First Glimpses

We had the 20 wk ultrasound for our first baby on Monday. It was absolutely amazing! And just to calm any curiosity, we didn't find out if it's a boy or a girl. There was a moment when I was tempted to change my mind, but I'm glad we didn't.

We brought along a video tape (Brad sacrificed a Bronco's game...We don't have many blank vhs' sitting around now that the DVD era is in full swing) and were able to get most of it recorded. It was so cool to see this little child squirming around inside of me! I've been feeling it move frequently, but seeing it move was so great, and something both Brad and I could participate in. We could see it moving its legs and arms, "waving" (its arms were tucked around its head and then it would throw its arm forward, like an uncoordinated wave "hello"), sucking its thumb (we think), opening and closing its mouth, turning its head to the side and back to the front, then "bobbing" its head forward and back. It was so cute looking, even though ultrasounds tend to give fetuses an alienish look...

We're thankful, too, that at this point everything they are able to see from the ultrasound looks good and we're right on track for the "esimated date of delivery" - January 8. Our doctor was sure to tell us that there are some birth defects that the ultrasound won't show, but from what she could tell, our little one looks healthy. Praise God for this little miracle!

Halfway!!! Whoa!!

This is from www.pregnancyweekly.com

Welcome, Kristin
20/40 weeks
This is day number 139 and you're 20 weeks pregnant!
You have 141 days or 20 weeks left, and are 50.0% of the way there.
Baby's age since conception is 125 days or 18 weeks. You are due on 1/8/2007.

Baby Development

Your baby is now about 5.6 to 6.4 inches and weighs approximately 9 ounces. Your baby is now big enough that you may be able to tell when he or she is awake or asleep based on the level of activity. You can also see a lot of movement in the ultrasound image. Looking at ultrasound images of other babies can help you figure out what you're looking at when you see your baby's image.


Woohoo!! It is pretty crazy that we're already halfway. Although I guess we didn't really know we were pregnant until about 6 weeks in. But it's still cool to think about being at the half way point. It's kinda scary, though. It's going sooo fast!

I broke down this week and switched over to almost all maternity clothes. I still have a few "regular" pieces that fit, but they are mostly "grungy clothes" like event t-shirts and exercise shorts. My yoga pants still fit, but it's too hot for those now...But they are the most comfy pants I've ever owned, so I hope I can fit in them when the weather cools down.

Tomorrow we have the ultrasound! I'm so excited. We are going to wait till the birth to find out the baby's gender...Unless the child doesn't give us a choice. I'll be happy with either a boy or a girl, and I don't mind having a neutral baby wardrobe and nursery. Besides, after it is born we will have it's whole life to dress it in boy clothes are girl clothes. It's kinda strange, I guess, because I usually like to be prepared and be able to plan ahead for things. So choosing to not be able to plan is not normal for me. But I think that if we find out tomorrow at the ultrasound that the baby is healthy and that it is a ___ (fill in blank with appropriate gender) I will just get impatient for the next four months. I do like a little surprise in life!!! And this is a simple and fun surprise!

Now, I know, everyone says, "It's a surprise whether you find out now or when the baby's born." True, but it doesn't work that way for me. I just don't want to know, and even though that's weird now - it seems everyone finds out at the ultrasound - that's how I am. Thankfully Brad isn't too adamant one way or the other. He would be happy to find out tomorrow (he's in the "it's a surprise either way" crowd) but he's willing to wait with me. Isn't he the best! :)

Neighborhood Bliss

I love our neighborhood. It's not a ritzy sort of place by any means, and granted there are a few details I would change about it. But in general, we have found a great place! We live on a dead end street with a large grassy park at the end of it. It's almost as good as the neighborhood I grew up in! :) (Sorry, but you just can't beat living on a dead end street with a church parking lot taking up half of one side, an elementary school playground at the end of the street, another school playground across from the church, and a public park across from that school. If we got bored riding bikes all over the parking lot and climbing in church's trees, we'd go play on the school toys. If that got boring we'd go to the other school (once we were old enough to cross the "busy street" by ourselves) and when we really got bored we'd get permission to go to the public park. Life was good. Oh, and no one had fences between yards so we could run the whole length of the street on grass. Barefeet, here we come!! It was bliss.

So this is a pretty close second. The yards may be smaller, and everyone has privacy fences around the backyards, but it's pretty good.

As an adult, here's what I'm excited about lately. Thursday night we had a neighborhood watch meeting. It was the first and there was a good turnout. It was great to see so many people that care about keeping it a safe place and knowing our neighbors so can keep each other safe. Now, there have been a few homes questionable activity going on, but thanks to the watchful and concerned neighbors that we have, those people are mostly gone. If only we can influence the landlords to keep those questionable-type people out of their rentals...

