If you haven’t yet seen my post from this morning, I’d advise you to scroll down and check it out. No worries, I’ll wait.
*hums while waiting*
There… now you’re all caught up on our big news. And you don’t think I’m claiming to be some baby guru know-it-all who will answer your baby-related questions that are keeping you up at night. I’ll just answer your questions about one specific baby: our baby.
I still can’t get over how wonderful that sounds: our baby. Our baby. Our baby. Sigh.
Moving right along… here are some of those spoken (and unspoken) questions:
Q: When are you due?
A: Late July… the professionals say July 19th, which is suspiciously close to Jeff’s birthday on the 21st.
Q: So, how many weeks along are you?
A: 13 weeks. Almost to the end of the first trimester!
Q: How have you been feeling?
A: Overall, very good. I had zero energy for most of December (just coming out of that fatigue now), but haven’t been actually sick. I felt like I was going to get sick a few times, but thankfully the feeling always passed.
Q: Are you going to find out if you’re having a boy or a girl?
A: Yes.
Q: Speaking of which, what is your preference? Boy or girl?
A: Honestly, I don’t care. Really. I never really believed parents-to-be when they said that before, but it’s true. However, Jeff’s family runs very strongly to boys so I will be surprised if we have a girl. Even though my mother-in-law thinks the baby will be a girl. (Sorry, Alice!)
Q: Will your blog turn into baby central?
A: No, not completely. This is primarily a personal blog, and, obviously, this is a big piece of my life right now… and will become even more so in the months ahead. However, I think this blog will be good practice for me to keep other things in my life active and fresh as I make sense of this new thing called motherhood. While I will soon be adding “mama” to my identity, I don’t want to find my entire identity in that one role.
Q: What’s the likelihood of red-haired offspring?
A: Okay, so I admit that I’m the one who most often ponders this question (along with a few family members). I’ve secretly wished for a little pack of cute curly-haired redheads for longer than I’d care to admit. Here’s a quick run-down of the genetics at play: Jeff is one of four boys, two of which inherited their father’s red hair. On my side, I’ve got my dad and brother with red(ish?) beards, my own red-ish highlights from the summer sun, and a great-grandmother with full credentials. I really haven’t a clue what that all adds up to… I just hope I get at least one red-haired kid!
Q: Do you have a nickname for the baby?
A: Sure do — we’re calling him/her Roo for the time being. Think Kanga and Roo from Winnie the Pooh. Jeff made a comment about my “baby pouch” early on, and it just kind of stuck.
Since we don’t have family in the area and we don’t get to see our families as often as we’d like, our tradition at Christmas has always been to visit both families. This has worked well for us for the past five years. It varies which family we visit first, but this year we started our Christmas journeys with the two-hour drive to Columbus, Ohio to spend a few days with Jeff’s family.
We got the special treat of having Jeff’s grandma with us this year. She moved recently and it’s now feasible for her to come to family gatherings. We missed seeing Doug and Karen and Brian and Tanya, but greatly enjoyed our time with Grandma, Jeff’s parents, and Kevin, Laura, and Max.
Our nephew, Max, is a bundle of fun and energy right now. This is about as still as he gets!
All too soon it was time to pack up the car again and go over the river and through the cornfields to visit my family in central Illinois. This time the trip was more like six hours plus. We switched drivers about half way, and stopped for an eat-in dinner, which really helped to break up the trip. More often than not, we find ourselves driving on Christmas Day. This year was no exception. I just have to say thank goodness for Chinese restaurants! This was the third year we’ve eaten Chinese for Christmas dinner — each time in Champaign, Illinois. They are the only places open on Christmas!
We had a nice 3-day visit (no pictures, sorry!), which was actually a day longer than expected. We started out for home on a Tuesday morning, only to quickly discover the Subaru didn’t want to go home (apparently). We’d had some intermittent trouble with it earlier in the month, but had it checked out only for it to run perfectly while at the shop. That’s the trouble with intermittent trouble!
Long-story short… the oxygen sensors had gone bad, and the shop said they could have the replacement parts in first thing the next morning. We were on the road 24 hours later and $400 lighter. Without going into all the details, it really could have been a lot worse: a longer delay and a more expensive repair. The delay even meant we got to spend a couple hours with our good friends Katie and Rodney, whom we otherwise wouldn’t have gotten to see.
All in all, it was a good Christmas!
As I mentioned earlier, I had the great privilege of attending a dear friend’s wedding just a week before Christmas. I first met Jill in June 2003. We spent that summer traveling around the midwest with On Goal Soccer Camps, teaching kids about Jesus and how to be better soccer players. In the fall, Jill started her freshman year at Cedarville University where I was a junior and we played together on the soccer team. We also lived in the same dorm that year (holla Faith Hall!).
It has been my immense pleasure to watch Jill grow as a person and in her faith and love of God through the intervening years. She’s hasn’t always had an easy road in life, and yet she remains an example to me of what it means to place one’s trust fully in Christ and his provisions.
When I started to hear whispers of a man in her life, I knew it must be something serious and this guy must be something special. What I didn’t expect was that he would be a giant! 🙂 (For reference, Jill is wearing 4-inch heels in the picture above.) It was great to finally meet the man my dear friend had fallen head over heels for.
My lower lip started trembling and the tears starting flowing as soon as I caught my first glimpse of her in that white gown. The tears were inevitable, but the emotion still managed to catch me a little by surprise.
I could tell they put a lot of time and thought into planning their ceremony. It was a beautiful display of the love of God, their love for each other, and God’s purposes in marriage.
After the service, they came back to dismiss the guests by rows. I did what everyone does while waiting their turn: I planned what I would say to the new Mr. and Mrs. Well, that went right out the window as all I managed was more tears, a big hug, and an apology for my blubbering! Fortunately, Jill understood and consoled me with the reminder that she cried at my wedding too. But that’s not the embarrassing part. I was so choked up, I totally ignored Bob, the groom! I didn’t even look at him. Oops. However, I was completely composed at the reception and got to meet him (and apologize for ignoring him earlier). Happy ending.
Jeff is taking me on a “world tour” over the next five days. Tonight was our first journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
tasting: east african cuisine full of familiar flavors in unfamiliar combinations; friendship and community
smelling: fresh bread and intoxicating, spicy flavors of roasting meat and vegetables
seeing: hands reaching, scooping, sharing food from one plate
hearing: the laughter and happy voices of friends and strangers weaving together to form both intimate conversation and a pleasing backdrop of sound
feeling: full to bursting… in my stomach and heart
