My Pregnancy Quirks

Pregnancy has brought about some weird quirks in me. Here are a few. . .

1. David use to be the loudest one of our household but now that title belongs to me. Any time I get up from sitting on the ground, get out of bed, out of the shower, out of the car, bend over to pick up laundry or pick up my bags I make sure everyone knows I am on the move with my groans! Carrying 21 extra pounds around is not an easy task my friend!

2. I can finish off a full helping of french toast at 4 am.

3. I can finish off that full helping of french toast at 4 am and still go back to the fridge to eat left over potato salad. (horrible combo I know!)

4. I love the smell of fabric softener so much that my house is now covered with them: my closet, my drawers my shoes, my bags. Sometimes I even go in my laundry room and sit on my dryer while it is on just so I can be around the wonderful smell of Bounce fabric softeners. Mmmmm..

5. I now seen dirt I never knew existed in my house before. I am pretty sure pregnancy comes with an a pair of invisible magnifying glasses which makes me feel the compulsive need to get on my hands and knees and scrub the floors so much that all the shiny wax coating is stripped off. . .

6. Because of these "invisible magnifying glasses" I clean house more than ever before.

7. When I get into bed at night I never know if it's going to be a night of insomnia or if I will pass out right as my head hits the pillow.

8. I am a huge fan of milkshakes and string cheese. Sadly I am also lactose intolerant:(

9. I am ALWAYS hot! David thinks it so funny that I can turn the air on full blast in the car and aim all the vents at myself and it doesn't phase me. He on the other hand has his jacket on and is shivering because the inside temperature of our car is quickly dropping below freezing.

10. I sit and stare at my stomach constantly while Calvin moves and bounces around so excited for the day I get to meet him. I know my teachers can tell I am not paying any attention in class but at least I am not on my computer;)

It seems like all I have on my mind these days is the arrival of my son. I am so excited to meet him, curious to see if he looks more like Dave or myself, scared to bajeebers of giving birth, worried that I don't have something he needs, compulsive about organizing, and yet thankful, so very thankful for this time.

Sometimes it is so easy to forget the journey that got you to where you are today, at this very moment. The struggles and hardships fade into the background when you are presented with this precious gift, a child. As I have felt the anticipation of Calvin's soon arrival I have been thinking back to everything that has happened in getting us to where we are right now. How David, myself, and almost all of you that are reading this blog right now, have prayed for this gift that I am able to carry. How you too have cried with us and rejoiced with us in every step of the journey. My hope and prayer is that the next 9 weeks I can stop all this worrying and trust in God in everything and let Him prepare our home for Calvin. I don't want to be concerned with all the wrong things. I want our son to come into a home that is trusting in God, in love with His word and truths, and that fully relies on Him for every need. I want to be that example to Calvin from day one.

A few weeks ago, at our Christian Challenge meeting, we all read and prayed through Psalm 112. A couple verses have been repeating in my mind since reading that Psalm.

For the righteous will never be moved;

he will be remembered forever.

He is not afraid of bad news;

his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.

Psalm 112:6-7

How I desire to not be afraid of bad news and for my heart to be firm in the Lord. To trust Him so much with every part of my life that even when bad news comes our way I can still rejoice in his great grace and mercy. I hope this verse brings peace to you as it has to me. So much peace is gained when we fully trust in the Lord.

Feeling a little reminiscent. This was the first picture David and I ever took together.

Church camp 2004

9 Weeks to go...HOLY COW

Yesterday I went to two doctor appointments. The first appointment was the one that I go to twice a week for fetal monitoring and an ultrasound. As big of a pain as it is to go to downtown Riverside twice a week I do enjoy getting to sit and listen to Calvin's heart pitter patter away and then get to see his precious face via the ultrasound. The second appointment I went to yesterday was my regular OBGYN where he did the usual; measured my belly, heard Calvin's heart beat and sent me on my way out only this time he said, "see you in two weeks"... two weeks? "Yes, you will be 33 weeks then and 7 weeks from your due date so we start seeing each other more." At this point I had a mini freak out sesh in my mind. I grabbed my paper and walked to the receptionist to schedule my next appointment. There was a woman in front of me who was planning her induction for the next day. The receptionist asked the woman, "What time would be best? 5 am or noon?" to which the woman casually replied, "Umm 5 am is good." This conversation for some reason seemed awfully calm to me so being the nosey person I am I asked the woman when she was due. She told me that she was due yesterday. (she must be in a hurry if she only waited one day) I then told her congrats, made my appointment and got in the elevator to go to the parking lot. As I walking into the elevator a woman and her newborn baby boy were standing there (baby wasn't standing of course) and then it hit me...HOLY COW I AM GOING TO BE A MOM IN 9 WEEKS! I walked to my car, buckled up, took a quick glance over my shoulders to make sure there weren't any on lookers and then I did it...I screamed as loud as I possibly could. Where has the time gone?? Everyone told me that pregnancy takes forever and feels so long but I am quite certain I have felt the complete opposite. This season in life has flown by and soon, very very soon, I will be holding my son. Don't get me wrong my screaming was not a negative scream it was a holy cow I am so overwhelmed with emotions and thoughts right now! What do I do? What do I do? Scream!! It is what I would like to call a "Bethany" scream.

