Mother & Son: Answering a Request

My mom requested to see me in some photos with the baby (other than the Christmas pj one). So here they are...

On our way to the MOPS Christmas Party

I love this face! This is the "Mom, what are you doing" look.

I've started to call him "The Burrower," because this is what he does.

And a series of pictures that won't rotate correctly. Blogger is weird.

All I Really Want

Warning: This just might want to make you cry and open up your heart a bit larger...expand your vision of what Christmas is.




Enough said.

The "How" Pictures

Here's some more pictures of Joey for you all...you'll get to see him (and hold him) soon! 13 days and counting....

This is how we sleep,

aren't we cute?

This is how we wake up...
and how we cry.

This is how we try to go to sleep.

This is how we show our Christmas pajama spirit,

and a little something more.

And a little video:

A New Best Friend

Someone's got a new best friend...

This morning after Joey's second feeding I was hurriedly trying to get dressed and eat some breakfast before he started to get fussy and wanted to be held. So, I put him in his crib and went on my way, of course, checking back in the crib every few minutes.

He was still there. At one put he started getting fussy and crying. I decided to bust out one the toys he got a the baby shower. (This one is from Poppa Z & Deb.) It's a little butterfly the that when you pull its tail plays a little lullaby. Amazingly it worked!


So I went back to getting ready and of course continued to check up on him. This time he was craning his little neck to see the animals on his bumper and looking wide-eyed and smiling at the butterfly.
To tell you the truth, I was shocked I had like 20 minutes where he was occupied without me!

Now he's ready for a diaper change, so off we go!

The First Ten Days

Well, we're just beginning to settle into parenthood. Today is the first day Joe is back to work, so little Joe and I are on our own--what an adventure! (We even have our first trip to the doctor without daddy today.)

Even though today is technically the eleventh day Joey's been alive, here's a quick look back at his first ten days of life.

He was born.

Then he slept,


and looked cute.

His first walk and trip to the park, which he slept through.

He made some funny faces,

and lost his sock. (Why these pictures won't rotate, I don't know.)

He had his first bath, which he didn't seem to enjoy.

On Thanksgiving we went to watch Daddy play football,
but it started to rain so mom and baby went home. It was his first time to
Hilltop Park (where Joe proposed) and his first time in the rain with an umbrella, of course.

His first Thanksgiving and (decent) family picture.

And, of course, he looks adorable...

especially when he's making faces with Daddy.

On Sunday we had him dedicated to the Lord
(or as Joe would say, "to the Jesus").

Then we were welcomed back by the junior highers

and they were introduced to Joe.

We had 4 jr. highers with birthdays in November and all of them lobbying
for Joey to be born on their birthday. One of the boys Sam B.
(not Simba as seen here) said from the beginning Joey'd
be born on his birthday...and he was!

Still waiting...

What a belly!

Well...the due date is tomorrow. We'll see if little Joey decides to make his grand entrance there or wait a few days. We're hoping he comes this week. I've had very few feelings of contractions or any kind of tightening this past week (minus last Monday).

At our appointment on Thursday, my midwife said I was 1/2 cm dilated, which is not much but better than nothing. (Some women can be dilated 2 - 3 cm for weeks before their baby comes!) She did say that his head was nice and low, which is good.

So in the mean time we're working on what we can do: walking, stretching, squatting, taking my evening primrose oil, resting, and the like. He's (the baby) not been very active this week except for today he was moving around a good bit. Maybe he's settling down for the big event! : )

Here are some pictures from our walk this evening. (It was raining again! It was quite nice until the wind started blowing the rain...)

Waiting

...a blurry self-portrait...

39 Weeks

A week from today and this little boy is due! He really could come anytime now...but who knows?

Isn't this the most attractive picture you've ever seen?
In my pajamas no less...

At our last appointment (on Thursday) I hadn't gained any new weight, his heartbeat was quick and strong, and my cervix was still softened but no dilation as of yet. So, I've been trying to rest and get things done here and there. One of my goals has been to have our wedding album completed before Joey's born. I'm, like, this--close!

Here's a pic from Halloween. I love the look on Ethan's face (Nick & Ann's son)!

Update: I forgot to say when I wrote this last night that we've actually had rain in the last couple of days. RAIN! Like, real rain that falls from the sky...well, it started with some drizzle on Sunday and it doesn't seem to rain for more than like 30 minutes to an hour...but it's rain!

And guess what? It's supposed to do it again today!

As for baby stuff, I had a lot of contractions/tightening/Braxton-Hicks for a couple of hours last night...then it stopped. We're trying to tell Joey to come between Monday and Wednesday of next week. Optimal option for Joe's time off and that's when his grandparents (ie, my parents) will be here. (Actually they'll be here from the 12th to the 17th. Hopefully, he comes then...)

Happy Voting Day!

Elections & the Blogsphere

Since tomorrow is election day, I wanted to share a few posts I've read geared toward Christians and voting. Some of them deal primarily with the question, 'Should a person vote on based on one-issue?' You know the one on the minds of most Christians: abortion.

