To Do Lists and Missing Socks

As of today, we have less than two weeks left until Baby Bear's official due date. Hard to believe.

Here we are at 36 weeks and a couple of days. Tony says we've gotten even bigger since then.


The last few weeks have been a bit eventful for us. Tony spent two separate weeks in Olympia for camps and the week in between we had two of our newphews, Zach and Mikael, visiting with us. We had a great visit with the boys-- they are so easy going and enjoyed a little relaxation.


For those of you that don't know, Olympia is 2.5 hours away. We put in our requests with baby to ask that he/she wouldn't come while papa was gone, but were prepared for the possibility in case baby was really early. But now Tony is back and will not be leaving town anytime soon.


So, in addition to finishing up most of my accounts with work, I've been working on the to do lists while Tony was gone. One of the big items I had to tackle was baby's laundry. This may sound a simple task, but with clothes, sheets and the abundance of blankets we've been given, I think it totalled 5 loads of laundry. I had a moment when reality set in--taking some of the clothes out of the dryer. Yep, those little onesies and socks transformed from cute doll-like toys to my child's clothes.


I'm sure I'll be taking them out of the dryer many times over, but hopefully I won't be losing too many more socks. That's right-- I've already lost a sock. Either that or the dryer has chosen to take a deposit in exchange for all of the work it will be doing for the addition to our family. Those socks are so small, I don't know how I'll ever keep track of them all.


Less than two weeks until the big day, and I'm mostly ready. My energy is decreasing by the day, but besides that, my body is holding up fairly well. In fact, haven't had much of the swollen ankles lately, just swollen hands. It's amazing how your whole body is affected. I think I can hold out (mentally) until the 15th, but after that, it will be hard to be patient.


Nursery is mostly ready-- just waiting for the changing table that was on back order and then I'll post some pictures. I have a few more things I'd like to get done, but I've also picked up a new fiction book, anticipating the need for some down time as my energy and motivation wanes.

Tony, Mikael and Zach assembling the bookcase for baby's room.

We're soon to be parents and that becomes more exciting (and a bit terrifying) by the day. We're still working on names for baby. The boy names have been easy for us, but the girl names are harder to agree upon. We may be wavering up until the last minute (as in the time to sign the birth certificate). We'll see.


More in a week or two. Oh, and if any of you feel inclined to pray for labor and delivery and the health of our newborn, we would be so appreciative. Lots of unknowns in our future.

Catching Up and Counting Down

Well, today is July 8th and we're exactly 5 weeks and 2 days from our official due date (whatever that means, right?). We're officially on the count down.

It's been a month since my last posting, so it's time to catch up. Here are a few photos from the latest activities and some of our "lasts" before baby.

This is mom and baby bear at 34 weeks (last week). We missed taking our 32 weeks photo because we were scrambling to get packed and out of town for vacation.
While I was in California at the beginning of June, Tony and Erik (one of our graduating seniors) put a two-toned, gender neutral green coat of paint on the nursery walls.
Then a few weeks later Tony added the border. We've made even further progress since then, but I'll wait to post photos until we get our furniture... hopefully soon. I will confess though that since we put up our new wood blinds, I go in every morning and open the blinds and say good morning to baby (or at least baby's room). The decorating makes it more and more real and very exciting.
We celebrated Tony's first Father's Day a few weeks ago. I know, some may say he's only a dad-to-be, but we're celebrating these firsts. Life is already changing because of our coming little one. Tony graciously agreed to wear the shirt to church on Father's Day... According to this photo I'd say he's pretty proud to be a dad (or dad-to-be, whichever you prefer). I turned 30! That's right. On June 21st I closed the chapter on my 20s. Don't worry, no mourning here. As far as I'm concerned, life gets better and better each year. But it still is a little bit weird to call myself 30. This photo we took at the Twisp River Pub in Twisp, Washington. (The beginning of our vacation, see below.)

My 30th birthday fell at the beginning of our week of vacation-- our last vacation before baby! We headed over to Wenatchee (Eastern Washington) to meet up with Tony's brother and family and then headed a bit further North to their cabin in Mazama. Cabin--yes. Roughin' it--no. They have a beautiful house amidst lots of pine trees and adjacent to an irrigation canal, far from the hustle and bustle of normal life. The weather was great-- sunshine and high 70s. We enjoyed family time --with Andrew, Connie, Ethan, Ellie, Alex and Connie's parents-- and then relaxed a couple of days by ourselves.

The week flew by and then we were back home to normal life. Well, mostly. Tony is on his summer schedule, preaching two weeks in a row and camps scheduled for two different weeks this month. I am slowly peeling myself away from work and it's wonderful. I don't have to report to work at any given time, but I'm following up on a few orders and proposals to make sure things go smoothly. Two more weeks or so and I hope to be pretty well done.

Many people ask if I'm "ready" to have the baby. At this point, I see that the 9 month (40 week) gestation is a great design on God's part. With each passing week I feel more and more ready, but not anxious or in a hurry. I have several things left on my to do list and I'm fairly sure that as I cross each item off I'll be that much closer to ready. Not to mention that since Tony will be out of town for two separate weeks this month I'm hoping and praying that baby will wait until he returns.

That's all for now. Happy Summer to each of you.

Celebrations

Last Thursday Baby Bear and I geared up for our last plane trip before Baby's arrival-- destination Glendora, CA. (By the end of this trip, by the way, Baby had racked up 8 times on a plane!)

We arrived at the Ontario airport and my mom shared great news-- Papa graduated from chemotherapy and is moving on to surgery. They had just gotten results from a cat scan that showed the tumors had shrunk and were hardly noticeable. Praise God!!! Thank you to all of you for your prayers. This was cause for great celebration! And I was so glad to be present for the good news.

