Showing posts with label the big P. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the big P. Show all posts

Monday, August 24, 2009

27 Weeks...

I know. I am now 27 weeks, 4 days pregnant and am just now posting for 27 weeks. It seems to be just what happens when you've had the four days that I have had!


My belly is getting bigger on a daily basis, it seems like! This picture is actually from last Thursday, when I officially turned 27 weeks, so at least I'm staying somewhat consistent with taking my picture on the right day.

Friday was a "growing day." I felt stretched, to the max, and all of a sudden felt much bigger than even the day before.

It has been incredibly hot here in the Mile High city. Yesterday, we set a record at 98 degrees. And trust me, I was feeling all 98 of them. I am so grateful the heat is almost over (hopefully) and I'm not full term pregnant at this time of year.

Things are getting more and more exciting for me! I am feeling Baby Bruce kicking pretty much all the time. I had said earlier in the pregnancy that when I feel the baby move all the time, it'd all be so much more real to me. And, it's true! I love feeling all of the kicks and rolls and punches. It's extra special at about 3:30 in the morning, when Baby has decided that my bladder is fun to play with, and that his foot fits just perfectly underneath my ribs. But seriously, I am so truly thankful.

Here's what What to Expect When You're Expecting says for 27 Weeks:

"Your baby graduates onto a new growth chart this week. No longer will he or she be measured crown to rump, but rather from head to toe. And this week that head-to-toe length is a full 15 inches (more than a foot long)! Your baby's weight is creeping up the charts as well, coming in at just over 2 pounds this week. And here's an interesting fetal factoid: Your baby has more taste buds now than he or she will have at birth (and beyond). Which means that not only is your baby able to taste the difference in the amniotic fluid when you eat different foods, he or she might even react to it. For instance, some babies respond to spicy foods by hiccupping. Or by kicking when they get that spicy kick."

I am still loving me some ice cream (any time, day or night), and Mexican food always sounds like a treat. A couple of days ago, I had some ice cream in the afternoon, which really helped to cool me down from the heat. A couple of hours later, our friends Chris & Karina came over and brought me a Snickers blizzard and I ate the whole thing. It was delicious. And did the double duty of cooling me down again!

Today was much cooler, only got into the low 80's, thank goodness. But after cooking stir-fry for dinner over a hot stove, I was overheated again, so I'm blogging from the patio in our backyard. Much better out here! Riley is always happy to keep me company, too.

Now, the reason why I haven't posted until now is because on Thursday, I had to take Huzz to the airport. He needed to go to Omaha for a quick 24-hour business trip. That's not why I didn't blog. But before we left for the airport, my mom had left me a voicemail while I was in the shower. In the message, she said in a frantic voice, "Beth, call me back!"

So I did. My dad had fallen off a ladder in the backyard while sanding these timbers over their patio. The ladder went one way and he went the other, landing on the jagged rock walkway. He landed on his shoulder and hit his head. I drove down to my parents' in the afternoon to help my mom until Friday night.

Long story short, he shattered his scapula (shoulder blade) into four distinct pieces and jolted his sciatic nerve in his lower back pretty badly. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to be showing any signs of head injury, though.

He is in a sling and probably will be for another 8 weeks, at least. There's nothing the doctors can do. Dad just has to wait for it to heal ~ much like when you break a rib or your collarbone.

Apparently, the scapula is the strongest bone in your body and in order to build up enough force to break it, you're lucky to be alive afterwards. I am so thankful my Daddy didn't get hurt worse. I appreciate your prayers, those of you who knew this was going on on Thursday, and I know my dad appreciates prayers for his healing bones.

Hopefully, I'll be back on Thursday, on time, ready to report on my 28 Weeks!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Weeks 25-26...

It has been a crazy couple of weeks! I went to two baby showers (not my own yet) and had my 10 year high school class reunion in one weekend. Then, we moved into our house. We have been very busy unpacking and buying furniture and organizing things.


I am exhausted. That could partly be due to me starting up my third trimester exhaustion phase, too.


I will be posting pictures of the past few weeks soon, but for this post, it's all things baby.


Baby Bruce is the size of a large eggplant now!

The picture above is last week. The picture below is me, today, at 26 weeks.


This week, I have been really surprised at all the movement Baby Bruce is making! I can now feel Baby moving, no matter what position I am in, even when I'm walking around. Also, the little peanut is clearly very acrobatic, as I can see and feel that he/she is rolling and flipping around in there. It's a weird feeling, and my belly looks even weirder! Sometimes, Baby makes my tummy kind of lopsided when i'm sitting or laying down.


