Mommy

Remember how I keep telling you that there is so much exciting going on in our lives and oh won't it be great when I actually tell you and wow what a creative way of sharing news and oh aren't we happy about it?  Apparently my internal hype about the amazing post I'm going to write keeps me from actually writing anything.  Which gets us nowhere.  Welcome to my life.*  So I'm just going to very mundanely tell you what's going on with me. 


First off, I am done working at the March of Dimes, which is kind of sad.  It would be really sad if I weren't going to continue to be involved with them and their wonderful staff, but of course I will be.  Remember my kid whose life they helped save?  Yeah, that one.  I'll be around.  


It would also be really sad if I were stressed out about being unemployed.  But I'm not.  'Cause I'm not.  Unemployed that is.  At least not for long...because as of July 1, I will be the Minister to Children and Families at Christ UMC!  What's that you say?  That name sounds familiar?  That's because I waxed eloquent about it in this post when SuperDad was appointed there as the Associate Pastor!  That's right; John and I will have the pleasure (mostly pleasure, at least) of working at the same church again!  And what a church it is!  Over the past year, I've come to love it more and more, so much so that when I began talking with the district superintendent about taking an appointment at another church, I cried real tears.  I'm THRILLED to be working with children again, and now that I'm a parent, I think I have an even greater understanding of the role a church can play in a child's life.  When Becca first sees the church come into view over the hill, she points at it and says, "Dere's da church!"  She's so excited every single time she sees it.  And as a double pastors' kid, she sees it a lot.  :)  My prayer is that she always sees the church as a place of welcome, love and fun, like she does now.


The downside to all of this is that the reason there is an opening for me on the staff is that our dear, dear, dear Ms. Kristin (our current children's minister, who is better known in our house as "Miss Sissen") is leaving to take another appointment as the Associate Pastor at another church in town.  So the good news is that they aren't moving moving, just moving churches.  The bad news is that we won't get to see as much of Miss Sissen and Crazy Uncle Brady, both of whom Becca adores.  I haven't actually broken the news to Becca yet.  Imagine hearing that one of your good friends is moving, and your mom is taking her place...I mean, I know Becca loves me and all, but I am no Miss Sissen.  I do have visions of playdates with Miss Sissen and her little baby, due in December!  


And speaking of babies, that's the other bit of mommy-related news.  We will soon be beginning and cycle of IUI - intrauterine insemination.   I'll be on a few meds and will go in frequently for monitoring.  The day after I ovulate, they will do the procedure and voila, 2 weeks later, I pee on a stick and get a plus sign.  Or that's the goal, at least.  Because I've been on fertility meds for so long, we're not going to get many chances at this (probably only the one), so please send any kind thoughts, prayers, well-wishes, you-can-do-its directly to my uterus.  We really want this to happen.  I really want a baby.  I know there are other ways to have another child, but I really want to have one this way.  I mean, not necessarily in this manner, but I would like to carry and birth my child.  If it doesn't happen, we'll be okay and will move on eventually, but we really, really, really want me to get pregnant.  


I think that's about it.  Sorry there are no cute pictures, but I doubt you want pictures of that last bit anyway.  We do have lots of cute pictures of Becca at the beach, but alas, they are stuck in the camera at the moment.  Someday, though, you will see photographic evidence of Becca tolerating sand on her hands without "signs of distress," as we call it in therapy-talk.  See, the beach is healing for all of us.   Not sure why I can't get I prescription for that.


* Have you heard the bit about how procrastinators are actually fairly often perfectionists?  We get so caught up in worrying about whether or not our work is going to be perfect that we avoid doing it.  And that would be me in a nutshell.  Cue Austin Powers in a nutshell.  

Mommy the Triathlete

"Nancy Hill, from Spring Hill, Tennessee, YOU are a triathlete!"

That's what I heard yesterday morning as I crossed the finish line, right in front of the Parthenon.  

I am a triathlete!

It was so. much. fun.  I have honestly wanted to do a triathlon for as long as I can remember.  Even as a kid, I thought it sounded awesome and like indisputable proof that I was a real athlete.  So I guess now I am! 


One of my preemie mama friends came down all the way from Owensboro, Kentucky to do it with me, and it made all the difference in the world to have a friend going through it with me.  Becca's super fantastic physical therapist was the one who got us into it, so she was there as well (cheering me on when I was starting the run after she had finished the whole thing :) ), as was her super sweet husband Kyle. 

I finished (note the operative verb) in 1 hour, 19 minutes and 3 seconds.  In about the time it takes to watch two commercial-free episodes of NCIS, I swam 250 yards, shimmied into bike shorts, 2 shirts (it was freezing - just over 50 degrees!), socks, running shoes and a bright yellow helmet, biked 8 miles, racked my bike and helmet and wrote a note to a friend, and ran (/walked) 2 miles.  If you are interested in such things, I finished 184th out of 227 "competitors."(There was nothing competitive about this race, at least not among the participants like me!  Everyone was SO encouraging!)  I "placed" (if you could call it that!) 21st out of 30 in my age group.  The swim was my strongest section (6:54, including entry, exit and scrambling to the transition area - which was the 133rd fastest swim), the bike was my worst (43:01, #194), and the run was in the middle (23:20, #174).  But really, I don't care about these numbers (though they are fun to look at).  What I care about are these numbers:

My blood pressure has always run in the 120's over the 80's, even before I was pregnant.  Okay, I thought my blood presure had always run in the 120's over the 80's, even before AND SINCE I was pregnant.  But I just looked back over my medical records (via myhealthatvanderbilt.com, which is super-convenient), and after I had Becca, my blood pressure stayed fairly high.  Unfortunately, they don't have my vital signs recorded (in that system) from when I was inpatient and pre-eclamptic, but I know that at one point at least, my blood pressure was over 160/100 because that's the point at which they told us to go to the hospital.  I'm not sure where it went from there.  (I'm horrible at remembering numbers, even important ones.)  But after Becca was born, the doctors where happy enough with my recovery that I wasn't treated with BP meds, which I thought was great.  But now that I'm looking back at the stats they had recorded for me, and all of the BP readings are high - one of them as high as 143/93!  Holy crap!  (I'm not sure why they didn't say anything about this - I will say that I didn't get the best post-partum care for several reasons, but I won't go into that right now.  Needless to say, I will no longer accept, "Well, it's probably up because you are nervous about seeing the doctor," as an excuse not to treat or discuss it!) 


Even before discovering that I was in even worse shape than I thought I was, I was motivated to get off my butt when I read this article which reports the American Heart Association recognizing pre-eclampsia as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease later in life - a risk factor of the same magnitude as having FAILED a stress test!  Ouch!  (The previous thought about pre-e was that once the mom recovered, she recovered.  This move indicates that the leading research shows that having had pre-e has lasting effects on the mom's symptoms, which makes sense to me!)  I don't know about you, but I think having failed a stress test at age 31 is pretty crappy!  I have a lot of life that I'd like to live, and I'd like that life to include running around and chasing grandbabies for a good, long time, thank you! 


But 110/72?  That's someone in good cardiac health!  Maybe not great, but good!  And a pulse rate of 71 when pushing a cart full of groceries and little girl all the way through Publix (where I always take my blood pressure) is pretty good, too - average, even!  Just think of it...me, average!  :)  Of course, I'm still carrying around extra weight, but even with the weight, my numbers look good!  (I didn't seem to LOSE much weight in the training process, but I've definitely got more muscle and maybe slightly less fat.)


And you know what other numbers I care about?  How about the 1 baby that is born prematurely out of every 7 babies born in Tennessee?  Or the 236 preemies born in Tennessee each week?  And what about the nearly $200 that my Triathlon for Trimesters training raised to fight against those numbers?  Yeah, those are numbers that I care about.  (And my gracious sponsors will soon be hearing more about those numbers in an e-mail.  Each dime you sponsored earned $7.50 for the March for Babies!) 


I'm hoping to do another triathlon soon.  I'm looking for sprint triathlons held on Saturday.  (Most are held on Sunday, when I'm kind of busy...and about to be really busy...but more on that another day!)  Now that I'm hooked, I might start caring about that first set of numbers as I work to get my times down...but in the meantime, I'll be proud of what I've done to the rest of the numbers.  Thanks for helping me get there.

p.s.  Becca can now say "triathlon" (="tiafyon") and knows that Mommy went in the "simming pool," "ride bike," and "did running."  Such a great cheerleader - I can't wait to do one with her watching!

Thank You, Itty Bitty Becca's Team!

We're still counting our pennies, but we're over $5,000!  Here's our official team thank you card from shutterfly.com.  :)

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Update on Itty Bitty Becca's Team

It's t-minus 7 days until the 2011 March for Babies!  (And, in case you are wondering, that's exactly why the Becca blog posts have been so few and far between as of late.  But have no fear - I have been snapping pictures and videos to upload and share with you when my schedule is a little bit back to normal.)


So how is Itty Bitty Becca's Team doing?  Quite well!  In 2009 and 2010, we averaged about $1500.  This year, we are already up to...wait for it...$3710!  WOW!  That's 247% of our average!  We've made a big jump this year by branching out with our fundraising efforts and by having more of our team members reach out to their friends and family to raise funds, too - big thanks go to Ashley, Christy and Emily, who have raised almost $600 among them!  Our team is consistently tracking in second place among the Music City family teams, but there are 3 teams right on our heels.  I think it's going to come down to the wire!  The first team place is over $10,000, so I don't think we're going to catch them, but we could hold our second-place position with a solid final week push!  (But I'm not competitive or anything...)  


I've revised our team goal up to $4,000, which solidly ranks us among the top family teams.  We are $290 away from that goal, so I think we can make it - but of course, we need the help of all of our favorite procrastinators...so if you've been meaning to give but just have gotten around to taking the time to do so, take a minute now and donate at www.marchforbabies.org/ittybittybecca.   That's Becca's personal fundraising page - I've set it up so that she can be a Top Walker herself (that's the VIP status for walkers who raise over $1,000) - after all, she is the most important walker on our team!  :)


You may be wondering how the triathlon training is going...and I've been meaning to give it a dedicated post, but since I haven't gotten around to it yet, I'll give you the skinny here.  So, first off, let me say that it's going well-ish, and I'm confident that I'll be able to complete the race, as long as there isn't a time limit they haven't told us about.  :)  But let me introduce you to my new best friend:

Yep, after all of the concerns about Becca's lungs, I'm the first one to be diagnosed with asthma!  Wohoo!  Of course I'd rather it be me than her, but I'd prefer that none of us have to deal with it.  I had some really super minor asthma issues as a kid, and according to the pulmonologist (yep, the first time Becca met a pulmonologist was at my appointment - ironic!), it's not unusual for it to come back in adulthood.  Turns out things like training for a triathlon bring such issues to light.  I've got the "rescue inhaler" above that I take when I need it and/or before working out, and we're trying out a maintenance inhaler that I take nightly.  They both seem to be helping but they haven't exactly made the problem disappear like I had hoped.  That's probably a little too much to ask for, but we'll see what the doc says at my follow up in a few weeks.

