Waiting.

The evening walk after dinner

From our hotel room windows (that are clean, by the way) I can see the hospital.  And because the only thing I seem to be able to do while waiting to go into labor is to think about going into labor, this post will possibly appeal only to women. Then probably not to all women.  Possibly "only women who have gone past their due date" and know the happy expectant madness that occurs in those days.

Solidarity 40WeeksPLUS Club! (if you just did a fist pump, I could see why)

Here's how the Rivers kids rank in wait time:

Isaiah- 2.5 months. Absolutely incredible that one. Removes the whining I'm tempted to do with the other 3. (To clarify, this post isn't me whining, it's me anticipating!)
Immanuelle- 40 weeks + 1 day
i4- 40 weeks + 3 days and counting (seeing as how I doubt I'll deliver before midnight tonight...which is 25 min from now)
Isaac- 40 weeks + 5 days

By now we should have weeded out all males and uninterested females from reading this post, so let's crack on. (and if you're still reading, Man, I predict your immediate withdrawal after the next sentence)

"So, any signs of labor?"- asks Everyone.

1. As of 13 hours ago I was 4-5cm dilated. No contractions. Its like I've been handed the first few centimeters free of charge and get to start the race to the Labor and Delivery Ward that much closer.

2. As for the rest of the afternoon, I've finally started having "early labor" contractions. They're stronger than the "fake" kind, but not strong enough or come regular enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. I can still walk and talk and blog through them.

Sounds promising. Doesn't it?

Honestly, I'm pleased and hopeful.

But here's what's in the back of my mind.

1. When I went into labor with Isaac I also got those first 4 centimeters for free. Then 36 long hours later, I was getting a csection. Boo.

2. When "early labor" contractions- like what I have now- started with Immanuelle I got all excited. And 4 DAYS later, I finally went into real (or "active") labor.

So I am hopeful but also trying to just be relaxed and let things happen as they will. 
Experience is a phenomenal teacher, isn't it?

I perfectly understand where "first time laborer Sharon" was coming from when she refused a pitocin induction and considered herself a labor and delivery queen when the doc said she was at 4cm without any labor. And her resignation for an epidural after 28 hours of no-pain-meds, back labor, and 2.5 hours of transition contractions that did not transition her. And her disappointment (and relief) when Isaac was finally delivered healthy in an operating room, firmly and forever throwing off the thoroughly thought out "birth plan" of the expectant months before.  (Don't you like the way I've distanced myself from that by using 3rd person? Me too.)

I'm proud of the way 2nd-time laborer Sharon handled her VBAC attempt. (vaginal birth after cesarean) Though understandably after zero "early labor" with Isaac, her trip to the labor ward for "false labor" does make me smile.  How she didn't blink at saying yes to the epidural once active labor DID start, and the relief and thankfulness when the VBAC was successful. It was the first time Anthony was in the room to see one of his children born and the first time I got to hold one of my babies as soon as they were born.

And i4's story is already different and his/her birth story will be different as well. 

The free 4cm makes me think it's a boy...so for the dwindling numbers who have made it this far down in the post, pray this kid doesn't turn that head of his to the side like his brother did and land us both on the operating table again!

But the "10 minutes apart" early labor - that has only minorly disturbed me while typing this post- puts just enough edge on things to keep me guessing and makes this a nice meshing of the 2 previous "before labor" experiences. More than likely i4 is gonna let me sleep tonight (possibly 3 more nights?!) just like her big sister before her did. If I'm not actually heading to the hospital, I'd like to just sleep!

So, ladies. I could still very well be pregnant by morning. If not, we'll do our best to notify y'all of all of i4's particulars as soon as possible.

Goodnight!

October, baby.

And what we're gonna do here is just ignore the fact that we have no way of posting "real" pics on the blog and so what you see here is iPad pics of actual photos. (see last post if you start feeling dizzy from the unfocusedness of these) This was me at the famous twin towers in the fair capital city of Kuala Lumpur where I plan to deliver i4. I promise that's me.

It's due date time people.

The other two times I've reached this momentous day and was still pregnant, I pouted. Like, full-on attitude, snippy with my husband, woe-is-me, pout.

Back in '08, with Isaac, I stayed inside all day. Anthony and my mom went to the mall and I refused to go. I'm quite sure it was on the logical and non-emotional grounds of, "This baby is neeevvveeeer coming. I've already walked the malls. It doesn't work. I'm staying home." Clearly. I was thinking straight.

