A Shower

On Sunday, some of the wonderful women I grew up under threw me a shower. It was such a great time to spend time with these women who knew and loved my mom so well, and who watched me grow up and helped shape who I am.

Although Debbie couldn't be there, she sent a prayer that she wrote for Tim, me and the little one to come.

Lord Jesus, we bring before you your precious child, Erin and her new little baby girl. What a wonderful and amazing miracle this is. We know that you have knit this little one together, and you already know every hair that will be on her head, the color of her eyes, the tilt of her chin. You know her hopes and dreams, her gifts and talents, her strengths and weaknesses. You have formed her amazing little personality to your precise specifications (which Erin and Tim might need some reminding of as the years go by).

Lord, Thank you for the awesome gift you are about to place in Erin and Tim's hands. May you give them the strength, love, wisdom, joy, peace and sense of humor that they will need as they raise this little one in your magnificent love and faithfulness.

We place this precious baby girl in your hands knowing that you will never leave her, that you will be beside her all the days of her life. Thank you for this promise from your word.

And Lord, I want to thank you for Erin's loving mom, Ellen, who was such a great role model for a mother that faithfully loved, nurtured, guided, and taught your promises to her children. Thank you for the friend she was to all of us and the way she touched each one of us in her unique way. If possible, let her know how much we love her and miss her, and will be seeking her again one day.

I pray as her friends, we will take seriously the task of encouraging and loving her daughter Erin, her son-in-law Tim and this new little life that is about to come into the world.

Thank you for the blessing of new life.

In your name we pray, Amen.

What an amazing start to a wonderful day. I am so grateful for these wonderful women.

What an amazing day. I am so thankful for these godly women in my life.

Mmmmm, Autumn...

Don't get me wrong, I still determinedly want it to be summer (I need another month to prepare before the baby comes!) but today feels distinctly Autumny. I drove to work in the rain - which has been quite sparse this summer in Seattle, mind you, yesterday was in the 80's-and treated myself to a "so you have to work on a Saturday" Starbucks treat. Guess what's back?The Pumpkin Spice Latte has made it's fall appearance! And I am enjoying my first of this delectable treat right now. Yum.

That's about all I had to say.

A Work in Progress

We've been feverishly working on the nursery. It took us a bit of time and several paint samples to pick a color, but we finally settled on River Mist by Martha Stewart. Here are some shots of the freshly painted room.

Pay no attention to the overly full closet.

We picked up our IKEA furniture and set to work assembling (thanks Dad, for the ride and the crib!) The rocker glider, by the way, is not IKEA...rather a Best Chair, which was our one nursery splurge.

Tim discovered this cool wardrobe system, and since the nursery closet is currently our storage closet, this seemed like a good, affordable solution. Disregard the little dots on the bottom, those were an experiment we ended up nixing.

The inside of the closet...Top is hanging space, bottom is drawers. And, yes, I know we have an absurd amount of clothing, and yes, I have been put on baby clothes shopping restriction.

The coolest part of the room by far is the mural Laura and I put together...look what a little elbow grease can do! (Thanks Laura!)

All we have left to do is spray paint some picture frames and our curtain rod, hang our pictures and curtains and clean up! I'll show you pictures of the changing table Tim made soon.

Through the months

A walk through of the last eight and a half months as told by my belly.

The first test I took was Kroger brand...I wasn't convinced it was reliable, so I took two more First Response...there was no denying it then.

The day we found out (late January). About 5 weeks pregnant. (I miss wearing those jeans)

I don't have dates on me, but this was about 10 weeks, I believe. This is when yoga pants and stretchy shirts became a staple for me.

Sometime not too long after...vague, I know.

Around 20 weeks or so. When yoga pants and stretchy tops were no longer an option.

A new haircut for a new week...around 25 weeks.

At 33 weeks with Zib, who was about 6 months with her little boy.

35 weeks...almost to the end! Notice the weird shaped lump? That, my friends, would be feet. Or knees. Not 100% on which.

35 weeks from the other side. Just to give you the full picture.

That brings us to the present. 35 weeks with a constantly wiggling belly. About a month to go!

Wanting to win...

This:

It's the exact Dwell Studio fabric as our crib bedding and window seat, so I think it will fit quite nicely into the room. Win it here!

Halloween Cuteness

So many options for our little girls first Halloween...how do I choose?



A little penguin...



A sweet cupcake...

Giraffe...

A tiny pumpkin (one of my first costumes when I was little)

Or a teensy flower...