So, needless to say, that set my training back a little bit.  Add to that John's being sick over a couple of weekends and Becca's impromptu hospital stay and subsequent recovery, on top of the busiest season at work, and I haven't exactly hit my training goals, especially not in terms of the Tri's for Tri's fundraising.  Right now my fine sponsors owe a whopping $3.35 for every dime sponsored, which is far from my original goal of $15 per dime and still far from my revised (and much more realistic) goal of $10 per dime, so, for all those sponsors willing to bear with me, I'm extending the fundraising period until up to the triathlon.  That gives me about an extra month post-March for Babies to hit the training hard and make up for some lost time.  In retrospect, that's what I should have arranged from the beginning, but I'm not sure I really conceived of how busy the weeks leading up to March for Babies would be.  And since we can collect March for Babies money through the month of May, the dimes will still count toward our team total.  Sponsors, if you're not on board with the extension, feel free to cash out now at www.marchforbabies.org/ittybittybecca.  Otherwise, know that I'll be working hard to earn your dimes - staring next week.  :)

Our team t-shirts should be shipping to me tomorrow, so I'll probably be able to start handing them out at church on Wednesday.  If you haven't yet paid for your shirt(s), you can send me a check or drop me an e-mail or facebook message, and I'll give you instructions on how to pay through PayPal.  

And just in case you need a reminder of why we Itty Bitty Hills are working hard for the March of Dimes, see below.  The money we raise gives other mommies and daddies the chance to cuddle with their little lambs, too. Thanks for all your help!

Last Call for Shirts!

I just wanted to give you fine folks one more chance to reserve your  Astronaut Becca March for Babies 2011 shirt!  They are $15 each, with sizes from youth XS through adult XXL.  I may be able to get toddler sizes as well.  They are super-cute, and I'm happy to mail them to you for just the price of the shipping, which is usually about $2 a shirt.  (I can give you a more precise total later.)  I'm not ordering extras, so speak now or forever hold your peace!

The Big Reveal

If you read this blog regularly, I'm pretty sure that you'd LOOOOVE to have a t-shirt like this:



Pretend with me, if you will, that the background is all the same color: Gildan's Blue Dusk t-shirt, which seems appropriate for Becca's astronaut t-shirt.  I'm still working on getting this design in a usable format for the t-shirt guy (a.k.a. THE Chuck Catterton).  If you are a design genius (or at least an advanced beginner, which is way ahead of me!), let me know if you'd like to lend your brain cells to this problem. 

But here's your chance to become a card-carrying (er...t-shirt wearing?) member of Itty Bitty Becca's Team 2011!  Like last year, we're selling the t-shirts to raise money for our March for Babies team.  Each shirt will be $15, and we'll kids - adults (XXL at least) available.  I'm still working out the details, so bear with me.  (Kids' shirts may be a few $$'s cheaper, and I may be able to set up a PayPal account to accept t-shirt payments instead of sending checks like last year.)  About 1/2 of the purchase price will be a donation to the March of Dimes, and I'll provide you a receipt for that portion.  (The exact amount depends on the final quantity and cost of the shirts.) 

What I need from you now, though, is your orders!  Please leave a comment (or send me an e-mail) with the number and sizes of shirts that you will need.  I'm placing my order based on your orders (since we can't afford to hang on to a lot of inventory), so you've got to reserve your shirt in order to get one.  I'm happy to mail them to you, but I'll have to charge you for postage - I'll give you a more specific amount when I start collecting checks, but I think it was about $2 a shirt last year.   

Last year we had people in at least 8 states wearing Itty Bitty Becca shirts - how cool is that?!  Let's see if we have have even more states celebrating the "aaah-naut" Becca and spreading the message about preemies! 

And this year we've got a new t-shirt opportunity!  This design will be on the front of the shirt, but we are signing up team sponsors who will have their logos on the back of the shirt!  For $150, your company, organization, etc. can be an official sponsor listed on the team shirt.  OR - for $200, your company can have a route sign along the March for Babies walk route, where it will be seen by the thousands of walkers - last year, we had 6,000 participants!  OR OR - if you love a great deal, like I do, for $250, you can get on the back of the shirts AND have a route sign!  The entire sponsorship fee is tax-deductible.  If you are interested, leave me a comment or send me an e-mail to SpeasHill (at) gmail.com.

Of course, if you'd prefer to skip the t-shirt and make a donation directly to our team, visit www.marchforbabies.org/BeccaHill. 