Then with Immanuelle in 2011, things improved a bit and I got out of the house.  We went to see a huge Hindu shrine because my parents were visiting and they had never been to it.  Heck, I even climbed all 272 stairs and put on quite the upbeat face...despite "ALLLLL my other pregnant friends ALREADY having their babies and NONE of them having to wait the full 40 weeks!"And here, copied directly from facebook, is the photo from 2011 at said shrine... (my hair is longer)

And now here it is AGAIN.

I think I passed.  The only people who acted like children were my children. No pouting, no woe-is-me-ing...even on the inside. Scouts honor, y'all.

So even though I've dodged the wrench of whining drama,  I still say it's slightly annoying to watch your due date come and go. They don't call pregnancy "expecting" for no reason.  And then 9 months ago, what was the first thing determined that set up all these expectations? "What's the due date?"

But as my good friend April reminded me. "Due dates are fake."

I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down friend. Buyin' it hook, line, and sinker.  Totally fake.

So in the spirit of trying to completely ignore that September 30th is here and is rolling right on by leaving me pregnant, like it wasn't supposed to be significant or something... for lack of photos, here's some of the thoughts I've been thinking while we wait for WHATEVER day i4 is destined to be born (FYI- I only partially blame all y'all who voted for an October baby in the last post. I DID give that option and how did you know you were tempting fate??)

* I'm thankful for yet another healthy pregnancy and am completely astounded at such a gift when such a thing is guaranteed to no one.

* I will write a C-section vs. Natural vs. Adoption post at some point... though mostly I'm curious to see how this birth turns out, first.

* I'm really glad we didn't find out gender this time. It almost makes waiting for the due date diminished and less miserable because the surprise of gender is the "bigger" unknown ahead of us.

* My children can destroy a new pack of crayons in record time. 2 brand new packs have been whittled to tiny paperless nubbins in what seems like hours. I am SO glad I have them with me to help pass the time.

* I wonder why I didn't get any of my mom's Teacher-skills. I mean, I get that not everything can be DNA-passed-down, but you'd think being raised by a teacher would have some sort of osmosis-y benefits. I'd get hives just walking past the Education building at UNF.  She plays with the grands and teaches them the whole time. She's gotten Isaiah to go under water with her- which is impressive in itself and even more so when compared to my epic-mom-fail attempt(s) at teaching them to swim. She fields all of Isaac's math equation questions (he does them all in his head!) and grabs those nubby crayons and draws a vase of flowers for him to try and draw himself. She's even got him to say his "TH" sound correctly.  It's a skill to behold!

* My husband is the kind of man who is easy to love.  He serves and loves me and our children with such steadiness and patience and joy.  Back rubs, foot rubs, trips down to the grocery store, pushing the stroller on walks on the the uneven sidewalks (instead of driving the car) so his pregnant wife can "walk" and get the baby out, going back up to the room just because I really want fancy-schmancy camera pics of my kids in the pool, etc etc.  He really takes the edge off the wait for i4. (him mostly, but also the Dr. Pepper he brings back from the grocery store across from the hotel)

*  Old Wives should not be believed, ok?  I have scrubbed the shower (in our hotel, totally serious), cleaned the windows, walked, squatted, ate and drank things, and followed doctor's orders to (lets keep things PG ok?) "Do what what got you into pregnancy to get you out of it." Maybe those tales are good at getting stains out of clothes or other such handy advice, but babies just show up when they darn well please! But you guys are more than welcome to leave whatever advice you've heard and if it's reasonable, I'll try it! Though I'm not paying import prices for castor oil.

17 floors up (there's a balcony you can't see, promise)

*  I can't wait to meet i4!

Place Your Bets. And Maternity Pics.

First things First.


And just because the due date is September 30th ("30 days have September, April, June, and November"...for all you calendar flunkies out there) and I have gone over my due date everytime...


So let me just pause right now and proclaim from the World Wide Web that my husband rocks my face off. Or rather, he rocks it ON and helped me make 38 weeks 5 days pregnant look like it's a pretty awesome place to be.

He shot these and edited them today. His whole Saturday loving on me in the form of taking photos and editing them.  He even made lunch, let me nap, and washed dishes after dinner and is now (at mid-night) picking up my parents from the airport! Sexy, y'all. Fo reals.

When he was finished with these, I was surprised by how little had changed between what he shot and the editing... which I hear indicates that he's actually understanding photography and getting things right with the click of the shutter, not the click of the Lightroom editing tools (though he's getting good at those too!)