A Little Face

I had my fourth ultrasound on Friday, and got a good look at our little lady's face. She was pretty active, sticking her tongue in and out, making faces, haming it up. My dad was able to come with me and get a sneak peak of his little grand daughter. It looks like she's taken after me in the big cheek department. I'm curious how much chubbier those will get over the next (hopefully) two months. We also got a glimpse of her feet, one ankle crossed over the other, looking much like her daddy's favorite foot position. This explains the weird twitching I've been feeling ... I think she's bouncing her foot up and down the same way Tim does. Who knew that little habit could be inherited?

And, just for fun, a few baby shots of me and Tim (and Tim Burns, for that matter):

Wonder who she'll look like? It's getting so close! Exciting!

Things I Didn't Expect About Pregnancy

Pregnancy has not been exactly what I expected...here's the things that have surprised me:

1. My belly is heavy

In retrospect, this should have been a given. But, I am constantly surprised at how bulky this belly is.

2. and yet, I forget that it's there

Even 31 weeks in, in my minds eye I still see myself with my old body. So, when I try to make room for you to pass me in the Costco aisle, or, worse, a doorway, forgive me if I don't actually succeed. I've temporarily forgotten about the basketball that is protruding from my middle.

3. No more sleeping through the night

I remember when Tim and I were talking about the possibility of getting pregnant, we talked about all the things we could do in the 9 months leading up to it. One of those things I expected to be able to do was sleep. Surprise! Not gonna happen! Whether it's my brain staying up to make lists of things to get done, or the four bathroom runs, or nightmares that keep me scared of shutting my eyes, or leg cramps that feel like my calves are in labor, or just plain not sleeping, I haven't had a full nights sleep in months.

4. Goodbye coordination

Evidently, the way that our bodies compensate for the extreme growth is by loosening our ligaments. This is evident in the fact that anything that I have in my hands will soon be on the floor. It takes all my concentration not to drop everything I come in contact with - a comfort to the mom's who drop their little ones off in the nursery with me on Sunday, I'm sure*

5. Hello grossness

So, maybe no one ever told you that pregnancy = drool. Or, pregnancy = bloody noses. For whatever reason, pregnant women get waaaay to much saliva, resulting is St. Bernard style grossness. Thankfully, I only experience this at night, so my pillow gets the worst of it. But, pregnant women be warned - you may want to invest in a plastic pillow case. Then there's the nose...you know how you hear about swollen ankles as a pregnancy side effect? That's not the only thing that swells. So does the inside of your nose, resulting in at least one bloody nose a day.

6. Crying over bread

One fine Saturday morning, Tim went off to play Halo with Ryan, and I stayed home to bask in nothingness. Eventually, nothingness gave way to hunger and I started dreaming of a sandwich stacked high with cheddar cheese, mustard, salt and pepper. Thankful that Tim had bought flatbread rounds the day before, I headed down to make my sandwich. I pulled out the cheese, the mustard, the salt and the pepper, but the bread was conspicuously missing. After searching the kitchen with an increasing sense of panic, I called Tim, forced my voice to be calm, and ask him if he knew where he'd put the bread. Turns out, sweet boy that he is, he'd brought it to Ryan's to make an egg sandwich for everyone. Well, as irrational as it was, seeing as how there was a different loaf of bread right behind me, I quickly got off the phone and burst into tears. For 20 minutes. Sobbed. Then I splashed my face and used the other bread. Thank goodness that's been my only irrational melt down to this point.

7. Surrealism

While a lot of pregnancy is in your face and hard to ignore, the one thing that's pretty quiet for the first several months is the actual baby behind it all. Even after hearing her heartbeat and seeing her little form wiggling on the ultrasound, none of it was real until I felt her move.



7. The strength of the bond

As soon as I felt her move, she became mine. (Yes, she was already mine, but it solidified the connection that I was trying to find in tiny pictures and super speed heartbeats.) I don't know how to explain, but once you feel that little karate chop, everything changes. Even when she's all up in your ribs, or rearranging your essential organs (which I swear she does), it's magical. But my favorite of all is when she tickles me. I literally feel her little hand opening and closing against my belly, and oh man, does it make me laugh.



8. Not getting sick

Of all the symptoms I expected to experience, not having morning sickness was not among them. But, this sweet little thing seemed to do just fine without causing her momma to be sick. A sign of things to come, I hope.

