At the public library I found a Prenatal Pilates DVD workout. How cool is that? The instructor must be 8 months pregnant because her tummy is very big but the rest of her body is still looking toned. Inspiration! The workouts are 10 minutes each, so I can totally do one a day. Some of the exercises are modified to accommodate baby, support the back, and not lie on your stomach. And the instructor asks how baby is doing during the workout! Haha! The thighs and butt workout kicked my butt! I only thought I was in shape! =)
Baby Seefeldt is doing well. I'm 19 weeks along. One book said baby is about the size of a large mango. How cute...Mango Baby! Li'l Seef is moving around a bit now...especially when I'm sitting still counseling and trying to concentrate on what my client is saying. I don't feel movements all the time yet but I have been feeling little ones for a couple weeks now. I still feel good and have quite the healthy appetite! I have heard that baby can hear me now, so I try to sing a little and talk to baby when I'm at the house. I'll try to practice my Arabic out loud so that baby has a head-start on becoming trilingual.
I don't have an updated picture for this week. Maybe we'll take one tonight. Two more weeks until we will try to find out blue or pink!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
17 week pictures
These were taken Wednesday night. The shirt I wore that night for our date really showed off the belly! It's kinda fun!
It's funny how in some shirts you can't be sure that I'm showing while in others there is no question. Baby is growing and making me work up an appetite! I get hungry a lot now and really feel it if I don't eat snacks during the day.
Okay, that's all for now.
It's funny how in some shirts you can't be sure that I'm showing while in others there is no question. Baby is growing and making me work up an appetite! I get hungry a lot now and really feel it if I don't eat snacks during the day.
Okay, that's all for now.
Not a Good Surprise
Now that I finally got my camera cable and was able to upload my pictures, let me do some picture updating from last week.
We have a relationship with our landlord that is basically "you don't bother us and we won't bother you." We send the check every month and unless there is some problem, we don't talk to him. This relationship usually works fine. Until last week.
Now, I'm a girl who likes her share of good surprises. A good surprise could be something like "here's a flower, I was thinking of you" or "Surprise, I got you that book you've been wanting" or "Let's go out tonight" or a call from a friend or a visit from a loved one. A good surprise is not usually "Surprise, you are getting a new roof...now."
Yes, that is what happened to us. Expect no one told us we were getting a new roof. One morning around 7:30 we started hearing stomping and pounding on our roof and sure enough, there was a crew getting to work. Not only were we having the shingles replaced, but the entire roof - they tore up the plywood under the shingles so that when you opened our attic, you saw sky.
Again, not that we knew any of this was going to happen. We did not know that our back porch would be littered with shingle paper, wood scraps, nails, etc. We did not know that anything stored in the attic would be covered in debris. We did not know that this would greet us if we tried to open the front door:
As you can imagine, I was not a happy renter. Fortunately for our landlord, I let Josh call him and mention that we would have appreciated knowing about this little home improvement project before it was started. I think he mumbled some sort of apology and made some lame excuses. I was not satisfied.
But we now have a new roof.
The moral of this story is: replacing a roof is not a good surprise to throw on someone.
We have a relationship with our landlord that is basically "you don't bother us and we won't bother you." We send the check every month and unless there is some problem, we don't talk to him. This relationship usually works fine. Until last week.
Now, I'm a girl who likes her share of good surprises. A good surprise could be something like "here's a flower, I was thinking of you" or "Surprise, I got you that book you've been wanting" or "Let's go out tonight" or a call from a friend or a visit from a loved one. A good surprise is not usually "Surprise, you are getting a new roof...now."
Yes, that is what happened to us. Expect no one told us we were getting a new roof. One morning around 7:30 we started hearing stomping and pounding on our roof and sure enough, there was a crew getting to work. Not only were we having the shingles replaced, but the entire roof - they tore up the plywood under the shingles so that when you opened our attic, you saw sky.
Again, not that we knew any of this was going to happen. We did not know that our back porch would be littered with shingle paper, wood scraps, nails, etc. We did not know that anything stored in the attic would be covered in debris. We did not know that this would greet us if we tried to open the front door:
As you can imagine, I was not a happy renter. Fortunately for our landlord, I let Josh call him and mention that we would have appreciated knowing about this little home improvement project before it was started. I think he mumbled some sort of apology and made some lame excuses. I was not satisfied.