So, can I just say that I realize y'all don't need to see me 100 times in the same outfit with various and slight accessory changes? I do. Really. But I have never had a "maternity photo session" with any pregnancy other than the standard belly profile pic and Anthony has never done this "formal" of a photo shoot.  So the amount of pics here is a result of those two things...but what I post here is mostly just me impressed with my man and his skills!

I originally thought it might be fun to take pics down by the water in our city. Boat masts make nice backdrops and such. The Sultan lives right on the water and there's plenty of charm.  Friday, we had just a few minutes after taking the boys to school to go try it out as Anthony wanted to see how things looked a bit before the "actual shoot" Saturday morning. We liked how they turned out but realized we wanted the pics to be in a "real place" that we often go to and that represents where we live now, waiting for this sweet baby. The Marina is fine and all, but we don't hang out there...or sail...or know anyone who does.

but, here's the "sample" shots...

Not bad. Especially Birdie patting her "baby" belly too. We just decided that we wanted it to be more "real" of our time here.  So we changed the location to downtown.  In the old, cute, colonial, slightly grungy-but-changing-slowly-into-hipstery section of our city.  Despite the Chinese writing you see in the pics, its actually a great blend of the 3 dominant cultures in Malaysia... Malay, Chinese, and Indian.  We go there to get banana bread from the Hiap Joo Bakery and eat some of the best Banana Leaf (Indian food eaten on a banana leaf) in our city.  Which means the shop owners may say the next time we're there, "Hey! I saw you taking photos here of your wife!"

Things don't always go as planned. And that's not always a bad thing.

We had hoped to do these while the boys were in school so we wouldn't have to worry with keeping 3 small children off the busy streets. (Oh, and my hubs also managed to make it look like we had the place to ourselves despite the busy Saturday morning all around us. Lots of traffic and people.) But schedules being what they are, Saturday morning was all there was so i1, i2, and i3 were all there too.

Did it feel like a circus? Yes.
Did Isaac complain about carrying my bag? Yes.
Did Immanuelle feel compelled to stand by my legs every 2 minutes? Yes.
Did the boys asks for snacks constantly from the moment we arrived? Yes.

But did we get some shots of my other Sweets we wouldn't have otherwise? Yes. Absolutely!

We love our crew of little people. They really are so much fun. Heartstopping when they step off the curb into the streets despite your constant warnings...but when they're not doing that, total fun.

Naturally when small children and their Daddy are out and about together and those small children are begging to be fed, a stop into a bakery is a must. The Hiap Joo only makes banana bread at certain times of day...this was not the time...so we went to the Salahuddin Bakery instead.  I grabbed the camera, hoped the last setting Anthony had it on would work ok, prayed something would be in focus and caught these moments...

My hubs telling the boys they need to choose the cream-filled pastries while Schmirdle-Bird twirled in the shop. Then Uncle loading up the pastries for the boys.

Pastries in the bag- as opposed to directly into their tummies- made for an notable increase in begging for snacks. So we loaded up and called it a day feeling optimistic that something of what we had shot would work out like we hoped. (also gray shirts show sweat...and there's only so long I could fend off the sweat lines!)

But to keep it real, here are a couple of extras because neat, clean, make-up faced, traffic-free, accessorized, non-sweaty baby bellies aren't REALLY how we roll around here all the time. Hard to believe, I know.

This pregnancy and my first pregnancy with Isaac my body has carried the baby nearly identically. (possible indication of gender?!?!?! Thinking 'bout changing your vote??) Friends and strangers alike tell me regularly, "From behind you don't even look pregnant." So in the spirit of things Anthony got me to throw out the vibe and record this unique aspect of pregnancies 1 and 3.  No wonder I have a ton of lower back pain...ALL the weight is in my belly and in the front!

And then there was this moment.

The dialogue.
Isaac: "Mama. Why are those guys sleeping over there on the ground?"
Me: "Well, buddy, I'm not sure exactly, but that's where they ended up sleeping this morning."

And in a flash of childhood innocence and trust, they took that as a good enough answer and dropped the subject. I told y'all this was "downtown." Also told you Anthony did a good job of making it look like we had the place to ourselves. Wasn't joking!