Here are a few blog posts I find insightful, thought-provoking, and with a good perspective:

Let Christians Vote As Though They Were Not Voting, by John Piper

Thoughts on Voting and Politics: "John Piper's Heart in This Election," a video



In this video, Piper makes a statement on why he believes a woman shouldn't run for president. He explains this further here.

Justin Taylor gives his opinion on Piper's (above) video: Piper, Politics, and Abortion: A Few Thoughts

I would particularly encourage you to read the section in the "Agreement" where Taylor talks about Obama and what the consequences of signing the Freedom of Choice Act will be.

Randy Alcorn had a good (but very long) post on the topic of voting and abortion:
I'm Not Voting for a Man, I'm Voting for Generations of Children & Their Right to Live

Then, Jess at Making Home (one of the new blogs I've been reading) wrote a good post on our perspective of the outcome of the election: God Is Sovereign Over All Human Authorities

There you go...enjoy and go vote!

A week from today...Election Day

In honor of the upcoming elections, I thought I'd post a few videos that have been passed my way. Sad, but true and they definitely hit the entertaining mark.

MSNBC published an article this morning on rumors and the election: Rumors increase in last days of campaigns





This one is just plain interesting. Is Obama a natural born citizen? Oh, and a judge already ruled this case (see here).

Feeding the Homeless

"There are thousands of people dying for a piece of bread. There are thousands upon thousands who die for a little bit of love, for a little bit of acknowledgment."

Mother Teresa

Last night was our monthly trek downtown with the college kids to Horizon Urban Ministries where we serve and minister to the homeless. This was our fourth time down and each time gets better and better, and I think as a group we are continually growing. There's not as much apprehension, even though you never know what will happen or who you'll meet or what they'll say.

We are more eager to get out and have conversations with people rather than simply serve them. All in all, we're becoming involved in their lives. Getting to know them by name, their stories, their families, their likes and dislikes--after all, they're not just homeless, they're people too.

(L-R: Coy, Bryan, Pastor Joe, Jace)

Our ministry has expanded over the last few months. We originally started off fixing a meal and inviting people in the park to come. Now, our time downtown includes preparing a meal, decorating: set-up tables/drinks/cutlery, going out to the park praying for and inviting people to come for dinner, foot washing and handing out new socks (homeless people love clean socks), praying for them, worship, and we even have a chiropractor come down and do adjustments for people!

This was probably my last trip downtown for at least a couple of months. I'd like to continue going after Joey is born, but we'll have to see how that will pan out. I wanted to take some pictures to show you guys, they're not the best (due to lighting and I didn't want to just snap pictures of unsuspecting people).


I'll miss going down seeing the people and serving them. Coming home last night what it felt like, for me, was when Jesus sent his disciples to go get lunch and he ended up talking with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). When the disciples returned Jesus said,

"My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work."

That phrase kept going through my mind and even though I was tired and a little bit hungry, I felt satisfied.

You know you're pregnant when...

• you can't see your feet.
• tying your shoes becomes part of your workout.
• you know where all the bathrooms are in the stores where you shop.
• you've considered that it just might be easier to sleep in the bathroom.
• your belly becomes a resting place.
• you need a catapult to get out of a chair, car, bed, etc.
• you dread speed bumps and remind your husband to go slow over them.
• no one will let you lift a finger because they are afraid it will somehow induce labor.

I'm sure I'll think of more later, but I just thought I'd share that with you. Now...it's off to work on Christmas presents!

(This is as big as I can get the layout without making it blurry.
If you click on the picture it should enlarge it for you.)

Can you believe it? 4 weeks to go!

We're at 36 weeks already! The first half of my pregnancy seemed to go by so slowly, but since July it's like, "Where has the time gone?" Summer's over. We moved. I quit work. It's September. Still hot. It's October. Occasionally hot with cooling temperatures.

I mean, we're half way through October already! What's up with this? November 10th will be here in no time at all. Our prenatal appointments have moved from every two weeks to every week now (on Thursday's). Did my final blood work last week. I still have the bruises to prove it. (They're not bad at it. I just have incredibly deep veins that you can't really see, so I usually get poked two or three times before anyone can get a steady stream of blood. It's like this every time I've had by blood drawn.)

I asked the midwife, yet again, if she could get a more exact confirmation on my due date for my parents. Since they're planning a trip this way they actually want to be able to see the baby--not too early, not too late. So she performed the exam and since my cervix is already softened, she figures I won't go much past the November 10th due date. Considering that most first time mom's usually go past their due date, I'm taking this as good news.

The only thing about that is the closest full moon is November 13th and with the full moons in August and September we busy days in the birth center--5 births with each full moon! So later we were joking that she, our midwife Jude, has another busy moon ahead of her. Joe's predicting that the little one comes the weekend before. We'll see.

Other than that preparations are going well and close to being completed. On Saturday we put the car seat and stroller in the car. (Although, I forgot to take a picture of the car seat in the car, but it's there.) Here are pictures of our "travel system." We got it for free from a friend who was given two strollers. I like it. It has lots of pockets, zippers, and cupholders!