The Jen Ten.

My cute, cute, cute, cute, cuter than cute (and nicer than nice) cousin Jen has entered ZHT’s “Baby Bump” Contest and YOU need to go vote for her!

What was that?

What’s that you say?

You don’t mindlessly do what other people tell you to do just because they told you to do it and you need a really, really good reason to go and vote for her because you’re not a follow-y , robotic little lemming who’s going to just do it on my say so?

I thought you might say that. This is why I’ve decided to give you 10 (count ‘em t.e.n.) really great reasons for why you should take 2.5 seconds to go and vote for Jen’s (admittedly fabulous) bump.

1. She is smokin’ hot. (obviously)

2. She has gone to h.e. double hockey sticks and back trying to get this baby here. After years of trying, and trying, and trying…she finally got pregnant! Woo-hoo! We were SO EXCITED!!! I’m not gonna lie, I totally bawled when I got the call. Then, guess what… I bet you can guess, but I don’t know if you want to because it’s really sad. She lost it. It was horrible. Words can’t even adequately express how horrible. It was a living walking nightmare for her and everyone who loved her. So THEN, later, she got pregnant again! YAY! Surely it would work out this time – surely it would…it HAD to… But,then, when she went in for her 10 week check up, there was no heartbeat. She was devastated once again. The doctors sent her home to “miscarry” but she never did. Instead, her hormones shot up off the charts making her violently ill and later causing a mini stroke. Upon further examination, they found that her “baby” was actually a massive ball of rapidly multiplying, cancerous cells instead. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one. I can’t imagine (having waited as long as I have for a new baby to come into our family as well) feeling the elation that would accompany a positive pregnancy test, setting my doctor’s appointment, finding out that I lost the baby, having a mini-stroke, and then…GET THIS… being told that I had cancerous cells that needed surgery and chemo to eradicate them and that I would now have to wait a MINIMUM of 6 months before I could even try for a baby again and THAT was only if everything went perfectly according to plan. Fun stuff. That Jen of mine just gets to do all of the fun stuff. So, 6 WEEKS of barfy, nauseous, icky, weak, tired, chemo later…they were waiting. Waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

3. The ENTIRE time she was going through all of this, INCLUDING Chemo, she was a loyal accountant for a company that just laid her off! Yeah, you heard me. Last week, they called her into their office and told her (a woman who is 6 months pregnant) that they were eliminating her position! (You wanna vote for her now, yes?) But wait there are even better reasons to come.

4. She actually knows the names of all of our Great Aunts AND second cousins 4 times removed and what not…who knows that? Who could possibly care enough to take note? Jen does. Jen can. Yay Jen!

5. She is the best step mom on the face of the earth. She loves her step son like her own. She adores him to no end. She literally, and visibly, beams with pride when she talks about him. We should give her a mom of the year award while we’re at it!

6. I took her “baby bump” pictures! That’s right. Yours truly. What does that have to do with it? (You may ask.) Well, it simply means that she will have the best pictures in the contest. (I thought that was obvious…but I don’t mind spelling it out.)

7. People also seem to like her because she is polite, and rarely late. She likes ice cream, and she really enjoys a nice pair of slacks. But seriously, when you cry, she cries. When you hurt, she hurts. When you need her, she’s there…with bells on…and brownies and hugs in tow.

8. She has great hair. That’s reason enough right there in my book…but I’m shallow, so please refer to reason #2 if you’re deeper than I am and would like a really deep, meaningful reason.

9. She is nice. People just aren’t lovely and nice and pleasant anymore, and Jen is all of those things. She is just downright nice…unless you get her on the free way with a bunch of bad drivers…then she is sassy…but sassy is eternally awesome too, no?

10. And finally, vote for Jen because she really does have an amazing baby bump and that bump is chalk full of a really great, breathing, living, happy, MIRACLE baby!

GO HERE TO VOTE: http://www.971zht.com/pages/babywatch09/ and click VOTE NOW – she’s number 164! I've attached the picture she submitted (so you don't have to click through all of them!)

Vote! Vote! Vote! yay!