Thanks, and let me know if you have questions!

p.s. Sorry I've been so lackidasical about blogging about the actual Becca.  Work has been crazy and, oh yeah, I started training for a triathlon.  And I'm co-chairing Vacation Bible School this year because I'm a little bit crazy.  And I'm loving it all.  But I will try to get you some Becca updates (and pictures!) soon!

Thoughts on Tri's

My pregnancy with Becca ended right at 28 weeks, which, depending on how you measure, is the end of the second trimester.  That means, of course, that she and I only got TWO TRImesters.  Which I guess means that we got 2 semesters, really.  If there is no third, a pregnancy can't really be divided into trimesters, right?  


I still grieve the loss of that third trimester - for me, for her, for us.  I REALLY wanted to get big and fat and waddly and complain about my hips hurting, not being able to get comfortable, not having any room to eat because the baby was taking up so much room in there.  I REALLY wanted to have baby showers (which I did end up having, thankfully, but in a different way).  I wanted to nest.  I wanted to worry about where my water was going to break - what if I was in a patient's room at the hospital?  Or in the middle of an IPR group with my awkward male supervisor?  


Instead -- and I'm not saying this to be dramatic, it's just God's honest truth -- I planned Becca's funeral.  I can still tell you where it was going to be, who was going to do what, where I wanted her remains placed.  When I encounter an emotional trigger (like a child's funeral), I still find myself thinking about it and re-planning it.  (Now she loves to sing "Jesus Loves Me," so we'll include that, for example.)  Hello, post-traumatic stress disorder.  It's good to see you're still sticking around.  There's no reason to think at this point that I'll outlive Becca, but part of me is still all too acutely aware of that possibility.  Because of that damn missing trimester.


If she understood it, I'm sure Becca would be grieving that trimester, too.  It's the reason she's covered in IV scars.  It's the reason she has to be fed through a hole in her stomach (what, all kids don't get "tummy milk"?).  It's the reason I have to give her a shot every single night for the next 10 years.  I's the reason she ran screaming from me when she saw me coming towards her with medicine.  It's the reason she can't keep up with her peers in the classroom or on the playground.  It's the reason why she can't jump, walk up or down stairs, get her hands messy or (we think at the moment) hear well.  It's the reason that she'll be in multiple therapy disciplines for several more years.  It's the reason that she's thrown up 11 times in the past 2 weeks.  All because of 3 months we missed out on in 2008.  


Mind you, I've very aware of how far she has come, and I'm grateful for every small step she makes, but I'm also becoming aware that she's likely not going to be one of the luckiest preemies who have fully recovered from their prematurity before they even realized they were different from other kids.  I'm confident that with her personality she will deal with these differences with the stubbornness and humor that already fill my days with bemused exasperation.  She'll be okay, even if she's not "normal".  


But, darn it, I want that trimester back!  I'd give my left arm to have that time with her developing properly inside me.  (Of course, I am very aware that not everything goes perfectly with full-term babies, either, but, wow, getting our full 40 weeks would have given her a much better start!)  But I can't.  There is no rewind button in life, and even if there were, there's nothing I could do to change things.  S^&t happens, and Becca and I got a crappy placenta and umbilical cord and a severe reaction in my body.  What's done is done.


But what I can do -- what we can do together -- is to help other women (and maybe even myself someday) have full-term pregnancies.  And you just might poop in your pants when you hear what I'm going to do about it.


In honor of the TRImester that Becca and I never had, I have signed up to participate in a TRIathlon.  


Whoa.  


Those of you who have known me a loooong time may remember that I was a vaguely athletic person at one point.  Those of you who have gotten to know me in recent years are probably thinking, "Um.  Okay.  I'll believe it when I see it."  And for those of you who don't know me personally, let me just tell you that it's going to take a heckuva lot of work over the next 10 weeks to haul all 196 pounds of me across that finish line.  


It's the Ramblin' Rose women's-only triathlon, which will be held on May 15th in Nashville.  It's a great length for a beginner - a 250 yard swim (10 pool lengths in a regular lap pool), a 9 mile bike ride and a 2 mile run.  And I've already paid my $86.50 to register, so my cheap butt is going. to. do. this.


But, I need your help!  Let me introduce you to a new (borrowed from a friend) logo:

In order to a) get me motivated to get into shape; and b) use this experience to actually help other families get all 3 of their trimesters, I'm asking you guys to sponsor my training...in dimes, of course!  


I'm basing sponsorship opportunities on training units.  One training unit = 1 mile run, 2 miles biked, or 150 yards swum.  You can choose your sponsorship level: for example, if you sponsor 2 dimes per training unit and I run 2 miles one day, you'd donate $0.40 for that day's workout.  I'm capping my training units (for sponsorship purposes) at 150, so the maximum donation a 1 dime sponsorship would necessitate is $15.  All the money raised will go towards our March for Babies team.  With only 7 weeks left until the March for Babies, I'll be pushing it to get to the 150 level, given how out of shape I am now.  So your sponsorship will definitely be motivating to me!


If you are interested in sponsoring me, just leave a comment on this post, noting how many dimes per training unit you'd like to contribute.  As always, your gift to the March of Dimes is tax deductible, and I'll provide you with a receipt after the March for Babies (which is on April 17th).  Let's see how those dimes -- and my efforts -- can add up!


And don't forget - you can still sign up to be part of Itty Bitty Becca's Team and/or donate directly on our team page.  