And lastly. Though, Anthony and I spent over an hour laughing at maternity poses on Pinterest the other night and I determined to smile and convey what a happy time pregnancy has been for me, we did manage a couple of "serious face" poses.  Wasn't easy though!  I'm glad most of you don't read Chinese...as you don't really need to know the name of the Dry Cleaner shop or what time it opens... kidding. It's not a dry cleaner shop. Or is it??? (just pretend the calligraphy says something like "Elegance" "Natural" "Beauty" not "Foo See Yap. 1 day service. 9am-7pm")

Thanks for enduring so much gray tank top and white pants, y'all. Really. You are MORE than welcome to leave a comment and tell my hubs what a fantastic job he did on these.

And while you're at it, take a stab at i4's time and date of birth, weight, length, hair color, eye color, straight-or-curly hair, whatever you feel like guessing at! Even his/her name if you're feelin' really lucky!

No names leaked here, but this Mama's guess is...

Gender: Boy
Date: September 27
Time: 9:35pm
Weight: 3.6kgs (or about 8lbs)
Length: 19 inches
Hair: Dark and Curly
Eyes: Green

I am perfectly fine with all of that being wrong and completely off! We are excited to meet this little one and get to know all the little details. We are so very very thankful to God for a healthy pregnancy and are praying for a smooth uncomplicated delivery.

Thanks again Love for documenting this season of our lives so beautifully!
(especially since this is the LAST time I will ever be pregnant!)

From Before to After: Master Bedroom

Y'all haven't missed anything.

We haven't moved.
Same house. 2 years.

It's just that I'm just now getting around to putting up "real" curtains in our bedroom. (blogworthy right?)

Are y'all disappointed about something? Anxiously waiting for a different sort of blogpost? Maybe of something on a smaller, sweeter, and 7 pounds-ish scale?

I get it. I'm 38 weeks pregnant. Full-term. Ready to pop and all. Y'all were hoping for newborn pics, weren't you?

The short version is, my womb laughs at due dates. 

Scoffs, even.  

Watches them come and go, leaving labor wards empty. (i4 Sweety, you have permission to make Mama eat her words)

September 30th is the due date. The 2-week blog forecast is 99% chance of scattered nesting/decorating/i1-i2-i3/waiting-for-baby blogposts. Isaac the First was a c-section so it's not safe to induce. We wait. I paint stuff. I make to-do lists. I sew. I freeze meals. I clean things. Grandparents arrive. We wait some more.

Now that everyone is on the same wavelength (with less sciatic nerve pain, I hope,  for your sake) lets take things back circa 2011 for the "BEFORE" pictures...

June 2011. Let's call this one, "High Hopes."

Then... so you can see the step-by-step, non-haphazard way we added a bed frame, painted over the orange-water spotted walls, and got around to covering up all the storage-ness, here's some DURING or, for the forward thinking, PROGRESSION pictures... 

There's so much to love. No duvet cover, wires exposed (no that one isn't going into his diaper, though it looks like it!), a sleeping Zayah.  Who needs a bed frame for a nap?!  No way THIS room is getting confused for a Master Bedroom.  Nuh-uh.

 We'll call this one, "Laundry Day" because it sure as heck wasn't "Decorating Day." Taken by a toddler-Isaac somewhere around January 2012 or before, given the size of Immanuelle who stopped sleeping in our room around then.

Another moment captured successfully by Toddler-Isaac. SO glad he got the beige-and-green curtain fantasy in the frame.  There are just some things that need to be remembered.

October-ish 2012.  It was tough but I think, "Lazy and Not Decorating Bedroom" would be pretty on-target for this caption.

"Storage Glory" ... August 2013....and the crib is BACK in our room! The blue part of the walls was painted by this point as well as pallet-mirrors made for dressers. However, given the state of things that's just a desperate way of saying "PLEASE don't look at those awful curtains and ignore the craploads of exposed storage."

"The Last Stand"
August-September 2013. The state of things for over a week. Approximately 45 seconds after the storage boxes were opened to be whittled down to as close to empty as possible (so long extra crap!) Isaac cry-yells from the bathroom, "MAMA! I JUST THREW UP!"  Have mercy. We persevered. Boys started school, bottoms got sewn onto the curtains, my hero of a husband figured out how to rig up the curtain rods and we declared it "PRETTY MUCH DONE!"

I won't keep the AFTER shots from you any longer...

Morning Light
There are now black-outs behind the curtains, but I love morning light all the same. Helps me roll (literally) out of bed.

Beige lampshades that look oh-so gold in photos. Meh.

