Connections Mission Trip

If you're curious about where we've been this week. Check out the youth blog at www.gcym.blogspot.com

Love from Above

Emma's Birthday Party

My mom and my sister came to visit this past weekend. We had a nice time but as always, the time went too quickly and we tried to pack way too much in that small amount of time. We had Emma's birthday party while they were here. We had it at the park. The weather was beautiful and it came off well, thanks to my mom and sister's help. I was so glad to have them here. It's so difficult for me to try to pull something like that off by myself.

On Sunday evening, after we got done with Revolution with the teenagers, we went down to city park. There was a carnival there. For those of you that are from here, thanks for the warning.... Apparently, this is where the prime of Parkersburg congregate. For those of you that teased us about moving to WV. This is what you were teasing about. But, despite the intresting company that we had, we still let Emma ride the kiddie rides. Only those low to the ground because I was pretty sure that they could fall apart at any minute... And of course, she had a wonderful time.

I had a dr. appointment on July 5th. Chloe had hiccups when she was trying to listen to the heartbeat. That was pretty fun. I had gained two pounds which is the recommended lb. per week. I think that is bringing me to about 15lbs. all together so far. My blood pressure was good and no protein in my urine (I'm sure you wanted to know that) so, so far, not pre eclampsia like last time. Thank God for that. I'm not sleeping real good which I don't really understand because I'm not feeling very uncomfortable. But, I'm not that good of a sleeper anyway so maybe I'm just getting ready for those long nights when she gets here. The dr. said that starting at 39 weeks, if my cervix is favorable, she will give me the option of inducing. That will be August 22nd. Mom is planning on flying in on August the 28th. So, if it looks like I'm ready and I mean really ready, we might induce after that. If, she doesn't come on her own before then. It's getting close!!

We are doing a local mission trip with the teenagers this coming week. We are putting a VBS type day camp thing on for housing development that the church continuously works with. After we get done with that, I have to get busy on getting Chloe's room finished and quick! Well, I guess that's it for now.

Love from Above!

Emma's Birthday

Emma turned four on June 19th. I'm going to hold my emotions about how bittersweet it is that she's growing so quickly. If you feel the need to hear that, scroll down and read my thoughts from her third birthday and know that it's only intensified by another year. My mom and sister are coming up this weekend so we're waiting on them for a birthday party. So on her birthday, we made a trip to Columbus. We scheduled a 3D ultrasound that evening and made plans to go to the zoo. Well, it turned out to be very fortunate that it rained because instead of going to the zoo, we went to Libby Lu's and at this point, she will take a princess makeover over the zoo any day. So, as you can see from the pictures, she was a princess for the day and we had a very fun time. We had intended on getting the restaurant to bring her a cake out but being a princess is very hard work and she slept through dinner so... We stopped at about 10 o'clock and bought a cake on our way back into town and had cake at about 11 pm. Because of course, you can't have a birthday without a cake. I'm about to go and let the pictures do the talking but before I do, I want to tell one little story about our nice little day.

As I said before, she got a little nap so she was awake pretty late that night. After we got home, we ate the cake and then sat down to watch the dvd of Chloe's ultrasound before we went to bed. So we were watching it and I noticed that Emma was cuddling up to me and looking kind of sad. So, fully anticipating the jealousy that's coming, I cuddled her up to me and started rubbing her back. And when the dvd went off, this is what she said, "but Chloe is all alone in there by herself". Now I'm sure that the jealousy is still coming. Don't think that I think I've gotten off that easy, but wasn't that sweet. So I reassured her that Chloe was perfectly cozy and that she felt like I was holding her all the time and I'm still bracing myself for when the jealousy actually does hit. These are wonderful moments.

The ultrasound was quite amazing. Modern technology is something. We think that Chloe looks like Emma. I was glad to see that she had chubby little cheeks. I was afraid that she was going to look frail because of me being so sick in the beginning but as everyone told me she would, she took what she needed. I think seeing her that way made me long to hold her more. It made her seem so much more real as if my protruding belly isn't real evidence enough.... I'm trying not to want to rush things and savor the moment but I have to say, I'm much more comfortable in mommy mode that big pregnant girl mode.

When I went to the doctor on the 21st, I had gained 3 more pounds. I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable. My back is beginning to hurt a little. But, I can still wear my rings so no swelling. And if you saw me when I was pregnant with Emma, no Nutty Professor feet so, so far so good. And still, it still beats the first trimester, hand over fist. Don't think I've forgotten.

This week was workcamp. Over 500 teenagers painted 40 houses in the Mid Ohio Valley. Adam spent the night at OVU every night and every morning some strange man came in and took a shower at our house. We're glad to have him back home. We kind of missed him. Just a little ;). Well, I'll go for now. Pictures from our fun weekend with Nonna and Aunt Denise coming soon!!