Also, I think I may be starting mild Braxton Hicks contractions, as sometimes, my belly gets very hard and tight for a minute or two. And yesterday and today, my stomach muscles are spasming like crazy! It just means that I'm growing, I guess.


What to Expect When You're Expecting tells me that Baby's eyes are beginning to open. Also, he might respond when I put a flashlight up to my belly, so I'll have to try that!


I have noticed the Baby kicking a lot when I eat spicy food. I love spicy food. Do you think Baby likes it, or kicks me because he's mad? I think it's because he likes it. Haha!


We are enjoying living back in the Mile High City. When the Rockies score 7 or more runs, we can "Run to the border", if you will, and get 4 tacos for $1.00. That's right. One dollar. (With the purchase of a drink.) I love the Bell's hot sauce. We are watching the Rockies on t.v. right now, as they're playing the Pirates again, and fortunately, we are winning 7-1, in the bottom of the 7th.


Tonight is Taco Night!


On a very serious note, please, please, please say prayers for our dear friends, the Stroups. Amy is pregnant with twins and due about a week and a half before me. They found out yesterday that they lost one of their precious girls. I am just heartbroken and distraught for her. I saw her blog entry before I went to sleep last night and just could not stop thinking and praying for her all night. Most of you readers know them, so I hope you'll feel led to pray.


I will be back soon with more updates. I promise they will be more frequent, now that we finally got my laptop to work on the wireless network!

Monday, June 15, 2009

It's Over...What's Next?

It is finished. Over. Completed. That's all. Closed. Ceased. Concluded. Done for. Ended. Executed. In the past. Wrapped up. Over and done. Through.

In Russian: "fsyo"

I have had a couple of days to unwind and think about what has come to a close.

The worst professional year of my life.

Yes, this has been the most difficult year of my life, actually ~ mostly due to my job. But when you spend over 10 hours a day at a destructive place, it wears on you.

Even these goof-ball faces tortured me at times. Two-thirds of the children you see in this picture had no English knowledge nine months ago.


Now, they all understand me, verbally. Even the little guy who joined our class in March.

This is me and my teaching assistant, Katherine. Difficult year.

All lined up, ready to go to the assembly, where the Headmaster informed the entire school that I have found the atmosphere in the big K "procreational."

I wanted to crawl under my chair.

I put on a happy face for my kids, while dealing with one headache after another with administration. One headache including the accounting department deliberately choosing an exchange rate that did not exist and shorting all of us a few hundred dollars in our pay.

Don't worry ~ it just reminded me over and over that those of us who are leaving the school are doing the right thing.

I was a wreck on Friday night because I was just so relieved. I could not stop crying.

Our actual last day was on Saturday because we had this ridiculous awards ceremony that couldn't possibly have been done on Friday afternoon.

Then, we had a Summer Ball to attend on Saturday night at the school, with the parents.

A group of us decided to go for a drink before the Ball.
Sonia, Katy, and me. And yes, that is a glass of red wine in my hands. Don't judge. If there was one day where I really wanted that glass, it was Saturday. And it tasted so good on my lips! And it was the only glass I had.

Stephen, Rick, Matthew, and Berian. Flashing gang signs??? I don't know. They're British and Australian. Ha!

Another girls' picture, with Narita.

At the Ball, with Katherine. I just barely fit into my Banana Republic jungle dress. This Ball was like, a big deal or something. All the teaching assistants and local teachers went and got their hair and make-up done. I just wore the same thing from that morning. I don't think I even refreshed my make-up. My apathy was at its peak.

The whole last couple of days were very bittersweet. All of us could not wait to be done, which is a feeling I don't think you quite understand, unless you have taught. And then, try teaching at a place that treats you as horribly as we have been treated this year. Sayonara!

But then, I had to say good-bye to many good friends. All the teachers left early on Sunday morning to go home for the summer, and on to their new jobs later this summer. I really hope I get to see some of them again, but it will be very difficult. We are on opposite sides of the world, afterall.

Without these friends, I don't think I would have made it through the year. I barely made it, as it is!

I am looking forward to what comes next, though! I haven't really talked about our plans on here yet, as we have been praying about what to do and searching for what God calls us to do. Plus, most of our close friends and family already know what we are doing next. The plan, for now, is to move back to the Rocky Mountain State at the end of this month. We will be living in our house, only less than an hour away from our parents, starting in August. Huzz is going to be starting his own business, out of our home. We will be preparing for our little peanut to arrive in November! We will be reconnecting with old friends, and hopefully making lots of new ones at the church that we find our home, and through other connections and service in our community.

