I should have stayed in bed today...

Our sweet boxer baby, Georgia, is brave when it comes to big scary strangers and monsters that go bump in the night but when it comes to thunder and lightening, well, she falls all to pieces. She has woken up Ben and I with whining and nudging and whimpering every other night for the past week whenever the thunder starts. We've tried benadryl and blankies and snuggling to no avail. She woke us up at 4:00 am this morning shaking like a big furry leaf... and I should have known then that staying in bed  would have been the best plan of action.

Since I got up extra early this morning thanks to my nervous puppy alarm clock/weather warning, I decided to get ready and head out to hardee's to treat baby England to an egg biscuit and orange juice. Did it go smoothly? Oh no. I busted a big fat flat tire pulling into the  hardee's parking lot. Called ye olde hubsy wubsy to bring me some clean scrubs (because I'm a brave and independent woman and was fully intent on changing that flat ON MY OWN) but darling hubs was nowhere to be found and I couldn't get the tire out of the trunk... A nice gentleman that pulled in next to me kindly pointed out that my spare was flat so... I called a tow truck and 45 minutes later help arrived and husband was still unreachable... 

Friendly Mr. Tow Truck man helped me into the cab of the big tow truck and loaded my little red beetle on the back (It is admittedly somewhat amusing to watch regular sized men try to maneuver in and out of my drivers seat without moving the seat back). He dropped me off at work and toted the love bug off to get new shoes. Hubs was still not heard from. I was starting to get nervous. 

Then I started to panic. 

Then I became convinced that my darling husband must have passed out in the shower and was drowning.

Then I was certain that he had choked on his cereal and the dogs were unable to give dear Ben the Heimlich maneuver and I would find my blue faced husband dead in the kitchen and be forced to raise this wild kicky baby all on my own. 

So what did I do? I called and paged and texted and emailed AGAIN. Then I called the graduate school of Medicine. Then I called the UT dermatology clinic. No one had seen or heard from Ben. I also sent URGENT text messages to Ben's brother, Kip, and my peach of a mother-in-law (who knew exactly how I felt). Let me just say that if there were a "Worry Olympics" that Cindy and I would be stars on the US team. Likely gold medal winners. 

Finally, I called in the big guns... Cousin Caroline. The reigning queen of South Knoxville. I begged her to pull a drive-by and see if Ben's truck was still there. Being that she's a complete angel that would give the shirt off her back to help out a stranger, she was more than agreeable.

When she drove by, his truck was there!!! She found Ben... Very much alive and obliviously puttering around the house. My gratitude was overflowing. Ben had no idea how  much peril he truly was in.

The good news is that NOW the car is happy, foot loose and flat-tire free, Georgia is calm and happy and brave (until the thunder starts again) and my sweet, beautiful kicky baby has a daddy that is alive and well and treated us both to a big juicy litton burger for dinner. 

Thanks be to God!!!

So we took a little blogging nap...

We're back online now, though. Much has happened since we last checked in with ye olde blogspot. Ben dug up our back yard and started to build a patio. Ben had shoulder surgery( more on that WITH pics later). Ben's brothers and dad spent many long hot hours finishing patio (Thanks Englands! It's nice not twisting my ankle on the way to the laundry shed PLUS it looks AMAZING! )... I'm here growing a giant baby that kicks me to pieces. My stomach is HUGE ! Oh yeah, and we also had a 3d ultrasound. I'm accepting that while I'm doing all the heavy lifting in re: to this pregnancy this kid looks WAY more like Ben than me (Not fair in the least) which is why I'm guessing now that it's a boy. I'm still hoping against hope for a girl. I don't want to hear it from anyone, though. It's best not to bring it up with me or else hormones get the best and I'm a huge puddle of tears. Seriously. Don't bring it up. I am so grateful that this baby is healthy and at this point I'm just praying for a safe delivery, an effective epidural and a cheerful baby. 

That's the news from the McEnglands ! Happy Fathers Day!