Our life in Vancouver...now Princeton...and beyond...
A few days ago we received a package in the mail from our friends Spencer and Abby. They welcomed their baby girl, Grace, into the world back in November and they are all eagerly awaiting the arrival of our little one. In the package was a CD of white noise for the baby (which I know will come in handy, especially with apartment living) and this super cute onesie that Abby made…
I love it! One last reminder that this is Nacho baby. :)
-Shannon
I figure now that we’re in the home stretch I can up my belly shots to every two weeks instead of every four. And hopefully we’ll actually have a baby out of the womb in four weeks!
Things are still progressing nicely…baby is measuring well, lots of movement going on, I feel like a beached whale…conditions are perfect!
I’m still working but I might wrap things up this Friday or definitely sometime next week. My job at CTI is very flexible and my friend Jeanie, who works with me there, is actually transitioning to take over a lot of my responsibilities. So I know things are in good hands. Since we’re moving back to Missouri in May it didn’t make much sense to take off 6-8 weeks only to come back to work for 4-5 weeks after that. So when I end at CTI I will be done forever. Although I know I’ll have to drop by from time to time just to show off the little one.
At the church where I lead worship I’m planning to take a few weeks off and then head back out to help with worship. Lucas is doing his field education there so he’ll need to get back out there and plus we want to share our little one with the congregation. So we’re going to make it a goal to get back to church as soon as possible and I’ll continue with that job until we move in May.
Everything at home seems to be in place and I’ve been stitching together the baby blanket I’m making so hopefully that will be done before the baby arrives. It’s a fine line of keeping myself busy while also taking lots of time to rest.
So here we are at 38 weeks praying for the safe arrival of this little one.
-Shannon
Recently my friends Jeanie and Kim threw me a baby shower! This shower was with my friends from the seminary community and mostly consisted of people in the book club I am part of. It was a lovely afternoon with lots of yummy food and good friends around. I was blown away by how cute it all looked and thanks to Kim (who is a professional photographer) I have these wonderful pictures to gaze at…
They went with a green and brown theme which is pretty much what we have used for our little nursery here in Princeton. Also Jeanie had the great idea of passing out tiny hand sanitizers as gifts.
My neighbor, Shannon, made this awesome diaper cake even though she couldn’t be there.
With each of the presents the girls included a favorite children’s book instead of a card. I thought it was really fitting since most of the guests were book club members.
And here we are…Back Row: Shanna, Leslie, Nicole, Kim…Front Row: Jen, Me, Jeanie (Katie had to leave early)
As if I didn’t love having pictures from the shower taken by Kim, as a present she gave me a newborn session and 8×10 print! I am so excited about this and can’t wait to see all the creative ways she captures our little one.
Thanks again for such a wonderful day!
-Shannon
Shannon and I are at an impasse. We were talking this weekend and it turns out we have not been on the same page with baby names. I just assumed if it was a boy we would name him Rocky as a living tribute to my biggest inspiration in life. Shannon, however, had her heart set on Lucas Jr. I thought if we had a girl her name would be Gertrude (Gertie for short); but again Shannon thought Shannon Jr. What to do?
I have come up with what I think is a pretty interesting way forward. The baby is due to arrive (and the circular chart at the midwife’s office seems foolproof) on February 13th. The Olympics are set to start in the beautiful city of Vancouver on the 12th.
Here is my proposal: we name our child the name of the athlete who wins a gold medal closest to the time of the baby’s birth. I am even willing to pick an athlete of the same gender. This way our baby could share a name with someone famous like the unstoppable force in Norwegian biathlons Ole Einar Bjorndalen, or the sensation of the Korean short track Cho Hae-Ri, or the you-don’t-want-to-cross-this Slovenian cross-country legend Petra Majdic! This would create a post-uterine time stamp for our little one as well as provide a lasting legacy to the individual medalist and the glory of the games themselves.
Before we put this plan in motion, however, it is probably worth a little research. What do you think?
p.s. In a dramatic twist of irony, there is a potential I could still be called upon to represent my country in a number of events (Shannon is pretty well out due to the baby, but I guess there is still a chance). So, it could still theoretically happen that I will be the one standing on the gold medal podium nearest to the time of our baby’s birth—Lucas Jr. might make it after all!
-Lucas
I love dance. I grew up taking a few classes here and there but nothing major. In high school I made the dance team and began developing actually dance skills mainly in the realm of pop dancing. In college this progressed into taking modern dance courses as I earned a minor in dance composition. Along the way I was exposed to many different choreographers by studying the history of modern dance. One such person I was introduced to was Merce Cunningham. In 2009 he passed away and recently I found this quote from him in a tribute found in Time magazine…
You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive. It is not for unsteady souls.
-Merce Cunningham
I completely agree with this statement and often times I think of past dances I created or performed and it hurts to think I may have forgotten them. At the same time there is something great about dance in that you can’t always pin it down like a physical work of art such as a painting or music composition.