But we now have a new roof.
The moral of this story is: replacing a roof is not a good surprise to throw on someone.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
No Front Porches
Last Wednesday evening Josh and I sat outside on our sidewalk in camping chairs to enjoy the nice weather and talk about our day. If it hadn't been for the mosquitoes, the evening would have been delicious. It was still nice to sit there and watch the world go by. An elderly man walked by on his evening walk around the neighborhood. He had his walking stick and a newspaper boy cap on his head and looked like the kind of neighbor you would like to sit and talk with. He stopped in front of our house to greet us and introduce himself. He made the comment that now that we've done away with front porches on houses everyone sits inside and has become isolated. We agreed and lamented the loss of visiting with neighbors. He told us where he lived, pleasantly took his leave, and resumed his walk.
Yesterday at the doctor's office I had to get blood taken as usual. It's always the same lady who takes my blood. But yesterday was different - not the lady, but the atmosphere. When I sat down, she didn't jump right on getting me ready. In fact, she was still taking her time doing paperwork that I sent Josh on back to work. As she was taking my blood, we heard an ad for PetSmart on the radio and she asked me if I had a pet, which launched us into a conversation that lasted well after my blood donation. I could tell she just wanted to talk about getting a dog, about her cousin's cat, about not liking cats in general. She just sat back (after patching me up, of course) and just talked with a thoughtful look on her face. Part of me wanted to get up and get going, I mean, my appointment was over. But I didn't right away because here was a chance to connect to person who just wanted company. Here was an opportunity to break from my normal pace of "go-go, stick to the schedule." Here was a chance to have a front porch again.
The emphasis on being efficient and pragmatic has left us without front porches. There is always something else to do. We put off things for a rainy day, only to find that rainy day has troubles of its own. So we say, "When the kids are grown..." or "When we retire we'll have more time to..." And until then we push ourselves to do as much as we can in a day.
I don't know what the answer is. I do the same thing. If I'm talking on the phone I try to do dishes or laundry at the same time so that I'm "getting something done." Even in a time when we have so much convenience - prepared meals, internet, video conference, washing machines, and more gadgets, we aren't relaxing any more than before. We are just doing more.
And another year goes by and we think "How long has it been since I've talked to so-and-so?"
I'd petition to bring back front porches if I thought that would help. But I think I have to start first with me. So if you get a phone call from me, even if I call while in the car driving somewhere, it's because I'm trying to change my world and maybe get to be a part of yours for a minute.
Yesterday at the doctor's office I had to get blood taken as usual. It's always the same lady who takes my blood. But yesterday was different - not the lady, but the atmosphere. When I sat down, she didn't jump right on getting me ready. In fact, she was still taking her time doing paperwork that I sent Josh on back to work. As she was taking my blood, we heard an ad for PetSmart on the radio and she asked me if I had a pet, which launched us into a conversation that lasted well after my blood donation. I could tell she just wanted to talk about getting a dog, about her cousin's cat, about not liking cats in general. She just sat back (after patching me up, of course) and just talked with a thoughtful look on her face. Part of me wanted to get up and get going, I mean, my appointment was over. But I didn't right away because here was a chance to connect to person who just wanted company. Here was an opportunity to break from my normal pace of "go-go, stick to the schedule." Here was a chance to have a front porch again.
The emphasis on being efficient and pragmatic has left us without front porches. There is always something else to do. We put off things for a rainy day, only to find that rainy day has troubles of its own. So we say, "When the kids are grown..." or "When we retire we'll have more time to..." And until then we push ourselves to do as much as we can in a day.
I don't know what the answer is. I do the same thing. If I'm talking on the phone I try to do dishes or laundry at the same time so that I'm "getting something done." Even in a time when we have so much convenience - prepared meals, internet, video conference, washing machines, and more gadgets, we aren't relaxing any more than before. We are just doing more.
And another year goes by and we think "How long has it been since I've talked to so-and-so?"
