Please forgives these brief posts, with monotonous theme, but I just had to share this new equation that works...for now, at least:
31 weeks pregnant + no eating past 7pm + no nap + extra pillow under head = 2 AWESOME nights of sleep in a row
Praise the Lord!!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
At Long Last, Number 100
Note: Several days ago, I started this list and got up to about 75. I saved it (after it had been auto saved every minute, for hours, by blogger) and took a break. When I returned, I found that only up to 22 or 23 had been saved. I was INCREDIBLY discouraged, as you can imagine, but have decided to have another go at it. These days, I'm working hard at being thankful, in general. Kind of funny to have the previously mentioned experience, while actively striving to be thankful. Certainly stretched me in the area of being full of thanks and NOT complaining...
In no particular order, 100 things that I am thankful for...
1. air conditioning
2. my college education
3. my darling Amelie
4. my sweet Violet
5. my anticipated _ _ _ _ _
6. my incredible, supportive, encouraging, tolerant, helpful, funny, wonderful husband
7. friends with whom I can laugh and cry
8. our church family
9. helpful and supportive parents
10. in-laws that love us and care for us
11. next-door neighbors that were friends before they were our neighbors
12. my washer and dryer
13. my body pillow
14. preventative health care
15. our pastor and his wife
16. Jesus dying for me, a most miserable and wretched sinner
17. comfortable furniture to sit on
18. the internet
19. the grace that the Lord bestows upon me the I DO NOT deserve
20. Duncan's job
21. Duncan's commute (or lack thereof)
22. the solid, Biblical preaching we are privileged to hear every single week
23. my college experience
24. the travels I did in my youth
25. especially my two trips to Honduras which drastically shaped how I view the world and my place in it
26. the Episcopal church I attended in college, where the entire Gospel was preached and people actually believed the Bible
27. the leaders of our church
28. chocolate
29. the fact that my children have 11 older cousins, most of which adore them
30. other peoples' blogs and their encouragement to me
31. the older members of our church that are so encouraging to us
32. the fun that Duncan and I have together
33. the fact that we have a reliable mail system
34. and reliable phone service
35. my refrigerator
36. extended family that are so generous of their time and resources
37. the fact that when I go to the grocery store, the shelves are full
38. e-mail
39. my dishwasher
40. feeling my baby move
41. Duncan's integrity
42. Amelie's sense of humor
43. Violet's developing personality
44. Pine Springs Camp
45. our wedding
46. our marriage
47. Duncan's friends from high school
48. my experience teaching in public school-- the people I met and the experiences I had
49. the incredible woman of faith, who was also chock full of wisdom, that was my teaching partner for two and half years
50. the phrase: "and the world will keep spinning" that she taught me, to keep a proper perspective on life
51. Netflix
52. the ability to stay at home and raise my children
53. the flexibility of Duncan's job
54. the satisfaction that Duncan has from his new job
55. the fact that the majority of my children's clothes have come as hand-me-downs or gifts
56. that when my children need something, I can go the store/go online and get it
57. our backyard
58. my Bible study from this past year
59. my adopted family in college whose home was a refuge to me on more than one occasion
60. Young Life in high school--where I first heard the truth of the Gospel
61. the TiVo that Duncan made (yes made--I was kind of annoyed by the whole thing for a while, but now that it's functional, I LOVE it!!)
62. our first year of marriage in State College and the community we had there
63. our second year of marriage, living with my parents and saving like crazy for this house
64. our 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th years of marriage, in this house
65. our van and its flexibility
66. e-bay and the fun I've had with THE dress
67. Ikea
68. the toys my children have to play with
69. the books my children have to read
70. the public library
71. Chick-fil-A
72. the Bible
73. the Wiggles
74. flavored, unsweetened seltzer
75. running water
76. electricty
77. hot showers
78. heat in the winter time
79. Crocs
80. coffee
81. never having to worry about what I'm going to wear
82. the remote starter on our Malibu
83. the promise of eternal life in heaven
84. tea parties
85. digital pictures and their seeming limitlessness--as long as you back them up =)
86. cell phones
87. Duncan's new goatee that he grew just for me
88. the autumn
89. whipped cream
90. half-caf grande vanilla americanos from Starbucks
91. the color purple (not the book/movie, while they're good, I mean the color)
92. Sandra Boynton books
93. PBS
94. the willingness of others to help me and support me while I'm not very able-bodied during this pregnancy
95. our reclaimed space where our shed once was in our backyard
96. two eyes that see
97. two ears that hear
98. two legs that walk
99. flowers
100. so many things for which I can be thankful...
