Quickening

So... over the past week I have for sure felt some wonderfully gentle butterflies coming from the little one. In my mind I owe this to two things, first, I am soon to be twenty weeks (half-way there already) pregnant! And secondly, I have been enjoying some of my families' classic recipes over this winter break.

We celebrated Christ's birth with a merry little Christmas dinner at our house, with my very good friend, Kristen and a new friend from school, Manda. It was a great time of cooking together, enjoying our labors and competing with each other in our new favorite game, Ticket to Ride. Kristen and I had spent the days before baking Christmas cookies, attempting a new recipe for sticky buns and prepping special dishes, like my mom's fruit jello and broccoli cheese potatoes. Mmm, good. Lots of excellent food thanks to our "Base run" back in November. I had been saving a bag of caramels just to make Calorie Bars. I remember making them for years, even when I was younger one Christmas I made them and then gave them away as gifts. They are just that good! I think baby really benefited from this holiday. I have now gained five pounds and really feel like eating quite a bit. Its all so fun. Sometimes after eating, I actually fee like my belly is growing by the minute!

The steal of my maternity days, has to be these adorable skinny jeans from H&M. I am so in love with them- and only 15 Euros! While wearing them, I am much more comfortable, and feel more confident in my pregnancy because I am giving baby more room to grow and move around. He/she is definetly trying to say, "thank you mommy, I enjoyed all that Christmas food!"

Lighting the World

Yesterday evening at our Christmas Eve Service before the traditional candle lighting and last carol sung, the pastor said a few words about the metaphor of our own candles being lit in a dark room. This symbolizes the dark world we live in and the light that is Jesus Christ. What struck me is what he said next, some of us can see the light.. some from a far and some very close up.
How clearly I can see Christ personally is surely a direct correlation between my own relationship with him and how well I have gotten to know him. My prayer this morning, Christmas morning, is that this question would continue to nag at me, in a good way.

Christ is the light of the world! Merry Christmas!

Birthday Surprises

Sometimes I think to myself, maybe what all married women think, "I have the best husband."

In lieu of cereal, this morning I was called to breakfast at 7:45 and was surprised to see scrambled cheese eggs, a French pastry and hot chocolate (no more coffee for me). I would never wake up early on a school day to make Bo breakfast!

Then, once I was settled in at work the excitement started and I realized this would not be a quiet day in the Nurse's Office. For every period Bo had arranged classes to come sing "Happy Birthday" to me along with delivering a light orange colored rose (reminding me of my wedding flowers!) Luckily, there have not been too many sick kids, otherwise this would have been quite a disturbance. But, instead it has been really fun to see all the kids sing to me!

Bo spilled the beans and told me about his other plans for my Birthday, which didn't work out. Apparently he had a contact in Switzerland who rents out his place in the Alps for a very reasonable price. Unfortunately, he could not get in touch with him. It sounded amazing... a cabin up in the snow covered mountains, over looking a gorgeous lake. Wish I could say its just the thought that counts, but no can do. I really wanted to go. Hopefully it will work soon.

Tonight baby and me will enjoy Thai egg rolls, chicken curry and a mango saft! Can't wait!

I have one sneaking suspicion- I think we have turned into the couple from Modern Family who try to out-do each other with gifts. Oh well, at least my birthday comes second in the year!

Bizzaro World

Purple ladies
Originally uploaded by LeighAnn2009

Well, the crazy dreams have started. After a wonderful evening at Bo's 30th Birthday Party, I came home and for some reason was still famished at 10:30. I made myself a nice pickled sandwich to eat in bed and then because I was still hungry, begged Bo to get me something else to eat. I went to sleep with a full belly after my peanut butter toast. And then entered into the bizzaro world. Please don't read further if you are easily squeamish or easily saddened.

I was in labor somewhere, the baby was crowning and I remember yelling at Bo to get Liliane (my co-worker midwife) and a pair of scissors. I hate to say it, but during this whole dream Bo was, well, the opposite of helpful. He never came to my rescue. Anyways, I delivered my own baby, cut the cord and then due to the fact that my baby was not alive began CPR. It was pretty awful. Also, my baby was quite deformed. It looked like a little man with a huge nose, and uneven legs. I don't remember anyone else even being there. Until the next moment in my dream, when some nurse gave me another baby out of pity. I remember breast feeding this baby and thinking everything was fine. Until I started tapping on the baby and then asked the nurse, "Is this bamboo?" Which she responded, "yes." And that was it. I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night.

I blame this dream not only on my crazy hormones and the in-bed snack, but also on my labor and delivery background. I have helped deliver still born babies of course and have performed CPR on struggling infants. But, this was the first time I was ever worried about anything. I do not usually think of these dreadful things and hope I will not again. But, the nightmare definitely wore me out for my day at work. I was exhausted!

Here is a picture of me before the nightmare (at Bo's party) - 16 weeks!