I'd petition to bring back front porches if I thought that would help. But I think I have to start first with me. So if you get a phone call from me, even if I call while in the car driving somewhere, it's because I'm trying to change my world and maybe get to be a part of yours for a minute.
17 weeks and photoless
Hello! I had big plans to put some pictures up and update on the adventures from the weekend and pregnancy update pictures. But the camera cable is in Josh's bag at work with him, so I'll have to do it later.
Yesterday I had my second doctor's appointment. I am 17 weeks and everything looks good! We heard the heartbeat again and this time it took her no time at all to find it! Baby has grown! And I have too. =) We have set the date for the sonogram and hopefully for the revelation of whether in March we will be holding a little boy or a little girl. Of course, I have to wait a whole 'nother month to find out...sigh. But at least it will be before Thanksgiving.
I've been feeling pretty good. My back has started to hurt sometimes so some nights I don't sleep well. But other than that things are looking good. I've just been trying not to indulge too much in my sweet tooth. =)
Yesterday I had my second doctor's appointment. I am 17 weeks and everything looks good! We heard the heartbeat again and this time it took her no time at all to find it! Baby has grown! And I have too. =) We have set the date for the sonogram and hopefully for the revelation of whether in March we will be holding a little boy or a little girl. Of course, I have to wait a whole 'nother month to find out...sigh. But at least it will be before Thanksgiving.
I've been feeling pretty good. My back has started to hurt sometimes so some nights I don't sleep well. But other than that things are looking good. I've just been trying not to indulge too much in my sweet tooth. =)
Monday, October 13, 2008
Happy Birthday!
Happy 26th Birthday to Josh today!
May God bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you!
Thank you for being a wonderful friend, husband, and partner. I can't wait to see you as a wonderful father.
I love you!
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
My friend Song
If you read a previous post about baking a cake from scratch with Song, then you have already had a small introduction to my friend. Song is from China and has been here studying at UTA while her husband works in research there. She and I became friends this summer and have been able to spend time together about every other week.
I think it was in June that Song told me that she was pregnant. She had just found out that she was having a girl and she and her husband were very excited. A few weeks later she and I were hanging out and she asked me when I was going to have a baby. At that point I didn't know I was pregnant (I found out about 2 days later) and so I told her that I didn't know. She told me that she thinks being pregnant is a wonderful thing and she wanted me to be able to experience it. She said it is like when you want your single friends to be married so that they can experience how wonderful marriage is. It was very sweet to me to hear her talk like that and to wish something so special for me. And a few days later I found out I was pregnant.
Last week Song delivered her baby girl. We have talked on the phone a couple times since then and I can't wait to see her and meet her baby. It has been a blessing to know her during this time in both our lives and I know God led me to this friendship for many reasons.
Thank you, Song, for your friendship.
I think it was in June that Song told me that she was pregnant. She had just found out that she was having a girl and she and her husband were very excited. A few weeks later she and I were hanging out and she asked me when I was going to have a baby. At that point I didn't know I was pregnant (I found out about 2 days later) and so I told her that I didn't know. She told me that she thinks being pregnant is a wonderful thing and she wanted me to be able to experience it. She said it is like when you want your single friends to be married so that they can experience how wonderful marriage is. It was very sweet to me to hear her talk like that and to wish something so special for me. And a few days later I found out I was pregnant.
Last week Song delivered her baby girl. We have talked on the phone a couple times since then and I can't wait to see her and meet her baby. It has been a blessing to know her during this time in both our lives and I know God led me to this friendship for many reasons.
Thank you, Song, for your friendship.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Book Recommendation
Friends recommended that I read A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner. They said it is about women in Afghanistan. When I got home I picked up a copy at Half-Price and devoured the book in a few days.
I would recommend the book too. It is not as graphic or "shock-value" laden as The Kite Runner and gives a picture of what life might have been like, and may still be like, for many women in Afghanistan or other Middle Eastern countries.
For me, this story spurred me on even more to want to share the amazing truth of our God. There is so much that we can take for granted as women here in the States. And there is so much joy and hope that we can have as children of God. But life is dark, and one's fate is determined, for those who are not His children.
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