So, what are you thankful for? I challenge each of you to actively think about it, at the very least.
Here's to the next 100!
In no particular order, 100 things that I am thankful for...
1. air conditioning
2. my college education
3. my darling Amelie
4. my sweet Violet
5. my anticipated _ _ _ _ _
6. my incredible, supportive, encouraging, tolerant, helpful, funny, wonderful husband
7. friends with whom I can laugh and cry
8. our church family
9. helpful and supportive parents
10. in-laws that love us and care for us
11. next-door neighbors that were friends before they were our neighbors
12. my washer and dryer
13. my body pillow
14. preventative health care
15. our pastor and his wife
16. Jesus dying for me, a most miserable and wretched sinner
17. comfortable furniture to sit on
18. the internet
19. the grace that the Lord bestows upon me the I DO NOT deserve
20. Duncan's job
21. Duncan's commute (or lack thereof)
22. the solid, Biblical preaching we are privileged to hear every single week
23. my college experience
24. the travels I did in my youth
25. especially my two trips to Honduras which drastically shaped how I view the world and my place in it
26. the Episcopal church I attended in college, where the entire Gospel was preached and people actually believed the Bible
27. the leaders of our church
28. chocolate
29. the fact that my children have 11 older cousins, most of which adore them
30. other peoples' blogs and their encouragement to me
31. the older members of our church that are so encouraging to us
32. the fun that Duncan and I have together
33. the fact that we have a reliable mail system
34. and reliable phone service
35. my refrigerator
36. extended family that are so generous of their time and resources
37. the fact that when I go to the grocery store, the shelves are full
38. e-mail
39. my dishwasher
40. feeling my baby move
41. Duncan's integrity
42. Amelie's sense of humor
43. Violet's developing personality
44. Pine Springs Camp
45. our wedding
46. our marriage
47. Duncan's friends from high school
48. my experience teaching in public school-- the people I met and the experiences I had
49. the incredible woman of faith, who was also chock full of wisdom, that was my teaching partner for two and half years
50. the phrase: "and the world will keep spinning" that she taught me, to keep a proper perspective on life
51. Netflix
52. the ability to stay at home and raise my children
53. the flexibility of Duncan's job
54. the satisfaction that Duncan has from his new job
55. the fact that the majority of my children's clothes have come as hand-me-downs or gifts
56. that when my children need something, I can go the store/go online and get it
57. our backyard
58. my Bible study from this past year
59. my adopted family in college whose home was a refuge to me on more than one occasion
60. Young Life in high school--where I first heard the truth of the Gospel
61. the TiVo that Duncan made (yes made--I was kind of annoyed by the whole thing for a while, but now that it's functional, I LOVE it!!)
62. our first year of marriage in State College and the community we had there
63. our second year of marriage, living with my parents and saving like crazy for this house
64. our 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th years of marriage, in this house
65. our van and its flexibility
66. e-bay and the fun I've had with THE dress
67. Ikea
68. the toys my children have to play with
69. the books my children have to read
70. the public library
71. Chick-fil-A
72. the Bible
73. the Wiggles
74. flavored, unsweetened seltzer
75. running water
76. electricty
77. hot showers
78. heat in the winter time
79. Crocs
80. coffee
81. never having to worry about what I'm going to wear
82. the remote starter on our Malibu
83. the promise of eternal life in heaven
84. tea parties
85. digital pictures and their seeming limitlessness--as long as you back them up =)
86. cell phones
87. Duncan's new goatee that he grew just for me
88. the autumn
89. whipped cream
90. half-caf grande vanilla americanos from Starbucks
91. the color purple (not the book/movie, while they're good, I mean the color)
92. Sandra Boynton books
93. PBS
94. the willingness of others to help me and support me while I'm not very able-bodied during this pregnancy
95. our reclaimed space where our shed once was in our backyard
96. two eyes that see
97. two ears that hear
98. two legs that walk
99. flowers
100. so many things for which I can be thankful...
So, what are you thankful for? I challenge each of you to actively think about it, at the very least.
Here's to the next 100!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
An Exercise in Randomness
1. Last month, on June 17th, which was also Fathers' Day and the day we had a 60th birthday party for Duncan's mom, we had our 7th wedding anniversary. I'm not going to say we celebrated it, because we really haven't yet. But the last 2 years, we celebrated in October for various reasons. With this baby boy coming in September, I think it'll at least be October before we celebrate the 7 wonderful years we've been married.2. I'm nearing week 30 of this pregnancy, which makes me very excited. I'm seriously struggling with wishing the summer away. (He comes the complaining, chrissiek!!) I just feel so useless around the house and with the kids. I have such a hard time doing the littlest things. I very much look forward to being able to run around with the kids and not always needing to sit down after I pick up something off of the floor. I feel guilty for not simply reveling in this time of (relatively) uneventful nights of sleep, doing all things toddler, and just plain being a family of four. Always something to work on, I guess.
