Baby prep

A couple of my good friends from church threw me a baby shower last week.  I thought I didn't need a shower at first, but it was really fun and I'm so glad I got to have one!  Baby Audrey and I received some darling gifts, as well as some much appreciated diapers and coupons for meals and playdates!

Only five people in attendance were pregnant.  Here we are in order of due date:

Yesterday I finally got around to washing baby clothes and sheets.  When I showed Claire some newborn outfits that she had worn, she got excited and wanted to wear them again.  I tried to explain that she was too big, but she insisted, "No, I'm little."  It wasn't easy getting the top three snaps done.

When Claire saw a 2-pack of newborn pacifiers, she said, "One for baby Audrey, and one for me!"  Um, no, Claire, you are not allowed to have a pacifier anymore.  That's why you like to put fingers and other small objects in your mouth when I'm not looking.  Just today, David was telling Ethan that they needed a coin to open the battery compartment of a toy.  Claire immediately said, "I've got a coin!  Here, in my mouth."

Ethan had no difficulties transitioning to life as an older sibling.  We'll see how Claire does. 

Ethan gives me these sweet "Mommy and baby hugs"

Just a couple days left to go!

House for sale

Well it's almost official.  We've got a For Sale sign in the front yard, and we should be on the MLS by Tuesday.  Here are some pictures of our house:

Exterior (June 2008)

Bushes are now larger, and David recently planted several small trees around the yard.

Living room

Living/entry/hall

Kitchen

Master bedroom

Master bath

2nd bedroom

Hallway bath

3rd Bedroom / Office

We've been fortunate to have such a cute house to live in over the past 4 years!  We'll miss Winterville and our great neighbors.  If you know anyone who is house-shopping in the Athens area, please send them our way!

Minneapolis, here we come!

I can't stand to blog out of chronological order, so this news may be old to some of you.  But...

David accepted a job offer in Minneapolis, Minnesota!  He'll be working as an instructional designer for Seward, Inc, the educational consulting company he went to Jordan with in January.  David will continue to support the project in Jordan and will also be involved with grant-writing, instructional design and evaluation, and supporting educational projects in developing countries.  Seward is a small company, which means that he'll have opportunities to be highly involved in several aspects of work/projects. David is excited about taking a break from academia, and I'm excited for him to have an 8-5 job (free nights and weekends!) although he will be traveling occasionally. 

We are planning to move to MN by late May or early June.  Everyone we talk to has wonderful things to say about Minneapolis--schools, parks, lakes, culture, people.  There's just that minor problem of having snow on the ground for 1/2 the year.  My grandpa says that Minnesota has two seasons, winter and the 4th of July.  I'm glad we'll be moving after the snow has melted.  We've been staying up late every night viewing homes on the MLS and reading up on school districts in the Minneapolis area.  It's hard to believe that after about 10 moves in 10 years of marriage, we'll actually be settling in one place for awhile. 

So here's our plan for March:

Week 2: David turns in his dissertation, we put our house up for sale.
Week 3: David's parents arrive from UT, and healthy baby girl shows up right on time (right??).
Week 4: David defends his dissertation (and passes, of course!).

Thank goodness we'll have grandparents in town to help with baby, kids, and keeping our house presentable!  Maybe they can even potty-train Claire while they're here.  (Just kidding, grandparents who are reading this!)

The belly at 35 weeks. (Just imagine how I look now at 38 weeks!)

Ethan requested Ratatouille for dinner (after watching the movie, of course).  It's got all my favorite veggies: eggplant, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes.  We'll be making this again!  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ratatouille/Detail.aspx

Ethan, what do you think of Ratatouille?

"Plant a tree for your tomorrow..."  3 years ago, David accepted 10 seedlings (and a lifetime's worth of return address labels) from the Arbor Day Foundation.  He initially planted them right behind our house where they'd have some protection from the weather.  Last week, our friend who has helped us a ton with landscaping our yard came over and they moved all the trees to permanent locations around the yard.  How do you like that Georgia February sunshine?! 

 

Ethan never waits to be asked for his help... he jumps in on every house and yard project.

Claire had so much fun playing with our friend's son (aka "that boy")

Little music leaders

At our church, the kids have 20 minutes of "singing time" each Sunday.  The music leader and pianist teach monthly theme songs and other fun activity songs.  They build a lot of games into the teaching to hold the attention of 3-11 year olds. 

A few weeks ago, I overheard Ethan and Claire playing music leader (with the help of the Diaper Champ).  These videos are pretty much the cutest things ever, in my opinion!

#1 - Ethan as music leader (2min of cuteness)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqfgc9lJ6io

#2 - Claire takes over (2min of cute, sassy sister and patient brother)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVb9hqbVKhI

Claire's first ER visit

Three weeks ago, Claire and Ethan were chasing each other around and Claire ended up with her thumb slammed in their bedroom door.  Her entire nail was ripped clean off down to the nail root (under the skin).  It was kind of traumatic... both for Claire and for David who passed out from seeing his little girl in so much pain!  Imagine me, holding Claire who is bleeding and crying, saying, "Ethan, please get me another cotton pad out of the closet...try not to step on Daddy..."