Then, last night, we had a street barbecue. It was good to meet a few neighbors that I've never met before. There are still quite a few that I don't know, but I'm glad to be able to faces and names with the houses I drive and walk by...And live next to! It's sad to me that so many people don't know their neighbors. How can you trust people you don't know? And why would you want to live next to people you don't trust. Granted, there's always a few people in your life that you trusted more before actually meeting them and then find out things you wish you didn't know...But for the most part I like to believe that people are just out to live their life and not get in anyone's way, just like me.

So, anyway, I'm just excited to see people out of their homes and talking to each other! Now, the only thing we need to add to this pretty picture is some sort of system to know who's coming and going from the rentals on the street. It seems that some people move out of the rentals over night and we had no idea they were leaving. And then new people move in again. I guess there's nothing wrong with being a little old fashioned and bringing by a batch of homemade cookies and an introduction...

Hormonal Meltdown

Well, I think that I can contribute extreme emotions to all the hormones of pregnancy, right? I'm going to anyway...Well, not completely. Today was a girl day, through and through. I got a manicure (a valentine's day gift from my one and only that I've been saving for the perfect time to use), went shopping for clothes and for home decor, and went to a fabric store to research baby room possibilities. The sad thing is that I did it all alone! What fun is a girl's day when you're by yourself? Well, I guess I wasn't totally alone. The "little one" has been energetic today! I can't believe how often I'm feeling movement from the mini-Bierma today. :) Pretty cool.

So as I was driving home from the fabric store my indecisiveness created a surge of hormones and I started balling. Not a good thing to do while driving in traffic. I just felt very sad. I missed my female relatives very much. Today would have been so much more fun with another girl!! I don't know why I didn't think to plan today's activities on a day when a girlfriend could come along. That would have been better. But after shopping for maternity clothes and really needing another female's opinion (and asking the store clerk as a last resort), then needing my mother's sewing advice at the fabric store - I just felt isolated from women!

Women of my life: know that you are loved and needed! Even if you are far away! Brad is wonderful, don't get me wrong. But he's not a girl. I love that about him, by the way, and I wouldn't want that to change - at all!!! He's loving and supportive and tries his best to act as my full length mirror (I don't know why we still don't have one!) but he's not a girl.

So I'm feeling much better, by the way. And a girl-friend is coming over tonight to help me evaluate my maternity purchases. I have a habit of leaving the tag on until I'm absolutely sure that I want to commit to the clothes, but that often takes a few days with some things.

How do these posts always get so long?

Visitors

Last week we had two very special days! Some of our friends from CA came to visit us. 4 adults and 4 kids (aged 7 mo. to 7 years, I think) hopped in an RV and drove from LA to GJ. They got here around 4 am and left a little over 48 hours later. It was a wonderful 48 hours!

It was so fun to see them after having moved away from LA a year ago. They are the type of people who welcomed us and were ready to be our friends right away. So seeing them this week was awesome. It never felt like we'd been away for a year. They didn't have any agenda except to see us and spend time with us. We played games, took the kids to the park, went wine tasting at a local winery (don't worry, I skipped that one and hung out with the kidos!), visited the CO National Monument, hung out at the Farmers' Market downtown and laughed A LOT!!! It was so great.

I can't say that enough. We had such a good time. I felt really loved, too, that they drove 24 hours total to be here with us for 48 hours. I think these are rare friends. Lots of people say they'd love to come and visit us, but I don't get my hopes up that they ever will. Hey, if they didn't come when we lived in LA and had every sort of entertainment available to suit anyone's fancy, I'm not going to hope that they would come now. But these friends came simply because we were here and we are their friends. There was no convenient reason or even a subtly selfish motive to come to Western CO to see us. Simply friendship. WOW.

Praise God for friends like them! Of course, I cried after they left. I think I've cried after every visitor has left. But it's always a bittersweet sort of cry. It's a cry that is mixed with emotions. There is sadness and emptiness because they are gone and we won't see them for while. And there is joy that we have such good friends and had such a good time. I don't think I even felt any relief that our house was quiet again. I rather liked it full and noisy and busy. It was one of those times when "shalom" fits to describe the world. It was as if for a few moments in time, everything was as it should be. Everything was right in the world. It was a beautiful time!

Now, let it be known that we LOVE having VISITORS!!! Our home may be humble, but don't let that persuade you against coming. And if pure friendship isn't enough to entice you out here to see us, let us be your tour guides and take you to experience the wonders of the western slope. We'll help you reach your "emotional threshold". (Sorry - inside joke with our CA friends from last week! He he he) Anyway, COME AND VISIT!!!

P.S. I'm very excited because Brad and I will be meeting up with some more friends who live in SoCal (San Diego, this time) in a couple weeks. I think they were officially our first visitors last year in our house. We are going to meet them half way and camp and hike together! So FUN!! I can't wait!

Ah, the joys...