3. On July 4th, we bought and set up bunk beds for the girls. Amelie's on the bottom, which is just her old mattress and box spring laying on the floor. You see, it's technically a loft bed. But at the store, they showed a mattress on the floor of the underneath part, so we took that idea and ran with it. Violet will eventually sleep there. Amelie is getting really good at climbing up and down by herself. Once she's perfected it, she can start sleeping on the top. Oh, and we didn't get the tent. With our slanted ceilings, it wouldn't fit well. We were thrilled that this bed was so short that it fits under the slant in their room. A picture of the slant that I'm talking about is above on that pre-Amelie's birth photo of their room.
4. Amelie starts swimming lessons next week. Next week I also have my next sonogram (to check on my placenta--has it migrated?), glucose tolerance test (yuck!), and regular check up with the ob.
5. The week after that, we have our hospital tour. I've been there to visit people, but I've never had a baby at this hospital. I'm very excited, especially with it being half the distance from our house as the hospital where the girls (and their mom) were born.
6. I need to complete Amelie's pre-school paper work and she needs to get her very first school physical! I'm very excited about her having this school experience. Since she's so timid socially, I think it will really stretch her, in a good way.
7. We bought a new sleeper sofa for our t.v. room. Every time I've been pregnant, I've complained about it and every time, we've talked about replacing it...but never have. My sister bought it, second-hand, nearly 20 years ago. The people that she bought it from had to have had it for at least 10 years before that! Needless to say, it owes us nothing. We took advantage of the July 4th sales this past weekend, but have to wait until at least August 9th before it'll be delivered. Exciting to anticipate, at least.
8. Violet has another eye procedure scheduled for August 20th, as long as I'm not on bedrest. This time the doctor will do the balloonplasty and/or insert tubes. I'm slightly anxious about it, but not nearly as much as the last time. I look forward to her living a eye gook-free life. We had a taste it for 2 weeks and 1 day following the first procedure.
So that's it. Eight random things, that I'm sure you've been wondering about. Tee hee. Next up, Post 100.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
What Have we Been Up To?
As promised, some photos from our trip up north--Ducky and Amelie checking out the water wheel at Findley Lake.
Our Cottage--The Silver Lily
Daddy and Violet waiting to leave for church on Father's Day.
Amelie blowing bubbles into the lake.
Being goofy at a local, yummy restaurant called Pie in the Sky.
After being away for a week, we jumped into our church's Music and Bible Camp. Some members of our church developed this camp from scratch and we did it in place of a canned VBS program which always has parts that need to be rewritten anyway. The theme was "Joy In The Gates" and two of the psalms that they focused on were Psalm 51 and Psalm 150. They found some really incredible music to go along with it and it turned out wonderfully. I just helped in the nursery, but it's always fun to be a part of it.
On Wednesday, I had a follow-up sonogram. (My first was at 16 weeks and I am now at 28 weeks.) Duncan was able to make it this time. We were able to see our little guy again--even some of those 3D pictures! I got some unfortunate news, however. Apparently I have placenta previa and am at risk for placenta accreta because of my previous c-sections. The perinatologist will be seeing me for sonograms every few weeks to see if the placenta has migrated (unlikely at this point but definitely possible) and to see if the placenta has started to embed itself into the uterus.
I'm struggling with many things in all of this. A worst-case scenario would be a hysterectomy immediately after the baby is born. And it all just SOUNDS scary. Another is that the doctor indicated he didn't want me out of the area of the hospital. ("You live in Bowie? I wished you lived closer.") So that means no Canaan Valley vacation with my side of the family in August. (We go every other year.) I am VERY disappointed about this!! It brings me to tears when I think about not being able to go. Also I'm struggling with feeling completely useless and will for potentially several months. The doctor did not put me on bed rest and told me not to be an invalid, however he did tell me to take it easy. But I feel very vulnerable and as if I should be very cautious. It all makes one not want to go through this again, I can assure you!
Boy am I rambling. Please just pray if you think of it. Pray that the placenta would migrate and that if it doesn't that accreta wouldn't develop.
I'm working on being thankful for medical technology, that we can know and be prepared--and that the doctors can be prepared. My anxiety is kicking in again and Duncan keeps telling me to "find the joy" in life rather than continuing to focus on the what ifs. I'm trying...
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