Whenever my dear friend Bethany gets excited she screams. For instance when she hasn't seen me in a long time, when I tell her news like I'm pregnant, when traffic is crazy and she has to make a quick maneuver out of it, when we talk about something exciting, when we talk about how time has flown by or when I tell her I finished a class (she knows how much I hate school and always lets me know how proud of me she is that I am still continuing with it) Her cheerful screams are something I look forward to quite often and remind me that she is one of my biggest fans. Love her.

Anyways back to my moment of panic. So at this point I called Hilary screamed a little to her, called David and screamed to him some more, and called my mom and screamed a little to her too. A mini Freak out sesh is always acceptable in my books and quite normal. For those of you that never have a freak out sesh I know you want to, you just hold it in. My advice, let it out! It feels so much better!

After browsing Babies R Us, sitting in the rockers imagining holding Calvin then eating (of course eating) I felt a whole lot better. Next week is Thanksgiving (didn't find that out till yesterday), Bakersfield Baby shower is the next weekend, then Norco baby shower is the following, then a friend is getting married the following weekend, then its Christmas the next weekend, New years the next weekend, another baby shower the next weekend, my birthday the next weekend, then the next week I am due!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Halloween 2010

For the last two years David and I have done trunk or treat through First Baptist Church Norco and have had a blast dressing up and making our trunk into some sort of game for the kids each year. It has always been a great time of fellowship and laughter that David and I have really enjoyed. This year FBCN wanted to try and reach out to our neighborhoods more and so we spilt up and did Trunk or Treat with our house groups, one small problem, there were no kids:( I don't know if its just Riverside or what but in Bakersfield when I was a kid we filled the streets with trick or treaters there were so many of us! I remember running into all my friends from school and making our way through the neighborhood collecting so much candy. Last night we had maybe a total of 20 trick or treaters including one guy who looked way too old to be out collecting candy. Halloween is not my favorite holiday by any means but it makes me sad to not see all those cute little kiddos walking around in their princess and batman costumes.

Although there was a lack of kids David and I still had fun dressing up for our beach themed shin dig. I had been asking him all week what he wanted to dress up like and all he could come up with was a coconut. He thought its would be creative if we were each a half of a coconut and then when we hugged we would become a full coconut. I truly loved the idea and thought it really cute but I tried to detour him away from this idea because I really didn't want to have to craft up a life size coconut with a giant straw. I told him that coconuts have hair and this helped my case a little:) 3:00 PM on Halloween rolled around and we were still without a costume. After putting our minds together we came up with the idea to be BP Oil clean up crew. Potentially controversial I know, but it was really all we could think of with such a short time left. We ran to Michael's and picked up two poster boards, a black shirt and a yellow helmet and rushed home to assemble our costume. I was actually surprised at how good Dave's oil can came out and he was pretty proud too. Even if there were not a lot of kiddos to pass out candy to it was still fun working together with Dave in making a costume and spending a night of good fellowship with my church family.

Well today is Monday and that means a list of cleaning chores that needed to get done. On Mondays I have decided to try and get the majority of the big stuff out of the way such as; cleaning the bathroom tub, toilet and sink, mopping, vacuuming, dusting, and a load of laundry. The other things on the chore list are just daily things like doing the endless dishes and tidying up around the house ( I have been known to leave a trail where ever I go thus making our house a quick disaster whenever I get the slight bit lazy) A lot of thanks goes to Jennifer Zunigha for giving me her idea of making a list for the week of chores. It really makes everything seem less overwhelming and you were right Jenn, checking off a chore or task for the day feels AMAZING!

Well Dave won't get off till late tonight as he is spending his monday nights with the guys in the dorms watching monday night football! I really hope God opens some doors to new relationships for Dave with the college guys and that this event can be a hit! I better go make those gluten free peanut butter cookies so he has a little treat when he gets in tonight! My computer won't let me post pictures right now but I will update soon to show off our costumes:)