This is actually him, by the way. Like I said, baby-model cute, eh?
We headed to the beach to see my family during the second half of Thanksgiving week, and much to our delight, we wore shorts and flip-flops and actually got a bit of a tan while there. (Almost every visit to Florida makes me question why we live in Kentucky). My extended family threw a surprise baby shower brunch for us, although dad spilled the beans a couple hours before the shower.
It's pretty much inevitable that if there is a surprise in the works, dad will inadvertenly spoil it. He is basically incapable of lying in any form or fashion (even the good kind involved in suprising someone). His inability to even tell a "white lie" was incredibly frustrating to me as an adolescent when a boy, that I did not like, would call the house and dad would pick up the phone. I would look wild-eyed at him, frantically waving my arms and shaking my head in an "I'm not here, please tell him I'm not here" kind of way. Dad would get a little panicky and then blurt out, "Hold on a minute, she's right here." I would glare in angry disbelief at dad, who would just sort of shake his head as if he had no other option, and then begrudingly take the phone and talk to the unlucky suitor. This was a recurring event in my young life.
By the way, did I mention that my dad answered the phone by saying, "Keating family, Tom speaking." This has nothing to do with his being unable to lie. It was just plain embarrasing.
Back to the update... we left Florida for Kentucky with a car full of baby stuff. I think it was a bit overwhelming to Dave, who has since seen our spare room/office be taken over by little blue outfits, stuffed animals, diapers, bottles, etc. He has been a good sport though and I can tell he is getting more and more excited for baby boy Ainsworth to be here.
December was a busy month. Dave wrapped up his semester well and, just to brag a little, made an A in Elementary Hebrew! The Lord has given him such a great mind, and he worked very diligently studying Hebrew this semester. Needless to say, I am a proud wife.
We headed to Florida again for the Christmas break. It was a lot of driving within the span of a month, but we figured that this may be our last opportunity to get to Florida for awhile (with a baby coming in April and a move to Houston at some unknown date). Time with Dave's family was a blessing. For the first time in a number of years, every member of his extended family was in one place together, and it was a treat to catch up with everyone.
Dave's mom threw me a surprise baby shower on the 22nd and since my dad had no part in it, it truly was a surprise! We had just come back from dinner with Dave's cousins and I was making a bee-line into the house to go to the bathroom, when the lights were suddenly flipped on and "Suprise" was yelled by 20 or so people. I stopped in my tracks, my face grew hot and bright red, and I turned to Dave and asked, "Is this for me?" Obviously, it was for me, and it was a really special time. We came away with quite a loot and felt very blessed and loved by family and friends in Keystone.
We left Dave's parents' for Tampa on Christmas Eve and had a great visit with my parents. As always, we ate lots of good Ybor City food (probably more than we should have). For those of you who aren't familiar with Ybor City, it basically has the best concentration of delicious food of anywhere I've ever been. Within a few blocks you can find authentic Greek, Cuban, Mexican, and Italian cuisine (just to name a few). It's pretty awesome.
So, that is the past month and a half (in a nutshell) at the Ainsworth abode. I will do my best to be more dilligent to update the blog before another month and a half rolls around.