Thanks for being such a wonderful support system - for me and for Itty Bitty!

March for Babies!

It's March for Babies Season!

Mark your calendars, folks - the 2011 Nashville March for Babies is only 10 weeks away!  And Becca wants YOU

to be on her team!  

You know that we are big fans of the March of Dimes in Itty Bitty Hill country.  Not only have they given SuperMom an awesome job, they have also made it possible for me to have THE BEST JOB EVER - being mommy to the little missy herself!  Without their research and specifically their work in bringing about a regional NICU system and the development of the surfactant therapy that helped her lungs in her very first days of life, I would likely be more well-rested and wealthier, but very, very sad...and Becca-less.  

You know, we had actually picked out a different name for a girl when we found out that Becca was having trouble.  But we decided to save that name for a daughter who would live and settled on Rebecca Marie.  Rebecca is significant on both sides of our families (my mom and John's aunt), and Marie sounds good with Rebecca (the reason John picked it out) and is my oldest friend in the world (the reason I agreed to it).  If Becca didn't make it, she would always be our Baby Becca; if she did, she'd have options as an adult (Becca, Rebecca, Becky, Beck, whatever).  But our *other name* (which I'm not going to tell you), we saved for a sure bet.  (Ah, ignorance is bliss...like any pregnancy or child is a "sure bet".)

I've never, ever in my life been so glad to be wrong.  

And frankly, the March of Dimes played a major role in proving me wrong.  And I still love them.  :)  Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing more ways the March of Dimes has been making a difference in the lives of families and babies throughout the world for over 70 years. 

Itty Bitty Becca's team has set an overall goal of $2500 for this year's march.  That's a significant increase over last year's total, but I really believe that we can do it!  We have several team members raising funds on their own, and we've actually already got $300!  If you are interested in talking with your friends and families about contributing, you can either share the link below, or sign up on that page so that you can set up your own fundraising goal and personal page.  (It's really easy - just takes a minute.  I recommend a personal goal of $200.) 

We'll have a couple of ways to contribute over the coming weeks (including t-shirts again!), but to start us off, let me highlight two:

1. Cold, hard cash...er...credit cards or PayPal, that is.  The most cost-effective way to contribute is a straight-up contribution.  To do so, visit www.marchforbabies.org/BeccaHill.  If you prefer to contribute via check, please let your e-mail address in a comment so that I can contact you with our home address.  
2. Shop Itty Bitty Books!  For the month of February, I will contribute ALL of the profits from orders placed through this link.  (If that link doesn't work for you, go to www.ittybittybooks.info, click to enter the store, click on "March of Dimes Benefit" on the right and shop away!)  So if you've been meaning to replenish your kids' (or grandkids' or classroom') library or to stock up on awesome birthday gifts, this is a great time to do so!

And if you still need a reminder of what the March of Dimes means to our family, let the Itty Bitty Parrot Becca herself explain why you should join our team.  And then visit www.marchforbabies.org/BeccaHill to contribute or to sign up to walk with us.  

Thank you for your help - and we look forward to walking with you (in person or in spirit) on Sunday, April 17 in Centennial Park!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I Am Job.

I totally stole that title from my friend Sarah.  And Mrs. Doubtfire.


But I am job!  I mean, I have a job!  One that totally fits me!  


As of January 18th, I will be the Family Teams Specialist at the Music City Division of the March of Dimes.  That means I'll be working with families like ours, recruiting March for Babies family teams, helping them meet their fundraising goals, and making sure they have a wonderful experience on the day of the Nashville March...which, by the way, is April 17 in Centennial Park.  Mark your calendars - and go ahead and register your team!  


I'm so excited!  It's a part-time position that will work with Becca's school schedule (with some extra flexibility and help from SuperDad), and I'll be doing what I love and helping babies.  The only downside is that it's a temporary position, just for the March for Babies season, so come May I'll be looking for jobs again.  For now, though, I'm just super-excited!  

Premature Birth Report Cards

As I'm sure you read yesterday (or this morning, more likely), today is Prematurity Awareness Day, so designated by the March of Dimes. In honor of the day, they released the newest Premature Birth Report Cards. Based on the percentage of pre-term births, of late pre-term births, of uninsured women of childbearing age and of smoking women of childbearing age, each state is given a grade. The national grade is a big, fat "D". Tennessee's grade is an even bigger and fatter "F". In fact, all of the states in the southeast U.S., with the exceptions of North Carolina and Virginia, received F's. (North Carolina and Virginia both scored D's.) That's no good.

Here'e the link to the interactive map. If you click on a state, you will see their full report, including how certain factors contributed to their score. For example, even though in Tennessee the rate of late pre-term births declined, the percentages of uninsured and smoking women went up significantly, so we kept our F. Scroll down further on a state page to read more about the methodology and grading scale.

Prematurity Awareness Day

Tomorrow (November 17) is Prematurity Awareness Day. By reading this blog, you've probably gotten a pretty good idea what a bummer prematurity is. It sucks. And it's an even bigger bummer for some families who aren't as fortunate as we to have caught a lot of lucky breaks (insert your theological understanding here).

You know, one of the weirdest things about prematurity is that most folks aren't aware of it. I remember walking into David Kidd bookstore (God rest its dying soul) and asking not one, but two employees where I would find a book on premature babies. (There were ZERO in the pregnancy/childbirth/taking care of babies section.) Neither one had, so they said, even heard of the word "preemie."

