Waiting Patiently (most of the time)

Today was my 39 (and a 1/2) week OB appointment. Everything is still great and silently (and fairly painlessly) progressing towards what will hopefully be a good, safe, normal labor and delivery.

Today I was thinking back to my first pregnancy and remembering how anxious (and eager and excited) I was for the baby to come. I had my own idea of when the baby would come, how it would happen, and I certainly didn't think that I would go past my due date. It was very much an emotional struggle for me the last few weeks of my first pregnancy because ... well, because I wasn't being content. I'm sure that it being my first made a difference, too.

This time, yes, I am very eager and excited, but not nearly as anxious. I think the most anxious I have been yet was Tuesday, when my chiropractor - for the 2nd week in a row - predicted that Wednesday would be the day I would have the baby. My mistake on Tuesday was trusting more what the chiropractor was predicting and letting myself brush off the fact that ONLY God knows this baby's birthday. I might have inwardly freaked out a little as Tuesday went on and I was thinking what all "needed" to be done by the time I went to bed that night because the baby is supposed to come tomorrow!! (Nope, the chiropractor was wrong, as much as he was hoping he would be right!)

Knowing that this baby could come at any moment does make life a little interesting and sometimes I stress over the silliest things like "should I start supper?" ... "should I give the kitchen a thorough cleaning or can I let it go a bit and work on something less pressing?" ... "if I start making bread, will I be able to finish it?" Overall, on the whole though, I have noticed that I am much more at peace this time. Since Susannah was born late, my whole thought process throughout this pregnancy has been that this baby will probably be late, too. Only in the past few weeks has the "any day" reality started to kick in.

Yes, I would love to be holding our baby in my arms already :) Yes, I am very ready to be done being pregnant for this time. I would love to know if we get to use our boy name or our girl name (I think Daniel just changed the girl middle name this evening! To one we both like and had talked about. :) ). I would love to be able to roll over in bed without doing an extensive exercise workout :) And to be able to put on my bottom-half clothes normally. And all of those other things... but it's just not time yet. And I'm fine with that. Those things are certainly inconveniences, but I can't (and don't want to) make this baby be born just for convenience's sake :)

In the meantime, as I wait, I remind myself that each day that passes is one day closer to having our baby even though I don't KNOW when that day is going to be. I remind myself that God is in control, and He must not be quite finished knitting this child in my womb yet (Psalm 139.13) :) I think it also helps that I have Susannah as a distraction to keep me busy, a lot of cleaning, purging and organizing projects that I've been working on and still have to work on when I get the urge, and a husband who goes about every day like it's just another day :) And when the baby wiggles around - or gets the hiccups like today! - I remember to pay attention to them and enjoy the sweetness of them, because very soon I won't be feeling them on the inside anymore.

Tiny Talk Tuesday {Snow Edition}

Yesterday morning I knew the snow was going to be quickly melting, so as soon as Susannah woke up, I gave her a muffin for a quick breakfast and then bundled her up to go outside for a while.


She had fun! This was her first snow experience. It has snowed in her lifetime, but it has never been enough or at the right time for her to be able to go out and enjoy it. It was just deep enough in some places that she kept tripping and falling over. She did not like that, so most of the time we were just walking around and she was holding my hand.


Needless to say, this pregnant mama was kaput and completely spent after about 30 - 40 minutes! She did not want to come inside, she wanted to stay "'side!" and keep walking in the "(s)'now!" ("Snow" without the "s".) But after some putting forth some more oomph and gumph on my part and staying out a bit longer, we did come back inside so she could eat a proper breakfast and I could sit down for a minute!

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Most of the time when Susannah gets a diaper change, I apply some "hiney-grease". Either Vaseline or Desitin, depending on the situation. She calls it either "hi-ey geeze" or just "hi-ey". The funny part about this is that I also have a tub of Crisco shortening in the kitchen cupboard that I use for greasing the bread pans, etc. When I pull that out, she ALSO calls it "hi-ey geeze"!! I tell her that no, it's not hiney-grease, it is baking grease :) I guess it's all white and creamy and slimy to her!