9. The joy that the daddy experiences

It's been amazing to watch Tim grow attached to this little one. In some ways, though he doesn't have the backstage pass I have, I think he's more in love with her than I am. When he heard the heart beat, he gasped. When he saw her on the ultrasounds, his eyes lit up and he smiled like I've never seen him smile before. He was so excited to find out she was a girl, he took me out to dinner, then baby shopping to celebrate (where he immediately told the waitress and the lady in the checkout line that we were having a girl). But the best is when he talks to her, in the sweetest little voice. He tells her that he's her daddy, first and foremost, then just chats, while she wiggles around. She's already got him wrapped around a finger we haven't even seen.

10. The renewed understanding of Divine Design

I think that the clearest argument against survival of the fittest is pregnancy. It is clear, within weeks of becoming pregnant, your body is not your own. Your body will deprive itself of essential nutrients to ensure that this baby gets everything it needs to grow and thrive. Your organs will move from their natural positioning to make way for this little being you're hosting. Your body will tell you what you need to be eating to support this child. And your brain (at least mine did) will change gears from looking out for #1 to looking out for this person you've never met at all costs. Not only is your body no longer your own, your life is no longer your own. You are so intimately linked to this child that you will sacrifice anything for it. Due to some potential complications, I was told early on that a C-section may be necessary. Is it ideal? No, but if it gets this little girl here safely, bring it on. I was trying to explain to someone why I'm so unconcerned about the possibility of an inevitable C-section, and the only way I could express how willing I am to sacrifice myself for her was to say, "If the doctor told me I had to have a leg taken off to get her out safely, I would say, 'That sucks. Which leg? Let's do it.'" The process of pregnancy has renewed my understanding of God's design. It is so evident that He is the one knitting her together in my womb, that He has created our bodies with the ability to warp and change to bring her safely into this world. And Tim and I have been charged with the task to bring her up to follow and love Him...something that I find totally humbling and intimidating.

So, that, in a nutshell, is my unexpected pregnancy experience.

*Just to be clear, this was a bit of a joke. I have never dropped a child. I fell holding one once, but she was fine (I was not so much) and that was completely unrelated to pregnancy, totally related to the fire truck on the floor.

Also,

I feel it is important to know, that Lisa Smith is by far, the best coworker I have had ever in my entire life. Thank you.

The Next Great American Novel

It's about time for another amazing, history changing, best selling, page turning novel. And I'm going to write it.

I have a fool proof game plan. I've read, studied, poured over recent successful plot lines and discovered what we're missing:

Vampires VS. Dragons*

To my knowledge, this has not been done, and in my humble opinion, the world is worse for it.

The premise, I think it's pretty clear, is a battle between vampires and dragons. No longer will the world have to wonder which is the superior mythical creature! All will be answered!

The characters will consist of:

Several vampires - the names I have so far are:
Smedward
Smella
Smackula

Several dragons - the names I have so far:
Daphira
Duff the Dagic

A token witch and wizard:
Larry Lotter
Lermione Langer

Some small hairy footed human-like creatures:
Prodo Paggins
Pamwise Pamgee

Miscellaneous villians (because a battle between vampires and dragons can't all be fun and games):
Tollum (also known as Teagol)
Tord Toldemort
Tick-ed Tepmothers
Teddy Trueger

So, that's what I've come up with so far, I think it's pretty solid. As always, I'm open to suggestions (good ones may earn you the dedication page, really good ones, a mention when I accept my multiple awards.)

*if this is successful (which I know in my heart of hearts, it will be) I will follow up with such sequels as:
Vampires VS. Aliens
Dragons VS. Aliens
Vampires and Dragons VS. Aliens (those aliens are tough)
Vampires VS. Sea Monsters
Dragons VS. The Yeti
etc.

Oh, the day I've had (long and detailed version)

Today started off like any other day. I don't know how it happened, but it quickly turned into chaos.

First I went to get myself some coffee* and found the carafe empty. (People...if you drink the last of the coffee in a shared coffee environment, please make more so the next unsuspecting girl to wander in doesn't get sprayed with the little remains left and have to clean up the resulting mess and take 15 minutes to brew coffee. It's just common courtesy.) So, 15 minutes later, with coffee** in hand, I went back to my cubicle.

When I got to my desk, I found that I couldn't print anything. It kept trying to save documents to my desktop. So, being the smart cookie I am, I thought that maybe my printer wasn't set up for some reason, so it was defaulting to "printing" PDF's. A quick glance at the printer name showed me that wasn't the case. So, I rebooted my computer. That didn't do the trick either. A call to tech support and a half an hour with tech support shadowing me later (plus many attempts of deleting and re-adding my printer on their side) and we discovered that a box had been clicked telling my printer to save everything to files. What should have been a quick fix took up the first hour of my day (at least the first hour that wasn't spent making coffee).

