Making (Noticeable) Progress

Last week I hit a milestone in my pregnancy... Public Participation. I was on my way in to Sunny Farms, our local version of Whole Foods, and a lady on her way out took one look at me and said "Cute Belly." Then, as I made my way through to get a couple of grocery items I noticed at least five or six other stares and smiles, focused on my belly. So now, as you can see from the photo below (24 weeks and 2 days), my belly has grown to the point where strangers feel pretty confident that I'm pregnant and don't worry that they might put their foot in their mouth.

For the most part, this is fun. It's nice to look pregnant, and not just really chubby. It's also fun to get the smiles and well wishes. I haven't had any creepy people touching my belly yet, but from what I understand, that is to come. On the other hand, I do wonder how I will get any bigger. I mean, look at that torpedo coming out of my belly. There's three more months of growth to come. Where is it all going to go? And those aches I'm starting to feel in my back? Well those are probably here to stay. All in all, I'm still having fun and enjoying the process.
Yesterday Tony took a group of leaders to Seattle for a one-day conference. It was a great conference, talking about transformation and change. Good for personal growth and also our perspective/approach to youth ministry. The day was glorious. To have the weather be in the mid sixties and sunny most of the day was phenomenal (given the snow we had last weekend). We enjoyed a ferry ride back to the peninsula at the end of our day and I figured it was the perfect prego couple photo op.
Then, Dad-to-be, who we will refer to now as "Rico" had some fun posing for the camera (and showing off his manly chest). He is such a goofball and will probably do his share to embarrass our child one day, but we got a lot of laughs out of it. And he was quite pleased to see the picture and realize that it also showed off his favorite belt buckle. (This is one in a series of 4 or 5 that he's bought since Christmas. It's a new obsession, but thankfully harmless.)

Until next time...

Already Halfway There?!

Yep. We're halfway there. Actually, we were three weeks ago. (This picture is at 20 weeks. Now we're 23 weeks and a couple of days.) It seemed like a big marker to hit and time keeps ticking away. It's amazing how fast everything goes. Maybe it's because so much is changing and new each week. I've got my eye on the calendar, but I'm not feeling the pressure to get everything done quite yet. Although given the rapid growth of my belly these days, I can see there's validity to the fact that people say this second trimester is the best. Who knows how much I'll be able to do in a couple of months. We'll see.

(By the way, if the outfit above looks familiar, just want you to know that we did it on purpose. All of the books say to wear the same thing each month to compare. So I got two months out of this outfit, but the belly is moving beyond regular t-shirts these days so next picture probably won't be quite the same.)
Just two days after we hit 20 weeks we were on our way to Mexico for our annual Spring Break Mission trip with our high school students. This year we took 22 students and 11 leaders. It was an awesome group. The week went very smoothly and we were priveleged to build and mosaic an awesome barbeque outside their dining hall, gut and reframe their failing walk-in fridge (it was moldy and pretty nasty, not to mention the condenser wasn't really working), and a few other projects. Thanks to the generosity and support of our church, this was our fourth trip to Door of Faith Orphanage.

Baby Bear and I fared really well. This year I had the perfect excuse to embrace my role as photographer and supervisor. Although I did miss getting in and working alongside the students, it was a good lesson in letting go control. Not to mention probably a nice inbetween step since next year I'll have a little one in tow.

The day after we got back from Mexico we had another ultrasound. It is so amazing to be able to see our baby. The ultrasound tech made several comments that we had an active baby and Tony and I reveled in watching our little one toss and turn and kick. (I'm going to try to scan in the photos to share.)

You might all be wondering... Did they find out? I'll confess that I was slightly tempted when we were in the midst of the ultrasound. At that point I turned to Tony and asked if he was tempted. His reply was a very firm and simple "No." So thanks to his strength we held out. We're having a "surprise." Not even our midwives will know.
The excitement continued later on in the week when my best friend and roommate from college, Jenny, came to visit. What a special to treat-- not only to have her here with us but also to be able to share our pregnancies and growing bellies. (She's four weeks ahead of me.) Her visit was pretty mellow as both of us are enjoying our rest these days, but we did venture out to the famed Dungeness Spit for a nice beach walk. Can you see the Olympic Mountains in the background? We know they're there.
And of course, we had to take a real belly picture to capture the memory of her visit and this season we're sharing. With Tony as our photographer, we worked really hard at the science of getting our bodies turned right and making sure that both of our bellies were showing. It was quite a laugh at how much effort went in to it. But from my perspective, this is a picture I'm going to cherish for a long time. Gotta get it right.

Mom Windham was due to visit this last week for her annual spring trip, but decided to postpone until baby time in August. We missed having her with us, but are glad that she was able to be at home with Papa. We would covet your prayers for my Papa as he has recently begun a war against cancer. He's ready for battle and very positive so far, for which I am grateful. Chemotherapy starts soon and our prayer is that his body will be able to process the chemo so that it attacks and conquers all of the right places. Papa is a fighter and doesn't take anything sitting still. Please pray that his spirit would be strong and for strength and energy for my mom, sister, brother and other family and friends that will be journeying alongside him. I'm very much looking forward to a visit with my Papa at the end of May.