Celebrating "Lasts"

In a matter of weeks, we'll be celebrating "Firsts"- Baby's first diaper change, first bath, first outfit for the trip home, first everything- because he's so new! For now, though, we're celebrating Lasts.

This Thanksgiving weekend was our last Thanksgiving pre-parenthood. We didn't get up early for Black Friday, knowing that we won't have many more weekend mornings we can sleep in. Saturday, after winning tickets, we took a spontaneous road trip to Cincinnati to see Prairie Home Companion live and had SO much fun. Would this be our last road trip for a while without a baby and baby gear in tow? Considering, pretty soon, I shouldn't travel that far from home, probably. While enjoying the mini-getaway, we used a gift card and ate at McCormick & Schmicks, a nice seafood restaurant in both Indy and Cincy. Was that our last fancy meal out?

This Friday is our company Christmas party at a nice dinner club downtown- and will be our last Christmas party that we won't need to get a babysitter for. We spent the weekend playing board games with teeny-tiny pieces, and were able to leave the game set up on the table in the kitchen- when will our last game be, before the pieces become choking hazards and need to be put away?

Will this Christmas be our last as a couple, or first as a family of three? What about New Year's? Or my birthday 2 days before my due date? I'm really starting to think that the 'due date' should just be called a 'due month', since I'm considered full term for a 5-week window, between weeks 37 and 42, and the due 'date' is somewhat arbitrary. Anything in that window could be a Last. Also, I don't think I'm going to like hearing "Any day now!" for a month straight.

We're anticipating with excitement all the big Firsts to come, but I think I'm realizing the need to reflect on these Lasts, too. I'm not mourning these Lasts, but instead savoring them, knowing that what is to come isn't better or worse, just a different adventure. I'm understanding more and more the line in the Christmas story, "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."- things are changing so fast, and it would be easy to miss this time, and the time to come. Even now, when my nesting instinct has kicked into full gear, I need to slow down, ponder, and treasure this time. I won't have a chance later on!

An Unusual Friday

The sun is just peeking over the trees and shining into my living room. For the first time in years, I'm sitting here in my robe on Black Friday morning, rather than fighting the crowds at the stores. Some of our best, most planned-out purchases have happened on Black Friday, but, this year, there's nothing we need. Having today totally empty, with absolutely nothing on the calendar, is kind of mind-boggling to me. It's a rare occurrence.

I think Baby's glad I'm taking it easy this morning- he's wiggling around like crazy, with the little room left he has to wiggle. It's entertaining to watch, but my ribs are taking a beating. We did most of our shopping for him last weekend, after the last baby shower, to finish getting what we need for his arrival. The supplies are in the house, but the boxes are still sitting unopened in our foyer. Maybe finishing organizing that stuff is a good project for today.

I did, admittedly, hit some of the Thanksgiving sales- yesterday. I planned an elaborate 5-transaction deal with ECBs at CVS, and it worked out as well as I could have hoped, considering I only had one coupon for the lot of it. As a bonus, I tagged along to Walgreens with my sister-in-law and figured out a Register Reward 3-transaction deal on the spot that worked out pretty well, too. All in all, I think I got about $60 worth of toiletries by spending less than $20 in cash, with $15 in ECBs & Register Rewards left over to spend. Also, we're stocked on toothpaste and shampoo for the foreseeable future, as well as some other needed stuff. Not too bad. I've been out of the drugstore game for a long while, so I was glad to jump back in, even for a day.

But now, I'm sitting at home, missing out on the flurry of craziness happening down the street at Target and Walmart and Kohl's over big screen TVs and heated blankets. I'm thankful we don't need anything this year. I'm thankful for this life inside me, making my stomach look like it's straight out of an Alien movie. I'm thankful Josh and I both get a 4-day weekend. I'm thankful for the family we got to see yesterday, who opened their home to us, and for the family we'll get to see tomorrow. I'm thankful for a day of doing nothing in the midst of a season of busyness.

I could go on. I have so much to be thankful for.

Every Weekend

Every single week, I sit at my desk during the day, and drink lots of water- resting and hydrating like a good pregnant person. I eat at regular times, and, in the evening, I might be busy, but it won't be too strenuous.

And then there's the weekends. I feel great during the week (from the aforementioned taking-good-care-of-myself), so I forget that I need to not overdo it on the weekends- and fail miserably. This weekend, for instance, Saturday after my baby shower, we hit 5 different stores returning a few gifts, then went to dinner, then to pick up Casey from getting groomed. Sunday, we went to church, then on a huge grocery shopping trip at 3 different stores, then to a late lunch. We went home, unloaded all the groceries, figured out what to use some of the gift cards for from the previous day, and went back out shopping at 3 more stores for baby stuff. Lots of walking, standing and up-and-down, and not so much resting, eating well, and drinking water like I should.