Nighttime with Lights On
And now the pillows look green?! {shoulder shrug}

Still a few things to add, no? Rugs. Rugs and Photos missing. And Artwork... And I can tell what y'all are thinking and you're right; actually, there WAS a full-length mirror on the blue wall by the wardrobe. It crashed (and I tried to re-purpose the wood!) but it has not been replaced. Yet.

One last one. Because looking at the same room at different times of day really IS interesting and it  DOES give you a glimpse of my life as we wait for i4...

Lamplight

And maybe rugs and artwork aren't what's missing...it's more like baby spit-up... and a diaper that didn't make it to the trashcan as soon as it was changed. Oo-oo! AND a passed out Mama holding a baby who both fell asleep at the midnight feeding. THAT is what will make it complete! (rather, it's what's sure to make it in the room before any new rug or piece of artwork!) 

Do what you can...

Let's just start this one off with a recap of the ol' baby belly at weeks 16, 18, 20, & 22. That bottom right one was taken this morning on a self-timer. Gosh. This blog couldn't be more current!

You may notice that the bottom left corner- aka "20 Weeks"- is the most flattering of all them. Not only am I wearing make-up, but that one was taken with the fancy schmancy camera. I'm thinking all a woman needs to see is her skin looking like some strange tomato next to a clear, make-upped face, focused version and she could be convinced that a fancy schmancy camera was what she needed.

And now we've done enough talking about these. The bump is bigger!

Do your summer plans include any pinterest projects? Crafts? Travel? "Fun" to-do lists?

It's usually busy and yet not all at once. I'm usually excited at the start of summer regardless of what's to come...

Will you accomplish your plans? Probably some of you will.
Will they be the source of fond memories for your kids? I bet! Grab that camera, fancy schmancy or otherwise.
Will you instagram the success? Please do! (or get your hubs to do it like I do...)
Should you laugh at the fails? Absolutely (then instagram those too)

Now, what happens if it starts out a success, but then, ever so gradually, turns into a fail over several weeks? What do you do?

I'll tell you.

Remember the photos imma bout to show you.
Then, do what you can to revive that bad boy and revel in being able to teach your kids how to make the most of things. (or if it's bad enough, just toss it. Kids can learn from that too.)

My go-to flower choice in my garden is bougainvillea. It's a tough little bugger and grows well in the full-sun of the equator. Hard to kill. Looks great. Can do.  I also found a variety that's like a double bloom, so the "flowers" look like those tissue paper pom-poms on pinterest party boards. They're fat and it makes me wanna squish them when they bloom. Which I do.

You did NOT need to know that about bougainvillea to follow these pictures. I tend to over-detail. (you noticed?)

We set out to start a bougainvillea arch/canopy. With some leftover pallet wood (cut by the hubs prior to these photos), a drill, chicken wire, staple gun, and some 5 foot pieces of pressed wood recycled from the bedroom ikea mirror that fell off the wall, we were good to go!

We built simple wood boxes using zero proper woodshop skills. They were not square nor level. So? Each of us took a turn documenting the progress on camera. Here's Zay catching Isaac and I building one box...(they have no bottoms and are just for show really) 

 And here Isaac captured Isaiah helping me finish up the 2nd box... then we took a break for a day or so...

 Then Isaiah focused in remarkably well for the "screw the wood plank to the inside of the box" step... (repeat with other wood plank on 2nd box)

 Then I went for the close-up on the "roll out the 15ft of chicken wire over the wood plank and staple gun it to the box and the wood plank" step...

 I think Isaiah went inside because he was "setty" (sweaty) or else we'd have documentation of Isaac and I standing the boxes up. But here they are just before that.

But stand the boxes up we did! Just in time for Isaiah to return from his break. I had no clue no clue Superman could get setty too.

 After placing our potted plants inside the boxes, and securing the bougainvillea to the chicken wire, ensuring it's proper growth trajectory over the archway and WAH-LAH!

 See? Pom-pommy flowers that are hard to kill. They almost look like roses! This was April 29th. Hopes for swoon-y, shady, flowery arches and pinterest pride were riding high.

I think maybe I've mentioned on here a time or two about how "dry season" really just means that the daily rain comes in the form of thunderstorms. I haven't?

 After giving it all of the DIY-strength it could muster, here's where things stood this morning May 30th.
wah-wah-waaaaaaaah

Apparently pressed particle board made for framing indoor mirrors, doesn't really hold up well outside its natural environment.  Noted.