Friday night we had most of our immediate family together, which is a big feat these days. We were missing Tony and my brother-in-law Phil, but the rest of us enjoyed a meal together and were able to catch up. I focused on fellowship instead of photos, but I'm kicking myself now that I don't have photos of the occasion and especially of my most adorable niece Sicily. Who by the way will very soon be turning two.

Saturday, my two Aunts-- Patsy and Betty Anne-- threw a shower for family and some friends. It was so great to be with the ladies and share this exciting time. This season is so significant, I'm glad I was able to get out of my Washington bubble and celebrate with people I love in California. Here are some photos...
Aunt Patsy and the delicious cake.
Robyn, Me, Tiffany, Jenn, Nicole and Christa. Can you tell which of these ladies are pregnant?Robyn and I practically share our due date and Nicole will be anticipating her arrival in November.
Here I am with Marie (Tony's stand-in mom during seminary) and Elitza and Kei Toth (Tony's niece and sister-in-law).

Before I went down to California, we started receiving baby gifts in the mail. I tried to wait to open them, but I just couldn't stand it-- I was so excited. So, Tony and I opened and took some goofy pictures as evidence. We were "showered" with some great necessities. Above are our infant car seat and stroller. These and the other goodies still feel a little bit like toys. Hard to believe we'll have a real live baby to go in them soon.
I also enjoyed quality time with my cherished nephew, Oliver. He's four-and-one-quarter now and very much a character. We bonded over my big belly, which he was working hard to match. He'd come by every now and again after eating and drinking and say "Do you see my belly now? It's almost as big as yours." He's convinced Baby Bear is a boy, but we'll have to wait and see.
My sister Colleen. We didn't get much sister time, but it was nice to be together as a family.

I was able to catch up with a couple of good friends from my WPH and Pulte working days-- Lisa and Tracey.

It was great to spend a week in California, especially because of the weather -- the evening lows were the same as the daytime highs in Sequim. Great weather, wonderful fellowship, joyful celebrations... I'm already looking forward to my next trip... Hoping to introduce Baby Bear Toth this Christmas.

Getting Closer

Finally, I am catching up with posting. Here I am at 28 weeks. A constantly growing belly. So much so that I have gotten comments from the cashier at Costco: "You're bigger every time I see you." That is significant since I'm probably in Costco twice a week. Today as I write, we are just days away from 30 weeks. That means just over 10 weeks to go.

We have made progress in our preparations and I had my first shower this weekend. There'll be more of that in the next post. But since I've been so slow getting this one going, I'm afraid that if I don't keep it short, it will never happen. So the rest of the news...

Dad Toth got his Doctorate! Way to go!

Through the generosity of our church, Tony and I were both able to go to McAllen, Texas to be with Mom and Dad Toth and the rest of the family that was able to make it to Dad's graduation ceremony. We had a wonderful time together, although brief. (Pictured above is Tony's immediate family-- Tonia, David, Dad Andy, Mom Dorciane, Tony and Andrew.)

Newphews and Niece-- Michael, Zach, Nathan and Emma Berthiaume (Tonia's kids)

Belly to belly. My most telling profile, but also sometimes a little bit scary.

Other notes: Our flights to Texas brought my first experience with what Tony calls "Cankles." (a.k.a. swollen ankles) And if you're keeping track, that was baby bear's fix and sixth time on a place.

We are both enjoying baby bear's movements these days. Tony has viewed many punches and kicks and baby bear often says hi to me in the middle of the night when I return from a bathroom break.

Anyone remember "African Ant-eating ritual?" The crazy dance from Can't Buy Me Love? Well, if you do, capture that mental picture. And then picture baby bear in my belly doing that dance. (Arms on the right side of my belly and legs on the left side.) It's quite amazing the movements this baby makes.

More to come soon... Love to you all.

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.

And Baby Makes Three!

Greetings Friends and Family. We've had many Adventures in Sequim thus far, but have recently embarked upon the biggest one yet-- a baby. We are thrilled to be in this season, along with many other emotions, of course. (Wonder, amazement, caution, a little fear, excitement, etc.)

Early in December we found out that our prayers had been answered. We shared our news with family at Christmas and then worked really hard to keep our secret until we were in the clear. So, in early February, right about the time of our 3rd Anniversary, we began sharing with our Sequim community and many of you. (Please forgive us if we weren't able to tell you personally. Energy and time have been of short supply lately.)

It's especially been a blessing to receive all of the encouraging words and excitement from our church body. Although we will not be close (in proximity) to family as our own family begins, we have established many great relationships in our church family that we know will prove to be great support. Tony had some fun announcing it to the church and no doubt they'll be giving him a hard time for a long time to come.

We're 19 weeks as of yesterday (3/21/08). I never understood why expectant mothers counted in weeks until I became one. Each week is worth counting-- not only is there so much happening in baby's development, but it's comforting to reach each point in health and anticipation (and wonder if as the weeks go by I'll be able to get everything done). The photo at the top is me at 16 weeks. Another updated photo will follow soon.

This is our year of threes. (1) our 3rd Anniversary (2/5/08) (2) Tony's 33rd Birthday in May (3) My 30th Birthday in June and (4) adding the third member of our family--Baby Bear Toth is due to arrive around the middle of August.

This photo is from our Anniversary Dinner at one of our favorite spots-- Bella Italia.

I have been really fortunate to not be too sick or uncomfortable thus far. Tony will attest, however, to my increased naps and decreasing energy for housework.

We'll have our ultrasound in April, but we're not planning to find out what we're having. Yes, I am a planner, but this is one detail I can let go of. We both agreed it would be worth the wait.

Well, that's all for now. I'll try not to drone on about the details, but just leave quick updates here and there.