Snow!! It Finally Snowed!!

Yay!! Aside from about 10 minutes of snow "clumps" that fell in January (and did not do anything but melt right away), this is the first snow we've had at our place since October of last year!

It started late yesterday morning and snowed through about 11:30 or midnight. Today it is all supposed to melt, and be around 70° on Thursday. The Lord sure is giving us an interesting winter :)

But for now, here are some pictures of the beautiful snow.

Baking, Building and Making Memories

Last week I had a huge [what I suspect was a] nesting spurt and spent the better part of 2 days in the kitchen. I had been planning to get some baking done before the baby comes, and those days it just seemed like I wanted, almost NEEDED, to do it and get it out of my system :) For some reason these last few weeks of the pregnancy I have been very un-motivated and un-inspired in the kitchen (or much of anywhere else, really!), so I had great fun doing something that I actually WANTED to do (besides sleep, that is :) ).

The first day I felt almost giddy with everything I got made and frozen:

Double batch Cinnamon Raisin Bagels (yield 20)
Double batch Onion-Parmesan Bagels (yield 20)
Double batch Strawberry-Blueberry Muffins (yield 24)
1 batch bread (yield 3 loaves)

My brothers gave me those stacking cooling racks a couple years ago for Christmas and I put them to good use a few times a year and REALLY like having them!!!

I did not get a picture from the second day. That day my top priority was 3 angel food cakes (from scratch) for a family birthday party we were going to. Aside from the 3 cakes, I also made a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies and a big batch of mini crustless quiche (I think it was 3 1/2 doz? Baked in regular cupcake pans.). For the chocolate chip cookies, I baked 4 dozen cookies, then the rest of the dough I scooped out onto waxed paper covered plates and froze, getting enough for another 2 dozen cookies, I think. Of course after the dough was frozen I bagged up the dough balls :)

Susannah had great fun helping me over the two days. I was shaping the first round of bagels while she was awake, and I gave her one of the little dough balls to play with. After I made her stop taste-testing it (she'd eating probably 1/3 of it, ha!), she had fun mashing and kneading and stretching and attempting to imitate my bagel shaping. When I finished with the rest of the bagels, I did help her make her little dough wad into a bagel and she was pretty thrilled :)

Her favorite place in the kitchen - if I'm in there working on ANYthing - is on her "ng" (like "ing" without the "i"), which is what she calls the kitchen stool*, RIGHT at my elbow watching and ready to help with whatever I'll let her help with. If I am making something in the mixer, I've started dragging it out to the middle of the counter where she can see into the bowl and watch it mixing. She loves to help dump ingredients in and help stir if I'm mixing something by hand. She can't wait to be able to crack eggs and measure oil :) And she is always ready and eager for a "gaze" (taste) and lets me know it! I actually almost always enjoy having her company while I'm cooking or baking. I want her to have great, fun memories of helping me in the kitchen - not only because I want her to grow up knowing and enjoying how to cook and bake, but because I just think it will be a fun thing to look back on many years from now.

*We have no idea where or how she came up with "ng" to be her word for the stool. We call it the stool and try to get her to say stool, and she just keeps calling it "ng" :) I know one day she'll say it and it will no longer be the "ng".

While I worked in the kitchen on Saturday, Daniel was working on the addition. Susannah loves it when her Daddy is home and she can be with him. If he is out there and she is not, it doesn't take long for her to ask to go out there, too. She loves to "hammie" (hammer) and "bang-bang" (what you do with a hammer, of course!) just like he does. I always make sure it suits him for her to be out there (for her safety), and when it does she has so much fun! Saturday evening was one of those times so I bundled her up and out she went. I finally remembered to grab my camera and get a couple pictures. It was dark outside and the lighting isn't the greatest out there (yet!), so this was the best one I got.


I still love being a mama, seeing things through Susannah's eyes, watching and helping her make memories (even though she doesn't realize it yet) of helping her mama and daddy with the things they do. The things we simply enjoy, or do just because they are something we do, and yet they are big and exciting and so much fun for her! It is a thrill to my heart :)