We took Claire and her nail to the E.R. where they put the nail back in place and stitched it back on as a "biological bandaid."  Fortunately, x-rays did not show any bone injury.  Time will tell whether her nail will grow back normally. 

Claire watching cartoons while she waits for her thumb to numb before stitches.

Claire liked her green "hospital dress" and Maisy Mouse stickers. 

This girl never takes naps, but she was tuckered out after her morning at the E.R.

 A few days later, I told Claire we needed to go back to the hospital to pick up her x-rays.  She held up her non-injured thumb and asked, "To do my other finger?"  Here's her thumb on day 3. 

As traumatic as the experience was, she sure enjoyed picking out a new bandaid each day that first week.   She looks forward to dr. appointments and reminds us at every family prayer to bless her thumb.  Two weeks later, her stitches were removed and the old nail came off.  Hopefully we'll see new nail growth in a month or two.    

David's trip to Jordan

David spent a week in Amman, Jordan in January working as an Educational Consultant on a USAID project.  It was a lot of fun, and so nice to actually get paid to do this stuff.

This is the group of Minnesotans (pronounced Minn-ah-sooo-'-uns) that I worked with, while eating at a really cool cafe overlooking the old city of Amman.

 The view from the hotel.

ummmmm.....shwarmas. 

The abayas in Amman are much more colorful than in Oman 

 Revolutionary chicken anyone?

Water trucks and Carrefour...Ethan would have liked this. 

Our fearless leader, Greg.

The vegatable souq 

 The cute kindergarten kids we were working with.

 The church in Amman.

 A really nice taxi driver I spent my day off with.

Amr took me to as-Salt.

They made me pose this way. 

(Dawnell says this looks like one of the activity stations for kids at Epcot.)

 As-Salt was the provincial capital during the Ottoman period.

 Playing soccer with youth by the citadel mosque, as-Salt

 The old Roman ruins in the Balad, Amman

 Looking down into the Jordan Valley.  If there was no haze, you could see Israel.

 All the king's horses....

and all the king's men.... 

 Me with the Imam of the King Hussein Mosque.

Jordan, snow, primary, PT

January was kind of an exciting month.  Remember that educational consulting company in Minnesota that David interviewed with in November?  The one whose owner he met in Oman last year?  They are starting up a new project in Jordan, and invited David to join the team as an independent consultant on the initial trip to Amman.  In other words, David was PAID to go on a trip to a part of the world he loves, gaining experience in learning design while practicing his Arabic skills and eating falafel and shawarmas every day.  (This is the kind of opportunity that graduate students usually have to PAY for!) 
Meanwhile, the kids and I stayed home and experienced a Southern snowstorm.  It snowed 8 inches the day after David left, and melted into ice that lasted all week.  School was cancelled and many businesses were closed for 5 days in a row, since cities in the South are not equiped with snowplows or de-icing trucks.  We felt very fortunate to not lose power as we did during the snowstorm two years ago.  Instead, we played in the snow/ice, drank hot chocolate, and enjoyed new Christmas toys and movies.

David called by Skype nearly every day to tell me about his adventures in Jordan.  He thought a lot about what souvenirs and treats to bring home to us.  I joked that he needed to bring home 30 shawarmas in his carry-on luggage, the way our housekeeper Edna used to bring shawarmas from Oman to India when she went home to visit her pregnant daughter.  ("If someone wants something and they are pregnant, you have to get it for them," Edna told me.) 

David wanted to get something special for Ethan that would remind him of Oman.  In the end, he got European chocolates shaped like hippos for Ethan and Claire.  After Ethan bit into his chocolate, David asked expectantly, "What does it taste like, Ethan?"  Ethan responded, "It tastes like any old cookie." 

David brought home some pretty Palestinian-style ceramic bowls and tiles.  He also brought me a box of dates, Galaxy chocolates, and Nutro wafers, some favorite treats we used to buy in Oman. 

Other exciting things in January:  We held a Saturday activity for the primary kids to introduce the 2011 theme, "I Know the Scriptures are True."  We did a Hula Hoop pass to teach the concept of a "challenge," and challenged the kids to write down one thing per week that they learned from scripture reading at home.  We then rorated the kids through 5 activity/learning stations and ate some very cute cupcakes.  A lot of work went into preparing the activity, and I think it turned out pretty well. 

Also in January... I graduated from physical therapy!  I attended about 4 visits during Dec/Jan for hip pain and diastisis recti (excessive separation of abs).  The PT initially scheduled me for 12 weekly visits, but by the end of January she said I was looking great and could stop coming.  I've had a lot more pain and fatigue during this pregnancy compared with the last two, but I'm blessed with a very helpful husband who mops, cleans, puts groceries away, carries children, picks up toys, and tells me every day how much he likes my big 'ole belly.  "You are SOOOO cute," he tells me.  "I wish you were pregnant all the time." 

Speaking of being SOOOO cute, here's a fun photo of David from the "Locate your leader" activity the church youth had at the mall.  David didn't shave for a few days, dressed in black, and wore big headphones.  He must have looked like a lost soul, because a nice couple handed him an invitation to their church.