Okay, I could recover from this. At least that was my thought at the time. Then came lunch time. I cover reception while the receptionist (Hi Lisa!) takes her lunch, and today I brought a carbonated flavored (mixed berry) water with me. Well, I have much experience with these waters, and have never had anything bad happen with them...until...I sat down at the chair in front of the phone and started to open it. Immediately a volcano of sticky red liquid pours out the top and all over the desk, papers on the desk, and me. I thought I reacted pretty quickly in twisting the cap back on, but I'm told (Hi Lisa!) that I stared at it for several seconds before shaking off my shock and twisting it back on. So, there I sat, laughing till I was tearing up with Lisa, holding dripping hands in front of me and watching the drink spread over the desk surface. After some out of control laughter/discussion, it was decided that I would go wash up and bring paper towels down to clean up the scene.

I started up the stairs with my still dripping arms held out in front of me in a Mr. Burns type way (I'm told) and somehow biff it on the fifth stair. I caught myself pretty quickly (benefit of falling up the stairs and not down) and came up laughing harder than ever (don't worry, my belly didn't get anywhere close to the ground), while Lisa laughed at me from the bottom of the stairs (Hi Lisa!). I gained enough control over myself to get upstairs, wash my hands, and grab what seemed like a substantial amount of paper towels (8). I got back down to reception, still laughing uncontrollably, and discovered 8 paper towels wouldn't do it, and eventually improvised by using computer paper.

Anyway, in this process I managed to get red water on my white shirt, so ran home at lunch to tide stick it. (Is tide stick a verb?) Well, lo and behold, I couldn't find a tide stick. So I changed, put it in cold water, and grabbed a bag of Circus Animal cookies to make up for my crazy day. These I put in the passenger seat on my way back to work, only to discover that there was a hole in the bottom of the bag and the passenger seat is now covered in rainbow colored sprinkles. I scooped these up as best I could and headed back to my desk, where I settled back down to eat the remainder of the bag. Since then things seem to have settled down...we'll see what the rest of this day holds for me, I suppose.

*Please, please, please do not take this opportunity to lecture me about drinking coffee while pregnant. Before I began working full time I avoided all caffeine, and all the books say that 8-16 ounces a day in your second and third trimesters are fine. Trust me, I researched. Also, you try "sleeping" with something kicking you, multiple bathroom runs and pregnancy dreams. Not so restful, sometimes a small cup of joe can go a long way, plus I water it down with cream. Rant ending now.

** Seriously. Don't lecture me, I beg you.

Lookit Lookit Lookit!!! Or, how we spent our sixth anniversary

This weekend we celebrated our sixth anniversary, and our last just the two (and a half) of us. We stayed in our favorite hotel, the Bellevue Westin,

I went and got a maternity massage (thanks to a gift card) which can be translated as 160 minutes of delight and relaxation), ate a delicious dinner at Z'Tejas, and went off to see Despicable Me. It was cute, there was a lot of laughing out loud to be had. I don't however, think you need to splurge for the 3D - it didn't add a whole lot to the experience.

There's a scene in the movie where a little girl gets a huge stuffed unicorn, and she yells, "It's. So. FLUFFY!!!!" I had a similar reaction to my anniversary present this year.

A little background. For about two years now, I have had a slight obsession with a little Etsy store called MadebyHank. You who are familiar, know that she makes the worlds best purses, and that they sell out, literally in seconds. So, last year for my birthday, when Tim surprised me with this little number:

which I have used as a wallet ever since. Then, I treated myself to this one a while back:

and I love it, oh how I love it. But Tim knew that what I really wanted was one of her coveted shoulder bags - impossible to find, but breathtakingly pretty. So, imagine my delight when he quietly placed this little number on our living room chair:

My reaction was something like, "What's that? No. How?!" (remember, sells out in seconds), followed by immediately putting everything from above tote into new and improved tough ruffles shoulder bag and announcing that it's name was Purse-Face (cause it looks like it has a mouth when you open it.) I love it. I couldn't be happier. Tim's gift has yet to arrive (I may have been a little slow on the ordering it process) but I think he'll be pretty happy too. Anyway, all in all it was a great last hurrah before the baby joins us.