As I’ve been growing our little one inside of me I find that often times I turn to past dance moves that incorporate swaying, swinging or anything to move my hips and joints around. At the same time I realize I am somewhat hindered by the lack of balance but hopefully someday I will enjoy that again when the baby is outside the womb.
As I was thinking back on my past, I stumbled across this picture from my undergrad university’s website. This was a piece I was in back in the fall of 2001. It doesn’t highlight any hugh dance move but to me I can remember the exact feeling of that move and this piece. And in case you can’t pick me out, I’m the one standing on the left…
-Shannon
It’s finally time to open the voting and see what the people are saying…
Do you think our little one is a boy or a girl?
This past weekend Lucas decided to make up some good home cookin’…Bar-B-Que pulled pork sandwiches and home-made fries. He used a rub that a chef friend from church had given us and after hours and hours of slow cooking the meat was finally ready. He added some Bar-B-Que sauce from Kansas City to it and we were ready to go…
For the fries Lucas whipped out the Fry Gran’ Pappy. Now you may have heard of the Fry Daddy but the Gran’ Pappy puts it to shame. It’s bigger and better which makes the fries bigger and better. :)
Thankfully we don’t eat like this too often but we have to start preparing our stomachs for the move back to Missouri and what better way than with Bar-B-Que and fries.
-Shannon
I can’t believe we’re already in the home stretch. In some ways I feel completely ready and in other ways I don’t…ah the joys of parenthood, you never quite know what you’re doing. :)
I’ve been feeling really good other than lots of grunts and groans as I move myself around or bend down to pick something up. I haven’t been too tired even though I constantly shift where and how I’m sleeping…the bed, the couch, sitting up, laying on my side. I definitely have moments of feeling like a beached whale but overall life is still good.
We are definitely getting excited to meet our little one and find out who has been swimming around inside of me. We have names all ready to go although we’re still going to make sure they fit the little guy or girl before we declare it to the world.
Continued prayers as we prepare for the labor and arrival of our little one are definitely appreciated. And soon enough our blog will be taken over by pictures of our new little baby.
-Shannon
*I’ve added some comments about the books…enjoy!
My friend Shelley inspired me to tally up the books I read in 2009. I don’t claim to be an avid reader but thanks to the book club I’m part of my reading list always has something on it. So here are the books I can check off my list from 2009…
The Earth Hums in B Flat – Mari Strachan Just a simple story of a girl in Wales. I’m kind of indifferent about it…it wasn’t the best thing ever but it wasn’t bad either.
The Monsters of Templeton – Lauren Groff I really liked this book and how it kind of played off history and a woman figuring out her family past.
Home to Harmony – Philip Gulley This Home to Harmony Series is good when thinking about small town life and all that goes with it.
Signs and Wonders – Philip Gulley
The Help – Kathryn Stockett I really enjoyed this book about racial issues in the south and one woman’s journey of telling their stories. I would definitely recommend this one.
The Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett An epic book (meaning it’s really long). I actually liked it quite a bit although there are definitely parts that are a little too graphic for me.
Planet Narnia – Michael Ward *Lucas and I have been reading this one together. He reads it out loud to me while I knit or do something else. I love that we’re reading a book together. :) Definitely recommend this if you enjoy Narnia and want to learn more about it. However, Ward also spends time on other writings of Lewis and since we haven’t read those we normally skip over those parts.
The Soloist - Steve Lopez I’ve read the book but haven’t seen the movie. I would definitely recommend this book about a homeless schizophrenic musician and the journalist who befriends him.
Twilight - Stephenie Meyer I have no problem admitting I love the Twilight series! I would recommend it for sure.
New Moon – Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse – Stephenie Meyer
Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer
Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri Several short stories all from an Indian perspective. I wouldn’t really recommend it…it didn’t do much for me.
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger (I read this almost every year so this was a repeat) Love it! One of my favorites!
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth – Ina May Gaskin Obviously a few baby books thrown in here but this is definitely my favorite.
The Happiest Baby on the Block – Harvey Karp
The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman It was a little hard for me to get into this book and I didn’t read any of the others in the series.
The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson I really enjoyed this book which is classified as historical fiction. It is the parallel story of the Chicago World’s Fair and a serial killer during that time. I found it really interesting and would definitely recommend it.
It turns out I read more than I thought I did. :)
Here’s to 2010 and the reading list that will accumulate…although I’m thinking there might be more children’s books on this new list.
-Shannon
The baby blanket is still coming along with lots of little squares sitting around our place. I hope to start stitching it all together in the next week as we anticipate the arrival of our little one.
It has been really nice to have something like this to work on to help me to think and pray about the baby while also curbing my spending and any wasted time sorting and resorting baby stuff.
I can’t wait to wrap our little one all up in this…
-Shannon