By the end of the weekend? Ow. I definitely had overdone it. I could not sleep last night, thanks to soreness from too much walking, and not enough resting. I obviously didn't stay hydrated enough this weekend, as I finished my normal daily intake for 64 oz of water before 10am today. I'm severely waddling today, too, I think.

I haven't learned my lesson, because I do this every. single. weekend. I feel great during the week (except Monday), have lots of energy, think I can do anything- and try to do everything on Saturday and Sunday, only to regret it Monday. By Tuesday evening, I've usually recovered, and the pattern continues.

One of these days, I'll surely learn to pace myself. But, will that day come before Baby does? I'm making no promises.

Can't forget.

Once upon a time, less than a year ago, Americans cared about Haiti's plight. They were ready to welcome the orphans and feed the masses of homeless. Now? I heard on the radio there's talk of fatigue. Compassion fatigue. Donor fatigue. News cycle fatigue, because we have such short attention spans.

I can't stop caring, though.

Because I have friends headed down there for a year.

Because missionaries are being attacked.

Because people are still dying for lack of clean water.

Because the cholera epidemic may spread to the Dominican Republic, where other friends live.

Because health care and food and basic utilities and even Honda generators are still hard to come by.

I'm thankful that my church has been sending medical teams every couple months to care for those in the IDP camps. I'm also thankful that my friend Barry has kept Haiti in the spotlight at World Next Door, with 3 trips- one less than 2 months before the earthquake, the next just a few weeks after the earthquake, and the latest in September. From his reports, conditions are still dire, and millions are without homes, though groups like Nehemiah Vision Ministries are working tirelessly.

With this new threat of disease, and with the devastation that has yet to be addressed, we can't forget Haiti.

Thoughts at 33 weeks

Because everyone else is doing it...



My nephew gave me a big hug this weekend, and can barely get his fingers to touch all the way around me. I walk by mirrors and think to myself, "Am I really that huge? Because I don't feel that huge." Realistically, I know I'm not that huge, but I feel even smaller- I still have a pretty good energy level and feel like I can do pretty much anything (Except bending. And twisting.)

Josh and I are starting to get a little antsy. Not because I'm tired of being pregnant, but because (we think) we're ready to have a baby in the house. We want to meet this kid- to hold him, to rock him, to watch him sleep, to coo his name, to be Mommy and Daddy- even to change his diapers and be woken up in the middle of the night. We've got the car seat in the car, the batteries in the swing (thankfully, our only baby-related thing so far requiring a battery!), the baby monitor plugged in, and the clothes organized and washed. We've got a packet from the birth center, including a packing list and an official form for the birth certificate (along with a bunch of consent forms I need to research and sign). Baby's gone from feeling real to feeling real in a more urgent sense!

This weekend, we became even more ready when our family and friends threw us two baby showers, and blessed our socks off- as well as got us some socks for Baby, among other things. Both parties, coincidentally, had a Book theme, so our little guy has an awesome start on his board book library now! Next week is baby shower #3 with some of my mom's friends.



So. Blessed.

Be the Church

From weekendofservice10

Last weekend, my church closed its doors. There were no worship services scheduled, no Sunday school, no fellowship hour. For a suburban megachurch that is usually bustling Saturday night and Sunday morning, this was a big change from the normal weekend schedule. So what did the church members do, with no church service to go to? For 3800 of us, rather than going to church this weekend, we went out to be the church.

The third annual Weekend of Service was last weekend. In past years, I've helped demolish a house and clean up electronics. This year Josh and I split up, since we acknowledge we have different skills and abilities we can use to serve, so it makes sense for us to be on projects that are a good fit for us. Josh worked at a local bike shop repairing bikes for an organization called Bikes4Kids, replacing seats and tires on bikes to be given to local elementary students who can't afford one. Other projects collected food, fixed cars, sorted kids', women's and men's clothing, handed out coats, cleaned up neighborhoods,  served dinners, painted, sided, roofed, landscaped, and a host of other things.

I had a unique project. My friend Barry runs an online social justice photojournalism magazine called World Next Door, where he writes full-time about the lives on the poor and marginalized around the world.- Seriously. Around the world. Although I saw him just a few days ago, he's in India as I write this. His goal is to make fellow suburban Christians aware of issues facing these people who God loves, and give them ways to get involved or pray.