I am looking forward to gardening in our backyard.

I am looking forward to designing a nursery and decorating the rest of the house the way I like it. Huzz is trying to convince me that the pinkish/southwest color in the kitchen and bedroom is nice. Smirk, smirk. Haha!

I am looking forward to normalcy.

However, I am not naive. I am also anticipating some major adjusting. We have been living in a Muslim country with much lower living standards than we are used to in the US. As nice as it will be to be back home, we will have to adjust back. As weird as some things are here, we have become accustomed and somewhat comfortable with some ways of living here. Like cold showers.

Just kidding. You never get used to that.

I would covet your prayers for us during the next few weeks and months. Once again, we are moving. And trying to find our place. And still begging for God to confirm to us that we are following His will. And we are adding a little person to our family.

I can't wait to see most of you and get caught up! 10 days and we're home!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Lovely Jane...

Dear Friends,


Our dear family friend, Jane, has left this Earth. And right now, she is dancing with Our Father!


I do feel so badly for Jane's husband, Mel, and Jane's mother and rest of her family that is still here. Their lives will have a hole that Jane has filled for so many years.


But, I am also happy for Jane. She has suffered through years of pain and misery and frustration with her body.


I read this post from Beth Moore about Life and Death recently. Please read it because it phrased so perfectly what death is like for Believers.


Please lift up Jane's family on Tuesday, as they celebrate her life.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Stellan...


Today is a big P day. Well, what day isn't, really? But today, baby Stellan joined Huzz and I on our bus tour around Istanbul. Stellan's mommy has a name gallery going on her website and you should check it out. People from all over the world are sending up big P's for this little guy. His story is remarkable and right now, he is in great need of healing.
We are about to head to get something to eat. If I'm not too tired afterwards, I'll be posting a little bit. I am quite the procrastinator!

Big P's Needed...

I had a dream last night about our good family friend, Jane. Jane has had MS for as long as I can remember, but I think she's only in her very early 60's. I dreamt that I was at a Starbucks and Jane came in (walked in, not wheeled in) with her mother and her baby in a baby carriage. I said hi and held the baby. In real life, Jane does not have any children, which is why I was really excited in the dream. That was about it. Just a snippet.

When I woke up this morning, I checked my email and my mom had written to say that Mel (Jane's husband) had called to say that Jane is in the hospital and has been comatose for 30 hours. He is just praying that the Father would bring her Home, as she has been completely bed-ridden for the last 4-6 weeks. Her quality of life is nothing now.

Mel and Jane are such strong Believers and their trust in Him is so admirable. I know Mel will be heartbroken without his Jane, but I know he also has full confidence that Jane will be spending forever with our real Father and he will see her again soon.

Please keep Mel and Jane in your thoughts and big P's. They are dear friends to our whole family.

Huzz and I are off to go on a city bus tour today - double decker! We were planning on going to the Prince's Islands today, but didn't get up early enough. We are being very lazy!

I will try to post later tonight about some more things that we've been doing during the last few days.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Plumbers, Police, and big P's...

Last night started like any other night...for about the first 5 minutes.

Huzz and I went to the bank on our way home after work to talk about our options with money, since the Tenge has lost about 25% of its value in the last week. It's just not good, people. Especially when your husband is a finance guy. Needless to say, I am learning all about "exchange rates" and "pegging to the dollar" and various words like that, which I never had any interest in before. Well, I still don't actually.

Anyway, we got home and I ran to the Toilet Room and noticed the toilet seat was wet. I promptly accused Huzz of weeing on the seat. After an insistent, "I didn't do it!" I looked up and noticed some droplets of water on the ceiling. We decided to keep an eye on it. Well, by about 7:30, it was constantly dripping all over the toilet and the floor, so we called the landlords. Their daughter, Gulnara, speaks great English and lucky for her, has automatically been designated to deal with us. She came over and took a look at it and agreed that it's not good and a good amount of water is coming through that there ceiling. She said her mom was going to call the plumbers and they'd probably come over. If we need translation, just call her and she'll talk to them.

The plumbers showed at about 9:30 and took a look at the dripping, told us they'd go up to the apartment above us. They were gone for about 10 minutes, came back down and said they'd be back.

I went to bed at about 11:00 and shut the door. That was the last of what I knew until this morning, when I asked Stephen what happened the night before. He replied, "The police showed up."