Love from Above,
Dana

New Posts

Ok, there are two new posts below. I have tried to somewhat put them in order so scroll down but the two new ones are Emma's dance recital and picture from Jan's wedding. A warning to anyone who calls me fat, chunky, huge, a balloon or anything of the sort.... I WILL WISH MANY MANY PREGNANCY POUNDS ON YOU WHEN YOUR TIME COMES :).

I still have to put the ultrasound pics of Chloe and Emma's birthday pictures up but I need some sleep first.

PS: I meant it about the pregnancy pounds. Don't mess with me. I work for God.

Dr. Appointment 6/4/07

Adam was out of town this past week for his grad class at Lipscomb. I waited until he got back home because I didn't want to make a post that said hey, we're home by ourselves. Anyway, we had a good week, just the girls, but were so glad to get him back home.

I had a doctors appointment on Monday. Everything is progressing normally. I had gained 6 and a half pounds but that wasn't too bad since it had been five and a half weeks since my last appointment. So, all together, I have gained 8. My hope is to keep it less than I did with Emma so I won't be so miserable at the end this time. I'm feeling really good so far. I start going every two weeks now so we're closing in on the home stretch. I've got to get busy on the baby's room.

Since the last time I wrote, we went down to Alabama for Adam's sister's wedding. The wedding turned out beautifully but I have to say, weddings are stressful. I'll post some pictures if I can get my hands on some. We spent memorial day with my family and had a nice day out at the pool. The drive back to WV was sooo looong but we're getting back into the swing of things.

I guess that's it for now. Make sure you scroll down and watch the video of Emma talking about how the baby eats.

Love from Above

Strawberry Picking

Emma tells us how Chloe eats

Ok, for all of you that are dying to see me fat.....

Ok, so since so many of you are requesting a pregnancy picture. Here it is. This was taken today. I'm 26 and a half weeks. I really need to work on my tan. We're back from our long trip to Alabama for Jan's wedding. My butt is still hurting from riding in the car so long with all of that weight on me. Other than that and feeling a little tired from the traveling, I'm feeling great. So far, last trimester is definitely better than the first. I have dr. appointment Monday. I'll do a real update after that. Love from Above!

Wedding Pics

Emma's First Dance Recital

Emma's first dance recital was May 18th. And of course, I don't do anything easy so I've got a nice little story to go along with this one. The recital started at 6:30 and we were supposed to be there at 5:45. We arrived around 5:50 but I wasn't really worried because I knew it didn't start for quite a while. So anyway, I get there and am standing around just chatting with the other mom's when I looked down and realized that all the other little girls had on black tights and Emma did not. Now before I finish this little story, I would like to state my defense. When we were leaving dance practice on the Monday before the recital, Dolly i.e. dance teacher tells us that if they don't have any panties that won't show from under their leotards, to let them go without them. Now can someone tell me why the panties would be an issue if they were going to wear black tights? Well anyway, some how, I missed the black tight memo probably because I was in the bathroom because Chloe camps out on my bladder.

So, I determined that I couldn't let Emma be scarred for life because she was on stage without tights at her dance recital when she was almost four years old and so, my scavanger hunt begins... Now I should tell you that black tights aren't the easiest thing to find at the end of May. The children's consignment store doesn't have them, Kmart doesn't have them, Shoe Carnival doesn't have them but thank God for Sears!! So after running breathlessly into all of the stores listed above, I ran into Sears and found a wonderful display of tights singing to me like a voice from the heavens. I quickly but carefully examined the label on the tights to make sure I was getting the right size and then took off in a mad dash to the sales counter. I waited behind a very slow lady and then while I was quickly explaining my story to the sales clerk in hopes that she would hurry, I realized that something wasn't quite right. With confirmation from the very nice sales clerk, I determined that the tights were navy blue instead of black and began my sprint again. Just so you know, I did make it back in time ,by the grace of God, with black tights, and got my oblivious little angel in correct costume and saved her from a life time of nightmares about being on stage in front of crowd. Might I add that I had left her panties off and that we showed the whole dance class her cute little bottom so we probably traded that in for the nightmares of her being naked in front of a crowd...

Oh well, anyway, these are the things that I learned from this little experience:
1. Needing tights for your daughter's first dance recital does in fact merit using your hazard lights.
2. People do not think it's funny when you cut them off in traffic.
3. People do think it's funny to see a pregnant girl run.

Anyway, the recital was adorable. Emma particularly enjoyed the number where they tap danced with maracas. And as she went to town with that maraca, we laughed and held our breath hoping that she didn't knock out poor Katie who was standing beside her.