Should I be so lucky...

Premature birth, like miscarriages and infertility, I think, is one of those things that most people want to pretend doesn't exist. Heck, I want to pretend that it doesn't exist! I think that's because it is so utterly terrifying. In a way, we as humans are most vulnerable (at least in our adult phase of life) when we are creating, bearing, and birthing our young. Moms are physically vulnerable, for sure, but even dads are particularly emotionally vulnerable in the process of having children. There's just so much at stake! Even before a child is conceived, when a couple is "trying" (really, can't we find a better word?), a little piece of your heart is out there. You already love that child, even when it's more a figurative than physical being. And there's nothing you can do to protect it. Sure, when you are pregnant, there are plenty of things you can do (or not do) so as to not HARM your child, but, really, there is nothing you can do to protect him or her completely. Similarly, when you are experiencing infertility, there is nothing you can do to absolutely make it happen. If you have lots of resources or unusually generous insurance benefits, you can certainly vastly improve your chances of conceiving, but you just can't MAKE yourself (or your wife/partner) pregnant. Even as you are celebrating and hoping and praying and (hopefully) making wise choices, things are going on with your (figurative or physical) baby that you can't control. Lots of things. Are out of your control. The well-being of the "thing" you love the most. Is out of your control.

Welcome to parenthood, kids. The terror never fully leaves you. But most parents, I think, live in a little bit (or a lot) of denial, thinking that they can protect their child, thinking that nothing truly horrible could possibly happen to this child, their child.

One of the hidden blessings of prematurity, then, is that you have to leave that denial behind you very early on. I think most parents learn that lesson eventually, but from the moment that, at 15 weeks gestation, we knew there was a problem with our pregnancy, with our child, we lost that naivete. (Granted, being a chaplain and having an anxiety disorder, I probably already spent more time dwelling on the dark what-ifs than most young moms.) I had done everything "right," and something still went wrong, very wrong. And even though my little girl is doing well now, her prematurity has left deep tracks on my soul.

So I'm aware of prematurity. And once you become aware -- really, deeply, soul-rendingly aware -- you don't ever become un-aware. It's like the Skin Horse's lesson in The Velveteen Rabbit. Once you are loved into real-ness, you are always real. And once you become aware of prematurity, you realize that it's not some rare, isolated occurrence. It is, unfortunately, everywhere. Sure, there are certain demographics in which prematurity is more common (if you are too poor to get pre-natal care, for example, you are more likely to have a premature baby), but it really does cut across all socio-economic and cultural lines. And it's prevalent. Waaaay too prevalent. As in, 1 in 8 babies in the U.S. is born premature (before 37 completed weeks of gestation). That's 543,000 babies a year. That's almost 1,500 preemies born each day in our country. That's a lot of itty bitties like Becca. Okay, not quite like Becca. But like Becca.

So tomorrow (or today, more likely), on Prematurity Awareness Day, join us preemie moms, dad, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends in being aware. Be aware of our kids and their painful introduction to the world. Be aware of the struggles that many of us face and will continue to face due to our babies' premature birth. Be aware of the pregnant women around you, and be kind to them! (It's amazing how many people will watch a hugely pregnant woman stand for lack of seating or struggle to lift something they probably shouldn't be hauling around without even offering to help. C'mon! These women are growing a person, for goodness' sake!) Be aware of the nurses, doctors, and therapists who are working day and night (literally!) to keep these babies alive and improve their long-term quality of life. Be aware of the researches who have committed their professional life to making sure that every baby gets his or her full 40 weeks in the womb. And if in being aware, you are so moved to help, please donate here.*

Becca -- and her mommy and daddy and Bear and paci (fa-ci) and Elmo and Bunny Blankey and Froggie Girl and Baby and Lamby ("Nam-a-nam") and other Lamby and Blankey ("Bane-ty") and Kitty Blankey and Kitty Paci -- will be ever so grateful.

*As an added bonus, your contribution may count for even more! I can't find the information on the web right now, but I swear I got something saying that from now until the end of the year, the March of Dimes Board of Trustees has vowed to match every penny given! If that's true, and I'm not just dreaming, your gift is doubly helpful!

March for Babies 2010!

Finally, I know...

This year's March for Babies was a huge success, by all accounts! Overall, the Nashville walk was larger than ever, perhaps due to the amazingly gorgeous weather. It was sunny and in the low 70's...paradise. I couldn't even tell you who the celebrity guest was (did we have one?), and we didn't win the t-shirt contest (RIGGED! We were robbed! I mean, were the shirts TOO intelligent for them? C'mon. (Okay, got that out of my system...)), but we had a great time!

This year was a little different than last year:

We had more walkers than last year.

