Category Archive

The deep abyss that used to be my naval is slowly transforming.  It hasn’t reached the point where it’s popped out yet, but that day is certainly approaching.

And while we’re on the topic of physical changes, I have had to buy new underwear and new pajamas.  It felt weird buying medium-sized clothing when I’ve always worn either small or extra small.  But, I’m definitely more comfortable!

Baby seems to move around most when I’m first waking up, when I’m hungry and when I’ve just eaten.  I think this kid likes food.

One of my baby apps says that baby’s eyes can now open and that we can shine a flashlight into my belly to see if baby will move.  Here kiddo, let’s blind you with light for our entertainment!  Is it just me, or does that seem just a little bit mean?

This post is obviously a collection of random thoughts, but on a more serious note, I started reading “Grace-Based Parenting” by Tim Kimmel.  So far, I’m really appreciating his wisdom and insight.  The part I read today contrasted fear-based parenting with grace-based parenting.  And he presented the idea that each person is created with three intrinsic needs:  Security, Significance and Strength – which can be met through the gifts of Love, Purpose and Hope.  As we get our needs met by the God of grace, we are able to help our children meet those needs through God as well.

When T and I were crafting our wedding vows, we included the idea of making our home a place of grace.  I look forward to reading the rest of the book and seeing how we might live it out in our family in the coming years.

I’ve been wanting to post for a few days now but somehow settling back into life here has gobbled up all my time.  Hawaii was wonderful.  I used a ton of sunscreen and sat in the shade a lot but I still managed to get a decent tan.  Pregnancy has changed how my skin reacts to the sun so it seemed like I would get patches of darker and lighter tan, much to my chagrin.

Highlights of the trip for me included attending my childhood friend’s wedding and seeing many of my other childhood friends there, chilling at the beach, trying my hand at paddle boarding (while seated), playing in the waves, having T cook breakfast for me every day, taking in the scenery, eating delicious food at places recommended to us by friends and finding a gardenia scented perfume that I truly love.

Taking a plane while pregnant was an interesting experience.  On the way there, the lady in the aisle kindly traded seats with me so that I could have the aisle seat.  I had a really hard time falling asleep though because I couldn’t get comfortable.  The funny thing was that the same lady was on the same flight back as us – but not  in the same seat.

On the way home, we sat next to another lady who was travelling with three young children – ages 2, 4 and 6.  Since her kids were sitting in the row across the aisle from her, we opted to keep our seats.  We were amazed at how well-behaved her children were and inspired by the way she related to them calmly and respectfully.  Of course, the lady was very understanding of my need to use the bathroom often.  Thankfully, sitting in the window seat gave me a bit more sleep, which was great because it was a red-eye flight.  We were supposed to land at 6:30am but because of a dense fog, our plane ended up attempting to land 5 times with a re-fuelling stop before actually landing at 9:30am.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our trip.  Enjoy!

We’re going on our much anticipated vacation to Hawaii tomorrow.  With a long-time childhood friend getting married there and a chance to reunite with other friends from Toronto, we figured we might as well take advantage of the fact that baby, diapers, food and toys are all self-contained at the moment.  =)  The seats we have on the flight right now are window and middle seats.  We’ll see if we can use the pregnant card to get me an aisle seat.  Otherwise, some poor soul will have to let me in and out quite a bit!

Baby is definitely getting stronger and bigger by the day.  I can feel the acrobatics pretty strongly at times and once in a while, T can feel it too.  I’ve continued to have a hearty appetite, which I’m thankful for.  Other than that, I feel pretty “normal” – to the point that I sometimes forget that I’m pregnant.

Anyway, not much else to update today.  Aloha!

(By the way, if you are ever flying out of Bellingham Airport, which we did to get to Hawaii, be sure to park at Wiki Wiki Airport Parking! Ernie and Velma are great hosts and provide amazing service to start and end your vacation.)

Today is a happy day.  For two reasons:

1.  I woke up this morning to my little acrobat doing cartwheels off the sides of my belly.  Since I could feel the bumps and kicks with my hands, I reached over and put T’s hand on my belly.  I didn’t want to disturb the process so I didn’t tell him why.  I just put his hand there and hoped for the best.  And then baby kicked – hard!  So for the first time, T felt the baby move.  =)

2.  We went for a checkup today and found out our baby’s sex!  My father-in-law is adamant that he does NOT know so I can’t post it here.  But if you’re really curious, feel free to email me and I’ll tell you.  Just don’t tell my father-in-law.  =D

And a bonus happiness today was that I got to buy lunch for a random guy who had only eaten a couple crackers all day.  Happiness is meant to be shared, I think.