Um, what? Why? He didn't know why, but the upstairs neighbor showed up at the door at 11:45-ish, with two big K policemen standing behind him. They looked at the bathroom....those policemen know so much about plumbing, you know. And then they demanded to see Huzz's passport. That's when Huzz called the landlords again and let them know what was going on.

Apparently, he checked out alright, and they left. I stayed in the bedroom, and they never knew I was there. We are so thankful that He protected us.

Now, it just smells really bad in both the toilet room and the bathroom. We don't know why, but horrible fumes are coming up through the sink and the water in the toilet room just makes it smell so musty.

It just seems that when you're living someplace far away, especially, asking for big P's for our safety never seems to go out of style. It is very scary when you live somewhere where you cannot even trust the police.

Along with that, late last Friday night, a group of teachers were walking back from a restaurant and were approached by police who wanted to see all their passports. One of the teachers, who speaks Russian, didn't have it on her, so they walked to her apartment and she showed it to them and they went away....only to show up at 6:00 the next morning, demanding a cup of tea.

It's just scary! So anyway, if you think of it, please keep sending up the big P's not only for us, but also the other teachers and friends that we have made here. Corruption plays a big part in our lives here, which is scary for those of us who have not had to deal with this kind of corruption all our lives. We don't understand it and it effects us.

Monday, February 2, 2009

My Riley...

Most of you know that I have this dog:

Her name is Riley.

I knew what I would name her before I even met her.

And I knew she was mine the second I laid eyes on her, as she trembled in the corner of her breeder's kitchen and her crazy brothers and sister ran around barking and carrying on.

When I picked her up, I did the trick to see if she'd submit to me...You know, because I am so dominant. So, I picked her up and cradled her on her back in my arms, like a baby. And she just laid there, relaxed, and looked up at me with her big, sad, puppy-dog eyes, as if to say, "Please take me from this place and love me."

So, I did. And 20 minutes later, we were in the car and she threw up puppy poo all over my sister. The first thing we did when we got home was take a bath.

I'm worried today, friends. I need big-P's sent up for the healing of my Riley. My mom told me this morning on Chat that she had taken Riley to the vet that day. When I was home at Christmas, I noticed a lump on Riley's belly. It's only about an inch long and is the shape of an egg. I asked my parents if they had noticed it and my dad said he had just a few days before. Mom took her to have it checked out and Dr. B ran some tests on it and thinks it might be a soft tissue sarcoma, which is a type of cancer. Dr. B said that if it was her dog, she'd have it removed right away. Because my parents are going back and forth between Colorado and Maryland this school year, Riley won't be able to have the surgery until the 16th.

Please P that the surgery will go well and the results will be a relief. Please P that Riley can continue to live a healthy, happy life of a dog.

And please P that I will trust in Him to take care of my dog. It kills me that I cannot be there now, or when she has her surgery. If you've ever met Riley, you know how she is: the happiest, most loyal, most ball-obsessed little person of a dog you've ever seen.

I cannot wait to see Riley again - hopefully this summer! We are hoping we'll make it to our big family reunion in Minnesota, and Riley LOVES Minnesota.

Please, if you think of it throughout the next couple of weeks, just send up a little P for Riley. She needs it!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Scenes from the Crash...

**CORRECTION** The rental car is, in fact, a Toyota Corolla. Stephen informed me that this is why you get TWO sources when you are researching information. Guess who was my first AND second source? Stephen.

Remember this post? When I told you about the first time I've been in a car wreck, when I've been driving?

You didn't believe me, did you?

Well, here's proof:
See? We got hit HARD! In MY humble opinion, I would say he didn't just "slide through the stop sign."
Do you agree?
The good news is the other dude's insurance is going to cover everything. The car is getting fixed, although it will take a month for it to get done. And, my in-laws have an awesome Honda Civic to cruise around town until then.
I am once again, glad this wasn't my fault.
Although, you can send some big P's up for my friend Angie, who is still not feeling so hot because of the accident.

Harper...

Hello all,

Just a quick note to ask for the big P word.

I'm "speaking" in code so that some friends in a land far, far away can continue to read the little bloggy here.

For more information, click here to go to Kelly's Korner blog, or click on the link to the right.

Kelly's story caught my attention a few months ago. She was a wife, struggling to get pregnant with their first baby and she blogged almost daily about the struggles with that. Well, she got pregnant, and had the baby three days ago. The baby's name is Harper and she is in the NICU.

Just wanted to do my part and ask that you join me in P-ing for her. Ha! That sounds funny in code.

Yes, I am 28.

Anyway, I hope you're moved to do this.

Thanks, and have a wonderful day!