In addition to the 10 actual walkers pictured above, we had 4 more who came out to walk but had to leave due to, um, a little upchucking (so perhaps it was a huge success by her account) and 3 more cheerleaders (including great-aunt and -uncle Pammy and Jimmy!) who stopped by for the pre-walk festivities. It was a special group of walkers, too. Of course there was SuperDad, SuperMom and Itty Bitty:

And there was Grandma (who, once again, left us young 'uns in the dust):

And there was Tate and Martha, who taught me everything I know about childrearing (maybe) but nothing about small children:

And there was Aunts Lauren (who somehow escaped my lens) (and her cutie beau) and Ashley (on left) and feeding therapist extraordinairre Caroline (on right):

And there was Melissa, who worked with Becca in the NICU from the very beginning:

And, finally, there was the Kelley family (Jessica, Kate, and Matt):

Kate and Becca especially enjoyed playing in the shade after the walk. Isn't Kate adorable?:

And we even discovered a new food that Becca loves: pretzels. Watch out, Rold Gold! She calls them "tse tse" and will eat herself silly. Okay, not really, but relatively speaking, she will. Here she is enjoying her first pack:

We definitely weren't the largest team represented, but everyone there has touched us deeply over the past 2 years. Members of this team have supported us in this crazy phase of life, driven all the way out to Bethpage to babysit while I worked, conducted studies that could save the lives of thousands of other itty bitties, have saved Becca from having a feeding tube place (so far, at least - more on that later this week), and have generally just been good friends to us in a time when we could really use good friends. It was powerful being together with this group because every one of them really and truly loves my little girl. I mean, I can't blame them for that, but as a mom, I really, really appreciate it.

How else was this year different than last year?

We raised more money - from more donors - than last year!

I honestly did not think that we would raise more than the $1650 we raised in 2009. I mean, last year was our first year, it was more dramatic, yadda yadda. But this year, thanks in large part to stellar team members (Ashley, Lauren, and Jessica - y'all are awesome!) reaching out and raising their own funds, we have (so far) raised over $1700! Wow! That's $1700 that will go to researchers working to find life-saving treatments for various perinatal conditions, to families who need support during their child's NICU stay, and to communities who are in the greatest need of prenatal education and health support. That's $1700 that will make a tremendous difference in the lives of some very itty bitty people...and the big people who love them. Thanks to all of you who donated for loving our Itty Bitty enough to give on her behalf.

We had t-shirts, of course!

Did I mention that I can't believe we didn't win the t-shirt contest? 'Cause seriously, Dianne Vallier did a fabulous job, and I think our blue shirts (yep, I chickened out on the purple) looked darned good on everyone. Folks as far away as Kansas, Arkansas, Ohio, Kentucky (of course!), Georgia, Texas, and Virginia are sporting Itty Bitty Becca's Team t-shirts and getting the message out about the reality of premature birth and the work of the March of Dimes. How cool is that?! And how special for Becca to know that people all over the country (okay, in this case, the southeast) care enough about her to wear a shirt with her name on it! Wow! Again, y'all are amazing!

We had an after-party!

That's right! Baby Ansel (and his fabulous parents Ashley and Aaron) invited us all over to his backyard to enjoy some snacks, ice cream, and perhaps maybe a cold beer or two. It was a great chance for us to relax and bask in the post-walk glow...or sweat... Ansel couldn't be bothered by the ruckus, though:

(Ansel, by the way, at 12 WEEKS old, is bigger than Becca. What a man!)

But there was one other way this year's March for Babies was different than last year's:

It was fun.

Our first March for Babies was very emotional for me. It was almost a visible reflection of all the emotional turmoil of that first year: the chaos, the grief, the surprise, the excitement, he flood of support, the I-never-knew-123-days-would-feel-so-long-ness, the isolation...it was all out in the open that day. It was an important day for me, but I'm not sure it was all that fun. I mean, I enjoyed it, but I was an emotional wreck. I still have issues (obviously - have you met me?), and I won't say that the event passed without sadness. I cried more than a couple of tears as I saw parents sporting their white bandannas in honor of the children they had lost, and when I approached the memorial flower garden while talking with my friend Mollie and even helped her find her sweet Aubrie's flower, I was jello. I came too close to losing my own precious little girl not to feel an echo of the pain reflected around me. But for the most part, it was a celebration of special kids like Becca, of their weary and hopeful families, and of the friends and family who love our kids, have witnessed and been a part of our journeys, and have walked with us every day. Thanks for being a part of Itty Bitty Becca's Team.

S.W.A.M.P.E.D...for Good Reasons

No, it doesn't stand for anything, but I just wanted to make the word longer.

Sorry to me MIA. We have been swamped around here.

Silly me scheduled a book fair the week of the March for Babies, so I was running around like a crazy women last week getting ready for and, um, executing both events. We had a great time at the March for Babies! We had 18 people on Itty Bitty Becca's Team come out for at least part of the festivities, and as a team, we raised over $1500! I haven't gotten final word on what the entire event raised, but I feel like we did our part, thanks to all of you guys who donated, bought t-shirts, and walked with us! (If you bought a t-shirt, by the way, I'm hoping to mail them out this week. Sorry I'm a bit tardy with them. If you haven't heard, we've been swamped around here.) I'll give the March for Babies its own post at some point, complete with pictures. I also need to post some pictures of Becca in her Easter finery, too - don't think I've forgotten! Anyhow, the book fair and the march (and the awful sinus infection that resulted from the combination of little sleep and lots of pollen) have kept this SuperMom pretty busy, but so has something else...

We're moving!