For Grace's Weekend of Service, Barry gathered a team to go out to work sites where some of the weekend's volunteers would be serving. We "embedded" in the projects as correspondents, interviewed volunteers and those involved in the ministry, took some photos, and came back to write about what we saw, felt and learned. The goal was to report back two things- What is life like here? and What is God doing here?

I'm not sure if I succeeded, but I got my story- or rather, the story of a mother and a couple other volunteers- down and sent it off. It's posted today on the site, so I'll send you over there to check it out. Feel free to leave a comment over at World Next Door, or check out some of Barry's adventures in Haiti, Kenya, India, and the Ukraine- all much more exotic than my jaunt into Indianapolis!

Wanna see what else happened this weekend?
Pictures on the church's Facebook page
My pictures from Shepherd Community Center
World Next Door's Weekend of Service stories (more to be posted later this week!)

Picking a Greeting...

Should I bother with Christmas cards this year? I know it seems early to start thinking about this, but I've got a lot to think about before Christmas rolls around, and this is on the list.

I mean, there's the fun of sending out birth announcements, but I've noticed lately I've been getting many of those online rather than in the mail. It's somewhat unlikely this kid will make an appearance pre-Christmas, so combining the two mailings to family and friends probably won't work out- otherwise I'd be all about photo Christmas cards celebrating two exciting births- the birth of Christ and of our new arrival. As convenient as that would be, I'm not getting my hopes up. I wonder if a very-belated "Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and, oh by the way, We Had a Baby" card would annoy anyone?

Last year, I handmade my Christmas cards using an origami dove, communicating the message "Peace on Earth"- just as the angels did. Reflecting on the Peace and Glory of the season was on my heart last year, and I wanted to share it with our friends and family. This year, I don't think I'll have the time or energy to handcraft the cards, though it was fun and meaningful to do.

What I really want this year? A religious Christmas cards design with a pregnant Mary- because that's what I'm reflecting on as December marches closer. As we get ready to celebrate the birth of Christ, I wonder what things Mary was 'treasuring in her heart' as her miraculous pregnancy and birth progressed. I think of my circumstances, and what occupies my thoughts as the prospect of my firstborn inches closer. She was in such different circumstances; I wonder what we have in common? Ideally, I'd somehow communicate the Wonder and Newness and Anticipation of the Christmas season in my card to family and friends, relating it to our special anticipation this year. Do you think I can find a card for that?

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This post was inspired by Shutterfly. If you're a blogger & want to write a Christmas card post, too, and receive 50 free cards, check out their offer. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I Can't Win.

As some of you know, Josh is allergic to peanuts (among other things). Very early on in my pregnancy, I started doing research- Should I eat peanuts? Some said No! It will sensitize this already-genetically-prone-to-allergies kid to the food, and cause harm. Others said, Go ahead! It will desensitize the kid or have no effect, since you're not allergic and reacting. Everyone also says, Eat lots of protein! and I'm not a big meat eater, so nuts are my preferred way to get it many days. I had a dilemma

Argh.

Based on my research, I settled on the fact that it was OK for me to eat peanuts- I'd not be doing any harm. My midwife thought it was more important that I was getting protein than the risk that eating peanuts was doing any harm- especially since allergies are about over-reaction of the immune system, and babies don't have a very developed immune system until 6 weeks- so it's fine while pregnant.

And then, TIME (which seems to come out with alarming pregnancy news weekly) today published an article, Can Pregnant Moms Give Their Babies a Peanut Allergy? Maybe..

Ugh. Because I don't already have enough to worry about.

According to the article, the American Academy of Pediatrics used to recommend avoiding allergens with a family history of food allergies (That'd be me, well, Josh's family) between 1998 and 2000, but then rescinded that recommendation in 2008 when British studies showed that the advice didn't seem to have an effect on allergy rates. So, I've been following the most recent recommendation. Yay!

This new study, however, shows higher reactions to peanuts in babies whose moms ate peanuts more than twice a week during pregnancy (That'd be me, too. By my calculations, I eat about 5 servings a week of nuts.) According to the researcher quoted in the article, these results aren't enough to change the current AAP recommendation- "I don't think we have enough evidence to tell families to do anything different than what they are already doing," he says, "but the study shows that maybe we should consider in utero exposure as a potential risk factor and study it more going forward." Is the door locked on eating peanuts? Not exactly, but this is making me more skeptical...

Try as I might to do my best research and make the most informed decisions possible, I can't win. Sigh. This making-the-best-choices-for-your-child thing is hard already, and he's not even on the outside yet.