Oceanside

We went to Oceanside on Saturday to visit Michael's parents. We ate Thai food, laid around at the beach, and then ate Mexican food. Perfect activities for really anytime, but especially for when you are full term pregnant. Here are two pictures of us at the beach:

Notice how much more Michael is wearing than me. My built in heater sure keeps me warm these days.

Michael posing with his daughter with me awkwardly cut out!

I can't believe that the next time we see my in-laws, there'll be a new, little family member to show off!

Piano Time

Sara Groves is a wife, mom, and prolific singer/songwriter from Minnesota. I love her music which is always simple and varied. But for me, good songs are all about the lyrics. And her lyrics do not disappoint. They are incredibly poignant and honest.

Since playing the piano is one of my lifelong hobbies, I put her most recent of two piano books on my Christmas list and gave the list to my husband. It turned out that at the time he ordered it, Sara Groves' printing people were behind in the printing of songbook #2, so they mailed Michael songbook #1 for my Christmas gift saying that songbook #2 would come at the end of January... for free! Score!

Since getting those books, Michael and I have spent a good amount of time playing the songs, me on piano and him on guitar, sometimes separately and sometimes together. Since it's so hard to move my full term pregnant body these days, sitting at the piano is the perfect hobby.

Check her out! Here some of my favorites:

Favorite album: "Fireflies and Songs" ("Station Wagon: Songs for New Parents" too given the season of life we're in.)

Favorite songs:

• "Loving a Person" - A song about the challenges and joys of loving a person just the way they are.
• "Twice as Good" - A song that describes how I feel about marriage.
• "To Be With You" - A song about being with family for the holidays - reminds me of all I love about being with my family.
• "When the Saints" - A song that recalls real stories of people addressing social justice issues and prays that we would do the same. This song always gets me fired up!
• "Kingdom Comes" - A song about the small choices that build the Kingdom of God.

Little Happenings

With my little girl's arrival just four weeks away, I have been emotionally convinced that my life is frozen in anticipation for that big day. But, this isn't the case. Everyday life seems ever eager to ebb and flow and bump along and ever unwilling to absolutely freeze. Let me share some of the little happenings of everyday life.

In no particular order:

My job downtown with an immigration attorney ended about two months ago. But, I am still volunteering once a week with the same local nonprofit. The rest of my time is spent resting, sleeping a lot, preparing for baby's arrival, moving slowly, and working on a project that I shall unveil in June...

I spent some time online recently looking for cute poses and helpful tips for photographing newborns. I came across the term "mamarazzi" for the first time. I am going to be such a mamarazzi!

Getting to know our new neighbors was slow at first, but has been picking up. I have been texting and hanging out with a neighbor (Lori) across the street who is a first time mom. Here's our housemate, Jen, holding Lori's four month old, Cadence.

Remember when I used to blog about our garden all the time? I rarely mention it, but it's still going! Our successful plants right now are arugula, bok choy, and Chinese broccoli. We're trying to grow at least a half dozen other things including brussels sprouts, artichoke, purple cabbage, etc. We'll see how the other plants do! (Confession: I thought they were called brussel sprouts until I wrote this post. Are they really called brussels sprouts?)

Within the topic of plants, our lime tree is budding! See the two teeny limes northeast of the white flower?

In the world of prepping for the baby, the car seat is in, the changing table is all set up, and the cloth diapers are ready for whenever we're ready to switch to them.

How can something that's going to cover a butt and hold poop be so cute?

Yesterday, we had our first ultrasound in over fifteen weeks. For some reason, I haven't always felt fully convinced that we are having a girl. Well, she's still a girl! And she's looking great. After the ultrasound, I felt overwhelmed with gratefulness for how smoothly everything has gone with this pregnancy. Even yesterday, we found out for the first time that her head is down, making a cesarean section much more unlikely, and she's facing my spine, which usually makes labor faster and less painful. I'll take that!

It's hailed twice in the last few days! What the hail?! That was dumb, sorry. : )

Baby Bump: Getting Huge

Well, people, this baby is due in five weeks!

Back in September, I wrote how I was looking forward to watching my belly develop a cute little baby bump, then a big bump, then a huge bump, then an about to burst bump. Since the last time I posted baby bump pictures, I think I've gone from "cute little" right on through "big" and I am currently at "huge."

Aside from the discomfort it'll bring, I'm actually looking forward to seeing how ridiculous my stomach gets. I will definitely post at least one or two pictures of the "about to burst" bump in a few weeks.

Here are the former baby bump posts:

Pre-pregnancy through 18 weeks: click.

19 weeks through 25 weeks: click.

26 weeks:

27 weeks:
In a failed attempt to win first place at an ugly Christmas sweater party, I purchased a red turtleneck and a Christmas reindeer stuffed animal from a thrift store. I removed the head and limbs from the stuffed animal and hot glued them to the belly of the shirt to create this rather creepy result.

28 weeks (next two pictures):
The left picture is what I wear when I'm going out and trying to look at least a little cute. The right picture is me around the house wearing Michael's clothes. 

...Skip a couple of weeks...

31 weeks:
Yes, I'm talking to her in this picture. :-)

...Skip a few weeks...

34 weeks:
Look at the size of that thing! It puts tremendous stress on my lower back, so I spend a lot of time off of my feet.

More to come...