This summer, John will become the associate pastor at Christ United Methodist Church in Franklin, Tennessee. We are really excited about this move. We will definitely miss folks in Bethpage (and if you are reading this blog, you can be assured that you are one of folks we will miss most - I know who you Becca fans are!), not to mention the spacious parsonage and the vast and gorgeous yard, but we Methodist ministers do tend to stay on the move. I, for one, am beyond thrilled that we get to stay in Tennessee (there was some question about moving back to Kentucky for a while there), though I know that John will continue to miss his beloved commonwealth. I'm just thankful that even though we're from different states (and, more importantly as Methodist ministers, annual conferences), Kentucky and Tennessee border each other, so we'll easily be able to get back to the Bluegrass to visit friends and family. But enough caveats. Let me tell you some of why we/I am thrilled about this move:

• The staff at the new church - The lead pastor is Carol Cavin-Dillon. Um, to say that I'm a fan of Carol would be quite an understatement. Carol was my pastor in my late teens and early 20's, in a time of much emotional turbulence and general confusion. Carol then became my employer (and the best boss ever) when her son was born and she returned to work, boldly leaving sweet Tate in my care. Carol pointed me towards Candler and the most amazing graduate school experience I could imagine (complete with a husband by the end of it). In fact, Carol secured said husband for me by marrying us...and by dolling up her son to be our ring bearer...and delivering the best wedding homily ever. So, yeah, I'm a fan. A fan +, perhaps. I'm really excited to see John and her working together because I think their "gifts and graces" (as we say in preacher-talk) will really pair well together. AND the rest of the staff is fabulous as well. I went to high school with the youth minister, Paul Bonner, and he and his family are incredible...not to mention a lot of fun. We grew up in the same youth group as well - I think he actually graduated high school the year that Carol came to our church. (His mom, incidentally, was my friend in faith for Confirmation, and one of her paintings hangs in our bedroom.) And the mother of another friend of mine from high school is on the administrative staff. Crazy connections. I'm really excited about meeting the rest of the staff as well. The music minister literally helped write one of the UM worship books.
• The church itself - is one that I'm very excited about attending. When you don't get to pick the church that your family attends (assuming that you'd like your family to attend the same church), it's kind of a crapshoot regarding whether or not you are serving at a church you would choose to attend. This one (like Bethpage), I'm really excited to be a part of, and now that the doctors have given us the green light to mingle with the world, I'm looking forward to getting involved...and to signing Becca up for the Mustard Seed Choir when she turns 3. How cute is that name? Perfect for our tiny girl.
• The area - Franklin is much closer to Nashville than Bethpage. That means, of course, that it's closer to Vanderbilt, to family, and to women I've been friends with since I was 10 years old. That's exciting. The church itself is just a few miles away from my parents' old house. (They have since retired to East Tennessee.) I used to drive by the church all the time to get to my high school boyfriend's house. I worked at the Target 1.3 miles away. (Yes, I have been a fan of the big red store for quite some time.) Really, it's like going home for me.
• However, we can't afford to buy a house around there, so we've found another great area in which we are hoping to buy a home. Spring Hill is south of Franklin and actually straddles the county line. It's full of young professionals with young kids and has not only a Target, but a SuperTarget. I can just hear Kristen Wiig proclaiming, "Heaven has a TARGET!" (Wow...they really should pay me for these endorsements.) We're looking for houses on the Williamson County side of town, since they have the best public schools. This is particularly important to us because a) we value education; b) we're public school kids; and c) Becca rolls to the public school system for her special ed services when she turns 3 - which, unbelievably, happens next summer! Whoa! (Services for kids 0-3 are provided through Tennesse's Early Intervention System; once kiddos turn 3, it's the local school system that provides services, like special education pre-k's for which Becca is likely to qualify.)

That's the highlights. (Funny how my highlight reel is always at least as long as regular posts, huh?) Of course, the difficult bits will be the actual moving process (though it's always amusing to hear what the movers have to say about our, um, extensive book collection), switching therapists (sad!) and dealing with the inevitable insurance issues that come with switching providers (and since Becca's therapy costs somewhere around $4300 a month, we've got to make sure we've got the kinks worked out), finding her a new inclusive preschool to start a few days a week this summer (we had one lined up in Gallatin), saying goodbyes to dear friends up here (but we won't be far away, remember!), and, oh yeah, finding a house, which is where most of our "free time" has been going lately. We've made 4 trips down to Spring Hill (1 hour and 15 minutes away) with Becca in tow, scoping out the area and looking at houses, and we're really hoping to get something going soon. (And just in case you are curious, we don't qualify for any of the tax credits because we have been out of our house for only 2 years - you have to have not owned a house in 3 years in order to qualify for the first-time buyer credit (which, oddly, has nothing to do with actually being a first-time buyer), and we obviously haven't lived in our own house for 5 years to qualify for the step-up credit. This scenario is very difficult for my discount-oriented mind to swallow.) So if you see of any houses for sale (for cheap!) in Williamson County, give us a shout! We've got a wonderful realtor, but things like houses for sale by owner aren't really publicized in the usual way, so if you are down that way, be our eyes for us!

I'll keep you posted, and I promise more Becca cuteness very soon! Here's a little dose for you...further evidence that we take early literacy skills seriously in the Hill house:

p.s. All this busyness has served as a wonderful distraction from the emptiness of my womb. Trying a new medicine -- no, an old one -- Metformin. We'll see how it goes!