I meant to post this a few days ago but I haven’t had a chance to sit at a computer until today (which may be a good thing!).  Anyway, lots to update today.

Last Thursday marked 20 weeks, the midway point of this pregnancy!  We celebrated by hanging out with my father-in-law who treated us to a buffet lunch aboard the ferry on the way back from Victoria.  Excellent food with a window seat by an ever-changing water view.

On Monday, I had my routine mid-term ultrasound to make sure the baby’s growing at the proper rate etc.  We were hoping we could find out the sex of the baby but the technician was not allowed to tell us.  He did react quite a bit to our baby doing somersaults though.  It would have been funnier if I wasn’t concentrating so hard on not peeing my pants.  Sigh.  We’re hoping the doctor will tell us the sex this coming Monday.

Here are a couple pics from the ultrasound.

Profile of the face.

A perfect little leg and foot!

This afternoon, for the first time ever, I actually saw the baby move from the outside of my belly.  I don’t know if he/she was kicking, punching or hiccuping.  But the baby’s definitely letting me know he/she is there.  Maybe we have a little athlete, martial artist or dancer?

And since we’re at the halfway mark, here’s a recent photo of me and my emerging baby bump:  20 weeks.

In other news from the encouraging category, the ban on chicken is officially over.  Hooray.

I find it hard to believe that I’m already at 18 weeks.  That’s almost the halfway mark of the entire pregnancy!  This week has left me definitely feeling like I’m in my second trimester.  I’m rarely nauseous (I can even brush my teeth with my regular toothpaste when I wake up), I’m constantly hungry/eating and my belly is becoming more pronounced.  It’s still not entirely obvious when I wear a sweater or jacket, but if I’m just in a t-shirt, you can tell it’s there.  And I suddenly have more energy to put into creative meals.  I’m still sleeping about 10 or 11 hours a day (plus naps here and there).  Overall, I’m just feeling better.  For which I’m thankful!

I read an inspiring book this past week.  It’s called “Sacred Parenting” by Gary Thomas.  Rather than a “how-to” book, it’s a “why” kind of book.  The author’s premise is that parenting can be a powerful and effective way for us as parents to shape our character.  From things like guilt and anger to celebrating life and keeping perspective, he explores how the various facets of parenting can be used by God in our maturation process.  I have a feeling that I’ll be revisiting this book again in the future when our kid(s) are a bit older.

A friend of mine recently said to me one of the things she found most fascinating about parenting was that her kids all turned out so unique.  They were different from her, different from her husband and different from each other (they have 4 children in the family).  I think that’s something T and I most look forward to about parenting as well – that we get to discover who these little people are and be part of their process of discovering themselves.  The prospect of that is absolutely fantastically exciting.

This past week has felt like an emphasis on basic humanity: sleeping and eating.  Each morning, I wake up because I’m hungry, so I eat.  And then I realize I’m still tired, so I sleep.  So goes the morning.

My afternoons have also been punctuated by food.  I suspect this is due to the limited internal real estate that I possess.  Since I still haven’t started really “showing,” (as in, family and friends can tell I’ve “thickened” but any passerby wouldn’t say I looked pregnant) baby’s growth is forcing the rest of my internal organs into smaller spaces than they’re used to, reducing their capacity.  The result is that my lunches and dinners have to be split into two small meals, meaning I have lunch #1 at noon, lunch #2 at 3pm, dinner #1 at 6pm and dinner #2 at 9pm.  That’s four square meals a day – plus breakfast.  Those who know me well know that I had to eat pretty frequently even before I was pregnant.  Well now it’s compounded!

Another effect of this internal squishing is that I get out of breath faster.  Activities that I never used to give a second thought to, like walking up stairs, going up a hill, or moving laundry from a washer to a dryer, leave me panting.  And it’s not that I’m not exercising!  It makes me feel kind of silly and feeble.

Thankfully, the real estate crisis is not so terrible yet as to encroach upon my brain.  I read a story of a pregnant woman who couldn’t find her keys and after hours of searching, found them neatly placed in her fridge.  I’ve mixed up some words here and there and found myself wondering what I was thinking about a second ago, but it hasn’t gotten to the point of putting my keys in the fridge!

Anyway, being “unplugged” for the week has been thoroughly refreshing.  I hadn’t realized how much time I spent in front of a computer or other electronic device until this week.  It has been fantastic catching up on reading, journalling and oh, did I mention sleeping?