I'm learning that there are many joys of pregnancy...and some annoyances, too. But let's start with the joys! I felt the baby move - for sure! It was very cool and very definitive. I had been feeling some strange things in my belly for a week or so, but easily dismissed them as gas bubbles or other digestive mysteries. Then, Sunday night, as I lay down in bed I felt this new feeling that was definitely not my body but a tiny body swimming around inside of me. I've heard talk of "the flutter" that women often feel. This was more like a somersault! I imagined the baby flipping head over heels (like I often did as a child in a swimming pool), bumping the tiny head and rear end on the walls of its little home - my belly! I've felt "Sparky" (so lovingly nicknamed by our junior high girls at church) a couple times today - just tiny little bops in my belly that stop as quickly as they started. I wonder what it will be like when this child grows larger and stronger and bonier! I'm really excited for when Brad can put his hand on my stomach and feel the baby, too. I feel like he gets left out a little bit right now!

Now for the annoyances. I have to pee all the time! I'm so sick of making trips to the bathroom and washing hands that I almost want to avoid drinking...But that's not a realistic option b/c I'm always thirsty. Plus I bought myself this cool new water bottle with some of the birthday money I got and it's so easy to just sip on it all day! Maybe it's just the fascination of a new "toy" but I'm really excited about this. But anyway, the biggest frustration is that my morning walking has been disturbed by this new "frequent urination" joy. It seems like my body over processes any liquid in my system as soon as I get out and start walking. The last few mornings I've gotten about 10 or 15 minutes away from home and suddenly have to bee-line it back to the house, cutting my walk a little shorter than I prefer and having to, very uncomfortably, rewalk the same thing I just finished. Who in the world would choose an out and back trail over a loop trail? That's the same way that I feel about a walk! I would much rather see new territory on my walk rather than have to turn around a come back the same way I came. So, needless to say, my walking route is getting altered for the time being until this problem goes away. It just started last week at camp, so maybe it will go away for a while! Hey, I can always hope, right?

Camp Redcloud

Brad and I spent last week (July 30 - Aug 4) at Camp Redcloud in Lake City, CO, with 11 of our middle school students from church. Camp Redcloud is a Christian Outdoor Adventure camp. In other words a "Christian Challenge Camp". And that is exactly what they did. I spent the whole week with the 7 girls, Val (another leader) and "Countess" who was the camp counselor assigned to us. We did everything together. Our days were filled with challenging activities, yummy meals (they had awesome camp food!!), games, quiet time and cabin devotions. The day was so full that when lights out came at 10 pm there was rarely more than 5 or 10 minutes of giggling and whispering before everyone fell asleep. It was an awesome week. I think that we all really learned a lot.


The activities were: horseback riding, high ropes course, canoeing, rappelling, low ropes course, power pole (a 30 foot pole that you climb up, stand on top, turn around and jump to catch a trapeze hanging 8 feet away in the air) and mountain biking. We also camp outside one night, and the last full day was spent hiking up to the continental divide. Pretty much everything we did either involved helmets, harnesses and safety ropes, or both. We were very safe all week, but fears and self-perceptions were definitely challenged. Plus it rained on us for almost every activity except for rappelling, so wills and attitudes were challenged, too.


There were lots of things that this camp did really well. One was applying a life and spiritual lesson to every activity. Most of the week was focused on getting past fears, learning to trust God when you're afraid, learning to find strength and courage in God when you can't do something on your own strength, and learning to set your mind to doing what you have to do. I loved how they didn't say it was so important to get over a fear of heights or fear of falling or whatever sort of fear the activity challenged. The point was to learn to push through your fear, lean on God and supportive people around you and don't give up. We practiced doing this in the context of physical challenges, but it was applied to life. Like when you have a job interview and you're totally freaked out about - you're afraid of failing, afraid of looking stupid, or just simply afraid. But you have to go in there and do the interview, relying on God's strength beyond your own and setting your mind to just doing what needs to be done.


They also helped us learn lots of relational lessons which I think the girls, especially, really took to. We had to constantly encourage and support each other, wait for each other, help each other. We couldn't leave anyone behind. Except for me! Being pregnant, I avoided some of the activities that had the potential of falling and causing trauma to the abdomen. Every time one of the girls asked "Why can't you do this one?" I explained "Well, if I were to fall, even though the harness would catch and save me, it might bash in the baby's nose. And I really don't want a pug-nose child." Then we'd kinda laugh and they'd let it be.

Ok, so it's maybe not so realistic, but I got tired of explaining that it just isn't worth it to risk my child's health and well being. It wasn't fear that kept me from the activities, but simple responsibility to protect the unborn child who is subjected to everything I do, eat, hear, breathe, etc.


Anyway, it was a great week and I hope that the students will really hold on to the lessons they learned and that we can help them develop their trust in God more this year. I'm so glad that we, as youth group leaders, were able to be there with them because now we know exactly what they went through, how they were challenged and how EVERY single one of them overcame the obstacles. We were part of the discussions and devotions and hopefully can draw those back in through out the course of this year.