See the bamboo? (be sure not to miss the hangers either) Those bamboo poles held political flags for the national election mid-May. There are gazillions of them on every corner nationwide. Afterwards the political parties have to take down their flags quickly or they get fined.  I have no political connections here. I will pick up free bamboo poles laying on the side of the road no matter which flag they supported.

So I did what I could. De-stapled (un-stapled?), unscrewed, and stuck the bamboo poles into their new home where I hope they'll do much better than their predecessors against afternoon thunderstorms...

 Ta da! Hopes are high again y'all.

Everyone helped and as it was a cool morning and we weren't so setty, Isaiah made the declaration as we finished,
"Mama. Dis is a nice day for a picnic."

And it was...

I knew I made chocolate chip cookies last night for a bigger reason than just stuffing my pregnant face. I knew it.

So y'all get to it. Make your summer rock in whichever way you've set out to do.  Leave me a comment and tell me what you're most excited about this coming June, July, and August. And just do what you can to get it done whether its fantastic or fails or fizzles!

(and yes y'all, that's a Dr. Pepper!)

Spring has Sprung

This year the seasons changing- or, rather, not changing- has affected me more than any other of my 5 years overseas. Last fall, I wanted cool nights and football games and Pumpkin Spice Latte's, and this Spring, I want flowers, and new, and hope, and freshness. By "freshness" I am specifically talking about the scent of orange blossoms hanging heavy in the air on humid Spring nights in South Florida. Heaven I tell ya!

So the longing for some type of Spring is what's on my mind. And I'm from Florida! What's up with this? We don't even really do Springtime in the Sunshine state. Wet cold directly to blazing sun is how we roll come March. Maybe it's just the pregnancy hormones talking? Prolly.

It's made the crafting bug in me want to make felt flowers and picnic blankets for friends.

My parenting and my wife-ing need some soil churning, water and sunshine. (I was gonna say "fertilizer" but I think with #4 on the way...well...)  Hot on my book list is Give them Grace, and This Momentary Marriage.

My bougainvillea plants decided to plan a timely flowering cycle and bright color is dotting my garden wall. 

Oh, garden wall, you poor, greening, chipping, divider of property lines... pressure washing was a must for Springtime activities. More plants and more color are in the works...but these plans, naturally, require chicken wire and at least 13 feet of it. Our car is in the shop and so my weekend of pinteresty projects in the yard has been delayed again. More on that later...

Springtime shots from the equator.

Family Movie Night. 6:30pm and its that bright. By 7pm its nearly dark. Sunsets go quick here!

Isaac: "Mama, can we eat outside for dinner?" Me: (genius! New chairs and table cloth from IKEA!) "Sure Isaac!"

My 3 year old proving he CAN have a good attitude. (I'm well aware this isn't a picture of him being told to make his bed)
Also because I know you care deeply, that wall is AFTER the pressure washing. Lemonade from lemons folks. Lemonade.

Birdie-bye sporting her new adorable bathing suit sent by Grandma. It's amazing how such a big vocabulary can fit into such a small 18 month old body.

No really. She cries.

I know, I KNOW its hard to believe that the mom to such adorable kiddos would be desiring a booster shot for parenting. This is what Immanuelle looked like while Aunt Angie was making us homemade waffles on Easter morning. I have yet to catch the boys arguing and get a picture of it, but it is very very real. And my temper (with added help from the heat and the hormones) well, maybe I should get a picture of that too? No??? Yeah, I don't wanna see that either.

i4 from the inside @ 13 weeks. Skull, spine, hands, 10 fingers, all checked and in tact.  And THAT y'all, is an Anthony Rivers head if I've ever seen one!

i4 from the outside @ 16wks. Finished 1st trimester with ZERO vomiting making this the best 1st trimester for me. Started feeling kicks at 13 weeks.

Ah, Spring. While not marked by temperature changes, I'm hoping it'll be a banner year because of what this season produces. In my craft room, in my garden, in my family, in my marriage, and mostly in my heart. It's all fine the way it is, but I find Spring this year just begging me to make things brighter, to dig deeper, to water a bit more. That's what's so great about this season...the hope of things to come!

I love this passage from the book of Isaiah in the Bible. It does my heart good to hear how strong the Lord is and how willing he is to renew those whose strength is failing. What a great reminder for the hope that Springtime brings!

"Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.

 He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength

 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;

 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint."

Isaiah 40:28-31