Aaaand we're back

So, unfortunately we have been without internet since Dec 15. We have only just gotten back online on Tuesday. As in Tuesday Jan 8. So that was pretty ridiculous. I felt strange about posting at work, and didn't think posting via phone was a good idea.

Here are the things that have happened according to my calendar:

Dec 17- we moved to our new house. It's awesome. Three floors. Two working fireplaces. A deck. The entrance floor is hardwood. A lovely neighborhood. Three bedrooms. The window to the left as you are looking at the photo below is the baby's room.

Dec 18-23- work, unpack, do observations

Dec 24- I volunteered at Miriam's Kitchen. This was an excellent way to spend Christmas Eve. Matt arrived for Christmas in the evening. This is our christmas tree- I bought it at home depot on Dec 23 for $25. It was very pretty. Our house looked really lovely for having moved less than 10 days prior and for having only unpacked about 3/4 of our stuff. One of the best things about our new house is that it's much more space than our old place. So we have actually unpacked almost everything, rather than just storing stuff in boxes for a ridiculous amount of time. The ornaments below are our two first Blueberry ornaments! My mom got the first- it's a tiny little picture of the sonogram. The second is from Mike's Uncle Bob, who is an incredibly talented artist. He painted a beautiful tiny water color of a blueberry.

Dec 25- CHRISTMAS!!!!

It is our family tradition to have sausage biscuits and gravy for Christmas breakfast. Matt and Mike were so happy and natural when they were eating! 

Then we opened presents. We got some awesome stuff. 

Dec 26-28- Matt stayed and visited. It was really lovely. We just hung out, ate good food, and I did some work. I wish I had taken more pictures. We had really nice fires each night and Matt and I watched cartoon movies or he played video games while I did nothing or played with the dogs (still no cable or internet).

Dec 28- Jan 2- Mike and I drove to Kentucky to see his Mom and Jacob, Emily and Madeleine. We had such a wonderful Christmas with Karen. She outdid herself with wonderful presents for the wee girl. Also, one of Mike's family traditions is for him to get Legos for Christmas. This year, he got something to build with the baby girl. 

Another of Mike's family's traditions is to have absolutely glorious meals for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner. Holy moly. This is the only thing I had time to photograph before it was in my belly. We also played Euchre- Mike's team won. Blah. No one really cared that much.

cute. 

the first torch test.

  

Dec 31- WE HAD AN AWESOME NEW YEARS!!! We spent some great time with Jacob, Emily, Madeleine and Liz. What a great time- it was so easy and lovely.  I saw the ball drop and then saw the back of my eyelids. We had a great time. Truly.

Unfortunately, I really sucked at taking photos. Emily did a great job, and the photos she took are on her blog 

Jan 1- We were blessed by Karen's dear girlfriends throwing us a beautiful baby shower. They were so kind. I felt nervous about the idea of a shower- but this was so easy and nice. She has really loving friends and they have taken us under their collective motherly/grandmotherly wings. It's obvious how much they love Karen.

The most delicious strawberry cake ever.

Opening presents- a very cute sleeping sack is in this one!

Just his size!

The lovely ladies (and Mike and I). 

Jan 3-6 Work

Jan 7- start teaching my Systems Safety Engineering course for the medical students. This is one of my favorite things to do with my job. It's resource intensive, but I love doing it. We teach 3x per week for 1 month, so it's an intense experience for the students (and the teachers).

Jan 8-9- Work

Jan 10- give big presentation to leadership at my hospital. 

Jan 11- that's today! I went to happy hour today. That's about all I did to contribute to the world. 

News on the Blueberry: she is doing well. She is average in all ways. She is kicking and rolling around. She is giving me cramps, but I have consulted with my doctor and many of my medical friends and family, and all is ok, I think. Just normal growing pains. I am thankful to finally be home and awake for greater than an hour. 

I promise that I now will go back to regular posting. I have grown immensely, I think, in the last month. I will post pictures soon. Once I am not in my jammies. 

Happy weekend!

25 weeks

Here we are at 25 weeks- the wee girl is growing! I have finally figured out how to take my iron without feeling terrible. As long as I take it mid-day, with lunch, and it's the slow release formula, I seem to only get lightly nauseous.

Opie has been attached to my heels. Mike has even mentioned that Opie is more aware of me when I am around-he seems to follow me everywhere. Like right now, he is asleep touching my feet while Mike is relaxing in the other room.

This week has been complicated for a few reasons. On the happy side, we are moving Monday. We are really excited about moving- being outside of the district is going to be hard. However, after the past weekend, when I was out of town, and Mike had to deal with some sort of techno-beat and blowing things up in alternating patterns, I think coming home to a quiet house will be worth it for both of us. We are packing and getting ourselves ready. As my mom said, moving isn't really even stressful for us now because we have done it so many times, but it's just knowing exactly how much time and work it takes to get organized.

On the really sad side, a dear family friend and influential pastor in my life unexpectedly passed away this week from complications with care for lymphoma. Dr Chip Gunsten has been a friend of my dad's since the 70's. Growing up, we would often go over to the Gunsten's house for dinner on the weekend and we played with Sarah and Anna, who are the same age as Matt and me. Sarah and her husband Rob and Anna were all in youth group with us. Pastor Chip married Mike and I.

He was a vibrant man and truly an exemplar of faith, hope and love. He was GOOD. He made and continues to make the world a better place through his influence. Pastor Chip was really a "pastor"- he led through actions and words and was deeply faithful. I am thankful he was part of our lives. The loss of such a kind, strong and admirable man is deeply sad. The reverberations will be felt for many years to come throughout the Lutheran Church in Virginia.

Pastor Jim, me, Mike, and Pastor Chip

Please keep Chip's wife Kris, Sarah, Rob, Anna, and Sarah and Rob's baby daughter, Meredith, in your prayers.

Faith, hope, love.

24 weeks

Here we are at 24 weeks! The baby girl is growing, I think... I am hungry all the time. I am almost excited to go to the doctor next time, just to see what my new measurements are! I definitely don't fit into non-preggers clothes any more. I thought I was going to be able to keep wearing t-shirts for the duration. Yeah, that's not going to work.  Unless they become belly shirts, which we all know is class with a capital gross. Maybe Mike's t-shirts.  

I just ate a bowl of ice cream and the baby is now dancing in my tummy. She is truly my daughter. 

My mom and Mike's mom, Karen, have been so great about supplementing my borrowed pregnancy wardrobe with their own really kind gifts. This is a new dress that Karen got me, just for the holidays!

 In other news, we will be moving come mid-December. We are very excited to leave our thin-walled apartment for a larger baby/dog/family friendly townhouse in Alexandria. I will post pictures soon of the new place. It's going to be really hard to leave the city center, and specifically leave the 10 minute walk between our house and our dear friends Chad and Jen's place. Sigh. A very bittersweet move.

Mike said "look normal". This is what I came up with.

This weekend the Blueberry and I will be spending a few days with Mom and Ray and Ray's daughter Suzanne and my brother Pudface McWeinerson Matt in Atlanta. We are celebrating Christmas a little bit early so that will be really nice. Mom and I will get to do some baby stuff, and we'll get to have a Christmas celebration.

Happy Wednesday (ohmygoshitsnottuesday).